[Top 10] LOL Best Items Against Tanks

Updated:

07 Feb 2023

Are you constantly finding yourself being dominated by a tank and you can’t even make a dent in their health bar or even take down the huge shield that they have? If this keeps happening to you as a hard-carry player and you think that you’re powerless against tanks, worry no longer as in this article I’ll be sure to show you many items that will help you in many different ways of dealing with the tanks.

Riot Games since the beginning has been implementing different ways of dealing with those pesky tanks and one of those is buying the correct items. These items can range from simply demolishing their shields to completely shredding their HP. With the correct items, you will not see tanks as scary monsters but huge meat bags that only take a lot of shots. The other way to deal with tanks is by counter picking them with a certain champion like Vayne or Viego but that is a story for another time. With that in mind let’s get into this article!

10. Serpent’s Fang (2,600 Gold)

“Your shield means nothing to me!”

First let’s take care of those annoying shields that most tank champions have due to an ability in their kit or the items that they bought. To deal with this issue Rito has given us a very specific item with a weirdly shaped snake head. You see, the item’s passive “Shield Reaver” can completely shred through their shields leaving them completely naked.

The way it does that is the player attacking the tank applies a venom that lasts for 3 seconds which reduces the amount of shields the target will receive from their abilities or items. Additionally the item also grants the player 12 lethality which gives them 7.47-12 armor penetration based on their level and 55 attack damage. It’s perfect for those champions who are mainly building AD and nothing else.

How To Get Serpent’s Fang:

To acquire this weird sword head over to your base and purchase it!

When Should You Buy This Item:

If the enemy tanks have an easy way of acquiring shields.
If you’re playing an assassin that only builds lethality and needs a quick way of dealing with shields.
The enemy support has started building “Locket Of The Iron Solari” which grants everyone a shield of 180-330 inside 850 units.

9. Mortal Reminder (2,600 Gold)

“If it bleeds it can die.”

Let’s teach these tanks that they are not safe anymore and that we poor hard carries have a way of killing them with the promptly item named “Mortal Reminder”. This item’s primary purpose is applying the grievous wounds effect through its passive ability “Sepsis”. Huh seems like not even digital champions are safe from this disease. But the way that the player can apply “Sepsis” and spread it to other people is by auto-attacking them.

Once an enemy has been auto-attacked a 40% grievous wounds debuff will be applied onto them. Once the beating stops the effect wears off after 3 seconds. Alongside this passive ability “Sepsis” it also gives nice base stats such as a 7% movement speed increase, 20% attack speed, 20% critical strike chances, and 35 attack damage.

How To Get Mortal Reminder:

To get this item you have to go back to your base and purchase it.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If the enemy tanks or bruisers are heavily relying on life-steal.
If the enemy tanks have supports that can heal their HP back up quickly.
If nobody on your team is building an item that contains the “Grevious Wounds” debuff.

8. Serylda’s Grudge (3,200 Gold)

“How can an item hold a grudge?”

Well, the reason this item holds a grudge is because most assassins have a grudge against tank players. When it comes to the item it gives the player a whopping total 30% armor penetration which simply goes through the enemy's armor platings, additionally it also gives 45 attack damage and 20 ability haste.

Besides that insane armor penetration it also has a passive ability “Bitter Cold” which slows targets and minions by 30% when they are hit by an ability. This is perfect for assassin champions alike as their main source of damage comes both from their abilities and auto-attacks.

How To Get Serylda’s Grudge:

First make sure that you’re playing an assassin then head over to your shop in your spawn and purchase it.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If you’re playing an assassin that can easily activate the item’s passive ability.
If the enemy team is building a lot of defensive items that give them armor.
Also because the item can slow enemies by 30% it’s great against high mobility champions.

7. Lord Dominik’s Regards (3,000 Gold)

“Who is this Dominik fella and why does he send us his regards?”

I swear tank players actually have nightmares from this item as it deals more damage to them the more HP they have. That damage can range from 0-25% and it comes from the item’s passive ability “Giant Slayer” which is quite a fitting name for the passive honestly.

Additionally with this buff the item also comes with a raw 30% armor penetration, 20% critical strike chance, and 30 attack damage. In terms of raw attack damage it doesn’t give a lot but remember that this item is solely meant against tanks who have way more HP than you do and that’s where this item shines perfectly.

How To Get Lord Dominik’s Regards:

To acquire this legendary item against tanks just head over to your shop in the base and buy it.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If the majority of the enemy team has way more health than you do.
If you’re going a crit build with your champion.
If the enemy team is building a lot of HP and armor items.

6. Kraken Slayer (3,400 Gold)

“This originally belonged to a ship who hunted down huge krakens.”

Say hello to my little friend who simply loves laying down huge and monstrous tanks with its passive ability “Bring It Down” that deals true damage on every third auto-attack. The item fits perfectly with a full on-hit build as the true damage from the item is classified as on-hit too.

When it comes to the other stats the item gives they are 25% attack speed, 20% critical strike chance, and 65 attack damage which goes perfectly with any ranged or melee hard carry champion who would benefit from it. It can also increase the attack speed of the player by 10% for every legendary item and that attack speed increase comes from its “mythic passive”.

How To Get Kraken Slayer:

To obtain yourself a kraken slayer just head over to your base and purchase it.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If the champion you’re playing would highly benefit from the mythic’s passive ability.
If your champion has a lot of attack speed you will be constantly activating the item’s ability that deals true damage on every third auto-attack.
If you’re trying to build an on-hit build on your champion.

5. Black Cleaver (3,100 Gold)

“The black axe of Noxus!”

Let’s spread some love to our players who simply love playing bruisers as this item fits them perfectly and their playstyle. The reason why it’s so popular among bruiser type champions is because they can benefit from the two passive abilities the item has and apply stacks way easier than anyone else and they have the strength to survive that they can feel the armor reduction the item applies to enemies.

The first passive of the item called “Carve” can stack 6 times in total and each stack will inflict a 5% armor reduction going all the way up to 30%. While the second passive ability “Rage” activates while dealing physical damage and for each “Carve” stack the player will gain 3 bonus movement speed which maxes out at 18. Alongside these amazing passives that simply demolish huge opponents the player will also receive 350 health, 30 ability haste, and 45 attack damage.

How To Get Black Cleaver:

To obtain this badass axe head over to your spawn and purchase it in the shop.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If you’re playing a bruiser champion that can benefit from the two passive abilities that the item has.
If your champion lacks movement speed and has a hard time catching up to people while fighting this item can provide them an extra 18 movement speed at max stacks.
If you are able to fully stack the item’s passive ability “Carve”.

4. Divine Sunderer (3,300 Gold)

“Whose head are we bashing in today?”

Since we are on the topic of bruisers, why not continue the trend and mention the “Divine Sunderer” that increases the players armor and magic penetration by 3% for each legendary item they currently own and that’s it’s mythic passive. And since it’s a mythic item the second passive ability “Spellblade” increases the user’s next auto-attack by 125% of their base AD plus the damage scales by the total amount of HP the enemy target has which can go up to 150%.

To make sure that you get that sweet juicy damage from the item’s passive ability “Spellblade” make sure you cast an ability first before auto-attacking an enemy as that is the only way to activate it and give someone else brain damage. Also once you auto-attack someone it will also heal the player for 68% of the base AD they currently have.

How To Get Divine Sunderer:

To obtain this perfectly crafted item just head over to the shop in your base and purchase it.

When Should You Buy It:

If your bruiser champion will benefit massively from the “Spellblade” passive ability.
If the bruiser champion you’re playing is able to burst down tanks and other bruisers quickly.
If the enemy tanks are building a lot of armor or magic resistance then you will massively benefit from the item’s mythic passive which gives 3% armor and magic penetration for every legendary item.

3. Riftmaker (3,200 Gold)

“The purple eye of Sauron.”

Enough talking about bruisers and AD champions time to shift our focus onto the AP category and see what they have to offer us. Unironically they have some of the best items for dealing with tanks or large HP champions. One of those items is the “Riftmaker” which has the passive ability “Void Corruption” that increases the player’s damage for each second they spend in combat by 3% going all the way up to 9%.

When this effect is maxed out it will convert 100% of the maxed out damage into true damage. And we all know that true damage is the bane of existence for tanks and large HP targets as it completely ignores armor and magic resistance. The item also has a second passive promptly named “mythic passive” which gives the player 2% omnivamp and 8 ability power for every legendary item in their inventory.

How To Get Riftmaker:

To get this staff that has the purple eye of Sauron head over to your spawn and purchase it in the shop.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If your AP champion can quickly stack the item’s “Void Corruption” to the max to start dealing true damage.
It will also give the player a 2% omnivamp for every legendary item which can allow them to survive longer in team fights.
If the enemy team consists of 2 to 3 tanks then having Riftmaker is a must.

2. Demonic Embrace (3,000 Gold)

“The helmet of the long forgotten demonic Samurai.”

Let’s talk about another AP item that completely annihilates tanks to oblivion with its passive ability “Azakana Gaze” whose damage scales by the amount of HP the target you’re currently attacking has. To activate the passive “Azakana Gaze” all you have to do is attack someone with an ability which is not that hard when playing an AP champion of any kind.

What’s more this crazy item also has a second passive called “Dark Pact” that gives the player 2% ability power of the total bonus health they got from items. And that’s not all this crazy looking mask also gives 350 health and 75 ability power on its own. During the late stages of a match if you have this item you are sure to have some burned tanks for dinner.

How To Get Demonic Embrace:

To fully embrace the demons that this item possess simply head over to your base and purchase the item inside of your spawn.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If your AP champion is building a lot of items that give them bonus health. For example someone like Mordekaiser would extremely benefit from this item.
If the enemy team has a lot of champions who are either tanks or they are building a lot of items that give them a ton of health.
If you’re playing a melee AP champion because they will get the most out of this item’s passive ability “Azakana Gaze.”

1. Liandry’s Anguish (3,200 Gold)

“YOU SHALL FEEL MY WRATH MORTAL!”

This item works very similar to “Demonic Embrace” as it burns targets based on how much total HP they have with its passive ability “Agony” that deals 0-12% bonus magic damage depending on how much HP they have in total. Due to it being a mythic item it has its own “mythic passive” which gives the player 5 ability haste for every legendary item they possess.

And for its third and final passive ability promptly named “Torment” it burns enemies each time the player damages them with an ability. The burn damage depends on how much HP the enemy has and on how much total AP the player currently possesses. Alongside those passive abilities that completely annihilate tanks and large HP targets the item also gives the player 80 ability power, 20 ability haste, and 600 mana.

How To Get Liandry’s Anguish:

To obtain this crying mask head over to your spawn area and purchase it for yourself.

When Should You Buy This Item:

If your champion can easily spam their abilities that way its way easier to activate the item’s passive ability “Torment”.
The item is meant specifically against enemies who have a large health pool or if the enemy team has decided to play 2-3 tanks and at least have 1-2 bruisers in their team.
If the enemy team has a lot of HP you can buy both Liandry’s Anguish and Demonic Embrace and you will just enjoy melting down their huge HP bars.

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Mumin T.

As one of many people who sold his soul to Riot Games and spent many sleepless nights playing their game, Mumin has managed to keep his sanity and has learned to control his anger and rise above.

Gamer Since:

2008

Favorite Genre:

MOBA

Currently Playing:

League of Legends

Top 3 Favorite Games:

League of Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Fallout 4

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