I know that Reinhardt and Orisa are no doubt main tanks and I am pretty sure that D.Va, Roadhog, and Zarya are considered off tanks. But that is when things get kinda confusing.
Why I say this is because I had seen a few posts that Hammond is a main tank, then some will argue that he is not same with Winston. So does anyone know legitimately which these two tanks are considered as?
Hammond and Winston are main. Main tanks are meant to (primarily) create space for the team. Off tanks are primarily peelers. Winston can peel but that isn’t his job.
Rein and Orisa are main tanks
Winston is a main tank but is on the edge.
D.va, Hog Zarya are offtanks.
Hammond is a disruptor.
The Hammond mains call it a main tank to justify playing a fat tracer.
that fat tracer comment made me bust out laughing at 3:30 am
Winston and Hammond are both qualified to be a team’s main tank, but in lower elos people will rarely follow up on them, making them bad.
It’s best to use your discretion, rather than trying to apply all encompassing labels.
I can certainly say that in gold (yea i suck) Hammond is not and never will be a main tank. You still need a shield for squishies at that level or you will get nowhere.
Hammond in upper ranks is a main tank because they play him so well that he takes space/makes space for his team.
Lower ranks tend to feed (mainly because they are oblivious to where mega health packs are located on the map), over commit (because they don’t manage their health pool), and can’t combo with him effectively.
Eh from my experience in lower elos (my plat games included) Hammonds will just do their own thing and ignore the team.
They will regularly engage before the team is even any where near, and if I try going Diva to engage with them, they will just roll away and leave me alone 
But youre not wrong either ive had plenty of situations where my team goes full dive comp and then for some reason insist on trying to push through the front line instead of diving with me.
Hammond is neither, he’s a rogue stealth hero like sombra that i use to flank behind the enemy.
Generally Rein, Orisa, and WInston are considered the main tanks for Deathball, Bunker, and Dive (respectively). Generally Zarya, Roadhog, and D.Va are considered the off-tanks for Deathball, Bunker, and Dive. Wrecking Ball is a special case. He can create the space of a main tank but he can also be a peeler and a Diver, as well as being a direct Sniper counter. Top level players call him a main tank, I personally think he fulfills a similar role to Winston but i don’t feel right calling him a main tank.
Disrupting the enemy team creates space. Which is what a main tank does.
If you legitimately think Hammond isn’t a main tank I don’t even want to imagine what elo you’re in because when people get good at the game, Hammond will be played as a main tank.
The only situation you wont see him played as a main tank would probably be in Dive comp with Winston as the primary one and even there Hammond / Dva or Winston / Dva is more popular.
Creating space is not enough to be called a main tank. The other main tanks creates space AND provides cover for their team.
You can play solo rein and have some chances of winning. Solo hammond just won’t work.
This is simply just not true. There are different types of main tanks, ask any good player.
Preventing the enemy Widowmaker from shooting your team is also some way of providing “cover”.
Go listen to Jayne explain the difference between a shield tank and a dive tank and how they both serve as main tanks.
Countering 1 hero doesn’t really count as providing cover. D.va can do it and she is an offtank.
Could you stop only addressing bits of my posts?
You’re just objectively wrong.
I put the word “cover” in quoation marks since it doesn’t literally provide cover, it will often remove the need for cover in the first place.
If you’re having the damage dealers shoot at you or preventing them from shooting in the first place, the cover you’re speaking of simply isn’t required.
There are professional Overwatch coaches out there that will tell you the exact same thing I’m telling you right now.
They are not game designers.
Also the whole pro scene is based on exploiting flaws in the game design which makes their opinion completely subjective cuz it is based on balance trends.
Zarya is apparently a dps when paired with goats.
What the actual F are you smoking?
You don’t need to be a game designer to know how the game works and how to use the tools given to you in the game.
The pro scene isn’t relevant. There are coaches out there helping people rank up in solo queue. I never once mentioned professional play in my argument.
This is a completely different can of worms I wont open and not relevant at all to this topic.
Same could be said about D.Va, same could be said about Hog.
I wouldn’t say Hammond or Winton were main tanks. Winston use to be considered an off tank during dive meta. And Hammond use to be considered an off tank when he was added.
But players believe that main tanks have to be paired with off tanks to be viable. And Winston and Hammond do not pair with Rine or Orisa very well. And therfore that makes them main tanks. When if you look at how they are played, they are more about diving back lines, finishing off low targets, they are played more disruptive like (which is different from making space).
You don’t fall back or rotate when a Hammond or Winston is coming towards you. When a Hammond balls into your team. Firslty you aren’t pushed that far, and secondly just because you are there doesn’t mean its suddenly your space, the other team are still there. Winston and Hammond have to keep going in and out of a fight. Rine and Orisa will get there and there and stay there. Where the team will either kill everything and take the space or be killed and lose it. Jumping into their team doesn’t mean anything. Thats just disrupting and that’s the difference between making space and disruption.
The term “make space” also isn’t a great one. Orisa doesn’t make space. She holds it, it’s difficult to set up and push foward with Orisa on attack. Yet still considered main tank. Personally I think main tank should either make space / hold space and also protect. But the community decided its best to lable them based on what they pair with well.
Zayar and Rine.
Hog and Orisa.
Dva and Winton.
Its just easier to understand. Despite Hammond and Winston not actually filling a main tank role (on ladder at least)
I have a very long post about what each tank does about about the lables if you want me to post it.
Main tank is a team position, not a category of tank.