Tankers are having incredibly low pick rate in both pro leagues and ranked…
If you are following pro leagues worldwide, you can easily recognize that lately, tankers have not been picked so regularly. For example, in LCK Summer 2021, the most popular one ever – Ornn is having under 10% of pick rate, exactly 8%, and Dr. Mundo or Sion is not an exception. They have relatively high win rate in ranked, but their pick rate is much lower than bruisers.
Obviously, tankers are losing their seats in the current meta. So, what is their problem? To find the answer to this question, we have to remind you about the severe nerfs in their Mythic items, such as Sunfire Aegis and Turbo Chemtank. The former in the pre-season 2021 was actually a monster with huge damage dealt by a tanker. Then, Turbo Chemtank was nerfed in 11.7 and 11.9 due to the rise of Hecarim and Udyr.
Furthermore, tankers also have a lot of disadvantages in their laning. The circumstance is even worse when they have to face bruisers having strong healing when Bramble Vest is absolutely compulsory in the first minutes. However, this item is not included in any Mythic ones’ path, so their power spike will be slowed a lot.
Besides, the rise of bruisers is also contributing to this problem. Their power spike does not require so much gold as they only need 2 items – the Mythic one and Sterak. They can both deal a lot of damage and stay alive throughout the fights due to amazing healing and shield. Thanks to this perfect power, bruisers are now beloved in pro leagues as well as ranked.
Another reason is the enormous popularity of The Collector and other Armor Penetration items like Serylda Grudge or Lord Dominik’s Regard. Purchasing this kind of item secondly is not a bizarre thing, so tankers will be encountered easily in the early and mid game.