Boards›Gameplay

Why I love the Tank Meta

KazaLyn Shao··87 votes·4,562 views

I'm an ADC main, but I love the tank meta. Why? Mainly because, assassins have to pay for their decisions in the tank meta. No more, "Kaboom! Dash out. Wait for CDs." You go in at the wrong moment, you get locked down and die. Using your CC on appropriate targets is also important. If all you do is CC other tanks, they just let their health bars absorb the damage and wait for their own CC to hit your squishies. Your own front line is just as responsible for your well being as they are for setting up kills on key enemy targets. If they let you die, there won't be any damage to follow up when they lock down the enemy carries. Carries can kill tanks, it just tanks time and correct itemization.

I don't really see anything wrong with the tank meta. I don't feel useless like I did in the bruiser meta, I don't feel extremely vulnerable like I did in the assassin meta, and I don't feel like I can 1v5 like in the ADC meta. Tank meta just feels like the most balanced form of play, and it promotes teamwork and team fighting above all else. Thoughts?

62 Comments

Keevalroy22 votes

"Whaah, I don't know how to teamfight or work with my team! Why should I learn how to play when I just wanna one shot everyone?"

I have no sympathy for these types of people. The reintroduction of tanks through cinderhulk was the best thing Riot could have done with how incredibly poorly they handled the start of season 5 - a time where it was like they were intentionally trying to make the game suck more with every patch.

Although I still don't trust the balance team as far as I can throw them, the way they brought about this tank meta was the one patch where I don't remember being pissed off reading the patch notes in recent memory.

Earl Eulrich9 votes

there is no "tank-meta". at least since 5.9 it derailed more and more into a opportunistic-brawling-meta with very lackluster makro-games on all sides. it really doesn´t matter what you play as long as you plan to at least have a decent early game. dmg still outscales tankiness by a large amount.

KazaLyn Shao3 votes

Playing without CC tanks against a team with CC tanks is pretty much suicide. Team fights win games, because a clean ace means you're alone on the map. CC tanks put the team fight in your favor from the get go. It makes no sense to play without at least two beef shields who have hard CC in front of you.

What Is Smite2 votes

I could run jungle Fiora and pretty much get away with it, given I play Fiora as my main, but there are enough "tools" out there on League than can greatly assist me with some of the issue that tanks possess. I have Qss for any hard CC or Banshee's, then add onto that the combination of Black Cleaver+Last Whisper+Blade of the Ruined King. Top those items off with high AD damage items like Hydra/BloodThrister/Mercurial Scrimitar (if you went Qss) and also your warrior enchanted jungle item with red pot and you can pretty much survive the tank line enough to murder that oh so delicious squishy target. Not to mention if you survive the teamfight you can also help with the cleanup ace. I know there is quite a bit of counter arguements to be said, but the way I play Fiora is oddly enough similar to an assassin/tank mix through all the Lifesteal I build onto her, couple that alongside a reaction time that's better than a majority of players and an entire frontline will be having worries of keeping their ADC alive rather than keeping my team from getting their carries as well (though I usually get the "less" intelligent teammates and they focus the tanks)

Hinagiku332 votes

Ah yes, drain-tank assassin jungle Fiora...probably one of my better junglers actually.

Yeah, this "tank-meta" hasn't affected me and my assassins at all. Probably just the players that are bad with assassins. Although Fiora can get enough DPS to solo a tank pretty quickly...as long as they don't go for Thornmail...

i like pie mmm1 votes

My jungle tank rammus with thornmail says hello and he got a chuckle after you died during your ult

EvilRabbitt3 votes

item 3153 item 3074 item 3072 You what mate?

What Is Smite1 votes

Well Mercurial Scimitar really helps lower the damage from thornmail since it returns aa damage as magic damage add on the merc treads and you pretty much more or less negate thornmail

Devack The Holy1 votes

Unless said tank is an AP tank, then you have to worry about abyssal or Liandry's.

What Is Smite1 votes

Well unless the tank has a necessity for Liandry's/Abyssal before late game then those items don't really put a damper on what you can do. Most tanks just do the standard rush of Cinderhulk into Randuin's/Solari (depending on enemy team comp) into a Righteous Glory, they are mostly just stacking resistances and HP for the first half to 2/3rds of the game.

Earl Eulrich1 votes

curiously enough, there are other sources of CC in this game besides tanks...and other ways of playing the game or even just teamfighting than straight up 5v5 deathballs.

SexyTaylorSwift4 votes

The only people bitching about the current state of the game are assassin mains.

Squeaky Dreemurr9 votes

This maybe true! But as a seasoned Kat/LeBlanc/Akali/Scumbag main I think the current state of the game is remarkably balanced. Good assassins are rewarded for good decisions and bad assassins are punished for their mistakes by hard CC.

As an assassin, I need the thrill of danger of instant death by mistakes to keep me playing the game.

SexyTaylorSwift1 votes

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all assassin mains bitch about the meta lol....I'm just saying that most of the people I see bitching about have their match history filled with Zed and Riven.

Keevalroy5 votes

{quoted}

This maybe true! But as a seasoned Kat/LeBlanc/Akali/Scumbag main I think the current state of the game is remarkably balanced. Good assassins are rewarded for good decisions and bad assassins are punished for their mistakes by hard CC.

As an assassin, I need the thrill of danger of instant death by mistakes to keep me playing the game.

http://www.reactiongifs.us/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/slow_clap_citizen_kane.gif

Nameless Voice1 votes

I main assassin Evelynn and I love the current meta. Now I'm no longer the only assassin who has to think, carefully position and time when I can go in without dying instantly.

air tiger1 votes

MFW Katarina full combos my Chogath for only half hp, dies to counter engage, then rages in all chat.

item 3070 of joy

Vellich0r1 votes

And burst casters. can't burst a 6K HP mundo, amirite???

SexyTaylorSwift1 votes

I don't care what meta you are in, Mundo goes where he fucking pleases.

NazZomLord4 votes

Nautilus I only like the Tank meta because you can tank things.- NZL 2015

But seriously though, whats better than being he giant on the team helping everyone more than the support and always being in middle of the Acton. Depending on who you are playing, you will get kills easily.

Solaxo3 votes

This is stupid. There's no "tank meta". Tanks aren't suddenly stronger. They released only ONE decent item, that's it. It doesn't make tanks' skills stronger, their CC longer etc.

KazaLyn Shao3 votes

And yet tanks are suddenly a necessity. Curious.

MacDthree2 votes

when were they ever NOT a necessity?

What Is Smite1 votes

When the Fire Nation Invaded

LilxPaprika2 votes

indeed so true. but depends on the assassin too. ekko and zed and fizz can at least get out to safety, kassasin more or less too. Akali has a bit more difficulty although I do think she would shine more if she was built a bit more bruiser just to survive the initial focus. if she doesn't survive the initial blast she isn't going to be that useful. plus she has to wait a bit for her spells. a bit in this game feels like forever and you can't be expected to survive long if your squishy while staying in melee range of enemy team. Unless of course you have good follow up and a well timed zhonia.

its also not so much tanks as well as changes to supports to help them do their job better now too.

On the other hand while a volibear can be kited more and doesnt have much mobility if he ever gets a hold of the adc gg especially with a well placed flash. righteous glory does help however. same for like an olaf. tanks have in a way become the new assassins. Garen can do a lot of work at taking out carries in one fell swoop.

Generalizing here but some adcs have this mentality that they are at the top of the food chain. today i had an ezreal complain about how he felt akali was op, cause he couldnt 1v1 me. they go off on their own without proper peel, support at a distance. or he doesn't have a strong peel comp. Its more like rock paper scissors. which is why its fun when each are instrumental to the other. Hence why its fun when tanks can perform their roles properly.

thing is a strong fighter or strong assassin can carry just as much as a glass cannon mid or adc. The difference is adc tends to have a dedicated support to them. But if need be said support could prioritize to help a different ally if said ally is racking up more kills etc.

KazaLyn Shao1 votes

I don't find kassadin to be half as scary as he used to be. He still has to respect the front line. One or two hard CCs and you have no problem blowing him up, and stunned kassadin's don't rift walk. Zed is the same way. If he doesn't get a good flank or a side engage, he's staring at a wall of HP and CC that's just begging him to over commit. The moment he does it's curtains. Ekko is just an anomaly because people are unfamiliar with him. Akali isn't on the radar anymore. She doesn't resemble old Akali, who was easily shut down by the simple purchase of an oracles.

Partholonian1 votes

{quoted}

Akali has a bit more difficulty although I do think she would shine more if she was built a bit more bruiser just to survive the initial focus.

Why is she taking the initial focus? Don't initiate with an assassin, unless you're jumping someone 1v1 in the jungle. Wait for the enemy to put all their stuff on CD, or flank, or both.

The worst thing about assassin meta is when assassins start to think that they should make frontal assaults, because they do it and get away with it.

MrBuffington2 votes

I though tank meta ended with nerfed Cinderhulk, now it's just relatively balanced with other junglers being a bit more competitive with the tanks.

KazaLyn Shao1 votes

Tanks are still the big team fight winners, though. Gotta have that crowd control.

MrBuffington2 votes

yea, just not as dominant as before

Partholonian2 votes

Warrior is competitive with Cinderhulk. I'm not so sure about Magus and especially Devourer -- its delayed power is a big problem. Why is the "autoattacker jungler" item also a "no powerspike until you farm for a long time" item? Doesn't that just make autoattacker junglers bad in a game where you have to gank and contest dragons starting from the first one or be in big trouble?

MrBuffington1 votes

I mean they're basically in the same spot they were before the age of cinderhulk

Fadedpf2 votes

ahem Leblanc Ekko

KazaLyn Shao3 votes

There are a few stragglers on the assassin side that can still play with absurd amounts of safety, but that's why we have bans, and I have no problem using two of them on these two idiots. I HATE Leblanc. At least in season 1, she'd get fed early and then fall off hard late game, unable to kill anyone. Now she can just 100 - 0 any non-tank she gets a hold of with an almost guaranteed flee back to safety. Only a few specific champs can follow her through her return dash. Ekko is just too new and people know so little about him. I have no urge to buy him, so I'll learn as I go, but as far as ranked is concerned, I'll rarely see him. He's either banned... or banned.

Partholonian4 votes

If you want to see a lot of him, play team builder. You're almost guaranteed an Ekko on both sides.

Squeaky Dreemurr2 votes

As an assassin main, I agree with you. I get a thrill knowing that a good decision will get me the kill and a poor one will get me cc'd and killed. Making big plays feels much more rewarding when you have to overcome obstacles like a tanky frontline.

Transgressor2 votes

TL:DR "I say something the general concencous thinks and has been true for about 4 months now so I can gather free upvotes"

stealthfox942 votes

Is this really a tank meta though? Seems more free for all to me.

KazaLyn Shao1 votes

Teams without tanks suffer. It's doable, but more effort than it's worth.

Vellich0r2 votes

[{quoted}](name=KazaLyn Shao,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=cjMwt94z,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-05-31T22:52:55.459+0000)

I'm an ADC main, but I love the tank meta.

Of course ADC's love the tank meta. You finally get guaranteed peel, and no-one is more important to deal with tanks than an ADC.

Meta 0011 votes

I mean, ideally, there wouldn't be a centralized role - the "metagame" wouldn't favor any roles. That said, the "tank-meta" is good; I like it because tanks are naturally defensive, meaning tanks won't lose ground easily, but they can't gain it quickly either, so the game still relies on assassins, bruisers, and ADCs to stay in motion. Thanks to the tank meta, the game becomes pretty diverse. That said, the tank meta is good largely because it's mild, and other roles are still viable. A game with only tanks will get pretty slow and boring.

Bottom line, the current state of the game gives tank champions a nice boost. It's diverse and balanced, and that's good.

Partholonian2 votes

The tank meta DOESN'T favor any roles though. Tanks are useful, but you can't make a team of just tanks and expect it to go anywhere. Even with 3 tanks, at least one of them had better be building bruiser and/or aoe damage (of course, a jungle tank always has aoe, now, even above the fact that most of them have some in their kit too). It's only a "tank meta" by comparison with the previous assassin meta where you could have 3 assassins on a team and do fine.

KazaLyn Shao1 votes

It's only a tank meta as far as you have to have tanks around to CC your targets and provide you with a viable front line. Without that, your team crumbles in fights. With it, everyone else has the chance of doing their own job. The tank meta makes other roles viable, it doesn't smother them out. That's what's so great about it.

BoxOfDOG1 votes

Then again now my 20 minute games instead last 50 minutes long.

Not fun.

Partholonian7 votes

This is a joke, right? Short games are the least fun. I love the ones that are still having epic brawls at 40+.

If the game hasn't ended by 40 min, either you're splitting dragons (usually meaning it's a close game), or whoever got 5 dragons really screwed up on closing out the game at that point. (Or they're playing against C9.)

Goodest Gamer1 votes

ay yes.. my favorite kind of games. stall it out to 50 and then a player on my team gets caught out and we lose right away. the joy and happiness of the "brawl"

Calibretto91 votes

I'm enjoying it. People are calling it the "tank" meta but I feel like it just feels like a balanced team game currently. Assassins still blow people up if they catch them out or avoid cc, ADCs still melt towers and do great sustained, bruisers still cause havoc and tanks are tough as heck to kill. Feels good to me.

zall751 votes

{quoted}

I'm enjoying it. People are calling it the "tank" meta but I feel like it just feels like a balanced team game currently. Assassins still blow people up if they catch them out or avoid cc, ADCs still melt towers and do great sustained, bruisers still cause havoc and tanks are tough as heck to kill. Feels good to me.

It's the closest period to "no role meta" because it's not a tank meta in a way where a team of 5 CC tanks can win anything, it's just a meta where one/two (mostly one) tanks per team are strong and make their team's other roles valuable... relatively often against other strong tanks. It might be a bad meta for champs who can't take CC (Fiora, Trynd, and some others might often get hard match ups) but complaining about it making somebody useless or being boring is the same as saying that useful is being able to 1v5...

Also in this meta Talon , who was underplayed for most of S4 (and before maybe) got to make a come back so i don't think Assassins have it as bad as the other carries during the Assassin meta.

XinZhao2WinNhao1 votes

i miss the days of 100-0 everybody on the enemy team as an assassin main though

Nibbly Jimbles1 votes

I agree, but the OP-ness of some tanks (Gragas, Sejuani) gets really annoying at times. The other thing is, most of the popular tanks are being played in the jungle right now, and it comes as kind of a surprise when Junglers are not tanks. I rarely see junglers like Fiddlesticks anymore :(

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by KazaLyn Shao

Sad to see ROX fall
Esports56 comments
41
votes
SSG silences the butthurt Chicago crowd
Esports13 comments
39
votes
TSM Contests a Dragon With No Top Laner or Mid Laner
Esports15 comments
10
votes
Cloud 9 no longer top tier in NA
Esports31 comments
5
votes
For the 3rd year in a row, an EU team is headed to the Worlds semis
Esports26 comments
5
votes
Time for Sven and DL to retire
Esports19 comments
4
votes