As a tank player, this imbalance has always irked me.....

ThatHaleState··39 votes·3,676 views

When you roll into a game as a tank, your secret goal is to become a Raid boss. Maybe you won't do the most damage, but you sure as hell wont die either. When the game starts you evaluate the build path to best become that raid boss. Lets give some examples Enemy: Riven RekSai Yasuo Sivir Karma I see a pretty heavy AD comp right there, makes my build path easy as pie. I mean look at all my choices of great armor items: item 3742 item 3110 item 3025 item 3047 item 3143 item 3068 item 3075 item 3512 I mean i actually have to make choices! Now lets flip it to a recent game i had. Enemy: Rumble Malzahar Ahri Corki Zyra Now if that is not the most AP dmg heavy team in the world I don't know what is. Time to figure out my build! item 3111 item 3065 Fantastic start! I guess item 3102 would be good, a little low on HP but it give me a decent amount of MR to compensate. Uhoh....... now what do i build? item 3001 item 3174 Ap mid laner items, not tank top items. item 3060 item 3222 item 3190 Mainly support items, especially since the amount of MR and HP they get are pretty abysmal. item 3156 item 3139 Im not an ADC or Hard AD carry either. item 3091 this couldnt be a more useless (Extremely niche pick on niche champions. item 3512 This item is a little past its prime, but still holds a place in a heart or 2, still not an S+ MR item. item 3026 Anyone else tired that this item is picked so often now? especially for how cheap it is.

Final tally, youve got about 3 good choices in item 3111 item 3102 item 3065 And then more than likely the support is building a item 3105 item. We got a mage item update, could we get some MR item update planned for the next preseason at least? This needs more choices

http://www.auplod.com/u/plduoa78653.png Out

120 Comments

Mistress Shyvana24 votes

ARPEN is common and easy to get like 75% MPEN isn't and caps out at like 35% with 30pen and 20 reduction. Even then you're sacrificing damage.

EDIT:Math was done, the armor pen was calculated to be around 64% with just full stack black cleaver and Last whisper.

Ralanr10 votes

That's a good point to consider.

ThatHaleState3 votes

I can see that being a decent argument. although item 3047 item 3742 item 3068 item 3143 item 3075 item 3110 will get you 1500 bonus HP and 380 bonus Armor; reducing that by the easily attained "75%" will leave you with 95 armor. Costing 14,950g While item 3111 item 3065 item 3102 item 3190 item 3156 item 3512 will get you 1200 bonus HP and 265 bonus MR; reducing that by the "42%" will leave you with 150 MR. Costing 14,800g So in the end you net more HP with armor and more resists with MR but with a more than likely bad build-path, not everyone wants to build item 3512 item 3001 item 3156

LankPants13 votes

You don't need to stack that much MR. Due to the fact that AP damage tends to be a burst having high HP is just as good for surviving magic damage as high MR.

Warmogs and GA are both better anti magic items than Maw/Abyssal/ZZ'rots as they offer you a great amount of resistance to burst, overall generally more than any of those items do.

LordGeovanni1 votes

when spells are on 3-4 second cooldowns in fights and you cant afford to back off cause you got hit once being a front liner yes more Magic Resist items are needed and riot needs to stop throwing 30% of tank items value into cdr leaving more than a couple hard to build. and no you cant afford to stand back for 20 -30 seconds for warmogs to activate and do its job removeing the 3% max hp passive really hurt most tanks and then they did mass nerfs of hp on tank items while buffing hp on mage items at the same time

LankPants4 votes

when spells are on 3-4 second cooldowns in fights and you cant afford to back off cause you got hit once being a front liner

Spells are on 3-4 second CDs, combos aren't. Single spells aren't enough to kill a tank.

and no you cant afford to stand back for 20 -30 seconds for warmogs to activate and do its job

That depends on the scenario. Warmogs is effective as anti-burst because of its high HP value, which is 300 higher than any other item you're likely to build as a tank, and as anti poke due to its passive actually having the 8 seconds it needs to kick in between the damage.

removeing the 3% max hp passive really hurt most tanks and then they did mass nerfs of hp on tank items while buffing hp on mage items at the same time

That still doesn't matter because it doesn't change one very important fact which has been consistent since pre season 1, burst damage is really bad at killing tanks. When the majority of magic damage in the game is burst based tanks have a natural advantage against mages regardless of the state of MR.

LordGeovanni1 votes

on the other hand you dont ahve to get worse items to get magic pen magic pen is on items with the same amount of ap as other damage items give or take one amplifying tome worth of ap and often comes with other stats too

Votable Jester1 votes

Magic pen/shred is on only 4 items, and 2 of those are fairly situational (abyssal is useless for long range, and Liandry's doesn't work well with every kit).

LordGeovanni1 votes

Lindrys works just fine it's passive just inst bursty or flashy which if you look at past reworks in league of legends is grounds for a rework because if something (on a carry) inst bursty or flashy it's 'Not Satisfying' if its lets say a combo resembles burst on a tank based character thats when they will nerf it tho. Liandrys is a great item and most mages have a damage spell up every 3 seconds once maxed out and their first item is built item 3165 on almost everybody 80% of the time

Votable Jester1 votes

I did not say Liandry's is not a great item. It is a fantastic item; however, it simply doesn't mesh into every mage's build. I probably build it on more champions than most people would (as a situational item against tank-heavy comps), but even I wouldn't buy it (outside of the greatest of extremes) on Annie Azir Katarina Leblanc Lux Morgana Ryze TwistedFate Zilean.

Sure, it's fantastic on some mages, but certainly not all.

LordGeovanni1 votes

like i said it doesnt have a flashy damage passive and thats why its considered so in addition to all the overloaded 100 ap items

MonkeyMadness2 votes

ARPEN is common and easy to get like 75%

wut

Mistress Shyvana1 votes

6 stacks of black cleaver=30% Last whisper items=45% Mysteries=~3%

LankPants4 votes

Doesn't stack that way.

It's 0.7x0.55x0.93=35.8% armour remaining=64.2% pen, some of which is bonus only.

Mistress Shyvana4 votes

Thanks for doing the math! But yeah 64.2% plus the flat pen from runes and items makes it a hell of a lot more common than MPen

Captain Aishi1 votes

you also must not forget that champions tend to have armor shred/pen in their kits more commonly than magic resist shred

renekton E->35% jarvan Q 24% ish? wukong Q ->30% ish? xin zhao passive 15% darius E 25% GP barrels etc.

amumu corki and fiddle are the only ones that come to mind for having MR shred

MonkeyMadness1 votes

But you're missing the point here. Obviously there is a more pressing need for armor. Every team comp ever has an adc, and if you don't build armor against a fed adc, you just lose. However, this does not excuse the MR meta from becoming stale. Currently, there are 2 tank MR items, and if you really need a lot of mr, you will just mindlessly get both of them. This goes against the "strategic diversity" that Riot has been trying to implement in the game for the past 2 or 3 seasons. And as for the damage/MR hybrid items (ie maw and abyssal) they are entirely champion specific. You can't just buy these items unless the champ you picked does well with one of them. This leaves the average tank with precious few MR options, whereas armor items are numerous, varied, and all serve very specific niches depending on team comp, enemy matchups, etc.

Captain Aishi1 votes

banshees, spirit visage, GA and ZZrot portal are all good MR items on pretty much every tank in the game and locket is also pretty good to have (it's usually what I go for as my first MR item on sejuani/leona when I jungle) that's 5 items that fill different a different purpose (anti hard engage, sustain, diving, pushing and anti-aoe respectively)

I feel like armor items are in a worse spot due to how abundant physical damage is, you just find the item with the best stats for the current patch and get that item regardless of it's unique properties

MonkeyMadness1 votes

You didn't read op. item 3105 items are generally picked up pretty early by the support, and there is no reason to have 2 of them (auras don't stack, so it really isn't worth the gold). As for item 3512 item 3026 , these are incredibly situational items that should NEVER be picked up solely for the stats. Also, as op stated, these items do not give health, and so are not as effective as tank items.

Captain Aishi1 votes

'incredibly situational items that shouldn't be picked only for the stats'-> that's the definition of strategic diversity right there isn't it?

if Items are just stat sticks, you pick the best one everygame and it's not a choice (which is what I was referring to when talking about armor items in my previous post)

MonkeyMadness1 votes

right, because item 3068 item 3742 item 3143 are SOOOO niche...it is basically personal preference which one you get at this point, and often people will get more than one if they really need tank stats. Also, with the GA, you really are paying for the revive passive, which is shit on a tank. I would rather have 700 effective health with one of those 3 items than have a res passive. GA is meant for champs that are getting focused down too quickly, not champs that need to wade into the fray and soak damage. And as for Zz'rot, it's pretty much shit at this point. You are much better off in the current meta going for a GA, but for the reasons I just stated, that's not necessarily even that good.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Also, when he said "some of which is bonus only" he actually meant that the entirety of the LW item's pen stats. So actually it's a lot less when you think about it, because when cleaver shreds your armor, it's the bonus armor that gets shredded first, potentially leaving you with a very low amount of bonus armor unless you are stacking armor items.

And either way, I think OP's point was that there is virtually 0 variety in the mr items available. You have a crapload of options that suit different champs/playstyles/team comps/matchups with armor items (ie, rand if you need to reduce crit, frzn heart if the enemy team has a lot of aa reliant/on hit effect champs, thornmail if you see an oppressive marksman, etc). With MR, the only real option that tanks have is "do I need the spell shield or not?".

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that the healing passive on spirit visage is just out of place. That kind of passive should NOT be tied to one of only 2 tank MR items. That passive should be on Warmog's as this is the consummate health/health regen item, and has been since it's inception. This alone would allow riot to remake visage into a more unique strategic item instead of just something that you build on mundo, volibear, and any team that has a soraka.

Pope Glitterhoof1 votes

Armor reduction (whether it is flat or percentage) applies to both base armor and bonus armor.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

Not sure what you are referring to here, but LW items very clearly state that they only penetrate a target's bonus armor...so ya

Pope Glitterhoof1 votes

{quoted}

because when cleaver shreds your armor, it's the bonus armor that gets shredded first, potentially leaving you with a very low amount of bonus armor unless you are stacking armor items.

The Black Cleaver shreds both base and bonus armor. Also, read

[{quoted}](name=Carol Peletier,realm=EUNE,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RHquNFtU,comment-id=0000000500000000000000010000,timestamp=2016-08-18T09:15:08.507+0000)

Armor reduction (whether or not it is percentage or flat) applies to both base armor and bonus armor.

#Reduction

##Reduction

I clearly stated armor REDUCTION, not armor penetration.

*BTW I am Carol Peletier but I changed my name.

balbraaksel1 votes

Not completely true, LDR is BONUS armor.

Bonus armor reduction would be 0.7x0.55x0.93=35.8% bonus armor remaining, Base armor reduction would 0,7*0,93=65,1% base armor remaining.

LankPants2 votes

I'ma just quote myself with an emphasis here

It's 0.7x0.55x0.93=35.8% armour remaining=64.2% pen, some of which is bonus only.

balbraaksel1 votes

Aaaah... Rammus Ok.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

It's 0.7x0.55x0.93=35.8% armour remaining=64.2% pen, MOST of which is bonus only.

FIFY.

Let's do an example. We'll use my main, amumu (base armor at level 18 = 88.1, we round to 88 for convenience, http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_champions'_armor).

My standard rune and mastery set gives me 9 bonus armor and 5% bonus armor/mr and my standard build is as follows: item 1410 item 3047 item 3068 item 3001 item 3116 6th item is flex, lets ignore that for now. My total armor from this build is 88 + 9 + 30 + 50 = 177 x 1.05 = 179.5 ~ 180 Of this 180 total armor, 88 is base, and 92 is bonus.

Now let's move onto the penetration stats: item 3071 (max 30% armor shred): 180 x .70 = 126 total armor, of which only 38 is bonus armor (126 - 88 = 38)

item 3036 or item 3033 (45% penetration to BONUS armor): 38 x .45 = 17.1 ~ 17 armor pen

The 7% pen from masteries will still act on the 126 armor stat, as the actual armor value remains unchanged by the LW item, so

126 x 0.07 = 8.82 ~ 9 amor pen.

Now let's figure out the total % of armor ignored.

(126 armor after cleaver shred) - (17 armor from LW item) - (9 armor from mastery) = 100 effective armor

total starting armor was 180, so (100/180) = 55.5 ~ 56% of starting armor meaning that max possible armor ignored with items is 44% NOT 64%.

Pope Glitterhoof1 votes

There are so many maths mistakes you have made in your post that I will have to illustrate them one by one. Sorry if this sounds crude but I just want you to understand armor in a correct way.

{quoted}

FIFY.

Let's do an example. We'll use my main, amumu (base armor at level 18 = 88.1, we round to 88 for convenience, http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_champions'_armor).

My standard rune and mastery set gives me 9 bonus armor and 5% bonus armor/mr and my standard build is as follows: item 1410 item 3047 item 3068 item 3001 item 3116 6th item is flex, lets ignore that for now. My total armor from this build is 88 + 9 + 30 + 50 = 177 x 1.05 = 179.5 ~ 180 Of this 180 total armor, 88 is base, and 92 is bonus.

First of all, Unyielding (the mastery that increases armor) only increases bonus armor, so only 89 armor should be taken into consideration in terms of Unyielding.

Total armor should be instead 88 + 9 + 30 + 50 + (89 x 0.05) = 181.45 ≈ 181 Base armor = 88 Bonus armor = 181 - 88 = 93

I don't agree with your way of rounding off because it leads to inaccurate and flawed calculation but for the sake of this piece of maths, I will let it go.

Now let's move onto the penetration stats: item 3071 (max 30% armor shred): 180 x .70 = 126 total armor, of which only 38 is bonus armor (126 - 88 = 38)

Second, like I replied to you in a previous post, armor reduction, for instance The Black Cleaver, shreds both base and bonus armor, so if you say the resulting bonus armor is 38. You are very wrong.

For the sake of it, I'll keep the wrong maths in part 1 (calculation for total armor) and use it for part 2 (calculation for resulting armor after armor reduction from The Black Cleaver):

The resultant total armor after the shred of The Black Cleaver (max stacks) = 180 x 0.7 = 126 The remaining base armor = 88 x 0.7 = 61.6 ≈ 62 The remaining bonus armor = 92 x 0.7 = 64.4 ≈ 64

If we use the right maths in Part 1: The resultant total armor after the shred of The Black Cleaver (max stacks) = 181 x 0.7 = 126.7 = 127 The remaining base armor = 88 x 0.7 = 61.6 ≈ 62 The remaining bonus armor = 93 x 0.7 = 65.1 ≈ 65

item 3036 or item 3033 (45% penetration to BONUS armor): 38 x .45 = 17.1 ~ 17 armor pen

The 7% pen from masteries will still act on the 126 armor stat, as the actual armor value remains unchanged by the LW item, so

126 x 0.07 = 8.82 ~ 9 amor pen.

Third, percentage armor penetration stacks multiplicatively (whether it's total armor penetration or bonus armor penetration), so your maths here are very off.

For the sake of clarity, let's use the correct version of Part 2, shall we?

The remaining base armor after considering all sources of armor penetration (LW upgrade and Battering Blows) = 62 x 0.93 = 57.66 ≈ 58 The remaining bonus armor after considering all sources of armor penetration (LW upgrade and Battering Blows) = 65 x 0.93 x 0.55 = 33.2475 ≈ 33 The resultant total armor = 58 + 33 = 91

Now let's figure out the total % of armor ignored.

(126 armor after cleaver shred) - (17 armor from LW item) - (9 armor from mastery) = 100 effective armor

total starting armor was 180, so (100/180) = 55.5 ~ 56% of starting armor meaning that max possible armor ignored with items is 44% NOT 64%.

Last but not least, let's find out the true value of total armor ignored (After rounding the numbers off for the millionth time, I doubt it's the truest value but whatever):

Armor reduced and penetrated = 181 - 91 = 90 Percentage of total armor reduced and penetrated = 90 / 181 = 49.723% ≈ 50%

Conclusively around 50% of armor is ignored in total.

As for percentage of base armor reduced and penetrated = (88 - 58) / 88 = 34.090% ≈ 34% Percentage of bonus armor reduced and penetrated = (93 - 33) / 93 = 64.516% ≈ 65%

In conclusion, LankPants is right for the most parts, you on the other hand...

*I am Carol Peletier but I changed my name.

MonkeyMadness1 votes

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Armor_penetration

I just found this, and I suppose you're right. Also I'm not sure what happened with my initial total armor calculation, but I must have mistyped something into my derp calculator when doing it (can't be bothered with adding simple numbers mentally :D )

But either way, OP's point here was that there is very low diversity amongst magic resist items. This argument got kind of skewed with all these armor calculations and proofs, but the point is that there are but 2 options for a tank that needs mr, while the armor options are numerous and varied. This lack of diversity in mr makes a team with multiple magic damage threats seem very oppressive, and also severely limits future champion diversity (Riot has to be careful when designing magic damage dealing champs, as it would be very easy for them to dps through the current tank meta). This is partially why the mage update felt so oppressive (also because whoever thought malzahar should have cc immunity is a clinical moron, and/or should be fired).

Feel Apathy1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Mistress Shyvana,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=RHquNFtU,comment-id=0000,timestamp=2016-08-17T14:14:42.064+0000)

ARPEN is common and easy to get like 75% MPEN isn't and caps out at like 35% with 30pen and 20 reduction. Even then you're sacrificing damage.

EDIT:Math was done, the armor pen was calculated to be around 64% with just full stack black cleaver and Last whisper.

Magic-Pen zac build has around 70-90 flat magic pen - what are you even talking about ?

Critmaster Garen11 votes

against most ap champs you keep stacking health. it always feels like full ap teams are easier to beat than full ad teams.

ap champs blow their burst, and if you survive that, youre good. on the flip side, they usually bring massive utility to the game to make up for their lacking kill potential against anything that isnt another squishy.

Sozan58 votes

Get: item 3111 item 3065item 3102 item 3065 item 3065 item 3065

2300 health 315 Magic Resist 40% CDR +900% health regen (most tanks have around 20HP5 at level 18, so that's ~200HP5 - increased by 25% due to SV passive)

Captain Aishi2 votes

much the same way you stack multiple randuins omen against team comps that rely heavily on crits

Sozan52 votes

Yeah, basically.

A lot of people forget that you can actually stack items - sure, you do miss out on UNIQUE Passives, but sometimes all you need is more stats.

agbudar7 votes

item 3190 is a great tank item what are you talking about if you and the support both build it you get double shields for the win.

its a 75 free mr you get for your team

JamesTheMage175 votes

It's simple. Buy some AP-MR items, some AD-MR items, which will give both MR and AP/AD for whatever damage suits your tank, then health based items like item 3083. I don't see the problem with item 3190. It gives health, some MR, CD reduction, and a shield which is awesome in terms of tankiness. Just because it's a support item doesn't mean it's not a tank one too.

ThatHaleState3 votes

Most full tanks don't want any type of damage, and as you may know building more than one item 3105 item is just inefficient

Anags3 votes

You just get the MR you can and then stack health. Get a Sterak's, warmogs, righteous glory, frozen mallet. Especially if your champ has a health scaling ability.

I've never seen it as an issue really.

Maximum Morde4 votes

That's just silly talk. I love building a Rylais, Abyssal, and/or Zhonyas on Rammus, Amumu, or Zac if I think I can get away with it.

Earthlord Jazz5 votes

Resistances scale with health, so while it's true that MR itemization is somewhat limited, itemization for a full-fledged tank is still somewhat open depending on how you want to play it. Items can include but are not limited to: item 3083 item 3748 item 3030 item 3053, and even item 3800.

Now, I can already tell that you may not be satisfied with these items but here me out. My experience as an avid magic damage-dealer player is that ANY champion with 2 of your 3 mentioned items (item 3111 item 3065 item 3102) is much MUCH harder to take down. You have to expend your precious cooldowns, and even then you are not rewarded for a kill with a full rotation MOST of the time. It's much harder to take down a magic tank. (at least with my experience)

This gives you more room to expand your versatility. As I've already mentioned, item 3083 is a great choice as it offers lots of HP with scales with your resistances. Titanic, while not a "tank" item per se, gives you the option to split push a little better and not CONSTANTLY having to be chained with the team in order to be useful, allowing you to make better use your of your summoner 12 late game. item 3030 is an underappreciated item, as a tank and wanting to be "full raid boss", having this awesome AoE slow is tremendous in keeping the enemy within your grasp. The same argument for Titanic Hydra can also be argued for Sterak's, except it's more teamfight oriented where that extra shield is HUGE. item 3800 is great for later on in the game, you've already become a tremendous pain to take down, and so while you MAY have been taken down via a myriad of spells, your friends are swiftly approaching with a awesome speed boost ready to take advantage of the situation.

Though I do agree with you, it would be nice to have more options for MR. I'd love to have a version of the old Force of Nature back.

Good discussion

Rain NT4 votes

You have to play since season 2 to understand, Oddone basically explained how to counter magic a long time ago. HP counters Magic damage because they usually come in burst, if you can survive the burst then basically they have nothing left to shoot at you. So back in the good old days, we would buy armor and HP before any type of MR because even only HP we can handle mages. Unlike AD damage which is usually consistence because every AD champions has their autoattack to reliable do damage.

Ofc champions has diverse and items has changed over the years, so now the the best way to deal with magic damage is a mix of MR and a whole lot of HP. Unless they get liandry.. well then you are in some trouble....

Imo no ap champions really scare me late game, except for some AP DPS champions who does more over a long period of time, or champions with liandry as a tank. Mages usually spike mid game from their burst and no one having enough hp to survive it. But late game is all about the ADC and how well they can perform.

Slack King1 votes

{quoted}

You have to play since season 2 to understand, Oddone basically explained how to counter magic a long time ago. HP counters Magic damage because they usually come in burst, if you can survive the burst then basically they have nothing left to shoot at you. So back in the good old days, we would buy armor and HP before any type of MR because even only HP we can handle mages. Unlike AD damage which is usually consistence because every AD champions has their autoattack to reliable do damage.

Ofc champions has diverse and items has changed over the years, so now the the best way to deal with magic damage is a mix of MR and a whole lot of HP. Unless they get liandry.. well then you are in some trouble....

Imo no ap champions really scare me late game, except for some AP DPS champions who does more over a long period of time, or champions with liandry as a tank. Mages usually spike mid game from their burst and no one having enough hp to survive it. But late game is all about the ADC and how well they can perform.

Depends on the mage. Not every mage is held down by long cooldowns

zlumpy4 votes

You also have to remember that AP skills are gated heavily in damage potential by cooldowns. You need more armor in game than MR due to most AP champs not using AP on everysingle auto attack.

I mostly play tanks and get annoyed when I look at the options available but then I remember the flip side of that and don't feel so bad for most mages. Obviously there are a few outliers like spell crit Ryze (or just old ryze wuth mega ap apam), some fast casters, old Azir, and a few others with super low cd's or %hp magic dmg (which is more a problem with too many champs having %hp dmg than it is items).

Edit: btw does Randuins only affect ad crits or is it also spell crits? Cause if its also spell crits thats a pretty good item vs Ryze or Anivia if I have to play against them in the future.

LordOfTheLeague3 votes

Saying abyssal scepter is not an Ap tank item is ridiculous. It's literally made for them.

You are the one in the middle of the fight and the one that can "spread" the aura debuff better.

Flat penetration is better on tanks than Ap because with little offense items you can increase your base damage by a lot. It still has some Ap.

And it has cdr for your CC skills.

And it has magic resist.

LordGeovanni1 votes

the passive is indeed made for tanks but the stats on the item is not

LordOfTheLeague1 votes

How ap cdr and magic resist doesn't make a good offensive item for tanks ?

Just as I said,

There are ap for the damage, cdr for the damage, defensive and CC skills, and magic resist. Plus the aura debuff. I don't see any stat that a tank wouldn't want.

Chatillon1 votes

As a support i build item 3110 item 3105 90% (if the auras are useful)

As a tank jungle i build item 3110 item 3105 90% (If the auras are useful)

If i don't build them, no one else ever does. I swear, do people not know how op Frozen heart is against vayne or how good locket is?

ThatHaleState2 votes

Well generally Aegis is more efffecient if the support builds it because its so cheap, and frozen heart on a cinderhulk jungler is just ineffecient due to the 0 extra hp you get

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