Even though i took inpirational from an older Skarner guide, I decided to come log on and quickly update this guide's masteries for the recent season 2 patch.

This new mastery build will almost be as defensive as the old one, but it will now focus on more hybrid damage dealing potential by going 17 in offense.

Exhaust and Ghost are still pretty good ideas and are enhanced by Summoner's Wrath, but Surge also can be considered another good spell option.

I played some Dominion with Skarner the past few days after checking out some other builds. I sometimes goof off with him as a 5v5 jungler, even though I like his laning potential more, but is pretty fun and effective in Dominion.

I took after rys-aberdeen's build mostly so if they want to make a Dominion guide I'll just take this one down. I just wanted to add some parts from other guides that I liked and make it appropriate for Dominion. I also want to put it all in one spot. :D

In Dominion, is a good dueler in general and deals great sustained DPS to most any target. He doesn't have to worry about being subjected to 5 guys jumping him all at once like on Summoner's Rift and that allows him to shine in this game mode. He also has some built in movement speed to help him move around at a reasonable pace.

He can go toe-to-toe with any other melee in the game (Except maybe !) and be deceptively hard to kill. Even if you are low on health after a fight, you can go scoop up a health relic or two, sit your tail down on a control point and still be able to fend off 1 or 2 incoming attackers. With , , the right gear and his , only hardcore AP carries will give Skarner problems in some 1v1 encounters. By the late game, his armor, MR and good sustain will make sure only a good solid burst can kill him.

I took some inspiration from some other classic Skarner guides.



Attack damage per level runes are surprisingly good since you level fast in Dominion.



Flat armor yellows may seem like a dumb jungler's choice, but they are fine because you'll get around 100 by the end game and having that flat amount all-game helps. You can try out other yellows, but mana regen is ****py on Skarner in Dominion, especially since you get a global buff that gives you mana regen anyways.

EDIT- I'm trying out flat ad yellows atm and will try armor per level soon. Since everybody gets stock armor pen in Dominion, I don't see too much of a difference either way with the ad. The damage you get all game is the same as the damage you mitigate with armor...



AP per level blues lets you compliment your hybrid damage. It lets you even out your magic damage with your trinity force enhanced physical damage. You can still use whatever blues you want though.



Health quints help you all game round. The extra health is good because you don't have in the first trip out so it lets you take a few extra hits while engaging someone.

1/28/8 to get improved exhaust, improved ghost, become more defensive for better sustain and to level up faster. It's the same as rys-aberdeen's build and it's appropriate for Dominion.

first in Dominion. It's just good to start out with and it defines how Skarner is played from lv 1 onwards, trust me. Try it out and see.

Buy three with the remaining money. Use them sparingly when you don't feel like recalling or use them during fights.

next. They are great on Skarner, because he's only concerned with getting into melee range asap. After he engages, he can spam his to continue to slow and chop up his target. Mobility also allows you to cover more ground faster when traveling between points.

works well on Skarner. It accelerates his sustained dps and serves as awesome cooldown reduction as well.

gives more of what Skarner needs for the early-mid game. You shredding your target's MR for you and your teammates while already having armor reduction from the Dominion buff makes Skarner sexy all game.

Building the key components of and finishing it allows you to get more stats and give you more sustainability. With good sustain, Skarner can gun down one enemy then immediately focus on the next. The clickable effect is great to initiate, slow enemies that are fleeing and also to interrupt one champ trying to capture a point in conjuncture with using fracture on another target.

upgrades your precious core item, . To be honest, you may or may not finish the Trinity before the game ends... but if by some miracle you do and the game lasts that long, you can grab a and try to build it into a . You should only get , if you predict you will need the movement speed to reach a capture point in game to make that clutch play to win the game.

Your is your bread and butter. It defines you as a champion and it's just too good to pass up. Max it immediately.

Your is a good skill and it's even more powerful in Dominion. You can use it to travel, to fight, to proc your sheen and to protect yourself. I highly recommend maxing it 2nd.

Your is good, but not better than maxing your W, imo. Level 13 comes fast in Dominion, so you will have Fracture for the entire 2nd half of the game no matter what. If you want Fracture earlier, you should play it by ear and start putting points in it when you feel you really need more sustain.

Your is good for dueling and it's good for dragging enemies to your team or just holding them in place. It's also good for interrupting other strong enemy abilities to save teammates and you can use it to grab and drag an enemy off of their control point for a couple of seconds. Your R basically makes look a little less sexy and makes spells like look more sexy.

There are plenty of choices for Skarner in Dominion. is especially good for tower diving on enemy points but...

is probably one of your best choices. You can further slow targets you're engaging so you can get in range. You can also use it to lower an enemy's damage towards you or one of your teammates in any fight. Also, you can throw it on an enemy that tries to use his own on you to counter him.

is probably one of the best too. You can rush to points to defend, engage, escape and chase faster with Ghost.

Learning how to play Dominion with any champion will come with time and experience, but here are a few pointers to help you play Skarner on this map.

- There may be a few tough opponents that you will go against, but a good will eat you. If you decide to play Normal Draft Pick Dominion, and you and the enemy team have already banned notorious champs like and , be selfish and BAN !

- Some groups prefer 4 top and 1 bot just to defend or 3 top 2 bot. At the start of the game decide on going top or bottom first. Whatever you decide, (since you don't have at the very start) immediately use your to race to the nearest point (it depends on what team your on and which direction you go, but the first point can be anything BUT Windmill!) Cap that point then either lane towards the next point or go to another part of the map to assist teammates.

- Always consider using Ghost when running to assist teammates. Also. if you are traveling to another point and skipping an adjacent point, always run through and utilize the nearest Speed Shrine along the way.

- Skarner can sometimes ninja a point... anybody can afterall. Sure, he isn't as good at it as champs that can ninja and reinforce points like , but he sure can fight 1 or 2 incoming enemies that might come to take the point back. With that being said, Skarner should either go join team fights or just lane. If he's not doing either of those two things, he should be falling back to defend a point his team owns.

- Killing the minions up until you reach a point is worth it and Skarner can do it fast with his , his W and his E. Pushing with minions > rushing to the point without them. Minions can also continue helping you gain control if you have to break away to fight an incoming enemy.

- Your should be used to disable a hero if you need to hold them in place. Also, it can be used to drag enemies off of their points, into your points or towards your teammates. Don't be afraid to use it along with exhaust to end duels fast or save others with it so you can continue moving on to your next target.

- Skarner can make good use of the shield buff in the center of the map. Skarner also makes for a great roamer or anti-roamer (go hunt those ninjas as they dip off into the fog of war as they are heading towards one of your points!)

- Use your to interrupt captures along with your E and Hextech's clickable effect. Also, encourage yourself to spend your time charging enemies to push them off of points and let teammates do the capping work for you. Don't ever tower dive unless you can kill the enemy in roughly 5 seconds and the kill is in the bag. If you have though... go for it if you know you can kill them or scare them off in roughly 10 seconds! :D

- Always be moving OR sitting on an outer point to defend it. There is no shame in sitting on one of your outer points even if there doesn't seem to be any incoming enemies. Defense is very important in Dominion, so you should only leave a point alone if you just want to push the lane a little or to grab a health relic before returning right back to the point. Don't wait for gold to come in to buy an item that's 50+ gold away. Follow the above item build to a T and you can't go wrong.