You get to choose TWO (2) summoner spells per game, certain ones are unavailable until you reach a specific summoner level, for instance, Flash can not be acquired until level 12. This, in my opinion, is because some summoner spells are a little harder to properly utilize or deal with than others.

I'm nobody from Riot Games, so I'm not particularly sure what the actual reason is. But if you think about it, it does sort of make sense in this light, because the last thing someone who is just learning how to move and attack wants to deal with is being unable to judge an engagement because they THOUGHT they were leaving with a certain amount of life, and lo and behold, the engagement closes with a well placed Ignite.

Flash


Flash is one of the most-seen summoner spells in the entire game. With it, you can get away from even the heaviest ganks, catch up with even the fastest runners, speed up your jungle time, get out of a tower dive alive... the options are completely limitless. This is a favorite among probably at least 70% of League of Legends players. I believe I've been successfully unbiased in rating this one, considering I HATE to use it and NEVER do.



DPS Characters are, for the most part, short ranged. There are ranged ones, yes, lots of them, but there are a lot more melee/short ranged ones. When someone starts running from you, it is incredibly frustrating when you can't catch them. Sometimes they'll even bait you right into a gank. This skill can help to prevent both of those scenarios, so I'd say it's pretty viable on a DPS character. It can also help you get into an optimum range if you have a distance closing skill like Master Yi's Alpha Strike and the enemy is just a HAIR out of reach.



Flash is a lot more viable on a caster as an escape than it is as an initiation. Casters tend to be incessant kiters, if you're tanking hits as a caster, you aren't exactly playing them to be very efficient. Casters also tend to get focused in team fights because of their damage output, this will get you out of a wall initiation like Jarvan IV's Cataclysm or Veigar's Event Horizon and keep you bringing the pain for a bit longer.



Tanks need to get into a fight quickly and initiate, drawing damage to themselves and away from their carries. It's a pretty knee-jerk reaction for a team to focus on the first stray target that prevents itself, so if your carry is being stupid and heading in first to face certain death, you can flash ahead of them, pop your taunt or CC, and keep your carry alive and doing his job effectively. Tanks are also prone to getting some heavy focus. If you get in over your head, you can always Flash out.



The midlane is prone to ganks, prone to tower dives, prone to a whole lot of abuse. Flash will save your life over, and over, and over, and over again. The mid lane is also a dueling lane, that is, it's usually one versus one. When the enemy gets dangerously low, they're going to play defensively and retreat. This will allow you to get that last blow in and push hard on that tower once they've fallen (Or get away from THEIR last hit).



In the early stages of the game, Flash won't help a support as much as it would help others, because they tend not to be in the fray much, they tend to be able to sustain themselves long enough to get away from danger, and they're usually in lane with someone who can potentially save them. Late game however when team fights start breaking out, supports tend to get focused. Being the critical role that they are on a team, they'd better be able to get out of that focus as quickly as possible and continue doing their job.

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You need to really get creative and really put some thought into all the things you can do with Flash. Be very weary though of skills like Kassadin' void walk or Katarina's Shunpo, especially if they're also running Flash, because you will NOT be able to use Flash to get away from these. Also be weary of skills like Warwick's Infinite Duress or Morgana's Dark Binding, since if they pop it on you as soon as you Flash, you just flashed into death and can't get away. Especially near towers. However, even with that in consideration, this is a swiss army knife of mobility summoner spells. You can go past thin walls, you can Flash into a bush and seemingly disappear completely, you can flash out of prison-type skills or past a wall like Anivia's, there are literally just about infinite things that you can do with it.

For instance, have you ever thought of baiting a low level counterjungler towards a high level creep, aggrivating the creep, using Flash to get on the other side of them and far enough away so the creep changes focus to the enemy, popping your CC, and having the creep help you kill the counterjungler?

You do, however, need to be very careful to be mindful of where your mouse cursor is before you cast Flash. It is god-awfully easy to mis-cast Flash because you made a snap decision and hammered that button under pressure without lining anything up. In actuality, 9 times out of 10 you'll want to NOT use flash at all when escaping unless it's the difference between life and death.

Do not burn your flash just because "this is what I use to escape", try and escape without it first. Be conservative. What happens if you successfully run back to your team, your team beats your attacker within inches of their life, but the attacker gets away? Oh! Wait! You never burned your Flash! Time to run after them, flash, and secure that kill.

Exhaust


You can only really use Exhaust for three things. You can use it to get away from an enemy, you can use it to catch an enemy, and you can use it to stop a heavy hitter from heavy hitting. There really isn't much else that it's useful for. I've heard people suggest using it on baron nashor to make him easier to solo, to which I reply only one thing. Have you TRIED using it on him? It doesn't work. So... negative ghost rider, that pattern is full. Do a fly-by. (Means you're wrong. Try again.)



Yup. This is where Exhaust probably shines. They do less damage to you, they can't escape, they can't be as effective with crazy items like Deathfire Grasp, and they're just generally now having what would qualify as a bad day. This skill is great on a DPS.



You're a caster. What do you need Exhaust to slow them for? I'd say 90% of casters have SOME form of CC and this is just beating a dead horse. I mean, you could use Exhaust to slow them after your CC wears off, but it's never really a great idea for a caster to chase anyone anyway because they're so darn prone to ganks. The only use I can really think of for Exhaust on a caster is if you need to get AWAY from the enemy, in which case, I'd rather see you with Ghost, because it ignores unit collision, and it lasts long enough for you to get in there, throw your burst, and still have it running to get your butt out of there alive.



Oh hey, look, they're chasing down your carry or your support. Whelp, not anymore! Oh hey, Master Yi is back on that meth, and he's flailing his sword around and it has a huge ouch factor. Let's go ahead and reduce his damage by 70%. Ah, man, Kennen keeps using that Lightning Rush to get marks of the storm on everyone on the team and he keeps stunning and damaging everyone at once. Why don't you slow your roll, there, Kennen? 40% sound about right? Good talk, man. Can I get a kill real quick? Kthanxbye. Translated to serious English, This skill is invaluable on a tank.



This is a great skill to use to get a few free hits on a fleeing enemy before they finally get some protection from their tower, and it's also great to get them off of you if they happened to get the jump on you. It screw up an enemy gank, keep someone in place for a team gank, and it can cause a tower diver to get assaulted by more tower fire than they would have normally. It's really useful in the middle lane, I gotta say.



If an enemy is chasing you, it's your lane partner's responsibility to capitalize on it and its your responsibility to keep your lane partner alive. Exhaust is great for slowing and weakening, but those are sort of offense based things, and as a support, you're kinda supposed to leave that to your team mates. That's not to say that Exhaust can't be useful on a support... logically you could use it to help your lane partner get more kills, but wouldn't your rather have something like Clarity to keep their mana up or Clairvoyance to prevent early ganks?

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Exhaust is a hell of a skill, for damn sure. It has a lot of tide-changing uses in a fight, especially against characters like a fed Master Yi or Tryndamere. Not so beefy NOW, are ya?! But you do have to keep in mind that you only have two and a half seconds of salvation, so make it count. The only time you should ever rely on exhaust for its damage mitigation is if you can actually TAKE the damage they deal once it wears off, such as with a tank who seems to be JUST evenly matching survivability with the offending champion- this can tip the scales for you.

A creative use for exhaust, like I mentioned above, is to pop it on an enemy who is trying to tower dive you. It's best to let them get ONE hit on you so the tower is targeting them, so stay close to the tower (within range, at least) and take a hit. Exhaust them, back off a bit, and hit them with anything you can at a safe range. If you're strictly melee and low on health, then your only real option is to let them hit you, exhaust them, and run for the hills since you can't do anything anyway. If you have enough health to stand off, though, well then NOW you have your tower helping you to pummel this guy.

Be very mindful of champs with something like Gangplank's Remove Scurvy, because it's a really quick way to put your exhaust on cooldown with no real end effect. Also be weary of Quicksilver Sash and Cleanse, as well as skills like Master Yi's Highlander or Olaf's Ragnarok, as they will also destroy Exhaust's effect. Exhaust is very effective at taking some edge off of Yi's blade as LONG as his ultimate is on cooldown. You can always tell it's on cooldown because he won't be raping you with it.

In this section, I'll be using the symbol rather than the symbol to avoid confusion.
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Ignite


Ignite has two (2) uses: Deal damage and reduce healing effects. People only ever use it for the damage though, and that's a shame. Say Olaf engages you and you're a tank. You can stand up to him, but jesus, that man has some life leech potential. But you, thinking quickly, Ignite him. Now his life is falling fast (because it's true damage that Ignite deals, remember this) and he also can't heal himself as well. That's GG, brah. Same for if Fiddlesticks is giving you trouble with that damned Bountiful Harvest.



So you're fighting the enemy and you almost kill them, but darn it if they didn't slip though your greasy fingers. They're heading towards the tower and they have so little life that if a minion sneezed on them, they'd kick the bucket. You're a melee guy, and you just can't catch the guy. Suddenly, the existence of Ignite in this game comes to you like a holy revelation, and your kill score goes up by exactly one (1). Aren't you glad you had that extra potential? Same goes for a ranged DPS... maybe not so much that they got away, but maybe they're headed for their tower, and today, you just aren't that dumb (today). You ignite them and they run behind the tower, the fog of war closes in, and you stand there with your hand up to your ear and an evil troll smirk on your face. You have slain an enemy.

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Ignite. The ultimate troll skill, I think. Being a total troll, I think I could be the expert on these things. It's kind of a toss up between Ignite and Heal. Depending, I guess, on whether you're an offensive troll or a defensive troll. As I discussed, Ignite will shut down Vladimir pretty efficiently if more than one person on the team runs it and you piggyback it (yours wears off, someone else casts it), because it doesn't stack as far as I know (please correct this if it is false). It's amazing for securing kills on enemies that forgot you were running it, it's amazing for keeping a heavy leecher from out-sustaining you... it's all around a great skill to have in your holster.


A creative use for Ignite comes from the Jungle side of the game. You see them going after a buff and it's almost down... you could stick around to Smite it if you like, or you can be a total troll and Ignite it and run away. They keeap beating on it, but Ignite takes the last hit. Thanks for doing all the work for me, pal! And you didn't even have to stick around or face off with them. This gnerally doesn't work if the person you're trying to steal the buff from is their actual JUNGLER. Because usually they're running Smite and they'll get the last hit anyway. But if it's just their caster trying to get the blue... then it works. And it's glorious.

The cool thing about Ignite is that just about any buff removing gear or skill will get rid of the damage over time effect, but NOTHING gets rid of the healing reduction effect. Not even Cleanse. It isn't listed the same way on Quicksilver Sash, but the same rules apply according to the folks over in theory crafting. So Olaf runs in and pops Ragnarok and thinks he's A-OK to come after you because he wiped out Ignite, but in reality, he still isn't leeching worth anything. Yaaaaay deception. Again, correct me if I'm wrong. But from playing against him and pulling this stunt, I'm pretty sure those crazy theory crafting cats are spot-on this time.

One last thing... DO NOT be that guy that runs in to pop ignite and gets skull-****ed in the process. It's not worth it. Let it go.

Teleport


Teleport has two (2) main uses. I call them "Air Strike" and "Sandbag". Think about what you do when you call an air strike in (or, since you sit at home and play video games, what happens when they call in an air strike in the movies... since I don't think you'll physically call in an air strike anytime soon. Just sayin). Your team is taking some heavy hits and they need help, like, yesterday. You teleport in and IMMEDIATELY change the tides. Sandbagging is when they're about to push a tower HARD, and it's un-manned, and they think they've got it in the bag. Suddenly an orange swirly thing shows up and now you still have a tower.



Gonna have to downvote this one to oblivion. So yeah, you teleported to your team mates getting face rolled by a really good plow session... you're a DPS. You aren't meant to be a meat shield, you're meant to throw damage. This skill doesn't help you do that at all, so leave it to the tank, who can actually do some good. It's god for ganking though, and anybody that can save a tower is just fine by me.



The only reason that casters got a vote of two (2) and DPS only got one (1) is because casters usually take the middle lane, and Teleport is pretty viable in the middle lane. If your mid laner is down for the count, and middle is being pushed, maybe it would be somewhat viable for you to jump in there and hold it for a second while they respawn. But honestly, if there's good enough team communication, you should already be strolling over there by foot.



Your tank is supposed to be wherever the damage is. If he's backdooring and pushing on a tower because he's a tanky pusher like Nasus, and suddenly a mob of pitchforks comes down another lane, he needs to be able to get over there pronto. It's not the most viable skill to put on a tank, but it works INCREDIBLY well when you do use it, so I have it at a maximum rating.



This is where I'd have to say that Teleport shines, if it shines anywhere. You just took out the other middle, they're on respawn. You have a choice, you can go buy and heal and meet back up with him in the middle at about the time he respawns, or you can push hard on the tower in his absence. OR, with Teleport, you can go back, buy, heal for a second or two, Teleport to your minions, and STILL be able to push. Best of both worlds.



Another class that really needs to be where the action is. They also get focused a lot in team fights. So, say you get smashed in the face with something blunt like Yorick's shovel of awesomeness. You die. Now you have to respawn and your team is short a support for the whole time you're out of commission AND the whole time it takes you to get back into the lane. With Teleport, you can really shave off some of that time. With Teleport and Revive, you can effectively make the enemy team hate your family because they just CAN'T FLIPPIN' GET RID OF YOU.


(Such was the case in one of my recent games. And not on our team. Sorry. Sour subject.)

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Teleport takes a little bit of skill to be really effective with, and you really need to know when it's absolutely critical to use it because of its ungodly cooldown. You don't want to just willy-nilly go around burning Teleport, because then when you need it, it's gone. You also need to make sure that you know that you need a target to use it, so make sure the people that you're diving in to protect know that as well. Have Shaco throw a box down, or tell Teemo to poop a mushroom. You can Teleport to either of those. You can also Teleport to sight wards and Vision Wards.


The most effective times to teleport are actually pretty obvious to recognize- if you see that your team needs you badly, and they aren't going to survive without you, then get your butt over there. It's pretty simple.


Some creative uses for Teleport... This is hilarious. Have Teemo **** a mushroom (I'm sorry, it's how I've always looked at it.) by the ridge above baron and run Smite and Teleport on your jungler. Firstly, this helps him get ganks, which is half of a jungler's job. Secondly, if he teleports to that mushroom (which the enemies can't see) and Smites the last hit on Baron Nashor, its laughs all around. Could very well change the game, too.


The other one is something my friends and I actually had to FACE, which is how I learned it. The WHOLE team runs Teleport. You're all consistently everywhere. Have Shaco in the Jungle, Teemo on top, and ward everything that looks like it's made up of pixels. Have a ward sticking out of teemo's head if you like. There will never be a moment in the game where the enemy feels safe taking a step outside their base. Nobody can calculate team fights. Nobody would DARE gank your team. It's pure psychological warfare.


BUT.... Casual use of teleport is a GREAT way to get yourself ganked.