Diminishing returns (DR) in World of Warcraft refer to the mechanic where certain crowd control (CC) effects become less effective if used repeatedly within a short period. This guide covers how diminishing returns works, the categories of DR, and which specific abilities are affected by this mechanic.
Understanding Diminishing Returns
Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of CC abilities when they are applied to the same target multiple times in quick succession. The first application of the effect has a full duration, the second is halved, and the third and subsequent applications are reduced even further or completely ineffective. Diminishing returns for most forms of crowd control lasts for 18-20 seconds. To demonstrate this lets look at two different examples.
- Storm Bolt is the 1st stun meaning there is no DR (indicated by the red segment) so the stun lasts the full 4 second duration.
- Shockwave is casted after the diminishing return on stuns has expired and therefore also lasts the full duration.
Let's take a look at a second example that does not account for the stun diminishing return:
- The red segment indicates the diminishing return of stuns.
- Storm Bolt is the 1st stun meaning there is no DR so the stun lasts the full duration. This puts a stun DR on the target for 18 seconds.
- Shockwave duration gets reduced by 50% from the stun DR caused by Storm Bolt.
- Mighty Bash duration gets reduced by 75% because the targets has previous stun DR from both Storm Bolt & Shockwave.
- Additionally both Shockwave and Mighty Bash refresh the stun DR duration meaning that it lasts until 0:28.
- After Mighty Bash the target is now completely immune to stuns until the diminishing return wears off.
Diminishing Return Categories
Diminishing returns are categorized based on the type of CC effect. Each category has its own DR timer, which generally resets after 18-20 seconds.
Similar types of crowd control share the same diminishing return category primarily for PvP balance. Dragon's Breath, Fear & Cyclone are all part of the Disorient DR category for example.
The primary diminishing return categories are:
- Stuns: Abilities that stun the target for a controlled duration.
- Disorients: Abilities that cause the target to wander aimlessly.
- Incapacitates: Abilities that incapacitate the target, rendering them unable to act.
- Silences: Abilities that silence the target, preventing spellcasting.
- Disarms: Abilities that removes the target's weapon (PvP only)
- Displacements: Abilities that displace the target, such as knocking them back or pulling them to a different location.
- Roots: Abilities that root the target in place, preventing movement.
Crowd Control Without Diminishing Return
There are very few abilities in the game that completely ignore the diminishing return mechanic but they do exist and are worth mentioning. These spells are:
- Summon Infernal - same functionality as a stun commonly referred to as a knockdown
- Death Grip - iconic displacement spell
- Thunderstruck - PvP talent that roots
Diminishing Returns in PvE
Since the main purpose of diminishing returns is to balance PvP that means that it works differently in PvE. In PvE, only stuns are affected by diminishing returns. The stun category of diminishing deturns follows the exact same ruleset in PvE as it does in PvP.
Roots
- Root effects immobilize the target, preventing them from moving but they can still cast spells and use abilities.
- Examples:
- Druid Entangling Roots
- Mage Frost Nova
- Shaman Earthgrab Totem
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of crowd control abilities within this category if applied within 18 seconds. After three applications, the target becomes immunity to root effects for a short duration.
List of All Roots
Stuns
- Stuns are abilities that completely disable the target, preventing all actions.
- Examples:
- Paladin Hammer of Justice
- Rogue Cheap Shot
- Rogue Kidney Shot
- Warrior Storm Bolt
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of crowd control abilities in this category. Each subsequent stun within 18 seconds has a reduced duration. After a target gets stunned three times within an 18-20 second window, they become immune for a short duration.
List of All Stuns
Incapacitates
- Incapacitate effects makes the target unable to perform any actions. Some of the incapacitate effects break to damage and others don't. This category includes sleep and horrify effects.
- Examples:
- Rogue Gouge
- Hunter Freezing Trap
- Monk Paralysis
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of crowd control abilities within this category. The duration of each subsequent incapacitate is reduced when applied repeatedly within an 18 second timeframe. The targets becomes immune after three applications.
List of All Incapacitates
Disorients
- Disorients cause the target to wander around and be unable to control their character. Any damage taken usually breaks the disorient effect. Fear effects and Mind Control are also included in this category.
- Examples:
- Mage Polymorph
- Rogue Sap
- Warlock Fear
- Paladin Repentance
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of crowd control abilities within this category. Similar to stuns, the duration of each subsequent disorient effect is reduced if applied within a 18 second period. After three applications, the target becomes immunity to disorients for a short duration.
List of All Disorients
Silences
- Silence effects prevent the target from casting spells. They can still move and use non-spell abilities, but all spellcasting is prevented for the duration.
- Examples:
- Priest Silence
- Druid Solar Beam
- Demon Hunter Sigil of Silence
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of crowd control abilities within this category. Each subsequent silence applied to a target within 18 seconds reduces the duration of the next silence. After 3 consecutive silences within the diminishing return window the target becomes immune.
List of All Silences
Displacements
- Displacement effects move the target from their current location to another, such as knocking them back, pulling them to a different spot or knocking them into the air.
- Examples:
- Shaman Thunderstorm
- Mage Blast Wave
- Druid Typhoon
- Displacement effects do not adhere to the standard diminishing return rules but instead have internal cooldowns or specific rules to prevent repeated spamming on the same target.
- When a target gets knocked, they immediately gain full diminishing return, resulting in immunity.
List of All Displacements
Disarms
- Disarm effects remove the target's weapon, preventing them from using weapon-based attacks. They can still use spells that are not based on weapon damage. This category only exists in PvP.
- Examples:
- Warrior Disarm
- Rogue Dismantle
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of crowd control abilities within this category, affecting the duration of subsequent disarms on the same target within a short time period.
List of All Disarms
Taunts
- Taunt effects force the target to attack the caster for a short duration, redirecting their aggression.
- Taunts are not crowd control by definition but still follow diminishing return rules.
- Examples:
- Death Knight Dark Command
- Paladin Final Stand
- Warrior Taunt
- Diminishing returns reduce the effectiveness of abilities within this category. You can use taunts up to 5 times within a 15-20 second timeframe compared to 3 times like most other diminishing returns categories. The fixate portion of the first taunt lasts 3 seconds, 2nd is 2 seconds, 3rd is 1.4 seconds, 4th is 0.9 seconds and then 5th is 0.6 seconds. After this the target is fully immune to taunts until the diminishing return has worn off.
List of All Taunts
Summary
- Diminishing return is a crucial mechanic to play around both in PvE and PvP.
- Diminishing returns have different rules depending on what category of spells.
- The only category of diminishing return that follows the same rules in PvE as PvP is the stun category.
Credits
Written By: Wolfdisco
Reviewed By: Xerwo