Skarner Build Guide by SirSpankAlot

Guide Revamp 5-31-2013

Rewrote the guide. Had to do it because my guides rank is dropping and it's not good for mobafire's reputation. The previous build wasn't optimal because it was outdated. I took some hours to re-do the theory crafting and I created an optimal build. It offers every stat that you need and I hope it's to your liking guys :). Also thanks to the guys who where harsh to me and opened my eyes.

Greetings ,
Sir Spank Alot
IGN: Sir Laughs Alot
Server: EUW
Tons of Damage.

Introduction

// Hello guys , I'm Sir Spank Alot and this is my first guide for MobaFire.

// I guess I will have to introduce myself first. I'm Sir Laughs Alot and I'm currently ranked gold on EUW. I love playing mid-lane , I play champions as Morgana cho 'gath and Jayce but I always get forced into jungle during ranked and that's when I take out my hidden weapon. Make them feel your sting with this Skarner guide.

// Well personal information aside , Lets get to the point! I´m proud to present you my jungle Skarner guide. I build Skarner pretty tanky , which means that you will be keeping your allies safe. The guide is based on my personal play style and opinion so you're not obligated to completely follow this guide.
Have fun reading :).




// In this guide I can offer you many aspects of Skarner but that is not the only thing that this guide offers you. I can offer you the following:

• A guide crafted for season 3.
• An aesthetically pleasing guide.
• In-depth information.
• The opinion of a seasoned Skarner player.

// Special thanks to jhoijhoi for helping me with the formatting!

Pros/Cons

spaaaceeeeeeeeee

Pros + Tons of CC + Very tanky + Low CD's + Funny ultimate. + Good counter-jungler

spaeeeeeeeeece

Cons - Blue Buff dependant early game - No gap closer - Horrible skins - Low early game damage - ****py without movement speed runes

Summoner spells

// These summoner spells should be your common picks because I think that they fit Skarner best. This is just my opinion and thus I also have a list of viable summoner spells that I will also explain to you after I explain to you what the recommended summoner spells are and why they should be common picks.

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Flash: is a great spell for any champion . you can use it to close in on your enemies and you can use it to escape from enemies which means that it has got everything that Skarner needs. Smite: This spell prevents the enemy from stealing your buffs/dragon/baron, I also take this because it speeds up my jungling a lot. Thus smite is a MUST for skarner.

// This is a list of summoner spells which I find viable on skarner meaning that I think that they're useful , yet not so good as the recommended summoner spells.

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Ghost: This spell is your escape/troll/chase/position and whatsoever skill, it's a great gap closing skill helping you get to the fields justice faster (see what I did there?). My personal preference goes out for flash because Skarner already has a build in mini ghost( Crystalline Exoskeleton) , Flash also has a bigger effect of surprise ( Flash + Ulti Combo = amazing ). Exhaust: This spell can save you or your team mate from one of those flashy high mobile assasins , I only took this summoner spell like once or twice on skarner but it really comes in handy. It lowers damage output and Movement speed, thus it's a great spell to escape near-death experiences yet it can also be used to track the enemy down. I think that the skill lacks the effect of surprise that Flash brings.

Masteries

// I absolutely love these masteries. The defense tree allows Skarner to have a sustained jungle and the utility gives us some nice little boosts so that we can absolutely dominate the enemies.

Defense

• Summoner's Resolve : Every jungler picks smite , that's why you pick this mastery. It gives you extra gold for using smite , so instead of paying riot for this awesome summoner spell they are paying you in gold. Seems legit :O.
• Durability : Intimidate the enemy team with your health bar.
• Tough Skin : More HP after clearing jungle = more ganks = win,
• Hardiness : I don't like ad carries.
• Veteran's Scars : 30 health for 1 point? Heck yeah.
• Relentless : I hate slows and so do you! This boy will keep you fast and mobile.
• Tenacious : This mastery will kill CC once and for all!
• Juggernaut : More , more , more! The more HP you get , the bigger the bonus becomes.
• Defender : Keep enemies close.
• Honor Guard : Tanking is your job , Honor Guard helps you with fulfilling it.

Utility

• Summoner's Insight : Reduce the cooldown of your summoner spell Flash.
• Meditation : Skarner has some nasty mana costs , take this mastery and give the blue buff to the mid-laner :).
• Improved Recall : 1 second less casting time on recall? Count me in!
• Mastermind : A real mastermind uses his summoner spells properly. This will allow you to use them even more!
• Runic Affinity : Simply a must for junglers , increased buff durations!

Skills

Skill explanations

Passive: Energize
Basic attacks lower the cooldowns of Skarner abilities by 1 second against champions and 0.5 seconds against non-champions.




Q: Crystal Slash
I use this skill to charge my Iceborn Gauntlet yet I also use this to slow my enemies. This skill also inflicts moderate damage and to make it even better. You can spam this skill
due to your passive and the low Cooldown. Use this to jungle and to shred your enemies apart.

• You can hit minions with this skill before hitting the champions to activate your slow.

W: Crystalline Exoskeleton
This skill gives Skarner a Shield and some useful buffs. A Movement speed buff to move around the map and a strong attack speed buff to jungle. But all of this can be countered by destroying this shield. This is a great skill for Skarner and the particle effects are pretty good in my opinion.




E: Fracture
Mediocre skill. Tiny bits of sustain and tiny bits of damage. Not worth leveling in my opinion.

• ANY damage inflicted by skarner consumes the marks.
• You also gain health when you kill people with Fracture.

R: Impale
This is Skarner's bread and butter, his signature move! He can use this to initiate, chase, keep in place and much more! It deals proper damage and it usually doesn't get cancelled by Cleanse. This skill allows you to instantly melt 1 person without giving them a chance to fight back.

• Never use this on Gangplank , Olaf or Alistar , they can break out of surpress.
• Quicksilver Sash can neutralize the effect.
• You can turn around just before the ultimate ends. Make sure that the stinger who holds the champion is facing your allies! By doing this they will have to walk past you to get back to their teammates! More time to dish some damage!
• You can still use your abilities when your ultimate is active. You cannot use flash though.
• Flash in to the enemy team to surprise them and instantly use your ultimate on the AD Carry / AP Carry.

Basic Skill Sequence

// I rotate between Crystal Slash and Crystalline Exoskeleton for movement speed , shield , slow and damage. This is essential. Never take E before lvl 13 because it's useless like I said before.

Runes

Recommended

R E C O M M E N D E D

spa

Greater Mark of Attack Speed I take these Marks to increase my jungle speed. Greater Seal of Armor I take flat armor because it´s necessary for your first 2 jungle routes , it gives sustain and a small late game advantage seeming armor is always welcome isn´t it? Greater Glyph Of Scaling Magic Resist MR/lvl is pretty much the common glyph for junglers , it gives late game advantage against AP carry's seeming AP carry's probably inflict the highest amount of damage. Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed It increases your ganking-capability by a landslide which will allow your teammates to pick up some necessary kills.

spa

R E C O M M E N D E D

Viable

Q U I N T S

spa

Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed These runes are especially usefull when jungling with Skarner , they offer you a great early game advantage which rocks! Greater Quintessence of Armor These runes increase your survivability by a high amount , this can be very useful when jungling.

SPA

Q U I N T S

M A R K S

SPA

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration These marks increase your late-game damage output. Though I'd rather take attack speed runes because my jungle speed will become much lower when I remove my attack speed runes.

SPA

M A R K S

G L Y P H S

SPA

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist These glyphs give an early game advantage against AP carry's but because AP carry's aren't that strong early game I recommend MR/lvl. Also , due to the fact that you don't take magic damage in jungle these runes wont have any use early-game. Note:Use these runes if you ever want to start playing skarner solo-top.

SPA

G L Y P H S

Items

Early game

// This is the item building order , health potions not included. You will have to decide for yourself if you buy them or not but I recommend getting 5 potions on the first jungle run.
I start with Hunter's Machete so that I can clear jungle properly. After I acquire around 800 gold I go back to get Spirit Stone and Boots of Speed to increase gank capabilities and to increase mana regeneration so that I can give the blue buff to the midlaner. I then build into Spirit of the Ancient Golem because it's a very cost efficient item with stats that all benefit skarner. Also , tons of mana regeneration. You should finish your boots and buy a Sheen when you transition to mid game for tankyness , mobility and tons of damage. Have to prepare for that Iceborn Gauntlet right?

Mid-Late Game

// When you hit mid-game you should have enough gold to get a Wit's End. I buy this item because it's cheap and gives you tons of damage and tankyness. Afterwards I upgrade Sheen to Iceborn Gauntlet so I can stick to my enemies using the slow from it. It also offers tons of damage , cooldown reduction and tankyness which is absolutely amazing. Afterwards you buy a Randuin's Omen and a Runic Bulwark to finish your build. This gives you maxed CDR , tankyness and damage. It's a great but rather expensive build but I believe it's very efficient.

Viable items

Frozen Heart
90 Armor, 20 Cooldown Reduction, 400 Mana. UNIQUE Passive: Reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20% (1000 range).

Explanation
This item contains a lot of great stats , Armor/mana/de-buff aura/CDR. Great replacement for Randuin's Omen but passive is less effective than randuin's passive in my opinion. You can also switch out Spirit of the Ancient Golem for this item.




Guardian Angel
50 Armor, 30 Magic Resistance. UNIQUE Passive: Revives your Champion upon death, restoring 30% of your maximum Health and Mana. This effect can only occur once every 5 minutes.

Explanation
Boosts all of your defensive stats and grants you the possibility to revive.




Trinity Force
30 Ability Power, 30 Attack Damage, 30 Attack Speed, 10 Critical Strike Chance, 250 Health, 200 Mana, 8 Movement Speed Multiplier. UNIQUE Passive: Icy: Your basic attacks have a 25% chance to slow your target's Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds (20% for ranged attacks). UNIQUE Passive: Spellblade: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 150% of your base Attack Damage. 2 second cooldown. Does not stack with Sheen or Lich Bane.

Explanation
TONS OF DAMAGE. Good replacement for Iceborn Gauntlet but doesn't offer armor or CDR. It does offer HP and Movement Speed though so it's worth mentioning. It's also very cost efficient :). I like cost efficient things.




Shurelya's Reverie
250 Health, 10 Health Regeneration, 10 Mana Regeneration. Passive: +10% Cooldown Reduction. UNIQUE Active: Nearby allies gain 40% Movement Speed for 3 seconds (600 range). 60 second cooldown.

Explanation
Awesome item. Gives CDR and allows you to catch up to your enemies and make them feel your sting ( referring to Impale).

Jungle

Your job and your team's job

You should....

• Place wards around the map when possible.
• Gank , don't leave your allies alone when they're at the brink of death and allow them to pick up some kills.
• Keep the lane safe when your ally is not present.

Your team should....

• Place wards
• Position for the gank , don't push when the jungler is planning to gank.

Jungle route

Note:Use potions when necessary.

1. Walk to the wolves and ask your allies to slay them together with you.

2. Walk to the blue buff and ask your ally for a leash , smiteless if possible.

3. Wraiths -> Red Buff -> GANK -> Recall





Everything in this sub-section has been copied from Your Tryndamere Resource, by Apotheosis so all credits go to him. Go check his guide out!





Order of priority; Use Sight Ward and Vision Ward where necessary:

Baron/Dragon Wards:
However you decide to set these up with your team, whether it be orderly among the team or supports only buy wards, make sure these are always laid out! Baron and Dragon are what we're primarily keeping an eye on here. Early in the match it's not as important obviously, however, you still need to know whether top, mid, or bot will be set up for a gank when enemy laners/junglers are wandering about. These early kills can help the enemy sculpt the rest of the match and land a victory. We don't want to be allowing the enemy to kill either Baron or Dragon. That's a good chunk of gold that will distribute among their team, not to mention Baron's handy buff.

Note:I would recommend using Vision Ward for these locations, especially for the Baron at mid-late game. Oracle's Elixir is a great replacement for Vision Ward in case you don't like wards.

Self Privacy Wards:
There's orange points at top, mid, and bot hiding locations. I would hope that your entire team would try to ward the areas entitled to them. These wards are not entirely important, however, they are lifesavers. Junglers and wandering laners will use these bushes to set up for early kills. If you're pushing your lane, then it would be a good idea to ward the bush(s) that is closet to you.

Team Privacy Wards:
These are crucial wards to put out if the match can go either way by eliminating possible ambushes when pushing minions or entering your own jungle.

Game Changing Wards:
Of course all of the wards posted on the map are capable of changing the outcome of a game, but these wards are placed in a location that both teams will always drift by. Reasons to go through the wards (for both teams): Getting to Baron and dragon, changing lanes, shifting from allied jungle to the enemy's jungle (either by self or team) to steal mobs/buffs, shifting as a team to gank the enemy team, etc. If you just have a ward on either Baron and/or dragon, you can still miss the enemy slipping by into your jungle never knowing it. This allows enemies to set up ganks. Therefore, these wards change the outcome of a game because you know whats coming.

Invading Wards:
I thought it was appropriate to name these wards in this manner because you can enter their bushes knowing whether they're there or not before you attempt to set up a gank. The enemy usually walks through these bushes hoping to freely enter their jungle for experience/gold and/or buffs.

Buff Wards:
Monitor your's and enemy's buffs with these wards. Good to set in your own jungle if they start playing dirty and snatching buffs early game from your jungle. These wards are primarily for the junglers of each team.

Closing Statements

All credits for the awesome banner go to jhoijhoi

// Thanks for tuning into my guide, I'll keep updating this guide as much as possible and I hope that you enjoyed reading this guide. Please up-vote if you found this guide useful and if you down-vote please tell me why. Long story short , any feedback is welcome as long as it can be used to improve. Thank you very much! Also check the comment section for game results and other content by the community.

~Sir Spank Alot approves this message.

Changelog

8-28-2011:

• Changed the skill explanation template

10-2-2011

• More in-depth skill explanation
• Rune explanation more in-depth

10-27-2011

• Reformatted summoner spell section.
• Reformatted mastery section.
• Skill reformatting.
• More wiki references.

11-16-2011

• Masteries changed due to season 2 patch.

11-2-2012

• NEW BUILD
• Changed runes slightly.
• Added and remove some items.

12-5-2012

• SEASON 3 REVAMP
• NEW BUILD
• NEW MASTERIES
• NEW SKILL SEQUENCE

1-22-2013

• Build reworked
• Changed jungle route
• Added new items

4-13-2013

• Wit's end is now part of ze build.
• Grammar / Spelling checked.

5-31-2013

• REWORKED ENTIRE BUILD RAHHH
• Grammar / Spelling checked.
• IMPROVED INTRO RAHHHHH