League of Legends features many supports, and all sorts of different ones. The pro teams recognize the value in having a tanky support on their team, but what makes these five champions the best?
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1. Alistar
Alistar is a true powerhouse in the league. He has powerful crowd control abilities to lock down his opponent and provide great peeling for his ADC. His engage potential is second to none when he lands an Unbreakable Will-enhanced Headbutt into Pulverize combo (a popular strategy known as โThe Bushwhackโ after Annie Botโs ridiculous win rate).
Though not much of a damage dealer, his ability to peel carry threats effectively make up for this shortcoming โ especially in lower ELO where players arenโt as good at capitalizing on lack of peel.
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2. Taric
Taric offers a very tanky and bursty style of play to the support role, excelling at disrupting team fights. Shield of Daybreak is a reliable stun that offers good counterplay potential because it comes out quickly enough to be used by an expert player after Willumpโs Snowball or Jarvanโs Cataclysm have been cast.
Shatter makes him devastating in early trades against melee supports โ though he falls off compared to other options later, his ability to dominate aggressive melee supports allows him room for error against ranged supports. Iron man makes any carry trying to dive him wish they hadnโt because 1/4th of their health bar will disappear before they have the time to realize the error in their ways.
3. Thresh
Thresh is an interesting case because he has so much versatility, but his kit doesnโt leave him overpowered in any role. Heโs good at everything tankiness-wise, but doesnโt do anything exceptionally well. The thing that makes Thresh shine is that there are very few cooldowns separating him from being a godlike support โ Death Sentence alone can turn around a fight when used well.
It has good range and excellent follow-up potential with Flay or The Box, which both lock the enemy down for precious seconds before your carry returns to finish them off. His lantern can be used offensively or defensively depending on how you use it, allowing for great engage or disengage potential. Heโs not the tankiest champion on this list, but his lack of weaknesses makes him one of the best.
4. Leona
Leona is often considered one of the easiest supports to use in high-elo play. She has plenty of CC and damage early game, allowing her to dominate low ELO games with ease if youโre mechanically good enough to land all your abilities.
However, she doesnโt do much late game aside from act as an AD/AP battery for her carry because she lacks significant peel potential unless she lands Eclipse at just the right time โ even then it deals no damage making it less than ideal for protecting any ranged AD who isnโt fed enough to 2 shot their target.
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5. Braum
Braum is another tank support with plenty of engage potential โ his Stand Behind Me ability makes him a great front-line champion for your teamโs carries, while Unbreakable blocks any incoming CC. Glacial Fissure has some of the best zone control in the game, making it easy to trap enemies and set up kills. He has good disengage as well thanks to Winterโs Bite and Concussive Blows, allowing for strong counter-engages once the enemy overextends.
Braum isnโt good at much but he can do everything decently and dominate low ELO (similar to Leona). This still makes him among the best tank supports out there, since few support champions can completely dominate a lane in lower ELO games.
Conclusion
This article should have provided you with a great starting point for your research on the best tank supports in League of Legends. The number one thing to remember when choosing which champion is best suited for you, is that no matter what role you are playing, there will be champions who are better than others at different things.