An Idea to Give Tanks a More Realistic Power-Curve -- More Strength in the Early and Mid-game!

tl;dr Give tanks more control over the flow of damage by allowing them to reduce the damage enemy champions do to them AND their allies, or giving their allies more damage themselves (a la Nunu, Leona, etc.). Increasing ally damage makes them strong supports while reducing enemy damage allows them to effectively duel bruisers in the early-game (without making tanks too oppressive by just straight buffing their damage).

Currently Tanks in both the top-lane and jungle struggle as they are bullied out early-game, rely heavily on their teammates, and are in general out-classed by initiation bruisers. This is a difficult issue to balance because if we give tanks more damage, they just become stronger bruisers with more CC and tankiness. If we nerf bruisers, they just become crappy tanks.

So I thought of an idea based on looking at tanks that are currently viable, or verge on viability in the right settings:

Incredible against full AD teams. His Q (movespeed steal), W (20-40% armor and AD increase), E (AoE Attack speed slow - massive like 50%) literally mean he can 1v1 the enemy ADC in the mid-game and can bully out AD, AS top-laners. More importantly his E not only decreases the damage he takes, but the damage all of his allies take from the enemy AD champions.

Also incredible against full AD teams. Great AoE damage and initiation with huge mid-game tank-spike with his W (120 FREE armor and MR). His taunt literally diverts the damage his team would take to himself for 2.25 seconds. Great for shutting down assassins with that targeted CC!

What an amazing support! His peel is almost unmatched and he can tank for days. His W and E make his allies tankier, and allows him to eat CC and damage for his carries.

The carry-jungler of bronze elo! This guys has an amazing ult, but what is also overlooked is his passive, which reduces enemy MR by 25 at level 16 when he attacks them. Literally increasing the damage his AP carries do to targets he initiates on.

Another great support! A strong lane-phase and great initiation. Her passive lets her allies do bonus magic damage to targets she hits with her spells, literally increasing her teams damage output.

I could go on with other champions but you get the idea. Viable tanks usually have one of two characteristics:

1. They increase the damage their allies do.

2. Reduce the damage their allies take.

Being a tank with 4000 health, 300 armor and 200 MR is great and all, but if you can't stop their Zed from dancing around your CC and killing your carries, it means nothing. Since damage is king in this game, tanks need ways to control that flow of damage. AoE CC doesn't always do it, and doesn't mean anything if your carries don't have the damage to follow up, or are just deleted by enemy divers.

To make tanks more viable, give them more ability to control the flow of damage. Either give them tools that explicitly reduces the amount of damage their allies take do, or tools to increase the damage their allies do. Bruisers are viable because they are relatively tanky, while still bringing a good amount of damage to the table in the early/mid game. Make tanks viable by giving them control over damage output as well by giving them tools to reduce the damage their allies take, or increase the damage their allies do.

I really like the idea of tanks expliciting reducing enemy champions damage - this not only gives them strength in the early and mid-game, but could give them a way to duel enemy bruisers by reducing their damage. This would eliminate the problem of bruisers bullying tanks in the early-game in the top and jungle. For example, Malphite can literally out-duel a lot of AD champs once he has Sunfire or Frozen Heart because he E and W reduce enemy damage by so MUCH. Give more tanks this ability and you will see them played more!

Some ideas that might work in tank kits:

1. Exhaust like abilities. Could cut enemy AD/AP by a percentage. This makes enemy carries less threatening to EVERYONE on your team.

2. Allied shields. Lend your allies your tankiness by allowing you to shield them!

3. More taunts. Seriously, they are hella good.

Others! Let me what you think about tanks in the game in general at the moment, and some ideas that could help them be more viable! Give more your suggestions!