Boots of Swiftness

Aamano·Oct 22, 2014·44 votes·9,286 views

Compared to the speed bonus of Boots of Mobility , and the tenacity of Mercury's Treads , Boots of Swiftness are almost never chosen since the others can outperform it in the long run

I had the thought that Riot could add the effect of ignoring unit collision, to make Swift boots stand out a little more and be worth picking over the other two, if your playstyle suits it

*Edit: --glad this is getting more attention, and I'm liking all of the feedback, please keep the opinions coming :3

Edit #2: --In the top 10 hot forum posts (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ:･ﾟ✧ ---since this would make unit collision more widely available, the most frequent argument I see is that it would be too easy to walk through other champions protecting their allies. Phantom Dancer and Ghost also allow movement through champions as well as minions. If you would be more satisfied, what about having all item based Unit Collision effects only interact with Minions and Monsters. Only Champions specific abilities, such as the passives of Fizz and Hecarim , would retain the effect of moving through Champion units [But this feels like a different discussion topic, so I won't go into it anymore here]

I think the idea of a ramping movespeed bonus the longer you continuously move is pretty good, and i've thought of that myself, but I feel like for very specific champions (namely Yasuo ), it might be a little too strong in that niche and would probably become a must buy for him, and I just feel like it might create an issue

69 Comments

7ha7guy777Oct 22, 201421 votes

swiftness has an advantage over mobility: not losing movement speed while in combat. if you're chasing or being chased and you get hit by anything while wearing mobility boots, you might as well have normal boots on. that being said, mobility does get you back to lane faster and is probably better on roaming champions. it's usually personal preference.

AtheosisXOct 23, 20146 votes

swiftness has an advantage over mobility: not losing movement speed while in combat. if you're chasing or being chased and you get hit by anything while wearing mobility boots, you might as well have normal boots on. that being said, mobility does get you back to lane faster and is probably better on roaming champions. it's usually personal preference.

In my experience the speed increase they give over other boots that have defenses or utility just isn't significant.

doubleguacOct 23, 20143 votes

swiftness has an advantage over mobility: not losing movement speed while in combat. if you're chasing or being chased and you get hit by anything while wearing mobility boots, you might as well have normal boots on. that being said, mobility does get you back to lane faster and is probably better on roaming champions. it's usually personal preference.

It's not that they don't have any advantages. It's that their advantages aren't usually enough to justify buying them over the other options.

The champions who generally get the most use out of boots of swiftness are melee bruisers or tanks who are vulnerable to kiting. But generally speaking, those same champions are going to get even more value out of Mobi boots (for roaming and initiating) or merc treads/ninja tabi.

I don't think boots of swiftness are bad. I just think most the other boot upgrades are better, which means boots of swiftness rarely see play.

Sir BulldogOct 23, 20141 votes

swiftness has an advantage over mobility: not losing movement speed while in combat. if you're chasing or being chased and you get hit by anything while wearing mobility boots, you might as well have normal boots on. that being said, mobility does get you back to lane faster and is probably better on roaming champions. it's usually personal preference.

It's not that they don't have any advantages. It's that their advantages aren't usually enough to justify buying them over the other options.

The champions who generally get the most use out of boots of swiftness are melee bruisers or tanks who are vulnerable to kiting. But generally speaking, those same champions are going to get even more value out of Mobi boots (for roaming and initiating) or merc treads/ninja tabi.

I don't think boots of swiftness are bad. I just think most the other boot upgrades are better, which means boots of swiftness rarely see play.

Exactly correct. Doubleguac. I always preferred boots of mobility. Honestly boots of swiftness need something (anything) to justfy buying them. I very rarely see them.

RiotPsyKzzOct 24, 20143 votes

Personally its a niche market for champions who value movement speed while being alive long enough to make use of that passive.

The only champion i think would even come close to that would be Udyr.

KynamiOct 24, 20141 votes

Oh it can be put to hilarious use by a couple supports now and then...

Sona with the updated Talisman, Swifties + Alacrity, and her E with a few hundred AP behind it is pretty hard to catch. Or for that matter, is an absolute pain to try running from! And basically you are relying upon your move speed for jukes and to maintain proper positioning for safety until you can get your defensive items built and upgraded due to how squishy Sona normally is.

Hyrum GraffOct 26, 20141 votes

I like to do this with janna (and then also run Captain for max team speed).

GixiaOct 24, 20145 votes

I generally feel it works pretty decently on Vi, since the slow reduction applies to the slow she puts on herself while using Q, something I've found helpful on quite a large number of occasions.

I also like it on Hecarim because horsey man's gotta go faaaaaast!

PtarlorrOct 24, 20141 votes

Not Singed? He likes running and not dying.

kayakninjaOct 24, 20141 votes

I'd add Garen and Singed. They really enjoy their speed and can get around the lack of Tenacity with various CC-reduction abilities. Also Hecarim, as mentioned below. He loves his speed.

asdbnmrtyOct 23, 201416 votes

While I agree that Boots of Swiftness is lackluster currently, I'm not sure if giving it collision ignore is the way to go. This passive would also be in competition with Phantom Dancer, and I noticed that Riot doesn't share passives between items.

The primary attribute of Boots of Swiftness is raw Movespeed. This attribute is shared by Boots of Mobility, with the difference of Movespeed being consistent on one and the other being situational. Whatever passive we propose should reinforce this attribute.

Problem with Swiftness is that it is too generalistic and thus does not fulfill a specific purpose. Mobility is used to roam and get into position fast. Swiftness (assumed from passive) seems to be purposed to mitigate slows, but is overshadowed by Merc Tread's CC reduction in addition to Magic Resist.

So lets give Swiftness a specific purpose, that also involves going fast.

While I like the direction the original move speed slow mitigation was going, why not add a little more meat to that passive to move it more worthwhile. Maybe in addition to reducing effect of slows, have the passive slightly increase the effect of movement speed buffs (by slight I'm talking like 10-15%, note that this would be multiplicative to the amount increased and affected by soft/hard movement cap)?

I think you get the idea.

The RulemasterOct 23, 20146 votes

I feel that everybody is forgetting about the passive of Boots of Swiftness- They reduce the effectiveness of slows by 25%. Combined with the mastery that reduces slow effectiveness by another 10%, this can be great in the right circumstances.

Boots of Swiftness are a very situational pick, but they are amazing in that niche! Against team comps that only have one or two slows, you're better off getting merc treads. However, when you're against champs or teams that have stacking slows or a reapplying slow, boots of swiftness are the way to go!

I play a lot of tanky CC champs like Cho Gath, Amumu, and Nautilus, and that means I'm always trying to catch their carries. Against an Ashe or Anivia (reapplying slows), Boots of Swiftness are invaluable (combine with more MS items for even better results).

Sometimes I'm against comps that don't have many stuns or roots, but they have several slows. Again, these are rare circumstances, but they do happen from time to time.

Jungle Lux GodOct 23, 20146 votes

I personally like Boots of Swiftness a lot. They are basically Mobility Boots that aren't useless in combat. Compared to other boots, it gives you a movement speed advantage over your opponent, which can really help you when chasing, fleeing, or simply dodging skillshots. They are really good on bruisers and tanks to help stick to targets and help move around the map faster, and also function as one of the few options for boots on AD assassins because their boot itemization is really limited.

The removal of unit collision is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if it's appropriate. A lot of champions that would use this really well already have some sort of unit collision removal (Hecarim and Udyr immediately come to mind), and there are certainly quite a few champions that don't need it anyway, most notably champions with multiple gapclosers, but it is certainly an interesting idea.

DrukyulOct 23, 20141 votes

A lot of champions that would use this really well already have some sort of unit collision removal (Hecarim and Udyr immediately come to mind)

Well you could always change those champs in response to the item change.

Jungle Lux GodOct 24, 20142 votes

Is it really worth changing champions in response to an item change? In most cases it will hurt the champion more than it hurts them because there are usually at least 2-4 other options for champions to buy. Removing their unit collision removal hurts them when they don't buy the item and only compensates for a change they shouldn't have gotten when they do.

HatsumaOct 23, 20144 votes

I've always found it weird that merc treads give tenacity, personally. They're already the MR boots, why are they the anti-CC boots too? What if you move tenacity to swiftness and put, say, some kind of DR vs AOE spells on merc treads (to better mirror ninja tabi's DR vs basics).

Jungle Lux GodOct 24, 20141 votes

Crowd control is usually connected to magic-damage based abilities, as a large majority of the champs that do have crowd control abilities are either mages (do magic damage), tanks (any damage they do is magic, and they don't deal relevant physical damage anyway), supports (damage ranges from almost nonexistant to dealing somewhat relevant magic damage) and a handful of bruisers and marksmen.

In the case of marksmen, it's usually tied to a dedicated utility ability, such as Caitlyn's Yordle Snap Trap and Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow, and often times deals magic damage instead of the logical physical damage. Bruisers offer some of the more interesting exceptions, as most of them are have physical damage crowd control abilities, although it is worth noting that quite a few bruisers use mostly displacement, which isn't affected by tenacity, or slows, which also get affected by Swifties.

There are several exceptions, where there are physical damage crowd control abilities, but those exceptions are few in comparison to the number of magic damage dealers with crowd control, regardless of how relevant that damage is.

shppyOct 23, 20143 votes

It can't passively ignore unit collision, or at least not champ collision. Permanently ignoring champ collision is HORRIBLE for frontliners to get, as many of them can bodyblock to use unit collision to their advantage, preventing enemy advances or getting in the way of enemy escapes. Losing that ability if you choose Swiftness would just make them even less desirable for melees (and unjustly stronger for ranged).

Two ways you could implement this; either:

Make it a short-term active for full collision ignoring, much like phase boots in DotA.

B) Have them passively ignore minion collision (and monster, I guess) only, but not Champ collision.

I'd prefer option B.

...and yes, I did just use 1 and B to bullet my list. That's how i roll.

Baron PerenoldeOct 24, 20141 votes

I am in agreement with option B being the more healthier option.

AtheosisXOct 23, 20142 votes

Yes they are totally underused and probably need something to make them more appealing. Your idea isn't bad, but I'm not sure how many people will switch over to them just for that. If you ask me they need to increase speed by more than 60. That's just not that much faster than other boots. I think I'd bump them up to 70.

Sire HippingtonOct 23, 20142 votes

I would rather increase the slow-reduction to 50% so melees without gapcloser can finally be usefull...or increase the ms-softcap, so stacking ms is more powerfull(which is all a champ without gapcloser can do. for mobillity..)

Wehrmacht BunnyOct 23, 20142 votes

Compared to the speed bonus of Boots of Mobility , and the tenacity of Mercury's Treads , Boots of Swiftness are almost never chosen since the others can outperform it in the long run

I had the thought that Riot could add the effect of ignoring unit collision, to make Swift boots stand out a little more and be worth picking over the other two, if your playstyle suits it

I love this idea!

FluppetsOct 23, 20142 votes

That is just a very good idea imo.

It also emphasizes Boots of Swiftness' niche: For champions that want to chase and dodge in the lane; as opposed to boots of mobility for roaming, I could even see ADC's takinng this for easier poke & retreat.

its also very simple and clear. unlike the above post with increasingly added resistances, linear, trigger, decay., percentages.. wheres your head at mate? you get a very simple and elegant proposition of adding unit collision ignore and then you come up with a wildly unnecessarily complicated idea that nobody asked for.

An added plus side is that it actually goes against mobility creep; champs that already have a gap closer dont benefit as much from unit collision ignore as champs without ap closers.

Dar RaksadaOct 23, 20142 votes

I like the boots on tank sion to make sure you can actually do something, though it competes with mercs. I would like to see the slow resistance buffed up for champions like singed and sion that are melee without gapclosers aside from speedbuffs.

Baron PerenoldeOct 24, 20141 votes

So have the slow resistance be 25-30% for melee and the current number be for ranged?

FarRockBFOct 23, 20142 votes

The only problem with this is that it will make phantom dancer item 3046 obsolete.

AamanoOct 23, 20142 votes

It's still dependent on your personal playstyle

if you choose to use these Swift Boots, and also build PD, Statikk Shiv is essentially the same item with slightly reduced stats. You would basically trade an extra 10% stat for the lightning proc, which is a choice people weigh on already

Jungle Lux GodOct 24, 20141 votes

ADC's don't usually get Swifties, and getting a Phantom Dancer is usually a good buy on ADCs, with the only exception being if you are running Shiv instead.

FireGryphOct 23, 20142 votes

So the biggest thing standing in the way of this change is the idea that body-blocking is essential to healthy play, and ignoring unit collision would negate that?

So why not just have the boots ignore unit collision with minions only? Body blocking still plays a factor with champs, but now the boots allow you to run through minions. Heck, even have it slow you down as you move through minions, much like Garen's E.

Jamatrix666Oct 23, 20142 votes

I think Boots of Swiftness are underrated, I really like them especially when combined with movement speed quints, they are fantastic if;

Enemy team have more slows than hard CC
You are a jungler that benefit a lot from Spirit of the Ancient Golem, so you won't need Mercury's Thread
You are a bruiser jungler without instant gap closer (Trundle, Evelyn, Nasus, Nunu, Olaf, Sion, Skarner, Udyr, Volibear), so Boots of Swiftness is an excellent tool for those "Chaser" jungler
You have spamable Ability/Abilities (Trundle, Evelyn, Skarner, Nasus, Hecarim, Riven, Udyr), so using your abilities constantly on a short cooldown would make the bonus movement speed from Mobility Boots useless most of the time

I recommend the Alacrity or Fury enhancements when ahead, Homeguard when behind :)

MAZZ1M0Oct 23, 20142 votes

I use Boots of Swiftness on Voli for ganks from time to time. Dashing in with Q, speed is core to effective ganking since he's open to CC the moment he's out of the brush. The slow mitigation is extremely useful against CC-heavy comps and I've had some success with it against the likes of Teemo and Lulu, but for someone like say... Ahri, for whom Sorcerer's Shoes and Alacrity are my second major purchase, Boots of Swiftness don't provide much of anything because 15% Armor Pen is significant. The Armor on Ninja Tabi is significant. The combined Magic Resist and CC reduction for Mercury's Treads is significant. The attack speed on Berserker's Greaves is a no-brainer for many adc's. Boots of Swiftness in contrast just isn't as useful and the times where it is useful are incredibly rare. It's outclassed by the others barring specific and rare circumstances.

Honestly, I don't think it'd be OP to combine Boots of Mobility with Boots of Swiftness. In itself it's not, I can't account for every champ that might overbenefit from it, but there's still meaningful tradeoff in Yasuo's case at least. Beserker's Greaves, Ninja Tabi, and Mercury's Treads will always be contenders. Unlike the case with Voli, (and this is the only reason I pick Swiftness at all) most champs can't afford to toss up to potential firepower or defense other boots provide. In the case of champs that rely on mobility or lack mobility however, combined boots would be great picks. I would consider using them for Ahri, Akali, and Sejuani for example. At the end of the day though, straight speed is usually going to lose to damage and defense though because of point and click abilities such as Nasus' crippling Wither or Caitlyn's R. You can dodge skillshots all day and harass, but damage and defense are reliable. Straight speed isn't. Swiftness needs a fresh look. Straight speed just doesn't usually cut it; Alacrity does that plenty fine on its own.

Thinking back on it, perhaps Mobility Boots of Swiftness (yea I totally made that up) would dominate in team play as plays could made far more easily. I don't know the repercussions of something like that. It's worth testing in PBE though.

Jungle Lux GodOct 24, 20142 votes

I think Boots of Swiftness is particularly good on champions that need the mobility and build full tank because they can't normally buy movement speed anyway. Your example with Volibear is particularly relevant: Voli can have a hard time engaging in some scenarios, and the extra movement speed can really help him get onto his targets. I play Udyr with Swifties as well, and the practice is the same: Udyr can have a hard time engaging onto targets, and when I use Boots of Swiftness that problem is diminished.

Also, extra movement speed is significant, especially in a meta that is generally dominated by mobility; one player going 15 movespeed faster than another makes a HUGE difference.

Also, I didn't know that Sorc shoes provided % armor pen...

MAZZ1M0Oct 24, 20141 votes

I think Boots of Swiftness is particularly good on champions that need the mobility and build full tank because they can't normally buy movement speed anyway. Your example with Volibear is particularly relevant: Voli can have a hard time engaging in some scenarios, and the extra movement speed can really help him get onto his targets. I play Udyr with Swifties as well, and the practice is the same: Udyr can have a hard time engaging onto targets, and when I use Boots of Swiftness that problem is diminished.

Also, extra movement speed is significant, especially in a meta that is generally dominated by mobility; one player going 15 movespeed faster than another makes a HUGE difference.

Also, I didn't know that Sorc shoes provided % armor pen...

It may not be %, but the 15 armor pen whatever is noticeable. It's the only reason I go for it so early in my builds.

Your example really only works with tanky gankers. Sejuani would definitely be in need of combined boots, but the major issue with that is the jungle changes. The jungle buffs will have to be pretty damn OP to be more desirable than straight ganking -which I would be looking forward to, but the proposed increased difficulty of jungling completely shuts out many champions that can currently hold their own out of the jungle leaving them with nowhere else to go (that's another discussion.) The likes of Sejuani, Volibear, Nautilus, Udyr, even Shyvana, etc. will all still suffer losses because at the end of the day: nexus > towers > champion kills (or baron -depending) > everything else. So what does all this bs jungle analysis have to do with boots? Very few champions would benefit from it. Nothing would really change and based on all the other changes Riot is wanting to implement, we don't even know if mobility will be the cornerstone for the next meta like it is now. I think it'll be vision tbh. With all these jungle changes, the strategies are going to warp to get the most out of it. One may argue Swiftness is more important with all the extra vision, but it really won't change anything to an extent against a team that sees you coming before you even map out your escape. Swiftness gives you extra speed, but not enough to counter vision and the gangbang that's will result -assuming they're good. You're better off with Tabi or Treads. Only gank-heavy fighters benefit from it and many junglers that could currently benefit from it may not even be able to jungle effectively with the changes.

Mobility Boots of Swiftness, it should be a thing. That would open the champion pool to supports and possibly AP carries like Syndra, Orianna, or Veigar who would benefit greatly from it.

Jungle Lux GodOct 24, 20141 votes

My example works with more than just tanky gankers. It works for top laners that have no gapclosers. I personally play many of my top laners with Swifties and there is a noticeable difference: if you get a good trade, you can push your advantage much easier, if you get a bad trade you can disengage much easier, and if you get ganked you can get to the safety of your tower much quicker. 15 movement speed IS significant, regardless of the source, but you have to play around the extra movement speed, as you don't simply win trades because of the extra stats you have.

Also, sorc shoes provide magic pen, not armor pen.

MAZZ1M0Oct 24, 20141 votes

My example works with more than just tanky gankers. It works for top laners that have no gapclosers. I personally play many of my top laners with Swifties and there is a noticeable difference: if you get a good trade, you can push your advantage much easier, if you get a bad trade you can disengage much easier, and if you get ganked you can get to the safety of your tower much quicker. 15 movement speed IS significant, regardless of the source, but you have to play around the extra movement speed, as you don't simply win trades because of the extra stats you have.

Also, sorc shoes provide magic pen, not armor pen.

Oh shite, my b. I meant magic pen. Wasn't paying attention. Also, stats can win you a trade. Early on especially, and even more so with fighters. Obviously, stats don't do the work for you, but walking away from early toplane fights with a sliver of health left is extremely common. Ninja Tabi helps you survive those encounters once you all-in. Swiftness isn't as reliable as disengaging can still be difficult against many enemies even with Swiftness.

Jungle Lux GodOct 25, 20141 votes

I see your point, and it was my fault for wording it poorly. My point with the stats not simply winning trades with the extra stats you have is that, with boots of Swiftness, you don't have the combat stats that you would have when you have other boots like Ninja Tabi or Mercury Treads. Having extra stats certainly does help you win the trade, and my argument with Swiftness is that the boots can help you win trades more by outplaying your opponent through your extra movement speed rather than by outstatting your opponent with your extra armor or magic resistance.

Also, regardless of whether or not you actually buy them for use in the lane, they can still be worth buying if you want to move around the map faster if you want to roam or your jungler needs assistance, but you still want to have the extra movement speed from buying the upgrade boots that you don't get when you get mobility boots.

MAZZ1M0Oct 26, 20141 votes

I see your point...

Yeah, I agree. You make a fair point sir. The problem is just the usage usually doesn't compare to others. Your reasoning is solid, but I mean, this wouldn't be a thread if people picked it for said reasons you mention. They are good for that, don't get me wrong, but they're risky, and not a model of consistency. Consistency is key in this game. It's hard to make any kind strategy or counterplay without it.

And don't worry about wording, I said percentage armor pen ffs on Sorc Shoes. :P I'm derpy.

Ale non è maleOct 24, 20142 votes

I like how you talked about Boots of Swiftness as underpowered when you compare them to Boots of Mobility which are absolutely the worst shoes in the game, as even minion, monster and tower damage subtract from them the movement boost Boots of Swiftness are fine, it's just that most of the time people goes with Tabi, Merc Treads, Sorc or Berseker, leaving Boots of Mobility, Lucidity and Swiftness as niche pick

Penguin EclipseOct 24, 20142 votes

I almost always build them on support. I like to move faster than with merc's but I don't like to be slowed down like you will with mobi's. Boots of swiftness are one of the key reasons I consistently die so little playing support despite building rather squishy. Even on the losing side.

hOrnnOct 23, 20141 votes

build them on darius with trinity and move speed quints+fleet of foot, and thank me later when you have over 500 move speed with phage and passive procs.

Sire HippingtonOct 23, 20141 votes

and then u eat a normal slow(~40%) ,which means 30% after boots of swiftness, so u go back to 350ms, which is slower than any enemy... The problem is that movementspeed is rather easily countered with slows, and boots of swiftness should counter slows, but they are not effecktive enough in doing so.

Also, the bonus ms compared to normal boots sucks. U pay 675 to get 15 ms and a situational slowreduce, anyone can pay 475 for 20ms with the enchantment...more ms, less gold, sounds like a deal.

I think the anti-slow needs to become stronger, either by increasing the %slow reduction, or by adding an active that removes slows and evt allows to ignore collison for some time. However, i feel like the slow-remove should be melees only as carrys are already hard to catch(or impossible if u play a melee without gapcloser)

hOrnnOct 24, 20141 votes

and then u eat a normal slow(~40%) ,which means 30% after boots of swiftness, so u go back to 350ms, which is slower than any enemy... The problem is that movementspeed is rather easily countered with slows, and boots of swiftness should counter slows, but they are not effecktive enough in doing so.

Also, the bonus ms compared to normal boots sucks. U pay 675 to get 15 ms and a situational slowreduce, anyone can pay 475 for 20ms with the enchantment...more ms, less gold, sounds like a deal.

I think the anti-slow needs to become stronger, either by increasing the %slow reduction, or by adding an active that removes slows and evt allows to ignore collison for some time. However, i feel like the slow-remove should be melees only as carrys are already hard to catch(or impossible if u play a melee without gapcloser)

it means i also run 21 in defense, get -10% slows and -15% cc reduction 'slows' so thats -25% more slows, i know what im doing.

Sire HippingtonOct 24, 20141 votes

not 100% sure if the slowreduction stacs additivly, tenycity for once doesn't. and the -15%cc-reduction doesn'T affeckt the strength of the slow, only the duration. Given the usually high uptime of slows, a 15%reduced duration rarly has any impact here.

TheDarkPrinceOct 24, 20141 votes

What if MS is buffed by 5 and slow reduction to 35%? this way, you will have extra ms and the slow reduction component of the tenacity which mercury treads offers.

AFK PushOct 24, 20141 votes

This reminds me of a friend that mains support, and almost always builds these. I asked him why he doesn't just build mobos but he says that these are better. I told him it is only good in very specific circumstances and on specific champs. For instance, he plays blitzcrank a lot. Blitz has a built in movement speed buff and wouldn't be in combat until he lands a q. So for the most part the mobos would be giving him more movement speed.

Kowe The EwokOct 24, 20141 votes

Maybe a stupid idea, but what if Tenacity didn't reduce the duration of slows? That way Boots of Switness had a clear role.

lHopeBotWinsOct 24, 20141 votes

Garen uses it effectively as well. It reduces the ms slow on his e

rastarogueOct 24, 20141 votes

Boots of swiftness fill an odd niche, but are incredibly useful on certain champions.

Personally I buy them on only two champions, Ammumu and Ashe. Since Ashe is one of the slowest champions in the game, it helps keep her in a fight and combined with frost shot allows you to kite an almost unlimited amount.

With Ammumu I noticed that when I buy Merc's my damage in the game drops by almost 10% compared to when I buy swiftness, but my damage taken stays around the same (dodging op), so I'd rather have the extra damage.

I've seen a couple of people recommending a boost to slow reduction when used by melees, but I feel that would make a couple of champions (sion, singed, ammumu, hecarim etc) ridiculously strong and would make it so supports who only have slows and no hard CC can no longer protect their ADC's at all during gank situations.

NebuulOct 24, 20141 votes

Here is the issue with boots of swiftness vs. say mercury treads:

If you are hit with a 2 second 99% slow, such as Thresh's box, then 2 seconds later the mercury treads will have made you travel farther than the boots of swiftness.

I feel like, in all cases, boots of swiftness should be better vs slows than other boots. But the fact is that over the course of a powerful slow, 35% reduced duration will almost always be preferable to 25% reduced effect.