Have you experienced PvP in Throne and Liberty?

Got stunned / rooted / knocked down / silenced / petrified / put-to-sleep / raised high into the air, or otherwise disabled and then killed without any chance to respond?

Welcome to the Crowd Control Hell!

Getting killed while CCed seems to be the biggest and most often talked about problem in Throne and Liberty PvP.

Turns out, there are many built-in tools to handle the situation, people just don't really know them that well, nor use them, so the problem quite often boils down to - Skill Issue!

Let's break down the problem into easy identifiable steps.

Only select few of them can be upgraded to Wrath attacks, when they can't be blocked (like SnS `Collision: Pull` based `Chain Hook` skill).

That special defensive spell on every weapon - it has various functions when defending stationary, on the move, reusing after successful block, and so on,
BUT it's main reason for existence is to allow you to defend against Fury Attacks.
It also blocks most if not all of the other attacks, making them "bounce" and allowing you a brief window of basically invulnerability.
The trick is that it's too late to use it, when you're already CCed - you need to do it before.

In PvE Fury attacks are announced by a big bright purple swirling ring, which closes up, often very slow, to let you know this is the moment for your defensive spell. That's like a tutorial.

In PvP there is no such warning.

If you played the game from the start of the world-wide release, you might remember that for the first few days, many if not all mobs lacked the purple warning circle that was supposed to announce their Fury attacks.

So what we had to do for first few days is to look at the animations, and learn how a Fury Attack starting animation looks like, so we could block it.

That's called a "telegraph" - a visual or sometimes audio cue, that a certain move is starting it's execution.

Now, in PvP, you might not always see the Fury Attack telegraph, as some of these moves are almost instant, but there are situations where you can with high confidence anticipate when such attack is going to happen.

TIP: Usually It's the very first moment they're in range and able to do it :D

So, when are you going to get Hard CC'ed by a Fury Attack?

- When a GS dude is getting in range to charge you (or is already on the way), the first thing that is going to happen once he arrives is the stun.
- When you're getting Chain Hook pulled by an SnS (which is of itself Fury or Wrath when upgraded), they probably aren't pulling you in to let you walk away - you can guess with good confidence that the next thing happening to you once you land at their feet will be their or their teammates other CC spells.
- When you've got frozen by a mage `Petrification: Freeze` based `Icebound Tomb` skill, and a GS guy waits next to you till the ice melts - he's mashing the stun key, you should mash your defense key.
- Basically any time when someone is approaching, especially when melee class - first thing they'll do is try to keep you in place for the kill. Ranged killers will most often just root you, if even that.

Oftentimes those are split-second-decision situations, yes, but let's not pretend that you have absolutely no idea when the hard CC is going to happen.
It is going to happen as soon as possible.

Even If you don't *know* when, you can always pop the defense skill when you *think* the CC will be attempted. The game is not only about reacting to what already happened, but also about THINKING AHEAD and preparing for what will happen next.
If you don't do the latter, you'll end up in CC hell every time.
The main thing is to anticipate the incoming CC, prepare for it, and time it right.
The awareness of these moments comes with practice.

Many weapons do have some kind of defense spell that will significantly boost your tankiness for a short time. If you pop them before you get CCed, your chances of surviving that hard time could greatly improve.

- Staff has a Mana Shield style spell called `Redemptive Barrier` - use it BEFORE you go into contact. It lasts 6 seconds, that's longer than the time it takes to kill you in a stunlock, and you wont be needing your mana if you're dead anyway.
- SnS has a `Shield Barrier` - the time to pop it is BEFORE you get nuked, not later
- Wand has `Blessed Barrier` - again - see the nuke train coming? - that's the time. Suddenly you can actually survive that GS execute combo!
These 3 are just out of the top of my head, there's probably more that could be used here.

Well, now, my CCed friend, there are two ways out for you, which are designed right into the game:

Have a team that is not sleeping and actually REACTING to you being CCed. Examples:
- Your Bow healer can cleanse the CC off of you with `Purifying Touch`
- Your Wand healer can put their `Blessed Barrier` on you to make you survive
- Your Staff caster can pull you out of the place with their `Salvation Chain`
- Your SnS tank can pull or push them off you with the `Chain Hook` or `Strategic Rush`
- Your GS teammate can stun them, after they've stunned you. You'll be the first out of the stun.

And so on, so on. Any kind of CC that your team has, if applied at the right time, will save you from dying inside the CC you got put under, not mentioning the cleansing, healing, and shielding spells.

But for that to happen, your team must be thinking about something more than just how to output their rotation on a target in the shortest time possible.
For that to happen, you too need to think about something more.
It's literally a Skill Issue.

So if you see your teammate CCed - don't focus on DPSing the opponent. How can you help them? Are you bringing something to the fight that can save a stunlocked buddy?

You'd better, cause SkyWhale knows you should!

Another option out, mentioned as the last, because it feels like the least relevant one, seeing it's on a 2 minute cooldown, is the PvP Trinket craftable and reusable item called `Precious Purification Stone`, or the equivalent potion for the Arena, that will get you out of some of the CC upon use.
You can pop it to get out of stun, but it wont get you out of the `Collision: Prone`.
Truly though, the 2 minute cooldown kills it's usability, as most CC spells have like 20s cooldowns, so you're getting out of 1 in 6 CCs with that thing. A slight improvement, but wont solve the whole problem on it's own.

Looking at the big picture of the game systems design in here allows us to identify that "skill" portion of Throne and Liberty PvP requires among others:
- knowledge of the available CC spells and the situations they're used in
- proper timing of the main defense spell and secondary defense spells
- and most of all - teamwork to save each other out of the CC hell
- all of the above comes with practice, learn best by playing!

Hope the guide has showed you a broader perspective on what can be done right now about the CC Hell and maybe made the outlook on Throne and Liberty PvP a little more bright.

Praise The SkyWhale!