I'm getting so tired of these Valkrin threads. I've watched Valkrin stream, he knows the game obviously and is an amazing player. His opinion on tank items is getting excessive though. Maybe they're strong / overtuned, sure. Given he plays support, mid, and jungle (and primarily plays wukong and Kha'zix jungle) he's not the greatest example of an unbiased person on tank balance. He would benefit from tanks being weaker.
My problem with his videos though, is that people use it as evidence when he dominates with tank items on stuff like assassins. Thing is, Valkrin often does this on his smurf. Despite the smurf being master tier, and even challenger at times, its elo is still well below Valkrin's play level. Fact is, he's a great player, top 10 in NA. He's GOING to win most of his games. He can afford to build suboptimally and still win games, especially on his smurf, especially when his teammates start off well.
I've watched him on these tanky fridays. He plays much worse in those games - it's painfully apparent that these games are suboptimal. I recall a tank-Diana game where the game went late and he landed his full combo on the enemy Jhin three times in a row while chasing him, then got collapsed on and died while Jhin survived. The enemy team won off of the ensuing 5v4. Had he built a normal Diana build, Jhin would have been dead on the first combo (definitely the second if not).
He's using his superior skill to inflict his opinions on others. Tank items may still be too strong, but they're no where near the level that people get in their heads from his videos. He's not winning these games because tank items are strong, he's winning them because he's an amazing player that can win despite a suboptimal build.
