Should I Play a Carry?

Litzner·6/23/2016, 1:46:06 PM·2 votes·553 views

As I have played League more and more recently I have been picking up Tanks more and more often, as I notice in champ select that my team often is in need of one. Now I am mostly playing tanks and I like to think I preform fairly well on them, but I notice even if I am doing well, if my teammates are not I will have little impact on which direction the game go. I have tried switching from top lane to jungle so I could have more influence on the early game and get my team fed, but I am still noticing the same pattern; even if I am fed, I feel useless if my team is behind.

This makes me think that maybe getting better at champs that can carry a game (ie: Irelia or Jax) will serve me better. Should I say tanks be damned, I don't care if my team doesn't have one and play a carry?

14 Comments

EndlessSorcerer6/24/2016, 1:42:17 AM2 votes

It depends on the champions involved.

At a quick glance, you seem to be playing quite a bit of Nautilus, Maokai and Malphite in the jungle. These champions aren't great junglers at the moment due to a variety of factors, those primarily being their slow clear times (in comparison to more damage-oriented junglers).

If they can't farm efficiently, then they will not accumulate gold as quickly, which means that they will hit their power-spikes later and not be able to gank as often. They have to be durable enough to survive fights, which can be difficult when you are behind on experience and items. This is the main reason they are primarily seen top-lane at the moment; gold and experience is far more reliable up there.

In addition, Malphite and Maokai have issues with their early ganks (due to Malphite's lack of gap-closer and hard CC pre-6 and Maokai's low range on W). All of them are rather dependent on their team for providing damage since they generally lack it.

Finally, these champions aren't great duelists. While this can be worked around, it does make them weaker in earlier skirmishes and when being invaded.

Since you seem to be playing a lot of him, I'll use Trundle (who is a fighter) as an example of a different type of jungler. In comparison to the above, Trundle has good clear times due to his high single-target DPS, he is a fantastic duelist and his Ice Pillar is fantastic CC pre-6 with a variety of uses.

Trundle is great at invading and fighting off invaders, excels in skirmishes and duels, and clears rather quickly (leaving him more time for ganks/objectives and providing more gold for items).

If you want to play tanks in the jungle, I would recommend choosing champions with the following qualities:

  • Good clear-speed
  • Good skirmishing potential (or the teamfight potential to make up for it)
  • Hard CC and a gap-closer on their basic abilities.

I would recommend you try some of the following champions if you want tanks in the jungle: Amumu Gragas Sejuani Zac

On these champions, you main goal is to become a fat, unkillable monster so that you can stay within fights disrupting the enemy team. You need to be durable enough that they can't outfight kill you and strong/annoying enough that they can't outright kill you.

I generally recommend prioritizing CDR and defensive items on these champions; your abilities are your main source of disruption, mobility and you rely heavily on their base damages, so you want to have them up as often as possible.

Alternatively, you may prefer trying some tanky fighters in the jungle if you find they better suit your play-style. The following are good options who still have the qualities listed above: Elise Hecarim JarvanIV Pantheon SkarnerTrundle Udyr Vi Volibear XinZhao

On these champions, you generally want to be durable enough to survive against the enemy team long enough to kill your target. You generally want to build a mixture of damage and durability (often prioritizing early damage) to become a threat which can't be easily killed and which will kill the enemy team if ignored.

Linna Excel6/23/2016, 2:12:19 PM1 votes

Are you a top or jungler?

If top, I think it's slowly going to carry tops. For jungler, fill the hole in your team as best as possible.

lilpokfluf6/23/2016, 2:16:13 PM1 votes

I think it depends on the tank you play. If you're playing Darius or Garen I would say just play jax or irelia and destroy their carries. But something like maokai or malphite can do wonders for team fights.

UnwardiI6/23/2016, 2:50:10 PM1 votes

What level are you playing at.

Because if you aren't at least mid gold then absolutely play carry champs who can 1v5 split push to victory. Doesn't mean you have to stop playing tanks, loads of tanks can do that, Garen and Volibear spring immediately to mind. But if you're playing maokai or nautilus, you are very very dependent on your team being able to follow you and at low levels, that's an absolute crap shoot.

Even when you are A LOT better than your Elo, it's the difference of winning 65% of the time vs 50% of the time.

GirlsWasteXp6/23/2016, 1:49:51 PM1 votes

Tanks are really good atm (and almost always). The thing you have to realize is you wont win every game. That's just how it is. Your team will feed and you will lose. I would say playing tanks is a good way to carry if you do it well. Tanks do a lot of damage and are obviously difficult to kill. I would say play what you want and do your job. If you do it well enough you will win more than you lose and climb.

Epic Murph6/23/2016, 3:54:21 PM1 votes

I went through the same thing. I tried playing carries too until I figured out I play too passively whenever I'm a squishy champ, for that reason I cannot play champs like zed or rengar.

The way I remedied this is I learned how to play Sion. Not only can he get extremely tanky, he can also push towers, destroy squishies, and be a living nightmare for the other team to deal with. He's also very fun to play.

Also, just for future reference, If the enemy team has a lux you can take sion mid, build some early MR, and completely wreck face.

Litzner6/24/2016, 1:26:06 AM1 votes

This is what I am talking about... sigh...

[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/2yvjghg.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i63.tinypic.com/t96peo.png[/IMG]

xWaters6/23/2016, 3:20:01 PM1 votes

I just bought Quinn yesterday and I play her top, not adc. Too much crap happens bot lane. Her ult is amazing, I've never been able to take all the turrets and inhib in my lane without getting caught. And if something happens, I fly in to help my team. I mostly play tank junglers with heavy CC (Naut) and his engage in team fights is great!