Overview

This is the first in a series of articles about the different top lane classes. In this first article, we will examine tanks and the roles two subclasses. Understanding champion classifications is vital to picking what your team needs and how to properly play them.

Tank versus “Tanky”

One thing many players fail to do is differentiate between a dedicated tank and a champion who happens to be tanky. Tanks are the beefiest members of your team, they don't deal large amounts of damage but make up for it in crowd control. They can either initiate for your team or peel for your carries. They build no damage items and build purely defensive. Champions that are “tanky” are fighters that happen to get tanky, they lack the crowd control that true tanks have and usually must build at least one or more damage item to be effective.

Vanguard versus Warden

These sub-roles are fairly new, in May of this year riot released an official list of each champion and where they fit in each class and sub-role. Vanguards are the offensive tanks, these are the hard engage in your face champions that are great at pressuring the enemy backline. They usually possess strong, area of effect crowd control. Wardens are the defensive tanks, they can peel for their backline and keep them alive with high single target crowd control locking down anyone who threatens their carries.

Vanguards

- Malphite

The Shard of the Monolith is the quintessential vanguard. He has incredible engage with his ultimate Unstoppable Force and, with use of his E - Ground Slam and Q - Seismic Shard, he can chase and slow down enemy carries preventing them from actively participating in a teamfight. He is incredibly strong against physical damage dealers because of his W - Brutal Strikes passive which gives him 30% increased armor. His teamfighting is excellent but he suffers from weak laning, weak peeling for his carries, and once his ult is down he has no hard crowd control to contribute. He is built full tank with a semi-offensive item in Iceborn Gauntlet. Most Malphite players take Courage of the Colossus for strong teamfighting and Grasp of the Undying for a stronger laning phase.

- Sion

The Undead Juggernaut is a very strong laner. He is able to harass the enemy from range with his E - Roar of the Slayer, which also reduces armor by a large percentage which in teamfights will allow his AD carry to shred the enemy tanks. Sion's ultimate, Unstoppable Onslaught, allows him to roam very effectively and initiate teamfights from long distances. One of Sion's largest strengths his w-Soul Furnace which gives him permanent bonus health makes him incredibly tanky if he can farm effectively. If he falls behind however it can be his downfall because he suffers from unusually low base health. Sion in a way is the juggernaut of tanks, his hard crowd control from his Q - Decimating Smash and ultimate are both incredibly strong and can outright kill a squishy target but they are both easily avoidable. If Sion dies in the middle of a teamfight his passive Glory in Death puts him into a frenzy restoring him to full health and giving him greatly increased attack speed and making his auto attacks deal max health physical damage. However, he loses his own health very rapidly. While this passive does nothing for him while alive it will make his enemies essentially have to kill him twice, as if he is ignored he can shred apart a team very fast. Sion is usually built full tank with a semi-defensive being Iceborn Gauntlet. He generally takes Grasp of the Undying due to the unreliability of his crowd control but Courage of the Colossus is still a strong choice.

- Nautilus

The Titan of the Depths is one of the two tanks who in my opinion can fit in either subclass (the other being Poppy). He has strong engage with his ultimate Depth Charge and his Q - Dredge Line allows him to catch out squishy targets. On top of this, when in the middle of battle, his W - Titan’s Wrath gives him a shield that shields for a flat amount and 17% of his maximum health making him hard to burst. In being a peeler, his ultimate and q can both be used to help his carries and his passive Staggering Blow allows him to root enemies after auto-attacking them. Nautilus’ capability to be either a vanguard or warden makes him very flexible. His main weakness lies in his high mana costs early game and if he misses his Dredge Line he has no reliable engage until it is up again. He is built with Iceborn Gauntlet and full tank items. He uses the Courage of the Colossus keystone, he can take Grasp of the Undying but Courage is superior due to the fact he can activate it on his auto attacks.

Wardens

- Maokai

The Twisted Treant is a very strong peeler with the knockback and slow from his Q - Arcane Smash and the root of his W - Twisted Advance. He is able to reduce the damage he and his allies take by 20% for up to 10 seconds and deals some of that damage absorbed back to his enemies when his ultimate expires. His incredible tankiness comes from his passive Sap Magic which causes his next auto attack to heal him for 7% of his max health after 5 abilities, including his own, are cast near him. In teamfights, he can proc this multiple times. His weakness lies in his subpar teamfighting if his ultimate is on cooldown. Maokai is built with Iceborn Gauntlet and full tank items. He can take either Grasp of the Undying or Courage of the Colossus.

- Poppy

The Keeper of the Hammer is the best tank in the game right now and for good reason. She has strong percent health damage from her Q - Hammer Shock, chunking tanks and squishies alike. Her W - Steadfast Presence allows her to stop any dashes and increases her movement speed allowing her to peel and dive targets while also passively giving her bonus resistances that double at low health. Her E - Heroic Charge allows her to dive in to fights stunning enemies on terrain or knocking foes away from her carry. Her ultimate Keeper's Verdict allows her to either instantly knock up enemies or knock them away towards their own base giving her team a chance to kill any enemies that are left behind. Top this off with ranged harass and a large shield scaling off her maximum health from her passive Iron Ambassador, it's clear why Poppy is so good. She currently has no real exploitable weakness besides trying to fight her while her passive shield is down but she is still incredibly hard to kill without it. She is built with Iceborn Gauntlet and full tank items. She can take either Grasp of the Undying or Courage of the Colossus but Courage is the superior choice.

- Shen

The Eye of Twilight is the last tank we will be talking about and he is a unique one. While he is tanky compared to the other champions in the League, compared to the other members of his class he is fairly squishy with very low base defensive stats like armor, health, and magic resistance. What makes him tanky is his passive Ki Barrier which gives him a shield scaling with his maximum health after using an ability, lowering its cooldown when he uses a defensive spell on an ally. His Q - Twilight Assault makes his auto attacks deal max health magic damage and if his Spirit Blade passes through enemies when he activates this ability his auto attacks are empowered further dealing more damage and increasing his attack speed. This ability makes him a very good duelist against tanks and fighters. His W - Spirit Refuge makes a zone around his spirit blade for a short time that blocks all auto attacks on himself and his allies. Proper timing of this ability can block thousands of damage. His E - Shadow Dash makes him dash forward in a line taunting all enemies hit.

His bread and butter ability his ultimate Stand United gives him global map pressure allowing him to teleport to an ally and give them a large shield. His weakness lies in his reactive playstyle. If he misplays use of his Ki Barrier and Spirit Refuge he is relatively squishy. He is built full tank, occasionally getting a Titanic Hydra if he can afford to. He takes Grasp of the Undying. Courage of the Colossus can be taken but it is unreliable due to only activating off of his Shadow Dash which is easy to miss.

Conclusion

Understanding when to pick either a Vanguard or Warden is important. Playing to augment your team will allow you to win more games. I'm a Diamond V toplaner who plays on NA and my summoner name is Alexmanpersonguy/ If you have any feedback, feel free to add me. Thanks for reading!

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