Champions that build Tank usually have a % stat associated with the defense. For example, Volibear heals for 30% of his health and has a % Bonus Health Ratio on his W. Obviously, you should be stacking HP on that champion to maximize on these percentages. This applies to all stats really. A champion that has a % ratio in their kit tends to get more bang for their buck relative to every other champion in the game for buying these same stats. To rephrase, since Volibear has built in Health Ratios, he is a champion you should go out of your way to build Health on compared to other champions.
On the other hand, some champions just don't have these % ratios but still need the defense. Think Jarvan or Wukong type champions, those with decent flat defenses but no scalings like Volibear has. In this scenario, you need to build for the situation. Wukong primarily builds AD Caster for example, however once team fights roll around, he explodes far too quickly even with strong uses of his Decoy. Maybe he gets blasted by enemy AP and needs the Banshee's Veil to knock some of that damage off. Maybe the Enemy ADC locks on to him consistently and Randuin's Omen will help him make full use of his ult. Maybe you need flanking power on top of defense and opt for a Dead Man's plate. This applies to every champion in the game that don't already have % scalings: if you're in a situation where you're dying too quickly to be useful, build defense based on the situation.
Crit can follow a similar logic to Tankiness. Shaco and Yasuo have Critical Strikes interlinked with their kit and naturally you want to complement that. The more useful way to tell if a champion wants crit is based on these factors:
- Is your champion's job to deal damage?
- Does the champion auto attack a lot?
- Do you need more damage?
ADCs for example are normally explicitly chosen to be the team's damage source, especially against Tanks. They auto attack by far more than almost any other champion not named Master Yi, and due to their usual inability to build for Utility like a Tank or Mage can, often their only option is to optimize their Damage. Compare this to Veigar who loads his firepower into his abilities, or Gnar who is primarily picked for his Ultimate and lane control than to be a Damage Dealer, it's obvious to tell who benefits the most from Critical Strike Chance between those champs to, say a Tristana.