"We need a tank. Can you tank support?"

Purpl3Jungl3·Nov 27, 2016·147 votes·11,489 views

So tired of this. With 2nd pick support I show Zyra immediately, and 4th pick Top shows Kayle, and 5th pick Jungle shows Master Yi and says, "we need a tank" followed by "tanky support would work." The previous game I had 5th pick support in the same situation and switched to a tank to help the team. However, this time I replied "I can play any support you want .. as long as it's Zyra" He dodged ... good riddance. Sorry .. tired of everyone always thinking it's support's job to be the tank but Top and Jungle have options.

238 Comments

DarkRitualNov 27, 201673 votes

First pick Locks Yasuo top. Second pick locks Talon mid. Third pick is ADC. Fourth pick locks in Master Yi for Jungle.

"We need a tank."

...

Yeah... I'm just gonna play a ranged poke mage.

5000000000000000Nov 27, 201643 votes

They also need a source of magic damage :^)

DarkRitualNov 27, 201614 votes

Hence the poke mage. I'd rather have a damage variety and stay in the backline. Teamcomp sucks one way or another, so it's up to me which way it's flawed.

Duke AnaxNov 27, 20162 votes

That's usually when I lock in Tank Urgot support with Black Cleaver.

Or AP Tank Soraka.

5000000000000000Nov 27, 20161 votes

RIP old soraka

Duke AnaxNov 27, 20162 votes

Yeah, old Soraka was an AP Juggernaut, just crazy.

XonraNov 27, 20169 votes

That is when I just pick Morgana and lock in "smug face" on the other side of the keyboard.

Everyone wants a tank, but no one else wants to play it, then wants to tell the support to be the only tank.

DarkRitualNov 27, 20168 votes

I've been wanting to go full troll mode sometimes with it, just haven't had a good chance yet. Garen item 3116 item 3152 item 2303 item 3009 item 3512 item 3060

JonxxNov 27, 20165 votes

https://i.makeagif.com/media/8-06-2015/Pn9QCN.gif

Deep Terror NamiNov 27, 201649 votes

I don't understand what's wrong with them asking. Unless they start belittling you for your choice and refuse to understand that you are much better making your usual pick than what they think they need, there shouldn't be an issue. If they do start talking shit or blame you for a disadvantage just mute them.

Honestly, I've only been asked to tank a handful of times. Eh, could have something to do with my name making it obvious what I'm best at >:3

MarshbouyNov 27, 20161 votes

eyyy nami, what's your view on support build diversity, sight stone, and why people don't want to play the role ATM?

Deep Terror NamiNov 27, 201610 votes

I feel that this season build diversity has been pretty amazing. Concerning Sightstone, I don't have a problem with it being a required first item and don't feel it's necessary to "fix" that.

People don't like Support for the same reason they have always not liked it; they love to blow shit up and be on top of the charts. Most games don't have a comparable role so most players come from games where everyone is competing to top the charts (even if that isn't the actual goal). It's unavoidable for a supportive role to be in high demand, and Riot shouldn't try to make it like every other role to satisfy them. If a team doesn't want a support they can have two carries sharing farm down bot if they want to, but feeding a carry and having a gold efficient support is proven to work well.

Just Blame JennyNov 27, 201637 votes

The problem is that supports work on a budget. A tank support won't be able to fill the role as well as, say, a tank top or jungle would.

If we've only off-tanks, I'm all too happy to play a tanky support to help round out the front line. But if the team is relying on me to be our sole and primary tank, well, they'd better pray to god my lane gets fed, because that's the only way it's going to work.

morris1Nov 27, 20164 votes

Disregarding the earlier rank ult nerfs, even at level 16 an Alistar with ult on melts way too fast.

i am very highNov 27, 201632 votes

{quoted}

The problem is that supports work on a budget. A tank support won't be able to fill the role as well as, say, a tank top or jungle would.

If we've only off-tanks, I'm all too happy to play a tanky support to help round out the front line. But if the team is relying on me to be our sole and primary tank, well, they'd better pray to god my lane gets fed, because that's the only way it's going to work.

This is exactly why nobody wants to play support. They have to work on a damn budget. It's like playing League of Legends Lite, where your mini game involves deciding where your team is going to try to die next, and warding that area. That's all.

TheGrumpNov 27, 201610 votes

{quoted}

This is exactly why nobody wants to play support. They have to work on a damn budget. It's like playing League of Legends Lite, where your mini game involves deciding where your team is going to try to die next, and warding that area. That's all.

I love this comment far too much. If I draw a comic of it, I'll post it, because that synopsis needs a comic. NEEDS.

Immortal spaxNov 27, 20163 votes

its just a thread to get free upvotes from the board support circlejerk

DoseqisNov 27, 20163 votes

As a support player i'm sorry, this thread is pretty bad the whole idea is counterproductive "why should i have to change my pick if you didn't" not like supports are the backbones of the team and should be the first to adapt to a team comp

XonraNov 27, 20167 votes

Pretty much not the point I'm fairly certain :P

When you are second pick and everyone refuses to play a role, but they tell you to, that is pretty dumb. Sure they said support, but it is the same for jungle and top as far as tank goes. ADC and Mid are the only ones that never have to play tanks.

You clearly missed the message. If it is a team game and you should "play to your team" or "play to the comp" why does only one person have to go with that, while everyone else gets to play what they actually want to play? Why should you have to be the one person to play something you really don't?

If your team went yasuo/yi/ad mid, you are already screwed as it is, and no single tank support is going to save that.

MarshbouyNov 27, 201642 votes

You know i've had this same issue with both top and jungle

It's not exclusive to the support role. I'll be 5th pick top and say pick intent ryze or something and then i'll get kindred jungle and a sona support. "it's the top laner's job to be the tank"

RalanrNov 27, 201616 votes

I thankfully rarely have this problem because I play tanks.

It sucks when I want to experiment outside my role.

MelledoneusNov 27, 20163 votes

This.

Those games I practice Jhin or a mid laner, everyone wants to play freaking assassins and squishies top and jg. They're lucky I have that Swain pick just in case we also get a Lux or Annie "support."

I can't wait for 6.24 so I can play Shen top again.

TyrekGoldenspearNov 27, 201620 votes

Taric Do not worry my friends. I will support.

Rest of team: Hurray! locks in squishy champs

Taric loads in, buys as starting item. AP Taric is Outrageously OP.

Rest of team: Aww.

ErockandrollNov 27, 201620 votes

And they believe, that the person with half xp and no gold, can actually fill the role of the teams tank? Just laugh at them.

Also, their is a certain level of disabiguity when they ask for a Tank. I usually think of the team's tank as a Vanguard, who acts as the team's primary engage. Their isn't even that much in the way of Vanguards for support. The only support I would really trust to do so is Leona, maybe Alistar. Taric and Braum are firmly Wardens, and everyone else is in a weird middle ground. Supports like Blitz and thresh can only really affect one target at a time, meaning they don't have the lockdown to be vanguards. But they arn't wardens either. (I think Riot thinks of them as fighter supports more than tank supports)

anyway, support tanks should be supplementary. But your main fill should come from either the Top or Jungle. (Probably top if you really need engage, since top lane should have teleport.)

RogueWillNov 27, 201616 votes

I always say, if you want a tank there are options for you in every single roll.

ADC: I can't be a tank! ME: You can play Urgot for all I care.

Athenes LuluNov 27, 20165 votes

Graves

Or just go full tank Jhin https://youtu.be/SCQMawfDF-w?t=5m39s

SonasaurousNov 27, 20168 votes

Ranked Game Champ Select: I'm last pick support, so I hover over Sona, showing my intent to play her. The rest of the team decided not to use the champ select feature, even though none of them chose to do any off-meta or crazy lane picks. Let's see... we had a Lux mid, top, Khazix jungle, and Jinx adc. Of course, Tryndamere locks in and says "We need a tank, I'm gonna carry this game." (paraphasing) Then Kha'Zix locks in and says "Support, go tank."

And I'm just sitting there like: [slayer-jinx-unamused] "Um, I've been hovering over Sona the entire time, guys. Why didn't any of you go tank?" Insert dialogue in which the Kha'Zix and Tryndamere avoid answering the obvious answer of "because I don't want to." I point out that mid can go tank, then mid locks in Lux and doesn't say anything.

So I'm like. K. Cool. Fine. I lock in Braum because he's free to play (though I do own him, just never play him).

We get into game, and I say "Oh btw, how do you play Braum?" And they're just like "FUCK."

Now, I did not intend to feed out my ass that game. Our entire team got steamrolled in every lane ~~(what was that about Tryndamere carrying us?)~~ But yeah, every lane fed, we all died like ten times each. It was bad. Who gets blamed for top and mid and bot losing lane? Me. The support that went tank for the team that didn't want to go tank.

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]

So I tell my team "What did we learn today?" And they're just like "STFU we get it." And I'm like "if you want a tank on the team, YOU BE THE TANK, instead of forcing the support to play a role that they may not know how to play with a champion that they don't know how to play."

I'm honestly not even mad I lost that game.

Leon EtoileNov 27, 20164 votes

That's why you don't listen to your team and play what you are best at.. or just look supp singed when they want supp tank

MagicFlyingLlamaNov 27, 20167 votes

This is why you pick support garen.

Tilt the whiney ADC, tilt the other ADC, tilt anyone caught with low HP near you.

If the ADC cries too much, as soon as you hit lv6 bait a fight and let your adc die, then ult the resulting villain and ignite the support for a free double and explain to your ADC how kill gold really works.

SteelMankindNov 27, 20167 votes

Are "tank" supports even really tanks? Killing Leona/Braum/Non-ulted Alistar feels so easy compared to actual top lane tanks like Sion and Poppy.

AtheosisXNov 27, 20163 votes

Sure they are. They just aren't as strong as top and jungle tanks.

PaladinNONov 27, 20166 votes

As support and have 4th pick, what do I do? There was still the jungler, and everyone wanted me to get a tank, preferably Alistar. I tried to explain that I wasn't good with tanky supports - especially Alistar - but that I felt confident with a utility support. And that the jungler didn't pick something tanky seemed just perfectly fine to everyone.

Without getting an answer to that within reasonable time, I just locked in Nami, because the timer started to close in on 0. We lost that match, and for some reason, I was the one to blame for that...

So what do people even want? Someone being unskilled with a tanky support to "complete" the team, or a skilled person with a utility support (which would be another squishy)?

HazyCloud7Nov 27, 20168 votes

Some people look to blame others regardless of the circumstances, you definitely made the right choice to pick something you are comfortable on.

FantasySniperNov 27, 20165 votes

This is absurdly common.

https://cdn.meme.am/cache/instances/folder670/66317670.jpg

DrehirthNov 27, 20163 votes

agreed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqL5ZtTFTyY

Shuyin178Nov 27, 20163 votes

If I didn't love solo'ing Draven players with my Leona I would complain about people making me take support. I will never forget that match I made a Draven my farming minion.

Sassmast3rNov 27, 20163 votes

This is one of those issues I'm pretty conflicted with...

On one side of the coin (and especially in normals), I think the individual should have the right to choose whatever champion they want (within reason) for a specific role. I'm not saying that you should randomly play something that obviously is ineffective and won't function well whatsoever (Jhin support, Ahri support, etc.), rather that one should have their own choice for what type of champion they want to use of all the champs either designed for said role, or relatively functional in that role.

On the other side of the coin, however, I feel as if it's not unreasonable for your teammates to be aggravated with your decision to use a champion because of what you personally wanted to use, regardless of how detrimental it is to your team. This example you provided is actually a perfect example; you want to play Zyra support, your team doesn't want you to, and you feel as if you should be given the liberty to play Zyra support with no flack from your teammates. I understand the frustration, but at the same time, wouldn't you argue it's selfish to choose a champion based on what you want to do solely, despite the fact that it may negatively impact 4 (or perhaps even 9) players' experiences?

I'm not at all saying the League of Legends community is special and deserves to be treated even with slight respect, however I honestly couldn't entirely side with you in this case. I want to play Karma support literally all the time, as I main her and find her most interesting of the ranged utility/poking supports, but I also feel awful when I choose her against my team's wishes simply because I wanted to have fun, and we end up not only losing our lane, but the entire game. I can't help but feel responsible for something like that.

I don't know, I'm probably entirely overthinking this, I just wish I had a solid, fair response to this myself. I don't want to make other players mad, but I also don't like sacrificing 20-50 minutes of my life and entertainment, especially when it's just a video game, not something dire, and thus I shouldn't concern myself with other's feelings so much.

5000000000000000Nov 27, 20167 votes

On the other side of the coin, however, I feel as if it's not unreasonable for your teammates to be aggravated with your decision to use a champion because of what you personally wanted to use, regardless of how detrimental it is to your team. This example you provided is actually a perfect example; you want to play Zyra support, your team doesn't want you to, and you feel as if you should be given the liberty to play Zyra support with no flack from your teammates. I understand the frustration, but at the same time, wouldn't you argue it's selfish to choose a champion based on what you want to do solely, despite the fact that it may negatively impact 4 (or perhaps even 9) players' experiences?

But why only blame the support for not picking a tank, when both top and jungle are picking squishy carries? Heck, even mid can pick a battlemage like Diana or Swain and be a decent frontline. Saying "we need a frontline" is fine. Asking the support only to be the frontline is not fine. That's just the playerbase treating supports like shit.

Sassmast3rNov 27, 20161 votes

You have a great point there honestly. You could just argue the same thing for them as we're doing with the support right here, though. The support is first pick, the top laner is last pick. Why is he forced to play a tank? That's not fair, he doesn't want to. But his team wants him to because it would help the team more. He wants to help the team, but he also wants to do something he enjoys, since video games are meant to entertain above all else (at least in my opinion, the LCS says otherwise haha).

5000000000000000Nov 27, 20163 votes

Really, in an ideal world, everyone should make some compromises. A bruiser instead of a tank, maybe. It's not as great a team comp (or maybe it is, depending on situation), but it's better than 5 squishies.

Really, I think a team should have at least 2 frontline, mixed damage, and some sort of hard engage as a requirement. If picks declared don't have all these, the teammates should really communicate.

coreychichiNov 27, 20163 votes

If his team took his input when selecting their roles/champs I would agree with you, if not then they don't all of a sudden get to dictate their will to him.

DolasaurNov 28, 20162 votes

{quoted}

This is one of those issues I'm pretty conflicted with...

On one side of the coin (and especially in normals), I think the individual should have the right to choose whatever champion they want (within reason) for a specific role. I'm not saying that you should randomly play something that obviously is ineffective and won't function well whatsoever (Jhin support, Ahri support, etc.), rather that one should have their own choice for what type of champion they want to use of all the champs either designed for said role, or relatively functional in that role.

On the other side of the coin, however, I feel as if it's not unreasonable for your teammates to be aggravated with your decision to use a champion because of what you personally wanted to use, regardless of how detrimental it is to your team. This example you provided is actually a perfect example; you want to play Zyra support, your team doesn't want you to, and you feel as if you should be given the liberty to play Zyra support with no flack from your teammates. I understand the frustration, but at the same time, wouldn't you argue it's selfish to choose a champion based on what you want to do solely, despite the fact that it may negatively impact 4 (or perhaps even 9) players' experiences?

If you're equally good at Karma and Leona and Brand, and you simply like Karma best, then what you're saying applies. However, most people don't have that.

A generally touted strategy for climbing is playing just one champion (with a non-terrible backup or two in case the other team bans/picks your champ). For many people, this is a very effective strategy. For those people, it leads to the question of: "Which is better? Winning more games in the long term by playing one champion I'm comfortable with, or losing more games in the long term in order to make sure my roster is well-rounded so I don't hurt the feelings of teams that want me to play X?"

Teammates that are strangers shouldn't be giving you flak for you champ choice for any reason. If they're simply being insulting, then you'd have no reason to feel guilty. If they're lecturing on proper team comp without you asking for it, that means they don't respect you in the first place (and lack the awareness that people don't appreciate unsolicited lectures). If they say "We could use a tank if you can play one, but we all want to win, so choose a champ that you have fun on and can play well!", then you can feel comfortable not playing a tank.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with going for the well balanced roster approach. If you get joy from covering your team's weakness (which isn't exactly uncommon for support mains), then that's great! It's particularly great if you do your research and see that your Braum/whoever games have a reasonably high win rate (rather than 75% win rate on sup Karma and 25% win rate on non-Karma that you went because your team asked for it).

xxxDogmanxxxNov 27, 20163 votes

Obvious solution is obvious.

Annie summoner 3 summoner 4 + CDR Runes + item 2301 item 3020 item 3157 item 3065 item 3742 item 3026

= Stun Bot Tank Annie

2BeholdNov 27, 20167 votes

Affording a item 3742 , item 3157 , and item 3026 on a support's income? :P

DarkfireAMNov 27, 201613 votes

Its affordable when you're...securing your teams kills.

xxxDogmanxxxNov 27, 20164 votes

Affording item 3742 item 3157 item 3026 on an **ANNIE ** support's income.

DJNEKKONov 27, 20163 votes

honestly if you are last pick and no one gets tank its kinda your job to decide if you want to go tank, but if you are first pick then I feel like you have the right to choose what you want.

OglafNov 27, 201620 votes

{quoted}

honestly if you are last pick and no one gets tank its kinda your job to decide if you want to go tank, but if you are first pick then I feel like you have the right to choose what you want.

What a disgusting and utterly cancerous attitude.

Reminds me of the days before Role Selection when the unfortunate sod who happened to be in last pick was forced to play Support because he was threatened with reports and nobody above last pick ever wanted Support.

Trias000Nov 27, 20163 votes

support = everyone's bitch That's how it's always looked in players' minds. They want you to ward, they want you to peel, they want you to make picks, and on top of all that, they will even pick a champion they want you to play.