I'm going to ask a potentially controversial question

IcyPepper·Oct 1, 2015·2 votes·1,040 views

Is always the best boots for ADC's?

Wait, stop right there! I know what you're thinking, that I must be some fool trying to break meta for the sake of breaking meta instead of an actual purpose, or that I'm a low elo scrub that's trying to prove everyone wrong or something. I'm not. I'm not trying to prove anything right or wrong, I am legitimately asking a question out of curiosity and hope that the more knowledgeable or higher elo would give me insight.

I already know that some people build on Corki, and on Lucian on occasion. Or at least used to.

Are there other ADC's that can vary their boot choices? The first one that comes to mind for me is Miss Fortune, since her rework she can certainly bully with her Q. I'm primarily wondering if is a good choice on her, and possibly later due to her recent AD scaling on her ultimate. 35% cooldown reduction with two items (probably late-game, you want that IE and PD at the very least!. Not all champions need to rush full cdr early). Her W seems like it can compensate for some extended trades, especially if you max it second.

But those are just my thoughts that got me originally thinking.

So tell me, are any boots besides greaves useful on any if any ADC's? Or are greaves just flat-out the best, just like IE on many of them? There's no wrong answers, because I certainly don't know so why the hell would I judge?

Note: Had to move this from G&B. Wrong Board, apparently. Oops! Goes to show how little I know! :P

13 Comments

TripNicholsOct 1, 20151 votes

I'm Bronze, so I would actually like to know this too. I only ADC with Lucian or Sivir, but.

I WANNA KNOW.

IcyPepperOct 1, 20151 votes

AND THAT'S OKAY! D:

I'm Silver and I honestly suck at this game, probably got lucky in my promos (not being able to play during the summer too much due to firewall restrictions did not help when I got back to college!).

The only way people like you and I are going to learn is being honest and wanting to know things others wouldn't bother to ask! WHAT IF greaves isn't effective on some ADC's? We'll never know if we don't ask!

Remember, knowledge starts with a question!

Faith BreakerOct 2, 20151 votes

The meta means "most optimal" The meta exists because ppl have already found out what works best. Beserk's are meta because 9/10 on most champs in most situations they are the best option for many important reasons.

Does that mean it should lock out other options? No, not at all! Build what you want. Does it mean however if you wanna play at your best and win, (say, not to just have fun and see what you can do) then yeah, probably build Greaves.

IcyPepperOct 2, 20151 votes

The meta exists because ppl have already found out what works best.

A healthy meta is a flexible one, though. And it constantly changes as people discover new things :V Someone had to try Annie support when it wasn't meta. Is there only one way to build ADC's (greaves), or are there match-ups, situations, or even support synergy that can give different options? What if your support rushed Ardent Censor and you maxed W second for attack speed for extended trades, so you could bully with your Q more?

But what prompted my questioning was Miss Fortune's rework. Are people building Greaves on her because it's meta, or have people tried other boots on her and it didn't work? And considering her ult AD scaling now, she could have serious synergy with cleaver in AD comps.

I know where you're coming from, though. There's not a lot of good boot options for ADC's anyway (tenacity isn't going to help if you blow up, ninja tabi is useless late-game, and so on), so I'm going to grant you that at least 9/10 ADC's are better off with Greaves. So I guess I'll just ask a different question for you:

Is Miss Fortune a Greaves-only ADC, or does she have enough power in her kit to handle item 3158 instead?

Faith BreakerOct 3, 20151 votes

If you pick up Boots of Loose Titties, I'd strongly reccomend the Reaver as well. With the early CDR and the perpencity for MF to want to use MF any chance she gets, she can run into Ezreal like mana cost issues. And with all the q's and movements a Statik Shiv as well since Avarice Blade will help farm the item set and q procs its passive.

EDIT

Beserk Greaves give the best stats for it's gold cost making it very efficient. Plus the combination of MS and AS allow last hitting to be easier then having say, when with a PA and Doran's. What I wonder is how come Boots of Swiftness aren't used? High boost to speed that doesn't drop off during combat, and resistance to slows. Wouldn't a squishy kiting ranged champ want lots of speed, while in combat, and have resistance to slows?

It just boils down to yes all adc's want that, but for what both pairs of boots cost and what they do, the cost to usefulness ratio is superior when considering Beserks. It ends up being the best optimal choice every time, so people figure that buying that item is their best choice if they wanna win.

And they're right. It is. But what people forget that is worse, is we sometimes end up missing out on "precious momments" in our games, the little sudden unexcted "wow" "lol awesome" and "wtf how did?" momments, when we stick to routine's and keep our eyes on 3 things instead of looking at the whole picture. Because we arent trying to appreciate the picture. We wanna find that one thing we want.

Go to the Rift, play MF. Buy Lucidian Boots and an Avarice Blade on MF, Build a Reaver and put a B. Cleaver in the build some where. Go. Now!

Doctor JarvisOct 1, 20151 votes

Almost certainly Zerkers are the way to go. They increase your DPS so much on an item you had to build anyway. There are exceptions (Blue Ezreal builds Ionian, Corki builds Sorc shoes), but mostly you want Greaves. Your specific question; maybe? If you're fed enough? I could see an MF build wanting this along with a triforce, cleaver, IE, but those are some expensive ass items. Greaves are good for their cost and don't depend on much else

IcyPepperOct 1, 20151 votes

Your specific question; maybe? If you're fed enough?

The one about Miss Fortune? Yeah, I suppose you're right. More AS is better for tower taking if your spells aren't reliable enough when behind to dish out dps. I guess?

BluePolarizerOct 1, 20151 votes

It depends on ADC. ADCs with no steroids, AD steroids or who synergize with attack speed should take greaves. ADCs who are ability dependent should take Ionians. Sorcs are good on Corki; I was even thinking of Sorcs on Kog might be good if you're on an all AD team and want to use your %max HP on-hit more effectively. Never take Mercs, you won't survive long enough even with tenacity to use them.

Angry MonsterOct 1, 20151 votes

its like you answered this question

So tell me, are any boots besides greaves useful on any if any ADC's

in your original post. It all depends on the ADC style you are going for. Its almost like common sense should be a applied here.

Doubt that cdr boots are good for MF, a lot of her early game is AA not spells. You should try a more direct approach with this thread; sorta all over the place

A Miss FortuneOct 1, 20151 votes

item 3006 are the best but Kog'Maw, Ezreal, Corki, and sort-of-ish Miss Fortune can use item 3020 I think item 3111 are useable on ADCs too if they are Magic Damage heavy.

7ha7guy777Oct 2, 20151 votes

The defensive options (treads and tabi) could be useful situationally. After all, 25% attack speed means nothing while stunned or dead.

Aeolian MelodiesOct 5, 20151 votes

Zerks are the go-to boots for ADC. Cheap and effective. In doubt, get them. They're very cost efficient.

There are other specific synergy/playstyle like Corki with item 3020 and Lucian/Ezreal with item 3158 , however overall you can never truly go wrong with item 3006 .

Matthias9119Oct 5, 20151 votes

It's generally most efficient early on to rush items with AD (like IE), and Berzerker's Greaves are a strong, cheap source of AS to go with that. If you have IE+Greaves, you're going to win extended trades simply because you'll get 4 autos off in the time they get 3 (or something like that).

The problem with rushing CDR boots is that most ADCs can't afford to spam abilities on cooldown. But if you can, and you think you'll get more damage out of more frequent abilities than more frequent AAs, it could work.

The armor/MR ones just aren't going to make enough of a difference -- you're too squishy.

Swiftness could be useful if they have a lot of slows and/or skillshots, or if you're behind and you don't think the AS is going to make a difference.