So this is my Skarner build, that I came up with after playing him a few times. At first I followed the champion spotlight, thinking the build was awesome! but it wasn't enough for skarner. Then I thought of playing him caster, but that didn't work out either.. Skarner is played attack speed/ hybrid.
This is my first guide just btw and I have no clue what I am doing...

do not follow this build exactly as it is placed up there

Have some common sense and do not build all of those tank items. Also the items in the end can be placed in the middle of your build. I just placed them on the end just as a reminder of what items are viable!

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Seal of Armor
Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

I go flat AP quints for added early game damage in lane. Early game usually decides late game.
flat armor yellows also for added early game ownage.
flat mr blues for same reason.
and magic pen marks.

Skarner is mostly going to be a magic damage dealer, and not physical damage, so you want to build around the magic part of him. Even though this build mainly focuses on attack speed, AP is also a very important part of it to do a decent amount of damage, which lacks partly in this build. So I used the Runes to make up for the lack of AP in the build.

If you do want to stick with the attack speed ideal, then I would use different runes:
Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Seal of Armor
Greater Mark of Attack Speed

The attack speed ideal is mostly for the second build. Usually I still use the same runes though.

umm well masteries are pretty self explanatory. The only difference is one page has cdr, and one has attack speed. I personally use CDR because it's the page i have for other champions. But really I would use the attack speed masteries (skarner 2).

You can also go with Defensive/Offense masteries (9/21/0) if you feel he is too squishy

Malady Because of so much attack speed, along with a little bit of AP
Wit's End Attack speed and magic damage
Nashor's Tooth A very good item for Skarner giving AP, AS, and CDR.
Mercury's Treads Mostly because CC is really annoying. You can also choose to go Sorcerer's Shoes
Guardian's Angel Just because I can. It's a semi-tanky item, that can bring you back to life!
Force of Nature Basically a good source of magic resist against a strong AP team.
Thornmail same reason as FoN but for AD.
Banshee's Veil Always nice to have
Madred's Bloodrazor only in certain situations, such as Cho'Gath or other health tanks.
Zeke's Harbinger Lifesteal is always a plus, and with skarner attacking so fast, the small amounts of lifesteal here and there add up, although I don't reccomend this as much.
Guinsoo's Rageblade definitely a good idea as a weapon. Your attack speed will already be really high so building stacks on it wouldnt be a problem!
Youmuu's Ghostblade also a really good item for this type of build. Adds attack speed, movement speed, and even some damage. A strong pick of an item.
Sword of the Divine adds attack speed as well as magic damage every 4th hit. WIth the attack speed youre going with, it will proc a lot. Also the active is nice.


Items well as I explained before you need attack speed for skarner. His passive is what makes him so freakishly strong, allowing him to spam all of his skills, especially his Q. So I build kind of like a teemo would build. Malady, Wit's End, Nashor's, Madreds on occasion, and so forth! I also end up getting a few tank items because otherwise Skarner is much too squishy to be in the middle of a teamfight.

Honestly some lifesteal is viable, but doesn't really fit in, but if you do go with some lifesteal, get one with attack speed such as Stark's.

DO NOT follow the item build exactly. Always build according to the enemy, for example: if the enemy has strong AP damage build FoN instead of thornmail. Most of the time I do build a GA though.

I go with Exhaust and Flash normally.
Other spells you can use are
Ignite, which is sometimes helpful if your teammates have too many exhausts.
Ghost which you can use with the drag, to drag people further, but I still use flash because its just so darn good for escaping and flash ulting.
Clarity because he runs out of mana really really fast, especially with such short cooldowns.
Teleportalso might be a good option, but I wouldn't reccomend it as much as the other combinations.

So I max either Q or E first, and then his shield second. Whichever I don't max first (Q or E) I max third after the shield. Usually I max E first for the life steal, and because it deals magic damage on the first cast.
Q is a viable option to max first though. As ive said before the attack speed really procs his passive which makes his Q cd barely noticeable.

So basically Skarner will be a tanky magic damage type of champion. His base stats make him very tough in lane, along with the runes. So in team fights you will basically want to be one of the first ones in the fight. Play as sort of an offtank for the team.

using your ultimate will really help spread the other team out and really mess up their positioning. I always try to go for the one dealing the most damage, or the squishiest. If you build him tanky he wont have too much trouble going in the middle and pulling the enemy out.

So thats how I usually start off a team fight, and then after, always keep attacking. You need your cd to be almost non existant, so always be doing something. Spam Q as much as you can, and W and E when you have it. your attacks will be lowering the cooldowns on these skills pretty fast.