Summoner Spells

The answer to slows — the only spell unlocked at account level 1

Slows applied during the sprint are halved, and being out of combat adds another 20%. It is not a blink, so terrain still blocks you — but ten seconds of speed is a different tool from Flash's single instant. Against a composition built on slows, it often does more work.

Required to buy jungle items — effectively locked in for junglers

If you are clearing the jungle this is not a choice but a prerequisite: jungle items cannot be purchased without it. Its 30s cooldown is the shortest in the game, half that of the next-shortest pair (Execute and Frenzy). The 1,500 true damage to monsters doubles as steal protection when contesting the Tyrant or the Overlord. Buying the Hunting Knife upgrades it to Smite Aura.

Recovers the group, not the individual

Because Heal restores a percentage, the total goes up the more high-Health frontliners are standing near you. For a hero who spends long stretches alone, it only ever returns your own 15%. Its 120s cooldown ties for the longest in the game.

Closes out the kills you cannot quite finish

Because it is true damage, no amount of enemy defense reduces it. That also means it scales with how low they already are — against a full-health target it does almost nothing. Securing the kill cuts the cooldown by 90%, putting it back up in about six seconds. It unlocks at account level 3, so it is available almost from the start.

For heroes whose fights go long

Frenzy cannot be used to escape or to close a gap, so it only pays off in extended trades. The flip side is a 60s cooldown, short enough to be up for every team fight. It unlocks at account level 17, so it is out of reach until you have played for a while.

Works on both sides of a tower dive

The silence lasts 2-5s, extending by 1.5s at 04:00 and again at 10:00. The same spell inverts its purpose depending on the target: it buys time to dive, or time to hold. Stacking it within 90s only adds one second.

Gives a hero without crowd control a way to start a fight

Stun is an area effect rather than a targeted one, so a clumped enemy team all get hit. The heroes who gain most are the ones with no reliable crowd control of their own — it adds an opener they otherwise lack. At 0.75s it is short, and it only works if teammates are close enough to follow up.

Lane returns and split pushing

Destroyed towers still count as destinations, so a losing lane keeps a way back. The selected unit takes no damage while you channel. Cutting out the walk after a death is what makes the difference — you simply get more pushes per game. Cancelling the channel refunds 25s of the cooldown.

For the player absorbing damage at the front

What separates Intimidate from other defensive options is that it lowers the enemy's damage itself, not just your intake. If a teammate applies it to the same target within 5s, though, the reduction debuff is halved — with two frontliners, split the targets.

The lifeline for heroes with no movement skill

Flash is the only general-purpose way to cross terrain. Heroes who can reposition with their own kit have room to pick something else, but Hou Yi has no movement effect anywhere in his passive or three skills, so Flash is his only reset. Huang Zhong also loses the ability to move during Turret Mode and needs an exit that does not wait for the mode to end. At 120s it ties for the longest cooldown in the game — assume you cannot repeat the escape for two full minutes.

For roles that die to a single crowd-control hit — picked after seeing the draft

Suppression is the one exception it cannot remove, and that exception is why its value depends on the enemy composition. For marksmen and mages who evaporate the moment they are pinned by a stun or knock-up, it can outrank Flash. The cooldown is 120s, tied with Flash and Heal for the longest.