What are some good tanking tips and tricks you’ve learned over the course of your experiences? What are some of your favorite tanks to play and why? I don’t mean obvious things like “be in front of your squishies.” I’m referring to things that some tanks might not think about doing.
I’ll start:
One tank tip I have, that I often don’t see happen when I’m not a tank, creating vision during objectives. Some objectives take place in very tight spots, so creating vision can be a huge help to the rest of your team. Take Towers of Doom for example: if someone is channeling the altar, I’ll stand in the adjacent bush to create vision to see if anyone from the enemy team is coming to contest. I believe this is called Anchoring. Aside from creating vision, you also lend yourself to being the first one attacked, potentially delaying the enemy team from interrupting whatever it is your team is doing. This isn’t something done in a 1v5 scenario – but it removes the enemy team’s element of surprise. I really like doing this on Mei. She has a lot of tricks that can zone the enemy out, which is her specialty.
1 when playing etc/johanna i like to double soak while my team pushes with the furst two objectives. You’ll have such a massive xp lead for the second objective that it won’t matter that you didn’t push too hard the first one.
2 learn when you need to dive in and when you need to peel. Sometimes its best for etc/johanna to sit back and keep people off their backline rather than create fights. If you’re playing against a ktz/chromie your best bet is to dive the heck out of them.
3 don’t get anxious. Almost anything can be ceded except for an objective against an open core. No reason for you to charge in without a teammate (especially for boss defense).
4 diablo go w build
5 never ever listen to your ranged assassins unless they ask you to peel divers off of them. They’re so concentrated on landing skillshots and are some of the worst macro players ive encountered. When they’re not regurgitating streamer guides taken out of context they’re raging at everyone else for their deaths. I mostly report them for abusive chat the second they start going off on a teammate and focus on my own macro goals. Your healer on the other hand is much more trustworthy and are your biggest ally.
Learn how the other tanks work, and what the CDs are on their various abilities, such as ETC’s Powerslide, so you know when it is down and for how long, so you can take advantage of that.
Watch the mana/resource bars of the enemy team’s tank and healer, as you can be more aggressive when they are low.
This is such an undervalued tip. Knowing what your enemy is capable of doing and when they’re capable of doing it is such a monumental advantage. Thank you for saying this!
Body blocking can serve as an effective CC, especially in narrow areas. It has no mana cost, no cooldowns.
While tanks don’t have strongest auto attacks, you will be in people’s faces often. You have very little excuse to not slide them in when you can.
ETC does about 100 damage per auto attack, and many ranged healers have about 1500 health. Just three auto attacks amount to about 20% of their total health, not a small portion.
Guilty. Oh, guilty. But it’s so hard when your team insists on missing at least one lane’s worth of soak. >.<
I’ve been playing Tyrael a bit lately, and this is pretty key early-to-mid. Somehow he stops having mana problems in the late game, so it becomes a little less important (I mean, a lot of his talents reduce ability cooldowns anyway, so…).
Tyrael is a bit out there. I thought more about tanks like Mura, ETC, Mei who have strong peel and disruption abilities. Just throwing those in the enemy team usually brings very little benefit.
Think about the lineups of both teams before the game even starts, and evaluate whether it’s going to be most important for you to play teamfights defensively (saving your abilities to peel for your teammates) or aggressively (looking for opportunities to set up a kill). Many tanks are quite capable of playing this either way, and reading the particularly game you’re in correctly or incorrectly can really make or break teamfights.
As Garrosh, for example, as much fun as it is to find the right moments to throw an enemy back to your team to rip apart, there are also plenty of games where being consistently ready to throw a diving enemy assassin away from your team is of higher value. And I’ve played many a game with a tunnel-visioned Garrosh who thinks that throwing enemies back into his own team is the only way to play, and fails to make the needed adjustments against a more aggressive enemy team.
This is extremely good advice. Tanks aren’t all about disruption. Keeping your back line safe is also in the job description.
Valid. Knowing when to do this is very important. Good call.
This is soooooooooooo good. Thank you. I hope people reading this click the drop-down arrow in the upper right-hand corner of the quote box to view the whole list. It’s so helpful. Some of those things I didn’t even think about!
So, I have to ask to this because it’s something that’s been bothering me… when it comes to quests like Grill and Kill and Muradin’s baseline, is it more important to stack the quest immediately and focus solely on that, or let it complete organically? This is in regards to all tank quests, not just the two mentioned. I try to do them as quickly as possible, but sometimes, it doesn’t work out that way.
If it doesnt work out, then it doesnt work out.
When im forced to lane I try to get the enemy I can stack from. (Im writting it in chat) Lets say I have the choice between a Falstad and a Artanis I go for the artanis because I can stack faster
I very rarely take Grill and Kill, unless it is something like a no-healer QM. Crossfire is usually better damage, and is great for that last hit on a fleeing enemy. If you can reliably hit both streams, it is a lot of damage on a ranged squishy.
As far as tank quests go in general, I prefer to let them complete naturally, even when they are very powerful, such as Muradin’s baseline. Using Storm Bolt on CD in the 4 man often means you won’t have it when you really need it. The other thing about quests like the baseline Storm Bolt, is they often have modifiers that are more important than just the baseline. For example, if you stun a hero, you get one stack, but if you stun a hero who then dies, you get 3. If you don’t engage with it, you can often get a quick 3 stack when they want to disengage, and securing a kill, even without the extra reward, is always preferred.
Watch out for those body blocks!
Watch out for those body blocks!
Skill shots, skill shots! This is how we tank them!
Gotta dodge me some where I come from,
All them skillshots under the sun,
But you don’t worry cuz tanks are fun
Make those skillshots bounce around
Step your fat butt in the way
Make that skillshot go away
Laugh with teammates, laugh any way
Watch those skillshots tickle me some!
Squishy squishy on the wall,
For whose DPS I call,
Stand behind me and form a line
Let’s make a play that’s super fine
Watch that skillshot get soaked for free,
Then cast your ult and follow me!
the message is, tanks, you may not dodge things for your buddies but you can sure make them a safe formation with your thicc health and hitbox.
Don’t agree with that, the earlier you unlock the quest the better the stun becomes. Baseline, enemy tanks and bruisers can intercept and let’s not mention pesky minions. Waiting for 3stack maybe usually ends up in a no and 2 to 3 normal stacking opportunities missed.
On top of that you’ll also hit two at once which is more profit then when it’s done and and on top that you now get CDR per aa, making it even stronger.
And and and on top of that, if you take the 1 stack talent on top of that = more pain.
I still disagree, as while his Q is absolutely better once it can pierce, using it recklessly will hamstring his ability as a tank. I am not saying you shouldn’t go for a stack when a golden opportunity presents itself, but you have to balance the value of the quest against the value of the ability.
As an example, I played Muradin yesterday in a brawl. The teams were: Us - Muradin, Tyrande, Deckard, Mephisto, and Jaina vs Them - Johanna, Deckard, Qhira, The Butcher, and Hanzo. They had a ton of dive and burst, and I was the only front line to protect a gang of squishies. If I had opened with an easy Storm Bolt on Johanna every time, there would be very little to keep Qhira and Butcher from wreaking havoc on my back line. So I would hold Q for a dive, stun the Butcher or Qhira deep in my team, and they would quickly die, giving me 3 stacks. I finished the quest around the 5 minute mark which isn’t great, but not bad, and it put us way ahead in kills, levels, and structure damage.
So while I do agree that finishing the quest is important, it is not as important as using your kit correctly to fit the circumstances.