Summary
TheTank role in any gamecomes with its own unique set of pros and challenges that need to be overcome by the player and their teammates. InLeague of Legendsspecifically, players must carefully think about their itemization when choosing their frontliner build, deciding which kinds of resists they need to prioritize or whether they can sneak in some damage in between.
With so many items to choose from and a variety of builds across the champions, it can be quite overwhelming to decide on a specific item on that first recall or which of the precious item slots should be filled by what item. Some items are incredibly useful in niche scenarios, while others are overall strong items that can be picked up in the majority of circumstances and turn the champion from a mild threat into an unstoppable freight train.
Chase Down The Enemy
Dead Man’s Plate is a simple armor choice for any tanks struggling to close that gap with enemy carries or looking for a way to traverse the map at great speed. By giving the champion a significant boost in speed, the player can be transformed from an immobile non-threat to a speed demon that gets up close in personal,with little to no counterplay.
Champions like Darius as a Bruiser have found plenty of success with this item, but several other characters work perfectly with the added speed, like Cho-gath who can run at the ADC and instantly slow them without even needing to land a skill or Singed, who already loves move speed, being able to sprint around the map and be anywhere he wants at any time. The downside is that it doesn’t provide a huge amount of stats, especially against mages, and is on the higher cost end, so it’s better saved as a second item spike to keep the ball rolling.
7Thornmail
Returning Fire
The tank anti-heal item, Thornmail has been a staple Tank item forever. Bramble Vest, the main component, is a good starting item to pick up in certain matchups where the heal cut is necessary, and building it into the cheap yet highly powerful full item can be a crazy swing in 1v1 power and the ability to frontline against heavy AD compositions.
The best part is that the damage continues to scale up with bonus armor, so if the team has very few AP threats or the player picks a champion like Rammus who has some build in armor abilities, the damage can actually become pretty high and can be the difference maker in some tense side-lane fights later on. It is somewhat limited, as there is some counterplay where the enemy can choose to avoid attacking the user, which prevents the heal reduction. In certain matchups, it doesn’t do a whole lot, but it’s cheap and situationally very strong.
6Abyssal Mask
Weaken Your Foes
A great magic resistance item, particularly in team comps with a lot of AP damage, Abyssal Mask functions both as a Tank item against mages and also as a damage buff to the player and their team. Having a damage amplifier built into a tank item means that its use case isn’t restricted to just Tank champions. Diana for instance,a powerful AP jungle bruiser, can occasionally sneak this item into her build to increase her damage significantly, while increasing survivability against heavy AP enemies.
At only 2650 gold, it’s a nice item to pick up second or third and has so many synergies with other items that deal magic damage or tanks that might have quite a lot of magic in their kit, but rarely get to see the high damage numbers that this item can provide. While it won’t work every game, when the team has several AP threats on each side, it is a major tool that can change the game drastically for the user and their team.
5Jak’sho The Protean
Become The Wall
Sometimes the enemy team has a bunch of AD damage, a few mages, and a couple of mixed champions as well, which makes itemizing against them incredibly challenging. Jak’sho solves that problem in one item. Although expensive, it is well worth the price, effectively giving the user over 60 of each resistance to help soak up the mixed damage attacks flying at the team.
Functioning off of bonus stats, it is a great item to buy in the third or later slot, as by that point in the game the player will already have a few armor or magic resistance items and will be looking to join a team fight as an unstoppable wall. It’s an item that is best suited for when the player is the only or one of the only tanky champions on the team and, due to the high cost, it can take a while before the item is completed, so that’s a cost that needs to be weighed on a game-by-game basis.
4Heartsteel
Cling, Cling, Cling
One of the most satisfying and fun items in the game, Heartsteel brings a fun mini-game to Summoners Rift that scales up over time and allows the player to rack up thousands of extra health on a single item. It is perfect on champions that have a lot of CC or ones with health scaling abilities like Sion or Mundo, giving them bonus health along with additional stats for their abilities.
It has a very simple and easy build path, which means players won’t be stuck behind expensive components, and it gives certain characters insane burst potential, as the bonus health is hidden behind a massive cling that deals significant damage just by auto-attacking. With no resistances attached, it can make the player surprisingly squishy against certain champions, but it is still a great choice for a lot of Top and Jungle champions.
3Knight’s Vow
A Sworn Protector
Knight’s Vow falls into a very specific category of items inLeague.Supportive items that assist the team, but are designed for Tanks. The common use case is to pick up the item as a Support likeThresh or Nautilus, against heavy dive compositions to help the ADC live through the high burst, and it can also be swapped mid-fight to tailor the health sharing on the fly.
But the item is not restricted to just Supports. There are many cases where, as a Tank, there might not be much of a need for insanely high health pools or resistances and maybe Mid or Bot are doing exceptionally well. In those cases, which are more than just a few, it is an amazing item that can make the chosen ally insanely tanky, all for a very low price.
2Hollow Radiance
Waveclear Heaven
Hollow Radiance is the cooler, better, and more exciting brother of Sunfire Cape, providing magic resistance as opposed to armor and giving champions that might struggle with clearing waves normally, an insane boost to minion destruction. Waves can die in a single ability, which reduces the time spent farming and adds more opportunities to help the Jungler or look for a roam.
It is a great choice for basically any tank, with some favorite users being Galio, Ornn, and Sion who can annihilate an entire wave with the click of a button. And because the damage is not restricted to PvE, it provides a decent damage buff to the player, giving a boost when they are attacking enemy players, and giving some great stats to take on champions of any kind.
1Unending Despair
Who Needs A Healer?
One of thebiggest changes in the new yearand one of the most overpowered item spikes, Unending Despair is pretty much as perfect of a tank item as there gets. Health, both resists, some cooldown reduction and, to top it off, added damage and survivability that feels great, especially on champions that don’t have sustain in their kit.
It can slot in as a great first item, allowing the player to take early skirmishes on objectives thanks to the additional aura healing, or can be saved till a bit later for champions who need a few more core items before they itemize down the Tank route. And while the ability on the item does rely on being up close, even against comps with lots of poke or range, the base stats of the item are more than enough to warrant building it and Tanks almost always come with some lock-down or mobility, making the heal and damage pop regularly, often reaching 1000s by the end of the game.
