A Guide to Dual-Tank Ruckus: Not Just Holding Left Click

Hello everyone and welcome to the first post on this blog! I decided to dig up an old guide on Ruckus I posted on the Paladins forums that became pretty popular which you can find posted here. I edited it to include legendaries and other changes to the game since then but it does still work very well and is one of two main Ruckus builds I commonly use. (The other is a repulsor field build that didn't work quite as well before but now that Ruckus can activate his repulsor field when not on the objective, it works great.) So thanks to everyone who's reading this and I hope you enjoy the guide!

This guide is designed for Ruckus on a TWO TANK TEAM. It will not work as well if Ruckus is solo tanking.

I hear a lot of people talking about how Ruckus is a "terrible tank", and it's probably true. Ruckus is pretty bad at solo tanking. However, in a dual tank scenario, Ruckus excels at being the backup tank, and can stay off point or to the side and deal damage while only coming onto the point when needed to. He can also be a excellent installment to a team that revolves around a Flanknando, with Ruckus being the initial front line until Fernando is available to come back onto the objective.

Ruckus's strong points are his: DPS, damage reduction
Ruckus's weaknesses are his: Lack of mobility, subpar shielding

Items: To start off, Ruckus has one of the highest DPS in the game, only after Skye. Life Rip takes advantage of that, turning damage back into some much needed healing, as Ruckus is an easy target due to his lack of mobility while firing. You'll want to start the game off with either Life Rip or a red item, which should alternate between Wrecker, Cauterize, and Bulldozer. I recommend Wrecker when against a Fernando, Torvald, or a dual tank team, but not against any solo tank that is not Fernando or Torvald. Cauterize should always be a high priority pick for any team with a healer. Some exceptions are made to this, however, when any of the following scenarios occur. When they opposing team has two or more champions that employ the use of deployables, you may want to get Bulldozer. However, I don't recommend it. Instead, try and talk with your team and see if any of them are willing to get Bulldozer. (Of course, when facing a Barik, Inara, and Ying, which is a surprisingly good combo as of OB50, definitely grab bulldozer) As for the other red items, Aggression is possibly the worst item in the game (RIP Aggression) and Deft Hands should be a low priority pick that you should only get if the other team has no front lines or healers (tbh just upgrade other items, don't get deft hands). For the green items, Veteran is an OK pick, but due to Life Rip being so much more useful, it is not recommended. Rejuvenate is useful for when Ruckus is a solo tank, but not in this build. Kill to Heal is simply not that useful for Ruckus unless you can guarantee getting a lot of eliminations but by that point a low level Kill to Heal is probably not useful. Moving on to yellow items, I almost always get Morale Boost, but usually later on in the match. This may seem counter-intuitive, but getting a red item, blue item, and Life Rip is much more useful than getting a yellow item on Ruckus. As for the other yellow items, Chronos is OK, but won't have a profound effect on Ruckus (well actually, there is a very annoying, semi-flank Aerial Assault build that I might make a guide on later), Nimble is a bad pick for Ruckus, and Master Riding is useful but I really only like it on bigger maps. For blue items, Ruckus should get any of them except for Illuminate, as it is used mostly for detecting Skye, and Skye will usually not target Ruckus. In addition, Repulsor Field already detects stealth. Get Blast Shields or Haven based on damage type. I also recommend Resilience if the opposing team has a spam stunning Mal'damba or a Bomb King with frequent grumpy bombs.

Legendary: The two legendaries you should use are either Recycler or Flux Generator, and to be perfectly honestly, neither of them are that great for this build. Legendaries weren't very kind to Ruckus as a secondary tank as Flux Generator is probably the best option, but falls a bit flat since Ruckus won't be on point too much in this build. It will be useful during pushes however, where your main tank should be out in front zoning and providing pressure and you should be near the payload. Recycler is okay since it provides more ammo, but overall it doesn't have as profound of an impact as other legendaries in the game. Aerial Assault doesn't really work well with this build but it's decent on another very annoying build that I'll make a guide on in the future.

Loadout: Because Ruckus may not be on the point often in a dual tank scenario, this build does not include any cards that relate to Repulsor Field, as it can only be activated near an objective. Heat Diffuser, Warden, and Nanotechnology are all pretty important cards in a shield based Ruckus, and so stacks of 3 for all 3 of them are necessary. No Chill (Stack of 2) is also a pretty good card that I don't see many people employing, as it increases Ruckus's movement speed during firing, which is one of Ruckus's major weaknesses. Fuel Reserves is also a counter to this weakness, as it causes Ruckus to be able to use Advance faster, which is crucial in getting out of bad situations fast.

Strategy: As the game begins, Ruckus should stay behind or on a side to the point at a set location, and deal damage to those that come onto the point. After the enemy tank's shield goes down, Ruckus can change locations either to the side of the point, or onto the point itself. If you are on the side, target the healer, but don't follow anyone too far away from the point. Always stay behind the main tank and focus fire on a single target. When the enemy team is mostly down and needs to regroup, you can either repeat from the start or hop onto the point to front line as well. While pushing the payload, make sure your main tank is in front of the payload, and stand on or near the payload while firing. If your team's tank dies while you are capturing, following these scenarios:

If your team’s tank is the only one dead, attempt to hold the point. If another member of your team is dead who is NOT the healer, and another member of the enemy team is dead, attempt to hold point. If your healer is dead, but both damage or a damage and a flank on the enemy team is dead, attempt to hold point. Any other scenario and you should retreat and wait to regroup.

That's it for this guide! I'm open to any suggestions or criticisms, and you can recommend any guides I should make in the future! If anyone wants to repost this guide or refer to it on their own content, just provide a link over to my blog! Thanks for reading and I hope this guide helped!