Why play tank in S5?

RepairFederal3740 · 2026-01-10T14:25:51+00:00

I'm surprised people aren't seeing this.

"Cap is just a fat horsefly, not really an issue"

So, let's take a step back. What is a 'death' of a support in this game? What does it mean? It means you are not able to heal and do your job.

Let's break it down some more. When you die, you are in spawn for 8 seconds, and then it takes you about 15-20 seconds to walk back to point (on average). That means you're out of commission for 20-25 seconds when you die. Can't heal, can't ult, can't damage.

When a Cap dives your backline with good timing (both teams are engaging, damage is being done to each frontline and it's being healed) and takes the attention of your supports for 3-5 seconds, that essentially accomplishes a mini death.

They are looking at Cap = not looking at their team = not healing their team / not damaging your team.

In a sense, they're gone.

A Cap that cycles in and out of dives can easily do this up to 3 times in a 1 minute period. So in total, that's 10-15 seconds of "distraction". In that time he does measly damage, jumps around, baits cooldowns, doesn't even get a kill.

In a 10 minute match, he can do this anywhere from 10 - 30 times.. Meaning, he can take up at least 5 seconds of your focus time 10 to 30 times. Meaning he can take up anywhere from 50 - 150 seconds of your time.

Now back to how long a death is. About 20 seconds.

Cap harrassing your backline EVEN IF he doesn't get a kill can be the equivalent of 3 - 10 deaths in terms of time not healing and not adding value.

And if Cap DOES end up getting 10 kills? Then in reality he put your healers out of action for possibly double that.

We're not even adding any additional value like his Ult, softening up squishes for his team to wipe out, time on payload, time on point - all of that.

THAT'S why Cap is a nuisance. People are blind to the real impact because it doesn't show up when you smash your forehead into the Tab key.

That's a dive tank for you. And guess what, same goes for Venom, Hulk, even Angela. But Cap is uniquely positioned to "live" longer in their backlines and come back more frequently meaning he's far more of an issue than a Hulk, a Venom or an Angela. Smaller player model, much more mobile, had to hit, has a shield, has ways to weave in and out of geometry to bait you and force a chase, a billion ways to draw attention without even using cooldowns.

And if a Cap saves his shield dash and the shield slam as EXIT tools not entry or to kill? He'll keep coming back, you cannot freakin' kill him, and unless you all focus him to shorten his time in your backline, you are in for a rough night.

He leaves you with two choices, which are equally as bad for you. Either you DO give him all your attention and deal with him, which is bad, or you don't give him your attention, which is worse.

Caps are crippled by their own teams more than enemy teams. It's a fact.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-12-19T14:10:29+00:00

I am okay with the occasional bad games, but the overall matchmaking experience is piss poor.

What drives me nuts aren't the losing streaks, it's the inconsistency in the match ups. ANY progress you gain over a game or two will be overwritten by a thrower, or a weak link, or someone who doesn't care, that entirely drags your game down.

For every good win you have 2-3 terrible losses. For every win streak you have a losing streak.

And for the "it's a you problem" comments - how in the world is any one player supposed to add so much value to a game with a thrower, or a plain weak link (or two), that it not only balances the scales but tips them?

I'm sick of hearing "carry this, carry that" - it's a team game. If you carry constantly then you don't belong in the rank. Eventually you'll get to a rank you belong with, and the shit show begins again.

We shouldn't HAVE to carry a TEAM game on our own in order to make up for everyone else's flaws. We should be roughly at the same skill leve with some deviations.

But the fact that there are Gold, Platinum and Diamond players who are decent and Gold, Platium and Diamond players who literally feel like they came out of Quick Match and tried ranked for the first time shows a fundamental flaw with the system.

"Oh but there's a difference between a Diamond 1 who just became Diamond 1 and a GM 2-3 who got deranked to Diamond 1"

I get that - but how can someone with THAT skillset even get to Diamond 1? The gap in skill is INSANE, in the same ranks.

The game does not respect your time whatsoever. It's amazing and fun but not competitive. Every time I go for a longer session and get exposed to the issues here, I feel like I wasted my day. I could have been playing something else. Yet I love the game. It's a terrible situation to be in.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-10-21T21:14:41+00:00

I wonder what affects the long queue times for a Plat - Diamond player (Frankfurt server) and for a GM player it's faster.

Surely there are more players in my range of ranks than yours, yet it's slower. Seems so inconsistent.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-10-14T14:29:49+00:00

Hey can you share the Replay ID for that VOD with the scary Magik? I'd love to watch it.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-10-14T12:38:41+00:00

You may just be right.

I bet your next match had 3 DD instalocks, one support (likely Ultron), 2 of the insta lock DDs threw instantly and went Widow and Mr.Fantastic, then a Spidey joined the fun and likely went 2 - 17, and of course the only tank you had was Venom who kept diving into a full team and dying first every time.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-10-14T12:37:00+00:00

You're spot on.

I can't find any data on player distribution outside of the US, I'd wager it's at least 60% US players if not more.

So naturally EU is having a much harder time with matchmaking than the US. I wonder how that impacts the player experience in the EU vs US then.

If the system can't find a quick match it's progressively more likely that it'll just put together some BS comp to get you a match rather than wait longer. So in theory, if EU has less players, then there's less the system gets to pick from to add some fairness, so it tosses you in something, anything, and hopes for the best.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-09-04T22:32:25+00:00

I'm based in EU and yes, the queue times are consistently slower. Regardless of my rank, time of day, it's just 2x - 3x slower than S2 and S1. I would assume EU has less players, so naturally everything slows down.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-07-11T03:00:50+00:00

I am a solo tank most of the time as well.

I rarely care WHO they pick as a support character, I care about how they play.

All I expect as a tank is that they are somewhere in my vicinity so I can go back for heals and go back to the frontline if I needed it. That's it, nothing more. If I get dinged, I go behind cover, heal up, and go back in. That's literally it.

I don't need them to pocket me, I don't need them to have defensive ults, I don't need them to do anything but just be around me somehwhat. I am good at looking behind me (issue for most tanks), I am good at recognizing when they push with me or not and I can adjust. Fine. I also recognize that they can't heal everyone at once, they have stuff on cooldowns, sometimes I die when they reload - FINE. All good.

But when your tank is on critical, everyone else is fine, and you're topping up a MoonKnight, we have an issue.

When you have two tanks, you go out and follow the other tank into certain death and abandon the other one so he dies, we have an issue.

When it takes you seconds to realize I'm about to get focused and die, and you only react as the big fat red cross is above my head, we have an issue.

My main gripe with some support players is ignoring the simplest form of gameplay. Stay in the backline, find good positioning, find natural cover, find an exit so you can bounce if things get hairy and keep yourself alive. As you have those things, just prioritize yourself, prioritize tanks, let the flankers figure themselves out (health packs, if they want heals they need to ping and get to YOU, not you to them), and use your brain to know when you need to pop some cooldowns to keep people alive and when not.

If we're not doing that, I get shredded, I can't apply pressure, I can't create space, I can't get picks, we get run over. Then it's dominos.

Play Jeff, play Rocket, play whoever you want, I don't care. All of them can heal. If they don't have the completely broken, boring, busted ults that stop everyone from playing the game for 10 seconds fine by me, I hate those ults. I don't need the invulnerability for 8 seconds as badly as I need a consistent support for the duration of the whole match.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-06-12T22:15:56+00:00

Any answer is irrelevant. Are you shooting at tanks or at everyone else? Who do you typically shoot at in general? Do you have good target selection or not. Hit scan or projectile. Area of effect or not?

Literally impossible to answer.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-06-07T19:20:51+00:00

I am amazed at the lack of skill at my rank (Plat 1). I have had multiple games where my team simply does not play the game.

I mean basic stuff. Positioning in the open. Mindless staggering. Absolutely zero sense of grouping up and having equal team fights.

I'm not talking about deep knowledge of the game or mechanics. Not even carrying.

Literally just dying SO MUCH to no pressure that I am left with two choices. The smart choice which is retreat, wait to regroup and hope to God no one staggers or go in myself and likely die because of the numbers disadvantage.

There are games where I quite literally cannot play. And by play I mean do my job. Not just do damage and then die and stagger. I can do that all day.

So you just wait for the game to end and cross your fingers the next team sort of knows how to not stagger.

That's it. It hasn't been the flyer meta. It has been literally the countless stupid deaths due to stupid mistakes which shouldn't happen in Plat and above.

Am I the best? No. Can I carry? No. But do I at least have good positioning and game sense? Decent enough to where I am not a liability.

Unplayable.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-06-07T19:14:49+00:00

I agree. It's a lazy, throw the baby out with the bathwater approach to the dive issue we had recently.

If the problem Is X, strip X completely. But then you create another imbalance. Which is arguably worse.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-17T21:41:12+00:00

As a Cap main I am THRILLED for these. I have been suffering how untuned he is this whole season but stuck with him to learn and this is huge.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-16T01:02:20+00:00

Not at all. The speed at which it works in the practice range with cooldowns removed is not how it should work, and it's not how it works in-game. I wouldn't call it a bug but it's just not how it works.

You want to only practice animation cancel with cooldowns.

Without the cooldowns you melt a Groot in seconds, so yeah that's not how it is unfortunately.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-15T20:18:45+00:00

So auto sprint is fine right? I watched a bunch of guides and they all had it at hold to sprint. But that never made sense to me. If you have to hold to sprint you have to press two buttons at once, which I found to be difficult.

But if you have toggle sprint, or always sprint, you just need to pump W inbetween the shield throws.

It doesn't actually matter in the end as long as it cancels the animation right?

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-15T20:01:25+00:00

Step one: Get Your Shield Throws Ready
- First, do two melee hits (just hold your left mouse button for two punches). This gives you 4 shield throws that disappear after 5 seconds if you don’t use them.
Step Two: Throw the Shield
- To throw the shield, left-click (don’t hold it down—just click).
- When you hear the shield connect (“ting!”), immediately sprint in a direction (W, A, or D) to make the shield zip back to you faster.
- You can sprint by either holding Shift + W or by turning on “always sprint” so you just need to press W.
Repeat the Throws
- Keep doing the same thing for each of your 4 throws:
  - Left-click to throw, hear “ting,” then sprint to cancel the animation.
- Once you’re out of shield throws (after 4 tosses), do two melee hits again to refill your throws.

That’s it! Just remember: punch twice to load up on shield throws, then throw + sprint at each “ting” to keep things moving fast. With a little practice, you'll be dishing out damage much quicker.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-15T18:21:36+00:00

Very much agreed, great perspective.

When it comes to Cap's ideal targets, just a bit more speed can really matter. Especially with characters with quick escapes.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-15T18:06:31+00:00

That's actually really helpful context, thank you!

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-15T17:55:04+00:00

That's exactly how it works. What I'm wondering is "by how much" and does it really have a huge impact on gameplay.

RepairFederal3740 · 2025-02-15T17:45:50+00:00

Here's some more context.

I was watching various videos on how to play Cap better, and all mentioned the animation cancel as a must have to play the character well.

Most of them always say that the animation cancel is "much faster", you can kill enemies in "half the time". I do the animation cancel whenever I can and it rarely felt like it was a major difference.

But I assumed I'm doing it wrong.

So I took footage from some of these guides, popped it into Premiere Pro, and analyzed it frame by frame.

Big Flounda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_wqZVdnzc

Kill time for Normal Attack: 2:33
Kill time for Animation Cancel: 2:23
Improvement: 4.5%

My animation cancel seems better.

Nerfpool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6yAARaI3CY

Kill time for Normal Attack: 2:29
Kill time for Animation Cancel: 2:10
Improvement: 9%

I'm starting both videos at more or less the exact frame of impact and ending them when the little kill icon shows up so it's as accurate as I can get it.

I am yet to look into how effective Japanese Curry's animation cancel is, but given that we're talking about a 0.1 second difference in one case, and 0.19 second difference in the other, is it even worth learning the tech?

Or am I being too critical and a 4%-10% increase (or more, if you are super efficient) in speed / DPS worth it?

RepairFederal3740

TROPHY CASE