Where does Flash go? Worlds edition

Riot·Oct 29, 2014·3 votes·14,803 views

The war rages on. Our Flashing fingers have been clashing for years with no respite, fighting to prove whose keybindings are superior. Is it D or F? We thought . That is, until now. We at Lolesports.com are happy to announce that the debate has been settled. Thanks to hard, irrefutable evidence from the Group Stage at the League of Legends 2014 World Championship, we are ready to settle this thing once and for all. Flash undeniably belongs keybound to D.

Math

You want proof? How about some math. The Quarterfinal teams with a majority D Flashing team members had an 83% win rate coming out of the Group Stage. Those who Flash with F were sitting way down at a 63%. Really, what else do you need?

Sure, five of the eight teams in the Quarterfinals had a majority of players who use flash on F, but none of them are undefeated. You know who was? Samsung White. A team of three D flashers. They didn’t drop a single game through the Group Stage, and we’d like to suggest that it’s largely due to their Flash placement. Disagree? Do you have math to back up your claims? Didn’t think so. Taking a look at teams who didn’t make it into the Quarterfinals only bolsters those numbers. Among the bottom eight teams at Worlds, teams with a majority of F Flashers have a measly 8% win rate. Yes, 8%. That’s not the best. In fact, it’s pretty darn bad. Again, math. Okay, look. We know that three of the four teams that made it to the Semifinals were majority F Flashers, but take a look at who now stands atop the podium: It’s Samsung White. That’s right, D Flashers reign supreme. Plus, tournament MVP Mata is a known D Flasher. It all adds up.

The experts weigh in

In light of these revelations, we reached out to resident Flashing expert [ed. note: The Summoner Spell, guys.] Aidan “Zirene” Moon for his input. “Multiple scientific studies have proven time and time again that D over F for flashing is faster, more comfortable, and all around just plain more intelligent,” the D Flashing caster told us. “People who start associating F for Flash may then start associating other hot keys with other spell names...”

What’s next, S for Smite? H for Heal? Could you even imagine if we tried to set all of our hotkeys to match up with skill names? Ahri’s four abilities would be mapped to O, F, C, and S. Go ahead, try and place your hand in that position. It’s damn near impossible. Plus, you can’t bind both Fox-Fire and Flash to the same key. That’s just madness. Plus, according to Zirene, there’s an obvious performance advantage. “The D key is easier to get to, faster to hit, and lowers travel time of your index finger by .05 seconds. Why wouldn’t you give yourself that edge to Flash an incoming spell? Or take advantage of a mispositioned enemy five hundredths of a second faster?” Achie learned that lesson the hard way. A known F Flasher, his attempted Rune Prison to bring down Svenskeren’s Kha’Zix was just a split second too late, as the SK Gaming jungler was able to pop his Void Assault, becoming temporarily invisible and untargetable. Would Achie have landed the Rune Prison if he had Flash on D? Yes. Absolutely. 100%. Checkmate, F Flashers.

Do you want to see the quality of play worldwide only get better? Do you want to be a part of something bigger than yourself? Join us as we start the D Flasher revolution. Swap that Summoner spell on over, berate your friends into doing the same. Make the plays and let everyone know that it’s all because you have Flash on D. Together, we can change the world into a better, Flashier place.

36 Comments

C DriveOct 30, 201410 votes

Fact: 2 out of the 3 pentakills to come out from Worlds were on a F Flasher, imp. Using this information and infallible and irrefutable math, you can conclude that F Flashers will get pentakills 100% more often than D Flashers. I can has maths too rito.

Brenticus12Oct 29, 20148 votes

Alright, I don't mind people playing Flash on the D key or wtv, but the reasons for why it's superior is just plain stupid, seriously? "Hurr, if people think F for Flash then maybe they'll think S for Smite too hurr" or - "Takes less time to reach F cause index finger travels more". Wrong. Most people have the index finger on R. Most keyboards have F right below R and just a quick shift downwards is more than necessary to hit F. For D, you'd have to re-position your entire hand to the side to hit flash.

dwilt10Oct 29, 20144 votes

actually you have that backwards sir, most players such as I don't have their hands straight up and down on the keyboard but t's more to the side so it is actually just a bend of the index finger to press D instead of sliding it to the right to press F, go ahead and try it

Brenticus12Oct 29, 20143 votes

Okay, I exaggerated when I said "reposition your entire hand". It's more like you have to slightly bend your palm to the left AND bend your index a bit to press it. This is opposed to the F key that doesn't require the palm bend.

TehWoriOct 29, 20141 votes

Actually, being a sufferer of smallhandedness, I rest my index through ring fingers on qwe and omit my pinky. (I'll admit this could potentially cause problems if I were more mechanically inclined in the game.) D is just below my index finger and it is a longer stretch to hit F, as the article states. In contrast to this evidence however, I still use f for flash. Simply because I always have, it's just more comfortable that way. It allows me to be cool and collected knowing that the play I have to move my finger for is going to be well calculated before making that stretch.

OrderlyAnarchistOct 30, 20146 votes

WHOOOOOOOOSH

musviskarenOct 31, 20143 votes

Actually, all players I know has their ring finger on Q, middle finger on W and index finger on E, with the index managing both E and R. Which makes D the key just under where your index is normally positioned.

DeltaRavenOct 29, 20147 votes

Please, everyone knows you put flash on f because d is for dance

JathielOct 29, 20145 votes

D for Flash OP confirmed!

DPRK Rammus RamOct 29, 20141 votes

Anyone who says otherwise is selling something.

ClishopNov 3, 20144 votes

I bet samsung white would have won without using flash all together. This conversation is irrelevant.

4nth0l0gyOct 29, 20143 votes

NEVER! F FOR FLASH!

Halfbodied JishOct 29, 20143 votes

samsung white went 25/2 tho

it's not 100% winrate

goshdarn it rito playerW17 - about 8 hours ago

Of course Samsung white dropped two games. They have two people on the team that use f flash which equals the two games that they lost. Facts win battles son.

Earl EulrichOct 29, 20143 votes

finally some serious scientific effort that proves me right!

Yandere CarryOct 29, 20142 votes

Flash goes on F so it's harder to misclick and fuck it up

TheWildVegetableOct 29, 20142 votes

F is for Flash! When its on D it is known as Dlash, a less effective variant of Flash

Blaine Warren MDOct 30, 20142 votes

Pssh... who uses flash, anyway? ;) ..revive tele OP

A Retarded ClownOct 30, 20142 votes

Wait people use their pinkies to press buttons?

SiachiOct 29, 20141 votes

So what does this all mean for someone like myself who uses F and G for summoner spells, because that feels more comfortable with my laptop's key placements? Or is it weird to have my index finger on R?

YoGrannyMamaOct 29, 20141 votes

http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/esports/WEqbtFE2-ip-dicounts :D

playerW17Oct 29, 20141 votes

samsung white went 25/2 tho

it's not 100% winrate

goshdarn it rito

C9 Scott Free Oct 29, 20141 votes

I use v for flash so....

SmashcatOct 31, 20141 votes

that sounds terrible, I want to play against you in ranked please...but I probably never will with your V flash lol.

C9 Scott Free Nov 1, 20141 votes

Typing form OP. By shifting everything down one row you get faster at everything in my opinion if you type a lot. You end up being able to communicate faster too.

Soft FeetOct 29, 20141 votes

D for Dance~ Trust me it's the way to go~

roylamOct 31, 20141 votes

It actully doesn't really matter when you are a pianist.

nimariooOct 31, 20141 votes

Im so proud of myself, the D stands for distance also known as flash!

panthurOct 31, 20141 votes

I've been a D flasher since the very beginning.

YOU SO BADNov 2, 20141 votes

Just gunna throw out there that none of this matters considering we all have different keyboards and the spacing isnt the same. /topic

i personally use asdf for qwer and use v and g for my summoners, both right off my ult button which is least used anyway. Then i use spacebar for attack move. while using qwer for activatables. This is the easiet and most relaxing way to play do to key positioning relative to your hand and time traveled of your fingers. I have super short fingers so it imperative to me i guess to know haha i cant play on qwer as i cant reach the 12345 ect to use activatable as needed.

EleshakaiNov 3, 20141 votes

This might be the most ridiculous joke article you guys have ever done... and I really don't think it's a good idea for you to encourage, jokingly or not, people to berate others. Judging by the comments it's pretty clear a lot of people have taken this absurd article seriously...

pedrovieira41Nov 3, 20141 votes

I'm probably gonna be excommunicated after this stunning revelation, but I'm a 4 finger player (with the index finger on the "R") and I use "T" for heal/teleport/exhaust/smite/ignite and "F" for Flash. The "D" I believe is designed for 3 finger players, because isn't that ergonomic to play when you use the 4 fingers setup (of course you can get used to it, but it's just not natural).

KillerdefrereNov 5, 20141 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWO4CKpV6k4 Look at this

LightskinnedNov 11, 20141 votes

Surely it'd be quicker for me to have Flash on F if I place my index on R, middle on E, ring on W and pinky on Q. Therefore F is right under my index and is quicker?

RhynearNov 14, 20141 votes

The alternative is that you buy a mouse which has 5 buttons and bind both summoners to them

Ben R4mZMay 5, 20161 votes

It belongs on D for those of us who bring Flash/Teleport or Flash/Ignite and try to use the G smart ping and flash instead due to the close proximity of those two keys. If Teleport and Ignite are on normal cast then you have to left click on a target to cast them. Have a look at this study: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/.../keybind-wars-which-key... Looking at the Choice by Rank chart, we see that Pro players, (Master and Challenger), prefer flash to be on D rather than F. Could this be one of the things that make Pro players Pro? You decide.