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Flash Changes

Stacona·7/17/2014, 6:35:45 PM·1 votes·491 views

First off, please read the whole post.

Flash has been the over-rated dominant summoner spell since its creation pretty much and stifles the use of a second summoner spell so to open up more customization options and more strategic elements to the game its time to remove Flash as a summoner spell. On a side note, Jarvan would need a nerf at the same time in his ultimate's duration going down from something like 3.5 to like 1.5 and ultimate cooldown increase, at least for its early ranks, but this is slightly off topic.

Flash will become a boot enchantment upgrade that costs 1000 gold and have its cooldown reduced to 210 seconds from 300 seconds (the mastery granting active item cooldown will lower this further). 210 seconds is the same base cooldown as Ghost, and the 1000 gold cost to purchase the enchantment is so that the upgrade doesn't get bought by everyone every game and to leave the other enchantments as viable options as well. Also obvious point to note Distortion would then only affect Ghost and Teleport since Flash is no longer a Summoner Spell.

The whole point to the change is to allow other more variety in summoner spell options and see what everyone would come up with with spell combinations and possibly spells that don't see play now will then see the light of day because of this change.

~ Stacona

14 Comments

Czar Matt Damon7/17/2014, 6:57:41 PM2 votes

flash is a dominant summoner spell, but this is not a good way to fix it.

CaptainWednesday7/17/2014, 7:01:29 PM2 votes

I think you're misunderstanding and underestimating the use of summoner 4 .

As hotly debated as the summoner spell is, it's a staple of the game. It'd be like removing a champion from the game entirely just because people hate/love it. Flash has already been nerfed, buffed, and reworked time and time again. As for it being over-rated, I find that hard to believe. For some champions, it is their only form of escape or engage. There are plenty of flashy plays (no pun intended) to make with Flash. A game-changing Flash->Tibbers from an Annie, a Slingshotting Zac with a well-timed Smite to steal Baron and Flash out, or a classic case of misdirection when a trapped enemy flashes their way out of tough situations. Countless plays to make with the spell that would be stifled by your idea.

As for making it a boot enchantment... To start, 1000 gold is WAY too much gold, for anyone. The other enchantments all cost 475 gold; there would be a drastic price difference. Not to mention you would have to buy boots, upgrade them, then find the gold to purchase the enchantment. This is not Smite. We do not buy Summoner Spells in the League of Legends. Then reducing the cooldown of it? The spell's power is already gated by it's 300 second cooldown. It would then become the thing to rush as you would have an escape/engage over your opponent. As for the obvious issue, how would you activate it? Boot enchantments grant passive effects, but this one is an active. Would Riot have to make an entirely separate key just for the people that want to buy Flash? Seems like a lot of work that yields no significant return.

Problem is, Flash is one of the more powerful Summoner Spells for a reason because nearly anyone can use it. Laners shouldn't use Smite, while Junglers should not use Ignite. Supports should often use Exhaust rather than Barrier. A resourceless champion should not use Clarity. There are just some Summoner Spells that work well on other champions. However, Flash is a fantastic all around Summoner Spell that anyone can use.

TL;DR Flash is the best Summoner Spell because anyone can use it, and it should not become an active boot enchantment because boot enchantments are passive effects.

Kobold7/18/2014, 5:26:48 PM1 votes

Riot has stated previously that they wanted to remove flash from the game but because it is so ingrained into their champion design they cant. We had this discussion with Riot the last preseason where I had shown that Flash was taken 10 times out of 10 for every game except for 9 games last worlds. which ended up being 96~97% of the time flash being taken and a total of like only 5 summoner spells even being used in worlds.