Between Malphite, K’Sante, Maokai, and others, League of Legends’ designated tanks are often scrutinized for being more than just unkillable solo laners. The sheer amount of damage these champs are capable of has frustrated players for a long time—and Riot Games is finally prepared to begin addressing this concern.
Earlier today, Riot provided fans with an abundance of information surrounding the upcoming 2024 preseason, complete with an exploration of new items, map changes, and overall system adjustments that players can look forward to. Among these announcements was a dive into new and returning tank items, many of which focus primarily on the defenses that tank champions seek to have rather than increasing their damage output.
Hollow Radiance is one of the new Legendary-tier tank items and acts as a magic resist version of Sunfire Cape, complete with an aura that passively deals magic damage to enemies in one’s immediate vicinity. Unending Despair is the antithesis of Jak’Sho the Protean, similarly rewarding players for partaking in extended fights, but this time dealing magic damage to nearby enemies while healing oneself instead of providing additional defenses.
The final new addition to the Legendary tank item lineup is Kaenic Rookern, which, similar to Hollow Radiance, is another much-needed magic resist-oriented item. On top of the base magic resist that’s inherently a part of the item, Kaenic Rookern will give players a massive magic shield when out of combat that does not appear to dissipate through means other than taking damage.
Force of Nature stays on this magic resist trend, with Riot hoping to make it more appealing to players by lowering the threshold to activate its movement speed-granting passive. Other staple tank items, including Jak’Sho the Protean and Dead Man’s Plate, are similarly having their passives reworked slightly to trigger more efficiently and effectively.
But with these new and altered items also comes the removal of many others for balancing purposes. Alongside the start of the preseason, League players will be saying goodbye to Turbo Chemtank, Radiant Virtue, Evenshroud, Gargoyle’s Stoneplate, Aegis of the Legion, and Lifewell Pendant.
Though many of the problems with tank champions stem from the champions and their kits themselves, these new items, updates to existing ones, and the removal of controversial options will likely impact the meta in a way that may finally remove long-standing meta tanks—like K’Sante—from being a must-pick champ. Players can indulge in all of these changes to tank items, as well as those to items of other classes, in testing on the PBE now.
