Worst to best tanks (including some non-tanks)

General Discussion
1

This ranking is my subjective opinion. Feel free to adjust my placements in the comments. Keep in mind that some of the heroes are really close to one another in terms of tankiness and they may as well be sharing a spot, but I didn’t really wanna do that. Also, I’m rating the heroes purely by their ability to tank, and not judging their overall kits.

  1. Murky - he has abilities to sustain himself, and escape, but he’s way to prone to burst damage before level 20.
  1. Valeera - no self sustain whatsoever. Her ults and trait help with survivability, but she’s not made to take hits
  1. Alarak - he has some self-sustain, and he’s mostly staying out of danger, but he can’t really take hits
  1. Zeratool - he has some self-sustain, but he’s not someone who can just trade blows.
  1. Maiev - she can avoid some burst damage, but she’s still rather squishy overall.
  1. Illidan - he has self-sustain as well as ways to avoid damage
  1. Samamuro - lacks self sustain. But his illusions, can distract the enemy, as well as soak up some hits.
  1. Qhira - she can get a huge burst of healing, if she has wounded a lot of enemies. And she has invulnerability frames, as well as some minor cc.
  1. Ragnaros - his self-sustain is rather meek, but he has a decent HP.
  1. Kerrigan - she has shields, which regenerate as she deals damage. If not focused, she can somewhat sustain herself in a fight. She even has some cc.
  1. Malthael - he has really good self-sustain, but lacks HP, so can be bursted down. Also lacks any form of cc.
  1. Xul - similar to Malthael. A bit more base health as well as a shield. Less self-sustain, but has a root.
  1. Thrall - has self-sustain and some cc, but his base HP is near that of Malthael
  1. Glazgow - decent health pool. Good zoning/cc. Has some self-sustain with the right talents. Can be hard to kill.
  1. The Butcher - can go from 10% HP to 80% HP in 2-3 seconds. If his branded target isn’t trying to run away and he isn’t CCd, he is really hard to kill. Has decent CC as well.
  1. Diva - lacks reliable cc, but has some survivability, as well as an annoying “respawn” mechanic, so she’s hard to get rid of.
  1. Impurius - has cc and self sustain, as well as decent base HP.
  1. Rexxar/Misha - has some sort of self sustain and cc, but the base HP is way too low. The faster respawn timer allows Misha to be used as a sacrificial lamb tho.
  1. Leoric - base HP rivals that of some of the proper tanks. And he has good self-sustain. Lacks CC until 20, but his trait allows him to be more persistent.
  1. Hogger - with the right talents, he can be quite hard to kill, and he has some cc
  1. Sonya - she can sometimes out-heal the enemy’s damage. Rarely tho.
  1. Deadwing - big hitbox, slow, with huge windup on abilities. But tons of effective health and permanently unstoppable.
  1. Artanis - his “immortal” build (trait talents on 4, 13 and 16) can be extremely hard to get rid of. He lacks hard cc, but his survivability alone can compensate for that.
  1. Chen - can be really hard to kill. And his washing machine ult is really good for disengaging or isolating enemies. He even has an engage ability.
  1. Dehaka - really good self-sustain. Has damage avoiding ability, as well as some good cc, that can isolate enemies.
  1. Tyrael - lacks baseline cc. Fairly low base HP and self-sustain. But he can shield himself as well as allies.
  1. Yrel - lots of health, lots of self-sustain, minor cc. Can even heal allies (with the level 4 talent)
  1. Mei - she’s ranged, so it’s harder to body block with her. Her cc has a long windup and is telegraphed. Not too high starting HP either. Her trait compensated tho.
  1. Arthas - lacks hard CC. Has probably the best soft CC tho, as well as decent self-sustain. Lacks mobility.
  1. Anub’Arak - lowest HP of the actual “tank” category. Low self-sustain as well. But he has a shield and armor to compensate for the lack of HP and healing. And he has tons of AoE CC. As well as an engage/disengage ability.
  1. Varian - great damage mitigation, as well as reliable single target cc. Also has an engage ability. Lacks disengage, and his CC has long cd.
  1. Cho’Gall - Extremely tanky and hard to kill. Especially in the late game. But lacks good CC, and is easily countered by % damage.
  1. Stitches - playmaking cc potential, but it’s difficult to peel for his team. Really high base HP, and has some self-sustain. Lacks disengage.
  1. Garrosh - really impactful cc. Good survivability. Low self-sustain, but it’s there. Lacks a reliable way to engage.
  1. Muradin - has engage/disengage, as well as good hard cc. And really good out-of-combat self-heal.
  1. Diablo - has potentially tons of cc, but it’s position dependent. He also has some self-sustain. And he has a good engage, although no disengage.
  1. Blaze - really beefy, with talents that make him even more so. Good engage/disengage, but with somewhat long cooldown and a small windup. Only one source of hard cc, but he also has decent soft cc.
  1. Mal’Tanis - tons of AoE cc on a short cooldown. Abundant sources of self-sustain, albeit not too potent. With the right talent, he can give himself 50 armor, to make himself really hard to kill. Lackluster engage, but if enemy doesn’t interrupt him, he has a decent disengage.
  1. ETC - has everything that a tank needs. His survivability is on the lower side, but he compensates for that with his cc with playmaking potential.
  1. Johanna - Great survivability, with really long unstoppable. Great disrupting potential. She’s a direct counter to the other top 5. Lacks self-healing, as well as a reliable engage. But the shield from her trait reduces her needs for a healing, and the unstoppable makes it difficult to focus her. Really good peeling potential.

The first hero I’d say that can actually somewhat tank would be Impurius (and everyone above him). And if I had to put them in tiers, they’d look like:
F) Impurius - Sonya
E) Deadwing - Dehaka
D) Tyrael - Arthas
C) Anub’Arak - Stitches
B) Garrosh - Diablo
A) Blaze - Johanna

2

With hots, the most important thing for a tank to have is wither peel or engage.
Stuff like leo or imp make for legitimately good tanks. Even Deathwing can do it decently well if you play purely defensively.

Think something that throws alot of people off is that tanks in hots dont actually need good survivability. Stukov in some situations can tank with his massive peel ults and his slow is a great way to fish for picks super safely if you talent for it.
While stuff like artanis can struggle to be anything more then a frontline.

3 Likes
3

What about tank valla? I bet that should be on the list.

1 Like
4

I think it’s more complex than that. It’s a combination of cc, survivability (health, self-sustain, damage reduction/avoidance) and mobility (engage/disengage).
I don’t think I’ve seen a Stuck off tank, but I’d imagine he’d be letting the enemy right into their back line. Which is not where you want them.

I ranked only melee assassins, bruisers and tanks. But Valla will be around Murky level.

1 Like
5

Muradin and Garrosh being under Malganis and Blaze (supposedly main tank blaze) feels like a crime, although I am not sure what you mean by

6

Stuk tank just wants to be a CC hose that plays from range like DW would. Its really strong early but falls off a bit late game.

You take Reactive Ballistospores as your engage tool and hunt for early kills with your undodgeable super slow that lasts like 6 seconds if you also throw in your W.
At 13 it becomes an undodgeable ranged root and silence or you can take Poppin’ Pustules if they are grouping up alot to double living bomb things to death. Your ults are some of the best peeling tools in the game aswell.
Playing this way means your sustain is mediocre sense your going for slows rather then heals with your trait. If the other team has a bunch of phsycal danage, you can take the armor at 4 and then you can actually take a hit to.

3 Likes
7

Meh, isolation for me is stupid, and it really dont care how you build it or which composition your team have dehaka works much better as a bruiser eating and dealing damage and it need to be paired with a good tank with cc (NEVER with stitches/tyrael), you can get the highest siege dmg, hero dmg, sustain AND xp of the entire match and even win the solo vs any other hero with a w build if you know how to use it, but of course with Essence Claws at 20, “change is survival” is a pretty useless talent, you can auto-heal yourself 3 more times with Essence Claws than the other talent in the same period of time (Derenash have never learned how to use dehaka, im the one who make him and every other BR server high elo player fear it in 2018-2022)

8

This list seems a bit skewed towards survivability, which really isn’t the most important element of tanking. I would rather have an Uther tank than a Cho tank.

The other issue with this list is it will naturally favor generalist tanks over comp specific ones. Varian is far better than Jo in a single target blow up comp, Tyrael in a hard dive comp, and so on. I do think any tank player should know how to play at least one generalist tank (Jo, Muradin, and the like), but you will also want to know a few of the more specialized tanks. Especially Anub. In the right hands and comp, he is game-changing.

3 Likes
9

I would like to pitch in that Zeratul can solo the Boss—since this seems to be about recovering or shielding HP. He can also kill most any other hero in 1v1 if he can dodge all their disables.

10

Whitemane could out sustain Zul’jin tazdingo AA before the stack cap

im just saying

1 Like
11

This looks more like a survival list than a tanking list.

HotS isn’t as clear and cut as WoW and some other games when it comes to tanking. Off tanks can fill in the space of a tank if necessary. Same with bruisers, and a tank might excel in one comp but flounder in another. Others have mentioned oddball tank scenarios where someone not technically labeled as a tank can fill such a roll in a pinch.

My sibling in the Nexus, if we’re going THAT route, throw Sylvanas on there with Unfurling Shadows, Lost Soul, Remorseless, and with Life Drain at 16 to complete it. With enough stacks, Syl can sit on anyone that isn’t smart enough to either burst or cc her with Life Drain.

12

none of these are even close to being tanks. Tanks need the ability to eat hits, peel and/or chase opponents, and at least one ultimate that can deny enemy pushes/value. These character fundamentally lack one if not multiple of these aspects.

Ironically enough, Xul has been drafted as main tank in quite a few high level comp matches. Bone Prison is one of the strongest point and click roots in the game, and Bone Mages can deny pushes extremely efficiently. Defintely not a mainline pick but very capable in the right comp (you usually wanna combo this with Rehgar or Uther and an offlane tank like E.T.C or Blaze)

Imperius has no escape and that’s the only reason he’s a weak tank. Give him a Lucio and no issues imo.

No absolutely not. Deathwing has so much windup on his abilities that it is the opposite of a reliable tank. Frankly, Deathwing needs a high CC tank (anub) far more than most heroes to succeed.

As someone who toys around with Yrel, yes and no. Yrel is tanky and has lots of good peel and can chase suprisingly well, but good luck if they have a high CC tank to trade with you.

Blazes’ engage is terrible actually. Charge is easy to dodge and a lot of your tanking ability relies on you landing it. Oil is also fairly flawed, often being stronger (pre-13) to leave it un-ignited to act as a slow than benefiting from its healing/low DPS. There’s a reason Blaze is most commonly drafted as a solo laner.

Mal’Ganis’s engage is pretty weak–not Blaze weak, but pretty bad. Claws are fairly short range and have delay on CC, and sleep also has an opening channel. However, Blind as a Bat is probably the strongest talent in the game on a good player.

I agree with 25 Armor now.

1 Like
13

I tried to give the thread a more descriptive title, but it was too long, so I had to shorten it to this, but then I forgot to include in the opening statement that I’m ranking all of the melee assassins, bruisers and tanks - nothing more, nothing less. So yes, the list includes some non-tanks, but it’s missing other heroes, who have historically been used as tanks, like Uther.

Also, I kind a made this list for QM and ARAM. Not so much for draft matches. The ranking would likely be different for those games. It is most likely for you to be missing a real tank in QM and ARAM.

1 Like
14

First off I think that tier lists can be created for different ranks so its fine to have different opinions.

This is most reflective with your malganis rank. “strong if he isn’t interrupted”. If we take this to be true he’d be immedietely disqualified above diamond as people know how to hold/use interrupts. I don’t agree with the statement fully, but it is a nice explanation for why he’s actually seen as a poorer choice for a tank in most ranks.

Johanna is just a stupid tank right now. I agree that she’s 1. She has far too much survivability with her incredible cc and many escapes. I also agree with ETC. Moshpit is just such a fantastic ability and his buff to armor make him just good enough to actually survive most engages. Contrast this with Muradin who just gets wiped off the board against a compitent team.

I also agree with Hoku. You’re sleeping far too much on the non-survivability tanks like imp/xul/uther who actually bring alot to the table. Not to mention anub who should NOT be placed beneath varian.

Guys varian is super overrated as a tank. He has no engage, no escape, and a single hard cc ability that can be easily negated. Even imp can hit a decent chunk of his enemies with his q.

1 Like
15

The irony is that he is a solid counter to the #1 tank, Jo!

3 Likes
16

Varian gets decent marks because he’s fairly simple, and hard to mess up. A number of heroes need a particular build to function as a particular style of tank, and varian pretty much only needs to pick 1 specific talent, and has a back-up plan since even non-taunt builds can draw agro onto himself as any other of his talent choices can still work for most of his builds.

He has self-reliant sustain, poke, and slightly better waveclear than many other tanks. He also doesn’t move enemy targets so he’s less likely to disrupt wombo, follow-up cc, or ‘save’ an enemy hero. (gorging the target with Last Rights, Haymakering the enemy out of the Ring of Frost, etc) and he has ‘hard counter’ talent picks to put more pressure on the enemy team to compensate for his lack of escape, so when he engages, it may be forcing a ‘trade’ instead of being torn between engage/peel and then doing neither.

The tricky part of “tanking” for HotS is that players have contradictory expectations of what a ‘tank’ is supposed to do.

At lower mmr, they’re a damage sponge that has to ‘peel’ all the time. Players mindlessly spam abilities, so forcing an engage that would benefit from aiming at a specific spot is not as effective as they’ll either miss, or simply not react during the cc duration.

Players either want more of a ‘bruiser’ build for solo dps and escapes, or they’re forced into playing a weak ‘support’ hero as ‘peel’ tends to be better from the not-tank due to positioning. (if the tank is positioned to engage, then they aren’t in the back to peel)

At upper levels, tanks need more a ‘surprise’ factor and avoid soaking mindless poke. There’s an old reddit guide that explains this as ‘hide and seek’ where tanks intentionally avoid being visible compared to the expectations of damage-sponge at earlier phases of the game.

Varian has tools to damage sponge, has supportive talents (to compensate for lacking ‘peel’) and he doesn’t have a hard combo to use.

Meanwhile, tyrael, mal’ganis, mei, stitches, and others, are very reliant on their talent choices to build for the particular form of ‘tanking’ they do.

ETC, Johanna, and Varian, do benefit from picks, but how they play generally suits their base kit – instead of the extra options – so it’s easier to get a predictable value from their slot.

3 Likes
17

we’ll not talk about the fact that i’ve successfully solo tanked as smash varian before

1 Like
18

where is glass cannon Li Ming, this list doesn’t look right

1 Like
19

I only play ARAM

Johanna
Stitches
ETC
Dibbles
Dehaka

Depends on enemy team comp so hard to say

1 Like