Top 5 Tank Heroes In Game

I think Delilah is more of an offensive healer type. I don’t think you’ll see her in many raid defenses, especially when there are better options for that role.

Given there are only two people with her max in Departed, I suspect she just hasn’t had time to really make an impact yet at the higher ranks.

Alt’s defense was winning some north of 2500 with her sub-80 sitting at flank, so she’s not insta-lose at that level.

I’ve had her in my war defense on the main (and alt), better results on alt but was facing HHR in the one war I had her in on the main… which for my money is one of the top 4 alliances in game; actually going to slide her back in now come to think on the main.

Somehow I don’t understand the definition of a tank. I thought a tank is a hero, which can withstand a lot of damage and does not die immediately.

But when I look at the lists like that, I don’t quite understand it anymore… Ok, I’m not a high end player and I currently have my first 5* Heros and maybe I still lack some experience. (Cup Ranking ~2000)
But maybe someone would explain it to me. As an example some such heroes like Isarnia (5*) or Colen (4*) bring here into their list…

If I look at Isarnia, she is 41st in the overall ranking with her defense value! Ok, of course she has a very high damage, but that doesn’t make her to the tank?
Comparable applies to Colen, LJ, Horghall (ok his HP are nice) etc.

If I look at an unpopular hero (Elkanen) as a comparison, then for me these would be rather the stats to represent a tank (Defense value Ranking 5). In addition, he would have an ability (fast) to stay alive.

As I said, for me this is all just theory on paper, but try to understand it.

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I’d like to ask this question in another way. For those of us who just recently started, who are the best tanks from heros that we can currently get (challenge events and regular heros)?

The minions chance element according the the hero they are tied to.

I’m a data-forward person, so I thought it would be interesting to test perceptions against the character stats. We don’t know precisely how defense and health interact, but in the hero’s power rating on the card, it appears that defense is weighted 2x more than health.

I therefore calculate a “tankiness” score as 2 x Def + Health. Here are the top 5* by this metric (* indicates an event hero, § a Hero of the Month):

  1. Guardian Owl *
  2. Thorne
  3. Justice
  4. Ares §
  5. Richard
  6. Guinevere *
  7. Horghall
  8. Elkanen
  9. Marjana
  10. Sartana

Looking at only the 4* by the same metric, we have:

  1. Boril
  2. Guardian Falcon *
  3. First Mate Boomer *
  4. Kashhrek
  5. Cyprian
  6. Gormek
  7. Boldtusk
  8. Rigard
  9. Sonya
  10. Chao

This metric is simply about the defense & health stats and doesn’t consider how well the hero’s attack special helps. Still, some surprising results. Is there a use for Boomer still?

While I had this up, I thought to look at the flip metric, a “glass cannon” metric, to see which heroes are the least durable using the same 2:1 calculation. Here’s what we get for 5*, from most fragile to less fragile:

  1. Elena
  2. Isarnia
  3. Magni
  4. Lady Locke *
  5. Azlar
  6. Master Lepus *
  7. Guardian Kong *
  8. Guardian Panther *
  9. Obakan
  10. Musashi §

And the 4* glass cannons:

  1. Scarlett
  2. Guardian Jackal *
  3. Sir Lancelot *
  4. Little John
  5. Jack O’Hare *
  6. Colen
  7. Melendor
  8. Skittleskull
  9. Grimm
  10. Sabina

Again, these ranks need to be taken with a grain of salt. A fragile healer is a healer, after all, and can add HP back.

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I think the issue is “Tank” and “Center” is being used interchangeably. A Tank is what you have described. Someone with high survivability, through health, defense, specials & healing. A great “Center” can be almost anything. Lianna was a great defense Center for a long time because she had well rounded stats, but would kill 2 heroes before she was dead, immediately putting the raid in her favor 4v3.

Since you mentioned Colen & Isarnia, their job isn’t to tank, it’s to absorb a little bit of damage but do waaay more damage back before they die. Giving the advantage for the defense.

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This explains a lot. My first team has 3 “glass cannons” on it (Grimm, Sabina and Scarlett) and G. Kong on my bench. If the tiles fall right I cause a lot of damage (Wu and Caedmon are my other 2), but if they don’t, I get clobbered. I am working on maxing Scarlett and Wu while leveling Kiril, Zeline and Rigard for my 2nd line. I do have G. Falcon so I can work on him once I have Scarlett maxed to add some tankiness to my team. The only 5* from your list that I currently have is Horghall and I can’t see leveling him before Zeline.

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Completely agree. Zeline is a top-notch hero who should get into your lineup ASAP.

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Thanks @Kerridoc, this is awesome! I love the willingness and technical mind behind pure data crunching. That is actually the whole reason why I made this post in the first place. As you can see by the results, looking at the stats alone does not actually provide the best hero for the position. Each heroes special and how it impacts the rest of both your team and your opponents team makes a critical difference. I think that is where perception actually does find truth. With thousands and thousands of raids happening and top players agreeing that certain heroes pose the biggest issues, I think stats begin to take a slight backseat to the overall consensus. Either way, it is just plain fun to talk about. Thanks again for all of the input!

One more shield for level 3 ascension then 4 shields and 3 tonics for the final level.

Quick off topic question – Do you think Zeline at 3-70 is better than Caedmon at 4-70?

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When most of us say “tank”, we mean “center hero that gets the brunt of the tiles”. If all your tank does is absorb damage, at high levels, that’s not good enough. That’s why Guin, Ares, and Hel are the top 3 no question - their specials matter, a lot. They contribute to killing the other team in multiple ways and not simply by being a meatshield.

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Close, but yes. The one situation where Caedmon is clearly better is against riposte. Like all debuffers, Zeline hits first and debuffs second, so she can take a lot of damage clearly riposte. Caedmon usually has a target without riposte up that he can hit without hurting himself.

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Which is why Guardian Owl and Thorne, although at the top of my “tankiness metric” aren’t in fact very popular. Owl’s special is most effective as the last hero standing, but center is usually first down. Thorne’s special is very underwhelming.

Both Hel and Vivica are tanky enough to hold center especially considering their annoying specials. FWIW, they are in spots #24 and #25 respectively on the list, which is pretty far down on the list of 38 released 5* heroes.

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Okay, thanks for clarifying. I could have imagined…

But I think that a tank has a bigger role as meatshield in my score range or at least a bigger effect…just till they got enought strong attackers

I can definitely vouch for Kasshrek as best 4 star center tank. I flank him with Rigard and Grimm and I’m pretty happy with the results so far.

So if you’re a starting player, and find a Kasshrek, rejoice!

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Yeah, it looks like the differences in opinion are actually more based off of everyone’s definition of “tank” rather than what the individual heroes do. My understanding is that “tank” means the hero that’s in the center position. To me, a “tanky” hero is one that can absorb a lot of damage before dying.

A tanky hero isn’t always best in the center “tank” position while a more fragile hero may have an ability that’s so powerful you want it in the center position even if it dies. Thus, since the question is about the best “tank” I want to mention that my 4-star rankings are based on which hero is best in the tank, or center position.

It’s an educated guess based on 7DD’s hero grading of the tank position and my own personal experience as I am climbing up the cup ladder…but since we can’t know exactly how all of the abilities interact, it’s still just a guess. As I am getting to 2,100+ cups, I am still seeing a lot of #'s 1-5 (Kasshrek, Li Xiu, Boril, Colen, Cyprian) at the tank position and almost none of the heroes I listed at #6-10 in the tank position (Boldtusk, Kiril, Grimm, Tiburtus, Gormek, Rigard, Little John). That tells me that those heroes #6-10 are capping the team’s defensive potential at around 2,000 cups and they’re getting beat often.

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Kashrek is indeed an enduring tank, but his (it’s?) problem is that it’s a completely harmless placeholder to charge your specials against. For 4*'s, I think Boril or Cyprian with riposte or even Boldtusk who’s +damage makes his team’s slash damage hurt are better options. Among the 4*'s, also Gormek can have his use as a tank.

ok, well let’s not get caught up on the MMO definition of tank then. In E&P, a tank needs to do more than not die.

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I didn’t think many people like having Cyprian or Boril on the team because they only do damage from a percentage of received damage. Of course the neighbours do the same damage.
Can I ask what you would pick as your attack team. I currently use
Scarlett, Tiburtus, Chao, Isarnia and ( I can’t remember his name but the green version of sonya.)
I do have 22 4 star hero’s to choose from but I’m working on all of them. I have Gormek and Natalya that I could use as attack instead of Scarlett