Taank was only that far ahead of people for a very short time, and I think it had something to do with him having a good build, haste pots / demands for haste and one of the first vorpals.
I had as many kills as Taank on a TS run with a non vorpal'ed Ranger one time and I KNOW that Gorm (for those who remember him) could outkill anyone, including Taank, but I'm pretty sure Gorm was a Dev or found a way to hack the game, because he seemed to move at about twice the speed of anyone else and could complete Wiz King in about 10 minutes or less.
Taank was one of the better tanks out there, but what made him enjoyable to team with was his accent and personality.
One of the more colorful characters from Xoriat.