5381

The problem I have with picking Mundo in ranked is that as soon as you do people assume you’re the tank and then no one else takes a tank and your team is left without one and you generally end up losing.

Same thing with Alistar or Blitzcrank, as soon as I pick him people assume I’m the tank and don’t pick a tank and then we lose.

5382

I might be mistaken, I think he means he is picking mundo to as a tank since the characters he listed that are banned are all tanks.

5383

Right, I mean the most common bans I see these days are Amumu, Shen, Malphite, Rammus which is annoying as hell because then you get stuck with Mundo or Mordekaiser as your only tanks most time which is just asking to fail. Seems like the team who either doesn’t get stuck with one of them only or who gets Cho’Gath wins.

I’ve noticed NO ONE takes Garen anymore, its like he completely disappeared.

5384

So what’s the best bet when all the good tanks are banned? I’ve been learning Cho, is he a good option? Seems like some people like Mundo and Alistar. How about Vlad/Udyr/Nunu/Blitz/Garen? Are there other options?

Edit: oh yeah forgot about Mord.

5385

I used to take Garen all the time but he is completely useless late game if you go tank, and if you go DPS you die in seconds :|

5386

I play Mundo as well but I wouldn’t consider him a tank, just tanky. Tanks in LoL are very subjective in classification but in my mind they need to have high survivability along with some sort of hard CC which Mundo lacks as he only has a slow. They need some way of protecting the carries, if not pulling agro with a taunt then at the very least being able to act as a disruptor. I think that is how I would qualify a LoL tank, a disruptor with high survivability. In this regard Alistar very much is a tank. He has a knockup and knock away, as well as an aoe heal.

5387

Cho wins games.

5388

I’ll qualify this with “I am only level 13” so obviously I don’t play at the ranked level, but I’ve been able to turn Sion into a solid tank in a pinch when I realized no one else in the pug took anything that could really hope to tank. I prefer alistar or blitz in that role, though.

5389

Cho, Alistar, Nunu, Mundo, Morde, and Udyr are all great characters for different tanky roles. Mundo, and Mode are great for tanky DPS, Cho, Alistar and Udyr are great for tanky CC in team fights, and Nunu is great at early game jungling/ganking, which can snowball into early wins. For my team’s main tank, however, I usually prefer one of the commonly banned champs.

5390

Vlad - I don’t like when people play him as a tank, I’ve seen it work where people rush FoN and then Warmogs but it seems like a waste to me.

Nunu - I think he’s a good jungler and can gank pretty good. My only problem is that after his ult he doesn’t do much, as his slow seems to have such an epically long cool down.

Udyr - The more I play him the more I think he does best built with Wriggles and then a bunch of tank items and Trinity Force. I love his spammable stun and his ability to take out carries and neutralize certain ults (Kat, WW for example). Only thing I don’t like is he has to jungle and gank to be really effective.

Gragas - I don’t play him much, his ult was more useful when clump up AoE reigned supreme. I’d probably play him as a beefy caster (Zhonya, Abyssal, RoA) instead of a straight tank if possible.

Singed - Trolololol. I’m not good with him so I don’t play him but a well played Singed is an absolute nightmare. Still like Gragas I think he’s best with a bit more AP than pure defense.

Garen - He was designed to be melee dps instead of a tank and only became one really when people started sunfire stacking. Silences are nice against caster heavy teams but less useful in other situations.

Cho’Gath - Naturally high hp, a high damage ult that can help neutralize carries and two other CC moves (albeit one that is a skill shot). Even without AP he’s an unholy terror. I see nerfs in his future.

Alistar - His Q is good CC but has a really long cool down, his W can neutralize a carry if used properly (which isn’t easy). He’s awfully squishy naturally though and extremely slow. I love to play him more as a support/offtank. With some support type items, a sheen and a little survivability he becomes a force.

Galio - Totally a situational pick these days. His lane presence and farming got knocked down which is probably why he doesn’t get picked as much because his AoE ult is still good. If you face a lot of casters or you have a team that can take advantage of the ult then he can still do quite well.

Nasus - Same thing as Alistar, shines more when built with some amount of damage and a little survivability. Doesn’t have the hard CC to be useful as a pure tank.

Maoki - haven’t played him yet. Haven’t seen enough of him to be sure.

Mordekaiser - Has 0 CC hard or soft which but does still do respectable damage when itemized purely as a tank. When played well he can stand in the middle of fights for a long time harassing and dealing out damage. Still if your team is lacking in CC and your tank is Mord, I feel like you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Warwick - After listening to McKnight’s insisting I’ve been going just he first part of Madreds and then entirely tanky after (usually SV, Banshees and Randuins) and noticing that I do in fact stay alive a lot longer. You probably won’t be one shotting as many carries this way, but in team fights you’ll do better and if you coordinate with your team and suppress the other teams carry while they focus the carry then things can go quite nicely.

I think that about covers it, I suppose I could discuss things like Tankrelia or Tanklaf but those kinds are really gimmicky.

5391

blue you forgot teemo, teemo is so viable as a tank because everyone want to focus down that little green bastard, they are willing to run into bushes, 400 different mushroom just to kick that little turd down.

5392

Without AP he’s extremely weak endgame in the burst department to everyone except Shaco/Teemo. I don’t see any reason to believe that he’ll get nerfed, he’s pretty perfectly balanced right now.

His real problem is the lack of initiation. He has to blow a lot of mana in ruptures to get his team to go in without an initiator.

What’s great about his for solo-queue is that a pre-emptive feast is a great way to tell your team to focus someone down. People almost always tend to focus the lowest health bar.

5393

Yeah, Nunu is more an Off-Tank, as his CC mostly blows in team fights. His ult is too easily knocked down by other champs, and only slows anyway, unlike say Amumus ult. He’s good for setting up ambushes in bushes, as his ult can’t be seen. But if he isn’t built with some AP the ult will do little to nothing by end game. He has great laning presence and staying power, he can harass and keep his health up, and people totally underestimate how good Blood Boil is (his W), especially paired with a DPS champ.

Singed is great, as his passive just gives him more and more health, so he works well without having to be built with dedicated tank items.

Galio is sort of like that too, but only with AP heavy teams since his passive is MR related.

Cho is a good tank, but has a hard time initiating as others have said, but I like that he has a AoE Silence.

I really should purchase Signed and Galio, i like’em both. And Blitz, though I don’t like going tanky with him. I’ll have to try an AP build with him at some point too, just to try it.

5394

It’s important to note that the tank doesn’t have to be the initiator on a team, though it doesn’t hurt when they have a strong init like Malph does.
Ash for instance is one of the best initiators in the game and certainly is no tank.

5395

But it is nice to have a tank with some CC, it can really help against fast squishies and for initiation in a pinch.

Oh that reminds me, you didn’t mention Taric. He’s a pretty solid tank, isn’t he?

5396

Right, I’m playing Mundo purely as a tank, focused on survivability and ridiculous tower tanking and tower diving skills.

Doran’s shield -> Merc Treads - > Spirit Visage -> Warmogs -> Force of Nature -> Guardian Angel

As I mentioned in the earlier post, I really only have issues in the extreme early game. Once I have my ult, I will only die a couple more times in the entire game.
I really only fear Ignite.

I’m working on my Mundo because in drafted games, you need to be picking Tanks early, because all 4 banned characters are tanks with great initiators.

IMO, Mundo is the best tank after that, although Alistair is good.

In the near future, I need to add a jungler and a melee DPS to my stable of characters . . . thinking Poppy for melee DPS

5397

I refuse to play Taric as a tank under any circumstance.

And following up on what someone else said, the tank doesn’t have to be the initiator, but you do need someone on the team who can initiate.

I completely disagree on Mundo being the 5th best tank in the game and I absolutely hate playing Mundo and being counter on to be the tank. When I play Mundo I want throw cleavers at the carry and harass them until someone kills them, I don’t want to soak up damage for the rest of my team. Same thing with Brolaf. I want to harass down the carry and my survivability is for my own sake, not my teammates. There’s a huge difference in my mind between being a beefy counter carry and a wall of meat designed to protect the squishies.

5398

I’d drop GA for a Sunfire. Sunfire gets you a nice amount of health/armor and the AoE damage synergizes well with his W. With W up and Sunfire you do 140/s aoe damage, and if you have a stacked Warmogs and FoN you can pretty much leave it running nonstop and not lose health.

5399

Exactly, I thought I made the distinction between the two pretty clear up
thread.

5400

You desperately need Atma’s Impaler in there somewhere. I’d suggest dropping the GA and try either starting with a Regrowth Pendant or selling the Doran’s to make room for a Sunfire Cape.

My favorite (and generally quite successful) Mundo build is:
Warmogs > Spirit Visage > Merc Treads/Cooldown boots > Stark’s Fervor > Atma’s Impaler > Sunfire/Force of Nature depending on the enemy team.

Even if you don’t want the giant damage bonus and lifesteal from Stark’s (or someone else gets it, but I never see anyone besides me ever build Stark’s) Atma’s is a neccessity for Mundo to be dangerous.

Cooldown boots mean more cleavers and more ulting and your E lasts longer than its cooldown.