TankyMir

this guide is fairly simple, no advanced tricks, no ********.

at the start of the game, get 2 potions and rank 2 boots. the potions will help your ADC get blue buff and save you the extra 200 gold that you would spend on HOG.

the biggest thing here is that you are a tank, you arent going to get many kills unless you are very experienced with ymir, even then, nobody likes a kill stealing tank. with the fewer kills comes less money and less xp. The Midas Boots will help to compensate for this loss and any money saved is valuable. after you get into lane, you will only need 300 to get your Midas Boots. you may be in lane a tad longer than necessary but whatever it takes to keep your ADC safe.

whenever you are comfortable, go back to base and get Midas Boots. the next item you will want to work toward is dependent upon your lane, if you have a strong magical user in your lane, rush for Stone of Gaia, if the bastard is a physical, go for Hide of the Nemean Lion first, then Stone of Gaia. Stone of Gaia is your most important item as a tank as it will turn your 15HP5 into 40-45HP5. so get it as soon as you can but dont forget about what is going on in lane.

from there, if the player that is doing the most damage to you is magical, get Void Stone. it will help you and your mid in team fights by reducing nearby enemies' protection, increase your magical protection, and give you a little power.
if you are dealing with more physical damage, get Mystical Mail. the passive alone on this has gotten kills for me and the extra health boosts HP regen from the Stone of Gaia given that it is based off of maximum health.

the last item is the most variable but i like to get Bulwark of Hope because it gives you a lot of health and a 1 second 50% shield. at this point in the game, you should be built well enough to survive most encounters if you are careful and your team is coordinated, so the last item is really whatever is necessary for the moments.

After full build is achieved, midas boots no longer become necessary, so sell them and get another item that is tailored to your situation. in most circumstances, i get Breastplate of Valor due to its massive physical protection bonus (75 physical protection) compared to other items, large mana boost (550 mana), and a 25% ability cooldown reduction.
Thanks to Firraria for reminding me of this.

although i hate HOG for early game, i have been in some games where the late-game is incredibly close and both titans are low, Wrath of the gods will allow you to run in quickly and finish off the titan. i have done it once myself and your teammates will thank you for it.
Teleport to Gods is kinda obvious. in late game, the respawn times are high and the battles take a little longer. use Teleport to Gods to quickly get into the fray and hold the enemies in place

i do realize that in a best-case scenario, this guide leaves someone at half build, but those circumstances are rare and it serves as a basic template to tanking as this build works for all magical tanks.

This being said, for your average game with a balanced opponent's team, i have found my above build to be the most efficient regardless of tank (including Sobek [he is a mana ***** though])

Ymir is arguably the easiest tank to use, he has the most CC, his ultimate is one of the strongest in the game, and his passive allows him to deal a lot of basic attack damage to finish off enemies.

to start with, get Frost Breath(his 3), then get his Glacial Strike (his 2), then get his Ice Wall(his 1). from there, focus his frost breath, put remaining points into his ultimate, then his glacial strike, and ignore the ice wall until there is nothing else you can upgrade.

the reason for this upgrade tree is that Frost Breath is you and your ADC's biggest asset. holding the enemies in place allows not only damage but also can prevent escape, allowing other allies to work their way in to help. the Glacial Strike can do quite a bit of damage and supplement the ADC's efforts to stop the enemy.

you are probably thinking now that the ice wall is meant to prevent escape, and that is true, but upgraded walls can be a detriment to you and your team if misplaced. one ice wall can block a section of jungle and if misplaced, can separate you from your enemy or can actually prevent your team from reaching an enemy in lane when chasing a got with a leaping ability. this being said, an ice wall can be placed when running away to prevent the enemy from catching up.
Do NOT be afraid to use the wall, it is an extreme asset and can potentially stop the enemy for longer than frost breath, if placed right.

Ymir's Ultimate is pretty straightforward, it takes a few seconds to charge up to full power and detonate, luckily, it causes a slow for those in the radius during the charge-up and can be detonated early if needed. it does massive damage and is best paired with a Cupid ultimate as Cupid's ultimate works similarly and blocks enemies from using movement abilities while in the radius.

in a standard situation, simply use 3,2,1 in that order. frost breath to freeze, glacial strike to damage a little, and pull up an ice wall in front of them when they thaw. pulling that off with a good ally damage dealer nearby is guaranteed to kill most opponents.


Please comment for any suggestions or message me in-game, my ingame name is Bigparr if you would like to play sometime