What if Flash were removed as a Summoner Spell in the Pre-season?

Varnoc·10/1/2016, 9:55:58 PM·6 votes·1,251 views

To be clear, this isn't me calling for the removal of Flash in any way. This is a purely hypothetical question.

What would change?

Which summoner spells would become dominant?
Which Champions would become overbearing and need to be be taken out for a beating with the Nerf Bat?
Conversely, which Champions would be horribly crippled and need Buff Splints?
Would the game more or less interesting without Flash?
Does Flash promote a more diverse game, or does it hold the game back?
ETC.

Please feel free to discuss! I'd like as many opinions on this as possible.

Because I feel the need to reiterate this:

** I am not advocating for the removal of Flash. This is purely a thought exercise.**

Have a nice day!

23 Comments

Paroe10/2/2016, 1:11:55 AM2 votes

If flash were removed as a summoner spell wouldnt it just become a boot specific active? i mean, it should be anyway considering flash has a 100% use rate in pro play.

All Skillzz10/1/2016, 10:12:08 PM1 votes

Ezreal summoner 6 no fucks given

Meep Man10/1/2016, 10:12:38 PM1 votes

Honestly, nothing too much changes. Baron steals are less prevalent and safer play is a little bigger. Immobile champions can no longer go over walls, making Bard really good for teams with Juggs. Basically, Bard gets picked more and the game is a little slower overall.

oSEXYPLATYPUSo10/1/2016, 10:15:56 PM1 votes

top lane depends on champ

for me usually ill go summoner 3 summoner 12

Truly Prideful10/1/2016, 10:23:58 PM1 votes

summoner 6 and summoner 14 / summoner 12 / summoner 3 would probably become the thing. Duelists might opt for / though.

Most assassins or sticky high damage champions would become very hard to deal with.

Immobile ADCs and some mages would have a rough time. Flash reliant initiators would also hate it.

Flash allows for some creative plays in my opinion. It would hurt the game overall to remove it at this point. Now if it were removed I wouldn't be against the addition of a sort of blink dagger type of item. Give it weak stats and not too long of a cooldown. At the end of the day I could live without Flash, it would just turn me into an extremely passive player because I enjoy immobile champions.

Woodakoodashooda10/1/2016, 10:29:01 PM1 votes

I doubt the meta would change a whole lot to be honest. So many champions have dashes built into their kits. Other champions rely more on ghost than on flash. And, finally, there are plenty of champions that would benefit from the removal of flash.

The number of champions who actually rely on flash, if you put things into perspective, seems relatively small. Flash is just seen as a mandatory spell because not having it places you at a disadvantage against those who do have it.

Basically, you have it because most everyone else has it and for no other real reason. And even its use to escape certain death by flashing over a wall does not always guarantee safety. You could end up flashing into another enemy or the enemy you tried escaping flashes after you just to finish the job.

Koala Frenzy10/1/2016, 10:49:22 PM1 votes

You'd have to make all walls block skill dash/blinks to make it remotely fair for immobile champions. From there every champion would have to have a powerful non-ultimate CC.

LadyRenly10/1/2016, 10:50:30 PM1 votes

honestly, I don't like mobile champs outside of Kassadin, and even playing people like Swain/Kog'Maw/Mordekaiser, I wouldn't really care about the removal of flash. It's painful as it is trying to "blow flash" just so the next time your CC is available, you can actually kill them because that other laner has their own mobility spell anyway.

I think people would get used to it and play around it after a while, warding would become much more important and you'd see pink wards being bought a lot more which would be a good thing.

The only reason I take flash now is because everyone else has it, so you have to as well.

Phoenix Kotori 10/1/2016, 10:53:11 PM1 votes

Would the game more or less interesting without Flash? Does Flash promote a more diverse game, or does it hold the game back?

Riot has commented a fair bit on these before and I am in agreement with their opinions that it makes the game more interesting it creates high moments with plays/escapes/jukes that are enabled by its existence, and 2nd it creates a window of vulnerable that can be taken advantage of ie I burned flash to survive that gank I better play safe while it's on CD, and 3rd long CD prevents come back in lane and use it repeatedly for kills to push a lead.

And it allows champion picks to be more diverse without flash something like Syndra, Cass, Sol, or Taliyah would almost never see competitive play due to their vulnerability to ganks from Gragas/Elise/Lee/Rek/etc with little ability to survive.

And finally I think adcs would go summoner 21 summoner 7 supports would go summoner 3 summoner 14 mid summoner 6 + / top would be most unpredictable but summoner 12 + something, and junglers who made use summoner 11 would dominate.

Commbustion10/1/2016, 11:14:34 PM1 votes

They should try it. tbh would be cool

Rebonack10/2/2016, 1:43:20 AM1 votes

I still think it would be fun to split Flash into two summoner spells.

Blink and Dimension Door

Blink would basically be a longer ranged Flash, except it can't be used to bypass terrain.

Dimension Door can by used on a wall to create a one-way door ala Magical Journey, though for that player only.

Dimension in particular would make Jungle ganks a hell of a lot more interesting.

GULAG 4 U10/2/2016, 2:16:29 AM1 votes

*was removed.

It would make certain Champions unviable, too many are balanced around the fact there is flash. You would need to rework the majority of the roster and heavily nerf highly mobile champions.

Lintu Puck10/2/2016, 9:07:03 AM1 votes

any champ without a movement ability or a stun will be practically dead, like Kogmaw since all he has is a slow, and that isn't really enough.

RageQ210/1/2016, 9:57:41 PM1 votes

summoner 6 It's been the meta in the past... Wont really make a difference if they removed it. Some champs even use it a lot and it has some effect in challenger level play.

D357R0Y3R10/2/2016, 9:21:13 AM1 votes

Create a smurf and play with everyone not having flash

come back with all your questions answered

i'll make it quicker: it won't change anything i already tried, assassins won't be more op, nor adc will become weak.