League of Legends Summoner Spells: A Beginner's Guide

Summoner Spells are a key and integral part of the League of Legends gameplay experience, with nine to choose from on Summoner's Rift. Picking the right two Summoner Spells can be the difference between stomping the enemy or your Nexus being destroyed within the first twenty minutes, especially as they can't be changed once you're in the game.

Each Summoner Spell will have a long cooldown, usually over 100 seconds, so understanding how they work and when to use them is crucial. Here are all the Summoner Spells in League of Legends, including the ones specific to ARAM.

Flash

• Flash cooldown: 300 seconds

Flash is the most common Summoner Spell in League of Legends. Once activated, players will blink a short distance in whatever direction their cursor is pointing in. It's the only Summoner Spell most champions will take, as it is useful for play-making potential. Defensively, Flash can blink over walls and barriers to escape enemies or dodge skill shots.

Aggressively, Flash can be used to make great plays. For example, Lillia can use Flash to catch up to escaping grouped enemies, hit them with her Q and immediately use Lilting Lullaby to put them to sleep.

Flash has the longest cooldown of all the other Summoner Spells at 300 seconds, making you highly vulnerable to ganks and enemy pushes once used. Junglers, in particular, should try and track the Summoner Spells available to the enemy team. For example, if the enemy ADC and Support have used their Flash, they are an easy gank opportunity as they have no real escape methods.

Heal

• Heal cooldown: 240 seconds

Heal is an important Summoner Spell usually used in Bot Lane. It heals the holder and a nearby ally while providing them both with a burst of movement speed.

The ADC and Support in Bot Lane should both avoid taking Heal together, as Heal isn't effective on champions who have recently benefitted from it. Usually, the ADC will take Heal, while the Support takes another Summoner Spell, like Ignite or Exhaust, to use against enemy champions in their lane.

Exhaust

• Exhaust cooldown: 210 seconds

Exhaust is the perfect Summoner Spell against any enemy champion with a fast attack or movement speed. It slows the target by 30% for three seconds and reduces the damage dealt by 35%. It's the ideal Summoner Spell against a snowballing champion like Master Yi, Rengar, or any serious DPS threats like a fed enemy ADC.

Often, Exhaust is taken by the Support or Bot Lane ADC to use against the enemy ADC to slow them down and wreck them. Exhaust is helpful in team fights, quickly shutting down a squishy targeted enemy champion.

Ghost

• Ghost cooldown: 240 seconds

When activating the Ghost Summoner Spell, players will immediately gain 24-48% (based on level) bonus movement speed for ten seconds and can travel through minions and ignore unit collisions.

Ghost is usually taken by Top lane champions like Darius, Garen, and Nasus, to name a few, to close the gap between escaping enemy champions. Recently, LoL has also seen an insurgence of pro-players as ADC champions taking Ghost to help secure kills.

In LoL patch 13.14, Riot Games removed the buff that extended the duration of Ghost when scoring an enemy takedown.

Ignite

• Ignite cooldown: 180 seconds

Ignite is an offensive Summoner Spell seen in all lanes. When used, it deals scaling true damage (depending on level) to an enemy over five seconds. During this time, it provides vision of the target even while they're in Fog of War and inflicts Grievous Wounds, so all incoming heals are reduced.

Ignite is used by champions that play aggressively and usually snowball their lane. It's also a great pick against any champions with self-healing potential, items with omnivamp or lifesteal, or a healing Support champion on the enemy team. One factor to note is that Ignite does not stack, so avoid using it on the same target or wait until their Ignite is finished before activating your own.

Teleport

• Teleport cooldown: 360 seconds
• Unleashed teleport cooldown: 330-240 seconds (based on level)

Players can use Teleport on an allied turret for the first ten minutes of any game. After a four-second channel, they will teleport to their chosen area.

After ten minutes, Teleport will turn into Unleashed Teleport. This now has a global range, allowing players to teleport to any allied minions, wards, and turrets, even in the enemy base. Unleashed Teleport lets players split push lanes, create flanks, or outplay the enemy. Teleport is typically taken by Top players who are isolated at the other end of the map but is also sometimes taken by Mid Laners too.

Cleanse

• Cleanse cooldown: 210 seconds

Cleanse is a self-targeted Summoner Spell that removes most crowd control (CC) abilities (except near-sight, airborne, and suppression) and any negative debuffs like Ignite. Cleanse also grants players 65% Tenacity for three seconds, so any further CC is less effective.

Cleanse is typically taken by ADCs who are going up against hard CC champions like Lux, Morgana, and Blitzcrank, to name a few. It requires quick reflexes to use correctly and isn't a commonly-chosen Summoner Spell. Milio, the Gentle Flame, provides his own type of CC cleanse with his Ultimate and can be taken as a Support instead of using one of the two Summoner Spells on Cleanse.

Barrier

• Barrier cooldown: 180 seconds

Typically used in Mid Lane, Barrier provides players with a shield bubble that lasts two seconds. The shield's strength scales, providing protection from 101-411 damage (based on level).

Barrier works best for champions that want to avoid being burst down with quick damage during the laning phase, and it is usually equipped on Mage champions like Veigar, Ahri, Lux, and more, as a last-ditch effort to protect themselves.

Smite

• Smite cooldown: 15 seconds
• Recharge time: 90 seconds (maximum of two charges)

Smite is the one of the only Summoner Spells limited to Summoner's Rift and a specific role. It is required to succeed in the Jungle and to purchase the Jungle Pet item at the start of the game. Smite should also be used to secure Jungle camps and important objectives to ensure last-hits are guaranteed, like on Dragons, Rift Herald, and Baron Nashor.

Basic Smite (the starting one) deals 600 true damage to monsters and minions. It upgrades to Unleashed Smite after feeding a Jungle Pet 20 treats. Unleashed Smite will deal 900 true damage to the previous targets but can be used on enemy champions for a smaller amount of damage while slowing the target. After 20 more treats have been fed to your Jungle Pet, Unleashed Smite will transform into Primal Smite, dealing 1,200 true damage to monsters and minions.

ARAM Summoner Spells

These Summoner Spells unlock at Summoner Level Six when the ARAM 5v5 "All Random All Mid" game mode unlocks and can only be used in this game mode.

Mark and Dash

• Mark: 80 seconds

When activated, Mark will throw out a snowball in the target direction for a long distance, revealing enemies in the Brush it passes through and dealing 15-100 (based on level) true damage to the first enemy unit hit.

Enemies hit with Mark are revealed for three seconds, granting the ability to cast Dash, the follow-up Summoner Spell for the next three seconds. Casting Dash will teleport the player to the unit Marked, dealing 15-100 damage to them upon arrival. Dashing to the target will reduce the cooldown of the next Mark by 25%. All-in champions usually take Mark/Dash to initiate a team fight, and it is the most commonly used ARAM Summoner Spell after Flash.

Clarity

• Clarity cooldown: 240 seconds

The Howling Abyss aura in ARAM grants players slightly reduced Summoner Spell cooldowns and increased Mana regeneration, but sometimes it's still easy to burn through your mana quickly. That's where the Clarity Summoner Spell comes in.

Once activated, Clarity will restore 50% of their maximum mana to the player's champion, and 25% to any nearby allied champions.

Final Thoughts

Those are all the Summoner Spells currently in League of Legends. It is extremely rare that Riot Games add new Summoner Spells or remove existing ones, so don't expect these to change! They may occasionally tweak the stats or cooldowns in patch notes, so watch this space to see if we add any new updates!

Want more League of Legends content? Check out our map guide, the rarest League of Legends skins, and how to play Naafiri, the newest champion to land on Summoner's Rift.

FAQs about Summoner Spells in League of Legends

What are Summoner Spells in LoL?

Summoner Spells are picked during Champion Select at the beginning of any game mode, even in the Practice Tool. All players will have two Summoner Spell slots, where they can pick and choose which two to have equipped.

How do you unlock Summoner Spells in League of Legends?

Summoner Spells are unlocked as you progress through the levels in League of Legends. At Summoner Level One, players begin with two Summoner Spells, Ghost and Heal. Barrier and Exhaust unlock at Level Four, while Flash and Teleport are at Level Seven. Once players hit Level Nine, they will access the remaining Summoner Spells Cleanse, Ignite, and Smite.

How do I reduce my Summoner Spell cooldowns?

There are three ways to reduce the cooldown of Summoner Spells: The Cosmic Insight rune, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, and the Howling Abyss aura, exclusive to ARAM.

Can I change Summoner Spells during a game?

You can only change Summoner Spells during a game with the Unsealed Spellbook rune with Inspiration as the keystone. With this equipped, players can swap Summoner Spells while outside of combat. The first Summoner Spell swap becomes available six minutes into the game, with the swap cooldown decreasing with each changeover.

How do I get Hexflash in League of Legends?

To use Hexflash, players must ensure they have Flash as one of their Summoner Spells and the Hextech Flashtraption rune equipped. While Flash is on cooldown, it's replaced with Hexflash. Hexflash activates by channelling in a specific direction before flashing a short distance away upon release.