Crowd control

Crowd control (commonly shortened to CC) is a blanket term used in League of Legends to describe abilities or spells that remove or diminish the control a target unit has over aspects of itself, such as being able to cast spells or initiate movement commands. As crowd controls impact a unit's combat ability, they are essentially more specialized forms of debuffs. However, this ability to directly hinder a unit's ability to fight means that crowd controls are often given significantly more importance in regular gameplay than normal debuffs, resulting in their special classification.

There are many different forms of crowd control, each of which is unique in the way it affects its target and the ways it can - if at all - be resisted, mitigated or removed. Some crowd controls can be exclusive or near-exclusive to certain champions or items, and different champions can apply the same crowd control in multiple different ways. A few specific mechanics (such as Yasuo's Last Breath) even require a catalyst crowd control to function.

Crowd control effects that inhibit casting will only disable the summoner spells Flash, Teleport, Hexflash, and Mark / Dash.  Stasis and  suppression are exceptions to this and will prevent the caster from using any summoner spell.

All crowd controls, at the exception of  blind or  cripple, even the ones without any damage, will count toward assists.

The following can be used even while under the effects of crowd control:

• All spells and abilities with  cleansing effects (there are exceptions)
• Heimerdinger's UPGRADE!!!
• Irelia's Flawless Duet's recast
• Karma's Mantra
• Kennen's Lightning Rush's recast
• Twisted Fate's Pick a Card's recast
• Tryndamere's Undying Rage
• Urgot's Fear Beyond Death's recast
• Zoe's Paddle Star's recast

Types of Crowd Control

For the complete article, see Types of Crowd Control.

Categorization

To facilitate easier communications, crowd controls are usually described under one of the following systems:

Loss of Control

Crowd controls are grouped into one of two categories depending on whether or not the effect removes total control of the player's character.

Total CC	Partial CC
Airborne	Blind
Forced Action	Cripple
Sleep	Disarm
Stun	Ground
Suppression	Knockdown
Suspension	Nearsight
Stasis	Root
	Silence
	Slow

Disruption

Crowd controls are grouped into one of two categories depending on whether or not the effect disrupts a  channeled ability (such as Karthus' Requiem and Katarina's Death Lotus).

Note that  Disrupt will have the same interaction as Hard disruption CC towards channels, but does not have a duration and thus is not a status effect.

Disrupts	Does not disrupt
Airborne	Blind
Forced Action	Cripple
Silence	Disarm
Stasis	Ground
Stun	Knockdown
Suppression	Nearsight
Suspension	Root
Sleep	Slow

Immobilization

Crowd controls are grouped into one of two categories depending on whether or not they restrict movement. Hard CCs prevent all forms of movement, while soft CCs do not. This is how hard and soft CC is usually defined.

Hard CC	Soft CC
Airborne	Blind
Forced Action	Disarm
Root	Ground
Stasis	Knockdown
Sleep	Nearsight
Stun	Silence
Suppression	Slow
Suspension	Cripple

Modifiers

Crowd controls are categorized by what their effects inhibit. Movement modifiers in some way inhibit the ability to move, while action modifiers in some way inhibit the ability to attack or cast abilities.

Movement Modifiers	Action Modifiers
Airborne	Airborne
Forced Action	Forced Action
Ground	Ground
Nearsight	Nearsight
Sleep	Sleep
Stun	Stun
Suppression	Suppression
Suspension	Suspension
Knockdown	Blind
Root	Disarm
Slow	Silence
	Cripple

Increasing the duration of Crowd Control

 Brittle is a status effect that can be applied by Ornn's Bellows Breath and Call of the Forge God.

Each mark reduces the target's  tenacity by 30%. The duration of Airborne effects are also increased upon consumption of the mark.

Countering Crowd Control

Crowd control can be countered in various different ways.

Immunity

Units that are immune to crowd control will completely negate any attempt at its application on the recipient. This does not, however, necessarily mean the user is now also unaffected by crowd controls already applied (unless the ability had an innate  cleanse effect). Immunities lasting for a short period of time will prompt that a particular unit "Can't Be Disabled!" or "Can't Be Slowed!" as well as "Spell Immune!" if crowd control is imposed.

Total Immunity

All crowd control debuffs currently in League of Legends can be prevented with  total CC immunity:

• Fiora's Riposte provides immunity to all forms of CC applied during the parry.
• Galio's Hero's Entrance provides immunity to all forms of CC after completing the channel and is retained for a moment upon impact.
• Kled's Dismount provides immunity to all forms of CC applied during the dismount and Chaaaaaaaarge!!! provides immunity to all forms of CC applied during the charge and the dash.
• Malzahar's Void Shift provides immunity to all forms of CC while active and for a brief period after it's triggered.

• Morgana's Black Shield provides immunity to all forms of CC applied while the shield persists.
• Olaf's Ragnarok cleanses and provides immunity to all forms of CC applied in the duration.
• Pantheon's Grand Starfall provides immunity to all forms of CC applied while vanished.
• Sion's Unstoppable Onslaught provides immunity to all forms of CC applied in the duration.
• Warwick's Infinite Duress provides immunity to all forms of CC during the dash.
• Volibear's Stormbringer provides immunity to all forms of CC during the dash and for a moment after the landing upon impact.
• Heimerdinger's H-28Q Apex Turret is immune to all forms of CC.
• Illaoi's Tentacles are immune to all forms of CC.
• Zac's Bloblets are immune to all forms of CC.
• All  epic monsters (e.g. Baron Nashor, Rift Herald Dragon) are immune to all forms of CC with the exception of  stasis.
  • The Rift Herald loses her immunity in summoned form (when spawned by the Eye of the Herald).
•  Turrets ignore any potential forms of CC that may affect them with the exception of  stasis.

Slow Immunity

Main: Slow_resist#Slow_Immunity

EditSlow immunity is a status effect that prevents the application of  slows, and in some cases  cripples too.

The following effects prevent the application of  slows and  cripples:

• Master Yi's Highlander
• Sejuani's Fury of the North
•  Total crowd control immunity

The following effects only prevent the application of  slows:

• Nunu's Biggest Snowball Ever!
• Mikael's Crucible

Displacement Immunity

 Unstoppables provide immunity to  displacements, (including  knockdown, Realm of Death and The Show Stopper)  sleep and  stasis. The effects of other types of crowd control and Fate's Call are deferred until the unit is no longer unstoppable, where their remaining duration may still affect them.

• Camille's The Hextech Ultimatum
• Corki's Special Delivery
• Ekko's Chronobreak
  • Is only immune to  displacements.
• Hecarim's Onslaught of Shadows
• Illaoi's Leap of Faith
• Jarvan IV's Cataclysm
• Malphite's Unstoppable Force
• Nocturne's Paranoia
• Ornn's Bellows Breath
• Rek'Sai's Void Rush
• Sett's The Show Stopper
• Shyvana's Dragon's Descent
• Vi's Assault and Battery
• Warwick's Jaws of the Beast
  • The channel may still be  interrupted, removing the immunity.
• Rift Herald's wind up and leap attack
•  URF cannon

Spell Shields

Main Article: Spell shield

While not specific to crowd control,  spell shields can be considered to provide pseudo-CC immunity against a single spell, but this is not guaranteed - abilities that do not interact with spell shields (such as Karthus' Wall of Pain) will still apply any attached crowd controls if possible. Multiple active spell shields existing on the same unit simultaneously will break against a single hostile ability that does not apply a crowd control effect.

• Nocturne's Shroud of Darkness provides immunity to CC applied with first instance of ability blocked in the duration.
• Sivir's Spell Shield provides immunity to CC applied with first instance of ability blocked in the duration.
• Banshee's Veil provides immunity to CC applied with first instance of ability blocked while passive is ready.
• Edge of Night provides immunity to CC applied with first instance of ability blocked while passive is ready.

Removal

Most types of  crowd control (CC) can be  removed after they have been applied, with the cleansing ability or item remaining "castable" while affected by the CC it removes even if that CC normally precludes ability or item usage. Mikael's Crucible is an exception to this "castable" rule, but the target may still be able to cleanse CC's affecting them if the item was activated ~0.2 seconds before the CC was applied.

 Stasis effects cannot be removed any means (excluding death) and will also disable cleansing effects for their duration. The capability to cleanse persistent crowd control is case by case and usually depends on the source of application. The  stun component of  airborne effects can be removed by cleanse effects, but their move block cannot, unless it's being overridden by another move block (i.e. another displacing effect,  dash or  blink).

• Alistar's Unbreakable Will removes all forms of CC.
• Gangplank's Remove Scurvy removes all forms of CC.
• Kalista's Fate's Call removes all forms of CC.
• Olaf's Ragnarok removes all forms of CC.
• Rengar's Empowered Battle Roar removes all forms of CC.
• Kled dismounting removes all forms of CC.
• Master Yi's Highlander removes all slows and cripples.
• Garen's Decisive Strike removes all slows.
• Nunu's Biggest Snowball Ever! removes all slows.
• Cleanse removes all forms of CC aside from  nearsight,  airborne and  suppression.
• Quicksilver removes all forms of CC.
• Mikael's Crucible's active effect removes all forms of CC aside from  blind,  ground,  disarm,  nearsight,  airborne and  suppression.

Reduction

 Crowd control reduction reduces the duration of crowd control effects by a percentage equal to its value. Sources of CC duration reduction will stack multiplicatively or additively with each other, depending on the source of the reduction. The statistical term is referred to as Tenacity.

 Nearsight,  stasis,  suppression,  drowsy and  airborne are not affected by crowd control reduction and will always apply for their full duration.

Potency Reduction

This effect is unique to  slows; potency reduction reduces the effectiveness, or percentage, of slowing effects.

Self-CC

The following effects are comparable to crowd control, except that the effect is caused voluntarily and affects the user rather than a target.

• Self-Slow: A champion that  slows itself has reduced movement speed.
  • Blitzcrank's Overdrive
  • Pantheon's Aegis Assault
  • Rammus' Defensive Ball Curl
  • Tahm Kench's Devour (with a champion)
  • Urgot's Purge (when attacking a target)

• Self-Stun: A champion that  stuns itself is unable to control its movement, attack, or use abilities.
  • Sion's Unstoppable Onslaught (when colliding with terrain)

Cast Times and Channels

The casting (sometimes "charging") of an ability cannot be cancelled by the player or an enemy except by death. Forced actions (such as  taunt) will have no effect for the duration of the cast, and using airborne effects to move the player will not affect the trajectory of the skill - which will start from the point of the cast, not from the player's current location. Summoner spells and most items can still be activated while casting.

The channeling of an ability, by contrast, can be cancelled by hard CC, and will also automatically cancel should the champion attempt to perform another action (such as movement, casting another ability or attacking) - there do exist exceptions to this rule, such as Sion's Soul Furnace cast while channelling Decimating Smash, but these are usually specific coding allowances and not standard behaviour. Summoner spells and most items can typically be activated mid-channel without disrupting it.

Channeling and casting animations are generally not considered forms of crowd control, however disruptive they may be. There do exist several notable exceptions, however:

• Channeled Self-Pacify: These abilities cause the champion to lose access to cast their abilities and issue attack commands. The champion may still freely move and use other summoner spells during this time.
  • Gragas' Drunken Rage
  • Vi's Vault Breaker

• Channeled Self-Slow: These abilities will slow the caster for the duration of the channel. In all cases the champion may freely move while channeling but may not issue attack commands.
  • Galio's Shield of Durand
  • Nunu & Willump's Biggest Snowball Ever!
  • Pantheon's Comet Spear
  • Poppy's Keeper's Verdict
  • Pyke's Bone Skewer
  • Varus' Piercing Arrow
  • Vi's Vault Breaker
  • Xerath's Arcanopulse

• Channeled Self-Root: These abilities will remove the caster's ability to control their movement and issue movement commands.
  • Sion's Decimating Smash
  • Vel'Koz's Lifeform Disintegration Ray
  • Xerath's Rite of the Arcane (for the first 1 second of the duration)
  • Zac's Elastic Slingshot

• Channeled Self-Stun: The following abilities have channels that the user cannot voluntarily interrupt (contrary to most channels which will be interrupted if any attempt is made to move, attack, or use another ability). This is effectively comparable to a stun.
  • Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole
  • Fiddlesticks' Crowstorm
  • Karthus' Requiem
  • Malzahar's Nether Grasp (for the first 0.5 seconds of the duration)
  • Rek'Sai's Void Rush
  • Tahm Kench's Abyssal Voyage
  • Twisted Fate's Gate
  • Warwick's Infinite Duress

Trivia

• Sona's Crescendo causes affected  champions to also play a sped-up version of its dance animation.
• If abilities that share cooldowns or are unique to different forms are counted separately, then Gnar possesses the highest number of crowd control abilities in the game, at six, with Nautilus and Karma tying for second place, at four. Otherwise, if they are counted as shared, Nautilus and Gnar possess the most, at four.
• Nautilus, Poppy and Urgot possess the highest number of unique crowd control types, at five.
  • Maokai, Xin Zhao, Ornn, and Zac possess the second-highest, at four. If Lissandra's Frozen Tomb is counted as a form of  stasis, she also has four.
    • Aurelion Sol, Alistar, Bard, Blitzcrank, Braum, Camille, Cho'Gath, Gnar, Gragas, Ivern, Janna, Kled, Lee Sin, Leona, Lissandra (otherwise), Lulu, Morgana, Nami, Rammus, Tahm Kench, Thresh, Sejuani, Sion, Skarner, Syndra, Vel'Koz and Zyra each have three.
• Aatrox, Alistar, Cho'Gath, Gangplank, Heimerdinger, Jinx, Karma, Olaf, Rengar, Tryndamere and Zoe are the only champions in the game that can activate an ability while disabled. Of these, Alistar, Gangplank, Olaf and Rengar can also remove the disabling effects.
• Ezreal, Katarina, Lucian, Master Yi, Sivir, Nidalee, and Kai'Sa are the only champions in game without any sort of crowd control inherent to their kit.
• Malphite is the only tank in the game that lacks hard crowd control on his basic abilities.
• Most  Marksman and  Slayers lack hard crowd control. This is to balance their high damage dealing kits. The few champions in those classes that have hard CC, tend to have one that is a skillshot, has a long cooldown, and/or is tied to their ultimates.
  • In contrast, almost every  support and  tank have hard crowd control. This allows them to still be relevant late game, despite their damage falling off. They use their hard CC to setup advantages for their damage focused allies.

References