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Thoughts on rebalancing tanks

Great Ozymandius·12/5/2018, 2:26:14 AM·10 votes·7,285 views

Most people will agree that burst (and damage generally) is extremely high. Assassins dominate and champions that are not assassins often play as though they were. Tanks should be strong in such an environment -- but they are not. To the extent that tanks matter at all it is, strangely enough, because of how tanks provide damage (at least in certain phases of the game). In short tanks (and tank items) are undertuned. The weakness of tanks also explains why crit-based adc's feel so weak -- tanks do not currently pose a problem for other classes, which makes the late-scaling tank-busting adc not very useful.

To fix this problem we need to understand where it came from. Riot intentionally made tanks weak. You may or may not agree with why: (1) wet noodle fights (tank v. tank/bruiser) are boring to watch; (2) tanks remain strong in pro play and slow the game pace down; (3) in low elo, tanks can overwhelm carries if tanks are strong - particularly in the midgame; (4) tank items can be abused by other classes -- particularly fighters.

Buffing tanks and tank itemization in the correct way can sidestep these problems: (1) buff tanks in a way that Ranked can utilize better than can pros; (2) backload damage so that wet-noodle fights come to an end but tanks can't burst carries; (3) give tanks windows of vulnerability after windows of strength (so that, even when ahead, tanks can be destroyed if they misplay); (4) stat-bind tanks to resistances.

I'm not very creative so please forgive me for the stupid item names.

Wits end upgrade

Corrybant = {wits end} + {cloth armor} + {x gold} Stats: +40% attack speed +40 magic resistance +15 armor Passives: unique: Basic attacks deal 42 + {x% of bonus armor} + {y% of bonus magic resistance} bonus magic damage on-hit unique: basic attacks (on-hit) grant 6 magic resistance and reduce the target's magic resistance by 6 for 5 seconds. Stacks up to 8 times for a total of 48 magic resistance. At maximum stacks, grants 10% cooldown reduction and the cooldown reduction cap is increased by 10 percentage points. Ranged champions steal only 3 magic resistance per stack and stack up to the same number of stacks.

Why

In terms of the above list: (1) LCS teamfights rarely give tanks an opportunity to wale on another target for a long time, so this item will be more relevant in ranked -- particularly low elo; (2) this item increases damage in drawn-out fights between the intended users (tanks) and other champions, thus reducing wet-noodle fights; (3) bonus tankiness conferred by this item requires fighting, which means the intended users are more vulnerable before they engage or if they are successfully kited; (4) this item scales with bonus resistances so that fighters (who are stat-bound to bonus health) and ranged champions are less likely to abuse it.

At the right price point, this item will be strong for tanks but not other classes.

Blue Plate / Kappa's Plate

A tear upgrade that gives a shield? This sounds like seraph's embrace but is very different.

Blue Plate = {tear} + {chain vest} + {warden's mail} + {x gold} Stats:

  • 100 armor
  • 650 mana
  • 10% cooldown reduction unique passive: cold steal UNIQUE – MANA CHARGE: Grants a charge every 4 seconds, up to 3 charges. Each mana expenditure consumes a charge and grants +8 mana, up to a maximum of 750 mana. Transforms into Kappa's Plate at +750 mana.

Kappa's Plate Stats:

  • 100 armor
  • 1500 mana
  • 10% cooldown reduction unique passive: cold steal unique active: gains 1 ice stack and provides a 50 hp shield. For every 0.5 seconds it is active, it provides another ice stack, consuming 25*{number of stacks} of mana to add 50*{number of stacks}{1 + x% of bonus armor}{1 + y% of bonus magic resistance} to the shield. The shield entirely dissipates when the user runs out of mana or when the item is deactivated. cooldown: 20 seconds.

Why

This item can give a lot of durability to a resistance stacking tank. But it does so in a way that admits counterplay. First, it gates the tank's durability with mana. This limits how much the item can be used in lane and also during extended sieges. As the stacks ramp up, the tank will become very difficult to kill -- until he runs out of mana. Its user must plan ahead to activate it -- especially given its internal cooldown. Second, the shield ramps up over time -- this means that the shield can't be activated to stop burst unless the user planned in advance. Third, the size of the shield increases with resistances. Given that shields already synergize with resistances, this item will be heavily stat-bound to resistance stacking.

Reworked Ohmwrecker

The ohmwrecker is an interesting idea but in almost all circumstances it is too niche to be a good buy. The main problem is that it is useless early game if the enemy tower is already down and it is useless late game because tanks are tanky enough to tank tower shots without deactivating towers.

Ohmwrecker = {raptor's cloak} + {glacial shroud} + {x gold} Stats: +60 armor +10% cooldown reduction +300 mana unique passive: point runner Unique active: when near a tower (or the remains of a tower), can be activated to consumes mana equivalent to base mana, granting a shield worth {mana consumed}{1 + x% of bonus armor}{1 + y% of bonus magic resistance} to user and nearest ally. In addition, deactivates nearby turret (enemy or ally) to prevent it from attacking for 3 seconds (120 second cooldown). This effect cannot be used near the same tower more than once every 8 seconds.

Why

Now the ohmwrecker is also useful in the lategame (when turrets don't deal as much damage), when enemy turrets are down, and in some defensive situations. However, it is better as an offensive weapon (it's not good to disable your own tower) and it is heavily gated by mana. This is especially relevant for laning -- its owner will only be able to use it once before going oom. A failed dive will be very costly. Again, it scales with resists, making it strong on tanks but not bruisers.

Helm of Rostam

Helm of Rostram = {negatron} + {saphire crystal} + {saphire crystal} + {x gold} Stats:

  • 500 mana +60 magic resist Unique passive: If sufficient mana is available, after 10 seconds without receiving damage consumes 200 mana to provide a 600 HP shield. This shield dissipates 4 seconds after receiving damage, procing Seven Labors. Seven Labors: Empowers the next autoattack to deal true damage equal to the amount of damage mitigated by resistances while the shield was active. Lasts 3 seconds or until consumed.

Why

This item provides a hefty shield that regenerates on a short cooldown -- but it automatically consumes a large amount of mana. As a consequence, it will quickly cause its owner to go out of mana if poked in lane or before a teamfight. This makes it better as a late-game item used for initiating. Seven labors provides a very large boost to damage -- but only if in the small window after the shield dissipates and only for resistance-stacking champions that have received a large amount of damage to the shield.

This item could be very strong for vanguards, rewarding aggressive dives. But the other team can play around its contingencies.

Frozen Heart (reworked slightly)

Same build path somewhat more expensive, Same stats but somewhat more armor. unique active: consume 100 mana. Grants Burning Heart. cooldown: 5 seconds Burning Heart: For the next two seconds, all damage received that is mitigated by resistances is dealt to very nearby enemies as magic damage. Duration refreshes (consuming an additional 50 mana) if it damages an enemy.

Why

Further increases tank synergy with resistances. Strongly rewards tanks for getting on top of enemies -- and rewards enemies for peeling of the tank. Active is gated by mana and enemies can play around the active (and the mana bar).

Some changes to tank champions

Nautilus

Have size of his shield scale with resistances. Increase damage when shield is up, reduce damage from other abilities.

Malphite

Have the size of his passive shield scale with bonus resistances

Galio

Have size of Shield of Duran scale with bonus resistances

Jarvan

Have size of golden aegis scale with bonus resistances

Leona

Have resistances from Eclipse scale with bonus health (opposite of the pattern here).

Maoki

Have sap magic scale with bonus resistances

Rammus

Have defensive ball curl bonus resistances scale with bonus health (opposite of pattern here).

Taric

Have bastion shield scale with resistances.

Conclusion

These items and reworked abilities all reward resistance stacking. Only tanks will want the stats these items provide. When shields are up, tanks would extremely difficult to kill because of how resistances synergize with shields. But these shields (and situational damage buffs) would be gated by cooldowns, mana, and fighting contingencies. When the shields are down, the tanks would be vulnerable (because stacking resistances without health does not make a champion very durable).

14 Comments

Tahminatrix 12/5/2018, 2:47:44 AM5 votes

Well, atleast by having shield size scale with resistances you are making resistances still functional against true damage. (might be obvious, might not be, still something to think about, is it a problem? or a good thing? That's up to the community)

CrazFight 12/5/2018, 3:44:02 AM5 votes

All your really doing with the champion resistance tweaks, is making them tankier for a short period of time. (Much like what gargoyle plate does).

I want tanks to be tanky in general, not just though instances when they are using abilities/items.

Ralanr12/5/2018, 4:31:27 PM2 votes

What tank buys wits end?

Illuminatra12/5/2018, 3:53:52 AM1 votes

i mean im still getting dicked on by ornn/poppy as a bruiser and im confused as to why people are bitching.

i get that tanks arent in a good spot but holy fuck they act like they are completely worthless.

poppy can literally dive a bruiser top for free and take absolutely 0 damage.

poppy is allowed to build full tank and be able to make any top laners life completely worthless.

ornn outdamages the living fuck out of any melee early by rushing tank AND his ulti is COMPLETELY unavoidable in lane.

if you get ganked and hs ulti is up, you are DEAD, period.

PopcornBunni12/5/2018, 4:52:04 AM1 votes

Changes need to be made to both tank classes so they have better defined roles. Right now a lot of Vanguards, who's job is to initiate fights with cc chains, are either doing ridiculous damage themselves, or standing around in a fight repeatedly using their cc over and over.

The distinction, I think, should be that Vanguards have longer cooldowns on their crowd control and lower sustained health for fights in exchange for better crowd control and better upfront burst resistance. Their damage should also be tied to scaling rather than on the base skills, so they can build as a diver, but have the drawbacks of that class by doing so.

Malphite and Sejuani have passives that do just that, letting them soak the brunt of an initial attack but having to back off afterward. Alistar's ult would also qualify, but it lasts so long it ends up protecting against both burst and sustained damage.

Wardens on the other hand are supposed to be deterrents against enemy engages. They bolster their allies' defenses or hard stop damage from getting to them at all. Historically, they have had many traits in common with Juggernauts, lacking engage tools and having lower crowd control in exchange for better outright fighting power to punish opponents that close in on their team. Unlike Juggernauts (excepting Mordekaiser ) though, Wardens also lack the "stickiness" of their fighter-class analogs. They lack pulls like Darius, Volibear, or Illaoi, and can't chase people down like Udyr, Garen, or Olaf. They trade both engage and stickiness for peel, but this leaves them in a hard spot compared to the playmaking Vangard class.

So, I think Wardens should trade off some up front burst protection and chain crowd control for more sustained protection and more dueling power. They can afford more base damage in their kits because they have lower engage potential to use that damage.

TahmKench is a Warden that fulfills all of these aspects. His shield is based on the damage he's soaked recently which makes him focus more on staying in a fight for a long time than on mitigating huge initial bursts, all of his damage spells are built around staying in a fight for extended trades, and his tongue lash is up frequently enough to briefly stun often in a fight.

Some Vangards have traits that would be better suited for a Warden meant to soak long-lasting damage and stick through an entire fight --

Amumu everlasting flat physical damage reduction, Maokai and Gragas's repeated healing, Rammus's taunt and auto-attack punishing nature, Sion outclassing every tank of both classes, et al.

And conversely, some Wardens have more burst protection but fall hard to sustained damage, largely defeating the point of being damage soakers-

Galio gets a brief damage reduction on his taunt and a small shield against magic burst, but that's it, while Nunu's rework gave him hard engage tools and long, but infrequent cc-chains.

Probably the easiest way to shift the two tank classes into these distinctions would be as such:

Lower base damage of Vanguards across the board, increase their AD/AP scaling on these abilities (Don't tie damage reduction/healing/shielding to AD/AP) Lower the Hp5 on Vanguards to keep them from sticking around and make their trades have a bigger risk associated with them Increase the amount of burst protection offered on kits that have them, but with lower duration Increase their base health per level

Increase the Hp5 on Wardens, but slightly lower their base health values, particularly health per level On Wardens' CC skills, lower their damage while also lowering their cooldowns

These changes don't require adding to any existing abilities that could address specific champions, but does cover the broad strokes of both classes. Wardens would need case-by-case sustain enhancements and Vanguards case-by-case burst protection to really drive the distinctions.

The thigh guy12/5/2018, 4:00:08 PM1 votes

Like I’ve always said. The tank items are not the problem. It’s the ludacris amount of %pen, flat pen, lethality, %hp damage and true damage flying around.