we’re breaking down a niche but powerful strategy in Mobile Legends: buying Roam items after the 8-minute mark—even if you're not playing a Roamer. This trick has been used by pro players for several seasons but isn’t widely practiced in regular ranked games. While it’s not mandatory, it’s definitely worth understanding if you’re curious about maximizing team utility and gold efficiency.
Simply put: buy a Roam item after 8 minutes even if you're playing in XP, Gold, or Mid lane—not as a Roamer.
Before minute 8, Roam items apply a Devotion penalty, meaning if you clear minions with teammates, the gold goes to the one without the Roam item. That’s bad news for your income if you’re not the team’s official Roamer.
After 8 minutes, this penalty disappears. You can clear lanes with teammates without losing gold, making it safe for non-Roam roles to equip Roam items without stunting their economy.
The aim is to unlock the Roam item's passive effect, which usually requires accumulating 600 Gold from assists or being the poorest player on your team. If you meet these conditions, the item unlocks and provides valuable team buffs—having multiple active Roam passives on a team can be game-changing.
But here's the catch: if the main Roamer on your team already maxed their Roam gold (1,500 gold cap), your Roam gold will stop progressing too. That means your item might never unlock.
Yes, but it’s tricky.
You’ll need:
Frequent assists
To be the lowest-gold player
To unlock yours before the main Roamer hits 1,500 Gold
In most solo queue games, this is rare. But with good communication and planning—especially in a 5-stack—it’s totally doable.
In one game, I played Poveus and was the poorest player while contributing lots of assists. Despite the tough match, my Roam item unlocked because the conditions were right. We even had two active Roam effects on our team—mine and the main Roamer’s.
In contrast, in another game, I tried the same with Cici, assisted a lot, but never unlocked the Roam item because our Roamer hit the 1,500 Gold cap before me. Once that happens, any secondary Roam items stop gaining gold entirely.
Definitely, especially in coordinated teams. Even if the item doesn’t unlock, buying Roam after minute 8 gives passive gold without penalties. But if you want to truly benefit from multiple Roam effects, you’ll need to plan ahead, communicate, and ensure someone stays “poorest” for longer.
If you’re just winging it in ranked, don’t expect consistent results. Still, it’s a no-risk strategy—you’re not spending gold to buy the item, and you won’t lose income.
