Stun

Stun effects are a form of crowd control that cause the victim to be unable to move or perform most actions for a period of time. Stuns are significantly more effective than snare or root effects, since they prevent the victim from taking any action, and unlike disorient and incapacitate effects, do not break when the victim is damaged. Consequently, stuns are almost always very short duration effects.

Stuns are one of the most effective and powerful types of crowd control, preventing targets from moving or taking any actions for the duration. Unlike fear effects, they do not cause targets to wander, and do not break on damage. However, a number of abilities are designed to specifically counter stuns, removing, preventing or reducing the duration of stun effects. Additionally, certain abilities are designed to be usable by players even when stunned, reducing the significance of the effect.

All raid bosses, most or all dungeon bosses and many elite mobs are permanently immune to stuns. Certain abilities with stun components, such as Storm Bolt, are for this reason designed to deal additional damage to targets that are permanently immune to stuns, maintaining their usefulness in PvE.

Stun effects are similar to sleep effects in that they also prevent a victim from taking action. However, the Undead racial ability Will of the Forsaken (which removes sleep, charm, and fear effects) will not remove a stun.

Abilities

 * May be missing new abilities added in 5.0.4, or include abilities no longer in-game.}}
 * Death knight: Gnaw (Ghoul, requires Master of Ghouls, also available via Raise Ally).
 * Druid: Bash (druid ability) (Bear Form), Pounce (Cat Form), Maim (Cat Form).
 * Hunter: Intimidation (Talent), Sonic Blast (Pet ability), Sting (Pet ability).
 * Mage: Combustion, Deep Freeze (Talent).
 * Monk: Fists of Fury, Clash, Charging Ox Wave, Leg Sweep
 * Paladin: Hammer of Justice, Seal of Justice.
 * Rogue: Kidney Shot, Cheap Shot.
 * Shaman: Bash (Feral Spirit).
 * Warlock: Shadowfury (Talent), Axe Toss (Felguard).
 * Warrior: Charge, Storm Bolt (Talent), Shockwave (Talent).

Racial abilities

 * Tauren: War Stomp.

Counters and immunities

 * Some mobs, including all raid bosses, most or all dungeon bosses and many elites, are permanently immune to stuns.
 * Items that can counter stun effects:
 * PvP trinkets
 * Free Action Potion
 * Living Action Potion
 * Certain Meta gems confer limited stun resistance or decreased stun duration.
 * Abilities
 * Mages can use Blink or Ice Block to free themselves from stuns.
 * Dematerialize (monk talent) causes stunned Mistweaver monks to briefly phase out of existence, causing all melee, ranged and spell attacks to miss them.
 * The paladin ability Divine Shield will free the paladin from stuns.
 * The death knight ability Icebound Fortitude renders the death knight immune to stuns for 12 seconds.
 * Priests with Glyph of Desperation can cast Guardian Spirit or Pain Suppression while stunned.
 * Warrior talent Second Wind regenerates 20 rage over 10 seconds after being stunned.
 * Warriors using Bladestorm are immune to stuns.
 * The orc passive racial trait Hardiness reduces stun duration by 15%.
 * The human racial trait Every Man for Himself removes all stun effects.
 * Numerous abilities can also be used when stunned, such as Barkskin, Enraged Regeneration, Temporal Shield and some of those listed above.

Diminishing returns
Stuns cast by players will trigger diminishing returns. Consequently, after three stuns (not to be confused with disorients) within a short period of time, the target will become temporarily immune. There are however several diminishing returns categories, one for activated stuns, which include most stun effects, and one for proc stuns, which include the stuns from procs, as well as one specifically for Cheap Shot. Using stuns in one category will not affect the duration of stuns in the another category. Also, unlike many crowd control effects, most stuns suffer diminishing returns even in PvE encounters.

Patch changes


Stun