A look at League of Legends’ tankiest guys, gals, and other pals. These picks are defining members of the Meta-Game, and none show signs of slowing down their dominance over the popular Assassins and Marksmen focused Meta picks.
In a League of Legends meta dominated by Assassins and Marksmen in Mid Lane, there’s one presence that’s sorely been lacking in the world of League of Legends that can respond to these classes. That presence being Tanks. While largely unpopular in comparison to their other class counterparts, Tanks play a vital role in every team composition by providing a reliable damage soaker and engage or disengage piece for their team comps. They respond well to the above-mentioned Marksman and Assassins due to their ability to eat the damage with little repercussions, and they often pack disruption that stifles the ability for these classes to put damage down.
So, today I’m here to encourage you to pick up some of these pieces by highlighting to you who the best of the best are, and what they bring to the table that you may be unaware of.
Malphite starts our list of Tanks that rock it up in the Top Lane. For multiple patches now this literal mountain man has been one of the most solid Solo-Queue Top Laners in the business, and that stems entirely around his high impact ultimate, Unstoppable Force. Unstoppable Force’s ability to start or turn a teamfight around can’t be measured, and with so much emphasis in today’s meta being around Dragon and maintaining neutral objective control, Malphite’s ability to walk down from his island and immediately contribute at level 6 can’t be denied.
Additionally, the rock’s got more than just his ultimate to cook with. In lane, Malphite operates very much like a lane bully in many matchups by running Arcane Comet which allows him to chunk his opponents down with his Q, Seismic Shard. After they’ve been poked and prodded to about half-health, Malphite’s high base damage values allow him to all-in and pick up early kills should his opponents not respect the range of his ultimate.
And hey, if you really get rolling, Malphite packs insane AP scalings and can really be a tactical nuke in teamfights if you’ve got the frontline presence elsewhere on your team ;).
If you plan to rock this rock up top, I highly suggest banning Illaoi who loves shredding through low mobility Tanks like Malphite, or Sylas who can shred you and steal your ultimate to use against you.
Tahm Kench’s rework seems to have been a success. His solo-lane viability has shot up to terrifying heights and many Top Mains are already clamoring for the demonic catfish to receive some nerfs. But, until then, Tahm’s one of the best Tanks in the business right now and shouldn’t be overlooked.
With Tahm’s Abyssal Dive getting moved to his W, he’s been given a tool that allows him to engage into fights with opponents and set-up ganks for his Jungler while in lane. And with careful vision denial come late, he can use this ability to get off sneaky angled engagements, or at worst follow up off the back of another engage piece. His previous W, Devour, has now been moved to his R to function as his ultimate, and it largely works the same way. When his passive is stacked on them, Tahm can eat and misposition an opponent before spitting them out at a favorable spot for himself or his team to kill, or he can deny the incoming damage onto one of his allies by devouring them and negating their output. Oh and they get a shield after being spit out, which is nice.
All that to say, Tahm’s nature as a frustrating denier of damage is less oppressive than it once was since there’s more time gating with his Devour, but he’s still a versatile utility monster that has good short-to-mid range pressure when defending his allies or engaging on aggressive enemies. Tahm struggles against opponents that prioritize Grievous Wounds early, or are Champions that can out-poke his ability to sustain via his Gray Health mechanic. So, if you want to try Tahm in Top, look to maybe slap Kled or Kennen with bans to make your life easier.
Shen, like Malphite, has been a staple pick in Top Lane Solo Queue for many patches now. With his ultimate, Stand United, Shen can easily pressure a side-lane to draw attention towards himself before Ult-ing his way towards a fight on the opposite side of the map to turn the tides there… And once the fight is won, he can reset and TP back to maintain his lane pressure without missing a beat.
His shielding, teamfight presence, high-impact taunt, and surprising amount of early-game damage make him a valuable piece of the Top Lane meta in this high neutral focused environment we play in.
Overall, Shen excels against the common Assassins and Marksmen due to his ability to lock them down, prevent their damage with his ult and his W, Spirit’s Refuge. Mastering the timing and positioning of these abilities is key to being the best Shen player you can be. But, like many on this list, he’s no giga-brain mechanically demanding Champion, so you can play him effectively without needing much time invested in. Banning Champions that don’t rely on autos, like Singed or Mordekaiser, is sure to make your life easier when piloting this not-so-stealthy ninja.
Poppy enters this list for her ability to be an absolute nuisance to some of the Meta’s most popular carry-oriented picks. Being able to deny the slipperiness of Yasuo, Akali, Gwen, Yone, Sylas, Lee Sin, Irelia, Fiora, and Riven, just to name a few, is an invaluable asset. And she gets this deny ability as early as level three and as often as every 24-16 seconds since it’s packed on her W, Steadfast Presence.
Poppy, like Tahm, is ideally a short-to-mid range style Tank that wants to deny her opponents ability to engage on her and her team. But, with Flash or other engage sources on her team, Poppy’s ability to lockdown opponents with her E, Heroic Charge, and ultimate, Keeper’s Verdict, can make her a decent initiator in fights. Additionally, her ultimate, like Tahm’s carries flexibility to it. By charging it up longer, Poppy can remove opponents entirely from fights by knocking them away, or it could function as a threatening disengage tool, allowing her and her team to peel back and escape.
Sadly, Poppy doesn’t back the raw base stats of other Tanks, so she does depend on items. Operating much like a Bruiser in the early game, she struggles against true Bruiser picks like Darius and Garen who can get on top of her and stay there. Best to drop these guys in bans if you’re looking to pilot Poppy.
Jarvan, while he is not a true tank like many on this list, I wanted to put him on it for his ability to emulate the ideas of a true Tank. Jarvn himself builds very much like a Bruiser Jungler, opting commonly for items like Goredrinker and Sterak’s as core components to his build. But unlike other bruisers like Xin, Lee, or Rek’sai, Jarvan doesn’t keep attached to the ‘more damage’ build path and instead opts for items like Thornmail, Randuin’s, or Gargoyle Stoneplate to finish out the game. He transitions from damage to tank and begins focusing on the utility he brings towards the mid-to-late game phases.
Additionally, unlike other Bruiser or damage oriented Junglers, Jarvan comes packaged with a bit more teamfight presence thanks to his ultimate, Cataclysm. Combined with his Flag-and-Drag combo, Jarvan can get into fights and capture priority targets with Cataclysm setting them up for his team to wombo down. He can also shift his priority to peel if necessary, though he has to be a bit cautious about using his more capture-based ultimate in this fashion.
Jarvan is a quintessential Jungler, and with the flexibility to build a hybrid style between Bruiser and Tank or focus down either pathway depending on his game state, I think he’s an invaluable selection to add to your repertoire of Tank / engage focused Junglers.
Nunu shifts us more into a true-Tank discussion point for our Jungle section. And while AP Nunu can be something fun to play in Normals or in Mid, when we’re talking about gaining LP we focus on his ability to survive, soak, and tank through fights.
Naturally, Nunu’s biggest draw is his two-smite ability with his Q, Consume. This gives him unmatched neutral control and makes his clear speed a daunting one to keep up with if not matching him with a farming focused Jungler. Consume also comes into play mid-fight as Nunu can use it to sustain through massive amounts of damage and gain large bursts of health back to extend his presence in teamfights. Tripling alongside his fight sustain and objective control is his W, Biggest Snowball Ever. While not as versatile of an engage piece as a later mentioned Champion, Nunu’s W gives him the ability to come in fast and hard for ganks. When mastered this ability can curve through the tightest of corners and come out of seemingly nowhere to lock down targets. While simple in design, it’s an ability that promotes familiarity and mastery should you put time into it.
Zac is our previously alluded to Champion who slings into fights with ease and from unique angles. Zac has been a surprisingly stapled presence since the shift to his old ultimate, Let’s Bounce. While it lacks the utility and disruption that his now old but new ultimate brought, the rest of his kit remains a disruptive force on ganks and in a teamfight.
The draw to Zac as a Jungler first starts with his E, Elastic Slingshot. This ability is his max choice as it grants this uniquely designed engage tool more range and allows Zac to set up shop out of vision before slinging his way in to knock up opponents or to stretch and slap them back against their minions or lane partner. Additionally, this ability is a great one to set-up other allies like Orianna’s Shockwave. Zac makes himself
Unlike Nunu, Zac doesn’t have to have a lot of finesse with understanding how his ability can be angled, instead he’s given a large cone of potential landing spots and it’s on him to play around the enemy vision and set himself up in the most disruptive of drop-in spots. But, like Nunu, Zac’s passive Cell Division provides him with a juicy amount of fight sustain and allows him to take extremely aggressive plays against his opponents.
Essentially, Cell Division affords Zac a second chance at recovering from a play by splitting him into four blobletts that try to converge back and rez Zac upon his death. It functions very much in the mold of Anivia’s passive, just with four extra little squisher gooplets to hit. These goops can be TP’d to to make them invulnerable and otherwise can be protected like Eggnivia to restore Zac up without his death converting over to the enemy team. So, understanding how to play around this second-chance mechanic can make Zac extremely valuable in dive oriented compositions. Additionally, as he uses his abilities, Zac slings goop everywhere. Picking up goop while fighting puts health back into Zac and can sustain him through the hairiest of fights.
Rammus rolls his way in after getting a rework to his ultimate. Now known as Soaring Slam, Rammus can capitalize on the speed that he builds up when rolling into a lane by hopping over those that would block his path. (Minions mostly.) This gets him on top of his priority targets and with his E, Frenzying Taunt, Rammus can lockdown any slippery Assassin or laugh as Marksmen kill themselves against his Spiked Shell and Thornmail stack.
There’s not much else to say here, but if the enemy comp locks in 3+ AD centered Champions, picking up Rammus is not a bad choice at all… Just maybe ban Morgana or another disengage focused piece that makes your head hurt if you’re wanting to play him blind.
I know, I know, ‘But Mid Lane doesn’t have any Tanks!..I don’t wanna play a Tank when I’m playing Mid,’.. Well, when you’re looking to round out a team that needs a pinch of frontline, sometimes taking the fall and playing someone that can facilitate will be the thing that ups your game.
Sadly, Galio is our only ‘true’ Mid Lane option when it comes to Tanks. With his W, Shield of Durand, his E, Justice Punch, and his ultimate, Heroic Entrance, Galio packs a ton of fight disruption that makes him an excellent frontline piece for any composition. Sadly, with the removal of items like Rod of Ages at the start of the season, Galio doesn’t possess the same level of bulk that he once did. But even with the removal of that once key piece of his build, Galio’s kit still excels at locking down priority targets and he matches extremely well as a lane bully against some of the game’s finest Assassin’s like Katarina, Fizz, Leblanc, and Akali.
He, like Poppy, operates very much in a short-to-mid, play space and wants to punish those that engage on his team or follow up off the back of another engage source. But, if you’re the only frontline option for your team, you can get aggressive with Justice Punch into Shield of Durand. And as a reminder for your other engage technique, you can no longer charge Shield and then Flash into the enemy for setup, you’ve gotta Flash and THEN Shield.
However, to not leave this as a one-Champ section, I’m going to mention two previously mentioned picks of Malphite and Nunu. You can match these Champs in Mid against the likes of the Assassin class and fare extremely well due to their abilities to bully out or survive their all-in power spikes. Additionally, getting impact abilities like Consume and Unstoppable Force closer to big fights around Dragon is never a bad thing.
But, when you consider Mid Lane as a role, it often comes with the implication of raw damage, and these two lack that. Opting for their AP focused build paths doesn’t really make them ‘Tanks’ anymore since you drop the Tank in favor of sudden burst, and Galio typically does what these guys want to do anyway while having the stats to bulk out while also building AP.
When we get down to Support, there are a ton of great options. In fact, I can’t think of any of the Tank piece that I’d consider unviable. It’s all about whoever you’re paired with in lane or what the enemy Support is laying down. But, someone has to get on this list, so I trimmed it to my three favorite picks when it comes identifying as a Tank.
Leona is going to be receiving a respectable nerf soon which is going to reduce her Eclipse Armor and MR bonuses, which is going to make her far more vulnerable when all-inning on her opponents. While I don’t think this is necessarily the problem with Leo, it’s something to keep in mind. Regardless, she’s still going to function largely the same. With Shield of Daybreak, Zenith Blade, and Solar Flare, she has extremely easy to understand and use CC tools that make any aggressive Bot Laner’s dreams come true.
Nautilus, despite lagging behind Blitz and Thresh as the best hook-Champions, is the easiest of them to execute with. Packing a surprising amount of damage, a wide hook, a rooting passive, and flexible ultimate, Naut can shift from an engage and disengage piece through the game. Sadly, his matchups against Blitz, Morgana, and Leona, cause him to suffer a bit, but there are few Champions that can rival the raw amount of CC that Nautilus can lay down in the middle of a fight.
Maokai, like Leona, has been on the receiving end of some nerfs. The power on his Saplings have been adjusted down since AP Maokai Support has been quite an oppressive presence in Solo-Queue, and more power is being put into his passive to promote his Top Lane presence which was close to making it to this list. However, even with the nerfs, I think Maokai’s ability to maintain brush control down in Bot, while also providing all the peel and CC that a Braum or Rell can bring to a fight is going to keep him a consistent presence. Builds will likely steer towards the Aftershock route and focus on his defensive ability over his offense of poke related skills through his Saplings, which is great for those of you that love playing that stalwart wall against the incoming damage.
For any of these picks, I encourage you to ban your most hated disengage piece. Often I’d consider that Morgana, whose Black Shield absolutely denied the likes of Leona and Nautilus. But, if you’ve got a preference for Janna or Nami, take your pick.
Overall, there are a plethora of options. My encouragement to you is to not dismiss Tanks when considering your LP gains. These options here are some of the best of the best that you have available, and when it comes down to it, if you can round out a team-comp, it’s best to put it on yourself since you can truly dictate the pace of the game with Tank picks. It’s on you for when and how to teamfight. It’s on you to stifle down the carries on the enemy team, and it’s on you to play your best even in some of the worst situations to elevate your team. So, take these picks into Normals and give it a shot. See what feels comfy, and then I encourage you to employ them in your Ranked games to see a ton of success!
