Tanks are the immovable frontlines of League of Legends. Built to soak up damage, control fights, and shield fragile carries, they can feel unbreakable when matches stretch into the late game.
Yet even the toughest tank has a weakness. Countering them effectively requires a mix of smart champion picks, itemization choices, and tactical play across every role on the Rift.
Pick Champions With Tank-Shredding Abilities
Different roles bring different tools for dismantling tank-heavy compositions:
- Top Lane: Trundle steals defensive stats, Camille cuts through armor with true damage, and Cho’Gath leverages high scaling and percent-health damage to chip away at beefy frontlines.
- Jungle: Kindred scales with percent-health damage, while Kayn (especially in his Rhaast form) combines sustain with armor penetration to dismantle tanks.
- Mid Lane: Champions like Rumble and Corki mix magic and physical damage, bypassing resistances, while Anivia’s persistent area control suffocates tanks in extended teamfights.
- Bot Lane: Marksmen such as Vayne, Kog’Maw, and Aphelios thrive against tanks thanks to on-hit or percentage-health damage that scales into the late game.
- Support: Picks like Brand melt tanks with area-of-effect burns, while Morgana and Lulu provide crowd control and peel, reducing tank impact and buying carries time to deal damage.
Build the Right Items
Even with the right champion, breaking through tanks depends heavily on itemization:
- Armor Penetration: Mortal Reminder grants grievous wounds while cutting through armor, punishing sustain-heavy tanks.
- On-Hit/True Damage: Items like Kraken Slayer and Blade of the Ruined King add consistent bonus damage that scales with enemy health.
- Magic Penetration: Demonic Embrace and Liandry’s Anguish burn tanks down with percentage-based effects, ideal for mages.
- Anti-Shielding Tools: Serpent’s Fang negates the protective value of shield-heavy tanks and supports.
Choosing the right mix of penetration and scaling items is the difference between scratching a tank and shredding one.
Tactical Team Plays
Mechanics and items aside, team strategy is essential when facing tank-heavy compositions:
- Kite and Space: Tanks rely on closing gaps to start fights. Use mobility, slows, and range to keep them at arm’s length.
- Avoid Stat-Check Duels: Don’t play to a tank’s strengths with extended 1v1 fights. Instead, rely on burst damage and crowd control to neutralize them quickly.
- Objective Pressure: Tanks excel in grouped fights but struggle against split-pushing. Forcing them to make tough map decisions can expose weaknesses.
Smart macro play ensures that tanks can’t simply dictate the flow of the game.
The Bottom Line
Countering tanks in League of Legends is less about brute force and more about precision. The right champion picks, items tailored for durability-busting, and disciplined tactics like kiting or split-pushing turn seemingly unkillable walls into manageable obstacles. With coordination, even the tankiest frontline can be dismantled.
Written by:
Christian