Poll: Is Mundo a tank or bruiser?

NinjaFifer··2 votes·1,054 views

So, I've been playing a lot of Mundo recently, and running Phantom Dancer as my second or third item depending on the situation, with the rest full tank. With a 10% crit rune page and maxing my AD steroid first, I've been doing quite well, but people just b%&*$ up a storm every time they see anything but full tank. I ask, though, what makes a tank?

So, first, let's differentiate between Bruisers and Tanks. Really, the only difference between the two is one item. Bruisers build one damage item early and then build straight tank, while Tanks go tank all the way.

The way I see it, you need to be doing one of two things as a tank: applying CC on a low enough CD that living as long as possible minimizes the time the enemy gets to actually act, or posing enough of a threat that the enemy can't just ignore you. Nautilus is an example of the former, while Singed is an example of the latter.

The thing with Mundo, though, is that he has no CC aside from a 'meh' slow. He clearly doesn't fit into the first aspect. The problem with the latter aspect though, is that he just doesn't deal enough damage without any damage items. His steroid is nice, but it and his cleavers just aren't enough to make enemies pay attention to him.

Thus, I believe that Mundo is a Bruiser. He needs something to give him damage, and PD is exactly the item. ADC's build a trio of stats equally to maximize their damage: AD, AS, and Crit. Mundo brings the highest AD steroid in the game to the table, so building AS and Crit rounds out the triangle and maximizes his damage in exactly the same way. Since Mundo doesn't buy any other AS or Crit items to synergize off of, the fact that PD brings more raw stats makes it a better pick up than Shiv.

Besides, I have been told so many times that I really need to stop headbutting people, and that always makes me smile.

7 Comments

Tamur3 votes

Mundo is whatever Mundo pleases to be - DrMundo

NinjaFifer1 votes

I'll start using that one on the haters.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

Mundo is definitely a bruiser/fighter. He has a lot of innate damage but he lacks hard-CC and initiation capabilities. However, I find that I can typically get enough damage with a tanky build that I don't need a dedicated damage item.

I prefer getting defensive items with some offensive properties on Mundo instead of getting a dedicated damage item in most cases. My personal preference for an item build is something like:
item 3111 /item 3047 ,item 3068, item 3143, item 3065 item 3075 item 3091

I'm not sure how well Phantom Dancer works on Mundo (though if it works for you, that's fantastic), but I can see your logic behind the purchase.

NinjaFifer1 votes

The problem that I have with the idea behind 'both offensive and defensive items' is that Riot has shown they don't want them. I'm pretty sure that Sunfire is still in good shape because it (and now Cinderhulk) is an item that you really can't scale off of damage-wise. It deals it's damage and that's it. Every other damage and defense item has either been kept pretty cost inefficient (Frozen Mallet at 89% without passive, and Wit's End at 100% only when it's fully stacked), been made super high cost so as to be prohibitive (Mercurial Scimitar), given conditions (Maw of Malmortius), or been straight up removed (Atma's Impaler). Phantom Dancer, on the other hand, runs 123% efficient without it's passive (which I love btw).

I actually love the idea behind those dual purpose items, and I used to use all of them when I first started. Before I knew about efficiency (and before Atma's was removed) I used to feel so good being able to build one item and not feel like I was leaving a hole in my build. I know better now. I'll still build Frozen Mallet on my Jungle Mundo from time to time, along with Warmog's and Cinderhulk's 25% bonus health (+4.5% off Seals and 3% off Masteries) just for the 6k health lulz. When Grump buff hits you back for 500 magic damage over 3 seconds, there's a problem.

RogueWill1 votes

Bruiser, outside of the build are able to do large amounts of damage in a small period of time, mundo fails to do this and hence he is a meh tank.

As for items I personally go item 3172 instead so I don;t have to sacrifice my already weak early with a full crit rune page. Also the tenacity is nice

MajesticFargle1 votes

I like him as a fighter/bruiser because without any damage items he is pretty weak damage wise... however, it is not about going in 1v1 late game, rather being able to cause havoc by engaging in the middle of the pack and running your W. It makes it better if you have a sunfire cape.

I like to follow this build because it gives me a ton of health regen and overall health with some armor (some will criticize that I lack armor and MR, but the added health and health regen is nice). Along with this, mid game it is incredibly hard to kill me due to having over about 5k health and regen about 50 hp/s.

item 3083 item 3009 item 3068 item 3065 item 3022

and depending on if there is more AD or AP I will choose...

item 3075 for AD

OR

item 3112 for AP

Is Mundo the best? No. I find that he struggles immensely against Riven and Renekton. But is he good? For sure.

NinjaFifer1 votes

I definitely agree that it's not about the 1v1, but I really prefer the teamfighting playstyle of "I rush the ADC, and deal enough damage to force them away from the fight if not outright kill them." The rest of the team doesn't matter to me. I have no CC to peel with, so the best I could do in a defensive situation would be to body block, but then I should just be playing Braum. No, I pick up the extra insane damage so I can "tank" through pure aggro generated from my damage threat.

Also, I just shat on a Riven last game just because a single auto from my steroid-ed auto would win me the trade, not to mention that my passive regen is miles better than Riven's.

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