I’ve returned into the game not so much time ago and in the past, the definition of the main tank seems different now as same as healers do, so here’s my question:
What is the difference between a main tank/healer to an off-tank/healer?
My definition:
Main Tank: Heroes with shields that excel at tanking damage. (rein,orisa,sigma)
Off-Tanks: Tanks with “utility” abilities that don’t excel at tanking damage, their role is to use their ability effectively. (D.va, Hog, Zarya, Hammond)
Main healer: Healers with heavy healing capabilities and in possession of burst healing. (Ana,Bap,Moira)
Off Healer: Healers which focus primarily on their utility, subpar healing compared to the main ones, and no burst healing. (Mercy,Lucio,Brig,Zen)
I’m asking for this because I’ve seen people who are saying Hammond is a Main Tank and I don’t understand how. Hopefully, this thread will address some misconceptions about hero roles which I and others may have.
I am a tank main not a support main. So, I can answer the question for tanks pretty well but not for supports.
For tanks it is like this:
Main Tank: Tanks that are good at initiation, disruption, or holding a front line. (Rein / Orisa / Winston / Hammond)
Off Tank: Tanks that are focused on supporting the main tank with extra damage or peel either for the front or back line. (D.Va / Zarya / Roadhog / Sigma)
Typically, you’ll see a main tank paired with an off tank for optimal comps; however, some comps might be double off tank or more rarely double main tank. I’ll just clarify that whether a tank has a shield or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether they are a main or off tank.
He is not. Ppl call him main tank cuz he is played with an offtank but that doesn’t make him a main tank. he has none of the characteristics of a main tank.
Here are some short & broad definitions, though the differences between the roles are a lot more nuanced and some heroes can change roles depending on certain team comps.
Main Tank - Team leaders & fight initiators (Rein, Orisa, Ball, Winston)
Ok so a main tank is defined as someone who can take space and keep space but also redirects the enemy teams fire towards their shield or themselves.
The main tanks job in a game is to push forward and create space so their team can push forward.
When they create that space it diverts the attention of the enemy team. The main tank doesnt required a shield in order to do this. Hence why ball is a main tank. He pushes in really fast and diverts the attention to himself. He can then maintain the space he made with grapple and adaptive shields.
Monkey can also do this, he jumps in and bubbles so its hard for the enmy team to get healed and its even harder to kill monkey. When monkey does this, his team has time to push forward and help monkey
Orisa may not be fast but her shield being kn cooldown allows pushing
An off tanks job is to support the main tank all while being able to produce massive amounts of damage
The off tanks are sigma dva zarya and hog.
Dva and sigma can eat damage. (Dvas is better because its longer and the cooldown is short)
Sigma makes up for his lack of eat with his shield. When rein or ball need to back up, sigma can peel for them with his shield whilst not even having to move
Zarya can bubble the main tank so they can be protected while making space
And roadhog is litterally a mean shield
Main heals vs off heals
Main healers provide the bulk of the healing. While also having utility on cooldown
Moira, ana, bap
Off healers have constant available utility with weaker healing
Zen,brig,lucio,mercy
There are no off roles, off tank isnt like off white, it is literally offensive tank. A tank meant to do damage. If a tank is a turtle, off tanks are porcupines.
Yes she is lmfao. She is the definition of off healer. She has constant utility in the form of damage boost. She used to be the only main healer before she got gutted and nerfed so hard. Then she was replaced with ana.
Honestly every post i see you commenting on that has to do with gamesense just proves that you clearly dont do your research.
TL;DR main tank goes in first. That’s not entirely accurate in all cases but it gets the point across.
Main/Off heals and main/flex support are different things.
Main/off heals refers to overall healing output, and how much it takes to sustain your average plat team sitting in the choke- you usually need at least one main healer. It’s somewhat useful for when you’re playing the game but not all that helpful when analyzing the game or planning strategy.
Main support is Lucio and Lucio alternatives. Flex is everyone else. This dates back to when there were 3~4 supports so Lucio was mandatory. Overall flex spends more time on the high risk high output side of things, while main is harder to kill and good at covering weaknesses in others.
I disagree. While all three are dive tanks, D.Va’s playstyle is more supportive than either Winston or Ball. And D.Va has great peel but very poor initiation due to her massive front facing crit box.
He’s the initiation tank, similar to Winston in that he goes in and starts a dive for the rest of the team to follow up on. He also does a lot of disruption and cc. People just find it difficult to coordinate with because unlike Winston, his engages aren’t direct, he usually flanks and gets behind the enemy team for the engage. He also doesn’t stay in the fight for long which is why actually following up on his engage is crucial but you’ll rarely see that in low ELO.
Basically WB is a main tank for good players.
Last year’s playoffs also had a meta where Hog was played like a main tank.