Stun

Stun effects are a form of crowd control that will cause a 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 do not break when the victim is damaged. Consequently, stuns are almost always very short duration effects.

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.

Class abilities

 * Death knight: Gnaw (Ghoul, requires Master of Ghouls, also available via Raise Ally).
 * Druid: Bash (Bear Form), Pounce (Cat Form), Maim (Cat Form).
 * Hunter: Intimidation (Talent), Sonic Blast (Pet ability), Sting (Pet ability).
 * Mage: Impact (Talent proc which allows Fire Blast to stun), Deep Freeze (Talent).
 * Paladin: Hammer of Justice, Seal of Justice.
 * Rogue: Kidney Shot, Cheap Shot.
 * Shaman: Bash (Feral Spirit).
 * Tauren: War Stomp.
 * Warlock: Shadowfury (Talent), Intercept (Felguard).
 * Warrior: Intercept, Charge, Concussion Blow (Talent), Shockwave (Talent).

Counters and immunities

 * 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.
 * Class abilities
 * Mages can use Blink or Ice Block to free themselves from stuns.
 * 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.
 * Hunters with the Tier 9 talent The Beast Within are immune to stuns for 10 seconds (as are their pets) while Bestial Wrath is active.
 * Priests with Glyph of Desperation can cast Guardian Spirit or Pain Suppression while stunned.
 * The orc racial trait Hardiness reduces stun duration by 15%.
 * Warrior talent Second Wind (warrior talent) 2/2 regenerates 20 rage and 5% of total health over 10 seconds after being stunned.
 * Some mobs, including all raid bosses, most or all dungeon bosses and many elites, are permanently immune to stuns.

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. For example, if the mage ability Impact is triggered more than three times in a short period of time, the target will show immunity towards a fourth Impact. 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