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The "tank meta" doesn't exist

Lost R··70 votes·5,417 views

As much as that line is going to get me downvoted by people who won't bother to read what I'm about to say.

The tank meta doesn't exist. How much changed from a few months ago to now that suddenly tanks are considered the new meta? The largest addition was the Cinderhulk, but the tank junglers getting a huge buff to their core item (and the addition of Bami's) isn't THAT big enough to suddenly make them the new meta. Laners don't directly benefit from it. At most, it made the tank junglers viable again.

From my personal experiences in game, it seems like an overreaction from the assassin meta getting broadsided by their elemental nemesis. The core element of assassins is they deal their damage in one big burst and get away before they face retaliation. Tanks specialize in dealing their damage out over a longer period of time, but are able to last considerably longer in battle, sometimes able to bounce back much faster from damage, and hold down the enemy long enough to deal that damage to them.

If assassins can't kill their mark, their only option available to them is to get the hell out. Unless they have someone to help pin down the enemy or just generally protect them from the enemy, either through buffs or crowd control, they melt in the hot sun under direct and sustained fire. Tanks by and large have exactly what destroys assassins, and since tanks received a decent boost to their earlier game, it made them a lot more capable of taking on their nemesis and winning.

The punchline is this isn't exactly new. Tanks received a huge boost in their power back during Season 4 when the Quill Coat was introduced, and what would later be remade into the smite buff from the Gromp. The short life of the Quill Coat, however, along with the entirety of the old jungle item sets made its impact quiet, minimal and short-lived.

Tanks are not the new meta. Assassins are just losing their ground from the previous season, yet people insist on bringing four AD assassins to the game regardless of how counterproductive it actually is, and this is becoming all the more apparent the longer it goes on.

95 Comments

Sooko30 votes

Its actually because assassins literally took over the game by the end of season 4, as most instant punishments to deal with their superior mobility were removed, and the fact that most of them lived through the mana regen nerfs, unlike mages.

The champions that dealt with assassins, tanks, were deeply sunk in tier 3 (most of them), being outplayable, slow starters, and easily counterjungled by mobile junglers, not to mention the fact that any ADC could bring them down with a Bork and a LW very quickly.

When the Cinderhulk was released, their clear times were powered up a lot, not to mention being allowed to have easily the best jungling enchantment due to how lackluster the others seem to be. This item is so good, it reaches the top lane as well, since tank itemization is honestly quite bad, cost-wise, compared to other roles. Cinderhulk's bonus HP and its passive are amazing, and tankier comps are perfect to deal with champions that need a lot of CC dropped on them to be caught, like Zed, LeBlanc and Nidalee.

This is why tanks became so good. Soon we will get AP Kog'Maws, Vaynes everywhere, Brands and Gnars, who love to see all these Cinderhulks running around (unless Cinderhulk gets nerfed into oblivion and we go back to the assassin meta, which is a lot worse IMO).

Lost R5 votes

The thing is the UP on Sunfire (at least now) is better than Cinderhulk. The only real advantage Cinderhulk has that Sunfire doesn't is the percent-based health bonus, and the Sunfire is only SLIGHTLY more expensive. If there was a tank meta, it was incredibly short-lived.

All of the jungle items have a lane-item analog:

item 3709 item 3717 item 3721 item 3725 = item 3068 item 3710 item 3718 item 3722 item 3726 = item 3091 (also counts as continuing the Feral Flare's legacy) item 3708 item 3716 item 3720 item 3724 = item 3165 item 3707 item 3714 item 3719 item 3723 = item 3134

The jungle item counterparts are inherently weaker due to a lack of one stat or another along with the unique passive. Morellonomicon doesn't have the mana regen or the grevious wounds, Cinderhulk's immolation is not as strong as Sunfire, and Wit's End has neither the magic resist nor the drain. Funny enough, the Warrior enchantment is a step up from the Brutalizer, but it's also one that builds into another item.

Sooko5 votes

Maybe the passive isn't better than Sunfire, but 25% of your HP is huge. That is what top laners with smite wanted, not the immolate passive, because no item could do such a good job at making them tanky.

But I still agree with your thread man, tank meta would be teamfights lasting half an hour, with Warwick and Olaf auto-attacking each other for ages (good old days xD). Asides from junglers (and maybe a few supports), no other role has much of an advantage for picking a tank rather than anything else.

thinking man2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Lost R,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fE8Q2m4e,comment-id=00010000,timestamp=2015-05-24T23:23:25.667+0000)

The thing is the UP on Sunfire (at least now) is better than Cinderhulk. The only real advantage Cinderhulk has that Sunfire doesn't is the percent-based health bonus, and the Sunfire is only SLIGHTLY more expensive. If there was a tank meta, it was incredibly short-lived.

All of the jungle items have a lane-item analog:

item 3709 item 3717 item 3721 item 3725 = item 3068 item 3710 item 3718 item 3722 item 3726 = item 3091 (also counts as continuing the Feral Flare's legacy) item 3708 item 3716 item 3720 item 3724 = item 3165 item 3707 item 3714 item 3719 item 3723 = item 3134

The jungle item counterparts are inherently weaker due to a lack of one stat or another along with the unique passive. Morellonomicon doesn't have the mana regen or the grevious wounds, Cinderhulk's immolation is not as strong as Sunfire, and Wit's End has neither the magic resist nor the drain. Funny enough, the Warrior enchantment is a step up from the Brutalizer, but it's also one that builds into another item.

lmao what? The jungle items are all vastly better than any possible lane counterpart. Morello's isn't even a counterpart to Magus since Magus is flat AP while Morello's is a mana regeneration item.

Warrior is cheap and easy to buy, Cinderhulk is strictly better than Sunfire since it's way more slot efficient, and I'm not too sure on Devourer since it's about as troll to buy as Wit's End.

jaymc11301 votes

[{quoted}](name=Phane Sorter,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fE8Q2m4e,comment-id=000100000001,timestamp=2015-05-25T20:06:35.548+0000)

lmao what? The jungle items are all vastly better than any possible lane counterpart. Morello's isn't even a counterpart to Magus since Magus is flat AP while Morello's is a mana regeneration item.

Warrior is cheap and easy to buy, Cinderhulk is strictly better than Sunfire since it's way more slot efficient, and I'm not too sure on Devourer since it's about as troll to buy as Wit's End.

The op forgot to take into account the smite effects phane. I still don't even know to attach a gold value to smite also being a true dmg execute slow or a true dmg burning exaughst. Particularly since skirmishers only had a 60 sec cd, the nerf to a 4 sec duration hurt sure, but it's still more power than the cost of the item. All the jg items are unbelievably gold effecient. I said it was a mistake 4 months back to do this with smite, and while I certainly love using it lately, it's totally overpowered.

Godaren2 votes

{quoted}

Its actually because assassins literally took over the game by the end of season 4, as most instant punishments to deal with their superior mobility were removed, and the fact that most of them lived through the mana regen nerfs, unlike mages.

The champions that dealt with assassins, tanks, were deeply sunk in tier 3 (most of them), being outplayable, slow starters, and easily counterjungled by mobile junglers, not to mention the fact that any ADC could bring them down with a Bork and a LW very quickly.

When the Cinderhulk was released, their clear times were powered up a lot, not to mention being allowed to have easily the best jungling enchantment due to how lackluster the others seem to be. This item is so good, it reaches the top lane as well, since tank itemization is honestly quite bad, cost-wise, compared to other roles. Cinderhulk's bonus HP and its passive are amazing, and tankier comps are perfect to deal with champions that need a lot of CC dropped on them to be caught, like Zed, LeBlanc and Nidalee.

This is why tanks became so good. Soon we will get AP Kog'Maws, Vaynes everywhere, Brands and Gnars, who love to see all these Cinderhulks running around (unless Cinderhulk gets nerfed into oblivion and we go back to the assassin meta, which is a lot worse IMO).

People still played assasins in one lane, it's easy to see cinderhulk is a problem when top laners and mids are building a jungle item because it is so gold efficient. Assasins took over one lane. Tanks have taken over the game.

Aych Pii7 votes

What midlaner did you ever see building a jungle item? Moreover, why are people still complaining about smite+TP top when it wasn't even meta on more than one or two champions, for more than about a week? In fact, did you know that of the top twenty highest win rates in top lane right now, not a single one is recommended to take cinderhulk? Shyvana's pretty much the only champion that still uses that build, and her win rate is 42%, the second lowest out of 56 common top laners, second only to Ryze.

I'm gonna ask again actually, what bizarro world are you living in where assassins aren't played mid and midlaners build cinderhulk?

OperationDEEZ11 votes

Cho is being played mid and counters like, every fucking midlaner right now. I've seen cinder cho mid with RoA, Rylais, Liandry's and had like, 5k hp

Aych Pii1 votes

Cho mid is extremely strong right now, but cinderhulk's a pretty questionable build on him. He gets low benefit from the smite itself because he's not much of a duelist so red smite isn't godlike on him and he can out-smite any jungler with his ultimate anyhow. And after that, well, Cho'gath's already so naturally tanky that it's more efficient to build RoA into straight AP. You can build him to do massive damage while still being incredibly tanky thanks to his stacks.

OperationDEEZ11 votes

Does the cinderhulk multiply the HP from Chode'gath's stacks? If yes, that alone is reason enough to run it on him. Even then you're probably going RoA, Rylais, Liandry's, which gives a lot of flat health anyway.

Aych Pii1 votes

Rylai's is weak on him as he only has AoE and already has little trouble catching people. Typical Cho'gath mid builds go RoA>Luden>Rabadon>Sorcs>Voidstaff>defensive item, not necessarily in that order. You start RoA but then go pretty much straight damage from there.

The reason? Mid lane is most efficient for champions that scale well on levels, and that means ability based damage dealers. Assassins and mages, primarily. If you don't have damage coming out of mid your team comp will be weak on damage overall and likely quite susceptible to being tanked to death. Moreover, a tank in mid could possibly work given a carry top/jungler, but wouldn't put as much gank pressure on the side lanes as someone who did more damage, nor provide as much to early game skirmishes across the lower map.

If you want to play tank'gath, there's always top lane. Hell, jungle even. But cinderhulk isn't what makes Cho strong right now and if it was he'd be primarily played top or jungle.

(to answer your question, though- yes, I'm pretty sure cinderhulk multiplies off his ult stacks)

Dextix LT9 votes

Amumu Chogath Hecarim Gragas RekSai Udyr Sion Sejuani

Buy 1 damage item, go full tank, and have as much damage as an adc or an assasin. Yep, tank meta doesnt exist.

SpecterVonBaren5 votes

Cho'Gath's damage actually falls off pretty fast if he only gets one damage item.

Psi213 votes

{quoted}

Cho'Gath's damage actually falls off pretty fast if he only gets one damage item.

http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Cho%27gath

Late game No AP items Cho's Q = 305 -- (if you did get AP items well it is 1:1 or +100% AP and it is AoE CC) W = 275 - (if you did get AP items well it is 1:0.7 or +70% AP and it is AoE CC) E = 80 - (if you did get AP items well it is 1:0.3 or +30% AP and it is AoE R = 650 True damage - (if you did get AP items well it is 1:0.7 or +70% AP)

650 True damage is nothing to scarf at. That means you don't care if they have an absorb shield up and you don't care if they have MR or Armor.

Cho is very much Tanky DPS

Champion Skin4 votes

DPS... not exactly as his cooldowns are rather long so his DPS isn't all that great... though he has pretty good up front burst And Shields do block true damage (as shields are like temporary HP)

Random Task1 votes

Ok Hec, Grag, Rek, Udyr are all fighters so their meant to be the damage dealing tanks.

Dextix LT1 votes

I agree, they are meant to be damage dealer tanks, but not this much damage. Because right now, they do shit loads of damage, more than even dedicated carries do.

FantasySniper6 votes

So the tanks are numerous, forcing the role they counter out of consistent viability, but they aren't the new meta?

Tis a nice day7 votes

I think op just means assassin meta is becoming less viable, which makes it look like a tank meta is rising now that team 5 squishies don't seem to work anymore.

Rinky Dinky3 votes

No, the value of assassin goes up the stronger tanks are.

Tanks make adc's more important, which makes assassins more important, which makes tanks more important.

This also increases the effectiveness of bruisers, as this allows comps to have a damage threat who can survive assassins.

Bruisers and ADC's both being important means that utility mages and supports are also more important.

If tanks are trash, assassins determine who wins.

If tanks are balanced, the entire team decides who wins.

Much healthier, more balanced game.

Edit: Downvoted when these are facts.

It's not like assassin winrates and play rates are still just as high as before or anything.

0h wait

jaymc11304 votes

[{quoted}](name=Lane Cancer,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=fE8Q2m4e,comment-id=00070001,timestamp=2015-05-25T05:17:18.228+0000)

No, the value of assassin goes up the stronger tanks are.

Tanks make adc's more important, which makes assassins more important, which makes tanks more important.

This also increases the effectiveness of bruisers, as this allows comps to have a damage threat who can survive assassins.

Bruisers and ADC's both being important means that utility mages and supports are also more important.

If tanks are trash, assassins determine who wins.

If tanks are balanced, the entire team decides who wins.

Much healthier, more balanced game.

I can't believe this thread is still going.

Or how wrong this particular post is. The value of assassins goes down dramatically the tankier an opposing comp is. Not up. They are less capable of getting to a priority target and less likely to make it out after icing the target.

No, the class that gets a boost in effectiveness from a greater number of tanks in the game is the burst Mage. The class that is effective at eliminating both tanks and other carries. There is a reason lb is the only real assassin that's in a good place right now. She's bursty enough to kill anything while remaining mobile enough to avoid being locked down.

Can we please let this stupid thread die?

Ratbert1 votes

Tanks counter burst. That's why they counter assassins.

Lb is hardly the burstiest champ in the game, many mages beat her burst any day.

jaymc11301 votes

{quoted}

Tanks counter burst. That's why they counter assassins.

Lb is hardly the burstiest champ in the game, many mages beat her burst any day.

Anni maybe. Or vlad. And both of those require a full spell rotation to outdo her 2 basic ability combo. If it's a full spell rotation lbs burst is tops in the game.

Ratbert1 votes

Missing veigar as a burst mage is sacrilege.

Annie's level 2 2 hit combo deals 150+165% Lb's is 195+140% veigar's is 200+160%

Only difference is annie can do that combo every 8 seconds and maybe stun, but lb waits 18 and only deals damage. Neither of them need to ult to beat lb's rotation (well annie needs 180 ap to break even, but that's a trivial amount).

jaymc11301 votes

{quoted}

Missing veigar as a burst mage is sacrilege.

Annie's level 2 2 hit combo deals 150+165% Lb's is 195+140% veigar's is 200+160%

Only difference is annie can do that combo every 8 seconds and maybe stun, but lb waits 18 and only deals damage. Neither of them need to ult to beat lb's rotation (well annie needs 180 ap to break even, but that's a trivial amount).

I totes missed viegar, thanks for pointing out that mistake bud!

Since when is 180 ap at lvl 2 a trivial amount?!?!! What? Lol, misspoke there i think.

For consideration, lbs combo can trade taking 0 dmg in return against a whole slew of champs, I don't think vie and Annie fit that bill. Still, the fact remains lbs about as bursty as they come. I mean we only could come with 3 other champs who are remotely close given an equal income level. I think her burst qualifies as top tier.

Transgressor5 votes

The game's pretty good at the moment, compared to the assasin meta which was THE WORST since I started playing this game, not to mention LeeSin JarvanIV falling off general interest. As soon as the new jungle went up all those months ago, those 2 dominated disgustingly along with Nidalee 9/10 games, it was THE worst meta in LoL's history(subjective), not to mention HOW FUCKING BAD IT WAS TO PLAY AGAINST THEM.

In addition, since it's become harder to instakill one another all the time, interest has swapped a bit towards objectives, and this game feels a bit less like asymetric Call of Duty, which is great. Champions that came to the spotlight, champions that were secretly OP thanks to cinderhulk got out of the backstage and into the scene, which continues to get them steadily nerfed now that their overwhelming power has become apparent and largely accessible.

The only problem at the moment is that ADCs(fuck marksmen) are based way too much on their pseudo RNG with item 3072 's rework now that they all buy item 3031 item 3087 item 3046 item 3142 all the time, the sole interaction with them has bowled down to whether you'll get 3 crits in a row and they won't get any, or if they get crits constantly and you get only 1, or nobody gets crits etc etc.

Psi215 votes

This is definitely a tankie dps meta.

Been playing since beta.

Take it from someone who has seen this all back in 2010 where Riot balancing team slowly addressed Tanky DPS in 2011. Riot had to learn that Tanky DPS was a problem. It took a year then and it may take a year again.

This is Deja vu all over again with a new balancing Riot team to boot.

Proof in 2010 Tanky dps was a problem. http://forums.na.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=387507

2010 !!! - "I can't help but think that, especially with the tank metagame going around,"

It is amazing the Riot balancing team has learned nothing.

=- Below ---- Video Proof where Riot balancing team figured it one year later:

https://youtu.be/isAh6hreZoI?t=29

History tends to have problems often repeating itself.

Looking at the Simple picture:

A number of things are making this game a complete Tank meta.

  1. Most Burst mages have been nerfed
  2. Tanky dps no longer fears DFG and the new AP item they introduced is situational and expensive trash.
  3. Most tank champ/bruiser have abilities that have great ratios to ap.
  4. HP/AR/MR provides too much of a reward over building pure DPS builds
  5. The cinderhulk provides way too much of an advantage (Think about how much passive damage it does for you over time)
  6. The crit % was moved to be given on completion of the item like the IE and the Phantom Blade. This Slows ADC damage.
  7. AP Mages are struggling and they are stack RoA to become also tanky all while falling terribly low in dps department.
  8. There is now talk of reducing mana regen.

Tanks are flat out too powerful. Many Tanks have ratios that are extremely high on some of their abilities allowing them to go AD or AP (while keeping a lot of what made them tanky)

Tanks are often given a wider range to AoE or longer CC

Some tanks even have True damage such as in the case of Cho's Ult

I mean you know there is a problem when you are seeing the ADC tank busters constantly needing to be played... like Kog and Vayne.

THE ORIGINAL POSTER COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG. There is very much a tank meta and assassins shouldn't be garbage over picking a second tanky dps champ.

Kãtãrinã4 votes

it is called tank meta because now your jungle/top and support are usually tank or at least 2 of the 3. Cinderhulk top lane was the reason people actually cried tank meta and even me being an assassin/mage main i still deal with tanks quiet easily usually. Maybe because i know how to get by them and kill your back line while your busy on my front line. My zed alone can deal with any tank but that is just because of how i build him. But of course depending on the tank may require my ultimate to do such a task which leaves me unable to ult a backliner which is sub par to what id like to do. But anyway i only agree slightly of it "not existing" because metas can change drastically due to an influx of a certain pool of champions.

Lost R3 votes

Mages are generally anti-tanks by virtue of having crowd control and a source of damage that is not so easy to mitigate (magic damage). Magic resist items are few and far between, and the ones that do exist are usually meant for supports (The chalice and its build paths), mages (Athena's Unholy Grail), or brawlers (Maw and Scimitar). Tanks have four primary MR items to choose from; Mercury Treads, Aegis, Spirit Visage and Banshee's Veil, and even then, they're not very powerful compared to their armor counterparts. The brawlers actually benefit from more magic resist items than anyone else, since they can benefit from the offensive stats as well as the defensive. The most a tank can do is just stack health and pray.

Narasimha13 votes

That's... entirely wrong. If anything, tanks are anti-mage. Tanks are made to be able to withstand burst damage, something which most mages thrive off of. If anything, ADCs are actually more anti-tank, because tanks can't do much against consistent damage.

Generally speaking, its a triangle of Burst beats Sustained, Sustained beats Tank, and Tank beats Burst.

Godaren5 votes

{quoted}

That's... entirely wrong. If anything, tanks are anti-mage. Tanks are made to be able to withstand burst damage, something which most mages thrive off of. If anything, ADCs are actually more anti-tank, because tanks can't do much against consistent damage.

Generally speaking, its a triangle of Burst beats Sustained, Sustained beats Tank, and Tank beats Burst.

Tank beats everything at the moment though cough Sejuani Gragas cough

Narasimha7 votes

Eh, that's just a numbers issue. A little bit of tuning SHOULD rectify the issue.

Godaren2 votes

{quoted}

Eh, that's just a numbers issue. A little bit of tuning SHOULD rectify the issue.

I just don't get why warwick has one patch he is good on and him and the item gets gutted but the tank junglers get like 4-5 before they fix the item

Sona Ping6 votes

Because Warwick wasn't "good", he was pretty much the unrivaled best champion in the game because Riot somehow made the mistake of making Feral Flare 1.0 again, except this time, even better than it was before. The fact the balance team decided to break Warwick instead of just fixing the item (which they did the same patch anyway) is a different conversation.

Erockandroll4 votes

The whole tank meta hype was back when Sion and Maokai were still god like tanks. When Cinderhulk came out, their tankyness complimented the Tankyness of the Top lane Maokai and Sion. Now that Maokai and Sion have been toned down a bit, we begin to see a few more play making champions, (notably Hercarim) and they can do that because they no longer have to be the teams tank.

Largely I'd say that Cinderhulk Diversified the team comps. Opening up Top lane to other roles.

XLC4 votes

Ehm. I'm sorry but no. Assassins are now weak because of tanks being so damn strong. Tanks are strong; Sej gragas had the two highest win rates for FOREVER. You almost NEVER see any enchant other then cinderhulk in high elo solo queue and LCS, even on junglers like Rek'sai, Lee'sin, Vi, and J4. Cinderhulk has taken over.
You even see a lot of top laners take TP-Smite just because of fucking cinderhulk (Rito nerf harder plz) making them unkillable machines. You mention how tanks are, basically, only 'in' because they counter assassins, but now a days you barely see many assassins picked anyway (Except for LB and occassionally Zed.) Hell, Cho'Gath mid became strong b/c tanks are op. (Though it was already fairly strong.)

jaymc11304 votes

Solo q is generally the mode that determines meta shifts. Solo q has become a mode in which, lately, the tankier team prevails. In a meta where the tankier team tends to prevail we will see an increase in the play of tanky champs. When tanky champs Become the most common picks the meta has shifted to a multiple tank meta. Please, stop this stupid thread.

AquariusGine3 votes

Who are these AD assassins? (Just curious)

Lost R2 votes

Lee Sin, Zed, Yasuo, and the ADC (whose entire role is to deal damage so for the sake of this argument count as an assassin as well).

Buttigieg 20205 votes

Lee sin? Assasin? Dafuq?

Lee sin is a bruiser, his job is not to 1 shot the carries.

Talon Zed Fiora MasterYi Yasuo are assasins.

Mandang03 votes

...we've seen top laners take smite, and you're gonna argue that cinderhulk doesn't help laners?

We absolutely are in a tank meta right now, for a few reasons:

  1. Cinderhulk: %bonus HP is a hell of a stat, and the smite item changes in S5 have made taking smite in lane not a liability.
  2. %HP damage: It's thrown into everyone's kits these days, especially tanks who also want to stack health in the first place.
  3. It's a good answer to assassins: Assassins who've been left atop their lane and arguably the game for the last 2 seasons.
Aych Pii4 votes

When recently have you seen a top laner take smite? That trend died weeks ago, as quick as it started in the first place.

Mandang02 votes

Yesterday, and the patch that supposedly killed it was much more recent than you're saying.

Rinky Dinky2 votes

that patch was 1 week 5 days ago.

so almost 2 weeks

shalexade2 votes

When Cinderhulk came out, a number of tank junglers jumped in win rate up to nearly 60%.

Said champs have been nerfed back down however.

Gunpoint2 votes

The game is in a PERFECT place right now imo. No one class is dominating. People say only tank junglers are good but that's simply not true, I've still had plenty of luck with Lee Sin and my friend often does outstanding in his Shaco games. Tank junglers are just viable now.

Lost R2 votes

Perfect? I wouldn't go that far, but it's in a far better place than it was previously. The point of this thread is pointing out the overreaction to the tanks' boost so they come out on par better than they have in the previous season and a half.

Kuroi862 votes

"The Meta" Is really just short for what people consider popular, strong or safe at the given time. Since assassins were the main threat for so long, minor buffs to a number of tanks caused people to jump onto the tank wagon and charge full steam ahead, creating a tank meta. Very little has actually changed, minor buffs to a hand full of tanks via direct buffs, item implementation and reworks on some jungle buffs, but really, it's more about the placebo effect than anything. Riot wanted to give tanks a small nudge to get them out of the rut they were in, and people naturally went nuts with it.

LeeDark2 votes

Tanks were always the counter to assassins, just as assassins have always been the counter to strong carries. A meta favoring one of those three is established when one counter is buffed enough to be a viable threat OUTSIDE of their ability to counter their nemesis class.

In Season 4, the way to stop Zed was to choose a tankier champ. Keane proved this more recently when he played Urgot into Zed. Urgot benefitted only from a small direct buff to his shield, Urgot did not benefit at all from the general and targeted buffs that brought back tanks. And the only thing that changed for Zed was a small nerf to attack speed. This tells us that Urgot would have been VERY LIKELY to do just as well against Zed last season as he did when Keane brought the zombie to life.

The reason Zed was strong was not his ability to delete squishies. He still does that, and yet is not considered as strong. He was strong because, once he was done deleting that squishy, he could do respectable damage to tanks or split push and either kill one person or play safe against two. That's what he can't do anymore, and that is why assassins have fallen out of favor. If you see a good Zed in the game, either your ADC or squishy mid, if you picked one, is still going to die. After that, though, Zed can't contribute anything more.

Tanks, however, received numerous direct buffs, particularly in the jungle, that translated into them not only being the counter to assassins, but being able to contribute beyond shutting down those assassins. Now a tank can split push without worrying too much about the threat to their life. Now they can dish out quite a lot of damage with Cinderhulk and Gromp buff. And yes, those two things are the lion's share of the difference. Every other jungler CAN get Cinderhulk, but their contribution suffers because they need damage. Every other jungler CAN get Gromp buff and stomp wards, but the Gromp buff benefits those tanks more than anyone else, and the ward stomping Raptor buff is just as useful on tanks as anyone else. PERHAPS, if Krug buff was actually threatening to champions, other junglers could shine as well.

So yes, tanks are the new meta, because they got buffed to be useful beyond their capability to counter another class. And they are already seeing their time in the sun fade into shadow as their counters, which have always been strong, see a resurgence. Just as Season 2 was the time of the tanks and saw the rise of the "ADC Deathball" comps that dominated afterward, and just as Season 4 was a response to those carries getting out of control and needing assassins to take them down again, so we come full circle, and will again.

And I, for one, eagerly anticipate the day when the wet noodle fight is considered the epitome of excitement in this game.

FantasySniper2 votes

I love how riot just featured an article discussing this very topic.

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votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
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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

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