Other than Merc Treads, I've found that most of the tenacity items are extremely out-ranked. If I'm a champion that really needs movement speed, like an Aura-based Amumu or a slow as hell Cho'Gath, I gotta get Boots of Swiftness. But that means I can't get Merc Treads, making my need for the extra speed hampered by CC which all champions have these days, or just about.

So, if I want Tenacity but not Merc Treads, my options are...well, ****, in my opinion. Am I alone in this or have I yet to see the viability (if it's there, please, show me! I could easily be wrong here)?

Eleisa's Miracle occasionally sees use on Singed who gets Swiftness instead of Mercury Treads for buying that item.

Cloak and Dagger is pretty awful, imo. while Moonflair Spellblade and Eleisa's Miracle are worth it occasionally when you don't get merc and their team comp is CC heavy.

The items are not at all worth it. They all take up a valuable item slot and don't give very good stats, and they each have their own failings.
-Cloak and Dagger/Moonflair Spellblade would be built on carries, who need survivability more than tenacity. C&D also gives stats that become important after getting damage, and they don't fit well as an endgame item.
-Philo builds into Shurelia's, which is too good to pass up.

Bump

Seriously Riot, if you're going to make this game practically revolve around Crowd Control, you might want to fix Tenacity BEFORE **** starts to hit the fan; I can definitely see this becoming an issue within a few months.

IMHO only mercs boots are worth anything.
It not only gives tenacity but also some (not so small) amount of MR (which much harder to build than Arm).
The biggest issue with other tenacity items is that they are just awful, hardly fit any party role/champion type, and cant be upgrade to something useful. Dont lock enough gp in slot.

What i'd quite like to see is if the Cloak and Dagger item built into a Phantom Dancer. You already need a cloak + zeal + dagger to build it. C&D imo can be quite strong on characters like Tryndamere or Ashe, as it give attack speed and critical strike chance, but its never used because its a dead end street. This would allow an early game Tenacity item to still be viable into the late game. I'd like to see other largely defensive items like Aegis of the Legion to give tenacity too. Surely having a big f#cking shield should protect agaisnt stuns?

Most AD carries would likely build a QSS, Banshee's or GA as their Defensive item...
This, plus boots, IE, PD, BT or ExCa and LW or BC pretty much takes up all their slots...

The only condition in which i'd consider building C&D is if my targets are prone to being kited... (With all the gap closers on bruisers these days, this situation rarely comes up)... But if they're prone to being kited, I could build a Frozen Mallet as my defensive item...
Frozen Mallet gives HP, Tenacity is kinda useless without HP, because you'll die within the duration of the CC regardless of that 35 Tenacity...

So... Drop PD and QSS, replacing them with Cloak & Dagger + Frozen Mallet...

But for a melee AD carry, such as Trynd or Fiora... Maybe Yi to an extent... (Not GP) it could be more effective... Because their builds will be different, they'll be in the fray and more prone to CC...

Just what Phantom Dancer needs... another powerful stat that is extremely useful to carries.

It already has movement speed, attack speed, and critical strike... all at high amounts. Let it be.

The game has always revolved around CC.

The thing about Tenacity items is that, IMO, they're just not even worthwhile on about half the champs on a given team, even against a heavy CC team. The ADC and Support are both likely going to die if they get hit with hard CC, anyway (even if it's short-duration like 1 second), and the Tank really shouldn't be expecting to get hit by hard CC. On the other hand, it's mandatory on Bruisers. Their job is to jump on a carry, and a decent tank will always try to peel them.

EDIT: Oh, and Merc Treads are the *only* viable Tenacity item, at the moment. Elesia's is a terrible item, and both Moonflair Spellblade and Cloak and Dagger give otherwise underwhelming benefits for the slot requirement.