Flash, Ignite, and Smite are currently unlocked to new players when their accounts reach levels 8 - 10.
Flash is used by over 95% of players, and Smite allows players to jungle. Why are they kept from new players for so long?
RiotMeddler17 votesThat's a deliberate choice to help new players ease into the game. The jungle's extremely punishing if you don't know what you're doing, especially if you don't have many runes, so we don't want to encourage people into it with Smite immediately. Flash and Ignite by contrast are both a bit harder to use than Ghost and Heal in particular, hence they unlock later too. Some minor side benefit in that it also makes low level games a bit less lethal on average too (new players don't assess threat well, so die a lot already, helps a tiny bit to not exacerbate that).
PrimeWraith1 votescan you unban this account pleast? it got perma, and I reformed, I went to society class to reform. I wont tell your boss
Jesus is Savior3 votesespecially if you don't have many runes, so we don't want to encourage people into it with Smite immediately.
You can fix that by not locking runes/masteries behind a level requirement, since T2 are free runes.
Eedat2 votesI could understand that but its not uncommon for new players to be matched against higher level accounts that have these summoners unlocked, which puts them at a disadvantage. Also, I would disagree that flash is harder to use because its an easy panic button to get out of a situation.
Puppet33r7 votesWhile I agree about smite and jungling being hard without proper runes/masteries, the part about ignite and flash is total bs. Flash is a universal must-have spell at this point and ignite is a simple point and click dot spell. Should their cooldowns be wasted smart? Yeah. But they are not harder to use. On top of it all, it also creates some pretty infuriating power level difference together with a keystone mastery on early levels. Since matchmaking doesn't care whether or not you got flash and ignite or keystone, early levels are an even worse hell then dynamic queue.
RendDuzit1 votesWhile I agree about smite and jungling being hard without proper runes/masteries, the part about ignite and flash is total bs. Flash is a universal must-have spell at this point and ignite is a simple point and click dot spell. Should their cooldowns be wasted smart? Yeah. But they are not harder to use. On top of it all, it also creates some pretty infuriating power level difference together with a keystone mastery on early levels. Since matchmaking doesn't care whether or not you got flash and ignite or keystone, early levels are an even worse hell then dynamic queue.
I wouldn't say flash is a MUST have.. A lot of champions do better with Ghost than Flash. But, I see you point either way.. :]
Puppet33r4 votes"a lot" is an overstatement. I mean there's 
and that's it. Others are usually better off with flashing over the wall to get away or to chase.
BastionKross2 votesAs far as smite goes, that's more a byproduct of the jungle being so damn unforgiving. Can you imagine a level 3 jungler? There would be more executions than a Darius pentakill.
There's got to be a middle ground between "Everyone can jungle and stay there forever" and "Oh god I forgot my jungle runes, now I might die to blue".
Pierce The Veal3 votesThat's a deliberate choice to help new players ease into the game. The jungle's extremely punishing if you don't know what you're doing, especially if you don't have many runes, so we don't want to encourage people into it with Smite immediately. Flash and Ignite by contrast are both a bit harder to use than Ghost and Heal in particular, hence they unlock later too. Some minor side benefit in that it also makes low level games a bit less lethal on average too (new players don't assess threat well, so die a lot already, helps a tiny bit to not exacerbate that).
I honestly think by making them unlocked later you're just making it hell for the newer players. Flash, ignite, and smite are the core of the game for the most part, not letting them get those because they're "hard to use" just means they're going to have to re-experience the game learning process at level 8-10, and also be told that most of the spells they had at low levels were actually not useful for them.
The Yetii Rider2 votesAll of that is well and good, but isn't it a problem that you balance a necessary role (the PvE aspect of it) on players having access to an optional customization system with high levels of variance?
Every other role can CS without fear of dying with a blank rune page.
GaleWinUnleashed1 votesIf you prefer, we could always go back to, Season 4, was it?, where everyone could jungle pretty much forever without having to go back.
In any case, I think the fact that jungling takes some durability is a good thing. It helps encourage teams to bring a tank, particuarly when we're in a top-lane meta that might be more squisy.
The Yetii Rider1 votesExcept it doesn't, because you still have Nidalee, Graves, Kindred and the like jungling.
I do like the idea of the jungler being able to stay in the jungle forever. It's pretty difficult to gain and maintain map control when you have to worry about your health and mana levels from the environment, not because you screwed up a gank.
Reikken2 votesgive you something to work towards give you time to get hooked on the game
BananaJannana1 votessomething to work towards should be a banner or something not so crucial to the gameplay. without smite, players can't jungle for the first 10 levels.
Reikken1 voteshm. well getting ganked from the jungle while you're learning the game might make people more likely to quit
R FLASH XD1 votesgive you something to work towards give you time to get hooked on the game
Idk 'bout you but Ahri hooked me really well
GaleWinUnleashed2 votesSmite in particular is very deliberately locked behind a level barrier; jungling is difficult enough that new players are not expected to cope with it. New players do not have runes or the knowledge needed to jungle sustainably, let alone effectively, and there's plenty of other things for them to be learning. So Smite is locked away to avoid drowning new players in even more strategy and gameplay mechanics.
Flash adds so much to the game that it sorta falls under the same category.
Ignite, not so much. Point, click, damage, done. Not sure why that one is locked away.
Godhri1 votesI agree with your point on smite. It's crucial for the role of jungle and doesn't make sense if their basis for a level up system is for the player to learn the game.
BananaJannana2 votesI think they should give a better tutorial instead, so players know the roles and what Smite is for
Godhri1 votesI don't know about you, but I skip all tutorials nowadays. People don't like having to make a quick stop to learn the basics. They want to jump right into it. Sure that's their fault, but game designers need to work around that.
XLC1 votesThere's more then one way to do a tutorial. Most of the time, though, we either force it or disguise it as the starting level. (See: Super Mario Bros. level 1 - 1) Not really stuff league could do.
BloodyTompon1 votesThey're the most difficult to use as well. Most new players that are not smurfs can't use flash well and can't jungle (or even know about jungle).
Nahui1 votesIt's to expose you to the underrated summoner spells. They don't want you just grabbing the best ones from level 1. You also shouldn't be jungling low level. Riot wants you to lane first. That's the best place to learn the game initially.
