"Panic Buttons"

I was recently on a dissusion thread and someone mentioned how his ultimate allows him to escape situations in which he made mistakes and 'should' be dead. I tend to refer to these abilities as "panic buttons", and I want to make a discussion specifically on them.

There are many champions in the game who lack panic buttons, even those that rely on all ins. and are good examples. Then have to dive in to operate, but once there, they are sticking to their guns until the fight is over, or they're dead.

A panic button isn't always mobility, it is just any ability that a champion can throw out on reflex to escape a bad situation. 's Wind wall is a good example. If he is caught out, or about to get hit by some skill shot, he cad just win wall ON REFLEX.

Now, having a panic button isn't a bad thing, but the problem comes when a champion has too many, or their panic button is too potent. is a good example of this. His ulti is the best panic button in the game. It not only whisks you away from danger, but also heals you. And not only that, but the healing scales with recent damage taken, meaning the harder you screw up, the better the ability is at saving you.

how many panic buttons is too many is very subjective. For instance, has his ult, and his W (ward hopping or not), to escape danger/being out of position. But whether two is too many or not is subjective. is the same way. She has a dash (E), shield (E), stun (W), and more dashes (Q) to escape trouble. If she plays conservatively with her cool-downs, she is nearly impossible to catch.

is fantastic proof of the potency of panic buttons, as it is the universal panic button. All of a sudden, champions like or can get away from a situation they would normally be left helpless in. And the fact that nearly everyone runs flash is evidence the panic buttons are extremely valuable.

I think that the mobiltiy creep has increased the number of panic buttons champions are equipped with, as they not only often come in the form of mobiltiy, but are also needed to counter mobility. is a good example. His E is a good panic button, as it scales with how hard you screw up and got harrassed, and his W provides any given nearby ally, and himself, a panic button. All of a sudden, tanks, who would normally come with at most, one solid panic button like , or many times none at all (although his E can let him escape, its not a reactionary "oops, I messed up, time to press this button" kind of ability), are equipped with multiple panic buttons.

I don't really have a set opinion on what Riot should do with/about current panic buttons, or how they should implement them in the future, but I will say this: They often feel like cheating. I can catch an out of position, even chase him after his E (which is a panic button), and wail on him, but unless I can hard CC him through the entire fight, he can always ult back to safety and recoup a lot of the damage my team managed to throw on him. It feels like cheating, especially if I'm playing a champion who lacks that capability.

"oo, I got caught out as , well, I'm dead now." compared to "I ulted in at the worst time ever as , but the enemy didn't immediately dump all their CC and damage onto me, so I blinked back to safety with my W."

Edit: I think that the biggest thing about panic buttons that makes them unfun/unfair is their reflexive nature. , pointed out to me by a helpful commentor, can keep his E off cooldown 24/7 until he needs to jump away. his E does not have any other use, besides an all in, and because it can be augmented with either his W OR Q, he will almost always have the ability to escape.

Similarly, can wait until the last possible moment to black an attack, making his Wind Wall hard to bait out of a good player. In this way, the Wind Wall will almost always be up to save him from impending doom