Lately I face teams with mostly AD champions (or at least AD vs AD lane )as a top laner. Thus, i'd normally go Ninja Tabi. But mid game shows up, and I get cc'd to the point that I can't do anything. Ninja tabi would reduce the damage from the autos but Mercury threads makes the cc last less. Which would you choose?
Knight SoIaire 2 votestenacity works only on stunns and slow duration if enemy team has knockups or simply loads of ad's take ninja tabi if you need to rush mr take tanacity i personaly take tabi more often than tenacity because 10% less dmg from adc and any autoatacker is more than being stunned for 0,5 second less
Vasvatutin1 votesactually you're wrong
Tenacity: The duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, silences, blinds, polymorphs, and immobilizes are reduced by 35%
@ OP you take Ninja tabi only if the opponent you are going up against is reliant on basic attacks for damage (think Fiora, Jax, Yi, etc) If for some reason you are going up against a full AD team comp ninja tabis are also a reliable item but only if the CC they output isn't a threat.
Its totally viable to take ninja tabis in lane and sell them for merc treads when you think you need the tenacity more than the basic attack damage reduction. (i.e usually when you've built the armor you need)
Knight SoIaire 1 votesfears - 4 champions in game taunts- 3 champions in game blind- 2 champions in game polymorph- 1 champion in game silence -6 champs atm but im preety sure that soon it will be like 4
and 3 of those effects are used for the similar effect to stunn too little pool to bother
knockups just get more popular (if champion has to have some reliant cc they give him cc that cant be reduced, on the other hand any additions to his kit that does not need to be reliant are made into reducable cc )
Vasvatutin1 votesfears - 4 champions in game taunts- 3 champions in game blind- 2 champions in game polymorph- 1 champion in game silence -6 champs atm but im preety sure that soon it will be like 4
and 3 of those effects are used for the similar effect to stunn too little pool to bother
knockups just get more popular (if champion has to have some reliant cc they give him cc that cant be reduced, on the other hand any additions to his kit that does not need to be reliant are made into reducable cc )
Aatrox, alistar, azir, blitzcrank, braum, cho, fizz, janna, jarvan 4, Lee sin, Lulu, Malphite, Nami, Nautilus, Riven, Sej, Vi, WUkong, Xin Zhao, Yasuo, Zyra
Blitz has to use a high risk, high mana move to do a knock up Riven, Aatrox, Braum, Cho, Yasuo, Janna, Sej all have telegraphed, dodgeable knock ups Braum, Fizz, Lulu, Malphite, Nautilus, Nami, lee sin, vi, Wukong, Zyra have to use an ult for a knockup (some are also telegraphed) Xin has to hit 3 basic attacks to get a knock up, J4 has to combo 2 abilities (also telegraphed and dodgeable), Riven has to Q 3 times.
Out of all of those I would only consider Malphites, Wukongs and Zyras knock ups prone to toxicity.
Velkoz E doesnt count as a knock up and actually interacts with merc treads in reducing his abysmal 'knock' up duration already (0.75 seconds) since its considered a type of stun
Nami Q is considered a stun and gets reduced by merc treads.
The amount of stuns, roots, slows greatly outnumber the amount of knockups in the game and are generally applied much easier, faster and with less telegraphing or combo mechanics. In a game where a champion is causing considerable annoyance with a knock up I would advocate a spell shield (banshees veil).
Knock up champions ninja tabis / banshees veil would work for: Aatrox, J4, Riven, Xin Zhao, Yasuo So 5 champions.
Edit: out of these champions only Aatrox and riven realistically go top. J4 and Xin Zhao are relegated to jungle pretty much and Yasuo is a mid champ.
Zielmann1 votesTreads.
Say it with me. "Treads". Mercury would make a very bad thread, cause it would just melt and your clothes would fall apart.
For your actual question, though, it depends on the situation (doesn't everything?). I would prioritize tenacity over the AA-damage reduction of ninja tabi in most occasions. Generally, you can just get more HP or armor somewhere else. Also, Ninja Tabi don't really work against AD Casters as well, since they only reduce damage from auto-attacks. I would only get Tabi if there's very little CC on the other team, and they've got two marksmen on that full-AD team.
junglerboy161 votesIf they have either: 2 or more champions with hard CC, or: 1 champ with extreme CC (
, 
, etc.) then get Mercs. If they have at least 3 damage dealers who deal AD damage and they don't have enough CC to warrant Mercs (always look too see if they have CC first before considering AD or AP damage threats) THEN you can get Tabis.
kswimming1011 votesfirst, build boots that will help you win your lane. if you can get ahead then you can either zone out or kill their adcs mid or late game.
second, dont be scared to sell your boots mid/late game to switch them for a different set. look at the team, if they have a good amount of cc champions then switching to mercs will help you chase or get away. if they are really dependent on their adcs to carry them then sticking with tabis will be fine. dont feel stuck with one set of boots, adapt to how the game is going. they make that sell button so you can change your strategies :3
hope this helped
TehNACHO1 votesI should note that the gold efficiency of Ninja Tabi and Mercury Treads are actually relatively low, and that if you want to buy them, you should generally prioritize their passives above all else.
If you plainly want Armor or Magic Resist, other items would do you much better.
