How do you use Mind Control?Follow

I like to MC the flag runner in WSG, or run other people off cliffs in the basin.

It is sometimes broke by moving the mob too far from you as well...

It was mandatory for use in Naxxramas. :P

You DO get control of the mob's abilities, look for additional bars above your normal ones. If you try to use any of your abilities the mob will break. Mobs of higher level than you will break more readily, especially if they have some sort of shadow resistance.

In general, it's mostly for use in trickery. On quests where there's an elite with guards, I MC the elite, beat down his guards with him, then release and zap him for an easy win. And, as mentioned before, it can yield good DPS/CC. Botanica, in particular, can be DESTROYED with tactical use of Mind Control. Back when I had a more even-handed spec I could play as DPS in Botanica and Shad Labs due to blatant abuse of Mind Control (now I'm always the healer). Mobs with area attacks are the best; you can usually do tons of damage to other mobs in the pull and get your MC target killed in the bargain.

A few tips for doing this. 1) Use Mind Soothe to get close, as MC's range is pitiful. 2) Keep the mob relatively close to you to limit breakage. If it breaks, shield and reestablish; don't wait for the tank to get it off of you, MC generates so much aggro he might not be able to.

In PvP you can't use the target's abilities; it's purely for affecting your target's position. The old stand-by, the infamous use of it, was in Blackrock Mountain, where people got tossed into the lava *all the time*. Other possible uses of it:
1) Arathi Basin. Toss someone off the Lumber Mill hill, into the water around the Blacksmith, or down into the gold mine.
2) Alterac Valley. Chuck someone off a tower or bunker to give yourself time to cap it. Very frustrating to your enemies!
3) The bridge in the BEM arena. Tossing someone off is tantamount to taking them out of the battle, at least for ten seconds or so.
4) Anywhere, really, where there's a cliff or bridge.
5) And, for the really malicious... challenge someone to a duel on the docks when the boat gets close, toss them off the pier, and watch them both forfeit the duel as they swim back and miss the boat to boot.

Only time I use it is if I have to pass by 2 targets...then I simply have them beat on eachother a while,then finsish them both off :D

Fun to watch ;)

Mind control is great, I use it all the time in instances. Being a shadow priest, my role is DPS/utility. In instances with mainly humanoid mobs (like all of them?) mind control also allows a shadow priest to CC...and CC well.

For example, I ran shadow labs a million times to get exalted with lower city for the mace. Mind controlling mobs during the 4 or 5 pulls in the room before inciter makes it ridiculously easy.

**DO NOT PULL WITH MC IN THIS ROOM**

I usually MC the shadow priest in the group of mobs. He puts out amazing DPS. Mc isnt't like sap, sheep, etc in that you actually CC 2 or 3 mobs with it. I usually MC the mob, them immediately attack any extra mobs the tank isn;t tanking, usually casters since they dont run over to the group. In doing this I am DPSing a mob down (the shadow priest can solo any of the other mobs) the guy thats MC'd is taking damage and I am CCing 2 or 3 Mobs, depending on the situation.

Mind control can be used like this in pretty much any instance if there is a lack of CC or you are just bored and want to feel overpowered. Note that since I am a shadow priest I am not healing. Mind controlling as the main healer is a bad idea since when it breaks the mob is on you right away. This brings me to the other use of Mind Control.

You can MC pull to instantly kill one of a group of mobs. Simply tell your group to sit and watch until the MC'd mob dies, MC a mobs, and let the others in the group beat it to a pulp. If your looking for rep break the MC right before its death so you can get credit for the kill. You can do this as a healer too since after the first mob dies everything goes back to normal (although it is dangerous and not recomended unless your group is severely lacking in CC.

Other fun uses of MC include throwing the opposite faction off cliffs, into lava, and under water.

All in all, practice with it and it will become one of your favorite spells (if your shadow) and a usefull spell reguardless of spec.

My favorite use of mind control in PVP is in Alterac Valley. I love to MC the allies' tank when they are engaged with Drek, Galv, a warmaster or a commander. This causes the tank to lose aggro, and sends the NPC tearing into the squishies. Meanwhile, you march the tank out of LOS of the raid healers.

It's just devastating. I don't know why I've never heard of other priests doing this--am I really the first to think of it? Surely not.

According to the Mind Control FAQ on the O-boards, the spell's chance of breaking increases with the distance between the caster and subject.

Some things you can do to reduce the chance of "heartbeat resists" include maximizing your spell hit and your spell penetration. The shadowpriest talent that reduces shadow resistance is handy, as is the PVP trinket that does the same, and having a Warlock cast Curse of Darkness on the target helps immensely.

No, the patch notes were simply wrong-- the reference is to Mind Vision. There was a problem for a while where if you Mind Visioned a mob, you wouldn't be able to really see as it sees-- any mobs that were outside visual range of you, the caster (i.e. 100 yards) would not be visible even when your perspective changed. This made the spell rather useless for its intended purpose of scouting. It now works properly, back to its old functionality.

No. Any action that you do (casting a spell, because you can't move) or damage that you take breaks Mind Control. I wish it were like the Gnomish mind control cap. :) That gives you a pet for 20 seconds.

One more use: When i pass lower level zones, I MC allies and buff them with Fortitude and Divine Spirit. They are instant cast so they get on target before MC breaks. :)

Edited, Aug 11th 2007 9:40am by PilgrimFX

What he means is that you can actually give buffs to members of the opposite faction by mind controlling them and then hitting an instant cast buff (i.e. Troll buffing a Human). The spell will hit before your MC breaks.

Typically viewed as a gesture of good will.

Just keep in mind that guards will *not* understand you're being nice, and will attack you if you MC people in their aggro range, despite your benevolent intentions. In other words, don't do it until you're away from the docks.

It's a fantastic PvP tool for healing priests as well, since it's very threatening (nothing like MCing a healer off the bridge in Blade's Edge and isolating them from their group) and if they interrupt it, you're home free to cast healing spells. It's very nice in solo PvP as well for much this reason.

The only thing you can really do with MC while soloing is to MC a mob and let it beat on another mob, or get killed if its in a group. The only purpose of this really is to weaken multiple mobs or even kill one and not waste much mana. Usually once the mind control breaks you will never cast it again while soloing or else, like you said, it will just break right away.

So its a neat trick to make groups of mobs easier to handle by weakening multiple mobs with great mana efficiency and not taking damage.

In groups, on the other hand, the tank can easily agro all the other mobs so none will hit you even when your MC breaks (it's a little trickier getting the MCed mob off you).