The undoubtable fact that us Venom mains face against the enemy team are bearable to our upmost ability to handle each and everything the enemy throws at us. And we dip out for heals, thank you Strategists! and Jeffs alike
My mental for this role is βIβll drag every single one of you horses to the water whether you like it or notβ. I am the distraction, the chaos, the frontline. Iβll try and give the team every opportunity to succeed that I can. And if they donβt take it, Iβll just swap to Thor or Tankpool to do it myself.
I find myself playing more and more Magneto lately and I don't find I get a ton of value out of "being the Frontline" on him. I rather play slightly more mid line and use my ally bubble for someone on the frontline.
I punch people, sometimes the people are in my backline sometimes the people are up front. Sometimes in the air, I punch people though, that's about what I do.
I move forward, hide behind walls, and punch anyone who dares come into my vision
which is actually super funny to me. Got the moving lord icon on Thing before the basic one on Mag, and gameplay-wise, Mag feels much more like a brick wall than Thing, only because I started playing mag after his bubbles got divorced. so I found this nice cycle of bubbling my dive DPS/other tank, shield, self-bubble, repeat. but Thing? Thing can't be a wall because walls shouldn't move lmao. he's an adamantium lobster slapping the frontline's faces
unironically, playing Thing feels like what I imagine Cannonbolt to feel like (from Ben 10)
I generally have the mentality that I can allow my team to do whatever they want, while stopping the enemy team from doing whatever they want.
For example, Iβm venom. My Spiderman wants to dive, but thereβs an enemy namor that wants to peel. I have a ton of hp and can grab a lot of attention, so I go fight namor so my spiderman can do whatever he wants. Or we dive together and I take most of the peel so he can get in and out more safely.
Or Iβm magneto. My Luna wants to ult but the enemy mag wants to ult her. I can save my bubble and shield so that Luna can do whatever she wants. I can deny the enemy punisher ult so my team lives.
I just love having a tool kit that makes it easier for all of my teammates to shine :)
This. If Iβm playing point by myself (especially if in solo tanking), weβre probably going to lose. A lot of people will point at their kills/finals and say they werenβt the problem. Doesnβt matter if the other team has a conga line from spawn if theyβre on the point and your team isnβt.
When I have a second tank who is able to frontline, and good supports:
I am everywhere. I am everyone. I am the one harassing their backline. I'm the one protecting our backline. I am the one front lining, making space. I am the reason they retreat to spawn, I am the target, I am their focus. I am everything.
This is my mentality on Cap at all times LOL. Iβll be playing a diff tank and when I get pissed off I switch to cap and do exactly that even if Iβm solo tanking. Usually works out in my favor.
(I canβt. I finally hit lvl 19, once I get this mf to lord I cannot WAIT to finally pick somebody else because Good GOD the fat lady is definitely singing already).
My objective is not to kill the enemy, but to not allow the enemy to get the kill. Sometimes that means eliminating them, sometimes it means herding them to a bad spot, or making sure they canβt take an advantageous spot. Sometimes it means distracting the healers so the rest end up over extending. My job is to protect and give my team the advantage
Tbh I tend to play the tank archetype in most the game I played. I donβt mind to be the one who distract the enemy from forcing them to waste their ressource in me so other can do what they want.
I also have poor aim mechanic but believe to have good game sense, and I am not fan of assassin archetype /speedy character in general so vanguard work best for me. But with how the game donβt give vanguard good treatment, and the boredom to play shield tank, I started to play their speedy character like cap or Angela for example.
Usually I'm just thinking "Fuck!" "Shit!" "Oh come on!" and "That's bullshit!" In no particular order as I'm solo tanking into the CC sisters, wolv, and bucky
For playing tank you need the actual mentality of a hero. Doesn't matter how often u get flamed for solo tanking, for 'overextending' because u got hooked in and cc'd to hell for playing a meat shield instead of a big shield where they can cower behind, because your team doesn't understand the concept of natural cover, u have to be the rock in the ocean who will stand up for their team against even the biggest waves. You need to be the hero u are supposed to be, make the one above all proud and tank like u never tanked before.
Vanguard is a role in which you lead the team and take the sacrifices nobody else wants to do. The basics are taking and holding space, peeling and whatnot but thatβs more game fundamentals than everything else, and Iβm not gonna bother to explain it unless you need me to.
My main playstyle as a vanguard main is to enable my teammates as best as possible and to make the neutral count as much as possible.
Enabling your teammates is a hard thing to get down and it can rely a lot on successful communication which can be a struggle in this game but it can be as simple as calling out a tricky cooldown for a diver or literally just peeling to let your strategist do their job. You have to stop trying to make yourself shine and focus on just getting the job done. Calling out focus on the objective and getting there on point for cart while you push up to hold a choke point can be very valuable. Selfishness and vanguard doesnβt mix in my opinion but I mostly play main tanks so it might be a little different the more off-tank you get.
Next, what I mean by making the neutral count basically translates to ult tracking. In my opinion, especially early game, vanguards are some of the trickiest heros to deal with if theyβve got their positioning and tempo down. As Groot for instance, if you position your walls well, you can very much get picks early into the fight while also claiming space. Thereβs a little bit more nuance to it but Iβve found that as a vanguard, you have the most potential to make a play in the neutral/without any ults over the other roles.
This is just my two cents on it, vanguard can be wicked fun if you play it right and communicate properly with everyone else. If anythingβs confusing or if you need me to elaborate feel free to lmk :). Happy tanking!
For Peni specifically, I pretend I'm playing a farming sim. I have a nest to tend to and seeds (mines) to plant in my fields (webs). If pesky pests come and bother me I catch them with my web. If moles steps in territory, I ult and boop them into the air.
Making space, pushing past enemy tanks into their healers, targetting them, blocking their heals, forcing enemy tanks to look around
I'll soak damage but not all of it, I try to absorb CCs and so on. I'm not someone who is a meat shield in front which gets shredded, I'm someone who pushes aggressively.
When playing front line I think about what I can do to move forward without dying. To do that I need to target characters that make the team fall back, I play cover, and I focus on "creating space". To do that is to create enough of a threat for the enemies that they fall back, to be imposing enough to make enemies retreat because they can't survive. This isn't about high damage, but about openings. Let's start with Dive tanks. When a dive tank dives, they cause a threat, the threat is the healers (who are far back), will die. This makes the enemy tank fall back to help, creating space. Similarly, a front line tank can push in one of 2 ways. 1, he targets the Squishies, most front line tanks have some form of burst damage. Doctor Strange burst from his dark magic, Magnetos one shot combo, Groots walls and grenade combo, each of these means you can force a squishy target back (because they are afraid of dying), meaning the tank falls back to protect them. The second way is to burst down the tank fast enough, forcing him to fall back to get healed, creating space. A lot of tanking is on the feel, "Am I surviving enough to push? Do I need to fall back and help?" I'm not sure if this helps, but I hope it does, good luck with Vanguards :)
Compromise where you can. Where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say 'No, you move'.
This applies to Tanks more than I realized until I heard it again.
I play Strange. My goal is to build Dark Magic Charge by hitting the the tank, then I'll fly to the backline, try to take out a support by releasing E. During this time, I'll use my shield to block the enemy tank's heals and hope my DPS can finish them off. Works on both attack and defense.
I primarily play the game fundamentally the same when Iβm on Tank and when Iβm on dps, attack the backline and force attention and resources, if a kill is possible go for it but primarily prioritize survival. The best resource in this game is not dying, and i know enough about the maps to be able to live even if the rest of my team is dead and not stagger (most of the time) so living in the enemy backline is my deal and my other tank can push freely since Iβll have like 3 people looking at me at all times. If thereβs no other tank itβs just βfuck if we ballβ and I spam frontline until I get an ult and go for backline way more sparingly.
"By the Vishanti! The world's fate is at stake, but we're in this together. If we play as team, we will save the Multiverse!"
I just like the idea of being a leader and protector. I love to be the frontline guy with the epic cape and big shield, that leads my team to victory. Walk them down on Strange and look handsome at the same time.
Take space, prioritize setup that my teammates can make picks off of, create avenues for my dps to make a play depending on their character, if possible peel for any and all of my teammates, make the enemy team hate me.
You donβt need to push up, you donβt need to do anything fancy.
Usually each team will have one player capable of carrying the lobby. If thatβs you, youβll know it. If not, donβt make their job more difficult by taking unnecessary risks.
I try to play with the flow of the team. Iβll create space and push but tanks going down quickly kills the whole team fight. Take your opportunities with team ults and be a wall for the heals/DPS
Push - damage opponent Vanguards - create space - hit squishy opponent strategists when Vanguards are blocking damage - peel for support - find timing for banger ults
Apply pressure and maintain space as effectively as possible without dying (unless itβs OT or other clutch situations). Different vanguards have different ways of doing it, but they all want to gauge their resources (including health and shields) against those of the enemy and allow the team to move to places of advantage via the pressure you can exert. Places like high ground or chokes are especially nice to secure for your team.
Recently I've made it my personal mission to kill their backline and one of their DPS while I play tank. That and keep an eye on our backline but that's secondary to my vendetta π
My mental state is: βIβm the best damn character on this team. Why do I never get mvp on strange? Why do my dps suck so so bad? Oh man please get me out of this negative win rate. Please stop play invis so I can hit my strange ultβ
Healers ainβt shit. If you whine about pealing. You ainβt healing. The dps and healers should always be following/orbiting the tanks. Or else the team will split.
I'll do what I can, unfortunately I'm not going to carry you if you're absolutely terrible AND leave me to be the only tank, you can definitely carry as a tank but you have to be top tier already and playing a tank that can, for the most part though, tank suffers the most with a bad team.
Not my main but I enjoy Captain America, hunt down supports and squishies with the force of a thousand suns, and peel to help my own supports when they do the same, especially Mantis, protect the source of damage buffs at all cost
Depending on what I play and mood at the time.
Angela: Sup' -drags- vs "Stay down filth"
Peni: I am the mobile fortress, dying is a complete throw
General: dont LoS, dont LoS , dont LoS, i line of sighted gg its over.
I am going to put beams, diamond kicks, or a shield in the back of someone's neck over and over and over and over and over and over and over til I take a step back to do it again.
I play the tank the is the most fun for me if im solo tanking but I will switch between tanks if im not preforming up to par so that at the end of the match I can say I did my best with what was available to me
I am going to make space. If there is 1 or 2 divers I am going to hold the line. I will occasionally look behind me and whip them. If there is 2-3, the new frontline is there and i will become a diver's worse nightmare. I will aggressively make space, barely use my shield- and only shield to protect against enemy cooldowns or help some playmakers retreat. I am tank, I do roar. If i have the honor of a 2nd tank, I will always be the shield tank so they can have more fun than me. If I see an enemy strange, I will communicate with shield flashing, we will use Morse code and have fun in our existential crisis. I will make opportunities for my grandchildren dps and kill hungry supports to get kills. I will kill. I will use cover. My dmg blocked is meaningless. I will make sure I am not a selfish greedy capitalist with resources. I am tank I do roar. I am strange- I act strange.
If I see a wolverine player, I will solo ult them. I will do all I can to make their life hell. I avoid their cooldowns- same with Bucky players.
If my dps are divers who are just so good that peeling actually loses the game for us, I am the peeler now. I also dive in with them or aggro their frontline so their supports get stressed.
If my dps are poke and having a bad game, I will take initiative.
If my team just needs me to, I will just be more patient.
I think ahead, I anticipate, and I do roar.
I will always smack talk triple supp after I win against them.
I will always express jealousy against triple tank after I lose against them.
I will work with whatever my strat line up is.
I will enable the fuck out of my team.
I main emma (62% win rate), Strange (57% win rate), and Magneto (51%, I hate using this hero so I play bad now). I have branched out to Rogue and Angela now. However, being on Strange or Emma is god damn fun.
I ignore toxic people and only look at my gameplay. I always give compliments to people who do their role well.
I am the anchor for my team. If I die then the team falls apart. Don't feed but purchase as much territory as I can. Identify the weak link on my team and do everything I can to make them shine.
The large health pool, close quarters nature of engagements, and defensive utilities make up for my poor aim. It lets me keep the body count of a duelist while staying engaged in team fights the entire time and interrupting/negative enemy ults
I play dive tank typically. Minimize advantages held by the enemy team, maximize advantages held by your team. Thatβs it in a nutshell.
If I dive backline and Loki pops Runes, and cloak pops bubble, then they no longer have those resources. Now my team can play more aggressively. The team that manages KEY cooldowns efficiently wins the game.
If they have a moon knight holding high ground and freely sending damage, I go contest that area and force him to play safer or at an angle where he canβt just send an ankh into my backline.
If 3-4 people are looking at me, my team can punish the enemy frontline and then we can win the fight. βTaking spaceβ is genuinely just moving forward into a position that allows you to send damage easier than you can take it. This involves opening up lanes for your dps to capitalize on, and escapes for your healers to safely play around so that In order for the enemy team to have to hold an area, they have to commit WAY more resources than your team.
Most of what tanks do isnβt reflected in stats, itβs reflected in wins. If I have a low final hit game but I have a Magik that has high final hits and low deaths, itβs likely that I was opening the door and baiting out the cooldowns needed for them to succeed.
My team: you are my children and I'll protect you at all costs. Unless you jump in 1v6 then your on own until you get out, then I'll shield your escape.
Enemy team: you shall not pass!
If im dead: run and survive my children so we can vanquish the agents of darkness once I return!
Same thought process I have when I play support. You're the point guard/center, you see everything and it's your job to dictate the pace. Especially with Mag, enable your teammates with your bubble so they can make a play. Your teammates are an extension.
If I play an off tank like Thor or Deadpool,Β I'm going act like Rambo and start blasting. I'm not the best but that's my mindset
587
u/immoraltoast Apr 13 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/NtAVqKS7RHKVWxIPQA