Tanking 101 - A Short Guide to the Basics of Playing a Main Tank

Well I have been on the forums for a few months and I have NEVER encountered any usernames from the forums. Also I noticed a lot of people on the forums know each other in game and I think I remember someone saying they play on EU.

I’d just like to do so to learn from them. Most of them are higher skill than me to be honest (at least that’s what I see) and being able to see how they play first hand, I can learn their play styles and expand that into my own set of skills. I can talk analytics all I want but it means nothing to me if I can’t be good enough to take my own advice.

Forums are meant for 2 things in my opinion, asking for help, and giving it. For me personally, I learn better hands on.

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Oh, I am on NA. I do have a low level account on EU for playing casual modes with friends, but the latency there prevents me from playing ranked. If you see a lot of us being social with each other, most of that is due to the fact that we hang out on the same Discord server when we aren’t plaguing the forums.

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Probably won’t be joining that Discord server. Thanks anyway. I’m a little too busy for all of that social stuff. I’d probably never say anything lol. I’m only on the forums because I get on at work.

If you don’t mind me adding you as a friend, that’d be cool. We can team up whenever we are both online or something.

Eh, most of the members do not post there, so you would be in good company, but if you prefer to send a bnet request, feel free!

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I’ll do it when I get home. Great guide by the way. I really liked the video aspect to show what you meant.

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On which server are you all playing.If i can i would like to join and play a few games because most of the time when i was playing i would play alone and i always wanted to find a group in which i can play

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I still tank with Yrel. Am i a pariah ?

Both, although I am on NA more frequently. Feel free to add me on bnet. There is usually a group of people from the Discord server crashing around the Nexus.

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This is something that really annoys me that people don’t get. If you are at a 100% health as Kael, and your tank is at 5% health. Guess what, you can take a few more hits than your tank, and if that gives your tank enough time to disengage so your healer can stabilize his health, and you all get away, then that’s actually good a lot of the times.

One of the great things about QM games is you learn that without a tank, everyone has the capability and the potential responsibility to tank for a short amount of time.

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Without a doubt. A lot of the tips I listed, although they are given in the context of tanking, can apply to any hero. For example, the tank doesn’t have to be the one to scout, if you have a hero on your team that can do it faster, and more safely, such as Medivh, Lunara, or Abathur.

It also teaches you just how effective a Prog Rock ETC can be as a solo healer!

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One other random note, don’t be afraid of a double tank comp. Several tanks work well in the off-lane, and having extra protection for the back line is never bad.

(No, this isn’t just a thinly veiled attempt to get more people to play Blaze. Honest.)

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Do a blaze guide also!!

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Heh, thanks for the bump. I will definitely consider it once I hit 100 on him!

Please do both off-tank Blaze guide and main-tank Blaze guide. Many thanks.

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Can do!

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Why till then? It will take forever

He is 84? 85? now, and I have been spamming him recently. Even my favorite Hierarch has been benched in his favor for the time being.

But why? He is easy enough to play without a guide.

E into 5 people
Stun nobody
Hit D
Delay death by 0.3 seconds
Die
Flame in chat

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So a necro stuff for a very naive question. When I tank, I really like to eat enemy skill shots. I know about stutter stepping (which is really different from how I do it XD). My question is more about reacting versus predicting. I mean, you avoid skill shots with a good reactivity or is it because you “predict” stuff and path in consequence?

I love having a dominating presence but I dont like receiving damage.
You can’t predict damage 100% but you can look at what is being thrown at you and what type of damage it has.

Raynor deals low poke damage and W build chromie deals burst.
If you know how much you can take you know how long you can survive in a fight.

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