Originally Posted by Roku

Yes - we do admit that they didn't work well.

Promote was OK for its intended use - but we feel like as a strategic choice it is better fit on an item. This allows us to control the effect in many different ways than a Summoner Spell does (who buys it, when it becomes available in a game, and how much cost you're paying for the effect).

As for Surge - we definitely missed the mark. Originally Surge was envisioned as a team oriented spell, something similar to old Rally. After a few iterations it had to be toned down, but we didn't want to make the user feel worse for taking it. As it stands now, it does come down to which spell is going to give you more damage - Ignite or Surge. In an overwhelming majority of cases, Ignite will actually give you more mileage even if Surge sounds better. This becomes especially true later in the game as Ignite ignores armor / magic resist. Surge was fun to cast, and had good synergy with a particular couple champions - but a majority of the time it was actually a trap. There were some fun aspects of it - turret pushing, clever edge case uses, and getting bigger, but it overall was a false choice.

Originally Posted by NakedGranny

in all seriousness, Ignite should be removed in favor of Surge...

put the anti-healing effect on an item, have less True Damage floating around in the game would be a very very good thing in the long run. Ignite is far far too much of a "must pick", you can't deny that.

do ****ing SOMETHING to give us back our Summoner Spells because ANY ****ing choice besides Flash + Ignite is a "trap option", you know.

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.