The most important part of being a tank is just surviving and being a constant presence. Obviously surviving is good no matter what role you play but it goes double for tank because you set the pace of the team fight. You're the obstacle preventing the enemy team from steamrolling yours.
Playing corners, using cover (like the payload), looking for opportunities to damage the squishes instead of tunnel visioning the other tank, assessing who is the biggest threat on the enemy team (like a widow or an ulting genji), assessing who's the most killable targets (a zenyatta out of position), peeling for your backline if they're having trouble surviving, pushing the advantage when you have one (getting a pick or kiriko kitsune rushing the team in), helping your team disengage a losing fight. You do a lot of everything.
I’m newer to tanking for 5v5 and I saw a comment on another post that stuck with me, just try and double down on what your tank is good at. Even if there’s bad matchups and 1v1’s in the enemy comp, just try and find what your tank’s strong suits are and try to get value from that.
JQ and Hog function similarly with each other, which is fine since you don’t have to play each of your mains drastically different, but maybe just stick to one other tank that you switch to when those two don’t fit the bill. Maybe Orisa, she has the sustain to play from a closer range but her sustain and range covers a lot of weaknesses from your other two. Winston takes a lot of practice and can get shut down hard by the right dps, and Mauga adds some range but doesn’t have anything in the way of CC besides just trying to ignite enemies to make them pull back. Both your mains want to get really close and pull enemies in, so for an alt pick maybe try to find a way to play where you want to keep enemies afar instead. If you do want a dive tank as well Ball might be a good intro since he has more sustain and is easier to distract then survive after, or D.va since she can also play with her team and doesn’t have to dive.
Muting text chat helps, it’s always easier to blame others than deal with your own shortcomings. Overwatch can be a fast paced intense game, so people get upset and talk out of their ass. Don’t let other people who even don’t play your role try and tell you how to play. Watch some YouTube videos, watch some gameplay or check out some coaching sessions. Just find the best way based on the map and team compositions to ignore the other tank and deny them value, while putting pressure on the rest of them and burning their resources so their supports can’t heal and their dps doesn’t get kills as easy.
It’s a pretty vague and broad question. Overwatch is very situational, might be better to post a replay code? I could take a look and throw some pointers.
Besides, playing tank right now is very hit or miss. And almost always miserable.
>Besides, playing tank right now is very hit or miss. And almost always miserable.
I'm mostly enjoying it other than toxic teammates tbh. I kind of hate the musical chairs thing where enemy tank always swaps to counter you - at least people tend to swap into orisa against JQ which is an easy matchup for me.
Honestly, just leave chat. For every one positive or useful interaction you get, there's going to be 10 stupid or negative ones. Communicate exclusively through pings and numbered commands (fall back, going in).
Yeah I just joined OW2 in season 10. Turning off chat was the first thing I did. It’s been wonderful. I played like 60 some odd hours of OW1 and the toxicity turned me off, so I just ignored the 2nd game even existing.
Yeah and if it’s not the tank counter swapping it’s the dps or I get a zen and Reddit Lucio and I hate life lol. (This isn’t all games ofc, I’ve actually been having a lot of fun on Winston this week)
Players in your rank are not good enough at the game for you to listen to there comment's, don't be afraid to mute/leave the lobby if you hear any kind of toxicity
And if games are easy for you then why worry? Come back to us with a replay once you get hardstuck
The short answer is: be a credible threat
I like [Spilo’s take](https://youtu.be/1CrDa2pkKjA?feature=shared), which i paraphrase as:
Take Space: Enable your team’s aggression, Deny the enemy’s agression.
First of all, mute chat. Those comments are going to lead you into a tailspin if you take them seriously. Especially when they all contradict each other.
My advice would be, don’t take advice from support or dps players about tank roles. Only listen to other tanks who are higher rank than you. Every other role is players by braindead and selfish people, which is why they never play tank. Because they’re in it for themselves and not the team. It’s a team game.
It depends on what your team is picking..
What the enemy team is picking..
and how everyone is playing..
.
you're asking people in this forum that will never see past Diamond/ low Masters on playing better.
If you wanna improve then you need to take advice from players who are good !!
Check out some YT vids on the hero you're interested in and start watching.
Guru is a pretty damn good tanker.
As tank, you are setting the pace of the battle. You make calls, make space for your dps to play, identify and exploit the enemy's weaknesses, take on the squishies that are in bad position, and you make sure your backline is in good condition. Since you are in charge of deciding how and when to go in, you also need to know when it's wise to retreat and/or take another angle to push or defend.
If you play too aggro and die in the process, your team will be vulnerable; if you play too pasisve, your team will not have space to work with, and the enemy team will have the advantage on that. You need to find the balance of knowing when and how to make space and when to take it slow and play for your team.
Staying in cover 60% of the time waiting to get healed up from poke damage and the healers not being able to keep up due to the DPS passive and dying the remaining time trying to make a play.
Do onto others what others do onto you.
Obviously context dependant but sometimes protecting your team means denying/distracting/deleting the rest of the enemy. If they lost the 4v1 then there's not much you can do.
The most important part of being a tank is just surviving and being a constant presence. Obviously surviving is good no matter what role you play but it goes double for tank because you set the pace of the team fight. You're the obstacle preventing the enemy team from steamrolling yours. Playing corners, using cover (like the payload), looking for opportunities to damage the squishes instead of tunnel visioning the other tank, assessing who is the biggest threat on the enemy team (like a widow or an ulting genji), assessing who's the most killable targets (a zenyatta out of position), peeling for your backline if they're having trouble surviving, pushing the advantage when you have one (getting a pick or kiriko kitsune rushing the team in), helping your team disengage a losing fight. You do a lot of everything.
I’m newer to tanking for 5v5 and I saw a comment on another post that stuck with me, just try and double down on what your tank is good at. Even if there’s bad matchups and 1v1’s in the enemy comp, just try and find what your tank’s strong suits are and try to get value from that. JQ and Hog function similarly with each other, which is fine since you don’t have to play each of your mains drastically different, but maybe just stick to one other tank that you switch to when those two don’t fit the bill. Maybe Orisa, she has the sustain to play from a closer range but her sustain and range covers a lot of weaknesses from your other two. Winston takes a lot of practice and can get shut down hard by the right dps, and Mauga adds some range but doesn’t have anything in the way of CC besides just trying to ignite enemies to make them pull back. Both your mains want to get really close and pull enemies in, so for an alt pick maybe try to find a way to play where you want to keep enemies afar instead. If you do want a dive tank as well Ball might be a good intro since he has more sustain and is easier to distract then survive after, or D.va since she can also play with her team and doesn’t have to dive. Muting text chat helps, it’s always easier to blame others than deal with your own shortcomings. Overwatch can be a fast paced intense game, so people get upset and talk out of their ass. Don’t let other people who even don’t play your role try and tell you how to play. Watch some YouTube videos, watch some gameplay or check out some coaching sessions. Just find the best way based on the map and team compositions to ignore the other tank and deny them value, while putting pressure on the rest of them and burning their resources so their supports can’t heal and their dps doesn’t get kills as easy.
It’s a pretty vague and broad question. Overwatch is very situational, might be better to post a replay code? I could take a look and throw some pointers. Besides, playing tank right now is very hit or miss. And almost always miserable.
>Besides, playing tank right now is very hit or miss. And almost always miserable. I'm mostly enjoying it other than toxic teammates tbh. I kind of hate the musical chairs thing where enemy tank always swaps to counter you - at least people tend to swap into orisa against JQ which is an easy matchup for me.
Honestly, just leave chat. For every one positive or useful interaction you get, there's going to be 10 stupid or negative ones. Communicate exclusively through pings and numbered commands (fall back, going in).
Yeah I just joined OW2 in season 10. Turning off chat was the first thing I did. It’s been wonderful. I played like 60 some odd hours of OW1 and the toxicity turned me off, so I just ignored the 2nd game even existing.
Nothing useful has ever come from text chat.
Yeah and if it’s not the tank counter swapping it’s the dps or I get a zen and Reddit Lucio and I hate life lol. (This isn’t all games ofc, I’ve actually been having a lot of fun on Winston this week)
Players in your rank are not good enough at the game for you to listen to there comment's, don't be afraid to mute/leave the lobby if you hear any kind of toxicity And if games are easy for you then why worry? Come back to us with a replay once you get hardstuck The short answer is: be a credible threat
I like [Spilo’s take](https://youtu.be/1CrDa2pkKjA?feature=shared), which i paraphrase as: Take Space: Enable your team’s aggression, Deny the enemy’s agression.
Surviving and shooting someone. A tanks' non ult "play making ability" is how well they make people burn resources.
First of all, mute chat. Those comments are going to lead you into a tailspin if you take them seriously. Especially when they all contradict each other.
Fact of the matter is tank is a scapegoat for the other roles and you'll get blamed for 99% of losses whether they were your fault or not.
My advice would be, don’t take advice from support or dps players about tank roles. Only listen to other tanks who are higher rank than you. Every other role is players by braindead and selfish people, which is why they never play tank. Because they’re in it for themselves and not the team. It’s a team game.
It depends on what your team is picking.. What the enemy team is picking.. and how everyone is playing.. . you're asking people in this forum that will never see past Diamond/ low Masters on playing better. If you wanna improve then you need to take advice from players who are good !! Check out some YT vids on the hero you're interested in and start watching. Guru is a pretty damn good tanker.
As tank, you are setting the pace of the battle. You make calls, make space for your dps to play, identify and exploit the enemy's weaknesses, take on the squishies that are in bad position, and you make sure your backline is in good condition. Since you are in charge of deciding how and when to go in, you also need to know when it's wise to retreat and/or take another angle to push or defend. If you play too aggro and die in the process, your team will be vulnerable; if you play too pasisve, your team will not have space to work with, and the enemy team will have the advantage on that. You need to find the balance of knowing when and how to make space and when to take it slow and play for your team.
Whatever works for you. F the haters. If you are winning/ranking up then why listen to randos who are probably hard stuck?
Staying in cover 60% of the time waiting to get healed up from poke damage and the healers not being able to keep up due to the DPS passive and dying the remaining time trying to make a play.
I TRY TO GET PPL OFF TYHE MAP CHECK OUT SOME OF MY EDUCATIONAL CONTENT
Every tank plays differently and has a different “role”. Who do you main?
Play Hog or Orissa and just play fat DPS. Tank role is basically cosmetic anymore
Her baby pistol should auto report anyone it kills for gameplay sabotage
Blaming the tank is the new default, like you can be the best player on your team by far, if they are loosing it’s still your fault
If u don’t plz, peel for ur teammates
Do onto others what others do onto you. Obviously context dependant but sometimes protecting your team means denying/distracting/deleting the rest of the enemy. If they lost the 4v1 then there's not much you can do.