User blog comment:Hidden Sniper/Mechanics that don't make sense to me - Part 1 Lifesteal/@comment-4922088-20130716224611/@comment-4922088-20130718041338

You're right the amount of tanky items that grant offensive damage is rather low.

But to contrast; think about how many tank characters now have abilities that scale off of defensive stats.

Rammus, Malphite, Volibear, Sejuani, Nautilus, I could easily go on but those are the 5 that I can think of instantly off the top of my head.

Even tanks/bruisers that don't have abilities with defensive scalings still have ways to make use of the way those stats allow them to stay in teamfights for long periods of time.

Amumu is the best example with his % of health on W and tantrum spam thanks to being hit by basic abilities.