Summoner Spells need an upgrade (flash too common)

I Feast Tonight··25 votes·2,982 views

There is no balance between the summoner spells. Flash is always used because it gives that vital instantaneous boost to escape or chase, and it even lets a champion skip over terrain. I see 99% of every league player choose flash for one of their two summoner spells, that is how much of an advantage this ability has over the others. I am not saying it should be nerfed (weakened for those that don't understand what it means), it summoner 4 might even be good if the range is increased slightly. I am saying the other abilities need to be made good enough to be worth having over flash given a specific player's or champion's playing style.

Summoner's Rift Spells: The other common summoner spells I see are: summoner 7 heal (30%), summoner 14 ignite (23%), and summoner 11 smite (18%). Heal and ignite are great already, but not quite as great as flash yet. My idea for heal is summoner 7: for 5 seconds after being healed by a heal spell, those healed have increased health regeneration according to level -- +1 health per level per second (level 1 = +1 hp regen per second; level 18 = +18 hp regen per second). Then, for ignite, it summoner 14 should deal damage for one second longer than it does now (6 seconds instead of 5 seconds). As for summoner 11 smite, it has been modified pretty recently and is pretty much under control. The less common summoner spells I see are: summoner 12 teleport (10%), summoner 21 barrier (5%), summoner 13 clarity (5%), summoner 3 exhaust (5%), and summoner 6 ghost (4%). summoner 12 Teleport takes too long for the amount of visibility that it gives to the enemy. Teleport should be modified so that the destination of the teleport cannot be seen by the enemy unless teleporting to a turret, and after teleporting, the champion should have a decaying boost of +99 speed for 3 seconds so that the champion can catch the enemy or run away after teleporting. Then, so that teleport would not surprise the enemy too much, one second before the person finishes teleporting, all the enemies will hear a sound that signifies someone is teleporting, similar to how Rek'Sai screams when ulting. Except for these modifications, teleport attributes should remain the same. summoner 21 Barrier is similar to a temporary heal that cannot be reduced by ignite, but that is it... So, barrier should add some armor and magic resist according to level -- +5 armor and +5 magic resistance per level (+90 at level 18) -- for as long as the barrier lasts. summoner 13 Clarity should reduce the cooldown of all cooling-down champion abilities (q, w, e, r) by 50% of current cooldown as well as restoring 40% of the champions' maximum mana. summoner 3 Exhaust should last twice as long as it currently does. Last of all, summoner 6 ghost should also allow champions to move through one piece of terrain at the start of using ghost and halfway through using ghost, also, if the champion did not move through the terrain in the first half of ghost, it can still be used until the end of ghost. The least common summoner spells are: summoner 1 cleanse (0.7%), {{summoner:2}} clairvoyance (0.2%), and {{summoner:10}} revive (0.1%). summoner 1 Cleanse should not only remove all debuffs, but should also make the user receive 1% per level less damage from abilities as well as reducing all debuffs by 50%, for the next ten seconds (1% for level 1, 18% for level 18). {{summoner:2}} Clairvoyance has very slight current use of providing sight for just a few seconds... warding causes it to be nearly useless. However, if it was enhanced to provide true sight, last 8 seconds instead of 5 seconds, and be able to be relocated during its use, it would be able to be used for a much larger variety. For example, it could be used to occasionally neutralize invisible champions or units, keep an eye on the enemy roamers like the jungler, and briefly check a large area to see if the enemy is planning an ambush. {{summoner:10}} Revive currently is pretty scary to see used... Because the champion seems to be expecting to be dying a lot. However, to remedy this problem, I have some drastic modifications. Revive would not revive you at your platform anymore, it will revive your dead body where you died, this way you can still win a fight even though you lost in a close battle, When you are revived, you will be as if you just respawned on your platform with full health and mana (or energy); you will have 150% movement speed that decays over the next 3 seconds; all of your cooldowns will be reduced by ten seconds (this will allow most champions to use their abilities quickly after being revived). With these changes to the other summoner spells, the summoner spell flash should have some competition, and there will be a lot more variety of summoner spells along with enhanced variety and mobility in a player's style.

Crystal Scar Spell: {{summoner:17}} Garrison (15% on Crystal Scar) Garrison is used to heal the turret or let you turret dive in Crystal Scar. Garrison should be a garrison, as the name implies. When used on an ally turret you should add damage to the turret, and increase the range to 130%, for 5 seconds. Then, when used on an enemy turret, you should go inside of the turret, and be able to direct the turret, dealing damage to the turret as well as gaining the ability to control the turret for 5 seconds (then you can shoot the enemy with their own turret! at least... two shots.)

Another Summoner Spell: Radar Jammer, unable to be used on Howling Abyss. This summoner spell causes all enemy turrets to be unable to see you for 4 seconds, but dealing damage to the enemy turret will reduce the summoner spell's duration by 2 seconds (Radar Jammer will only last 2 seconds instead of 4 seconds if you deal damage to an enemy turret); attacking champions will not reduce the duration of this summoner spell. This allows powerful assassins or the ADC to turret dive without dying, or to travel across the turret without being seen or even to rush past the turret after the enemy without the minion cover which would otherwise be necessary.

Please 'like' this if you agree with me and want these changes.

Assisted by UltraInventor

Modified February 2, 2015

18 Comments

Leaf of the lake4 votes

Until flash becomes a built-in ability a la trinkets, it will always be selected as one of a player's two summoners in 95%+ of situations. The other summoners would have to become ridiculously OP to be worth taking over the sheer versatility and play-making power flash provides.

UltraInventor4 votes

I think this guy has made it pretty clear that the other abilities needed improvement, and he did, really big improvements on some of them too. Besides, ezreal, Lucian, Caitlyn, rek'sai, lee'sin, leblanc... I think you can catch what I'm saying, there are already built-in flash-like abilities, and in ez's case, he does have a flash. Besides, there is more than flash. (As for rek'sai, I was referring to previously placed tunnels, or placing one; lee'sin, he hits you with his light or sets down a ward or is near an ally and he jumps to them.) Ezreal Lucian Caitlyn RekSai LeeSin Leblanc.

qetzel3 votes

The changes to heal and ignite are the right type of changes. I worry that your other examples will be too strong.

54% damage reduction on an assassin is wrong. What is to stop a Leblanc taking cleanse and not dying? 90 Armour and MR is also a bit strong, particularly when added to a large shield. Clarity would probably just be used by, for example, Karthus at level six immediately after he uses his ultimate, which lowers moments of opportunity and isn't interesting gameplay. Also, how woud Ghost work if you decided to wait in the wall as it timed out?

I actually don't see Flash as a problem. It is fun, it is fairly challenging to use in the optimal way and it gives interessting gameplay. I do not want to see Flash leave every game. I actually like everyone having Flash.

I Feast Tonight1 votes

They are strong; that is the point. I want there to be a more even and play-style oriented choice between all of the summoner spells, not just flash summoner 4. And the 54% damage reduction (from cleanse summoner 1), it does not last for very long, and it is only that strong when you are level 18, when the damage is high. In addition, I specified that it reduced the damage from abilities, and not from basic attacks. As for the modifications for barrier summoner 21, the shield it provides only lasts about 4 seconds, so 8 seconds of high armor and magic resist at level 18, when there is plenty of physical and magical damage and penetration is not really as powerful as it seems at first. It is strong, but again... that is the point, it needs upgraded if it is to be worth being used over flash. And for clarity summoner 13, it really helps in the mana department, but in a fight when the mana is needed most, you have used at least one ability to run out of mana, so some strong cooldown will complete the action of enabling you to use your abilities to win a fight. I set it up to reduce the cooldown of a percentage of the current cooldown to keep the maximizing power of it (which you mentioned) available for only a short time. What if you were in the middle of the fight and your ultimate was ten seconds away?... then clarity would only take away 5 seconds that time. You wouldn't use clarity just to cooldown your ultimate -- so don't do it Karthus! --, so using clarity immediately after using your ultimate would not happen as often as would first be assumed, if you did so, you would be ignoring the mana restoring part, and just be using the cooldown reduction part. If you are ghosting summoner 6 through a wall and it ends while you are in the middle of it you would be pushed to the nearest side, like with flash, and if you were in the exact middle of two sections, you would be pushed back to where you were coming from. Flash is fun and challenging, but why should the other abilities not be fun and challenging themselves? They should be able to be just as useful. And if you want interesting gameplay, flash would still have all of its capabilities, so upgrading the rest wouldn't retract from the gameplay, it would expand it to envelope all of the other summoner spells and their unique aspects too. Revive for example, its almost like revenge from the grave, you die in lane in the beginning or almost shutting down a fed enemy, so you use revive to get right back there to finish the job... after or before shopping if you wanted, and of course you would not have that homeguard bonus, you were not on the Summoner's platform exactly, just dead. To have that homeguard bonus you would need to be alive and on the Summoner's platform, and that should keep the boost of movement speed from being too powerful (just to clarify, when you are revived, you are revived with all of the benefits of respawning, except for on-platform benefits like homeguard). By the way, thank you for agreeing with the ignite ( Brand ) and heal ( Sona ) summoner spell upgrades. 8D

FastAsHeck3 votes

i feel like there are some changes needed, maybe not exactly the ones you said though. also i feel like summoner spells should not be abilities and they should be really straightforward: lore-wise, you can see them as if the summoner (you ) is "hacking" the system to help your champion. gameplay-wise they were always simple enough, they are strong but no overpowered abilities at a huge cooldown. take summoner 14 for example,410 damage at lvl 18 is decent but a single ability or autoattack does more than that. spells also include the element of surprise. for these reasons i think that spells should not become as strong as abilities or very complex (i really dont like the idea of ghosting through walls). they do need a bit of change though.

Weasel Kensei2 votes

I cant agree with all these changes, or the exact nature of the changes. Though I do like the cooldown idea on clarity a bit. Clarity helps a lot early game for casters, but later when mana regen kicks in... the spell has no use anymore. It not like if flash is off cooldown it falls off in usefulness late game, but clarity does for many champs.

I occasionally play Master Yi in the jungle and I take Clairvoyance and Smite. I get real grief for taking Clairvoyance, Iv been told to take flash more than once. I prefer to be able to keep an eye on the enemy jg locations, and find that enemy that escaped into the fog of war. I can also use Q to hop over jg walls with it instead of wards if i need to.

ClairV has a lot of utility, BUT it could use a minor buff.... I feel like an OP champ main calling for a buff for my champ saying this.... Still, it could do more, but I dont care for your version. It could last longer (8 seconds?) Give true vision, even if it was the first 2 seconds of the duration. One idea I always thought would be neat is if you could recast it during those 5 seconds to move the epicenter to another spot inside the area of effect as many times as you liked to "look around."

I like the idea of barrier giving armor and mr, thats not bad. Personally I think the amounts are a bit high and last too long. I think base Barrier shield values as they are now could maybe even be doubled and perhaps armor and mr values of 20 each and +1/level for a total of 38 each at 18th level maybe, this may get it used. Perhaps instead some some flat damage reduction from basic attacks or % damage reduction from all sources added to the shield. I do think barrier has room for more shield and still wont give near as much attack/escape options as Flash. It would be interesting if tanks could pop Barrier and do a little tanking while they tanked, and squishies could use it during laneing/teamfights to survive a bit longer.

Personaly I think Heal and Ignite are pretty good as is. Heal is pretty versitile, it can give u enough health and move speed to survive a trade, it can give you and ur lane partner movespeed to catch a fleeing enemy. Ignite does what its supposed to do, I often see Flash/Ignite, we dont have to encourage more people to take it they already do.

The best suggesion Iv seen for Ghost is adding a passive that increases movespeed when not on cooldown. How much this movespeed should be can be discussed but if taking Ghost gave 15 movespeed, or 5% movespeed then all of a sudden this spell may see some more use on kiteing champs and roaming junglers. Ghost is a good spell but honestly it can really only be used for the same things as Flash, getting to or away from an enemy in most cases. Sure it could be used to travel more quicly, but if it were going to be used for that the cooldown would have to be a bit shorter; 210 seconds is 3 1/2 minutes and that is too long for travel convenience. Maybe a shorter cooldown is the thing that makes Ghost see more play.

Revive as you sugested would be more powerful, but I honestly fear the complete nonsense OP terror it would be on certain champs.... Sion . Honestly, Revive is a strange beast... you want spells to be viable... but Id prefer we not encourage people to take this one.

Teleport, working as intended. Iv teleganked people with jg Warwick many times. On champs like Pantheon ist just plain awesome, same for Sion. Honestly teleport is a bit OP in the extreme when teamwork comes into play. Top wards the far bush, lets their lane get pushed, jg teleports in and BAM river ward bypassed and pincer attack commences. Iv seen Top port down to the tribush and double gank problem bottom pairs with the jg too. Teleport is a tool for teamwork and when used makes team play happen faster and more often. Dont touch teleport, working as intended.

Your poll should have had a "Some of these changes" option, as it stands I couldnt vote since I think some of the ideas are ok but others arnt.

I Feast Tonight1 votes

I am sorry that I did not put the "Some of these changes" option, and I would go back and put it there if I could. I have tried to, but all I can do is modify the actual content, but not the poll I put on. But, if you do like my idea, please don't forget to 'like' it. As for that clairvoyance idea {{summoner:2}}, I was having some difficulty with coming up with a good upgrade for it, and the extra ward was the best I was able to come up with at that time. I will take your idea for it into consideration. Thank you for your input. It is through great and constructive input that these types of ideas are refined into something good enough for RIOT to actually put into the League of Legends, which is the goal.

KeyboardGuy 1 votes

I really agree that the other spells need buffing. With regards to Teleport, I think teleporting to a ward for it to be invisible, would be a bit OP. I think it would be better to have a global sound, alerting the opposition you have used your TP, but not alert them of the location.

DoubleOJay1 votes

It's a good idea. I think alternatives to flash would make the game more exciting, but I think the exact changes need a little more thinking through. Flash is great for it's instant repositioning. It makes the difference between life and death in many games, but it's short and has a long cooldown. Some of the spells that you suggest last an absurdly long time (8 seconds of 90 additional armor and mr?!?) Barrier is meant to be a short term buffer to keep you alive. Making the barrier a little stronger sounds great, but don't make it last the whole teamfight. I think for these abilities to be viable but not op options, they need to enhance very specific strategies. Flash gives positioning advantages, teleport lets top laners gank other lanes or buy items/heal and get back into lane without losing a lot of xp. The other spells should allow other strategic plays like that. Just buffing them to help anyone is a little boring. What's going to make Warwick choose cleanse over barrier? Ashe's ult was a good reason but with the extra mr and armor, he can just wait out the stun and damage that comes with it while still having the bonus stats for the rest of the teamfight.

I Feast Tonight1 votes

I have changed the following due to reviewing the comments on my ideas: summoner 21 barrier's additional armor and magic resist only last as long as the barrier its self, which is about 4 seconds; summoner 1 Cleanse only reduces 1% of ability damage per level (18% at level 18) for ten seconds; summoner 12 1 second before teleport finishes, all enemies hear a sound signifying that an enemy is using teleport.

Br4ndon1 votes

It would be cool if they make it so the further you summoner 12 the longer its cooldown. but reduce its base CD significantly.

BallisticMouse1 votes

I didn't read much of the post but i'm gonna throw in a short two cents that angered me.

summoner 14 is the most powerful summoner spell. It lasts longer than summoner 21 making Barrier not viable to counter Ignite. It causes summoner 7 to heal less making it almost pointless to use when ignited.

Ignite just dominates the summoner spell pool, it's worthless to take anything besides Flash/Ignite/Exhaust, unless you're jungle then throw Smite in there.

UltraInventor1 votes

I Feast Tonight is not meaning that it will deal more damage, just that the damage is a little more spread out. It was intentional though, there are many times that someone will use barrier to stay alive from ignite, or Tryndamere Tryndamere's or Kayle Kayle's ultimates. Also, it would keep the enemy in lane and seen for one second longer, which could mean all the difference.

I Feast Tonight1 votes

I have considered and acted upon the given idea for clairvoyance {{summoner:2}}. Now, it is not like a fourth ward; instead it provides a moment of long-range, relocatable, true sight area. I can see some specific strategic uses for these changes, including: an enemy turns invisible right before, during, or at the end of a fight, so I would use clairvoyance to see the enemy and be able to attack him; I want to keep an eye on the whereabouts of the enemy jungler, or just want to know if it is safe for me to invade; check an area in a chase for any planned ambush that the enemy is luring me into. I am sure there are other tactics available to be used with various champions that want it, but these are my initial ideas.

Vantooth1 votes

summoner 14 Reduce damage, 5-10% damage increase for the duration summoner 3 are in a pretty good situation but an additional, .5 second or even .25 would make it more viable on other champ than support. summoner 7 should be targeted 1 ally or aoe. summoner 21 duration should be increased a bit and maybe say the shield take 10% less damage. {{summoner:2}} If it reveals an enemy champions it reveals it for 7 seconds. summoner 13 The CD idea isn't bad, but it should probably increase mana regen for a while. summoner 6 80% slow reduction while active and 20% tenacity summoner 12 You should only see the animation if you have vision until the last seconds where a beam appears just before you. Give a lot more surprise, but you can still react.

summoner 4 flash is not instant anymore it has a .25 cast time. I don't know, but using flash should come with a price.

Also a summoner spell that could make you invisible for X seconds while you stand still or slow you for the duration might be fun.

Caeler1 votes

The problem is that a lot of the unused summoner spells are niche picks, and that summoner 4 crowds out a lot of other picks. Flash is taken by just about everyone in just about every game. It needs to be reworked so that there are actually times when it should or should not be picked, rather than being a perfect pick for every game.

summoner 3 , summoner 7 , and summoner 14 are all perfectly fine as they are. Exhaust is a defensive pick for high damage enemies, Ignite is an offensive pick for dealing damage and preventing heals, and Heal is something of a mix between the two.

summoner 13 is bad for multiple reasons, the first is because not everyone uses mana. This is useless for any champion that doesn't use mana. That also means that the more non-mana champions you have on your team, the less effective this spell becomes. Additionally, it's really only useful during lane phase. Past that, most champions who actually NEED mana will have built items to help them out. Lategame, there are much better spells. This needs to give something else on top of the mana. "Clarity should reduce the cooldown of all cooling-down champion abilities (q, w, e, r) by 50% of current cooldown" is a decent start.

summoner 6 is fine.

summoner 1 is bad because it doesn't actually do what it says. You would think this would let you get out of Malzahar or Warwick's ult, but it doesn't. Without that, it's just a worse version of item 3139 , which isn't built very often anyways.

{{summoner:2}} is completely useless. I personally like the overhaul here, which solidifies it as what to take for giving and preventing vision. That could be tested and balanced accordingly.

summoner 21 is a worse version of heal. It blocks damage situationally, as opposed to Heal, which will always give you back health. On top of that, heal actually gives more effective health than barrier if used on an ally in addition to the movespeed buff that barrier doesn't get. I like your idea of giving it armor/mr per level, but 90 at level 18 is way too much. Something like 3 per level (54 at 18 or ~the stats given by a GA) is a lot more balanced. Your armor/mr change would give it a clear use for preventing burst, and would allow some cool outplay scenarios like Sivir's spellshield.

summoner 12 is also one of the summoner spells that I think are in a fine place. Your suggested change is more or less given if you buy distortion boots though.

summoner 11 is also fine, especially with the changes to jungle items, though limiting item 1039 to people who pick Smite makes it seem like Riot is trying to enforce the meta.

Lastly, we have {{summoner:10}}. Revive is bad because it has drawbacks. It can't be used until you die, which means that you actually get punished for dying less if you have it. Additionally, it's useless earlygame because the death timers are too low, and it's cooldown is too high (9 minutes, really?). This forces it into only being useful mid-lategame, where the death timers hit ~35+. By the time you get there though, the cooldown severely limits how often you get to use it. Lowering the cooldown, however, will cause problems like Fortify did where everyone on your team will start to take it. I personally don't believe there's any real way to balance this, and that it should be removed.

To conclude, most of the unused summoner spells are bad because they aren't as flexible or useful as the most used spells. Flash is useful in just about every possible situation that can arise whereas Clarity is jut kinda... meh?

tl;dr Flash is broken, crowds out picks, and needs a rework. Clarity, Cleanse, Clairvoyance, and Barrier need buffs. Revive needs to be removed.

SlackerboyTC1 votes

The only changes i hate are to summoner 14 , I've realized while reading this how many times I was saved by an messed up ignite, why would I want it to last any longer? I've had too many near death experiences with ignite to count.

Hawkefire1 votes

Flash simply needs to be removed, or changed so that it doesn't work in combat.

There is no way to balance summoner spells properly so long as flash exists, its power is arguably limitless in comparison to the other summoner spells because of the sheer amount of things you can do with it.

I know the removal of flash will screw over some champs (such as Galio), but those champs need some heavy buffs anyway, and there is no reason why a champ has to rely on a summoner spell that should be entirely optional.

More from Gameplay

More by I Feast Tonight