I'm here today to provide you with some general thoughts about the famous (or infamous depending on the points of view) CC skills.
AoC's CC system has seen a nice development with the introduction of the CC Immunities, and a categorization of the Crowd Control:
1) Major CC: Are belonging to this category all the CC that are making you unable to control you character such as Stun, Fear, Charm and Knockback
2) Minor CC: Are belongin to this category all the CC that will make you lose partially control over you character such as Root, Snare and Silence
This categorization along with the immunities has changed the way to use the CC, they can't now be spammed to keep people under permanent CC (theoretically) so it's needed to time them and rotate them, to sum it up in one sentence: To make a choice.
This, in my opinion, is a great obstacle on the life of the HoX, for this reason let's try to know our CC a bit better.
I'll introduce you to.....
Recast: 60 seconds
Casting Time: 0.5 Seconds
90 Degrees Arc, 7m Radius, applies fear +50% Hinder Movement
This is our Fear, frontal cone area of effect, slows our enemy and makes them fear our presence.
This is a Major CC, it's commonly considered as a defensive CC for the HoX, when sorrounded by many enemies and things are going to be bad for us (e.g. we are being focused) then it's the time to cast it.
Enemies in front of us will start to run in fear and we will have enough time to attempt an escape.
Word of CommandRecast: 30 seconds
Casting Time: Instant
4m radius, up to 12 characters
This is our root, it's a minor CC and it will be applied to all the nearby enemies.
According with FunCom, given that Minor CC, are only partially preventing players from controlling their toons, they can be cross-stacked.
It would be a wise idea to keep it as a backup CC, immunities are a nasty enemy to face, so if you cast your major cc (i.e Dread Visage) only to discover that your enemy has its immunity up and running, then be ready to cast Word of Command and to root them.
This could give you a fair opportunity to save your life.
You may consider to use it also in offensive situations, but you must consider that it can be removed quite easily and it could result in a waste.
If you want to maximize its effectiveness in offensive situations, then try to use it when you are BEHIND your enemy, this will give you the chance to hit hard on his back, which is unshielded!
Desecrating EssenceRecast: 120 seconds (Recast could be decreased with the Perk "Improved Desecrating Essence")
Casting Time: 1.5 seconds
6m radius, 5 seconds stun
Please note that the Stun effect to the desecrating effect skill comes only with the feat "Horrible Visage of Xotli" maxed at 3/3 from the talent tree "Possession".
Desecrating Essence (alongside with Avatar of Xotli, ending skill of the Avatar Tree) it's mainly meant to be a self buff.
It heals the Herald for a certain amount of HP, and applies a boost to: HP, Magic Damage (Fire), Combat Rating (Fire), Fear Resistance, Strenght and Intelligence.
Those last two statistics are furthermore boosted by the Perk "Red Shadow of Xotli" which is the Gold perk of the Class Section of the Alternate Advancement system.
The use of this skill it's commonly considered offensive.
Given the huge boost to the stats and to the magic damange, alongside with the Stun and the long cooldown, the best way to use DE it's shoot it when we are "sure" that our enemies have already burned out their anti CC, 1.5 of casting time are surely not a short time, so timing and positioning are really important.
Once you are sure you are in a fair good position (behind your enemies possibly) start the cast and you will stun them, being able to unleash your purifying fire on the infidels.
Pros of DE: It makes you immune to fear, and resistant to Knockback like a medium wearing character if Roots of Hell trait is maxed, it boosts your damage, increase you HP, heals you whe the cast is complete and lands a tick of fire damage to every nearby enemy.
Cons of DE: Casting time is a factor that shouldn't be underestimated, DE can be interrupted.
Also the Cooldown should be considered as an issue, if you use it improperly (i.e. too early, so enemies will break your cc with their anti CC, or too late when you are in attempt to die) will cause you to get the CD of the skill (base 120 seconds, it can be reduced), and waiting 2 minutes without being able to unleash your fury is frustrating.
Other BIG ISSUE: When you are under your Demonic form BE SURE THAT NO POM IS AROUND, if a PoM is around, be quick to deactivate DE immediately.
Why? Here's the answer:
Mitra's Searing EyeThis is a devastating skill for all the classes that are drawing their strenght from demonic sources (HoX with DE active and Demo with Demonic Hearth active).
It deals holy damage in a column in front of the PoM and it will deal TRIPLE damage to all undead and Demons.
Unfortunately we are recognized as Demons under Desecrating Essence, and it can result often in a Oneshot.
Anti-CC aka how to save our backs:
We are of course not the only class able to use CC.
So here we will briefly speak of our anti-cc, be ready, this is a sad chapter.
To be able to get some Anti-CC skill the HoX shall rely on the "General Tree" and on the AA (Alternate Advancement), in fact our main trees (Possesion and Avatar) are not providing us any form of protection against the CC.
Through the general tree we will obtain Purge, which is an anti root, we will have to spend 15 points (!!!) on the General tree to obtain it, but given that actuall the Avatar tree is widely considered an almost useless tree (I'll go deeper on this chapter later on the week) many are following that path.
PurgeCasting Time: Instant
Recast Time: 45 seconds
Removes most root and snare effects
This is another defensive skill, a good anti-cc if used properly, use it when you are trying to run and you are slowed down or rooted, it will immediately affect you, letting you run toward your safety.
Nothing else to be reported here.
The other Anti-CC, probably the only valuable perk of our Archetype tree of the AA (beside Will of the Sublime), responds to the name of Ethereal Escape:
Ethereal Escape (no image available atm)
Casting Time: Instant
Recast Time: It starts with 6 minutes cooldown, training it to higher levels (up to 5) will reduce the cooldown by 1 minute for each rank down to a minimum of 2 minutes when maxed.
It removes most crowd control effects from the mage and also boosts up the mana regen.
Note: as for many anti-cc skills, removing the CC removes also the immunity, so timing properly every anti-CC is a must, do not underestimante this feature!
Conlcusion:
Playing the Herald of Xotli it's surely a though business, but with a bit of attention we can be a pain for our enemies.
Mastering the CC and anti CC, knowing when to use them and what to expect from our enemies, it's a relevant aspect of our life, we have 3 CC, 2 major and 1 minor, and 2 anti-cc, we must manage them properly.
I hope this will be of help for you all!
Please feel free to add comment and suggestion!
Constructive criticism is always welcome!
More info on the revamped CC system:
Crowd Control system Revamp
Silence: it's now in line with the other CC effects (it has been upgraded to be a Major CC effect, with increased immunity duration. Translating it: Goodbye chain-cast-throat-slash!)
'Till the next time!
Arcalimon
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