Introduction
Are you on the look out for a new champion to add to your champion pool but are worried about adding a difficult champion? Or maybe you’re just a new player to the game and heard that tanks are easier to learn.
Whatever the reason you have come to the right place, in this article we’re going to cover some of the champions that in my opinion are the easiest in almost every role in the game (ADC is not here for obvious reasons).
Pick any of these and you’re sure to have a good time while learning your role and champion, with great defense and useful abilities, tanks are an excellent way to get into League of Legends. Let’s jump into it!
Braum (Support)
Braum is a common support staple, he has a strong focus on crowd control, damage mitigation and peeling for his teammates. His entire kit is designed to protect his team while disrupting the enemy team in teamfights. His passive is unique in that his allies can trigger it too, enabling some awesome combination plays in the bot lane and in teamfights. He is a versatile champion who can both protect and hinder his enemies.
Out of all the tanks he feels the most straightforward to me, this is because a lot of his abilities have great visual feedback so it’s easy for new players to understand what he does in a single match.
But while he is definitely a simple champion that doesn’t mean he is useless, in fact he is one of the most common champions in professional play, his passive and his ultimate are guaranteed stuns in every single teamfight and engagement past level 6. This coupled with his iconic blocking ability makes Braum a classic support champion who should be considered by everyone looking to get into tank supports.
Galio (Middle)
Galio is a tank who plays mostly in mid nowadays, he does quite a bit of AP damage with a couple of items and can totally take over a game with his roaming and teamfighting ability.
He is one of the easiest champions to get into mid lane with, his abilities are all easy to land and powerful, and his gameplan is simple but effective. I always recommend Galio to anyone looking to start playing mid lane who doesn’t want to get stomped by AP assassins and can roam early.
His kit is straightforward to play with, his abilities all have a wide area of effect and hit entire waves of creeps and easily hit champions. To play Galio effectively you don’t need to put much time into perfecting your mechanics unlike other highly technical mid lane champions.
Galio’s main weakness might be the fact that he is very one dimensional, most people know what he is going to do as that is pretty much the only way to play Galio, he can become a bit boring because of this. He is easy to play and a prime candidate for being your first mid lane champion.
Shen (Top)
Shen is a stereotypical tank, he has a lot of HP and defensive stats, he also has a dash and a shield coupled with some decent sustain. This makes him one of the easiest champions to survive with in the game. Ge doesn’t even have to worry about mana because he is an energy champion.
For a long time now, Shen has been mainly a top lane champion. His gameplay is quite straightforward, farm a lot, never die and use his ultimate to teleport to teamfights all over the place to help his team in the mid game. Later on, he becomes an unkillable pushing tank who can teleport the entire map while shielding someone for quite a bit of health.
While he is easy to play, knowing when to ult can be a difficult concept for a lot of players, but if you can master it Shen can be one of the easiest champions to play in the top lane. Some players are even fond of playing Shen in the mid lane, becoming an annoying unkillable roamer using his ult and his dash.
If you’re looking for a new easy to play tank for your mid lane pool then give Shen a chance, he won’t let you down.
Zac
Zac is a formidable tank jungler, his kit offers him great mobility, sustain and crowd control. He is notable for having some unique ganking angles that no other champion in the game has (well maybe Kayn with his shadow step).
His kit revolves around his passive, Cell Division, which allows him to recover health by picking up blobs generated from his abilities. This sustain, combined with his crowd control and initiation capabilities, makes him an excellent jungler and teamfight disruptor.
There are many reasons why I would say Zac is “easy” to play: He doesn’t have to worry much about mana because all of his abilities cost health instead. When playing Zac, you mostly have to worry about cooldowns (which can be pretty high actually) and your total health points, not much else.
Another reason for why he is easy to play is the fact that most of his most popular builds are super tanky, with massive amounts of HP and HP regeneration to increase his ability to cast his skills constantly.
I recommend Zac to anyone looking to get into tanks when playing jungle, while the role itself is not that easy, Zac the champion is not the most demanding in terms of mechanics or even fundamentals (no mana) so he is a great choice for beginners.
Malphite (Top, Middle)
Malphite is a rock-solid champion (heh), his abilities have remained mostly the same for almost 15 years which tells you how stable his design has been. He shares many things with his tank brothers while having a few tools that barely anyone has.
He was one of the original champions in the game, as such he was designed to be very durable specially when facing Attack Damage champions. His passive gives him a great shield and extra armor, while his abilities all hinder most AD carries in the game.
While he wasn’t really designed to counter AP champions, it’s not like he is useless versus them. In many ways Malphite is similar to Galio but inverted (good vs AD). He deals quite a bit of burst damage and is really hard to kill.
This combination of burst damage and durability makes him one of the best champions to learn the game with. Most new players can quickly learn his Ultimate + Q + W + E combo and take a lot of kills in the lower ranks. This teaches them about how important it is to stay at full health whenever possible when facing burst champions.
What About the Other Tanks
We didn’t include some other tanks like Alistar, Amumu, Gragas, Ornn or K’Sante because they were much more complicated than the ones on this list. Guys like Alistar and Amumu might look simple but while their gameplay is just as easy as any tank, their decision making can be much more difficult to comprehend for beginners to LoL.
For example, Amumu’s ultimate is a massive deal for teamfights, most newcomers struggle to understand when the best time to use it is in teamfights, so they either use it too early or too late. And that is just pressing one button!
Meanwhile most champions on our list don’t necessarily need to hold on to their ultimates, and while yes missing or wasting your ultimate on Zac or Braum still sucks. It’s not as bad as missing your ult on Amumu (oh god!).
Conclusion
Out of all the champions on this list, I would say the difficulty depends on the lane, for new players it depends on their gaming background and personality.
For those of you who like to help others and stay out of the limelight, then Braum might be a great choice and introduction to the support role. Meanwhile for those who are more aggressive and adventurous Galio and Malphite are good choices to get started in the mid lane.
Top is another good choice, even if it can be punishing at times, Malphite and Shen are the best choices here. If you’re looking for a jungler then Zac is going to be your best bet in this list (but Malphite used to be a jungler back in the day so it’s not complete trash).
After you try some of these don’t feel intimidated by other champions, if you really love their lore and gameplay then even the hardest champions will become easier with time!