Short answer: No, green tanks are still top in this meta. In late February/early March, however, this may change some for the tip-top leaderboard league. I expect green tanks to fall some and dark tanks to rise some. I would not be surprised to see green and red tanks somewhere around tied, with dark tanks not far behind.
Here are my deeper observations:
I went down the leaderboard a few hours ago and recorded how many of each hero there were, and in which position. I also did this on October 8th, making it twice so far I’ve done this. Green’s still top in tank position, with red in second place.
I counted 31 Tellurias today. On October 8th, there were 55. The Telly population is gradually dropping. 2nd most popular green tank is Heimdall at 7 in tank spots. I hear Frigg could do well as tank, but she’s being used in the flank position instead.
Two months ago, I counted 10 Black Knights–9 in flank spots in 1 as tank. Today I counted 13 Black Knights, 10 as tank and 3 as flank. He’s shifted from flank to tank, probably for lack of faith in Telluria. This also implies to me that we may see Krampus in some leaderboard tank positions. (Anyone else got thoughts on that?)
There were 12 Garnets on the leaderboard at the moment I started counting (9 tank, 2 flank, 1 wing). I expect we’ll see more of her as the ninja tower keeps returning and more players have a chance to draw her. I would not be surprised if she outdoes Gravemaker as the game’s best red hero.
I also don’t think the raid meta cares too much what color your tank is. It matters for wars because people can use tanks of the same color and deplete the enemy’s reds, but in a one-off raid fight, you get no such advantage from using a single color unless you think reds just don’t have the heroes needed to break a tank. If THAT’S the case, it may be better to look at what new tank busters there are rather than which specific tanks are being used if you’re trying to predict a new meta.
So I’ll walk a few steps down that road… I’ll point out that Telluria’s a minion summoner. February’s upcoming monthly looks like a promising minion buster (🧪 Early information on the February 2021 HOTM Uraeus), which should harm Telluria’s leaderboard standing. When you’re on the leaderboard, I expect a lot of the people hunting you have the means to buy whatever new monthlies they want. Said minion buster is yellow and not red, but I don’t think that’s a deal breaker. I don’t know how many people play strictly mono in their attacks, but I think they’re very few.
If this makes the Telly population drop, her place in the leaderboard will likely be replaced with more of whoever’s already on there (and maybe Krampus). Other tanks frequently seen on the leaderboard at the moment are Black Knight, Alfrike, Garnet, Heimdall, and Ursena. As I’ve mentioned before, I expect to see more Garnets. At around March, reds may match greens in their number of leaderboard tanks.
That being said, I expect all-green tank formations to stay more popular in wars. Telluria was an accessible monthly, she’s everywhere, and she’s just tough to beat. Also, I think most leaderboard-level people can buy Uraeus, but I can’t say the same for entire alliances. Uraeus (February monthly) may rewrite the leaderboard, but I’d be surprised if he rewrites the meta for war.
If you want to see what the upcoming meta may be for wars, I think it would be a good idea to look at the accessibility of tanks in each color. Right now, the only new tank on my radar that might shake things up is Krampus–and he’s not easy to draw. I think it would take a new monthly tank to change the most popular war tank color.
Here are the top heroes I’ve recorded and their popularity on the leaderboard, if anyone’s curious:
