Don't blame them. If they left lane without feeding their laner, then it's obviously not their fault you're 0/8. It's YOUR damn fault their top laner is fed, and although they have the ability to protect you, it's still your responsibility to position yourself right. Why the sudden interest in this issue? Well, let me give you an example. A very recent one.

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I just had a game as where I went up against top. As hellish as the lane was, I left it with a positive KDA and I had ulted several times to get everybody else kills. I worked hard to keep the lane under control, and I kept my turret up for a surprisingly long time considering the enemy laner had been doing nothing but pushing.

Soon enough, this Lulu had a build that looked something like .

Now, there is no way in hell I can stop that monstrosity from pushing. Especially since is disabled. Soon enough, the hiatus began.

"Is this your first time playing Shen? I haven't seen you land your passive all game."

I decided to simply respond that yes, I had been playing Shen correctly. I have been for the past two years, thank you very much. You're also welcome for those 2 kills I gave you off my top laner, which you decided to invest into a and rather than, I dunno, a frozen heart. But whatever, don't want to start anything. Let's just ignore the vitriol in that comment and continue.

"Shen, you're just bad. You let your laner get fed, your lane is a mess, you ult in really late, and you built completely wrong."

I'm sorry, Miss "I like to 1v1 the enemy Vayne and give her 6 kills." I worked so damn hard to keep your lane from feeding the enemy Vayne, and I got your ADC fed. I also defended you when you kept feeding Vayne while defending turret, stating that you were the only one defending bot lane and that was an issue we should handle. The least you could do is acknowledge that I secured you guys a dragon and 8 kills for your ADC at the expense of tons of farm. But whatever, I'll just roll with it. I've learned that not responding to such claims is usually the best option in such a tense situation.

By the end of the game, it devolved to this: "gg, Lulu you're not even good. Shen is just really bad." "Shen, stop blaming your lack of skill on not having Zz'rot portal." (Let me note that I simply made a passing remark about how the lack of Zz'rot portal made it difficult to slow down Lulu's pushing, and nothing more.)

Really? When we were winning it was "gj Shen" but the moment things looked south everybody laid the blame on me. It's sad, really. They threw a winning game and it becomes the tank's fault.

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The moral of this rant? Show your tanks some god damn respect. We forego all damage items and the glory in order to peel for you, we gank you so we can get you fed. We dedicate our existence to getting pummeled and even dying so you can live. We lose out on farming power, pushing power, and overall fun in order to win the game. You guys get to watch your DPS get higher, all we do is get hit harder. And with all the nerfs to tanks that Riot has been shipping, both direct and indirect, you better be god damn grateful to those players who are brave enough to be a tank in the top lane. Engaging YOUR fights. Peeling for YOU.

Seriously. I don't care whether you guys agree or disagree with this. I'm just here to tell you that it's nice to get some gratitude and respect once in a while, instead of the blame. It's not the tank's fault you mispositioned, or tried to fight the enemy ADC as a support, or wandered into unwarded jungle. It's not the tank's fault you tunnel visioned and chased an enemy to get trapped by the rest of their team, or can't manage objectives, or can't even forego your own ego in order to build something that's beneficial to the team.

#I'm done. Here's my rant, tried and true. Respect your tanks. Respect them.