Current state of spell popularity is less and less diverse

Squeaky101·5/25/2015, 2:08:58 AM·67 votes·9,914 views
http://i.imgur.com/wJbtN0q.png

Summoner Spells are a very important aspect of League, but throughout the last few years they have started to become less and less diverse. As you can see in the chart from LoLKing.net, some spells are magnitudes greater in popularity than the others, with a few spells ({{summoner:2}} ,summoner 13 ,summoner 1 and summoner 6) only taking up 0.3% of the chart. 0.3 percent! for FOUR spells!

Riot has tried to implement new spells, some succeeded (like barrier) while others did not (like Surge). But much time has passed, and the current lineup of spells have not been touched upon for a long time. The chart speaks for itself. summoner 4 is so essential that they might as well just give it to everyone for free! Summoner Spells could be so much more immersive, with greater variety to choose from. Around half of the spells we currently have rarely see use, while Flash is the go-to spell that everyone is obliged to take because of its usefulness. It would be very interesting to see how the other spells could be touched upon, buffed or tweaked in order to become relevant.

If any Rioters come across this post, I am curious as to what the balancing team thinks about the current state of Spell popularity, and if you are looking into possible changes in the future.

And of course, I am curious as to what the community thinks as well. Please let us know what you think about the current state of Spell popularity.

Link to the chart for those interested: http://www.lolking.net/charts?region=all&type=spell-popularity&range=daily&map=sr&queue=normal

Edit: Now I know many people are defending against what I said about summoner 4 being too popular, but what I meant is that it is too popular simply because the other spells aren't worth taking over it. Flash is fine how it is, but if some other spells got improved (the blue spells) then we would see them being used more, adding more of that diversity that we saw in the early days of League. New spells would be welcomed with open arms too. We have had a great addition so far (summoner 21 ), and there are probably some other ideas that could be made into new spells.

"Change is good" Kha'Zix, the Voidreaver

270 Comments

sp4415/25/2015, 4:10:59 AM65 votes

While I don't think Ghost is too bad, the other spells you mentioned are definitely pretty crap. Clarity is nearly completely useless later in the game, Cleanse requires tight timing and lacks the clutch recovery from Barrier or Heal, and Clairvoyance's job can be done just as well by a Blue trinket without giving up one of your summoner spells. Barrier also runs into problems of just being an overall lesser Heal most of the time.

Maybe Ghost should have some out-of-combat bonus movement speed, Clarity should refresh all cooldowns by 80% and raise your CDR by 15% for 10 Seconds, Clairvoyance should drop a stealth ward on top of revealing wards, traps, and stealth champions, Cleanse should give you a 50% movement speed burst that decays over 3 seconds, and maybe Heal should heal more than Barrier protects, but heal over a short time instead of instantly.

SleepyLionCub5/25/2015, 6:47:39 AM11 votes

How to fix the diversity

{{summoner:2}} Increase size, and allow it to reveal stealth units.

summoner 13 Make global, so everyone gets the mana, also change from +40%, to +30 Mana regen for 10 seconds.

summoner 1 Change into a spell shield, that absorbs all abilities thrown in for 1 (+ Champion level x .10) Seconds

Squeaky1015/25/2015, 2:34:20 AM8 votes

Something Riot could test is simply removing Flash entirely, and see what spells people take in its place. Sure, it would be a nerf to many champions who go well with it, but they could also try implementing new spells to make up for the loss.

I think a thornmail type spell would be cool, where a percentage of damage taken is redirected to who dealt the damage for a few seconds. Or perhaps a dumbed-down version of flash where instead of blinking to the location, you dash forward resulting in a slower flash.

And I like where Jamaree is going with the Ghost idea. It's just perfect, and I'd even consider using ghost if it were to have that change made to it.

Jamaree5/25/2015, 2:20:28 AM7 votes

Ghost needs to allow you to go through walls

CV is just outdated and needs to be removed because it is now basically a trinket

Cleanse, not really sure what to do with that one to be honest, it is strong but not strong enough to be a solo summoner's spell, best bet, splitting it into barrier and ghost. The CC reduction going onto ghost with the cleanse itself going onto barrier

Clarity, once again not sure.

Akeydel5/25/2015, 2:31:38 AM7 votes

Can I get a source? the pie chart seems disproportionate as summoner 11 should take up more than 1/5 (since jungles ALWAYS take it, and now other lanes take it too), but seems to be taken less than summoner 14.

OyddAWqJ5r5/25/2015, 5:05:51 AM6 votes

Does it really matter though? Honestly Flash is a staple of the game. It is a tool that literally creates flashy plays.

I think summoner spells should be thought of more as role constants or semi-constants than tools needing diversification.

CrazedPorcupine5/25/2015, 3:22:18 AM6 votes

Cross Posted from my Summoner spell thread from several months ago.

Barrier, Barrier started off in ARAM as the MUST pick spell beside Flash. It was then moved to SR, where it became the MUST PICK for ADC's However, since Heal has been buffed at the beginning of Season 4, Barrier has become outclassed in almost all cases. I suggest changing it to a support/tank pick that is contested by exhaust. TANK'S REJOICE! NEW -> When used, creates a barrier on target ally champion closest to your cursor (within 200 units) granting them a shield that protects against 50+10xLvl and grants 4xlvl% of your total Armor and Magic Resistance for the next 2 seconds. (Numbers would be capable of changing) 180 second cooldown This turns Barrier into an actual BARRIER by providing CLUTCH resistance bonuses and a very SMALL (230 Hp at level 18) shield to try and save an ally in a manner different from Heal. it's combat usage is also capable of helping save someone from a gank, that heal or exhaust may not be able to do. Exhaust would still be powerful because of it's ability to reduce damage to EVERYONE, and reduce the resistances of the target. Tank supports would likely take Barrier, while squishier supports would take exhaust.

Clarvoyance: once considered a must pick spell for supports, it used to have a cooldown as low as 45 seconds. This led to binary play where the enemy jungler would always be seen and could permanently be tracked through the jungle. Riot then nerfed CV, and it fell out of use as it's ability to scout was not as good, since it wasn't up enough to constantly track the enemy team. Since the nerf from 45 seconds to 60, and a host of smaller minor changes, CV has become a "troll" pick, especially since the removal of Elesia's Miracle. (RIP) CV has further been pushed out because of the arrival of the blue Trinket. ALL SEEING EYE SEES ALL! NEW: When used, all enemy champs are revealed for 2 seconds (Similar to TF ult first active) 90 second cooldown. This now gives CV an incredibly unique type of vision, that no trinket can replicate. This could make CV a VERY desirable pick in competetive because of it's ability to locate anybody at any point in time.

Clarity: Clarity was once also considered a solid pick for more utility AP champs as champs could sustain their DPS. In fact, now that mana regen is much worse, Clarity could potentially become a decent pick for mana based mids that need a tiny bit of mana to escape or to secure a kill. HOWEVER, Since summoner spells are generally picked for their more IMMEDIATE combat usage rather than anything else. So, my thoughts for the change are one that I think i'd seen on the boards before, that I actually incredibly like. MINI RAPID FIRE MODE! NEW: When used resets all non-ultimate cooldowns and reduces the mana costs of all abilities by 75% for the next 2 seconds. 210 Second Cool-down Thematically, this is a person meditating and gaining insight and ability to use all their skills again. It also allows for some incredibly flashy plays, Granted this could potentially be way over bearing, and may not be a healthy addition. However, because it would be a worthwhile spell to pick up in this manner, it could actually be balanced by changing how much it reduces non-ultimate cool-downs by, or how much the mana costs are reduced, or for how long they're reduced. In any situation, it becomes a worth while spell to use on some/many champs.

Cleanse: Cleanse has been niche pick because of it's clutch CC removal and CC reduction, but it loses out to QSS overall. This is because QSS not only gives defensive stats, builds into a hybrid defensive/offensive item, but removes ALL debuffs, not just most CC. TRULY CLEANSED: NEW -> Cleanse Now removes ALL forms of CC, and grants 1 second of CC immunity upon use: 150 second cooldown THis now makes cleanse a true pick against CC heavy teams, and actually has something that sets it apart from QSS in that Cleanse removes ALL CC (Including suppressions) and gives a 1 second immunity. QSS still removes Debuffs like Grevious wounds and DoT spells Like Malefic Visions, but now, cleanse can actually prevent the stunlocking and CC chain that the current cleanse and it's 65% CC REDUCTION does not. Doing this make Cleanse desirable against CC heavy lanes, or against WW and Malzahar (Note that it doesn't stop the damage, just teh CC)

Revive: Revive has been considered the absolute WORST spell in the game since season 1, it's been left in because it actually say pretty common usage with the cheesy revive teleport homeguard Karthus, and a few other champs that could pull off that combo. However it's 9 minute Cooldown has always made it a terrible pick up and a waste of a summoner spell. BRINGING IT BACK! NEW: Revive's cooldown now scales with level beginning with 555 Seconds (9 minutes 15 seconds) and reducing by 15 seconds every level (level 1 cooldown unchanged of 540 seconds) This means that at level 18, Revive has a cooldown of 270 seconds, or 4 minutes and 30 seconds. In other words, a spell worth using.

Ghost: This is honestly a decent pick, and actually I don't really have anything to make it better or worth picking over flash, since flash's terrain hop will always be too good to give up in most cases. The only thing I can see worth changing is giving the user 75% slow resistance while ghost is active. Mainly because the powerful slows in the game make people using ghost somewhat kite-able.

lDontLiftIcarry5/25/2015, 4:07:13 AM1 votes

whats the shiny ball at the top I want that spell.

this chart is fucked smite should be in like 99% of games.

you can't possiblely be counting other modes besides the ones where smite is actually used or why even post smite on the chart Or TP for that matter.