Overview
Crowd control (CC) refers to an effect caused by an ability, attack, or item that temporarily reduces, disrupts, or entirely restricts, a player’s ability to move, fight, or take action. To a lesser degree, minions and jungle monsters can also be affected by crowd control.Certain purchasable items cause crowd control in conjunction with god abilites or auto-attacks. Crowd controls can be countered by certain items and actives.Some crowd controls are subject to diminishing returns (see section at bottom of page).
Types
The two types of crowd controls in Smite are soft crowd controls (soft CC) and hard crowd controls (hard CC). God abilities can have multiple crowd-control effects at once.
Soft Crowd Control
If a crowd control doesn’t disrupt the channeling of abilities but affects the player in any other negative way, it is called a soft crowd control.
Items may also cause soft crowd controls. For example, Gem of Isolation slows whenever a god ability connects and both Gem of Binding and Frostbound Hammer slow whenever an auto-attack connects.
Effect
Blind
Definition
A blinded player has his vision impaired. (Note: This effect cannot be cleansed with e.g. Purification Beads.)
Ability
Ra: Divine Light, Xbalanque: Darkest of Nights
Effect
Cripple
Definition
A crippled player cannot use movement abilities like leaps or dashes.
Ability
Ah Muzen Cab: Stinger, Ares: Shackles, Artemis: Transgressors Fate, Cupid: Fields of Love, Poseidon: Whirlpool, Rama: Rolling Assault
Effect
Disorient
Definition
A disoriented player has his camera viewpoint averted in a random direction.
Ability
Mercury: Sonic Boom
Effect
Root
Definition
A player that is rooted cannot move.
Ability
Artemis: Transgressors Fate, Kumbhakarna: Groggy Strike, Neith: Spirit Arrow, Scylla: Sic ‘Em, Sylvanus: Nature’s Protection (passive), Verdant Growth
Effect
Slow
Definition
A player under the effect of a slow suffers a movement speed reduction. (Note: Slows are subject to diminishing returns; see section at bottom of page.)
Ability
Ah Muzen Cab: Honey, Anhur: Shifting Sands, Anubis: Grasping Hands, Aphrodite: Back Off, Arachne: Broodlings, Tangled Web; Ares: Shackles, Artemis: Suppress the Insolent, Athena: Preemptive Strike, Bacchus: Belly Flap, Bakasura: Regurgitate, Bastet: Declaw, Cat Call; Chaac: Rain Dance, Cupid: Heart Bomb, Fields of Love; Freya: Pulse, Geb: Roll Out, Guan Yu: Warrior’s Will, Cavalry Charge; Hades: Death from Below, Hebo: Atlas of the Yellow River, Water Spout; Hel: Hinder, Hun Batz: Somersault, Isis: Dispel Magic, Janus: Threshold, Kukulkan: Zephyr, Loki: Aimed Strike, Neith: Backflip, Nemesis: Slice and Dice, Ne Zha: Universe Ring Toss, Nu Wa: Pillars of Heaven, Odin: Gungnir’s Might, Poseidon: Release the Kraken, Ra: Divine Light, Rama: Astral Strike, Scylla: Crush, Sobek: Lurking in the Waters, Sun Wukong: Master’s Will, Thanatos: Death Scythe, Tyr: Lawbringer, Vamana: Umbrellarang, Ymir: Glacial Strike, Shards of Ice; Zhong Kui: Expose Evil
Hard Crowd Control
If a crowd control disrupts the channeling of abilities, it is called a hard crowd control. Forced actions also classify as hard crowd controls.
Hard crowd controls (except banish and knockup) are subject to diminishing returns (see section at bottom of page
Effect
Banish
Definition
A banished player is knocked up in the air, cannot be hit or targeted, and cannot take any action nor move.
Ability
Freya: Banish, Janus: Portal, Kumbhakarna: Epic Uppercut
Effect
Carry
Definition
A player that is carried cannot take any action nor move.
Ability
Fenrir: Ragnarok
Effect
Fear
Definition
A player that is under the effect of fear cannot use abilities and is forced to run in a certain direction as if confused.
Ability
Hun Batz: Fear No Evil, Hades: Shroud of Darkness
Effect
Intoxicate
Definition
An intoxicated player is forced to move, uncoordinated and as if drunk, in a certain direction.
Ability
Bacchus: Intoxicate
Effect
Knockback
Definition
A player that is knocked back (usually away from the point of cast or behind it) cannot use abilities.
Ability
Anhur: Disperse, Impale; Aphrodite: Back Off, Apollo: Across the Sky, Geb: Roll Out, Hercules: Driving Strike, Excavate; Poseidon: Tidal Surge, Sobek: Tail Whip, Sun Wukong: 72 Transformations, Tyr: Fearless, Vulcan: Magma Bomb
Effect
Knockup
Definition
A player that is knocked into the air cannot take any action. He can still be dealt damage even when airborne.
Ability
Bacchus: Belly Flop, He Bo: Watersprout, Kukulkan: Spirit of the Nine Winds, Kumbhakarna: Epic Uppercut, Ne Zha: Wind Fire Wheels, Poseidon: Release the Kraken, Sylvanus: Wrath of Terra, Vamana: Clear the Path
Effect
Madness
Definition
A player under the effect of madness is forced to auto-attack his allies, or walk harmlessly towards the caster of the ability with this effect.
Ability
Serqet: Cobra’s Kiss
Effect
Pull
Definition
A player that is pulled (always towards the point of cast) cannot use abilities.
Ability
Arachne: Cocoon, Ares: No Escape, Hades: Pillar of Agony, Hercules: Earthbreaker, Poseidon: Whirlpool, Sobek: Charge Prey, Sylvanus: Nature’s Grasp
Effect
Silence
Definition
A silenced player is prevented from using abilities.
Ability
Arachne: Drain Life, Chaac: Storm Call, Hades: Shroud of Darkness, Isis: Dispel Magic, Nox: Nightfall Raven, Thanatos: Soul Reap
Effect
Stasis
Definition
A player under the effect of stasis cannot take any action. Stasis is a self-inflicted crowd control triggered by using Aegis Amulet.
Ability
Active: Aegis Amulet
Effect
Stun
Definition
A player that is stunned can neither move nor activate abilities.
Ability
Agni: Noxious Fumes, Anhur: Impale, Anubis: Mummify, Aphrodite: Kiss, Arachne: Cocoon, Ares: No Escape, Bacchus: Belch of the Gods, Chang’e: Waxing Moon, Chronos: Stop Time, Cupid: Hearthbomb, Fenrir: Unchained, Geb: Cataclysm, Guan Yu: Cavalry Charge, Hercules: Driving Strike, Isis: Spirit Ball, Kali: Incense, Loki: Assassinate, Mercury: Sonic Boom, Neith: World Weaver, Ne Zha: Armillary Sash, Nu Wa: Flamestrike, Poseidon: Release the Kraken, Serqet: Last Breath, Sun Wukong: 72 Transformations (Tiger), Sylvanus: Nature’s Grasp, Thanatos: Hovering Death, Thor: Tectonic Rift, Ullr: Throw Axe, Vulcan: Magma Bomb, Xbalanque: Darkest of Nights, Ymir: Frost Breath, Zeus: Detonate Charge, Zhong Kui: Book of Demons
Effect
Taunt
Definition
A taunted player is slowed down in his movement, and he is forced to auto-attack and chase the caster of the ability with this effect.
Ability
Athena: Confound
Counters to Crowd Control
The vast majority of crowd control in Smite can be removed, prevented, or reduced by the player. Players under the effect of crowd-control immunity eminate a golden glow to indicate such a temporary state.
The options to countering crowd control include purchasable equipment, active items, god abilities as well as, rarely so, passive abilities. Most god Ultimates provide crowd control immunity as well for the duration of the Ultimate.
The maximum amount of crowd-control reduction a player can amass with equipment items is 40%.
Name
Bolster Defenses
Type
Ability
Counter Class
Reduction
Effect
Ares strengthens the defenses of himself and all nearby allies, granting protections and reducing crowd control durations. For each shackled enemy, the protection buffs are increased.
Name
Cleanse
Type
Ability
Counter Class
Removal, prevention
Effect
While in her light stance, Hel buffs all allies at her ground target, removing all crowd-control effects instantly and protecting them from future ones for 0.5/.7/.9/1.1/1.3s.
Name
Stone Shield
Type
Ability
Counter Class
Removal
Effect
Geb targets himself or an ally to put a shield around. The shield blocks 50/100/150/200/250 (+20 per Geb’s level) damage and Knockback effects, and lasts 3/3.5/4/4.5/5s or until it takes enough damage to be destroyed. The shield also cleanses any crowd control when applied.
Name
Purification Beads
Type
Active
Counter Class
Removal, prevention
Effect
Any tier of this active removes crowd control effects currently affecting the player, and makes him immune for new ones for a set amount of time.
Note
This item has a short activation animation which can lead to auto-attacks disrupting its activation.
Name
Magi’s Blessing
Type
Equipment
Counter Class
Prevention, reduction
Effect
This item not only reduces crowd control passively by 40%, but it also absorbs any single hard crowd control effect once every 45 seconds. When this occurs, the player also receives one second of crowd-control immunity.
Note
This item does not prevent soft crowd controls like slows or Hades’ Pillar of Agony.
Name
Magi’s Cloak
Type
Equipment
Counter Class
Reduction
Effect
This item reduces crowd control passively by 20%.
Name
Reinforced Greaves
Type
Equipment
Counter Class
Reduction
Effect
This item gives +18% movement speed (+26% while out of combat), and its passive reduces crowd control by 30%.
Name
Sorrow
Type
Passive
Counter Class
Reduction
Effect
All of Anubis’ abilities steal physical and magical protection from the target and he gains increased scaling to his item-based magical lifesteal. In addition, Sorrow grants Anubis an additional 30% reduction to all crowd control durations (does not stack with Resolve).
Diminishing Returns
Crowd controls are subject to diminishing returns.
Diminishing returns refer to a duration penalty for certain type of effects which only applies when multiple effects of the same or similar type stack upon another. This game mechanic exists to prevent players from being, for example, stun locked for too long. The penalty concerns hard crowd controls (except banish or knockup) and slows, as well as stacks of movement speed bonuses.
For crowd controls, the penalty multiplier is frac{1}{3}. For example, Ymir’s Frost Breath stun ability would last for the full 2.25s if applied first onto the target, 1.5s (66% of full duration) if applied second on top of another crowd control, and only 0.75s (33% of full duration) if applied as a third successive crowd-control effect.