Drawing Parallels: Vanguards
Presenting the next entry in my "Drawing Parallels" series, where I attempt to go in-depth and look at the similarities, as well as distinctions, between characters of a certain champion Sub-Class.
If you're interested, here are links to my other posts in this line, dealing with Juggernauts and Divers, respectively.
https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/77zlGQ8v-drawing-parallels-divers
This particular entry focuses on the more offensive side of the Tanks: The Vanguards.
Vanguards are described as such on the LOL Wiki:
"Vanguards are offensive tanks. Vanguards lead the charge for their team and specialize at getting the action started. Their explosive team fight initiation seeks to catch enemies out of position while allowing allies to follow-up to devastating effect."
(The preceding is written by anonymous contributors to the wiki, not Riot Employees)
The membership of the Vanguards consists of the following champions (At this time of writing):
The first thing we should start with I suppose, is the CC that the above champs can bring to the table, since that's the main shtick of the Tank class in general.
CROWD CONTROL
We'll start with the first one on the above list, the resident Minotaur of the League, Alistar!
Alistar has 3 forms of CC, a knock-up, a stun, and a knockback/stun, and 3 ways to apply said CC.
The first is his Q; Pulverize, which knocks up enemies around him into the air for 1 second.
Next is his W, Headbutt; which as the name implies, he dashes to the targeted unit and knocks them back a small distance, stunning them over the duration of the knockback.
Lastly is his E, Trample. He gains "Trample" stacks over the duration every time this ability damages at least one enemy champion. At 5 stacks, his next auto-attack will deal bonus damage (Dependent on level) and stun for 1 second.
Next, the tragic and lonely mummified Yordle (Or is he a undead human boy?) Amumu.
His CC consists of a Stun and "Entanglement". Entanglement is a type of CC that, according to the LOL Wiki, combines the effects of a Disarm (No Autoattacking) and a Root (No movement). He has 2 ways of applying his CC.
First is his Q, Bandage Toss; It's a Skill-Shot that stuns the first enemy hit for 1 second.
Second is his Ult, Curse of the Sad Mummy. This is the ability that applies the "Entanglement" CC, when, upon activation, "Entangles" all surrounding enemies in a large radius for 2 seconds.
Now Gnar here falls under both the Vanguard and Specialist roles, according to the LOL Wiki. Specifically, Mini-Gnar is the 'Specialist' portion, and Mega-Gnar constitutes the 'Vanguard' portion. As such, I'll be looking mainly at the CC Mega-Gnar provides.
Mega-Gnar has three slows, two stuns, and a knockback. One of the stuns and two of the slows are dependent on certain factors being in play.
On Mega-Gnar's Q, he tosses a Boulder much like his Boomerang, and it slows any units it hits.
On his W, he slams the target area, dealing physical damage and stunning enemies hit for 1.25 seconds.
On his E is where one of the two conditional slows comes into play. Units that Mega-Gnar lands directly on-top of are slowed by 80% for 0.5 seconds. ONLY those he lands directly on are slowed, not those around the area of effect.
Lastly, he has his Ult/R. He knocks back enemies in the target direction, slowing them for 45% after the knockback has finished. If they collide with a wall, they are stunned instead of slowed (This being the conditional stun), for 1.25, to 1.75 seconds, dependent on the rank of the ability.
The guy that can make Barney Gumble from the Simpsons look sober is here! Gragas is up!
He has a slow, a knockback/stun, and another knockback!
Q: Applies a slow for 2 seconds, the strength of it depending on how long the cask has sat there.
E: Applies a small knockback and stun to all nearby enemies upon collision. The stun lasts 1 second.
R: Applies a knockback of 900 units of distance, depending on how close the enemy units were to the epicenter of the explosive cask.
The champion with the Sunniest Disposition has arrived, Leona!
She has some Solar-charged Stuns and a Root!
Q: Leona stuns you with the power of the Sun for 1 second.
E: She roots the last enemy champion this ability hits for 0.5 seconds.
R: Enemies are either slowed by 80% (Outer portion) or Stunned for 1.5 seconds (Center) with this circular ability.
The Bowling Ball of the League, (The enemy team are pins) Malphite!
He comes equipped with a Slow, a Cripple (An attack-speed slow, akin to the effect of the Warden's Mail) and a Knockup!
Q: He slows his target, and gains movement speed equal to the amount of the slow.
E: He slams the ground, applying his Cripple for 3 seconds to all enemies struck.
R: (And here it comes. STTEEERIKE!) Malphite dashes unstoppably to the target area, knocking up all enemy units for 1.5 seconds! Strike!
INTERMISSION
Just like with my Diver post, this one is kind of long. So here's an intermission for you.
6 down, 7 more to go. Thankfully, it's not the 19 champions that the Diver post entailed!
Now THAT was a long post.
Keep your spirits up, we're roughly halfway there!
Here's a couple of Gifs of Garen players Congo-Line dancing. Hopefully that will keep you entertained.
https://media.tenor.com/images/4f61bf95f79aba4ba6809f2b923a8df8/tenor.gif
http://68.media.tumblr.com/b249b2256cc0e02c447c02864baff51b/tumblr_mwf89bw7FZ1rxwl4bo1_500.gif
http://68.media.tumblr.com/e11025020e8591af28ac2b1c9cd94cf3/tumblr_mwf89bw7FZ1rxwl4bo2_500.gif
https://68.media.tumblr.com/5721c22cce84ad4a957d181ed90cdbab/tumblr_nrkvopt5iX1uz2pefo1_500.gif
When you're ready, scroll down to resume the lecture. (Lecture? What am I, a professor?)
RESUMING POST
He's certainly no Ex-Death, but the League's resident Ent/Treant or whatever you want to call him, Maokai, is now up!
He has a knockback, two roots (Not counting his ACTUAL roots) and two slows. The first being a very brief, but powerful one, and the other dependent on if the Sapling hits.
Q: This applies the knockback, a distance of 300 units depending on your proximity to him when he uses it. The powerful, but brief (99%, but only 0.25 second duration) slow is applied to units hit by this ability.
W: Maokai dashes to his target and roots them, with the duration dependent on the rank of the ability. 1.1 at the least, to 1.4 seconds at max.
E: Maokai's Saplings go on a suicide charge, slowling all units hit by 35% for 2 seconds.
R: Maokai sends 5 Brambles forward, and they root targets hit, the duration dependent on the distance traveled by the Brambles.
Wow, 4 CC's, one for each ability. Bit of an over-achiever, ain't we Maokai?
La-la dee, la-lala, lala-loo... Oh, I'm sorry. I was busy swimming in mid-air with Nautilus here.
The titan of the depths has a root, a pull, a slow and a knockup! (Another fella with 4 forms of CC. You overachiever!)
Passive: Naut has a Root on his passive, with it's duration dependent on his current level. It can be from 0.5 seconds to 1.5 seconds, increasing 0.25 seconds for every 5 levels.
Q: Nautlius drags his target towards him (One could call this a stun, but the Wiki doesn't, so I'm not doing it here either) upon it connecting with them.
E: Naut's three watery explosions slow enemies for a decaying amount over 1.5 seconds.
R: The Depth Charge knocks up all units in its path for 1 second, and does the same to it's main target upon arrival.
The grumpiest version of Hephaestus (Greek God of Blacksmithing, and no I didn't pronounce it right either) is up!
4 forms of CC again, with 2 slows, an immobilize/stun and 2 knockups.
: One more of these people with 4 forms of CC and we have perfection!
Shut up, Jhin. Anyways...
Q: Slows Targets hit, and knocks aside enemies hit by the pillar that rises.
Wait. That makes 5 forms of CC, with the knockback from the magma pillar (Conditional yes, but as we've seen with Gnar, it counts).
: NOOO! YOU'VE RUINED THE PERFECTION!
I said shut up, Jhin!
W: Attacking units that are 'Brittle' immobilizes/stuns them briefly in addition to the extra damage.
E: Knocks up units hit by the shockwave (Provided he hits terrain) for 1 second.
R: The first stampede applies a slow, and the second applies a knockup.
To give me a break, Rammus has chosen to give the explanation himself. Here it is, in his own words.
"OK." (I'm the best Vanguard and you know it, losers.)
"OK, Yeah, Alright." (I have 2 slows, a knockback and a taunt.)
"Hmm." (On my Q, I knockback losers that run into me, and then slow them.)
"Yeah". (On my E, I give you such a savage burn that you can't stop yourself from attacking me.)
"Right". (On my ult, I have a slow that lasts for 1.5 seconds that stacks depending on how many stacks of my ult hits you. Tremble before me, losers!)
"OK."
Couldn't have said it better myself, Rammus!
"OK." (Oh look, a Pig riding a Boar)
Your job is done here, Rammus. Scram!
Sejuani has slows, stuns and knockups/knockbacks.
Q: Enemy Champions are knocked up for 0.5 seconds on collision.
W: The second swing of her flail applies a 75% slow for 0.25 seconds if it connects.
E: The active applies a stun to any enemy champion with 4 stacks of her "Frost" effect. The duration of the stun depends on the rank of the skill, ranging from 1.1 seconds at the lowest to 1.4 seconds at the highest.
R: Initially, this applies a 1-second stun to the first unit hit. But if the distance before collision passes 400 units of range the stun's duration increases to 1.5 seconds. Additionally, it creates a "storm" effect that applies a 30% slow for two seconds. At the end of the storm another slow, 80% strong is applied, for 3 seconds.
: CHOO-CHOO!
Sion has Slows, Knock-Ups and Stuns galore.
Q: During this ability's two-second channel, the player can decide how to apply it's CC. If charged for under 1 second, he applies a 50% slow for 0.25 seconds. If charged for over 1 second, he knocks up, and then stuns his targets, with the duration of both forms of CC dependent on the channel time.
E: This roar applies both a slow (Its potency dependent on the rank of the skill, from 40% to 60% at max) and reduces Armor by 20% if a champion is hit directly by the shout. Shooting a minion to hit a champion via the knockback applies the slow and damage, but not the armor reduction.
R: Upon collision, he slows enemies hit only by the shockwave at the end of his run, while those directly struck are stunned instead.
Like some of the others, Zac has a myriad of CC he can apply.
Q: He applies a 60% slow for 0.5 seconds on his first cast to the unit hit. If he can grab a second one, he roots both for 0.5 seconds before dragging them together, dealing magic damage and the slow from the first cast again.
E: He jumps to the location, knocking up units for 0.5 to 1 second, based upon the duration of the charge.
R: He initially slows units atop him, and then knocks back units over the course of 1 second. If charged however, he instead carries them to the target location, and upon landing, the units are slowed by 25% for 0.5 seconds.
So, there's their main shtick out of the way. Next, we'll look at the ones that can buff their tanking capabilities, be it by Armor/Magic Resist boosting abilities or shields they can apply to themselves.
DURABILITY INCREMENTAL ABILITIES
Now, we should start by saying that not ALL Vanguards come with the power to increase their durability via the use of skills, so this section won't be as long as the first one. What I consider to fall under this category are things like shields or armor/magic resist boosts that come from abilities and NOT items.
Starting again with Alistar.
His Ult reduces all damage, whether physical or magical (But not TRUE damage) for 7 seconds while also cleansing him of any crowd-control effects he was afflicted with at the time. The power of the DMG reduction depends on the rank of the skill. 55%, 65% and then 75% at max rank.
Amumu's damage reduction comes from his E. Passively it reduces physical damage, and with patch 8.16, that reduction is increased with bonus armor and magic resist, at ratios of 3% for each.
Gragas reduces incoming damage for 2.5 seconds upon using his W.
Using her W increases Leona's armor and magic resist by flat amounts as well as additional amounts from ratios based on bonus armor and magic resist, for a short time.
Malphite gets a shield on his passive (10% of his max health) as well as bonus armor from his W, it being tripled if his passive's shield is up.
Nautilus shields himself for 6 seconds with his W. He does not gain Armor OR Magic Resist during it, only a damage-absorbing shield.
Grumpy shields himself for 12% of his max health with his W. Like Nautilus, he does NOT gain Armor OR Magic Resist, only a damage-absorbing shield.
"OK". (I get increased Armor and Magic Resistance when using my W.)
Sejuani gets increased armor and magic resist from her passive if she can avoid damage from large monsters or enemy champions for 12 seconds. It even lingers for 2 seconds after being hit by one of the two criteria.
Those are all the Vanguard champs that can increase their durability in ways that do NOT include item purchases.
CONCLUSION
So there we have it! While these champions DO have ways of applying damage, I do not feel the need to list it here, as it would make an already long post even longer, as well as the fact that as Tanks, Vanguards are not EXPECTED to be the people that DO the killing; they just do the "I hold, you punch" mentality of initiating combat and keeping those that try to run away IN that combat.
