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 - aspects 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.

All crowd controls, at the exception of  Blind,  Reveal, or  attack speed slow, even the ones without any damage, will count toward assists.

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. Hard CC completely removes all control of a character, while soft CC only partially removes it.

Hard CC	Soft CC
Airborne	Blind
Forced Action	Cripple
Sleep	Disarm
Stasis	Entangle
Stun	Ground
Suppression	Knockdown
Suspension	Nearsight
	Root/Snare
	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). Hard CC will disrupt all channels, while soft CC will not.

Hard CC	Soft CC
Airborne	Blind
Forced Action	Cripple
Silence	Disarm
Sleep	Entangle
Stasis	Ground
Stun	Knockdown
Suppression	Nearsight
Suspension	Root/Snare
	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.

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

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
Entangle	Blind
Forced Action	Cripple
Ground	Disarm
Knockdown	Forced Action
Nearsight	Ground
Root/Snare	Nearsight
Sleep	Silence
Slow	Sleep
Stun	Stun
Suppression	Suppression
Suspension	Suspension

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% or in other words, increases the duration of incoming Crowd Control by 30% (including  Airborne effects).

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.

All forms of crowd control currently in League of Legends can be prevented with CC immunity.

• 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 in the duration.
• Fiora's Riposte provides immunity to all forms of CC applied during the parry.
• Kayn (as Shadow Assassin)'s Shadow Step provides immunity to all slows while active.
• Malzahar's Void Shift provides immunity to all forms of CC applied in the duration.
• Master Yi's Highlander provides immunity to all slows applied in the duration.
• Morgana's Black Shield provides immunity to all forms of CC applied in the duration of the shield.
• Nocturne's Shroud of Darkness provides immunity to CC applied with first instance of ability blocked in the duration.
• Olaf's Ragnarok provides immunity to all forms of CC applied in the duration, with exception of nearsight.
• Sejuani's Fury of the North provides immunity to all slows while active.
• Sion's Unstoppable Onslaught provides immunity to all forms of CC applied in the duration.
• Sivir's Spell Shield provides immunity to CC applied with first instance of ability blocked in the duration.
• Zac's Let's Bounce! (first cast) provides immunity to all forms of CC.

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.

Deferral

Similar to immunity, abilities that defer crowd control will negate their effects while the ability is active, but any CC still present will be applied after the duration ends. CC duration will still tick down during the immunity period.^[2]

• Corki's Special Delivery provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Darius' Noxian Guillotine provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Hecarim's Onslaught of Shadows provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Jarvan IV's Cataclysm provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Kled's Chaaaaaaaarge!!! provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Malphite's Unstoppable Force provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Nocturne's Paranoia provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Ornn's Bellows Breath provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the ability.
• Shyvana's Dragon's Descent provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Vi's Assault and Battery provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Warwick's Jaws of the Beast provides immunity to all forms of displacements for the cast time of the ability.
• Warwick's Infinite Duress provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.
• Zac's Let's Bounce! provides immunity to all forms of CC for the duration of the dash.

Removal

Most types of crowd control can be removed after it has been applied - with the exception of Mikael's Crucible, the ability or item in question can still be activated while affected by the CC it removes, even when that CC normally precludes ability or item usage.

Stasis effects cannot be removed. Ground effect can be removed only by basic moving out from affected area. Nearsight effect can be removed only by Quicksilver Sash's active. Airborne effects are removable only by other move blocks (airborne effect, dash or blink); airborne effects will still apply for the rest of their duration if not removed by other airborne effect (although they can be prevented and removing their stun component allows to completely remove them by consecutively using own dash or blink). Stasis makes units untargetable and completely prevents ability usage even for abilities that can be activated under CC (thus making whether it can be removed or not a moot question).

• Alistar's Unbreakable Will removes all forms of CC.
• Gangplank's Remove Scurvy removes all forms of CC.
• Kayn (as Shadow Assassin)'s Shadow Step removes all slows.
• Olaf's Ragnarok removes all forms of CC.
• Rengar's Battle Roar removes all forms of CC.
• Garen's Decisive Strike removes all slows.
• Master Yi's Highlander removes all slows.
• Cleanse removes all forms of CC aside from airborne and suppression.
• The Quicksilver item active removes all forms of CC, including airborne effects if a blink or dash ability is used after activation.
• Mikael's Crucible's active effect removes all forms of CC aside from 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 by the source of the reduction. Crowd control reduction can sometimes be referred to as Tenacity.

Ground, nearsight, stasis, suppression and move block part of airborne are not affected by crowd control reduction and will always apply for their full duration. Stun part of airborne effect is affected by crowd control reduction.

Potency Reduction

This effect is unique to the slow crowd control; potency reduction reduces the effectiveness, or percentage, of movement slows by a percentage equal to its value. Sources of slow potency reduction stack multiplicatively with each other, but do not interact with normal crowd control reduction.

Only slows are affected by potency reduction.

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. These effects cannot be removed by cleansing mechanisms and will ignore all crowd control immunity and reduction except in the case of self-slows, which will be affected by slow potency reduction (such as from Boots of Swiftness).

• Self-Disarm: A champion that disarms itself is unable to attack for a duration. The target may still move and cast spells.
  • Graves' New Destiny (on reload)
  • Jhin's Whisper (on reload)
  • Rek'Sai's Burrow
  • Thresh's Death Sentence

• Self-Knockback: A champion that knockbacks itself is temporarily unable to attack and issue movement commands. The target may still cast spells.
  • Caitlyn's 90 Caliber Net
  • Graves' Collateral Damage
  • Kled's Pocket Pistol
  • Ziggs' Satchel Charge

• Self-Nearsight: A champion that that is self-nearsighted has their own sight radius reduced by 900, while still benefitting from allied vision.
  • Rek'Sai's Burrow

• Self-Silence: A champion that silences itself is unable to cast abilities. They may still attack and use summoner spells.
  • Rumble's Junkyard Titan

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

• Self-Stasis: A champion that puts itself into stasis cannot perform any action while also being untargetable and invulnerable.
  • Aatrox's World Ender (after death)
  • Bard's Tempered Fate (cast over himself)
  • Lissandra's Frozen Tomb (self cast)
  • Zilean's Chronoshift (self cast, after death)
  • Guardian Angel
  • Stopwatch
  • Wooglet's Witchcap
  • Zhonya's Hourglass

• 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 cast, not from the player's current location. Summoner spells and most items can still be activated while casting.

The channelling 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.

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

• Channelled Self-Pacify: These abilities will make champion unable to issue attack commands, other abilities, Flash or Teleport. The champion may still freely move and use other summoner spells while channelling. The only example also slows the champion for the duration.
  • Gragas' Drunken Rage
  • Vi's Vault Breaker

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

• Channelled Self-Root: These abilities will remove the caster's ability to control their movement and issue movement commands (included forced actions, such as fear).
  • 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

• Channelled 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 the target to dance.
• 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, 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