How to play (and counter) TANK in this season

HoaHoa

How to play(and counter) TANK in this season

Main tankhere, 7000 games (mostly as a tank).

Couple ofseasons ago I wrote a post about tanks. Forget all that hahaha, it doesn’t worklike that anymore. This is the new guide for tanks.

There are 2kinds of tank in this season, useless and useful. I ll start with uselessand  briefly explain why.

USELESStanks:

BALMOMD

a weak fighter, weak tank. No stuns. He canstill kills with his ultimate. Best tank for farming (but he shouldn’t be, heshould give it to the marksman or the harith or the whatever). How about makinghim a pure fighter?? Boost his damage!! (just like what you did with the oldtank Kaja, he is just a fighter now).

BELERICK

He was goodbefore the one punch hitters (Dyroth,Lylia, Xborg, Granger…) he was a goodcounter for kimmy and claude, but its not kimmy claude time anymore. The same,no stuns and barely do anything else than being the punching bag. He is ONLYuseful in teammfights. Maybe if he had a stun in one of his skills, and hisultimate not only protected teammates but did some damage to the enemies, or ifhe could heal teammates…

TIGREAL

I love him, don’t get me wrong. But hisultimate is an auto-stun and its so easy to escape from it. His attack wave iscool, his pushing skill is nice (should be wider to be really helpful, likekhufras ultimate). A little twist and he would be better than khufra. Somethinglike throwing his shield in any direction and the shield does the ultimate. He wouldn’tdie like this and he would be the first ban Im sure.

HYLOS

He is tanky and his damage is good, but heneeds so much mana! And his ultimate socks. You might be able to escape, orchase and get a kill but that rarely happens. Change his mana and give him acompletely different (useful ultimate) and he is back. The magic path stuns andslows down enemies, and even damage per second. Everybody would ran away fromhim. First ban for sure.

HILDA

Same suggestion, make her only a fighter; notanks should spend more than half of the game healing in the bushes. Make her assassinfighter then, if you want her to hide the whole time, remove her tankyness andadd damage. Natalia on esteroids.

Now, USEFULtanks:

JHONSON

Because Im main Jhonson lol and  because his passive, just like Nana, makeshim unkillable. You don’t need to know how to do the ultimate, just be aware ofyour passive shield and you will never die. If you add a skillful driving yougot the best tank in my opinion, an assassin tank. He recalls to base with ateammate and they are back in less than 20 seconds to the very enemy base, bothfully healed. That’s just a nightmare. My favorite part of Jhonson isdestroying turrets with the crash. Best tank ever ( I have 2000 games withhim). You don’t need to play with friends to play Jhonson!! 90% of the time Iplay solo. Most of my rides are solo, no teammates. I just go back to heal andbe back in the teammfight, or just give rides to the buff, crab and turtle.Clear minions and push towers… enemies don’t expect a Jhonson like that. Whenthey see your expert medal Jhonson they all freak out and hide, thinking youwill be blindly and endlessly driving, looking for wipe outs. That doesn’t happenoften. In average, I just crash into enemies between 1 and 5 times in a game.Most of the time is support.

Pro tips:Ice queen wand gives him lifesteal when killing minions and slows enemies down.Rogue meteor is only 900 bp, it helps you clear waves really fast. You don’t reallyneed Windtalker. Fleeting time for a crash every 15 seconds, only if you arekilling them a lot because they are all marksmen, mages and support. You shouldn’tbe crashing when they are 2 tanks 2 fighters and a marksman. What build do youneed? Magic or defense, depends on the enemy. Practise and master your drivingin custom, one hour a day and you will be ready in 2 weeks (15 hours drivinglicense test lol).

MINOTAUR

My secondmain. He is the most basic tank. He is only useful because of 2 things, beingsupper tanky and the main one is his ultimate. His healing is useless, his weakand short  jump useless, its just hisultimate at the right moment. If his jump was longer (one third of Khufrasjump) he would be always the best tank, no matter who came. His ultimate ishard to master because it depends on rage and time, which means he cant use itat will. He needs only defense items and join every single teamfight. Jhonsoncan clear waves with his 2 skill and his ultimate, Minotaur cant. His damage isso low. Minotaur needs to babysit someone at the beginning and just follow orlead the war.

URANUS

Unkillable.He just heals and heals. His damage is pretty decent, he could be the assassinof the team. He can fight 1 vs 1 against anyone. Most of the times he can evenwin against 2 enemies, that’s what make him a threat. He could be alone fighting2, which means his team is pushing and probably winning the fight somewhereelse. He can even hold the line against 3 enemies. If he has Concentratedenergy he heals a lot. Oracle for magic defense and more healing, these 2 are amust. Thunder belt works well for the CD, attack and defense.

KHUFRA

He is thebest tank right now. He is an assassin, like Jhonson and Gattotkaka. Kufrha’sjump is going to kill you or let him escape. His range is insane. The ball is akiller too. Once you are in the ball you are dead. You cant flicker or useescape skills. And if you didn’t die, he will probably execute you lol. Hisultimate pulls you (so you are dead). His 2 skills and his ultimate are alluseful. He is the only tank with 3 super op useful skills, that’s why he is thebest one. Now, this all happens if you have at least one teammate with you.Unless you are way ahead in money, Khufra wont get the kills and get killedinstead, if he dares to be alone. Don’t solo with Khufra because you wouldn’t beoptimizing his potential. Uranus can solo, Khufra cant (Mino cant either).Jhonson can go solo anywhere, DON’T ping him in the map. He is bottom clearingmininons and will be north in a second with his ultimate, that’s the magic ofJhonson. Some tanks like Kufhra and Mino are meant to play always with at leasta teammate. Khufra is not hard to play. Just play safe and always be with ateammate, help him farm and he will get the kills. I ve seen terrible Khufrasfeeding, guess what, they were alone trying to be the assassin or the fighter.No, Khufra is a Support more than a tank. Minotaur and Uranus are pure tankytanks, Khufra is not there to be the punching Belerick bag, no. Khufra is goingto die if you just make him tank, Khufra is supposed to be your support so youcan get the kills, not the tank. He is really easy to play, he is not basiclike Minotaur; his jump, ball and ultimate need some practice (Minotaur is justbrutal muscle, like the brainless muscular gym guy with no brain).

GATOTKAKA

Unfortunatelyfor him, Khufra came with his same ultimate but as a skill, which meant hecould spam it. The other skills are all better too (the ball stops any flicker activity),that why you don’t see Gatotkakas anymore. The only ones left are old stubbornGato´s lovers (like me with Jhonson). The only reason he and Panda are still inthis list is because ONLY experienced players can still do a great tank out ofthem. His ultimate mixed with one or two teammates and you are done. He istanky and his damage is also good. If you are new in the tank world, go forKhufra because he is simpler and easier.

KUNG FU PANDA

I suck atpanda, I quit. Even in brawl, I suck. But he is awesome in the experiencedplayers hands. He trapps you and kill you. He pushes you to the turret and killyou. He pushes you away if you are about to kill his teammates. He jumps andescpaes if you are going to kill him. Great tank but needs a lot of practice tobe an assassin, and you need friends if you are to play just a support. As atank he is not so tanky, you can totally kill him if he doesn’t jumps out orpushes you away (hard to catch eh). His jump and his ultimate are great, hissilly attack should be changed to bring him back.

Pro tip: Ohyeah, yesterday me and a friend play khufra vs panda in custom to try out theball against panda’s ultimate. Panda wins because its an ultimate and the ballsis just a skill. Then, Panda can jump away (because there is no more ball). Sothe panda is a counter for Khufra.

GROCK

Highestdamage and good movility, and his passive gives him a shield. That’s why he isthe best tank and probably he will keep his throne for another year or two.Khufra is good but not as good as Grock. Khufra is support, Grock is everything(tank support assassin). His punch might be the highest damage in level one OFALL HEROS, that’s enough for making him the best hero in the whole game. He caneasily get the first kill, steal enemy jungly, pressure and win the game. Hisultimate is good for damage and for escaping, his wall is hard to master butonce you do you trap enemies and save teammates. And his passive is one of thebest passives. I guess he is the only hero in the whole game whose everythingis useful. (Khufra would be number two because his passive is nothing special).He needs lots of practice to master skills, and you need to be alreadyexperienced with many other heros, you also need map awareness… I don’t recommendGrock if you don’t have at least 1000 games already. It would be better tolearn Grock once you have 2000 games with other heros and you know how tojungle, how to support marksmen, how to gank, when to push, when to retreat…Otherwise you will be one of those Grocks with no damage and even feeding. Tomake things harder, you need to know about items. For me he works better withspeed boots, execute spell and tank items (mage or physical depending on theenemy).

FRANCO

No matterhow much you practice to hook them, it will always end up being luck. They wentright when you thought left. That’s his little issue, just like Ministhar. Chouand Kaja are not luck, they just have to be in range. So playing Franco is a risk.He is not so tanky, his punch is useless (change it for one more stun and he istop pick). His ultimate is awesome, its just the hook and the silly punch thatmake him almost go to the other list. His passive is good, but to heal meansthere is no action at all, not even jungling (the same happens with hilda, butat least she gets a shield).

ESMERALDA

She is nota tank, she is an assassin. She is hard to kill, which makes her a tank fighterwho uses magic to be an assassin (damn that’s a nightmare). She is not there tosupport anyone, she is there for the kills. She is just mentioned here becauseof her title, but she shouldn’t be considered tank. Otherwise Harith is also atank. Most Esmeralda players only get one defense item, maybe two (and one isboots lol).

LOLITA

She is thebest tank in terms of protection. She is the only one who has an actual shieldto protect you. Her ultimate should use most of the time in the jungle, to getthe kill. Her skills are not so easy to master and they need timing. She isonly good with friends. Going solo Lolita is hard because you should knowalready who to go with. Lately Ive seen Kimmy Lolita combos who use the shieldto attack, not to defend. You cant attack the Kimmy and you are easily killed.She helps farm and you are done for sure. One of the best tanks for sure.

HOW TO PLAY TANK FROM NOW ON

Its getting harder and harder, ithas been though for me to adapt. Im always mythic by the end of the season butnow Im legend, I don’t think I ll reach mythic this season. I guess there are 2main reasons, one is the huge amount of AFK and toxic players, before therewere definitely less. The second one is the new wave of high damage herosfrom  level one. That Lilya has made merecall right after the first wave, without getting the buff. My marksman has togo to the montster, not the buff and we end up being level 2 or maybe 3 whenthey are already 4 or even 5. To make things worse, they go for our jungle!!Its like “Chill dude, it’s the first minion wave!!” lol. So you get highdamagers in the first wave and in late game I cannot be called a tank anymore.I only have defense items (half magic because they have a lylia and gusion,half physical because there is Granger an dyroth), and I got killed in asecond. What I do is  go full magicdefense to nullify the lylia if she is the killer, but that sometimes doesn’t workbecause of the rest of the enemies.

Its hard to be a tank nowadays, imnot going to lie. Theres just too much damage in early game and its worse inlate game, even with your tank items. This is how I have dealt with it:

-High damage dealers never go fordefense, they want kills. They know how much damage they can do and they are successful.That usually makes them over confident, they think they are high damage defensetoo. As a Jhonson I have been driving for the kills, not for support anymore. Ihad to learn how to drive in the jungle (which is hard as f because its full ofwalls and narrow spaces). I moved from main roads to enemy buffs. As a Minotaurit has all been about being as tanky as possible, helping teammates farm, anddecide the best moment for the ultimate.

-I have tried to take the game tolate game, which means jungling a lot, defending towers (not pushing), andtrust my team to get as strong as the other team in late game. We aredefinitely weaker early and mid game, but late game we are as strong or evenstronger as those new heros.

-Bait and sacrifice. Doesn’t matterif Im 0-10-10, as long as we have the same money and one or two towers more. I don’tmind diyng as a bait or a sacrifice because I made 3 enemies use all their skillsand ultimates on my. When back up comes they have nothing to throw them, sothey have to retreat and we get a base.

-The important of the super minions.The other day I day 3 times “executed” trying to get the last tower for superminions. My team wasn’t really confortable with it (they all say reportjhonson, jhonson noob, fuck jhonson), but I knew it was our last hope, that wasa defeat for sure. The super mininons changed the rhythm of the game because wewere able to completely forget about bottom lane. We were 3 mid, 2 top. Enemieswere 2 protecting super minions, 2 mid and 1 alone top (which he lost soonafter). We ended up being 1 lord 4 mid, but lord was not needed anymore, therewas just too much pressure from three lanes of superminions. We got the lordbut he didn’t even touch their base.  Idid the same thing yesterday as khufra (which was harder because Jhonsonn isthe only tank who can destroy towers).

-Steal jungle, its not easy I know.Those new op heros are addicted to the jungle, yours and theirs. It’s a drug, anecessity. You don’t see them? They will be jungling, not clearing waves. Whichmeans you can decide between pushing lanes or gank them in their jungle. Youmight not be able to kill them but try to last hit their jungle.

-Be aware of your own bushes.Before, a “gank” was usually enemies hiding in the mid bush, right a the centerof the map. Those days are gone. Be aware of your own bushes, next to yourbuffs. That’s the new tactic now, but don’t worry, once you kill them on theirfirst try they stop trying.

-You need to learn how to counterthem, each one of them. Purify nullifies Guinivers jump. A petrify in Dyrothworks well for a tank (flicker better than sprint for marksmen and mage).Lylia? 3 freaking magic resist cloaks as your first items. Silence robe yoursecond item and athenas shield for your first real item. Then add more and moremagic defense!! My last game as Minotaur I had to fight her late game, we werealone. She thought she was going to kill me lol. She wasted her 5 balls, plusthe 5 balls of the ultimate and she couldn’t do more than %50 to my green bar.She was like “wtf??¡¡”. I did it because she had 14 kills, the other 4 enemiesonly had 1 or 2 kills. I did the same thing for Dyroth, all physical defenseand he couldn’t kill me. Their mages did, but he was the “last boss” who wascarrying them. Xborg is more a tank than a fighter. He is pretty unkillable, sodon’t even try. Just protect that tower and try to kill somewhere else.Fighting him is a waste of time. You are not going to kill him, kill histeammates and push those lanes.

-Teamfights. Most of those scary newheros shine better when alone. Bring the fight to a teamfight, things will bemore balanced there. They usually go for one, plus one plus one kills. Don’t feedthem and learn when to engage. Top global players show it on their videos “justjungle, defend and wait”. Don’t be like my squadmate. He is a marksman andalways try to get kills from the first minion wave. He usually gets killedinstead saying “shit!! I almost got her!! She is one hit!! Come and get her!!”Even if we did, we would lose our lane. Don’t be first kill please, that bringsthe whole team down and makes most of them feel they already lost the game. Beaware new heros can kill everybody easily from the very first wave, and playwith that in mind til mid-late game.

-Get your own OP hero, and I don’t meanto buy one of the new ones. Help the marksman or the assassin to be as strongand scary as that of the enemy.

-Accept death. You might need to diea little more from now on. But don’t die in bane, make every death worth it: atower, saving your carrier, getting two enemies right after you died…

-Study the new heros. Watch theirvideos in youtube, both basic guides and pro gameplays. Learn their passive,understand their skills and their weaknesses. Learn what items work betteragainst specific heros.

Tanking is still a fun lifestyle, don’tgive up on it. We just need to adapt. We already got new roaming items andhopefully there will be more defense items in the near future.

THECRYSTALY

My main is tank I am mostly playing using Franco , panda and Johnson

Franco with his book I am just sitting at a turret and start hooking until they start cursing me XD

Panda I am just waiting them in an ampush then surprise "come to my turret" or in team fights stunning them in the wall , fanny is useless against him

Johnson-odette but that bird diggie is the anti of this strategy

I am not counting Esmeralda as a tank my build for her is mage

DennisST

Yep, my main tank is Lolita and she is best tank, but i recommend 2 tank because lolita speciality is to block MM basic attack and projectile spell. like Minotaur and Lolita, more CC will have high chance to win, Lolita charge and stunt MM and use skill 2 while Minotaur deff our MM or mage and use CC ult when in team fight. Overall this is nice guide.

Halbikx

Esmeralda is labeled as tank but I feel like she has 4 roles.. Mage, Fighter, Assassin and Tank. She deals so much dmg yet she is so tanky (only mid to late game). Her role should be changed tbh.
And thank you for the long guide. This wil help me a lot when going for tanks.
Btw I love when Kimmy spams her bubbles at Lolita's shield. It creates such a weirdly nice sound and immediately makes her shield fully charged.

StreetGamer

My mainkhugra and if i dont have good marksman we need to finish game in early stage or late game we will be dead from enemy mm

StreetGamer

THECRYSTALY replied at 2019-8-23 03:40 PM
My main is tank I am mostly playing using Franco , panda and Johnson

Franco with his book I am jus ...

Have you tried to have diggie in team, he can be pretty usefull because he will shield you and you will gain immunity on cc, so high cc enemies wont stand a chance

shinee.

I actually tryed Diggie with a tanky build..it was fun and annoying for the enemy team Personally i prefer Lolita when i play tank, i guess she's my main tank, since i also was global with her..all of her skills are so op and usefull for your team..and i play really agressive with her..Grock has always been a good tank...also Minotaur after his rework..But it's well known that CC gives the team more chances to win..
Thank you for your post, really enjoyed it

THECRYSTALY

StreetGamer replied at 2019-8-23 04:56 PM
Have you tried to have diggie in team, he can be pretty usefull because he will shield you and you ...

Yea , you are right (థฺˇ౪ˇథ)

imAldric

I read each and everything. Thank you for this

Ncup.Ajh

Jhonson is never forgotten in epic tier, i like his combo with odette ago in GM tier.. Its crazy