We're ignoring outliers for the purpose of this question.
How powerful would spells have to get before "Do I want to pick Flash this game?" becomes a question you ask yourself every game?
WoonStruck12 votesIt wouldn't even matter.
The versatility and unpredictability of Flash make it mandatory on anyone with either high upfront damage or hard CC.
Backup4now6 votesOf course it would matter. If ignite did 500 damage at level one, it would be mandatory on every character. That's what the thread is about: How strong would it need to be to pick over Flash? Are you telling me that no amount of strongness would ever make it worth taking any other spell over Flash?
50000000000000003 votesIgnite doing %max HP true damage would make it very strong on top lane fighters, but even then I don't see them forgoing flash. Unless, of course, it can literally one shot people.
Backup4now1 voteswell if ignite was the only buffed one, then of course people would take ignite AND flash. But if every spell was raised to that level of power, nobody would take flash.
doiminat0r36002 votesNo amount of balanced strongness. If TP had it's old timers back, then it'd be more worth taking. Now, when you TP the lane has an eternity to know you're coming.
Ignite is only good for finishing off, GW, or agressive laners.
is still useless. Can be fixed by allowing global mana regen or a higher amout with lower cooldown.
is protective against burst. Worth it but could use changes accordingly.
is mandatory on bot ADC because they get the most use out of it (being near someone at all times and sudden burst heal). Maybe add 1 second damage reduction to make it more worthwile for other lanes.
is good on a select few that benefit from going fast or having any kind of MS through minions (mainly Singed and Hec). Could be buffed to revert the windup.
Do I even have to say anything? If you have no smite, you're screwed as jungle. No XP, no survivabilty. It's over.
Spice POWAH1 votesI wonder what would happen if became a personal locket, as in it decayed but shielded more initially?
doiminat0r36001 votesIdk. I think that if Barrier had a damage reduction that lasted a certain amount of time with a decaying shield would make it worth wile picking on anything. Even heal is a better option than Barrier.
Backup4now3 votesbalanced strongness.
Well, then let's get back to the topic. How strong does it have to be to even consider not taking flash? I say it would go outside of your definition of 'balanced strongness' if it were to ever get to flash's level and stand toe-to-toe with it. I do believe that's part of the point of this thread.
doiminat0r36001 votesStrong enough to be life saving, provide utility and/or game changing actions.
The amount of times flash has been used to save your life, a team mates life, engage, juke, or even finish off enemies is huge. To the point where it happens atleast once a game.
This isn't very much said with anything else but Heal, but that's negotiable.
Backup4now1 votesExhaust can also be used to save a teammate's life, engage, disengage, stop an enemy from juking, or catch someone.
Ghost can also be used to save a teammate's life, engage, disengage, juke, or catch someone.
Teleport can be used to save a teammate's life or engage.
That being said, despite those existing, it doesn't have to provide utility. Ignite could have the reveal and grievous wounds stripped away, and as long as it did a lot of damage (game changing action), it would be able to be picked over flash despite only being one thing: damage. Something as simple as "do 150-750 true damage to the target over 5 seconds" would be such an immense damage boost that nobody would ever pick flash; you can sometimes mess up your flash, but you can't mess up dealing a fuckton of true damage. Getting ahead guaranteed has much more value than the utility flash brings, especially in this meta.
doiminat0r36001 votesI was mainly focusing on things that people don't use. Exhaust is nearly mandatory on supports or mid laners this patch because assassins.
Ghost isn't as useful as flash. It's largely telegraphed, CC is still applied, and there is a windup to the MS. Flash, on the other hand is unpredictable (they could flash any direction, not just where they're facing), can avoid CC, and is instant.
Teleport takes 4.5 seconds for you to actually teleport. That's enough time for the average laner to walk from the enemy T1 tower to the enemy T2 tower. It's fairly useless in respects of engaging is laughable, as the enemy has plenty of time to prepare for your arrival or get the kill they were after.
I said:
Strong enough to be life saving, provide utility and/or game changing actions.
Keyword is or
As long as it has atleast one of those, it works well. If the only one it has is situational, then it's useless and is never picked. Clarity is never picked because of its situationalness. Cleanse isn't picked either because, not only are there other options, but it's situational. If you were to make ignite do up to 750 True damage, that wouldn't just be a take this. That'd be a "This is mandatory" kind of like release thunderlords. 2 ignites mid game can kill an ADC (assuming it'd do 500 damage (150 base + 33.33 per level).
The point is, many of these summoner spells don't have any of these qualities. Many can't save a team mate. Many can't help engage or disengage. Many aren't as useful as the select few.
Kubox6 votesIt's not really a "how strong should they be" matter. Rather, Flash is just useful for every situation, whereas other spells have more specific uses. This means that while a lot of these spells would have to be tremendously buffed to be as commonly-picked as Flash, they would actually be a lot more powerful than it as that would mean that they are so powerful that filling a certain niche is not needed.
Not every champion needs Heal. Not every champion can use Exhaust. Some champions don't need Ignite to kill you. But every champion, at some point in the game, will be able to use a gap-closer or an escape.
LadyRenly5 votesif i could take two exhaust id do it
Spoofghoul1 votesdouble tp sounds nice too
:D
FakeGravity5 votesit would require not one but two summoner spells be so incredibly strong that taking both worth the cost of lossing flash
KiyoYoshimaru2 votesI pretty much don't use flash anymore, unless i'm playing Sona top. As a whole it is a crutch that makes players think its safe to over extend, often without warding. Then they try to flee when ganked, and flash just isn't good enough, and die. I think flash should just be unusable until (insert milestone) of play until a player gets the basic of last hits, under pushing, and safe playing.
Aptest2 votesThere is no such thing as ignoring the outliers here.
at the end of the day Flash has universal value simply because it's effect is hard for the other team to contest. Whereas other summoner spells either have a much more specific effect that can be also contested by the other team, or have entry conditions that limit usefulness.
the TL;DR is that ghost is situationally better. Ignite is situationally better. Cleanse is situationally better. Even exhaust is SITUATIONALLY better. so picking any of them is always a case of guesstimation.
And the champion's kit takes a huge part in these guesstimations.
Kitten of Evil2 votesI would never ever go without flash on any immobile mage (which is a sizeable chunk of the roster). Without Flash, mobile champions can always dictate the terms of engagement. They can dive when it suits them at minimal risk. And without Flash, immobile champions become incredibly predictable, since the only thing they can do is walk up.
You need access to SOME clutch, over-terrain mobility in order to keep up with assassins and mobile ADCs, and Flash gives immobile champions a shot against terrain skills like Azir, Taliyah, or Jarvan ults. The reason Camille's ult is fair is because it works just as well against a Leblanc as it does against a Xerath.
Dolasaur1 votesSaw a LeBlanc yesterday trick Camille with her RR clone... made my day :) But I do support the trapping of mobile and immobile champs equally.
junglerboy162 votesUntil having teleport gives you more combat presence, Until Barrier and heal provide more offensive power, Until Ignite gives you more safety against a fed laner, Until Ghost lets you walk through terrain, Until Cleanse provides more utility,
Maybe, MAYBE then flash won't be the defacto best summoner in the game.
That or give every champ a comparable low cooldown blink and it might become slightly obsolete (as in the case of Shaco).
At this point I'd rather they just give Flash the recall treatment and make it a permanent aspect of the game and give us two normal summoners instead.
Acheron162 votesI honestly think the game would be much better if Flash was simply removed:
-You would have to be careful about your positioning without that free escape -Champs with mobility would be nerfed to pay for that mobility -Certain champions would no longer have their broken combo (Annie's Flash-Tibbers or Galio's Flash-ult) and could be better balanced -No more Lee Flash-kick
TheHobbits1 votesWell, back in ye olde days of League there were times when players took Tele/Ghost for fast lane return and chase. Supports took clarity to restore the ap bot's mana and clairvoyance to spot the enemy at the start of the game.
At some point in time when the #LC$bigplayz started becoming a serious thing the meta locked in and Flash became THE spell to take. Any other spell was considered off meta and therefore frond upon.
Rebonack2 votesWell, back in ye olde days of League there were times when players took Tele/Ghost for fast lane return and chase. Supports took clarity to restore the ap bot's mana and clairvoyance to spot the enemy at the start of the game.
At some point in time when the #LC$bigplayz started becoming a serious thing the meta locked in and Flash became THE spell to take. Any other spell was considered off meta and therefore frond upon.
Just as an example, Cleanse used to break all CC including Suppression while also providing a 30 second long spellshield on cast. After that, it was changed to giving several seconds of CC immunity rather than the spellshield.
So some spells used to be a hell of a lot stronger. Situational picks actually worth picking.
Golden Tager X2 votesI wish I had my pocket Ragnarok on Yi still. good times
Fondling Gems1 votesI mean TBF Flash also used to be the most useless summoner spell in the game back when it had a cast time.
Shuyin1781 votesWell there are champions that take Ghost over Flash at times, so while it doesn't happen for most champions it is a thing already. Though I do understand where you're coming from with this post.
Rebonack1 votesWell there are champions that take Ghost over Flash at times, so while it doesn't happen for most champions it is a thing already. Though I do understand where you're coming from with this post.
Right, which is why I qualified it with 'excluding outliers'.
There aren't that many champions where picking two things that aren't Flash is a viable option over picking Flash and one non-Flash Summoner.
PhDs Nuts3 votesWell there are champions that take Ghost over Flash at times, so while it doesn't happen for most champions it is a thing already. Though I do understand where you're coming from with this post.
That's because the champions are based on movespeed, not because Flash is worse. It's literally just 
. The other champs that take Ghost typically take Flash with it as well in mid lane.
Ok sure but why1 votesignite - 1000000 true damage immediately
ZT Xperimentor1 votesA spell to restore significant mana, oh wait.
Danjeng1 votesExhaust is a surprisingly powerful, to the point where I see it more often than ignite in midlane. Still no replacement for flash though. Flash is just such a powerful summoner spell, it allows you to instantly position yourself within single frame. I generally pick ghost over flash on champions who need to constantly be in position, rather than a short moment. Garen, Singed, Hecarim, any battle mage, etc. work well with Ghost, which allows them to keep up with more mobile champions.
Cleanse and Barrier seem underwhelming, but maybe that's just me. They both are self targeted summs used to negate incoming attacks, one for CC, one for damage. They could both be combined into a single summ, and still flash would be picked over it. That's just how much of a difference in power there is between Flash and other summoner spells.
MaeDoSan1 votesI guess ghost is better on tanks than flash , coz taking a few more hits won't matter but you would cover more distance Flash is just necessary for squishes
Spoofghoul5 votesbut flash can be good on tanks to engage quickly
flash in cc everyone
with ghost they can see you coming and slow you down or cc you or reposition so you have to choose 1 target instead of hitting all 3
MARSILKS1 votesThats why you take it on tanks without much cc, Singed, Nasus, Olaf, Hecarim (Tryndamere isnt a tank but his long survivability with ult makes it good on him)
50000000000000002 votesAll of those are fighters, with the exception of Singed (who is classified as unique playstyle). Fighters take ghost for better sticking potential, tanks take flash to CC more reliably. Very few actual tanks take ghost.
xxxDogmanxxx1 votesI mean, if any other summoner spell gave all the incredible advantages that 
affords players (namely repositioning, dodging, escaping, chasing, etc.), then that summoner spell will just replace as the ubiquitous summoner spell. The only exception would be if one of the other summoner spells were buffed to ridiculous levels, like say instead of 70 to 410 true damage over 5 seconds, 
was buffed to deal 140-810 true damage over 5 seconds.
Rebonack1 votesI mean, if any other summoner spell gave all the incredible advantages that
Well that leads to an interesting thought.
What if all Summoner Spells offered both offense and defensive benefits of some kind to provide more parity with Flash?
The only other Summoner right now that's really powerful both offensively and defensively (after Riot nerfed Ghost for being a good option) is Exhaust. And people are clamoring for it to get nerfed, too.
Proxy3451 votesIf worked on your entire team instead of just yourself then it would be taken in every match lol
Bouncemaster Zac1 votesIf
It would also render Sivir obsolete since that's basically her ult.
Irelia Bot1 votesTHe only exception to flash I can think are are things like Singed, Hec and Trynda picking ghost over it or Season 3 Shyvana who had really weak gank potential and would often run Smite + exhaust since her ult would often be up to use as a replacement flash if need be once above level 6.
Basically it is only replaced due to better synergy of chasing and running around or more out of necessity to cover another weakness while the issue of no flash is taken care of in the champs kit.
Spoofghoul1 votes is now an aoe spell 700 radius (abyssal size) and it's cooldown is halved, now also works on minions, monsters and structures
50000000000000001 votesAbyssal size? That's larger than Caitlyn autoattack zone.
Asayake 5150glow1 votesI'm never not taking flash on Riven.
I don't care. It's too good for assassinations.
Avios11 votesI am one of the few people who just blantantly doesn't take flash, unless I forget to change from an event, or I'm playing in an event.
https://na.op.gg/summoner/userName=avios1
I just don't like crutches tbh.
Backup4now1 votesExtremely overpowered. That's your answer. Some are already good on certain champs, like ghost on characters that need to stick to you, but recently ghost users have started taking exhaust instead (such as shyvana jg, smite exhaust).
Exhaust is already pretty much there, especially with how much damage is in the game right now. Ghost ->Full speed from level 1, or add slow reduction - more guaranteed stickiness, extremely powerful early Ignite -> 120 damage at level 1 - makes level 2 cheese obnoxious Teleport -> 1 second channel, or dramatically reduced cooldown - overpowered ganks or overpowered map pressure Heal -> eh. It's almost there. Just lil number buff, maybe to 110 at level 1. Barrier -> make it actually worth picking over Heal (probably dramatically reduce cooldown) Cleanse -> lower cooldown from 210 to 150 Smite -> deals 100% maxhealth true damage to the enemy nexus Surge -> bring it back bois
Alternatively, remove summoner spells.
THE RlVER KlNG1 votesIgnite would need to have the cooldown of a basic ability, same with barrier, cleanse and heal
teleport would need its channel time nerfs reverted and the reduced cd on towers
ghost would need its duration and movespeed shot through the roof
exhaust well that shit is already broken but still objectively not as good as flash
smite doesn't really count unless you're talking about buffing enchants too
AdeBug1 voteslife savers
DunkinNoobs1 votesThey already are. People don't take flash because it's too good; they take it because it has so many possible uses. Realistically, you'd probably win more games just going ignite+exhaust in every role but jungle.
BastionKross1 votesBrokenly strong.
Riot has accepted that Flash is basically ubiquitous at this point, and have balanced champions, items, and even the positions of brush on the map around it.
In order to buff other summoners to this level, we'd have to pour buffs on them and make them hilariously OP:
duration infinite until you are healed by something.
permanently adds 50 HP every time you use it.
affects all enemies in an AoE the size of a GP ult.
fully restores HP and mana when used.
lowers all ability costs to 0 for 30 seconds.
means you can now run though walls.
is now active at all times and grants 50% tenacity instead of what it does now.
animation is now invisible to enemies and grants 5 seconds of stealth when it finishes.
is now global and affects the entire team. 
hitbox is now the size of your average late game Chogath and will not hit minions.
can be used when dead to instantly revive and travel to Poro King.
MrHaZeYo1 votes What you stated should its passive while retaining the active.