No one follows up. It's impossible. Every single win I get is luck based, no matter how well or crappy I play as a tank, it all depends on if my team knows how to play. Therefore I am going to play champions I hate playing up until I climb to plat. There's no other way to climb, and once I get to high elo tanks will be broken.
Ralanr10 votesIn my experience, you shouldn’t expect people to follow your tactics. You need to shift your tactics to their playstyle.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, is that people will make stupid risks to get kills. So I play tanks to make them more likely to live from their stupid risks. Because a living teammate is more useful than a dead one.
Paintchip1 votesIn my experience, you shouldn’t expect people to follow your tactics. You need to shift your tactics to their playstyle.
So feed and when all else fails forget strategy and pretend I’m playing ARAM mode.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, is that people will make stupid risks to get kills. So I play tanks to make them more likely to live from their stupid risks. Because a living teammate is more useful than a dead one.
No, this is wrong. There are some that are more usefull when not living. Now I don’t have to compete with them for cs.
SwiftKitten881 votes{quoted} Because a living teammate is more useful than a dead one.
usually yeah, but some games i would even question that..
we are 10 kills behind.. going to lose but oh look we have vision all all five of them bot lane, we can sneak baron! we all go to baron start killing it.. some idiot hits the sweeping plant thing... whole enemy team comes rushing to baron now to stop it. we manage to take baron but they kill 4 of us and take the win...
Cheetah Nidalee1 votesusually yeah, but some games i would even question that..
we are 10 kills behind.. going to lose but oh look we have vision all all five of them bot lane, we can sneak baron! we all go to baron start killing it.. some idiot hits the sweeping plant thing... whole enemy team comes rushing to baron now to stop it. we manage to take baron but they kill 4 of us and take the win...
LOL I KNOW RIGHT??
lets go sneak this drag!!! mE: uses blast cone over wall to take it wiThout giving them visionof drag by going through the scuttle they took
adc and support are like.. "ooh im ganna help" THEY STAND IN THE FREAKING SCUTTLE VISION AND AUTO THE DAMN THING. then the enemy mid, jungler, adc, and support come in kill all three of us and the the drag
LIKE WTF??? WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME???
Barkley5 votesThis is just blatantly and unabashedly false.
I play literally nothing but tanks, and I'm climbing just fine. getting 22-24 LP per game. Only losing like 15-18.
60% win rate or better on most of my tank champion pool.
Should be gold in no time, probably climb even higher than that. If I didn't have college/wife/kids/job I'd probably be plat already.
Tanks are fine. If anything, tanks are fairly strong right now.
SaltLord4515 votes
is currently freelo right now.
Steelflame4 votesExcept you are dead wrong.
Playing tanks is one of the greatest ways to climb in low elo, BECAUSE you round out your team almost without fail.
There is a reason why tank jungles even in non-tank jungle metas tend to still hold a fairly decent win rate, even when in a meta they are "weak" in. Its because they are picked to fill in a core weakness in a team. Amumu didn't have a 52%+ winrate for many many seasons in a row despite only being decent because he was "only played by mains". It was because he filled in the basic need in a team comp to have a bulky durable CC bot.
Learn how to react to your team as a tank. You can't just go in because you see the potential for a perfect 5 man ulti combo. Because doing so when your team isn't going to follow is just you blowing important cooldowns and probably dying. Do several things first.
Get the read of your team. Know who prefers to play safe and go for safe 1 at a times picks, who likes big clusterfuck brawls, and who wants those flashy #LCS plays.
Assuming you are in a situation where the relevant players are nearby for a situation they "prefer", ping and say that you are LOOKING for a good chance to go in.
Sometimes, a situation to go in will NOT show itself. You know what? Just the threat of you being there can be enough to stop the enemy from going in because they feel the same as you do at that time.
If the enemy team DOES go in, you can try and counter-engage/disengage the fight. Sometimes, you may not WIN the fight, but if it keeps you from losing the fight or losing a significant chunk of your team, it can be worth it. Sometimes it is best to just force a draw where the enemy team also has to back off.
Finally, get the read of the enemy team. Are they 3-5 dive champs who will happily try and rush past you to your squishy carry? DO NOT ENGAGE. Just wait for them to come to you, and then you now have them in the middle of your team getting CC locked, instead of ahead of your team getting CCed as your team follows. If you engage early, they may get out of the CC lock and then dive past your now rather low value self because you are on full CD. Your carries die. Then they turn to you and you die.
vgamedude2 votesYep. Got to play champs like 
if you're top.
dark100dark1002 votesSame with supports. My teammates working hard for loosing games. I really don't understand them. There is normals for playing the game, ranked is playing for win.
Pheobos2 votesStupid thing is.. that you are awefully right. As a tank player you just get stuck in this position that you are too reliant on your team for the damage and well, you can't honestly trust every carry to be a good one. Because no matter how good you went in lane, if your botlane lost, or even your mid.. you are basicly screwed 80% of the time.
Colton1471 votes
are very good low elo tanks. ('s more a bruiser, but close enough)
Wisteriå1 votesI was having the same issue playing Leona support . I'd go in and my ADC wouldn't follow up leading to my doom (even after being pinged to engage) and leaving me to blame or I'd get question mark pinged for trying to poke. I switched over to Soraka and Zyra and started winning a bit more. What I've seen played a lot in low elo are 
and . Split pushers especially seem to be the way to go.
Spank the Fox1 votesTanks are even more strong in low elo because they’re a mid game damage threat and can force co-ordinated play with their CC. They’re also more forgiving to positioning mistakes.
Don’t blame your loss on tanks because you had a game.
notice me Sin pi2 votes[{quoted}](name=Spank the Fox,realm=OCE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=AUGqz2dG,comment-id=0005,timestamp=2018-02-24T21:31:27.198+0000)
co-ordinated play
that does not happen in low elo; if that's what makes tanks strong in mid game, then tanks are probably not that strong in any phase of the game in low elo.
Spank the Fox1 votesLmao i’m in silver atm, ex-plat player. You’re still under-estimating what a tank enables.
Echostormxx2 votesI've played around 70 games as tanks and have a positive winrate with them. I'm not blaming my losses on tanks. I just think they're pretty useless in low elo, and it's not really a measure of your own skill when playing them, but rather your teams skill. When people are more coordinated in high elo, it is easier to get people to follow up. This is all I am saying.
notice me Sin pi3 votes[{quoted}](name=Spank the Fox,realm=OCE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=AUGqz2dG,comment-id=000500000000,timestamp=2018-02-25T06:55:29.584+0000)
Lmao i’m in silver atm, ex-plat player. You’re still under-estimating what can an ex-plat player enable.
fify
UpDownLeftRightAB1 votesSaying no one knows how to follow up means you probably went too soon because you were impatient. From my experience, I lose if the tank goes in too soon because then he can be focused down 5v1. While from playing a tank, if you just wait till the ADC/AP carry/Support/ Team is in position then go in, you will have much higher success. Use pings before you go in, like spam. People will spam back, in the downtime, talk about what YOU will do. Peel, bait, reset, all in, dive. That's pretty much all the vocab you know. If you carry dies, just a quick, "hey who killed you/who is getting to you?" will help everyone focus the problem. Being a tank requires more communication than a role such as ADC.
Ahri Baka1 votesActually tanks are needed , even in low elo , did you try playing a 5 tanks match ? it's fun and 100% a guaranteed win , no matter what picks they have , you will win
Thund3r Ang3l1 votesIn the jungle, I recommand juggernaut/Bruiser and the 3 best in my mind are 
and .
For top lane, 
.
Almost all of those champions can 1vs2 at a certain point or splitpush forever. Bronze are not always aware of their map so if you splitpush alot, they wont know how to react most of the time or simply forget about you lol.
Tiddy Twister1 votesEvery single win I get is luck based, no matter how well or crappy I play...
I have some bad news. This doesn't stop at low elo.
Handy Sandy 1 votesin low elo nobody will kite you, so you'll be able to sustain their damage while hitting them, wearing them down, and killing them. Also, nobody will focus the tank because they don't understand that tanks can be an actual threat.
I think you're picking terrible times to engage and don't understand that the damage dealers aren't in a spot to actually fight or they don't have the damage to kill whoever you're engaging on.
Feel Apathy1 votesI suggest following a build guide from champion.gg as a start.
Cho'gath's absolutely ludicrous at the moment, but you're building him as a damage dealer instead of a front liner to soak damage and eat the enemy carry/frontline if they overextend.
When playing support-tank always aim for: 
> 
> 
with boots and if you're playing 
in-between.
Play around your teammates and if needed use caps lock to act as a shepherd and gather them up, usually the tank is the one that's in charge of how a fight goes, so your control is vital towards winning.
Good luck.
IainG101 votesIf you're an engage tank 
is just hilarious (except 
because her ult removes the enemy from her range)
Malix Farwin1 votesDepends on your tank, Nasis/Sion are doing pretty well in low elo atm.
Paintchip1 votes
pretty good picks too
T4underbolt1 votesROFL. Tanks were designed by riot to allow low elo players to climb for free. If you can't carry with tanks out of low Eli then I have bad news for you.
NekoniClaws1 votesEvery role has a big issue like that. Having said that there are champions you can carry easily with, and ones you can't.
I play, and carry, with the two engage champions- Leona and Rakan. They have that perfect level of a .5 second pre-engage animation (E and W respectively) which isolates a target, followed by a giant glowy explosion. And very rarely do they use this combo as anything but an engage. When they go in- you KNOW they're going in.
My low elo friends lap it up. It's easy to understand, and easy to see, they follow.
Meanwhile if I play Thresh, they'll often assume I'm not going on on a hook. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. When your teammates can't see the opportunity, they'll not expect your engage.
And I'm not saying any tanks are bad, but more that- there are ones that are better suited for a nice, rapid climb through low elo.
Tychusfindlay9181 votestry tanks like chogath, who have carry-potential damage.
Echostormxx1 votes.-. I main cho'gath. The problem is winning when your team is behind, people don't follow up as I said so you're essentially a useless meatshield with a true damage nuke late game...literally you pick someone off and think your team will engage with you but instead end up getting 4v2ed and dying to whatever fed member there is while your team is still sitting there and debating whether they should go in or not after 5-10 on my way pings and "target adc"... Cho'gath has carry potential but in order for him to carry your team has to not have a combined 28 deaths in the first 15 minutes.
C0ckAsian1 votesThere is a lot that can be addressed in your comment lol. Is this a cry of intent for help?
I'm going to assume call for help.
I think you're building your case and experience on a fundamentally flawed perspective. Yes, trolls exist. But I can't say that the majority of people queue up with the intent of letting people down for the joy of it lol.
Fact is your teammates are trying, in every elo, most ppl are trying. Going in with this toxic mindset, and beating the dead horse of not being able to rely on teammates doesn't do anybody any good.
My best advice, if you want to talk initiation/tanks, is to put more thought into the setup and the aftermath of your initiations. This will put into perspective whether your intiiation was truly good for the team, or bad for the team. Pay close attention, I said good/bad, not the theoretical optimal play. Depending on your elo, an optimal play can be TYPICALLY optimizing splash damage. As elo's go higher, an initiation on your enemy team's winning condition, a fed target, or a very disruptive support, at the right time has greater impact than a 5 man ult. Why? Because, your team was in a BETTER POSITION to follow up as people on both teams were en-route to a grouping point than they were in a mirror 5v5 ARAM under enemy tower.
That's just one probable outcome of many...but honestly, I think what's prob going to help you more is reframing your perspective. How can you best enable your team? Otherwise, play more splitpush/assassin/carry roles, or learn to spec your tank properly for that purpose. For example, a 5 man tank malphite ult is great because it does decent splash dmg(early, less late) but it also shreds armor, and hurts opposing team's damage capability by impairing movement and attack speed. You hit the team with a good knock up, slow everybody and just continue to deal sustained noodle damage and maybe run the carries out of the fight while your teammates melt the frontline. But...if you are ahead, and you THINK that you can handle the responsibility of carrying the team, you may consider by offensive items. Smaller life bars after your ult+rotation may entice your team better for follow up, ya know what I mean? Maybe blow up 2-3 people in the process and die or Zhonyas. You probably won't be running at their carries if they weren't caught in your rotation tho, different than tank Malphite. Maybe if all the gold is on the enemy Vel'Koz, it's worth trading your life for their team's only waveclear and threat at Baron/Dragon contests. In doing so, you'd have to play differently and realize that certain match ups that were traditionally favorable may no longer be favorable. You may now be a teamfight god, but if you walk back into your lane vs. generic AD Tryndamere depending on build/stage of the game, you're not going to have a good time.
TL:DR, look to enable your team. Or learn to carry properly.
Echostormxx1 votesThere is a lot that can be addressed in your comment lol. Is this a cry of intent for help?
I'm going to assume call for help.
I think you're building your case and experience on a fundamentally flawed perspective. Yes, trolls exist. But I can't say that the majority of people queue up with the intent of letting people down for the joy of it lol.
Fact is your teammates are trying, in every elo, most ppl are trying. Going in with this toxic mindset, and beating the dead horse of not being able to rely on teammates doesn't do anybody any good.
My best advice, if you want to talk initiation/tanks, is to put more thought into the setup and the aftermath of your initiations. This will put into perspective whether your intiiation was truly good for the team, or bad for the team. Pay close attention, I said good/bad, not the theoretical optimal play. Depending on your elo, an optimal play can be TYPICALLY optimizing splash damage. As elo's go higher, an initiation on your enemy team's winning condition, a fed target, or a very disruptive support, at the right time has greater impact than a 5 man ult. Why? Because, your team was in a BETTER POSITION to follow up as people on both teams were en-route to a grouping point than they were in a mirror 5v5 ARAM under enemy tower.
That's just one probable outcome of many...but honestly, I think what's prob going to help you more is reframing your perspective. How can you best enable your team? Otherwise, play more splitpush/assassin/carry roles, or learn to spec your tank properly for that purpose. For example, a 5 man tank malphite ult is great because it does decent splash dmg(early, less late) but it also shreds armor, and hurts opposing team's damage capability by impairing movement and attack speed. You hit the team with a good knock up, slow everybody and just continue to deal sustained noodle damage and maybe run the carries out of the fight while your teammates melt the frontline. But...if you are ahead, and you THINK that you can handle the responsibility of carrying the team, you may consider by offensive items. Smaller life bars after your ult+rotation may entice your team better for follow up, ya know what I mean? Maybe blow up 2-3 people in the process and die or Zhonyas. You probably won't be running at their carries if they weren't caught in your rotation tho, different than tank Malphite. Maybe if all the gold is on the enemy Vel'Koz, it's worth trading your life for their team's only waveclear and threat at Baron/Dragon contests. In doing so, you'd have to play differently and realize that certain match ups that were traditionally favorable may no longer be favorable. You may now be a teamfight god, but if you walk back into your lane vs. generic AD Tryndamere depending on build/stage of the game, you're not going to have a good time.
TL:DR, look to enable your team. Or learn to carry properly.
Yeah man, I've learned a lot since 6 months ago and I agree with mostly everything you've said. That being said, I don't really play tanks that much anymore because of damage meta. I actually still stick by my opinion that tanks shouldn't be played as much in low elo, but mostly because you have to carry your own team if you want to get out, and it's harder to do that building pure tank.
Back a few months ago, I used to go into a ranked game with a negative mindset just like I showed in this post. Since I've become better at the game and less negative it basically has allowed me to climb way more than I originally thought I could. Thanks for the advice my friend. I totally get where you're coming from.
Terozu1 votesI mean. I climbed from bronze to silver via Nunu so i disagree.
Echostormxx1 votesI mean. I climbed from bronze to silver via Nunu so i disagree.
Bronze is a joke though... I climbed out of it with a 70% winrate over 30 games with AP cho'gath. I was talking about Silver. What a fucking nightmare my friend.
I still play the occasional tank like Sion and Cho'gath, but other than that I switched to non-tanks and climbed a few divisions up.