It's okay to use Cleanse.

I'm getting a lot of flak for running Cleanse over Flash. Such statements as "it doesn't do anything against x, y or z champs" or "it doesn't help you at all in laning" are frequent anytime I weigh in on any topic. Even if it has nothing to do with summoners, the first tactic of those lacking confidence in their acumen will apply is "Look him up. Oh hey, look at those ridiculous summoners. This will prove that I'm right and he's wrong about literally any League topic." This comes back to a major point of contention where my viewpoint differs from... seemingly almost everyone.

I believe items and summoner spells exist to customize one's play style around their skill set and comfort zone.

Most seem to believe items and summoner spells exist to enhance a role's - in some cases a champion's - strengths or weaknesses in very specific, established ways.

In short, "Flash gets you kills. Why are you not using it?" Because I used to Flash for kills as a novice and I'd often wind up dying for it, or otherwise wasting Flash, and I regularly see other players waste their Flash in various ways as well. I decided to stop using it for a while to force my brain to start making more careful decisions, and it worked so well that I've never gone back. And I know what the other argument is.

"But Flash also gets you out of dying. Why are you not using it?" I play mobile champions almost as a rule. I enjoy juking and my defensive reflexes are a strong point. LeBlanc, Akali, Nidalee, Irelia, Camille, Shaco... I just enjoy champions that can juke. I even have a play style that's built around drawing the enemy team's attention and outmaneuvering their damage to throw them into disarray or keep them off objectives.

Picture this scenario: You're playing Akali. You're the last one up and the enemy team is going for baron while your teammates sit for a minute and a half in respawn. You make a bold move, ulting over the wall into the baron pit. You drop your smoke, E back out of the pit, then E back in and steal baron. You're surrounded by enemies who now single you out, bursting you down considerably, but you Flash back over the wall and get away clean. Problem: Someone dropped Ignite on you.

How does Flash get you back to base to hold the fort in this scenario? It doesn't, obviously. There's nothing you can do in this situation. You've been Ignited and you're going to die in about three seconds regardless of how cunning your movements in the jungle are. No one will chase you and you won't be there to hold base, meaning your base is exposed for another ~40 seconds while your teammates respawn.

Picture this alternative scenario: You're playing Akali. You're the last one up and the enemy team is going for baron while your teammates sit for a minute and a half in respawn. You make a bold move, ulting over the wall into the baron pit. You drop your smoke, E back out of the pit, then E back in and steal baron. You're surrounded by enemies who now single you out, bursting you down considerably, but you ult back over the wall and get away clean. Problem: Someone dropped Ignite on you. Solution: You use Cleanse.

Now either some of the enemy team, if not all of them, are going to chase you for as long as your keen sense for evading danger makes them (on average, I can usually sustain a chase for around 15-20 seconds if my opponents are determined), or no one chases you and you get back to base, clearing waves while your team or starting another chase to keep the enemy occupied while your team respawns.

You can apply this to a number of scenarios.

• You have the situation above, but with dragon. You're being hunted by a team who chases kills over objectives, but evade them over a wall; you either do it with Flash and the Ignite kills you, or you do it with a dash and Cleanse it off.
• You got focused in a teamfight. You bailed just as you were Ignited. Either you bailed with Flash and will die, or you bailed with your champion's natural mobility and you Cleanse it off, keep to the edges of the fight, and jump back in when you can do some good.
• Your opponent Flashes under your turret to Ignite you early. Your Flash is not going to help you here, but Cleanse will prevent him from getting an early lead, and if he has no way of getting out quick, it'll often even get YOU the kill as he foolishly commits to his move upon seeing that Ignite isn't finishing the job.

And this is just regarding Ignite. The clearing of hard CC is a huge help as well come late game, when a powerful but fragile champion can be shut down with a single stun. It helps on Illaoi because my ult can make me invincible in teamfights, but not if I can't W.

In summary, I use Cleanse because it has a use. It's okay to use Cleanse. If it weren't, it would have gone the way of Clarity.