Originally Posted by Roku

In the preseason we want summoner spells to be another way to customize your champion to suit your playstyle instead of being dominated by a few, extremely strong choices. We’re confident that these modifications will free you up to experiment with different combinations and tailored to your favorite champions.

Originally Posted by FeralPony

Yes but no spoiler... yet

Originally Posted by Roku

Hey summoners,

I’m Roku, Game QA Analyst at Riot Games, and I’m here today to fill you in on some of the upcoming summoner spell changes we have planned this preseason. Overall, we want to offer you more viable summoner spells, so that you have plenty of options to tailor your selections to suit your individual playstyle and strategic needs. We hope to accomplish this by equalizing power levels and solidifying unique roles for each spell choice.

For starters, we plan to make Barrier available across all maps rather than just the Proving Grounds. To ensure it’s balanced it we’ll be increasing its cooldown and reducing its duration. Barrier will require faster reaction time in its new form, but will remain the go-to defensive option against burst damage. To reinforce this change, we’re also reducing the overall effect of Heal, but modifying it to heal allies for the same amount as it heals the caster. This will solidify Heal into a support role, while making it less useful for baiting opponents.

Next, we’re making some subtle tweaks to many of the summoner spells. Flash and Ignite will each have their cooldowns increased slightly in order to bring them more in line with other spells. Clarity, Clairvoyance, and Exhaust are set for small changes that will make them more visible during gameplay and emphasize their specific roles.

Finally, we’ll be removing both Promote and Surge. We’re creating an item with an effect like Promote since it makes sense as a strategic option, and having it as a buy-in strategy means we’ll be able to better balance the effect in relation to its gold cost. Surge is being removed because it isn’t always clear when to use it or which champions benefit from it. In the end, Surge is a competing spell in a niche we’d like Ignite to fill.

In the preseason we want summoner spells to be another way to customize your champion to suit your playstyle instead of being dominated by a few, extremely strong choices. We’re confident that these modifications will free you up to experiment with different combinations and tailored to your favorite champions.

Originally Posted by Darthob

FeralPony:
I was wondering if the you/your creative group have considered a stealth sort of summoner spell e.g. Your champion becomes stealthed for 4 seconds. Attacking or casting spells ends this effect.

While I understand having such a summoner spell would practically force the opposing team to invest in Vision Wards/Oracles, I think it could add a wonderful dynamic to the game.

The way I see it now, there are only 2 real "escape/engage" summoner spells and it seems everyone is reliant on one or the other (mostly just Flash, however). This could open up the field in so many ways. Just like Flash and Ghost, it could be used both offensively and defensively and can make or break someone's life. It may seem overly powerful at first glance, but if you keep in mind that it can be nearly completely negated by items, I think it's more balanced in the end.

Albeit I DO see the potential problem you could run into with "Team A runs stealth and they use it to get the upper hand on Team B. Team A has the advantage and Team B is struggling to keep up. Team B can not afford to purchase oracles and/or are too weak to defend it. Even if they tried to purchase it, they would be put even further behind team A." ... What if Clairvoyance (or Clairvoyance upgraded by a mastery) reveal invisible units?

Just a thought. Maybe an item that grants the ability?

Originally Posted by Jimyd

YOU REMOVED SURGE AND PROMOTE? REAL.

Promote is the one thing that has kept Heimer VIABLE. Surge is good on Teemo/Fizz and anyone who is going for a Malady Wits End build.

Epic fail on Riot's part. Removing fortify made sense, because you could stalemate a game for a long time. Promote promotes aggressive play.