Minstrel Crowd Control
Posted on 06. Jan, 2010 by Goldenstar in Guides, New Player Advice
I come from old days of MMO play where the plan was to divide and conquer. Separate the mobs into as many little chunks as possible and have your team cut them down one at a time.
In recent years I’ve seen this plan go the wayside a bit. With classes like champions and wardens absolutely itching to fight several monsters at once it just doesn’t happen like this often anymore. I am a fan of this tried and true strategy though for several reasons.
- With everyone focusing on the same single target, it dies much faster
- The healer undergoes much less stress because if everyone’s fighting the same target the only one gathering any damage would be the tank. Danger of healing aggro is less.
- Team really learns to work together and communicate better in my opinion. If everyone is just in the center swinging at anything that moves the only communication I typically hear is “I need a heal” … yeah well everyone needs a heal. When using crowd control (CC) to control the flow of mobs the fellowship usually has a plan. (MobA first, followed by MobB and then MobC. “MobC is lose!” “Please restun MobB and we will take MobC”)
- It may not be quicker (and I’m not convinced attacking all the mobs at once is always quicker) but it’s efficient and organized and that’s the way I like my killing!
There are times that I do not see the sense in using this method. If everything is way underpowered for the strength of our team I will not insist on pulling the creatures one at a time. That’s just silly. Most, if not all, bosses will be immune to these mechanics as well. I’m just pointing out that crowd control is in our game and it is extremely useful!
Minstrel’s have some pretty useful crowd control (CC) skills themselves that I believe are often overlooked (or perhaps unknown) by their friends. Some of these skills may not be extremely valuable in a fellowships (where they’re usually busy doing other things) although they certainly can be used. These skills are great for assisting the minstrel when solo or in a small fellowship situation.
I use many of these tactics myself when out adventuring with Merric. So lets go over the different CC skills Minstrels have and how they are used. I hope this helps new minstrels or those who wondered what the heck the Minstrel was doing when grouped up.
Traited Piercing Cry
You receive Piercing Cry very early on in your Minstreling career (level 2) and the trait Unrelenting is one of the earlier traits you can earn. Adding this trait will not only increase your ability to land a critical hit with your Piercing Cry, it will also stun the monster when it is struck with a critical cry.
The stun will take this mob out of commission temporarily allowing you and your friends to focus on another mob in the old tradition of one monster at a time. This stun is the perfect time to heal up as that stunned creature cannot interrupt you. I’ve also purposely saved my cry to use as an interrupt tactic for those pesky mobs that like to heal themselves.
This stun cannot be broken by damage so everyone’s free to keep wailing away on this mob while it is incapacitated.
The downside of this particular CC is that it is not a guaranteed stun. The trait does increase the critical chance by 25% and you gain an extra 25% if you are in War-speech. There are other war-speech related talents that can boost this percentage up further but it’s still going to have a random component to it.
Cry of the Valar
Cry of the Valar is a skill Minstrels obtain at level 12 and I find this skill to be absolutely vital in a lot of cases. It’s a good idea to practice and play with this skill when you get it as good handling of it could be the very thing that saves you and your group.
The cry is a fear cast on the enemy that will send them fleeing away from the Minstrel. The fear is relatively short – about 15 seconds – but it takes that monster out of the fight and away from the group. A purple scary face, similar to the icon) is shown over a monster that has been feared.
I use this skill a lot and have had no problems with it bringing additional mobs back with it. I use it everywhere too; dungeons, questing, skirmishes, etc. If I get more than one mob, I’m going to fear one. However, the Lorebook’s Minstreling Guide says that the feared mob will call for help and bring back one extra ally that is in range. Keep this in mind before using and play around with ranges of it. Like I said, I use it recklessly with very little issues. (Thanks for the link Poinky)
Fear can be used as an interrupt on enemy casters which is important to keep in mind when fighting the healy or summony types.
Fear can also be used to assist other types of crowd control. For instance, a stunned mob has woken up and run to the group, the Minstrel can fear the mob away so it can be stunned once again out of AoE range.
Limitations of this CC is that it is ineffective against certain mobs (usually animal types like bears). You’re more likely to scare away a humanoid monster with your cry than other beasty types although it does work on some beasts.
This skill is also very easy to break. Any action on the mob will break the fear effect. Since the skill has a 30 second cooldown, it is unlikely we will have a chance to fear again. Merric has broken fears before simply by using his Sheild-taunt ability which he is using to try to grab quick and instant aggro.
Song of the Dead
Song of the Dead granted at level 18 is a very situational based type of CC as it requires some sort of undead mob to be in the mix. This will effectively stun (although I believe the skill says freeze in fear) the undead in place for about 30 seconds.
Since you’re not always fighting zombies and ghosts it sometimes is forgotten as unused skills tend to do. When remembered, it is great for taking an undead out of the fight!
This fear can be broken by any type of damage so it’s best to freeze your foe back far away from the group to keep them out of AoE damage. It is a fairly long cooldown at 1 minute so makes it a little difficult to use in undead heavy dungeons for every pull which is unfortunate.
Song of Distraction
Finally we have the Song of Distraction skill which can be learned at level 34. This is a pre-combat type of CC that you cast before the fight begins. This cannot be played in combat.
If there’s a grouping of mobs in an area you can play this song on one of the mobs and he will stay there while you pull all his buddies away. This will effectively leave that mob completely out of combat without worrying to have to re-apply other CC techniques. This isn’t making him immune to your presence, just narrowing his aggro radius. He will join in the fray if you get too close.
The major bummer about this skill is that it has an ultra long cooldown of 3 minutes making it almost useless for the majority of your pulls. You can use it maybe every 3-4 pulls if your group is going at average speed. However, it does come in super handy to break up a large grouping!
26 Responses to “Minstrel Crowd Control”
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Pjotr
06. Jan, 2010
The improved Piercing Cry has been glued to my traits since forever.
Cry of the Valar will not case additional aggro from other mobs in the area?! I did not realize that and have always been wary of using it if I suspect the target might run into other mob groups. Thanks for the info, I will try it out.
Song of Dead has a very long induction, the main reason why I see it as one of the least useful skills a minstrel has (coupled with the long cooldown you mentioned).
Song of Distraction has been useful for soloing certain points in the game (one less mob to fight at the same time) as well as making some of the harder mob pulls easier for the group I’m in. Major downside for me is that, when it is resisted, you just pulled the whole mob group. So, when my group wants me to try it, I make everyone aware that it *might* result in an unintended pull of the mob group.
Tolanas Telmar
06. Feb, 2010
Cry of the Valar does pull more enemies, but it does so sporadically, and it seems that the fleeing enemy has to be near the same type of enemy to pull that extra enemy. I use it recklessly too, and only rarely does it bite me in the ass. And since I am soloing, I can then Feign Death and all is right with the world, no harm done.
Minuit
06. Jan, 2010
That’s great to learn about the Cry of the Valar, I have only used it sparingly with my minstrel because of worries about adds. I’ll be using it a lot more now, thanks!
Goldenstar
06. Jan, 2010
First time I used cry of the valar I freaked when it ran directly at the next group & was pleased when nothing happened so I started using it fearlessly whenever I felt like it after that.
Only time it has caused me pain was when I attacked the fleeing mob near a new group which brought a lot of pain. You gotta wait for him to return or at least be away from others before engaging him again.
I use it a lot too and in heavy areas. I was fearing the crud out of mobs in Lorien this weekend. Perhaps I’ve been extremely lucky for 60 levels?
Poinky
06. Jan, 2010
The Lorebook’s “A guide to good Minstreling” (http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/A_guide_to_good_Minstreling#Cry_of_the_Valar_lvl_12) states,
” If the Fear is not broken by damage, then when the effect ends, the MOB will make a call for help and bring back one extra ally if there is one within range of its call.”
I know that *after* I read this, I noticed a feared goblin coming back with a friend, but had never seen it before. Maybe reading the guide affects the behavior?
Goldenstar
06. Jan, 2010
I’ve been extremely lucky then. I can edit my original post to put in this lorebook warning. I use fear all the time and have had no problems with surrounding mobs. Thanks Poinky!
Xhaan
06. Jan, 2010
Excellent write-up!
Doyce (Geiri/Finn)
06. Jan, 2010
We actually used the Minstrel (and Hunter) Fear to good effect last night in Sammath Gul. Check out the strat write-up in Dungeons on the forums for how it went down.
There are so many abilities that Minstrels never get to use if the fight is so crazy that all they can do is spam heals — it’s one of the reasons I like to use two healers in six-mans: it lets all the classes dig deeper into their respective toolboxes, benefiting the group more.
(We really need to have that “Why to run with two healers” and “Comparing healers” episode of Casual Stroll.
Azz
06. Jan, 2010
Are you volunteering? That sure sounds like it.
Armen
06. Jan, 2010
I have not been so lucky using “Cry of the Valar”. But then again this may have been changed in the past (I am playing my minstrel since the end of beta). But I do remember mobs coming back with buddies after the fear time was over.
Also you have to be careful where you send the mob. In some instances, everything will reset when a mob leave a certain area. So you better be careful into which direction you fear the mob.
Otherwise the CC capabilities of a Minstrel are rather limited in my opinion. Except for the champion and captain all others have (in my opinion) superior CCs.
Docholiday
06. Jan, 2010
overall good stuff on the minstrels. I haven’t played my minnie much at all but am toying with making it my 2nd to 65. I’m pretty sure I’ve been either good or lucky with Cry of Valar as I don’t usually pull stuff back. But then again, usually I’m in war-speech so an extra mob doesn’t really bother me that much. And worst case I’m real good at playing dead
I only have one point of disagreement
I’ll suggest that wardens hitting all the mobs actually is a form of crowd control as when done properly, mobs are only targeting the tank, we actually heal more using our leaches, and don’t have to worry about the mezzed mob running after the healer like the usually do.
Goldenstar
06. Jan, 2010
Does that only apply when the warden is tanking?
I see your point but I stand by my original statement. Wardens differ in the traditional CC methods of 1 at a time. Getting wacked on by a bunch of mobs in order to control them is a big break from how things used to be done.
Docholiday
06. Jan, 2010
Yes, I should’ve prefaced my comment with when wardens tank they’re cc’ing the whole lot. Most CC in LOTRO is single target only, but I consider it to be how you handle the crowd of mobs coming at you. Wardens can cc a bit differently by just dealing with it all at once
Same concept just different methodology.
Azz
07. Jan, 2010
That is a very interesting thought. And I see the logic in it. Nice catch. Same could be said of guardians as well.
n0name28 (Ranni)
06. Jan, 2010
I don’t know that I’ve seen a fear that doesn’t have a chance of bringing buddies when the feared mob returns. Doesn’t seem to happen as often with my minstrel as I’ve seen it happen with a hunters fear though.
Great advice here. My main is a Lore-Master and I just can’t extole the virtues of CC enough! BUT, it takes good communication to work right and even then, sometimes stuff happens. I’ve stunned/mezzed before and then had someone fear them away. Always remember to call what you’re doing so everyone knows you’re fearing/stunning/rooting, ….
Your guide hear works super awesome in the ‘Moors, too, all but the less aggro part when focus firing. On Windy we used to focus fire on the minstrels and call it the ‘Minnie Melt’. Fun, fun.
develyn
06. Jan, 2010
I am a HUGE fan of Cry of the Valar. Usually when running with other CC classes, we run them in rotation so we can pick and choose the mob at will. Very nice list of the other ones. Haven’t tried Piercing Cry stun skill traited before. Usually have other stuff to trait before that one. I’m going to have to play with that. Thanks GS!
Blue Kae/Brynulf
06. Jan, 2010
I can’t remember ever having the Hunter’s beast fear skill, Cry of the Predator, cause additional adds. The Bard’s Arrow fear skill does seem to bring adds often enough, that I normally use it as a way to get a little breathing room when being attacked by multiple enemies but I always break it (with a long induciton skill if I can).
Gilrakas
06. Jan, 2010
Great blog, I play a hunter and constantly use bard’s arrow for fearing mobs. I’ve used it recklessly for about 6 months now and never had a problem. However last night I used it in the dungeons of dg on one of the orc guards. When the fear wore off he came back with 2 extra buddies. I wiped my group and felt pretty silly. So yeah, fearing is great, but it can cause the occasionaly problem.
Harperella
06. Jan, 2010
I’ve never had a feared mob bring back a friend in all my questing from 1-65. This skill is an absolute lifesaver in skirmishes. Fear the lieutenant, kill the mobs, then deal with him when he comes back. Usually the skill has about 10s left to recover by the time the mob comes back, so you can fear them again. Watch out for breaking the fear on damage though! AoE skills will often break it. Especially if the feared mob just hangs around or wanders in circles, as occasionally happens. In a way, the Minstrel fear is better than the mezzes that Loremasters and Burglars have. Not only does it remove the mob from combat, but it makes them run away from you. This allows you to start using AoE as soon as they get out of range. So, Loremaster and Burglar mezzes are good to begin a fight with, but Minstrel fear is superior on a group that is all engaged in melee with you. Fear one, wait for him to leave, then use your 3 AoE skills (Call of Orome, Call of the Second Age, Anthem of the Valar) on the mobs that remain.
Merric
08. Jan, 2010
I tend to use the term crowd control per the actual definition which is “… the ability of one character, in a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), to limit the number of mobs actively fighting during an encounter” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_control_(MMORPG). So when we talk about having guardians, wardens, or any other tank having a massive amount of mobs on them who are not incapacitated in any way, I see that more as Aggro Management and AOE tanking. The reason being is that those mobs are not incapacitated and are still free to use skills, apply debuffs, use random targeted skills, etc. They still inflict damage and are still doing harm in some way. To me, unless that mob has been temporarily removed from the fight and unable to do harm, they are not truly under the influence of “Crowd Control”. They’re just being handled by a really good tank!
Dreadhed
20. Jan, 2010
I have a 65lm and minnie, plus some level 60s. I have had my minnies cry of the valar bring back multiple mobs, I remember it happening a fair amount a lower levels. I don’t know if I play the skill wiser now or if it is just harder to agro additional mobs with it at higher levels, but I generally don’t worry about it. Still have some trouble with Song of distraction pulling mobs if it does not take, but that is a rare occurence.
Song of distraction is one of my favorites, as it can be used unlike other CC skills when it wears off the mob is not agro’d So using it does not put you in combat stance, especially useful for FG runs. Song of the dead is relatively useless, unless fighting the dead.
I agree with Harp about SoV being good to get mobs running away, I still like the LM 30s mez better especially when soloing, and if traited right the cooldown is only 15s so you can if skilled keep 2 mobs mezzed. Or you can just chain mez, with SoV the CD on it is just a bit too long so the mob is usually back in combat before you can mez it again.
Anyways, good post. Always looking to see way in which I can play my toons better.
Cheers,
Dreadhed, Dreadwind of Firefoot
Daevic Blackpyre
29. Jan, 2010
I’m happy to report that Cry of the Valar does work on Stormcrows… which has saved by bacon in more than one skirmish.
Goldenstar
29. Jan, 2010
Hooray! Thanks for letting us know!
Fruinjuice
05. Feb, 2010
It’s amazing how much people forget that a mini can CC – especially with Song of Distraction and Song of the Dead.
These are great especially when soloing!
Slipkin
08. Feb, 2010
I’ve found Cry of the Valar to be pretty good for soloing, and for the occasional group run, but its very situational and carries a pretty large amount of risk. As others have mentioned, using it *can* cause mobs to bring back friends and additional aggro. I can remember a few specific cases where I’ve used it and saved my own life, but its also directly caused my death. Use it very cautiously. If you’re in an enclosed area with lots of mobs and no means of easy escape (i.e. Shadowed Refuge tunnels area in Moria) I don’t recommend using it.
Merric
08. Feb, 2010
Yep, it’s pretty much a good solo technique; although like you said it is situational so even then be careful. I haven’t used it in a group (as my mini is low and I solo on it), but even in solo 1-on-1 situations you have to be careful. I played Goldenstar in a Skirmish where I used it on an end boss to buy some time and unfortunately feared him out of his target area and reset the fight completely. So like you said, very situational but a very important skill.