Lots of great uses for the third flipper! Barrel kicks on the captive ball that awards points, works towards earning an extra ball, and lights the kickback. It can also be used for cashing out super spinner for big points at the captive ball. In multiball, its great to use to hit beast mechs from the side as well as relighting the kickback. In Flashback mode, there is a timed upper flipper shot to one of the ARF stand up targets. And most notably, in Smaug MB to defeat smaug, you must shoot the right ramp to feed the left diverter and press the Ring Button to launch the ball to the upper flipper and hit smaug's scale (target that is down and flashing).

There are plenty other of uses such as holding it up on a loop shot to direct ball to ELF targets and times when it's smart to not use (part of what I love about having a third flipper). I have the option to use it or the option to not use it at times depending on where I am at in the game progress.