Having trouble keeping damage dealers or bosses at bay? Then you need crowd control monsters! Crowd control monsters can disable priority targets and prevent them from killing your monsters. They are just as important as your supports and damage dealers. Most high floors in Trial of Ascension(ToA) require them and you are going to need at least 1 of them to make it to floor 80+. Some of them can also shine in arena and guild wars.
Baretta(Fire Sylph)
Baretta is one of the obtainable monsters you can get from the fusion hexagram. He offers attack bar reduction to 0 and the all important AoE 2 stacks of continuous damage. Both skills are very useful in ToA, especially the higher floors in hard mode. Since most monsters have ridiculous amounts of hp, continuous damage is your best friend. His attack bar reduction will make important units lost a turn. Despair/Focus(Spd/Hp%/Hp%) is your best rune set for him.
Julien(Wind Phantom Thief)
Julien has 3 strong stun skills, with the third skill being AoE and the second skill being single target. You don’t need a despair set to make him an effective stunner, but it definitely helps. Use Despair/Revenge(Spd/Crit R% or Crit D%/Atk%) and you have a perma CC monster. He does have very low health though, so keep that in mind.
Aria(Light Succubus)
Normally I don’t include light/dark monsters, but she is an exception since she was given to us in Feb 2015 HoH. She provides AoE glancing hits and attack speed slow. She can sleep a priority target and apply unrecoverable debuff on the second skill. These skills are all useful in PvP and ToA. A 80% sleep chance is so good against damage dealers as they will lose a turn. Using a Despair/Revenge(Spd/Atk%/Hp%) set will really keep enemy monsters cc for days.
Hwa(Fire Rakhasha)
While Hwa is mostly built for offense, she is also a great single target cc monster. Her passive reduces enemy ATB by 25%. Her first skill scales with speed, so you don’t really need too much attack power on her. Rune her Violent/Revenge(Spd/Crit D%/Hp%) with speed and critical rate substats means she will be attacking all day long and prevent an enemy monster from moving, especially against slow monsters like Giant and the ToA boss.
Tyron(Water Sylph)
This guy is so good at crowd control and dealing damage. His third skill is a 100% freeze minus resistance. His first skill can bring unpredictable damage while his second skill gives AoE glancing hits. Despair/Revenge(Spd/Atk%/Atk%) is your best bet and making him a strong attacker while being able to disable monsters. If you can summon this guy, he will make your life easier. Rune him well!
Luer(Water Phantom Thief)
Luer is quite a monster that doesn’t get used quite often, but his third skill provides AoE 50% ATB reduction and defense debuff. This is crippling against PvP teams as long as he gets to go first. This will also make Chloe lose her first move provided Luer is fast. He also provides stun and attack speed slow, which are all important skills to keep your enemies at bay. Despair/Revenge(Spd/Hp%/Hp%) is your best choice here.
Clara(Fire Pierret)
Most people have already forgotten her, but she provides AoE Stun, beneficial effect removal and attack debuff. She can be built as a support attacker. The attack debuff works wonders against strong damage dealers. Despair/Revenge(Spd/Atk%/Atk%) will make her threatening. You are welcome to use hp% runes if you find her too squishy for your liking.
Woochi(Wind Taoist)
This guy is the mini version of the water dragon. He has 2 Aoe Skills, with the third skill giving 100% ATB reduction. That means he is a great monster for ToA. Using Despair/Focus(Spd/Atk%/Hp%) will make him durable while being able to apply stuns, cc and damage. Definitely a keeper for ToA if you find yourself getting destroyed at higher floors.
Mikene(Water Undine)
She can perma freeze anyone as long as she gets 100% critical chance. That means she will benefit from a Violent/Revenge(Spd/Crit R%/Hp%) set and you have a powerful single target CC monster. Her only few downsides is her low base health pool and slow speed. Health will be needed in higher ToA floors, so she will need to be tanky. Her revive is also useful in ToA too. Get her from the fusion hexagram if you are in need of a reviver.
Lushen(Wind Joker)
Wait…what? I thought he is a raw attacker!
Actually, Lushen can also be a crowd control monster if you rune him with Despair/Blade(Spd/Crit D%/Atk%). Since he has 2 AoE attacks, with the second one having chance apply stun/glancing hits/slow on enemies, he would be a perfect fit for using despair set. However, his third skill is built for raw damage, so most people build him as an attacker. But I have seen people use him as a CC monster.
