Can we please stop calling bruiser builds "tank builds."

HateDaddy··102 votes·5,247 views

When a champion builds 3 damage items but they're beefy fighter items like item 3022 item 3053 item 3071 item 3748 and even less beefier items like item 3078 item 3156 and item 3091, they aren't building tank. Tank items are items that offer purse resistance and health, the only exceptions are item 3025 and item 3068 as they offer more utility/dot with a little damage but still mostly durability/resistances.

This. Is. Not. A. Tank.

Now, if they are stacking pure tank items with no damage items like Akali Ekko and even Fizz, sure, those are tank builds. But when Fiora was building both item 3071 and item 3748, that was a bruiser build. Just like the common bruiser off build is for yasuo to build Trinity/mallet/maw/steraks.

Whether these are healthy builds or not isn't the point but the point is, they are NOT tank builds. Please learn the difference, the only thing fighters and tanks have in common is they both want durability but their jobs are totally different. And even when assassins build full tank items, they're not tanks. They're just abusing high base damages while capitalizing on full durability builds.

125 Comments

Marshbouy70 votes

Did you just assume my build? #TRIGGERED

Ralanr33 votes
kasfas7 votes

It's a tanky build, not a tank build. If they get sunfire iceborn, it's a tank build with damage, but frozen mallet and steraks are not tank items.

PhantomGG6 votes

You are completely right but the thing is the word

"tanky" or "tank" can be used as a adjective

such as "boy jax sure does get Tanky"

What a bruiser is is the following

A person who neither does lots of damage, nor tanks lots of damage, but can do a little bit of both.

HateDaddy7 votes

{quoted}

You are completely right but the thing is the word

"tanky" or "tank" can be used as a adjective

such as "boy jax sure does get Tanky"

What a bruiser is is the following

A person who neither does lots of damage, nor tanks lots of damage, but can do a little bit of both.

Sure but you could also correctly call it what it is: bruiser yasuo, bruiser yi, bruiser fiora etc. I don't mind calling these off builds "tank" off builds as much though, I'm just annoyed when it's a bruiser build being labeled a tank build.

Automated Riven3 votes

i dont even mind if they say tank build. but it really grinds my gears when they say "yas built full tank and 100-0 me. so op gg nerfs rito plox gg" it might be a tank build or a tanky build but it sure is hell not full tank

Nahui4 votes

If it makes you tankier, it's tank item. If you want to avoid the hate, don't cheese build.

Ralanr26 votes

BC is not a tank item.

1 800 Top Lane9 votes

I know right, HateDaddy is dumb. The ability power and magic pen on black cleaver makes it an AP item. Obviously.

HateDaddy27 votes

[{quoted}](name=1 800 Top Lane,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=aOFBNAuJ,comment-id=000000000000,timestamp=2016-08-03T23:20:52.485+0000)

I know right, HateDaddy is dumb. The ability power and magic pen on black cleaver makes it an AP item. Obviously.

Let's be honest, mages complete zhonyas and become the best tanks in the game.

Downvotes in

3...

2..

-1

Nahui2 votes

It's got that health on it. Tank.

HateDaddy31 votes

{quoted}

It's got that health on it. Tank.

right, sometimes a grill gets hot therefore it's actually lava.

See how dumb that sounds

Nahui4 votes

Well see now you're exaggerating.

It gives health, health is a tanky stat. Tank.

Fire is hot, so is Lava. Fire is not Lava.

Very large difference in logic.

HateDaddy23 votes

{quoted}

Well see now you're exaggerating.

It gives health, health is a tanky stat. Tank.

Fire is hot, so is Lava. Fire is not Lava.

Very large difference in logic.

you're literally proving my point for me while you think you're arguing against it lol

Nahui1 votes

Nope, that's just a random statement you made there.

Health is a tanky stat. By definition, tank.

Mecha MaIphite9 votes

item 3078 I guess this is a tank item then?

Mhihnj10 votes

item 3504 is a tank item because you know, shields and heals and magic resist

FrostySkipper6 votes

So you're saying that when I build item 3152 on Shaco he's a tank?

TequilaZombie1 votes

Is it viable? I've always wanted to abuse this item but never figured how to.

FrostySkipper1 votes

I mostly do this in featured gamemodes. U can pretty much 2 shot squishies with E+protobelt, ludens and sorc shoes

kasfas13 votes

So maw is a tank item? And so is mercurial scimitar? Is zhonyas a tank item? Sightstone? Tanky stats=/= Tank item. ONLY tanks stats makes a tank item, and even then some are more offensive than others.

Nahui1 votes

All those are tanky items yup.

Want non tanky? Grab an infinity edge or a death cap.

DragonShea6 votes

Well to tell you the truth, what makes a tank a tank, is their kit. you can stack as many warmogs thornmail banshee's as you like you but will never be a tank, only durable as fuck.

Hinagiku334 votes

Back in my day (late Season 1) we called it is Tanky DPS build. And it was EVERYWHERE. We called it "Metagolem" (Trinity Force/Atmog's Impaler/Warmog's Armor/Frozen Mallet/Mercury Treads).

Since melee champs just get abused horribly by ranged champs the most common builds traded in burst damage for the ability to actually live and do damage over time. Thanks to Triforce it was more like "sustained burst" on champs that synergized with it super hard. And we've been modifying it ever since as items change, get added, or are removed.

Doesn't matter if it's item 3078 or item 3025 , item 3071 or item 3053, item 3068 or item 3742. For as long as melee champs get blown up before they have a chance to do anything then we will become bulky, rely on weaving auto-attacks to proc some form of Spellblade, and just plain do adequate damage to ruin your day while being semi-challenging to kill.

The Metagolem will never die.

Vistha Kai4 votes

A definition of a "tank" in video games, is a character that can take a beating, while providing enough threat to the opposing party to focus them regardless.

Not to mention Riot is like the only game company that refers to "tanks dealing damage" as "bruisers".

So whenever you like it or not, we are fighting years of habits from various games.

Neonocyte2 votes

The term has been around for a very long time, as far as video game terms go. It was probably most popularized in WoW, though, which, to my knowledge, uses the original definition. The definition, basically, is a meat shield; a class that takes aggro and the resulting attacks so that frailer damage dealing and support classes can avoid dying. Tanks in MMOs gain aggro not primarily by their damage, but skills that are focused on generating more aggro than normal. An equivalent in League would be CC. The League community was pretty clear on this distinction until near the end of Season 2.

TL;DR: your definition is a much broader definition arising from the term being used outside it's original definition.

Apollogy2 votes

Warriors and the like in the MMOs are like our bruisers that we have in League. The tanks in those games might only have been able to keep up with damage out of necessity. (Such as solo play or PvP).

But compared to pure damage dealers, such as rogues or mages, they still inflicted minimal amounts of damage.

It's true, tanks are more or less the people who could aggro the most and they usually had various crowd control effects to protect the damage dealers.

Vistha Kai1 votes

The difference between a "tank" from a PvE focused MMO and a "tank" from a PvP-only game suchs as League of Legends, is that the former will manage with little to no damage, because all various taunt effect do exactly that, taunt mobs into focusing a tank. At the same time CC isn't enough of a "taunt" for a PvP game like League, because of how front-loaded it actually is. Once you use your CC, you either have enough damage to at least not get completely ignored or become a bigger minion.

TL;DR My definition is prefectly fine, because it fully defines what a tank is. "A character that is there to take focus in place of their frail buddies."

In MMO, characters even get passive like "Increased aggro range", because that's everything they need to get focused. Your definition of a tank fails in pretty much ever PvP game, because players aren't going to attack a meat shield, unless they are forced to do it through game mechanics, that's why they need something more than just a global taunt.

Pikmints3 votes

I agree with you and I've been referring to both of these build paths as durable just to avoid being misunderstood.

I've given up on this community's ability to appreciate nuance. Countless people refer to the dragon as drake when those are two separate creatures, and the one in the rift is definitely a dragon. That would be like calling Alistar a centaur instead of a minotaur, objectively incorrect.

What Is Smite3 votes

To be fair the bottom line between bruiser builds and tank builds is that with all bruiser builds you are building items that improves your DPS while still providing resistances for survivability, tank builds on the other hand are just getting items with high amounts of resistances and Health, they are trying to FaceTank everything the enemy team can throw at them and more.

Examples of Bruiser Items: item 3071 item 3156 item 3116 item 3001 item 3152 item 3151 item 3812 item 3053 item 3742 item 3022 item 3748

Example of Tank Items: item 3102item 3110 item 3025 item 3190 item 3056 item 3143 item 3800 item 3065 item 3068 item 3075 item 3083 item 3512

The core difference between the two Item pools is that one set comes loaded with offensive stats but suffer a bit when it comes to also providing defensive stats

Marshbouy2 votes

What does it matter? No one is calling for nerfs to the (not) tank items.

If it is a build that happens to make them tankier and they are normally glass cannon, its gonna be a tank build in a lot of people's heads.

HateDaddy14 votes

{quoted}

What does it matter? No one is calling for nerfs to the (not) tank items.

If it is a build that happens to make them tankier and they are normally glass cannon, its gonna be a tank build in a lot of people's heads.

Because common misconceptions like these lead to really shallow lines of thinking that often trigger a hiveminded hatred for certain off builds that don't even fall into the same category. But because there was a misunderstanding of the type of build in the first place, people lump things in together and lines of what's what get blurred. It's like I said above, tank assassin builds are still assassins, they're just a using high bases. And in that same light, fiora/yasuo/yi building mostly bruiser items isn't the same thing as assassins building all tank items. Assuming these two are the same thing leads to plenty of misconceptions as I addressed above.

Hyrum Graff4 votes

{quoted}

Because common misconceptions like these lead to really shallow lines of thinking that often trigger a hiveminded hatred for certain off builds that don't even fall into the same category. But because there was a misunderstanding of the type of build in the first place, people lump things in together and lines of what's what get blurred. It's like I said above, tank assassin builds are still assassins, they're just a using high bases. And in that same light, fiora/yasuo/yi building mostly bruiser items isn't the same thing as assassins building all tank items. Assuming these two are the same thing leads to plenty of misconceptions as I addressed above.

tl;dr, Hatedaddy hates these bluurred liiines.

Caítlyn2 votes

Does it make them more tanky? Yes? Then its a tank item.

HateDaddy22 votes

{quoted}

Does it make them more tanky? Yes? Then its a tank item.

That's such a stupid line of thinking

Ralanr18 votes

It's fucking Caitlyn, what more do you expect?

HateDaddy5 votes

{quoted}

It's fucking Caitlyn, what more do you expect?

if that happens to be the same Caitlyn from old GD who went under fuffy chan or something like that, I don't expect very much.

BloodyTompon6 votes

what more do you expect?

A reasonable and well thought-out argument, backed up by evidence and presented in a nice syllogistic/ deductive way. Plus cats. I expect cats too.

Do I expect too much?

Junkο8 votes

Even for an average board member, that's a huge expectation.

chipndip121 votes

{quoted}

Does it make them more tanky? Yes? Then its a tank item.

Is it liquid? Yes? Then sulfuric acid is a drink.

BloodyTompon5 votes

Really? Wow. TIL...

Elisheva2 votes

People are stupid, so this won't happen sadly.

Spookÿ1 votes

There is a difference between having 400AD+ and like 2k hp and being a bruiser. But when I see people with 3k+ hp and 300+ AD or AP. I dont care WHAT your build is, you are a tank. And when you can have both 3k hp and 300+ damage/AP, that is just not fair. You should either be tanky for your team and protect them, or kill people. Not be a tank that can also 1 shot someone. Busted game right now in Season 6, please god let season 7 not be tank meta.

Ps. 9-1-12 Teemo Tank items including: item 3047 item 3087 item 3512 item 3098 . This is tank. When you are building primarily defense from the start and can snowball off of being unkillable, that is a little rediculous.

Ralanr2 votes

How the hell can you have 3000 HP and over 300 AD or AP?

Seriously, how the fuck does that happen? Because it shouldn't. To even break 200 you need at least 2 full damage items to work with.

Spookÿ1 votes

item 3071 item 3083 item 3072 item 1001 item 3078 item 3748 or replace Warmogs with Steracks and boom. 200+ ad and 3k hp +

Apollogy1 votes

...

Well, he said you need 2 damage items, you've got 1 pure damage item and 3 bruiser items...

And warmog's.

lol

Honest though, idk what champion would build that, but it doesn't look very useful. (You've even got an overlap of BC and TriForce).

Apollogy1 votes

3,000 HP is incredibly low. Like, that's insanely low for a melee champ except maybe during early game. If I'm a bruiser, I want at least 4,000 to 4,500 HP. If I'm a tank, I'm going to have upwards of 5,800 HP.

3,000 HP is like, "Oh, hello vayne..." 2 shots later "Nice talkin' with ya!"

And you're dead. Vayne can 4 shot some tanks who have nearly 6,000 HP and 300+ armor.

More from Gameplay

More by HateDaddy