Boots on AD Carries

Randomonium··4 votes·924 views

Has anyone else noticed there is a huge disparity between Plat+ players (using champion.gg) and pros (using probuilds.net) on what boots they build on ADCs? Usually the items built for most champions between the two sites are very similar but it seems like boots on ADCs is one of the exceptions. On champion.gg Berzerker Greaves is build on nearly every ADC (with a couple exceptions like Ezreal and Corki.) On probuilds.net there are a lot more ADCs building Swiftness Boots and Ionian Boots of Lucidity and it seems like Berzerker Greaves is falling a bit out of favor on many ADCs.

So I guess my question is why is there such a huge disparity in this one particular item choice? Also, its it better for low elo players to just build Berzerker Greaves no matter what like the Plat+ players or should we follow what the pros are doing and try different boots? I know the obvious choice is follow the pros because they are a higher rank but a lot of times the pros are making item choices that, while correct for their skill level, might not be appropriate for all elos.

15 Comments

Sire Hippington4 votes

most people go after what the pros built, but we didn't have a lot esports since preseason, so people sticked to the good ol berserkers. Proplay noticed that swiftness/lucidity are better now and use them, and soloQ probably needs atleast one more month till they follow that trend.

In low elos, zerkers are probably better, as they increase the raw rightclicking power. Lucidity mean you should make use of your kit so the cdr matters and also off summoners, and they usually are more for specific champs like ez or lucian. Swiftness is more for high elo, especially in coordinated teams, as they offer more strategic movement, so requires some descissionmakeing to be used effective, and also better kitting, which is mechanically more demanding. You also see alot item 3094, and the speed from swiftness helps alot for the hit and run poke.

Aditionally, item 3092 is used alot in proplay, and boots of swiftness reduce the danger of getting chought with those ghosts alot.

Spoofghoul2 votes

tons of slows tenacity is weak

so naturally you will see more swifties And with every adc item giving bonus movespeed a higher base movespeed amplifies this even more so it's easier to kite,

Bonipherus2 votes

Zerkers have been the worst boot choice since I started playing. Oh a little bit of attack speed... Yeah I'll take another pair and get a passive that's far more useful.

Abyssphere1 votes

{quoted}

Zerkers have been the worst boot choice since I started playing. Oh a little bit of attack speed... Yeah I'll take another pair and get a passive that's far more useful.

You could replace "attack speed" in your sentence and it could fit for every single boot. Might as well skip out on boots altogether if "a little bit of X" is so bad.

Bonipherus3 votes

Don't be an idiot. Where else are you going to reliably get tenacity or the ability to reduce basic attack damage by 10%? What about the slow reduction passive? You can get your attack speed from other items. Think before you post.

SH Azykan1 votes

yeah I would build merc treads on adc a lot when the enemy had cc I know would be heading my way (tf gold cards, lux binds, etc) the small reduction in AS compared in favor of tenacity or movespeed is just invaluable some games.

Zero Skill Tank2 votes

Not exactly ADC but still marksman, I use item 3009 on Teemo all the time now. For ranged auto-attacker movement speed is nearly as good as attack speed, at least early in game, as it simple makes you attack more often when kiting/chasing. And the amount of safety you get with these boots when they are also the cheapest is just too good to pass up.

They got overbuffed in 5.22, that's all, but because there was no pro-events in preseason building them is not wide spread yet.

Earl Eulrich2 votes

zerker´s just delay your 2/3item-spike too much currently. It´s already hard to get to these spikes before anyone starts a snowball you can´t stop anyway...also due to faster positioning boots of swiftness are offering sometimes even more dmg than zerkers + more map-pressence. Ionians also offer shorter durations on summoners now...and as a flash can really turn around fights you want that to have as much as possible in pro-play. For Champs that scale well with CDR like Lucian just again the more efficient buildpath compared to zerkers.

So yea, i´d say even if you probably won´t be apply to play accorindly around your spikes/flash cds and abuse the speed for positioning/kiting - they are still the better choices compared to zerkers right now, just because you´re more likly to hit your 2item-spike when it still counts.

Balthid1 votes

Im in diamond and there is a reason high elos do this.

Boots of swiftness with alacrity gives you the best stats/gold spent. Typically people at this high of a rank are very good at dodging skill shots and positioning and boots of switfness allow you to do that extremely well with all the movespeed you get from crit related items. This is more valuable then a little bit of attack speed. If you are gold or below i would just stick with Zerk greaves as it is the standard and easier choice and your positioning and dodging arent good enough to make use of the swiftness boots.

Serevas2 votes

Alternatively the Lucidity boot options is for people to get the 40% CDR cap, as well as to reduce the cooldown on summoner spells. It can be pretty useful on champions like Lucian who need to cycle their abilities, and also need their summs more often.

Pro players typically build the same way they would in actual competitive matches, so you'll also see them building things like item 2303 when item 3401 is a much better item, but the gold efficiency and slot efficiency are more valuable at that level of play so try and squeeze more out of resources available. That Aegis 5 minutes sooner can be the difference between a win and a loss and at their level of play this is much more important.

EcchiOtakuTM1 votes

Um when was face of the mountain ever better than equinox? The other 2 support items are better than their eye counterparts because of the active but all equinox does is take your slot all for a 1 person shield vs equinox (Although lacking CDR) offers you a chance at an extra powerful tank item over sightstone.

Serevas2 votes

I guess in my opinion pretty much always, The same opinion happens to be shared by Valkrin, and apparently the majority of Platinum + support players since it's still what's built on the majority of tank supports excluding professional players who are simply getting the feel for building it in solo queue so they know what their champions perform like with it.

10% of a tank supports HP as a shield on the target of your choice is pretty valuable, not to mention it also provides a shorter duration, but stronger slow than Randuin's active does when the shield pops. So it works as an engage tool as well.

The extra item slot doesn't really do you much good in games that are as short as they are now anyway.

KDragonL1 votes

My friends has saved my life so many times with face of the mountain

KidSpectre1 votes

I like Lucidity boots over zerker's in general (but i'm unranked. I placed Bronze 1 season 4 and never played ranked again.) There are a few reasons, one which is because I tend to not take Flash (on purpose, no less!) So it's very important that I get the most use out of my summoner spells.

People might call me bad for playing the way I do, but I feel like it's more important to find a playstyle I enjoy rather than what is statistically superior. Games are supposed to be fun after all! :D

A Bad Mystic1 votes

before her update i built swifties with furor or alactricity on ashe to allow me to kite easier, dodge easier, and run when required from mobile champs.

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