A couple of tanks that could use some attention

Acheron16··2 votes·490 views

So I can't help but notice how weak Poppy feels after the rework. Wasn't a fan of her before but when I built her as a tank she actually felt more of a tank than the current one. And the changes she needs are so simple that I don't see why they weren't implemented the week she came live:

  • Passive given a reduced CD per level OR a reduced CD if you catch the shield, otherwise she has no active defences in teamfights to rely on (if she activates the passive at all). It's fine for laning phase but woefully weak for anytime after that

  • Q given a MUCH larger radius in exchange for lesser damage OR a much stronger slow so she can proc the second blast more easily

  • W active being able to stop any subsequent dashes from a champion, so that if that Akali or Yasuo use their dash on you they can't immediately ignore your long CD ability and still proceed to dive the backline. Given how short lived the active is it would be a much needed change to make Poppy THE anti-mobilty champion, otherwise a stun beats this ability anytime. The W passive could also be much stronger so she doesn't have to be below 40% and have around 300 armor and MR for it to be relevant.

  • Her ultimate... oh boy... This seemed to be sooo strong in theory but as usual,reality proves it wrong. Having low damage on top of its long charge time, making the enemies untargetable and long CD makes this skill barely useful. So i propose one of two changes: less CD, more damage, no untargetability OR the ultimate spawning a pilar like Trundle so she can E more easily, wether she hits someone or not. It would be an much more interesting ability and the interactions with other champions would be a bonus as well.

Now to Zac

Boy, Zac has been irrelevant for a while, since that time where he was chain nerfed into uselessness (a bit like Khazix, but that's a rant for another time) and barely offered something useful.

Now what does Zac offer that's unique? A super long engage tool that allows him to gank from unexpected places.

It's a pretty powerful stuff, but because of it he was nerfed pretty much everywhere:

  • His Q slow needs levels to be relevant
  • W got buffed thankfully so no problems there
  • Same for E (multiplied by 10)
  • His ultimate CC reduction was reduced so he now has an even harder time sticking to enemies

So what does Zac need? Not much really:

  • Q slow increased at base ability level (with reduced slow increase per ability levels)
  • W can pretty much stay the same
  • E can also stay the same
  • R needs either it's CC reduction back OR instead of knocking enemies back need to knock them up, so he can actually stay on top of them and be disruptive (as tank/bruiser should be)
  • Buff to his resistances, both base and per level. Seriously, with how buffed % health damages (and how they are being given to pretty much everyone) and bonus armor penetration have been, Zac's health building is more flimsy than ever. I understand him being an "health tank", but with the way his passive works, everytime he uses an ability he's peeling himself of the enemy team, to the point he's easily bursted down (a tank, bursted down, let that sink in), which on top of his weak resistances makes him a situational pick at best.

And he's not that viable toplane either with the changes that were done to the way his blobs fall either (more time where he can't pick up blobs, blobs favouring falling near enemies) and the sheer amount of lane bullies that reside there nowadays.

Just some changes that would make these champions much more viable. I mean, Amumu always has a huge winrate due to how easy he is to play (and to being stupidly tanky). but these two are quite below the winrate expected from a tank (both residing around 48%) which is a pretty good indicator something is not quite right with them.

Thank you for your time.

7 Comments

BroLane1 votes

Taric Galio Warwick These tanks need love too.

BladeSteel1 votes

Poppy isn't weak right now....And neither is zac. people just don't like to play him. A "tank" that needs some love is nunu.

Ricky Spanish DC1 votes

{quoted}

Poppy isn't weak right now....And neither is zac. people just don't like to play him. A "tank" that needs some love is nunu.

Ap nunu is just much better right now-super underrated and really strong with 2 league second cd on his snowball.

BladeSteel1 votes

He still has the lowest winrate support top and a really low winrate in the jungle.

Ricky Spanish DC1 votes

The new poppy is actually really strong. Also, you can't expect to deal a lot of damage if you build full tank- you are trading off damage for tankiness.

TheThundersRoar1 votes

Poppy is really strong in the right hands. I'd hardly call her weak. A fed Poppy is a nightmare to deal with. Between the free resists, the mobility, a well-placed ultimate, the CC, and the base damage, I've seen her carry countless games.

Zac isn't currently meta but he's still a good pick in solo Q. His only problem is that doesn't do as much damage as other tanks, but he has better engage than most of them.

Acheron161 votes

Ok, maybe weak was the wrong word, but you can't deny Poppy just feels... off. The changes I proposed would make it better to play if, of course, she had nerfs elsewhere (say Q damage or something).

Zac definitely needs changes, cmon, 4% pickrate with 48% winrate? For a tank that's terrible, look at Leona's 14% pickrate and 51% winrate, that's what you would expect from a tank. HIs engage is good, but if he pays for it by having awful stats and an ultimate that most of the times just saves the opponents its makes it a bit too much of a trade-off. Once again, look at Leona. Her orbital strike of an ultimate and E as wide as Gragas makes it very easy for her to engage, even if she's more predictable, but then again it ensures the death of at least one or two opponents.

Taric, Warwick, Galio and Nunu need full on reworks so might as well not waste too much time changing them right now, these are relatively simple changes that can be done without wasting too many resources (except the change on Poppy's ultimate, but that would make it more thematic honestly)

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