User blog:Deshiba/Solo Queue: Skewed perceptions.

Greetings fellow summoners,

Today I'd like to talk to you about something that has been bothering me for quite a while, involving the definition of what a champion is and isn't.

Champ Select
In ranked again, where people ban silly things from time to time. Luckily my banner man (pun intended) has banned  and, where the opponent went for ,  and  for some reason...

We're going great in champ selection too, picking up the mobile carries and  as first picks, not bad. My turn roles along, giving my team the choice between and, which they detest. So they near-flame me to take Lulu, well "I'm fine with that, but be sure to take a Tank and a Bruiser for Jungle and Top then." As the seconds tick by our top locks in and our last pick jungler utters the words "It's fine, I'll take  jungle, to tank..."

NOT A TANK!
At this point I must admit I fell to the realm of flame for a bit... As neither nor  are proper tanks with tank abilities or tank stats. They are Bruiser/Fighter and Assassins at best.

Especially considering the enemy had, , , and , meaning they can pretty much tank all the damage they want to let  free shoot all day...

So what makes a tank then?
Some of you might be wondering why I'm against building as a tank, and don't even consider him as a tank at all. This roots form a little thing I'd like to call the Trinity of roles. A tank to me is a champion that posseses:
 * Innate resilience, armor/mr, health or a shield of some kind.
 * A form of AoE CC lockdown.
 * A kit formed around tanking and counter play.

What has however, is a kit that Resembles a tank, but isn't quite a tank. =Innate Resillience= his only form of it, is his ultimate, which is a short lived Armor/MR buff that doesn't really live up to the task. =AoE CC Lockdown= Again, only his ult does this, and it's a knockback, which doesn't lock anything down. A kit on tanking and counter play it is most certainly not. It's a kit that dives onto 1 person, locks it down, keeps everything else away and giving him sustain and resilience to kill that 1 target, then get the hell out of dodge.

List of true tanks
What do I consider to be tanks then? I'm glad you asked, so now I can give you an overview of which champions are tanks, and why. Alistar= has his which is a good AoE CC, it can't be cleansed or reduced by tenacity since it's a knock-up, making it reliable in all cases. His heals him and his allies, giving him more health in the face of battle then you might think. And of course his, ridding him of any CC on him, even when stunned, giving him the chance to counter play a lot of AoE CC out there, by just clearing it and Pulverizing the enemy for the rest of the duration. Amumu= might not look like he fits the bill, but his reduces Physical damage, and the  leaves entire enemy teams without anything to do for 2 seconds of free shooting. His impact on team fights is devastating due to the control and initiation he provides. Blitzcrank= starts his kit with his innate, which makes him deceptively tanky in the face of getting focused. With his infamous +  combo, he can single out 1 target, which is pretty strong. But the reason he is a good tank is his ultimate, it provides a lot of damage, on top of a 0.5 second silence in AoE. This gives him a lot of counter play against people with channeled abilities like Cho'Gath= is innately tanky, because he has a decent health pool, but especially his ultimate topples that to top tier. With his and  he provides a lot of ranged AoE CC. Although not very reliable due to it's skill shot nature, when you do hit it, it's devastating to a team. Galio= scales off MR, the more he gets the more AP he has due to his passive. Within his kit can grant anyone on his team 90 Armor and MR and his ultimate  Taunts a team for 2 seconds. He doesn't just make himself tanky, he can do it for allies too, which makes him a strong utility tank that you can't just dismiss.

And I'm biased as I feel he's the most Secretly OP Support Tank out there. Gragas= is one of those tanks that don't get played as tanks. But when looking at his kit he has the innate that gives himself a ton of health regen. His decreases all incoming damage by up to 18% making him deceptively tanky, even when his stats don't go up. His ultimate alongside  give him CC that can save allies or destroy enemies. And his decreases attack speed on enemies, making him have synergy with the tank items  and Hecarim= might not have the innate resilience that I described in this post. But his healing him for 20% of all the damage dealt by your team makes up for this plenty. With that highly use able ultimate he can fear a team, dispersing them and rendering them unable to control themselves for 1 second. Jarvan IV= is a dreadful fighter tank that's possibly one of the most well made champions out there. With his he gains a shield bolstering his defense, but also slowing nearby enemies. His CC is excellent from level 2 onwards chaining his and  to knock up everything he meets. With the ultimate ability being able to lock in anything that he sees. Jax= might be more of a bruiser and fighter then a tank. But his provides him immunity to auto attacks and decreases AoE damage by 25% with an AoE stun on top of that when it ends. Along side, his defenses are pretty strong. He's lacking in a lot of the same ways as is, but his kit is more tanky in comparison, providing scaling defense, and a more reliable CC Lee Sin= has to be the most mobile tank there is. With a self shield and dash on, with the ability to get life steal out of it he is plenty tanky. And his cc in the form of and  are quite strong. Though playing Lee as tank can be quite challenging. Leona= is one of those champs that only really do one thing, apply CC. A single target root into a single target stun  followed by an AoE stun/slow  has locked down many foes to their deaths. With her self shielding she becomes the strongest armored one-trick pony.

Yes, I feel Leona is one of the most boring champions to play in the entire league, but a tank non the less. Malphite= is known as an unmovable mountain in lane, when played correctly. The entire kit revolves around shielding and tanking, even scaling goes over armor. and bolster his defense to insanity. and decrease stats of the enemies while providing CC as well as being an awesome follow up to his devastating ultimate Maokai= is a bit low on the AoE CC, his only form is which is mainly used to counter play, he has it non the less. He makes up for it by having an ultimate that can decrease damage for his entire team by 20% though, and his single target root helps out as well. Nautilus= tops in single target CC, with his rooting passive, his displacing pull  and his ultimate  he can lock down a target for over 4 seconds with irremovable hard CC. His provides him with resilience and AoE slow, combined with  that makes his AoE CC well over the decent status. Nunu= is getting an honorable mention because his slows from and  are too good to pass up. Innate resilience comes from bolstering his health and sustaining him trough a lot of damage. And his counter play is basically, "you can't attack as fast as you'd like". He really Lacks hard CC like a knock-up though... Rammus= is the owner of the longest taunt in game, truly a when it shuts you down for 3 seconds. On top of that the mobility and AoE CC from give him a lot of control over team fights. With his armor is one of the highest there is, making him a true tank, he just has to build MR :3 Rumble= gets an honorable mention along side. and give him plenty of cc, single target and AoE, but no hard CC either. The ability does just that, shield his scrap so he dun get busted up. Sejuani= Once the Queen of AoE Slowing CC that was unmatched in the entire realm of LoL... Has received some nerfs to her, but is still plenty tanky. With her main damage skill scaling off health and her innate  providing her with Armor and anti-slow she's very easy to build as a tank. With giving knock up,  providing a hefty slow and  giving an AoE stun/slow from a more then decent range, she has lots of CC options to lock down and counter play a team. Shen= his innate and  scale over health, increasing his damage but also his health regen, together with  shielding him, he becomes a self sustaining tank to be reckoned with. And when he applies his main AoE CC skill he not only taunts people, but decreases all their damage by 50%. With his life saving global ultimate he makes his allies a lot more tanky too. Singed= get more health the more mana he has from so he can build full mana/ap and still have a huge health pool, alongside the stat boost from  he is lots of tank. The CC is a bit on the low side, with the AoE slow from being the main source, and  being a cool single target displacement. Skarner= has the AoE slow from that is pretty much perpetual as long as he has mana, with the single target suppressing and displacing ultimate he has plenty of CC. His allows him to soak a bit of damage as well. Thresh= is the master of banned in ranked. But once you can get him, his CC from, and  are pretty dislocating, hard and strong. Along his shield on and armor scaling onwards even after lvl 18 due to  he's a tank worthy of being banned. Volibear= scales off bonus health with as well as having the  passive that heals him for 30% of his max health. Building tank on him is a must, with the AoE slow from and the toss on, he's a decent pick. Wukong= has the innate that grants him armor and magic resistance. His ultimate is a nasty AoE knock-up that can initiate a good team fight and even win it altogether. Yorrick= is considered a bruiser by most. But he's a tank in my book, considering he has his passive to soak damage. While his functions as an AoE slow. He can even temporarily revive an ally with. Zac= is a blob with health scaling on his innate and  AoE damage ability. He has an AoE slow on and 2 knock-ups on  and.

I'm missing XX!
Now I know that I'm not including some in my list that are considered tanks and some that I included aren't considered tanks at all. But that's because they either don't meet the criteria, or are used in other positions. People I didn't include might be:
 * He's a decent enough health soaker and damage dealer, and when built right he becomes nearly invincible. But all he has is his Cleaver, that is a single target skill shot and only slows.
 * His health regen and innate resilience are high, but he only has a single target silence.
 * Can become quite tanky and hard to kill, but it's not her role to do so.
 * It's really just a waste to build him full tank, as his scaling is too good not to go bruiser on him.
 * Can perform quite well as a tank but doesn't have the cc to back it up.
 * Better as a fighter, he has no CC to speak off after his single target stun
 * Excels at not dying, becomes a monster when built right, and her entire kit would seem to scream TANK!.. however, she can't control a teamfight with her CC, just 1 person.
 * The only think tankish about him is his ult, nothing more...
 * She could technically do it, but she remains a fighter, despite her innate and ulti.
 * Single target stun is all he has, and that shield is a damage tool. He can tank a lot with his ultimate.
 * Has the tankyness, has the CC. but is too conditional to count. Ulting a carry leaves him without natural defense buffs, and hitting that slow in the dead center is too hard unless it's against
 * Has the shield and the stun, but can only attack 1 person at a time, so he can't really AoE cc anything.
 * With her CC and passive, she SHOULD be in the list. And would be. But it's a waste to play her that way
 * Considered a tank by many. But while his ult is strong and his sustain is high. He doesn't fit the bill.
 * I've talked about him already, right?
 * The only think tankish about him is his ult, nothing more...
 * She could technically do it, but she remains a fighter, despite her innate and ulti.
 * Single target stun is all he has, and that shield is a damage tool. He can tank a lot with his ultimate.
 * Has the tankyness, has the CC. but is too conditional to count. Ulting a carry leaves him without natural defense buffs, and hitting that slow in the dead center is too hard unless it's against
 * Has the shield and the stun, but can only attack 1 person at a time, so he can't really AoE cc anything.
 * With her CC and passive, she SHOULD be in the list. And would be. But it's a waste to play her that way
 * Considered a tank by many. But while his ult is strong and his sustain is high. He doesn't fit the bill.
 * I've talked about him already, right?
 * Has the shield and the stun, but can only attack 1 person at a time, so he can't really AoE cc anything.
 * With her CC and passive, she SHOULD be in the list. And would be. But it's a waste to play her that way
 * Considered a tank by many. But while his ult is strong and his sustain is high. He doesn't fit the bill.
 * I've talked about him already, right?
 * Considered a tank by many. But while his ult is strong and his sustain is high. He doesn't fit the bill.
 * I've talked about him already, right?
 * I've talked about him already, right?

Long story short
I got pissed off, and a chat restriction, 'Cus I flamed that no one listens to me *cone of shame*. Of course we lost the match in late game, just because we had no one to protect the carry and soak the damage. No one to counter their plays because we didn't have a proper tank.

Now it's not a reason to flame... But, I know better... Do as I say!.. Or... Well... *sighs* guess I can't be right all the time, and sometimes it does work, but the exception verifies the rule :3

So long
It was a long one this time, hope it was at least a bit entertaining. And hopefully I'll see you on the battlefield!

Sincerely yours, the man that knows best! (yea right)