Why is Flash a Summoner Spell?

Tentacle Love·Oct 25, 2014·1 votes·1,426 views

Across all of the sites that have builds for characters, is an absolutely mandatory, 100% of the time must-use skill.

There is no champion that benefits from any other summoner spell more than flash.

Every replay available to watch, has every single player choose flash as one of their 2 summoner spells.

Why is this still there? Why hasn't it been worked into the game like wards have? Why don't all players automatically get Flash before choosing a summoner spell or summoner spells?

Are you still clinging at the idea that there's some sort of skill involved in making sure you choose the right summoner spells?

It just seems laughable that this one thing is mandatory for all builds and yet you haven't made the sensible choice of working it right into the core game experience.

20 Comments

Stars ShaperOct 25, 20144 votes

Some champions benefit better from Ghost. Flash is mandatory for champions without gap closers/openers. And it's also a free out-of-jai- card for bad positioning.

Earl EulrichOct 25, 20141 votes

And it's also a free out-of-jai- card for bad positioning.

which really is the most annoying thing about it.

Stars ShaperOct 25, 20141 votes

And it's also a free out-of-jai- card for bad positioning.

which really is the most annoying thing about it.

Probably but you can't remove it and leave champions like Xerath and Morde totally without an escape.

Skia AsteriOct 25, 20142 votes

Poppy. Ghost is really good for her. This is backed up by her having ghost but not flash in 100% of the LCS games she was picked in.

Duke AnaxOct 25, 20142 votes

it's just way overrated.

Usually, everyone picks flash, just because everyone picks flash.

A lot of situation where you need Flash can actually be avoided, And in a lot of other situation, Ghost would have been a better choice.

shppyOct 26, 20141 votes

Exactly. Flash is used for kneejerk escapes or as a substitute to proper gapclosing approaches, or to follow the people using it as a kneejerk escape. The extreme majority of Flash uses can be avoided with proper planning/awareness/aim, with the remainder mostly being used to chase other Flashes or initiate with champs that otherwise have no gapcloser to initiate.

Most of Flash's uses can be avoided by, well, not being a dumb***. And once you take those out, there's not a particularly notable reason to take it over something else like Ghost or Teleport or Exhaust that actually helps out your entire team instead of just saving your own skin.

Still, most people are gonna rely on their crutch all they can unless it's forcefully pulled out from under them. So, in light of that, I do think there's some changes Riot should make to it, namely adding a new restriction: "Using a dash-type ability disables Flash for 6 seconds, and using Flash disables the use of dash-type abilities for 6 seconds". ('dash-type abilities' would be those that are currently disabled via roots)

There, now immobiles get to keep their Flash in its current form, while champs that already have their own dash see a heavy restriction on chaining Flash with their own mobility, kicking the mobility creep down a few pegs, helping immobile champs stand on a little more even ground, and (somewhat forcefully) varying up summoner spells a bit.

ZenithEeveeOct 25, 20142 votes

Honestly, I benefit from TP/Ghost more than Flash, since I forget half the time I have Flash.

YakkoWakkoAndDotOct 25, 20142 votes

Flash is a very important summoner, and yes, it is generally one of the best. League places a huge emphasis on proper positioning, so anything that allows you to re-position instantly is going to be very valuable. One of the reasons Riot still has it is that there is huge outplay potential, mind games, etc. attached to flash. As for making it an automatic type spell, I would imagine that serious re-balancing would be necessary, and that type of change would only make sense if a bunch of others followed.

Earl EulrichOct 25, 20141 votes

I would love them to test out a temporary mode in which flash is disabled actually, I think it would have the potential to really enhance the game-experience actually.

Earl EulrichOct 25, 20141 votes

Probably but you can't remove it and leave champions like Xerath and Morde totally without an escape.

on the contrary, I think you actually should leave them without an escape...their kit has this as their main vulnerability.

KhakyOct 25, 20141 votes

Maybe we get 2 summoner spells so we can always take flash and something else :)

QuephaOct 25, 20141 votes

100%

hecarim, olaf, udyr, singed, tryndamere, sometimes shaco or shyvana

Dominick DestineOct 25, 20141 votes

Singed. Ghost.

FantasySniperOct 25, 20141 votes

Actually, summoner 6 summoner 12 are easy replacements for summoner 4 .

It works especially well on champions that rely on sticking power or map control.

Pinker 10Oct 25, 20141 votes

Reds have commented on flash. They are aware it is an unhealthy mechanic that they do not have the capability to balance. It is, at its core, a broken concept. Flash can steal barons, dragons, secure kills, juke over walls, get out of turret range before that last hit kills you, etc. As an SS, it simply does MORE than any other spell. As a champion, if you DON'T take flash, you are at a distinct disadvantage to anyone who does. They already nerfed the cd twice. They can't put it as an item for the same reason it's bad as an SS. They can't take it out cus 99% of the league community would turn into pmsing twelve year olds. At this point, all Riot can do is say "we dun fucked up" and move on.

Tl;dr: Riot dun fucked up

QuephaOct 25, 20141 votes

Reds have commented on flash. They are aware it is an unhealthy mechanic that they do not have the capability to balance. It is, at its core, a broken concept. Flash can steal barons, dragons, secure kills, juke over walls, get out of turret range before that last hit kills you, etc. As an SS, it simply does MORE than any other spell. As a champion, if you DON'T take flash, you are at a distinct disadvantage to anyone who does. They already nerfed the cd twice. They can't put it as an item for the same reason it's bad as an SS. They can't take it out cus 99% of the league community would turn into pmsing twelve year olds. At this point, all Riot can do is say "we dun fucked up" and move on.

Tl;dr: Riot dun fucked up

also champions without built in dashes would be like 90% less powerful, especially in competitive play.

Pinker 10Oct 25, 20141 votes

I don't think negative percentages of power are possible

They're already pretty dam low in most cases

<3 malz but he's pretty useless unless you build the rest of the team to protect his ass

Wînter FoxOct 25, 20141 votes

I really don't see the issue with Flash taken 95% of the time. If Flash didn't exist, Ghost would probably be taken 95% of the time. There's nothing wrong with having a general "all purpose" spell, and other more niche spells.

MAZZ1M0Oct 26, 20141 votes

Honestly, I'm inclined to agree with you. Flash is useful on everyone, but working it into core mechanic isn't the way to go. Yes, everyone can benefit from it, but take Shyvana jungle for example. People go in with Smite and Flash typically and then complain their ganks suck because Shyv has no CC other than her ult -even then, that sucks for CC (unless you're Dyrus, he makes Shyv all like: http://th08.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2014/123/1/f/cinder_fall_by_mboymanuel-d7gxie3.png )

I take Smite and Exhaust. I just ult over walls if I need to escape. W usually works fine as well. Exhaust on the ither hand lets me catch them and it weakens them to a point they can't fight back once they realize they're boned.

With Hecarim, on the rare occasions I use him, I take Ghost or even Heal (the brief second of increased movement speed is actually greater Than Ghost and lets me do more damage.) With top-laners, I don't always take Flash, sometimes I take Teleport and Ignite, though rare I'll admit.

Now that's why it shouldn't be staple. Other summoner spells are viable, just in fewer circumstances. Flash by comparison, needs a change, or the other summoner spells need a change to make Flash not an insta-grab 90% of the time. Make no mistake, I'm not arguing Flash isn't a no-brainer, it is picked without thought (or rather just because it's a staple after realizing it outclasses other spells most of the time) it's just other spells are more useful at times so it's better to leave Flash as spell so as not to go overboard with unnecessary changes that may have serious side-effects.

WeeznazNov 10, 20141 votes

I agree with this post. FLASH is just too ubiquitous and to versatile for 99 percent of champs to pass up. Admittedly, a select few champs can get by with GHOST, but FLASH is a stifling problem. I made a post about how we should have 3 summoner spell slots to solve the FLASH problem, but I like this idea better. Hope Riot goes for it.