What makes a tank a tank?

TheDevice·Dec 24, 2015·4 votes·744 views

I hear different people try to explain what a tank is.

So from what i understand.. tnks are less tanky than juggernauts, do less damage, but have more cc.

Is that what tanks are?

Sion is less tanky than Garen and darius. Sion deals less damage. Sion has more cc (albiet less reliable)

Is that wat a tank is?

9 Comments

EndlessSorcererDec 24, 20157 votes

Fighters make themselves a threat primarily through the damage they deal. While they do generally have some utility, it's generally not the main benefit they provide to their team. Garen Darius DrMundo Nasus Irelia Jax Volibear Olaf Hecarim Shyvana

Juggernauts are a subset of fighters who are generally immobile (no blinks or dashes) and possess (relatively) low CC.

Tanks help their team by providing utility (in various forms). They may still deal a decent amount of damage, but it's not the main benefit they provide. Nunu Maokai Braum Malphite Nautilus Thresh Shen Sion Sejuani

Some champions will blur the line depending on their build/playstyle, but that's the general difference.

ErockandrollDec 24, 20155 votes

I wouldn't say that tanks necessarily lack damage. But most of their damage comes in the form of Burst. The likes of Sion can actually do a fair amount of a full rotation. But they don't have the DPS to be the constant threat that a Juggernaut has, when rampaging in the enemies rank.

It may also be fair to say that a Tank's CC should be factored into their tankyness. Considering your enemies are killing your if their CCed. Personally, I like playing Sion, And I know that and ADC will shred me given any length of time. But when I smash and ADC with a full combo, all of a sudden, they don't want to fight me anymore.

Prospector PeteDec 24, 20152 votes

Tanks are champions that can soak up damage and lock down targets long enough for their other teammates that actually deal damage to kill them.

IcyPepperDec 24, 20152 votes

Itemization is also a factor, and since other people already covered most of the difference in champions (SO to EndlessSorcerer), so I figured I'd hit items real quick. Here's a quick example of a tank, and a bruiser (I won't cover the subsets tho, itemization differs between classes but Ima keep this simple) item.

item 3110 is a tank item. Its main purpose is to lower enemy dps not through stats, but actually directly lower the enemy's dps. It rewards you being within range as well and disrupting the enemy team. Less enemy dps means not just you, but your entire team is taking less damage via autoattacks.

item 3071 is a bruiser item. It offers both defensive (to stay alive in a fight, bruisers aren't [usually] assassins) and offensive (to deal more damage, derp) stats. The passives are designed to help you deal even more damage in a fight, and is clearly intended to be a primarily offensive item that helps and rewards staying in a fight longer (like Frozen heart) with a different reward.

There's a few items that overlap a bit (randuin's, RG, etc) depending on the situation, similar to how some carries may choose a bloodthirster over BORK if they need the defensive passive.

jjbinks99Dec 24, 20151 votes

yes, in many games tanks are the ones that have a lot of health but deal none. (some games will say tanks are juggernauts who can also deal damage) but in league a tank is someone who can be a brick wall and take all the damage for your team. They also have the most crowd control to try and help keep people off the carries.

Yxion the YordleDec 24, 20151 votes

A tank is a large, heavily armoured fighting vehicle with tracks and a large tank gun that is designed for front-line combat.

Unfortuntely this translates to Rito as an excuse to make hard to kill high burst damage champions.

Hayaishi2Dec 24, 20151 votes

itemization too.

iluvalarDec 24, 20151 votes

You have 4 resistance profile in lol (from front to back line) : Tank, bruiser, carry and soraka

And they could be either AP, AD.

Finaly some champion gain extra title like "Assasin" because of their extra ability to avoid damage and reach some odd positioning that allow them to hit the back row or "Supports" because they are better in group etc...

"juggernaut" it's like "swordman" it's a nice title, but it's not part of any relevant RPG classification. I think they are big tank... If i had to make a choice.

BluePolarizerDec 24, 20151 votes

Let's use an out of 10 ranking system:

Tanks:

Durability: 10/10 (tanks need to absorb damage to do their job) Burst damage: 7/10 (most tanks have surprisingly high burst. Sejuani, Sion, Malphite, Maokai, Nautilus, etc. have amazing burst that destroy squishies) Sustained damage: 3/10 (most tanks have very low sustained damage) CC: 8/10 (tanks have CC to lock enemy teams down or to displace/disrupt them) Mobility: 4-6/10 (almost all tanks have engage gapclosers while a few have escapes)

Fighters:

Durability: 5-8/10 (all fighters have strong inherent durability but not as much as full tanks. Heavy fighters have durability on the level of full tanks while light fighters can withstand AOE or dueling ADCs, but not focus) Burst damage: 5-7/10 (most fighters aren't bursty when not fed compared to mages, assassins or even many full tanks) Sustained damage: 7-9/10 (fighters are, next to ADCs, the DPS class of league. if left alone they can carry games with their sustained damage) CC: 0-6/10 (fighters typically have mediocre CC that is mostly designed to allow them to stick to single targets rather than for locking down or displacing entire teams. Some exceptions include initiator fighters such as Wukong, Hecarim and Vi. Juggernauts are typically cc-less or almost cc-less). Mobility: 0-6/10 (juggernauts are entirely immobile. light fighters and initiator fighters have significant mobility for starting fights or staying in them but either can't escape well or have mediocre escapes).