Item Guide: Boots

There are many different options for boots. Each has its own set of scenarios where they are most applicable. Here, I'm going to walk through my understanding of when to get each.

 

Power Treads:

 

 

Advantages:

• Versatility: you can switch the main stat depending on the situation (e.g. switch to Int so you can cast 1 more spell, switch to Str to tank that last hit)
• Generally good if you need survivability, or you don't need move speed
• Also can be good on illusion heroes because stats transfer to them
• Gives raw attack speed as well
• Only breaks invis if you switch stats

 

Example Heroes That Might Get These:

• Fast & Squishy: Anti-Mage, Luna
• Illusion Heroes: Phantom Lancer, Chaos Knight
• Heroes That Need to Extra Str: Batrider, Enigma
• Invisible heroes: you can't use other boots while invis, plus this gives you stats (most invis heroes are squishy), examples are Riki, Broodmother, Clinkz
• Nature's Prophet - when you're not playing some sort of support, this gives him what he needs. He can TP around with his skills, so the MS isn't a problem, he can lock people in trees, so no chasing. Basically, he just needs attack speed and some stats
• Morphling - this gives him more stats to morph between
• Faceless Void - when you have people Chrono'd, the stats & attack speed work wonders (Phase could also be decent though)

 

Tranquil Boots:

 

 

Advantages:

• High Movespeed (unless you get hit by enemies) - decent for ganking
• Able to heal yourself - sometimes good for taking harass or jungle
• Diassemble-able - has many of the components needed for Vlads or Mek
• Very cheap - easy to make for broke ass supports, especially if you have crap for HP regen

 

Example Heroes That Might Get These:

• Pudge - rotting can be used to harass/farm, gives him movespeed to gank, easy recovery from ganking w/ rot
• Wisp - good for abusing tether
• Some Junglers - Ursa (can be used until you want to finish Vlads), Axe (heal between clearing camps)
• Solo Hard Laners - some players get it on solo hard laners to keep up with harass in lane
• Supports that are broke/have no regen - Crystal Maiden (who also like the MS), Lich
• Roamers - helps to get between lanes and heal between ganks

 

Phase Boots

 

 

Advantages:

• No Collision - great for chasing through crowds of creeps or juking through them
• Speed burst - again, good for chasing or escaping, also for getting between creep camps quickly in the jungle
• Helps with positioning - use for a quick speed burst to help position that shackle shot
• Raw Damage - gives +24 damage, which is the highest any boot can give you. Some heroes don't need anything more than just raw damage
• Better able to stay on a target - if you have a DoT that is centered on your hero, this can help
• Roaming - like Tranquil boots, Phase boots help with roaming as well. Both gives good move speed, but Phase are more dependable in a fight

 

Example Heroes That Might Get These:

• Heroes that need positioning: Wind Runner, Invoker, Pudge, Leshrac (non-support version), Witch Doctor (if not hard support), Kunkka, Templar Assassin
• Heroes that need to stay on their target: Pudge, Leshrac, Clockwerk, Juggernaut, Razor, Ursa
• Heroes that benefit from the raw damage: Bounty Hunter, Kunkka, Phantom Assassin
• Roamers: Pudge, Tiny, Vengeful Spirit (I like it on her at least)

Special Note: Juggernaut can start spinning and then use Phase Boots to get the Phase Bonus while spinning (the other way around cancels Phase Boots)

 

Arcane Boots

 

 

Advantages:

• Benefits the whole team (or at least whoever is around you)
• Improved Mana Pool
• Disassemble-able
• Gives enough mana to cast most spells

 

Example Heroes That Might Get These:

• Mana Dependent Heroes: Sand King, Bane, Tiny, Zeus, Omniknight
• Support Heroes: Rubick (when not mid), Jakiro, Dazzle
• Wisp: can be abused the same way as Tranquil boots using tether (they get 2x the mana), however, Soul Ring can also provide the same benefit

 

Boots of Travel

 

 

Advantages:

• Don't have to carry a TP Scroll
• Best base movespeed bonus
• Can TP to creeps (instead of just buildings)

 

Example Heroes That Might Get These:

• Tinker - his ult resets the cooldown on these boots
• KotL - his ult allows him to teleport a friend to his location (effectively getting a free BoT for the other player)
• Pushers - easily port to a lane creep to help push, e.g. Pugna, Leshrac, Tinker, KotL
• Beastmaster - he can port to his minions (i.e. Hawk/Boar)
• Anyone during late game - if you're all maxed out and want to free up your TP scroll slot, get these. You probably have the stats to make any other boot negligible

 

Build Boots for the Situation:

• Get Arcane in a Support/Utility Role (e.g. don't get them on Carry Tiny)
• If you're dying a lot, you might consider Power Treads or Tranquil Boots. Both are affordable and help you deal with harass (though, don't get Tranquil if you're chased down a lot)
• Don't get Boots of Travel early if you're not going to use them (i.e. pushing/ganking super hard)
• Don't get Boots of Travel just because you can 
• a) afford them
• b) they're recommended (e.g. if you're Pugna and dying a lot, get something like Treads instead of wasting time saving your Boots of Travel)

Basically, make sure you're getting your boots for the circumstances, not because it's a recommended item. Situation is based on a lot of things:

• What is your role in this game? (many heroes can be played in multiple ways. You're not always going to be Carry Nature's Prophet or Solo Mid Pugna)
• How is your farm?
• Are you dying a lot?
• Are you able to use the active to max potential? (e.g. you're not ganking/chasing enough for Phase to be useful, but you could use the Stats & Attack Speed in team fights from Power Treads)