How to Beat Tank Comps — Itemization, Draft, and Macro

On HOK Global, "tank comps" usually mean one of two things:

1. Double frontline: a tank support (Dun, Sakeer) + a tanky clash laner (Lapulapu, Augran). This is the most common setup. The frontline is durable but not unkillable.

2. Triple frontline: double frontline + a tank jungler (Athena, Liu Bei built tanky). This is rarer but much harder to deal with. If the enemy has three tanks, you need to itemize correctly or you simply can't kill them.

The mistake most players make against tank comps is trying to burst through the frontline. You can't. Tanks are designed to absorb burst. What kills tanks is sustained damage, armor penetration, and %HP damage.

Against tank comps, your draft needs at least one dedicated tank-shredder:

ADCs:
• Luban No.7 — his passive %HP damage is the best tank-shredding tool in the game. At full build, he kills any tank in 5-6 auto-attacks.
• Meng Ya — consistent DPS with armor penetration built into his kit.
• Marco Polo — true damage on his passive. Ignores armor entirely.

Mages:
• Wang Zhaojun — her ultimate is a massive AoE slow field. Tanks can't walk through it without taking hundreds of damage per second.
• Angela — her ultimate does %HP damage. A full-channel Angela ultimate kills any tank.

Who NOT to pick:
• Burst assassins (Ying, Zilong). Your entire combo does 30% of a tank's HP, then you die.
• Poke mages without sustained damage. You'll chip them but never kill them.

This is the most important section. If you don't build anti-tank items, you lose.

ADCs:
• Shadowstrike Spear — armor penetration. Build this second or third against any tank.
• Raging Blade — attack speed and crit. More attacks = more DPS.
• If the enemy has healing tanks (Dun, Lapulapu with lifesteal), build Executioner's Calling for anti-heal.

Mages:
• Void Staff — magic penetration. Mandatory against any MR item.
• If the enemy has healing, build Tome of Nightmare for anti-heal.

Tanks/Bruisers:
• You don't need anti-tank items. You need to survive long enough for your ADC to kill their tanks. Build full tank.

Universal rule: if the enemy has 2+ tanks and nobody on your team has built armor/magic penetration by the 15-minute mark, you've already lost. Penetration is not optional against tanks.

Tank comps want to group as five and force teamfights. Their win condition is: walk at you, absorb your cooldowns, let their backline kill you. Your win condition is: don't let them do that.

Against tank comps:
• Split push. Tanks are slow. If you send one person to a side lane, the enemy has to send someone to answer — and if they send a tank, that's one less tank in the teamfight.
• Don't fight in choke points. Tanks love narrow corridors where you can't kite them. Fight in open areas.
• Kite backward. If the enemy tank walks at you, walk away while auto-attacking. They can't catch you if you have ranged champions.
• Focus the tank LAST, not first. Yes, this sounds counterintuitive. But if you blow all your cooldowns on the tank, the enemy backline kills you for free. Kill their damage dealers first, then clean up the tank.