Preseason Preview: Patch 11.23 Tank Item Changes

Patch 11.23 - Tank item changes

Preseason not only introduced a slew of new items, but it also updated some pre-existing tank items so let’s break down the biggest changes.

Bami’s Cinder and Sunfire Aegis

Bami’s Cinder has received a small quality of life update that affects all items with the Immolate passive, as it will now execute minions that would be killed by one more tick of Immolate. This should make CSing much easier as you’ll be less likely to miss a last hit due to the Immolate tick disrupting your calculations. Sunfire Aegis has also been buffed:

• Armour - 35 (up from 30)
• Magic Resist - 35 (up from 30)
• Mythic Passive - now grants other legendary items 5% slow resist, 5% tenacity, and 50 health

The increase to armour and magic resist will increase your durability, while the new mythic passive will provide a great source of tenacity, which is a rarer stat to acquire. This will allow more diverse builds without sacrificing such a valuable stat, as you may not have to build Mercury Treads or select the Unflinching/Legend Tenacity runes and build Sunfire Aegis instead.

Turbo Chemtank

After dominating for the first half of the season, Turbo Chemtank has fallen off pretty hard after a series of nerfs. Consequently, it has been buffed with a new passive and an updated mythic passive:

• Refuel (Passive) - Moving and dealing damage fills up the Chemtank. At 100 stacks, your next basic attack deals 40-120 magic damage (+1% max health and +3% movement speed) to all nearby enemies (increased by 25% against minions and 175% against jungle monsters)
• Mythic Passive - now grants other legendary items 5 Ability Haste and 50 health

Udyr and Hecarim will benefit greatly from this new passive, as it’s charged by movement and will amplify their clear speed even more. It will be interesting to examine whether these changes bring back the farming focused/Chemtank meta from the beginning of last season.

Abyssal Mask and Knight’s Vow

Abyssal Mask has also received a mini rework:

• Build Path - Kindlegem + Spectre’s Cowl + 650g
• Health - 450 (up from 400)
• Ability Haste - 10 (new)
• Magic Resist - 30 (down from 60)
• Unmake (Passive) - Curse nearby enemy champions, reducing their magic resist by 5 + 1% bonus health (max 20). For each cursed enemy, gain 7 magic resist.

Abyssal Mask has sacrificed some of its MR for more damage potential in skirmishes, and will be very potent on AP bruisers such as Cho’Gath. The item works best when you are in the fray, as you will not only reduce the enemy’s MR to increase your damage but gain MR for yourself. The final notable Tank item change comes to Knight’s Vow:

• Base Health Regen - 150% (down from 300%)
• Sacrifice (Passive) - While your Worthy ally is nearby, redirect 10% of damage they take to you and heal for 8% of the damage they deal to champions. If they have less than 30% health, redirect 20% of damage they take to you instead

Knight’s Vow has always been a good choice for any tanky support with a fed yet squishy carry, and the latest changes have amplified its ability to protect them. It previously granted movement speed when the target’s health dropped low, but the 20% damage mitigation will be much more impactful in keeping a carry alive when they are vulnerable. However, this has come at the cost of 5% damage redirection while they are healthy and above 30% health.