Bring Back Tanks

yobhguod·Sep 27, 2014·3 votes·1,027 views

Honestly, I don't see tanks anymore, I see bruisers, just like Season 2. I miss being able to stack armor and actually take more than 3 hits from a ADC before having to play defensively.

11 Comments

Tony TomatoSep 27, 20143 votes

Tanks are certainly still around, I don't see where you're getting this assumption that Tanks are not beefy at this point is unjustified.

Ironclad DragonSep 27, 20142 votes

A tank that doesn't deal a considerable amount of damage is not a tank at all. You need something to draw aggro.

MrBuffingtonSep 27, 20142 votes

I mean, probably top two best top laners right now (in pro play) are Maokai and Alistar, both of whom build one damage/tank item (RoA and Triforce, respectively) then go full tank (honestly it's the same with Irelia and Nidalee; they're just naturally less tanky). Besides that, it's not like Mundo/Shyvana/Renekton/Shen are bad; you don't see them too often anymore since they're probably tier 1.5/2, but not bad by any means. And new Sion. New Sion looks amazing.

Playing jungle? Jarvan IV and Nunu. Playing support? Braum and Leona. And these are just the picks you see in pro play; tons of other picks that are viable in Solo Q.

If you miss stacking armor, just stack armor; there's nothing to complain about since tanks are still very strong.

CmereCupcakeSep 27, 20141 votes

I've got a champ for you good sir, step right up! Braum

Knight SoIaire Sep 27, 20141 votes

pointless thread

riot is working

but tanks are special, normaly it works like this guy deals dmg so guy is a threat so you need to kill him before he kils you

tank oversteps this because he doesnt deal dmg and he has to tank dmg thats why he needs special tools all the older tanks were just attempts to find what are those special tools, riot tried taunts, damage for armor, and even loads of cc to make them work

and the only ones who work atm are maokai and braum (maokai had his kit updated to make him soak his allies dmg, while braum just tanks the damage by force)

you cant just say that you want tanks back because those guys are hard to make as fk,

HayaishiSep 28, 20141 votes

Tank itemization can't be as strong as it deserves to be because Bruisers would abuse it.

Until bruisers are reworked we can't have strong tanks.

axesandspearsNov 1, 20141 votes

Tank itemization can't be as strong as it deserves to be because Bruisers would abuse it.

Until bruisers are reworked we can't have strong tanks.

No amount of reworking champions will ever make a strong tank item weak on general bruisers. Even if riot simply eliminated all known bruisers, the next group of shortest-range champions will become very defense-dependent and start building those tank items to compete.

Shorter range champions simply take damage first (and are often kited for a portions of the fights), so they are unlikely to win when competing in a damage race, and this explains the very existence of bruisers.

When a one player has trouble bursting the other player down (or tickling them from outside of range), he/she needs durability to survive longer or he/she will die uselessly. That is just how combat works--both in real life and games.

Both tanks and bruisers build defensive because they need to survive for long periods to inflict damage (and provide useful utility in combat).

The only real difference between tanks and bruisers is how much of their contribution is damage versus cc/peeling/initiating/soaking/damage-mitigation capacity. Those lines are also often blurred. For example:

initiates well and reduces incoming damage from a few sources, but he is not a true tank because he does not repetitive cc to adequately peel opponents off of his allies. instead relies on his high durability to inflict a reasonable amount of AOE damage to pick up the slack (sunfire cape, ground slam, and brutal strikes, along with some targeted damage from shard). is a bruiser because he is mostly useless when he does not inflict much damage, despite the fact that he relies on building a lot of defense to ensure that he can inflict that damage. (this is not the full list) are all tanks because they have a reasonable capacity to initiate (more often than Malphite's 60-100+ second cooldown), mitigate damage, and peel opponents with repeated slows and/or hard-cc (something that Malphite cannot do). While some tanks can inflict a lot of damage, they do not actually need to inflict damage during combat to remain relevant if they still have surviving allies nearby.*

Elkington IVOct 6, 20141 votes

Tanks were very strong in season 2.

For example, Nautilus became a late game raid boss. He was easily one of the strongest late game tanks. He's still strong late game, but nowhere near his S2 self due to strong damage and penetration are now.

Orlandu13Oct 9, 20141 votes

Leona is not a tank. A support cannot be a tank because the support would have to buy gold income item first so that the adc doesn't whine and complain. After this purchase of at minimum 500 gold at the start the support now can go tank right? Nope. If you do your adc will have a fit for good reason your going to have to invest in wards. No point to be a tank and fight 3v2 all day. Now after item two you may now start your tank builds. I think the tanky supports are my favorite but they are best called off tanks. they can fill the role but they are out two items till end game where they are out 1 tank item. The only way for Leona to be a tank would be for her to get far ahead which she does because of her cc but if Leona so much as goes even she will not be tanking much due to the minimum 1300 gold spent on other stuff. As of now tanking is in a very bad place which is why u see a lot of cc and off tanks. CC is king now due to the attack damage champs.

OrbvOct 9, 20141 votes

CC is always king. The issue is that everyone has it now, so like you said you can get a CC champ with damage versus one who soaks damage. =/. The big thing is catching picks and assassinating their damage, then watch to see who has the best non ADC champs.