PSA Pick Tanks

Wolfram Oxford·May 1, 2016·4 votes·429 views

Quit picking squishy champions top, sup, and jungle, unless they have an abundance of utility. Otherwise you will end up losing to the team that actually gets the memo and picked 3 tanks.

3 Comments

ValyrianBladeMay 1, 20161 votes

I'll start by saying that, especially when I'm ADC, I do strongly prefer tank picks in all 3 of these roles. I agree that tanks simply make the game a lot easier for your teammates and have a better chance of teamfighting successfully later in the game.

I do, however, think 3 goes too far. Not all 3 need to be tanks. Having all 3 as tanks probably actually hurts more than it helps. 2 tanks and a bruiser, then sure. There is such a thing as too many tanks though, as it makes your early game considerably weaker. Tanks are great in teamfights, not so great in 1v1 duels or 2v2 skirmishes (at least not before they get a few items).

I also find that it's easier to be successful by picking say, Quinn top, and beating the enemy Darius or Fiora senseless in lane so they can't do anything later in the game. A lot safer strategy than going say maokai and letting them bully you early and get enough CS to get strong even if they don't kill you.

I actually default to Quinn top because I can reliably not let the enemy top laner, be it a bruiser or carry or tank, get ahead. In most cases I can bully them and keep them out of the game. I do draw the line when I see my support and jungler picking (or intent-ing) non-tanks though. If the whole team is squishy, I'll swap over to something tankier (often J4, Volibear, Gnar, or Maokai). Even if 1 person is a tank I'll swap over if I see my team has a hyper carry or if we're going to need the extra tankiness for some reason.

What irks me is when I have first pick top and go Quinn (because I feel like any of my other options get counterpicked too easily and I end up doing terribly in lane and feeding the enemy bruiser/tank who proceeds to carry) when no one on my team shows pick intent, then the jungler proceeds to go Kindred and the support goes with a mage. Like come on guys, either show me your pick intent so I know we'll be tankless, or pick a tank yourself!

I'd say the point is, I think the PSA should be: Top, JG, Supp, at least 1 of you pick a tank, preferably 2. Whoever's last pick (or whoever didn't show intent) pick a tank if the others didn't (or if the others showed non-tank intent).

dim2aMay 1, 20161 votes

I'm jg main. The problem of picking tank jg in silver (where I am currently), is that if your adc decides grouping is for wimps, and tries to spit late game, you're dead in the water. Or if adc decides not to group when you need to push for other reasons, same story.

e.g. in a game I just finished. I picked quinn jg for damage mix considerations (too much AP), got slight flak for picking non-tank since we were light on tanks... fast forward to late game:

We lost an inhib, but got baron for it. They have better late game but we have baron. After some inconclusive fights, we have ~40 sec left on baron buff, a few of them are low we are pushing mid and our adc (full HP).. decides to back for an item! We proceed to engage 4v5, win that teamfight, proceed to end the game. If I was tank, and adc did that I'd be stuck in the water. And it happens a LOT in silver, so I don't want to rely on our adc grouping, too often they don't. Or early game, often you gank bot at level 6-7, get a kill or get them low, head to dragon.. adc decides to stay and farm (supports somehow are usually good at responding to dragon pings... adcs, not so much). If I'm tank jg, I'm stuck -- either I take forever to do dragon and risk getting caught there, or get nothing off the gank. If I'm non-tank jg, yeah, I might lose a lot of HP and have to b after it, but dragon is ours.

Last season after I got to high gold, I started picking tank jg most of the time, they do work better there. Until then, no, thanks, I'll stick to jg that do damage. Unless I know the adc or am duo with him, then sure, I'm willing to stake the game on them being reliable, and will probably pick a tank unless we already have 2. Otherwise, waiting for adc to group can be just too frustrating.

Surfer AsheMay 1, 20161 votes

If my team has no tanks and the enemy has at least 1, just dodge.

Anecdote statically speaking, the team with the tanks have a 75% chance of winning if they make it through the first 8 minutes without feeding their face off.