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Recommended Items
Spells:
Ghost
Smite
Items
Ability Order
Threads of Vibration (PASSIVE)
Skarner Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Janna
Janna is your worst nightmare. Most people underestimate her, but do not be deceived: as a juggernaut, Janna is your worst enemy. This is because she is the strongest disengage or kite in the game. She will slow you down and make it nigh impossible to get in close and do damage. If you plan to play Skarner I reccomend a Janna ban.
Introduction
Hi everyone, I'm Killycal, and this is my Speed Demon Skarner Guide. I worked hard to make this guide the best I could, and I would appreciate any and all feedback that you guys may provide. My main summoner name is Hitllery Clinton. I have played over 200 Skarner ranked games in the past year, and this season I have 130 games played with a 3.6 KDA and 58% win rate, most of which came in plat. I am also on twitch, where you can follow and check out my play sometime! Skarner is a fantastic champion, and is crazy amounts of fun - because you can engage, disengage, and destroy any flashy carry with your ult, Impale. I present to you my Speed Demon Skarner guide. I put a fair amount of effort into this guide, so I do implore you to reconsider any downvotes pending the actual trial and testing of my guide that I imagine you are planning to do. And above all, thank you for taking the time to read this Speed Demon Skarner guide. |
Pros
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+ Great Map Control + Extremely versatile + Strong Engage + Strong Disengage + Virtually Unkillable + Fun Ult |
Skarner is extremely versatile and strong at all points of the game whether he is winning or losing. Skarner's bread and butter is based on picks. He is extremely fast and can hold people who are out of position in place for a decent amount of time before his team shows up. If his team can't show up, he can duel almost anybody. He can disengage with e very effectively, as well as engage with his e as well. Skarner is also one of the most inherently tanky champions, so picking him will always ensure your team has a tank. |
Cons
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+ No blinks or dashes + Not great early ganks + Can be kited + Weaker outside zones |
Hey if you hate arachnids, don't play Skarner. Most people don't know this, but he's a scorpion. |
Ghost is now the premier summoner spell on Skarner. In 6.10, ghost's movement speed and cooldown was greatly buffed. This makes, in my opinion, Ghost the spell to take on movement speed monsters like Skarner. You will cover significantly more ground and be able to do it significantly more often with Ghost than with Flash. |
Smite is an absolute necessity as a jungler and cannot be replaced. Take this every game or your life in the jungle will suck. |
Flash was the most valuable skill in the game for Skarner, but as of 6.10 Ghost outclasses it. |
Ixtal's Impact should actually be the first skill maxed on Skarner. Yes, Shattered Earth is used all the time, but look at the scalings as you level up- levelling up Shattered Earth really only increases the AD ratio. Unless you're building a lot of early AD on Skarner, this is pretty useless. However, levelling Ixtal's Impact lowers the cooldown, increases the slow, and increases the damage. The slow here is probably the most important, since it can get up to 50% and lasts 2.5 seconds- that's huge in the midgame. There really isn't a case to be made for maxing Seismic Bastion first, as all it does is makes you a little bit faster and a little bit tankier, but since Skarner is already incredibly fast and tanky, this is overkill in the early/mid game.
Runes
Skarner craves movement speed, and this is one of the few places you can get it. Always take movement speed on Skarner.
Skarner loves CDR, and the build I've given gives 20-30% cdr. 10% cdr late game evens that out to either 40 or 30 which is great. You won't need more, so take 3 scaling magic resist since you wont be in fights with ap that much until 6.
Scaling health. This is because Skarner has no trouble with early clears and the scaling health will outclass normal health at level 6, when you should really start doing heavy fighting. No armor, since you will be getting an early Iceborn.
Attack Speed. Attack speed works well with Skarner, and there aren't many items you should buy on Skarner that give attack speed, so take them here. You could potentially swap these our for attack damage, if you give your quints attack speed instead of movement speed.
Iceborn Gauntlet
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+ 2800 gold + 65 armor + 20% CDR + 500 Mana + No AD or AS + No health |
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Trinity Force
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+ 3733 gold + 25 AD + 250 Health + 40% Attack Speed + 20% CDR + No Armor |
As of 6.11, Trinity Force is now superior in most cases to Iceborn Gauntlet. In 6.11, Tri-force's crit element was removed, 10% cdr was added, 25% more attack speed was added, and its cost was reduced by almost 100 gold. This is excellent for Skarner as now there is no longer a stat on this item he doesn't use. It is the premier item for Skarner, with the only real downside being that it is more expensive than Iceborn. However, with the Iceborn nerfs and Tri force buffs, I'd say Triforce is superior to Iceborn unless you're either really behind, or really need the extra bit of tankiness.
The quickest way to level 6 on a jungler capable of clearing 4 camps before backing is to start bot, skip the buffs and back. Buy a machete and boots (if you took one health potion like I suggested) and then do a full clear. This puts you one camp short of level 6, which is ahead of or on pace with the solo lanes typically.
This video I believe really illustrates the power of Skarner with Boots of Swiftness and Iceborn Gauntlet. As can be seen, we are not that far ahead, but we melt through their un coordinated engages helped by Skarner's speed and CC.
Skarner excels at counterganking and extended skirmishes. In this clip, notice how my sustained cc and sheilds throughout this countergank turns the fight around.
Here are 2 full games of Skarner in Plat V
And then for funsies, here's a full game of me playing sated Skarner.
Skarner has always been my baby since I started playing in season 3. However, this season he is as strong as he's ever been (except for right after his rework when he was laughably overpowered and then nerfed). He has lots of versatility, rewards correct decision making, punishes poor decision making, is consistent, and is a blast to play. To top it off, Skarner has about a 1% play rate and essentially no ban rate, so you should be able to get Skarner every game, and many people won't understand fully what Skarner is capable of, giving you an advantage. If you want to see the strategy in action follow me at twitch.tv/killycal
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