I disagree with the proposed nerfs to Boots of Mobility

Hello Riot and the League Community. After some thought I would like to offer my feedback on the proposed changes to Boots of Mobility.

For context: The proposed change reduces the base speed of the boots from 45 to 25, the 105 speed out of combat remains unchanged and the gold cost is reduced to 800 from 1000.

Although the reduction in gold cost is nice, As a Jungler/Support main that 20 reduced speed in combat scares me.

The reasoning for this change was that boots of mobility did not offer enough tradeoff for the roam potential they offered. The idea was that because they offer a benefit out of combat, they should be made weaker in combat compared to other boot options. I always thought this to be the case already.

Boots of Mobility offers ZERO combat benefit other than the 45 speed every tier 2 boots offer. The other boots offer Resistances, Attack Speed or CDR with unique passives like tenacity or physical damage reduction.

There is already choice present for boots with inherent risk for each choice. Yes, the first jungler to build boots of mobility often has a huge edge in roam and gank potential, but the jungler who rushes moby boots will likely have an inventory consisting of moby boots, a spirit stone and maybe some potions/wards, that is 1800+ gold spent on ZERO PvP Stats, no resistances, no health, no damage, nothing. Just movespeed and some jungle only stats. Also, rushing your tier 2 boots comes at the cost of delaying your completed jungle item which offers bonus gold generation, faster clear speed, and other cool stats like CDR, health or damage stats and super strong passives like Tenacity and true damage.

Another thing to consider is that moby boots are already a bad idea in some situations. Say you are a carry jungler like kha'zix and the other team has a lot of CC/kite, because you're likely going to build Elder Lizard your going to need Merc boots for CC reduction, If you build Mobi boots you will get CCed and killed. Or if the other team goes AD mid you may want to consider Ninja Tabi cause the AA damage redcution will be huge vs an AD mid + AD carry. I have played many games where I sold mobi boots for Ninja tabi or had to just buy Ninja Tabi outright because an AD or several ADs on the enemy team get fed and have profited from the decision. Mobility Boots are also not a good choice if the lane phase is ending or soon to end, this is when teams start roaming/moving as a group/team fights and in these scenarios you'll want the combat boot stats over the personal mobility because you and your team want to move more as a unit, you don't want to run ahead and get caught.

With the proposed changes, as a jungler, if I want to buy mobi boots, I have to take on all the risks I mentioned above (lack of combat stats and combat Passives) and add enemies being able to run away much easier after a gank, having a much harder time running away from a sticky situation and simply lagging behind in team fights. This is a nerf to all junglers, more so for slow junglers that already struggle due to lack of mobility such as Nautilus

As a Support I don't often upgrade to tier 2 boots until after the lane phase is over, when I do it's because we are convincingly winning the lane and I want to roam and share my advantage with my team and being able to ward more effectively. This change will make late game much more difficult. The 20 reduced speed will make engaging or not being engaged on when sieging an objective MUCH more difficult.

Lastly; why is it wrong when certain roles choose certain boots over others? Mid Ap always build sorc shoes, ADC always build berserker greaves, top goes with merc or tabi, why is it bad that junglers/supports prefer mobility with use of merc or tabi depending on the situation.

All in all i'm against the proposed change of 20 reduced speed in combat. I personally never saw a problem with mobi boots, yes I have more map presence and can get more ganks off,but with no combat stats if I get caught i'm dead and ganks could be risky becasue the laners are stronger/have better combat items than me.

If any change were to be made, I would increase the armor and MR of tabi/merc boots to 30 from 25 to increase the oppertunity cost/risk of building mobi boots without nerfing them or make the OOC increase speed by 90 (2 x 45) for a slight nerf to the roaming power they provide.