On the proper use of Flash

Warning: Wall of text- not for illiterate savages.

According to Riot the summoner spell Flash is one of the most commonly used of them all on the Fields of Justice. I believe that most summoners don't actually need flash and take it because it looks cool or just to escape, or whatever inane reason, and then waste it in game. This is just some advice on when to take it and when to use it, because a lot of times you'd be better off taking a summoner spell that has more synergy with your champion or the situation. First off, although if you're an experienced player just skip this, here's a summary of what it does:

Pros - Instantaneous 'blinking' (recall and teleport take time and can be stopped), autocast on press(no need to click, just aim with mouse), can take you over walls and other obstacles.

Cons - 300 second cooldown(the mastery doesn't help any and is a waste of points), short range, autocast on press(meaning you can hit the button by accident and waste it so it is on cooldown when you actually need it.)

I've seen countless people overestimate the range of Flash and AMOS up as a result. The most common mistakes are:

• Wallhax fail - A champion is fleeing through a jungle from a 3 or more man gank and tries to flash through a wall, but they just stay in the same place and get raped. Some walls are too thick to flash through or for abilities to go through period.
  
• "2 inches issue" - Flashing forward down a lane to try to escape from an enemy with vastly superior movement speed or closing power. Needless to say they catch up and kill you.
  
• Flashing forward to catch a fleeing enemy - this is not really a mistake, but IMO it isn't that good of a use, because if the enemy gets away it will have been wasted in the end.
  
• The aforementioned accidental usage. This problem is not limited to flash, other champion specific abilities are like this too, but they don't have a 300 second cd.
  

For transportation purposes it really only puts you like 2 inches ahead at the most, all you have to do is mouse over the icon to see the maximum range of it so you have a better idea of what you can and cannot flash away/toward effectively. And even then I really don't think it is worth filling up your summoner slot if it is just for a "mundane" use like chasing or escaping, but that is just my opinion, not intended as advice.


Fiddle-sticks - I saw a guide that said "he doesn't need flash, your ult does it for you". Utter BS. As fiddle it is your number 1 prerogative(a word which here means DO IT FAGGOT) to keep as many enemy champions inside that ultra damaging aura that surrounds you for as long of those precious 5 seconds as possible, and circumstances will not always permit perfect placement. The enemies could start running beforehand whether from seeing you or another threat, become too dispersed for you to hit all of them, etc., so immediately after popping in with crowstorm you can use flash to reposition yourself as necessary so you can catch up and kill the most dangerous enemy or keep the main formation under your influence, or if they are too far away from the bush for one pop to get close to them.

Nunu - Absolute Zero is one of abilities where you hit the button and it starts regardless of target or location. Even though it works over a large area, all it does is slow for about 3 seconds before the nuke comes down. While this helps in teamfights, it is way too easy for enemies to just walk, cleanse, or flash out, forcing you to cancel your ult because nobody's in it anymore. And they can even cancel it with some hard cc, making it one of the hardest ultimates to land properly.. Nunu is not the fastest of champions, so a flash ult combo gives them less time to react or escape.

Galio - Idol of Durand works almost the same way, but it's way more effective despite the smaller area because it taunts. Again, people can see you trying to get in the middle of a fight to ult and will disperse to react, so flash gives the element of surprise, especially over a wall. Prescribed in pro level games. I was using Galio before he was buffed, I'm so hipster

Rammus - Oh man, there are so many ingenious uses for flash with rammus...powerball flash scare out of the bush, flashing out of the enemy group so they can't block your powerball escape...flashing in to taunt, though I think that's a waste unless it is that important to your victory to kill that specific champion.

Amumu - If your bandage toss is down you can flash in for an ult, it has a bit wider area than Galio's and does the damage instantly. Flash ganks also work because of his percentage max hp damage aura.

Janna - Again, Flash ult combo will make a big difference.

I suppose it's ok to take flash for most other champions for the 'mundane' purposes..i just don't like it.


Ezreal - Arcane Shift (or whatever it's called) basically IS flash, plus it shoots a random enemy.

Katarina - There's a reason shunpo works on allies.

Kennen - Well let's see, he can turn into a ball of crack that can go at 9000 mph and ignores unit collision, I really have to wonder why you have positioning issues.

Kassadin - WHAT THE GAY-MOS HELL D'YOU THINK HIS ULT DOES?!?!?! USE UP MANA AND LOOK PRETTY?!?! No that's jax's ult(the active anyway) It's spammable and deals damage, he was made to not need flash.

TL;DR - Using Flash in one of your summoner spells can cause severe side effects such as fail ults, epic feeding, cursing, and other detrimental ailments. Flash(TM) is not for everyone. Ask your local expert if flash is right for you.

Gotta pin this up on the Kotomine Church door bro. Good points here; I will have to reconsider taking flash up on some of my champions.

btw u missed amumu on champions that flash is excellent on

also btw, "autocast" isn't a plus, u can autocast any skill, just shift+skill button

This guide is kinda, weak.

He talks about it being a con that you can fail to kill someone after catching up to them with flash - well OK, the player just misjudged whether or not they could get the kill.

Accidental use - It's a mistake that happens, and sometimes its just a L2P thing, seen it done with clarity and heal a lot too.

He mentions kennen doesn't need flash - well I GUESS you can use ghost but if people flash AWAY from you or your want to flash right into them (because kennen gets really obvious when he is going for an ult) it becomes a great use, flash counters flash (have done this multiple times to seal kills). YES I have the advocated the use of ghost and teleport over flash other times, but there are only so many viable summoner spells for general use: Ignite, Exhaust, Ghost, Flash, Teleport (Fortify and Clarity are circumstantial and Clairvoyance is special in that your support takes it).

Also, for the vast majority of assassins AND tanks (not just the ones listed) flash serves as a great insta initiation or teamfight escape - when you get out of the limits of the teamfighting teams you more often than not get left along, or your pursuers get boned (unless its someone with high burst insta closing, or someone similar to mordekaiser).

Lastly, Flash is a very strong diving tool - you can use it to effectively dive a low health champion without eating turret bullets for too long.

Well I'm sure you two could collaborate to complete this guide. I think Kooay got his main point across sufficiently.

Another note: on ezreal, he can take flash, because you know, double flash is STRONG follow up. One blink is not a replacement for flash, it is a tool the champion has, they have not copy pasted flash into their skills so they can open up a spot for something else. you could go ignite exhaust on ezreal, but he has never been the best duelist.

bottom-line: Flash is great on anyone with either good slow / cc or burst (cc's similar to jannas don't count, take wayyy to GAY-MOS long to use and flash is irrelevant)

itsame273 wrote:btw u missed amumu on champions that flash is excellent on

also btw, "autocast" isn't a plus, u can autocast any skill, just shift+skill button

yeah well they should be consistent about it, like switching abilities like absolute zero back over to that system, or allowing players to pick what they want in options. btw I should probably post this on the LoL Forum, but the ingame options menu should be accessible in the pvp.net client so you don't have to waste time in game adjusting your video settings or whatever.
And yeah there are a bunch of champions that I forgot that belong in one of the two lists, keep the suggestions coming.

Darkgenesis wrote:This guide is kinda, weak.

He talks about it being a con that you can fail to kill someone after catching up to them with flash - well OK, the player just misjudged whether or not they could get the kill.
Also, for the vast majority of assassins AND tanks (not just the ones listed) flash serves as a great insta initiation or teamfight escape - when you get out of the limits of the teamfighting teams you more often than not get left along, or your pursuers get boned (unless its someone with high burst insta closing, or someone similar to mordekaiser).

Lastly, Flash is a very strong diving tool - you can use it to effectively dive a low health champion without eating turret bullets for too long.

Yes, I know it is weak, that is what happens when I let ideas fester in my mind too long without writing them down.

Darkgenesis wrote:Another note: on ezreal, he can take flash, because you know, double flash is STRONG follow up. One blink is not a replacement for flash, it is a tool the champion has, they have not copy pasted flash into their skills so they can open up a spot for something else. you could go ignite exhaust on ezreal, but he has never been the best duelist.

bottom-line: Flash is great on anyone with either good slow / cc or burst (cc's similar to jannas don't count, take wayyy to GAY-MOS long to use and flash is irrelevant)

I suppose i understand the double flash thing now. Also you obviously haven't played janna, the whirlwind knockup thing can be released instantaneously, it just does less damage and goes a shorter distance. And if that isn't fast enough for you there is the zephyr slow shot thing, which can set them up for a knockup wind.

WRONG, I have played janna, I know you can release it instantly, but it is not viable with flash considering
a) the vast majority of viable janna builds don't build damage so wtf u doing with a flash gank
b) GOOD jannas dont max tornado first like noob idiots (like I did when I was level 10) u get 1 point wonder so it doesn't waste your mana and you max up your shield and speed so you can be everywhere at once.

Bottom Line: Flash Tornado is not nearly as useful or easily landable as other flash -> hit combos. If a Janna needs to her team to chase you she just runs after you with her godlike speed and drops zephyr on you and you move like a snail for 4 ish seconds.

I need to fair though, I am actually really happy someone decided to put a up a tip guide to anything for LoL here, just really nice to see, so good job on the initiative, also the topic is a good topic in itself, so double thumbs up.

The new combo i had in mind is Flash zephyr, then tornado while they're slowed? I think that would work. The speed increase is 40% and you ignore unit collision which is good but Flash is also effective like it is with kennen

its a lot more to use flash tornado zephyr all together than it is to use flash + kennen into a fight. Its a possible combo, but janna takes clair cuz she is support, and then on her something like teleport is usually really helpful.

why do people tell me to get clairvoyance as blitzcrank?

o cuz apparently u need to see into teh bush to know to grab them, u cant just be smart and keep track of powerofpoo.

Flash has a CD of ~180 seconds, not 300, it has only slightly higher CD than ghost so you can naturally use them together at the same time.

ITS 300 YOU IDIOT CHECK AGAIN

yeah wtf are you smoking felix, after the talents in utility its like 285, if it was 180 itd be more OP than it already is.

Its 255

when we're discussing the exact value of a skill's cooldown, we know we're obsessed

Yeah about that, vlad's transfusion is too high, it's 4 seconds. And I suppose felix thinks teleport has a 180 second cd as opposed to 300 as well, because he's too cool to use teleport, ever.

lol, do u use teleport, Kooay? cuz i don't, and i haven't seen amos use it either

I have used it on VERY RARE occasions, its not THAT op. Its very good, no doubt about that, but I usually run any combination of flash/exhaust/ignite/ghost on my champs - because those are just jam packed with usefulness (I'd say utility but ignite isn't AS utility-ish as the others)

I usually run rally/revive, or revive/teleport, cus its pro.

Darkgenesis wrote:Double flash is STRONG follow up. One blink is not a replacement for flash, it is a tool the champion has, they have not copy pasted flash into their skills so they can open up a spot for something else.

Being a more experienced player now I believe this is quite true. Double blinking with Kassadin more than makes up for his crap movement speed, and now that Leblanc has return beacons for both distort and mimic, you can blink up to potentially 5 times in 5 seconds. Massive amount of distance closing or instant juking.

Darkgenesis wrote:
bottom-line: Flash is great on anyone with either good slow / cc or burst (cc's similar to jannas don't count, take wayyy to GAY-MOS long to use and flash is irrelevant)

More specifically, Flash works best for those with single target stuns, when you just need to get in range long enough to use an ability that will kill them or a disable to keep them down while you close in. "Leash" disables like Morgana's Soul Shackles and Nocturne's Unspeakable Horror are debatable as to how effective Flash is for them(Great for getting out of them though).

As Alistar, at level 2 I immediately Flash into the enemy ad carry for an instant pulverize, headbutt them back and exhaust them for a guaranteed kill. Works every time, and doing so repeatedly makes me feel more confident about using Flash offensively.

What I still don't like about Flash is how it's used as a universal get out of anything free card. "Hurr jungler came imma flash" "Op I think they're initiating flash out" "noo i got stunned flash away" That said its amusing to see players blow their escapes pre-emptively when I'm just harassing them, so that they're on cooldown when the real gank comes.

Flash is amazing for Janna because the ult can be used for massive displacing if you happen to find a person just out of placement u really want to kill. Peeling super hard wins games easy.

If you can solo dragon as a jungler and be on blue side, flash can easily bring over the edge for escape/steal. Flash is generally more useful for junglers unless you're a boss like Lee Sin who only needs wards or if you're a powerofpoo gap-closer/no cc like Shyvana or Udyr.

A lot more dash champs are coming into play so flashing after initial dash usually saves your ass. A lot of supports can really screw you if you don't flash (Leona, Taric, Blitz...). Rengar and Diana are played heavily currently so yeah.

Another thing is that the enemy is usually taking flash, so counterflash is pretty useful.

On the note of teleport. It's good if you can fit at least 2 people on your team with teleport as it's general control of jungle and extremely powerful ganks if your laners ward top and bot edge bushes. Dragon controls can break games easily. If only one person runs teleport its usually the top laner since it's a solo lane, but you can be a fag and run it on a support to gank top or whatever (general mistrust in jungle skill usually). Bot lane ganks can score 2 easy kills since they're usually squishy and can put either top lane in a strong position or getting a more fed ADC.

Kevindakilla wrote:Flash is amazing for Janna because the ult can be used for massive displacing if you happen to find a person just out of placement u really want to kill. Peeling super hard wins games easy.

Wow finally my point is vindicated, I forget that Janna has an ult because I don't play her and it has a giant cooldown. Thanks man.
I just added Janna and Amumu to the list, although I think everyone's pretty clear that the lower half of my list is garbage now.

Kevindakilla wrote:
Flash is generally more useful for junglers unless you're a boss like Lee Sin who only needs wards or if you're a powerofpoo gap-closer/no cc like Shyvana or Udyr.

Hecarim has CC, speed, and a wall haxing ultimate so I take smite and ghost for proz.

Kevindakilla wrote:
Rengar and Diana are played heavily currently so yeah.

Diana can double dash, and Rengar can unlimited dash works. They both have CCs after that which Flash can barely clear the range of, and Rengar can get his on you before you flash. There is also Ahri with the BS triple dash ult, but she so squishy so w/e. Unfortunately it just forces you to play that much smarter and the other guy can pretty much be master right click and get you anyway.

Kevindakilla wrote:
On the note of teleport. It's good if you can fit at least 2 people on your team with teleport as it's general control of jungle and extremely powerful ganks if your laners ward top and bot edge bushes. Dragon controls can break games easily. If only one person runs teleport its usually the top laner since it's a solo lane, but you can be a fag and run it on a support to gank top or whatever (general mistrust in jungle skill usually). Bot lane ganks can score 2 easy kills since they're usually squishy and can put either top lane in a strong position or getting a more fed ADC.

Oh very good I might get teleport on my combat supports now. I think I should make a separate topic for teleport.

Hecarim should be played with exhaust since he already has mobility. This wrecks early game because generally doesn't have much ganking potential unless they have really overextended, since hec is pretty limited in his pre-6 cc.

Flash counters Diana because her ult has a limited range (no duh) and she HAS to hit you with Q unless you're already low. Rengar is just meh so just like flash outside bush range or flash after his ult jump and all his skills pretty much don't hit you.

For pros: use flash to dodge alistar's headbutt COMPLETELY and put it on cooldown. Obviously use it to dodge skill shots that matter like a blitz pull, Leona ult, Sona ult. Note that I just named most of the major support characters.

Huh. Alright I'll try that out too. While we're on that matter, who does have good ganking potential?

Kevindakilla wrote:Note that I just named most of the major support characters.

Oh stop it you.

I just played a few games with teleport on support, it is so useful, I really wonder how I could have gone through so many games where nobody had teleport.

Reason is because support should be dedicated to helping the ADC get fed or to maintain a sustain comp (passive vs aggressive). Playing without a support really sucks since the 2v1 with cc could mean easy death and the summoner slot for teleport is extremely valuable in terms of alternatives (exhaust is boss, and so is flash).