Main tank vs Off tank

General Discussion
1

Apparently you hooligans have no idea what a main tank is compared to an offtank, so i’m here to help, as a main tank main.

Main tanks are space takers, they forcibly take space, by walking into it, reinhardt closes gaps either with a shield while alies shoot, or shatter/charge and brawling to secure his new position.

Orisa is similar to rein, except instead of charge she pulls enemies around either repositioning vulnerable enemies or moving them back as she advances.

Winston is special and can be played as either, but as main tank, he can dive the backline with another hero, offtank or flanker, and take space by effectively crushing the enemy inbetween the two sides of the team. (IF you dive their backline and don’t push them toward your team, you are offtanking, not main tanking. IE, chasing widow around.)

Hammond moves frontline enemies backwards, backline enemies forwards, deters flankers and can make use of piledrive and mines to seriously punish anyone who tries to take their space. (If you are spinning on the point for the whole game, you’re not tanking you’re griefing, making it very hard for your team to actual hit anything. don’t do this.) You can play ball as an offtank, but his main gun really isn’t effective enough for it, so you’re pretty much just a budget doomfist.

Now offtanks, offtanks are very easy. They shoot stuff that’s trying to flank/push their team, specifically they’re there to relieve pressure from the main tanks and peel for the supports.

Sigma is NOT a main tank, nothing about his kit takes space except his ult, which really has to be paired up with another ult to be effective.

I’m tired of a guy with 3 hours on sigma telling me what a main tanks job is. It is not my job to stop Tracer running at you, Tobjorn, if I do stop her, it’s because I needed 8% ult charge for my shatter.

TL;DR: A main tank is not something with a shield.
P.S I’ve never played above plat so Maybe in diamond hammond is an offtank but that just seems dumb.

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2

This is why they have said they are trying to blur the lines, so people just play “tank” .

This is probably why people are confused by Sigmas role.

3

sigma is both main and off-tank and still not really either.

how i see main-tank vs off-tank is that main-tank wants to be the spearhead and deal with the majority of the frontline stuff

and off-tanks is more peel based and comes second to the main-tank, an off-tank don’t want to push in first, they maintain the core of the composition, meaning if a tracer or a reaper tries to go in on your team your off-tank is there to neutralize them.
a main-tank doesn’t really turn around to deal with them because they have to deal with the rest of the enemy team.

if i had to describe it in a more simplistic way i’d say main-tank deal with the majority of the enemy team and the off-tank deals with the minority of the enemy team.

another way you could look at it is to say that main-tanks lead and off-tanks follows and supports.

that’s just how i see it though.

4

Sigma is a main tank, he uses a shield as well as dealing a lot of damage. His shield is weak in comparison to Rein and Orisa but he’s still a main tank, just not as good defense-wise.

Hammond isn’t a main tank… He provides no defenses for the team, he’s more of an off-tank.

Just look at their ultimates…

  • Reinhart - a decent stun helps the DPS kill them.

  • Orisa - gives the team a damage boost

  • Winsten - Knocks enemies away

  • Hammond - Plasters a bomb like ultimate in an area to prevent enemies from approaching it, or kill the enemies in the middle. (But can easily be destroyed)

  • Zarya - Sucks in all enemies in range for the decent double ultimate combo team kill.

  • Roadhog, blasts people away (Like Winsten)

  • Sigma, lifts all enemies to the sky, removing them from the point and possibly nuking them all down depending on their health. If a Pharah uses his ult, Sigma can simply use his shield to block it thus saving the whole team in the area.

5

i think hammond is a main-tank, he’s just not the usual sorts because he’s not micro-managing the frontline.

but he is a tank that goes in first and deepest, he is a tank that creates space for his team to capitalize on it.
which is what a main-tank does.

what some people don’t get about hammond is that by creating chaos he’s effectively protecting his team by giving problems to the enemy team to handle.
and some like to forget body blocking is a way to block damage too.

6

Exactly. If they are shooting you as Ball… they are not shooting your team, who should be taking advantage of the situation.

7

some like to joke that when they run off and die they say “space created” but really that’s the truth how silly that may be.

sometimes just having a large health pool does have its benefit just soaking stuff.

8

How’s a hammond gonna stop enemies shooting you? He doesn’t, he’s more of a distraction.

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9

You’ve answered your own question there.

Distraction.

They shoot him. While he soaked up a bit of damage(600 to 1100hp remember, so he can take some). Your dps are free to fire freely and punish the enemies that turn around, or go put of position because of what Ball is doing.

Just think through the engagement with a bit of logic. I’ll be Ball, ill go behind… the enemy might turn around. My team can shoot them in the back… if they don’t I can roll through and knock people out of position

10

Not for long… He can’t shield any DPS or healer. Roadhog is a distraction, Zarya is a distraction, OFF-TANKS are a distraction.

11

You get a few seconds.

As Flats said in his recent coaching vid. Overwatch is a lot like American Football… it is a game of inches and seconds. And quick, confident decision making.

You have a very linear way of thinking about the game.

As said by the OP, the main tank makes space. If Ball rolls through and use his shields to absorb a cool down or 2, makes them change there position, or attention. He is making space.

With Ball you get in, you get out. Clear comms on your roll through. And repeat.

Literally no one below masters just sits behind a shield. I’m silver gold people are either too dim to know to do that, or too arrogant and think they can ultra flank for value. Or the Rein sits on the low ground not protecting anyone. Might as well be Ball getting some value.

12

Ok carry on thinking he’s a main tank then, no problem. x

13

I never said he was, just that he fits the stated criteria. I don’t really care either way.

They just call them all “tank heroes” so does it actually matter?

Ultimately he does a similar job to the other dive based main tank. But instead of putting a static bubble down, he shields himself.

14

He doesn’t. His disruption can barely work sometimes. If I’m hitscan and he hits me into the air, I just shoot people from mid air.

15

thats because Wrecking ball is a main tank so keep thinking he isnt then you just keep proving everyone that you are fool. Its already been proved that he does perform the job of a main tank meaning he can force people of the payload/point witch his abillities both through impact in his ball form and his ultimate preventing you with an area of mines that will kill you if you go in. A off tank on the other hand can not force people of point/payload by other methods than high damage and hp/armor while theyre abillities do not have a direct way of forcing you away from the point/payload such as Dva and Roadhog

16

Is Hammond a main tank? - #11 by Positive-11139 - General Discussion - Overwatch Forums have a read before you call people fools. x

17

Do you are taking another persons forum opinion as fact?

You are aware, just because someone agrees with you, doesn’t mean you are right?

Rather than researching the details, you just found someone who agreed with you… Agreement isn’t fact. Just look how many people agree God exists, without proof.

If you think he’s an off-tank, fair play.

If you think he’s a main tank, fair play.

He is, without doubt, a tank though. So that is all that matters.

18

look, hammond is definitly not an off-tank by any stretch of the imagination, so the only conclusion becomes that he’s a main-tank.

19

^

Many others also think that he’s an off-tank, which is what i’m stating but ofcourse people are “fools” for thinking so.

20

ok, describe the off-tank qualities of hammond.
as far as i know an off-tank have peeling capabilities.

for example zarya bubbles, hog hook, d.va defense matrix or sigmas kinetic grasp and accretion.
what does hammond bring in terms of doing this, aiding his team in small moment to moment encounters that is of equal worth to these abilities i just listed?

as far as i know he has none that he can pull out at a whim when needed.
pile drive takes setup, his self shield is predicated upon the amount of enemies around him and simply gaining enough speed to boop someone takes more than a moments notice to accomplish.

in my eyes, even orisa has more off-tank properties than hammond does because she atleast has halt that can quickly combo with other teammates or help peel for them.

feel free to explain how and why you think hammond is an off-tank.

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