Volibear
With extremely strong base stats and being part of the Brawler class, Volibear is considered a very versatile tank in Teamfight Tactics. Moreover, this champion’s wide-area knock-up ability provides excellent crowd control and fits into many team compositions. However, experts advise against placing Volibear in a high position, especially in the front row. The reason is that this champion may cast his ability too early and not fully utilize the power of his skill.
Remember that Volibear’s ability also has the additional effect of destroying all types of shields. If Volibear uses his skill too quickly (when placed in the front row) at a time when the opponent hasn’t used their shielding abilities, you will waste this effect. If you are using magic damage dealers like Vel’Koz or Karma, having Volibear fail to break the shields will cause those units to lose a lot of damage potential. Therefore, experts often place Volibear in the third row so that he can cast his ability at the most opportune moment.
Rell
In team compositions like Knights or Armored units, Rell is naturally the main tank and should be positioned in the front row. However, in the Divine team composition, this is no longer the case as Rell is often placed in the back row by experts instead of the highest position at the front. According to Challenger player HsRock, placing Rell in the back row will draw enemy champions’ attention towards other units like Leona or Aatrox. When they are defeated, Rell will become stronger thanks to the Divine effect.
This is crucial when facing team compositions with multiple damage sources like Requiem or Yasuo – the Soul Reaper. Essentially, 1-cost units like Leona or Aatrox in the late game often don’t provide much value in terms of tankiness or damage. If you let them fall after Rell, Leona or Aatrox, even with additional stats, will still be very easily defeated. Instead, you should place Rell further back to gain more survivability and cast her ability more times.
Taric
With his healing skill and widespread armor/magic resistance buff, Taric is considered one of the champions with an excellent ability to turn the tide in battles. However, Taric’s weakness is his very high maximum energy (200 points). Therefore, Taric is very easy to defeat if placed too isolated at the front row before he can cast his ability. The advice from Challenger players is to place this champion close to the backline carries instead of in the front row.
This positioning will help Taric avoid taking too much damage at the start of the battle, and significantly increase his ability to cast. Moreover, placing Taric close to the backline carries will attract the attention of the enemy Assassin pieces. At that point, Taric will be positioned between the two lines of the team, so when he uses his ability, he will buff health, armor/magic resistance for the entire team. This will make the player’s team extremely resilient and hard to take down.