#summoner spells

[leagueoflegends-confessions]

Yes, I had my fingers on the wrong keys. Yes, I did just burn both of my sums instead of using my combo. No, the pain I feel in my soul is sufficient, you don't need to ping it twenty times.

Artwork by chibi-oneechan

[summoner-renzus]

Headcanons: Summoner Spells

- Being a discourse over the technicalities behind the magic of Summoner Spells, as well as how they are applied by Renzus, a former Summoner. I’ll be covering just the ones from Summoner’s Rift, as these are probably the most well-known.

Read More’d for length.

Flash: Perhaps one of the most well-known spells used by the former Summoner order, Flash is nevertheless only taught to fully-fledged members due to the considerable risks involved. Instantaneous displacement of a living creature is no small feat, for the spell requires a hefty expenditure of mana on the Summoner’s part, briefly “shunting” the target of the spell through space and time. The spell requires incredibly precise magical control, for even the slightest mistake in its casting can send its target into somewhere disastrous and possibly fatal, such as inside a wall.

Renzus has refined the Flash technique to use considerably more subtlety, slipping quietly through a shadowy haze to his intended location rather than arrive in an obvious burst of light and sound. It is a technique he uses sparingly, however, for the strain involved precludes rapid or sustained usage.

Teleport: Unlike its short-ranged but instantaneous cousin Flash, teleportation is a spell with a few more drawbacks, exchanging freedom of destination and speed of arrival for sheer range. Teleport taps into the leylines ingrained within Runeterra itself, creating a temporal and spatial link between two often predetermined locales so that a creature or object may be sent through. Due to the nature of the spell, it is impossible to cast Teleport without a destination connected to some kind of arcane fixture. With that being said, Teleport seldom comes with any overt risks in its casting, merely a lengthy casting time that must go uninterrupted.

Teleport is one of the greatest secrets that Renzus possesses, and it is the reason behind his ability to travel Valoran quickly and coordinate the actions of the Crows and their allies seemingly without pause. One of the first things the Crows did during the Fall of the Institute was to secure access to its teleportation network, sequestering the linked nexus crystal within the Nest under heavy guard. Since then, they have established numerous clandestine teleportation circles in every major province, the better to swiftly travel undetected.

Ignite: The simplest offensive spell taught even to initiate Summoners, Ignite uses a rudimentary technique, but one focused enough that it inflicts grievous damage even in the hands of a novice. Ignite uses the ambient mana in all living things to create a blaze of magical fire, impossible to extinguish with mundane methods. The inferno is relatively short-lived, as the mana fueling the spell is swiftly consumed as its target burns, but most would say even the brief moment that the spell creates is sufficient.

Every Summoner often has a different expression or flair with which they employ Ignite, and Renzus is no different. While it is a technique that Renzus seldom employs due to its simplistic nature, he will not hesitate to start a conflagration when a show of force is required. His flames burn with a ruby-red blaze, empowered by the Crow’s superior knowledge of sorcery, burning harder and longer than the conventional spell.

Smite: Smite is another relatively simple spell, devised by the Summoner order originally to combat dangerous monsters and other foes untrained in magic. Smite has all the subtlety and brute force of a magical sledgehammer, a bolt of sheer mana conjured to strike an opponent with armour-piercing physical force. Devastating against beasts and monsters, Smite loses much of its edge against humanoid foes, who can either avoid the bolt or dampen it with the simple application of defensive magic.

When Renzus employs his mastery of the Smite spell, it is one with chilling precision and power, manifesting instead as arcs of crimson lightning that can disintegrate a man or blast through a foot-thick stone wall. Again, it is not a spell that the First Crow often employs, but when push comes to shove, it is one tool in his formidable arsenal.

Exhaust: A more insidious spell designed to hinder and weaken even the strongest warrior, Exhaust turns the target’s strength against them, a hex that is simultaneously an application of temporal manipulation as well as a curse of lethargy. The victim suddenly finds themselves bereft of strength and agility, fighting to move their limbs as if immersed in thick swampwater.

Renzus has not often had cause to employ Exhaust, for his methods often involve the swift and clinical execution of those in his way. However, should particularly dangerous opponents present themselves to him, Renzus knows to use it to slow pursuit and facilitate an easy escape.

Heal: The art of healing is well-known throughout Valoran, by magic-users of all kinds. The Summoner order’s version transfuses the recipient with restorative energy, accelerating the wounded individual’s metabolism to the point where injuries mend of their own accord. Because it functions in such a manner, Heal comes into play with minimal strings attached, unlike the shamanistic rituals used by primitive sorcerers and witch doctors, although there is only so much a body can do to heal itself, even with magical stimulus; successive Heal spells have diminishing returns, particularly against severe wounds that must still be treated over a longer period of rest.

Renzus has always maintained that his proficiency in healing is merely ‘competent’, although the truth of the matter is that he employs the Heal spell with the same precision and power that manifests in other forms of his magic. There is no unique spin on its spellwork, for the Crow sees no need to modify a spell with such a simple, straightforward purpose.

Barrier: The strongest defense is the simplest one, and Barrier is a simple, yet effective spell indeed. By channeling mana through an arcane ward, the Summoner can project an shield of invisible force that absorbs blows and deflects projectiles. The strength of a Barrier is only as much as the defender wishes to commit to it, which is often a matter of snap decision making; too strong a barrier, and the effort is wasted guarding against attacks that would have stood little chance of hurting the Summoner to begin with. Too weak, and the barrier would fail after a few impacts, leaving the Summoner defenseless.

The wards that Renzus employs are markedly different from the conventional spell. Rather than simply project a shield to absorb impacts, the barriers that Renzus manifests are brief but powerful slivers of force intended to parry aside rather than block, a technique that has taken him years of training and experience to master, but master it he has. It is a more efficient form of defense, one that Renzus can maintain for extended periods of time, and often against multiple aggressors at once.

Cleanse: Cleanse is a technique developed soon after the Heal spell was created, a modification of the flesh-weaving biomancy that its older cousin employs. Using a similar vein of restorative energy, Cleanse purges its target of harmful debilitation, as well as dampening the effects of hostile magic. While unable to restore strength and vitality in the same way that Heal does, Cleanse nevertheless proves a strong defensive option.

When Renzus employs Cleanse, it is often a swift, reactionary use designed to intercept a hex or debilitating spell as soon as it reaches him. Casting it almost purely on reflex, Renzus often uses it to stay moving while eluding capture, as well as serving as a useful tool for self-preservation considering the amount of poisoned food and drink that comes with operating in Valoran’s underworld.

[ouroboros64]

This game’s really pretty, man.

[skitchthewolf]

When you ignite an enemy with low HP and you disengage, but the ignite doesn't kill them

[solo-q]

Basic Summoner Spell Overview

In this post, I'd like to take a look at each lane and role and what summoner spells are best for how you want to play the lane. I'm going to begin with a quick breakdown of Flash vs Ghost, rather than address that choice individually for each lane. I will then move on to addressing combat summoners in other lanes.

Flash is a 400 range blink with a 5 minute Cooldown, reduced to 4:30 with the Summoner's Insight Mastery, is the primary mobility summoner, and the only choice for the majority of Champions in League of Legends. Some common exceptions are Nasus and Singed. Most of these exceptions are in the top lane and jungle. Mid and Bot Lane champions should always choose Flash. 

Ghost is the second, and less common, mobility summoner. It increases your Movement Speed by 27% for 10 seconds, and causes your champion to ignore unit collusion. This spell can be a great choice for tanky melee champions such as Singed and Nasus that are vulnerable to kiting. It's effectiveness is greatly increased in the longer side lanes, and the jungle where Flash may not be enough to catch or escape your target. Has particularly strong synergy with Singed and Hecarim. Should never be used on ADC, Support or Mid.

Top Lane

The two most common secondary summoners for Top Lane are Teleport, and Ignite. They each have their own advantages, disadvantages and comps/strategies that they synergize with.

The primary purpose of Teleport is to increase your Team's objective control, and team fight power. Teleport is especially effective on strong split-push champions, as it allows you to exert pressure on one lane while your team pressures another lane or objective, and still be able to join your team if a fight breaks out. It's also a great choice for weak early game champions as it allows you to get back to your lane quickly without sacrificing CS.The trade off is significantly less kill potential and lane pressure, especially against Opponents with ignite, as Teleport provides nothing beyond Utility and is completely useless in a 1v1. While it may seem like Teleport is an exceptionally strong choice in the current Meta, Solo Que is not the LCS, and you're not likely to run into many lane swaps. Thus, Teleport is best left to champions who need time to scale up (think Nasus and Ryze). A very fickle summoner, as a poor teleport can completely ruin the game for either your lane or entire team.

Ignite is the primary choice for Champions like Renekton, who have strong bullying potential, and/or players who are not confident in their Teleport decision-making. Ignite deals 70-410 true damage over 5 seconds, and scales with champion level. Healing effects such as health regen, lifesteal and spell vamp are reduced for the duration, and the target is revealed. Timing is essential for maximizing Ignite's effectiveness. Against Champions like Nasus and Renekton, whose ultimates give them HP, a mistimed Ignite could be the difference between a kill and a death.

Tip: Ignite's damage in the first six levels is 70/90/110/130/150/170. Put another way, this is 14/18/22/26/30/34 damage a second. In the early levels, a Health Pot can significantly reduce the effectiveness of ignite, as it will heal 5 hp a second after the heal reduction is applied. Train yourself to know when Ignite is enough to secure the kill, and when it isn't.

Jungle

Just pick Smite. (Such Advice, wow)

Mid Lane

You'll find a much larger variety of summoner spells in the mid lane. Ignite is a great choice for champions with high kill and/or bullying potential Like Leblanc, Fizz and Zed.

Barrier is a strong choice for Champions that just want to survive the laning phase, like Nidalee,or against Champions with high kill potential like those listed above. Barrier provides a 2 second shield for 115-455 damage, scaling 20 hp per level. If you're wondering why Heal hasn't replaced Barrier in the mid lane like it has in the bot lane, that is because mid is primarily a 1v1 lane which mitigates the advantage gained by healing an ally, and the prevalence of Ignite makes Barrier, which is unaffected by the healing reduction of Ignite, much more valuable.

Like top lane, Teleport is a good option in the mid lane for Champions with weak early games, or Champions like Kassadin that need kills to scale, and excel at Teleport Ganks.

In the Mid Lane, the only Champion that uses Exhaust is Karthus, As such, I will wait for the Bot Lane to address it in depth.

ADC/Marksmen

Until patch 4.5, most ADC used Barrier. With the changes to Heal, it has now become the preferred choice. Heal restores 90-495 damage, scaling at 25 hp per level, and provides a 30% movement speed boost for 2 seconds after it is used. Heal now cleanses all healing reductions, including grievous wounds and the healing reduction from Ignite, but not the damage. All these buffs together have made Heal a much stronger summoner than it used to be. In addition, bot lane trades tend to last longer, and the short duration of Barrier means that you may not get the full effectiveness of the shield.

The primary alternative to Barrier is Cleanse. Cleanse is a very situational choice, and is strongest on ADC who have a short range. The most common example of this is Vayne, who is heavily reliant on positioning, and extremely vulnerable to crowd control. Cleanse removes all Crowd Control, and reduces incoming Crowd Control by 65% for 3 seconds. 

Ignite is currently not a viable choice for ADC.

Support

As with ADC, the preferred summoner choice for Support changed with patch 4.5. Previously, Ignite was the preferred choice. Now that Exhaust reduces the targets damage by an additional 20%, Exhaust is a much stronger choice than it used to be. It is especially more versatile in the late game, as the change in priority from reducing attack speed to overall damage has made it a more effective spell against Mages. The range increase from 550 to 650 also allows the Support to cast Exhaust without getting in auto-attack range of the opposing ADC.

Keep in mind that these types of things tend to be cyclical, and it would not be unsurprising if Riot reigned the power of Exhaust in a bit in the near future.

Clarity, Clairvoyance are not currently viable choices for any role, champion or lane.

If you have any questions, think I could have gotten a little more detailed, or have a different opinion, feel free to comment below.

[willchobra-blog]

Quick Thoughts - ADC Summoners on 4.5

I’ve seen quite a few ADC users talk about how the Summoner Spell changes affect ADC Spell options in 4.5, specifically the change to Heal. ADC users here and there seem concerned that these changes will “force” ADC’s to carry Heal over Barrier. I’d like to dispute that thought.

1. Heal vs. Barrier Heal is still weaker in lane in terms of pure effective health power. Heal will take until level 8 to reach the same effective health efficiency as Barrier, which usually means the duration of a standard laning phase (oftentimes shorter these days.)

Heal of course contributes by eliminating healing debuffs (ignite, impure shots etc.), but at levels 1-5 are you really going to hurt from that? Probably not.

Now Heal has more utility. This is true. The move-speed for 2 seconds could make or break an early skirmish, in either direction. But why does this mean the ADC has to take Heal? In fact, if you’re afraid of being initiated on, why not take both Barrier AND Heal?

Also, Barrier still has a shorter cooldown, albeit only 30 seconds. It’s still an advantage it has.

2. Heal on the Support Now I’m going to talk full efficiency. The default counter argument will be “Support not always near ADC”, which is true, but hear me out to the end. Heal is no longer an AOE around the user. It is a smart-targeted ability. It will affect the user and the ally champion nearest to the user’s cursor (within a range of course).

Let’s assume the ADC takes Heal. There are essentially two late game scenarios. A teamfight or a Duel. In a teamfight, chances are the ADC will not have the leisure to find an appropriate ally target to heal. It will always be for the ADC themselves, and most likely affects the ally nearest as the ADC’s cursor is probably right in front of them. There’s much lost potential in Heal efficiency here.

In a Duel it’s even worse. You will use it in a 1v2 or 1v1, and while yes, you get the full effects, you essentially ignore the fact that it can be used on an ally. So if the enemies see you split-pushing, and come to 2v1 you and blow your heal, it’s a huge advantage for them. If you had a different single target spell, aggressive or defensive, it’d be less of an advantage for them.

As for the Support: In teamfights they will indeed be next to the ADC most of the time, but if they are not, it should be for good reason. Maybe your ADC player has the mechanics and is on a champion that can fend for itself (think ezreal). Maybe your ADC is so fed and your bruiser could do with more heals or CC to help lockdown the enemy team. In either case, then the Heal can be used to buff the initiation of your bruiser (or save a different Carry such as your mid.)

Again, the ADC will always see the full potential of Heal if he/she carries it, but I’m willing to bet that this will lead to big losses in Heal’s efficiency a majority of the time. The Support carrying will have many more chances to use it to its full potential.

3. Alternatives for ADC's Let's assume then that your Support takes Heal.

- Barrier As I mentioned earlier, this will make your laning phase SUPER tanky. Could be used aggressively although probably only in the case of a Leona vs Thresh/Ali Support match-up where the Supports can do good damage 1v1ing the ADC. Definitely can be used in a farming lane if your opponents try to all-in you.

- Ignite I'm not REALLY liking Ignite on ADC's still, but if your team really needs an extra (top is running Heal or TP, mid is running Barrier or flash/ghost etc) then it's still an option. If you're winning the duo lane, it can be used to bait the enemy duo's (probable) Heal. You can still use it in a late-game fight, be it a 1v1 or if someone like a Jax is jumping on your with his BotRK.

- Exhaust This is my favorite pick-up for ADC's coming up. More than anything, I think it's one that ADC's can use with the most versatility. It's uses are well proven already, being used as extra CC to attack or to escape. What's more, if you're going to split push, this is your spell now. Only 1 enemy shows up? Exhaust them and force a duel. With it's changes now, it's useful against both Auto-Attack or Burst enemies. 2v1 coming to block you? Exhaust the CC potential and run away. In a teamfight and Jax all on your face? Exhaust him and laugh in his face.

- The others The others are pretty straight forward and niche. Cleanse has proven itself already, as some ADC's are starting to bring it back against these heavy wombo compositions returning. Teleport is obviously a niche pick if you want to Old School CLG everyone. Ghost can also be a niche pick if you think you will always be with your team, then rely on your Support for a heal + crucible and use Ghost to kite more efficiently against bruisers....and clarity/clairvoyance...no

That's my quick write-up. Again, Heal on the ADC is great now, I just think it means it won't be used to its fullest potential as often. Worth thinking about other options to open up more strategic versatility...

like the return of Enchanted Crystal Arrow->Teleport to lane->Pick up Kill Ashe. XP

[amberlenecrystal]

In today's LoL School Class ill be teaching beginners about Summoner Spells and what are the best spells to pick in certain situations etc.