Hello there,
Hoping to get an up-to-date idea of why people don’t play tank. So honest answers from people who don’t actually tank (or who only very, very rarely do it grudgingly and never by choice) would be much appreciated.
Thank you! 
3 Likes
I play tank all the time. I just never queue as tank on role queue because my playstyle is flex, and thus, I loathe role queue.
9 Likes
Tanks require too much decision making for me to enjoy.
4 Likes
Off tanks are way more fun for me to play despite having a lot of hours on Orisa. I feel guilty if I want to be off tank and it’s a defense map so I just queue as support instead.
6 Likes
I feel like the state of tank balance basically forces me into playing Reinhardt or losing. I don’t like playing Reinhardt.
The problem is that other tank players mostly hate playing him to, so when I show up they pick tanks for which Reinhardt is the only acceptable tanking partner. The only exception is the few people who want to play Reinhardt (which allows me to play Zarya) or Sigma (in which case I can play Orisa).
12 Likes
Tanks are balanced by their huge hp pools, which means their damage and mobility take a back seat.
Having more hp, doesn’t equal more fun.
Having a bigger hitbox, doesnt equal more fun.
And ontop of that, Tanks have genuinely the most boring kits.
Offtanks are the best to play, but they’re worse than Maintanks in every way, so it’s pointless to play one.
8 Likes
I will add that it would really help if Wrecking Ball and Winston were in a better place, and I think it would also help if Sigma and Orisa could be played with off tanks. I feel bad for off tank players because there is essentially no time you want any off tank except Zarya and even Zarya is rarely wanted in high rank.
1 Like
I don’t ever touch the tank role, you feel so incredibly useless. Especially against heros like Doom and Sombra. Doom bassicly ignores you and treats you like a punching bag, sombra rips all your ablites away and you cant even do your job half the game.
If they have a flying hero all you can do is look up at at them and hope your dps do something.
Then you got Mei and Reaper who end up pushing you back. They feel way more like tanks than I do playing tank.
You’re also so incredibly reliant on frequent and burst healing from supports to preform well. Something that is a stuggle to get a lower ranks.
Dps though, it feels like you can take matters into your own hand. Even if you don’t perform as well and it’s a lot more rewarding when you do.
9 Likes
If you queue as tank 9 times out of 10 you’ll have to play main-tank because nobody actually wants to do it. And even if you do enjoy heroes like Reinhardt, you’re simply too dependent on your team to do well and feel beyond helpless at low ranks whereas you could just carry games easily as Roadhog or a DPS.
7 Likes
I’m a really bad main tank. I do get wins, yeah, but it’s my absolutely worst role. I feel very comfortable on offtank (Zarya mostly), but in soloqueue I end up filling most of the time. I’m not going to be forcing 2 off tanks, ever, filling is very important in OW. Maintank is just not really clicking with me properly yet…
This season I played some of the placements with a friend Rein so I got to play my preferred tank. That was fun.
I stoped when my main tank shield was made to be more of his personal defence not a teammate helping tool.
4 Likes
Let’s not mince words. 9/10 of the time, you have to play Reinhardt specifically. Sigma and Orisa require a second main tank, Winston requires an entire team strategy that just doesn’t exist in low rank, and Ball is just bad.
6 Likes
unfun, really team coordinated, off tank mains don’t get that much love compared to main tank mains. the only tank i like is dva
1 Like
I play tank quite often now. Sigma/Rein are my favorites, but I also play Dva/Hog/Winston.
But I know reasons why other people don’t play tank, I played tank role less than other roles:
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People don’t feel like it. maybe it’s character design, maybe its mechanics you don’t like. For example, I will never play bastion because of his frustrating kit and character design
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It can feel bad at times. poor healing, poor dps, reaper/mei/any good enemy dps, and it becomes frustrating. your healthpool decreases in seconds, your shield pops because of high burst damage, flankers distract you, your dps don’t push at all. it’s easy to rage quit on tank, support/dps is less frustrating.
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Lack of diversity in the tank roster. DPS is more successful because it has more variety.
Too much of a headche. Non complying teammates, getting hard focused on by the enemy and at the end the day, getting blamed by my team for throwing or feeding.
When I play a game, I play to enjoy, not to feel more stressed than I already am and trust me, playing a tank will give you that.
3 Likes
Because I prefer to deal with the op ninja when I’m dps, when he will be nerfed I go back to tank games aswell instead of keep my shield up for nothing.
Tanks feel weak, squishy without shield, slow and boring.
Have you tried tanking on other games? Like league or paladins? That feels awesome! Like being almost bullet proof
But not really overwatch. I never had a tank match where I was like “well that was fun, I want to do that again”
And Reinhardt is the best tank rn I think. And I feel like even Reinhardt feels more stale and boring than mercy.
3 Likes
OW tanks be like:
“Move. Please? OMG HELP! ANA HEAL ME!”
instead of being like:
“Move or I’ll make you move.”
6 Likes
I just find tanks kinda boring. Winston is the only one I occasionally play and it always feels like an uphill struggle. Too much reliance on healers/team.
I did play roadhog every once in awhile but it felt kinda cheap cause he’s just stupid easy and doesn’t really have many downsides imo. Same reason I don’t play hanzo much anymore, I’d just spam arrows down a corridor and get kill after kill after kill. 
I guess most of the tanks feel sorta outdated to me.
1 Like
I love playing Tank but they die too fast , and if you don’t have double barrier you probably will be playing behind a wall