League of Legends Patch 14.15 is looking to be one of this season’s biggest, and the more we hear about it, the bigger it seems to get. Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, League’s lead gameplay designer, has announced big changes coming to the game’s core item—boots.
Particularly, the developers are seeking to nerf defensive boots options since they have been too impactful in games, especially on the mid and top lanes where two champions went head to head. “For a long time, defensive boots have been too good in high levels of play,” Phroxzon wrote on X (formerly Twitter) today, July 23. He explained how these items were “very strong for their cost, ” resulting in matchups where neither champion could die due to their effectiveness in lane.
“We want to reduce the potency of all boots” Phroxzon added, and said how Riot wishes to “make magic resistance components weaker” since Mercury Treads have been “disproportionately strong” compared to other boots options. This will also result in some magic resistance items receiving a buff where necessary to compensate for the change. League of Legends hasn’t had a restructuring of its boots like this for a long while, partly because these items were the only ones purchased in every match, elo, and matchup.
Boots boosted defensive stats substantially in one-on-one situations, especially when defending against a magic damage or high crowd control champion. In such cases, Mercury Treads were an absolute must-have item and took priority over actual defensive items tailor-made for wrecking mages like the Hexdrinker.
Patch 14.15 aims to be one of the most substantial soft reworks of League‘s systems, from the base game to the Arena, with nearly no stone left unturned. It is geared to launch in a little over a week on July 31.
