Open-World Games to Play a Tank Character

Key Takeaways

• Tanks in RPGs can reshape a team into a formidable opponent, providing a fun and melee-oriented playstyle.
• Choosing abilities like Berserker Rage in Skyrim or Power Armor in Fallout 4 can enhance survivability for tank playstyles.
• In games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2, building a party with synergy and selecting the right tank character is crucial for success.

Playing a tank is a great way to feel truly powerful in a game. While it may be a lot of fun to play a very darty rogue, or a mage that casts epic spells, these tend to be rather glassy options for players that see themselves taking hit after hit in RPGs.

Tanks usually involve playing a very melee oriented playstyle, but sometimes you can find a ranged tank now and again. So long as the class is able to take a significant beating and keep on going, players can find a fun playstyle of taking a game’s challenges head on.

Classic High Fantasy Melee Tank

Skyrim is an RPG that has seen more rereleases than most other games can ever hope to see. It may very well be one of the most popular games in all of gaming history. It provides players with many different ways to play, including the option to charge in like a rampaging juggernaut.

Players looking to play a tank may want to give some extra attention to the Orsimer race, which not only has skills bonuses for Heavy Armor, Blocking, and Smithing, but it also has Berserker Rage to both deal double damage while taking half damage for an entire minute. This allows for a relentless assault playstyle across the land of Skyrim.

7 Fallout 4

Power Armor

Players that choose to brave the wastelands of Fallout 4 will soon realize just how dangerous and deadly things can be. Luckily, players can experience a massive raise to their survivability by getting a suit of Power Armor, and jacking up their Endurance stats. Players can become so tanky they can take a small scale nuclear explosion from a Fat Man and shrug it off like it’s nothing.

The journey from squishy to unstoppable is a truly satisfying one, and since the game is open world, players can go through their checklist while off the beaten path of the main story. Then play through it with little to no effort at melee, ranged, or a mix of both. The X-01 is a particularly popular one, but will require players to play through the game’s DLC content to get it.

6 Dragon’s Dogma 2

The Party Needs a Tank

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an Action RPG that utilizes a party system similar to Japanese-style RPGs. Having a structured party is incredibly important and players can give the role of the tank to a trusty pawn of theirs, or take it on themselves. Players that ignore having a tank in the group to attract all the attention are going to have an easy time seeing the game over screen.

Players that choose to take this on themselves will want to make sure one of their Pawns is incharge of magical damage, as this is another vital role to be aware of in the game.

5 Elden Ring

Numerous Tanky Playstyles

Elden Ring gives players many different playstyles based on the stats they upgrade. Dexterity makes players swing melee weapons faster, but also cast spells faster. Strength lets players wield mighty weapons that hit ridiculously hard at close range. Incantations tend to be a lot slower than spells, and open the floodgates to builds that rely on buffs.

Regardless of the playerstyle a player wants, they can put points into Vigor to survive multiple hits before needing to top up their health with a flask, allowing them to explore a large number of different tanky playstyles. Players can also invest into Endurance and put on the Bull Goat Armor to have one of the highest defenses possible.

4 Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Teamwork Makes the Tank Work

Players will want to build a party rich in synergy for their chosen playstyles, with some of the best tank options being to use Poppi through the Nopon inventor Tora, or Inquisitor Morag Ladair. Players that opt for Tora can have some of the most survivable team compositions in the game, and have fights that feel a lot more tactful.

However, if players want to be on the frontlines and in the thick of action while taking plenty of hits, then they will want to go with Moarg. This is the more traditional tanky character feel for those who prefer it, but it is recommended to see what other characters can offer against certain bosses.

3 Borderlands 3

Feel Like A God

Borderlands mixes being a looter shooter with a traditional RPG, and the results are some utterly broken builds. Borderlands 3 takes this to the highest levels in the franchise thanks to appointments. These are small modifiers that players can find and reroll that change how certain things work.

Using these modifiers, players can create builds that proc shield effects that can make them immune to damage, then invest points to reduce cooldowns for an endless uptime of being completely unkillable. Players can invest points to deal more damage to change this, so that they have small windows for taking damage in order to have a riskier playstyle — allowing players to find their sweet spot.

2 Lords of the Fallen (2014)

The Most Tanky Soulslike Playstyle

While there is a more recent game that bears the same name, the original Lords of the Fallen lets players become the most tanky playstyle out of any other Soulsike game. Players will go the path of Solace, which will reduce how much damage they receive to their health, reflect damage back at attackers, and regenerate health.

This allows players to go into a boss fight and take waves of hits that they just recover from, all while dealing the bulk of their damage in the form of reflected attacks. Should players not try deal any damage of their own, they could run out of mana before the boss dies, so they still need to get their hands dirty against mighty foes, while smaller foes can take themselves out with 1 reflect.

1 Baldur’s Gate 3

Build a Team Around Your Frontliner

Baldur’s Gate 3 draws from the well of the famously well-known Dungeons and Dragons franchise. Players will have many different frontliner classes to choose from, and then build around it with strong party members. Barbarians are a great choice of striker that are not as heavily armored as others. Fighters and Paladins make for some of the best choices, as they are all about attracting aggro while having the highest AC in the game.

Circle of the Moon Druids can wild shape into bears and put all the attention on this form while its allies rain damage from a safe range. Being a turn-based game means this will be a very tactful affair, but it is one of the best ones out there.