Tanks issue

Yesterday I played a few games where I was forced to play a tank because the last guy to pick a god was choosing ADC or jungler and instant locked. And before that, when I was saying "take tank plz" everyone responded "no, no, we dont need a tank, You dont win conquest by class".

WTF? Are tanks really unnecessary in conquest? I really doubt that, I've never seen a pro team in conquest without tank. And also it's a huge disadvantage in late game when all of Your teammates stick together in fear and no one is eager to initiate because they're afraid of dying...

And one more thing. I also encounter people who plays Hercules or Guan Yu and says that "I'll be the tank, I'll build tanky". I know that Guan was a tank before rework but can we consider him a tank now...?

Bruisers are a viable pick instead of tanks from what I've seen Specially someone that has heals + CC, like Hercules. It all comes down to how good you and your teammates are at positioning to whether you need a tank to absorb some of the damage or not.

As for Guan Yu, I don't think that he's that good of a tank as he used to be, but he does have 2 slows. I'd say that he's similar to Vamana's play style these days, as in something in-between a tank and a bruiser.

Herc with his heal can be surprisingly durable if he builds tank gear

Arg, I wish I coulda taken yer spot. Last time someone else picked tank and I got stuck outside my norm -_-

I think no tank CAN work but you have to rely on mistakes by the enemy team. Having no one to dive a tower, initiate, or absorb damage is asking for trouble.

well really. tanks are real good savers with their cc. I mean really good ones. Depending on who's playing though. Not all people who plays tank aren't that much of a team player. But mostly I'd say tanks "Should take a bullet for the team" Like I did in assault where neith was targeting with her ulti in one of our weak guys and I blocked it just in time. :D

Tanks are necessary because they have both the resilience to dive into the enemy team without dying, AND the ability to disrupt the entire enemy team. If the enemy team is free to simply pump damage into you, you will lose. However, sobek, for example, can charge and fling a very squishy target, then knock everyone else back, stopping them from immediately saving them, all the while barely taking any damage.

Without a tank you have no initiation and no disruption, so you rely on being able to 100-0 the entire enemy team before damage can be done, as you can't stop their damage, and you can't take their damage.

It's possible, but not as viable. A bruiser building tank would be necessary.

It can be done, even at a competitive level, but it isn't recommended.

A lack of a tank means less CC, durability and initiation potential. If you are to forego that, you need a support. Aphrodite, for instance, can be run instead of a tank and help her team out with heals, stuns and invulnerability. You could run someone like Change or Ra I guess. They both have heals, Ra has a slow + blind, Chang'e has a potentially VERY strong stun with her ult and she can body block any direct hit attack with her Moonlit Waltz.

Otherwise, you can run a bruiser and make him a bit tougher than usual. Odin, even after the nerf to Gungnir's might a few weeks back, is still very hardy and can jump into a group of enemies and trap them all for teammates to wail on. Herc with a single defence item each for physical and magical + Mitigate Wounds is very hard to kill, and he packs both a pull and an easy to land stun that is also a knockback and deals good damage.

There are a few options to running a "true" tank like Athena, Bacchus, Sobek and Ymir, but most involve some sort of support or initiation capability. Tanks are just too important to be left out most of the time. Heck, I'd almost rather lose my jungler than my tank.

Odin is a tank, by the way, not a bruiser. It just so happens that physical tanks need to build a little bruiser-y anyway, just as magical tanks usually pick up voidstone and ethereal staff. Odin would build mystical mark, bulwark of hope, then things like voidblade, etc.

He's really the ONLY actual physical tanks. Vamana and Guan are midway between bruiser and tank.

I know that he's listed as a tank a well as bruiser, but i don't consider him as such, just like I don't consider Vulcan a tank. Reason being that while he does have the defenses you'd expect from a tank, he lacks the CC, the peel, the control and the general ability to protect his teammates. His only CC outside of his ultimate is a weak slow. His skill set incorporates a high-damage leap with a large radius, an attack speed buff, a powerful spin attack with a slow and his own brand of CC in Ring of Spears. Really, that's a lot more like a bruiser than a tank in my eyes. We could probably argue this for ages, but as far as I'm concerned Odin's "tank" tag is misleading, while his "bruiser" tag hits the nail on the head.

Well, technically speaking, Vulcan is a tank due to him being a meat shield. Unlike other tanks who have good CC abilities; Vulcan relies on being able to push solo and set and forget dps pets. I've tower dove many times with Vulcan just to drop my gun turret to finish off a weak enemy; knowing full well I would be able to get back out alive. He would be a good tank if you already had a very heavy cc group though.