Skar Skar Skarner! Any thoughts on Support?

[quote=Kodaigan]Hey peeps! c: I really really love Skarner as Character and his high sustainabillity (it feels very high. lulz) But as I browse through the Guides I don't really find anything good on Skarner as SUPPORT. So anyone having thoughts on that or ideas? Best Regards Alain/Kodaigan[/quote]

[quote=The_Nameless_Bard]As a support player, I would not suggest playing [[Skarner]] as a support. His harass won't be good, he has very little in the way of initiating a trade (and no interrupts) pre-six, and he offers very little protection/help for a carry. If you want to play play a champion with a suppress as a support or something, [[Malzahar]] would probably be more effective because he can actually harass at range and has decent CC pre-six, among other things.[/quote]

[quote=Janitsu][[Skarner]] needs items to be efficient and as support he'd have to build support items which don't compliment his gameplay.[/quote]

[quote=Kodaigan]Really? I played a few games with [[Skarner]] and I had never problems protecting my adc, as long as he doesn't get caught. If he does I slow enemy adc, so my adc won't get damaged in the engage. I mean, his passive is similar to [[Braum]]'s Q. (It's his Q right?) Which gives my adc a small yet huge advantage. (Please keep logic out of this. lulz) Maybe it's just me because Skarner was relatively strong on Support before they changed him. And c'mon..who doesn't want a kawai Scorpion by his side? E: Best Regards Alain/Kodaigan[/quote]

[quote=Jovy]You COULD make it work in certain games, against certain matchups and certain (bad) players, but overall there are much better [color=#6EC5FF][b]His faults:[/b][/color] - melee - needs cash to be tanky or do damage - is nothing before 6, not much after 6 - needs a lot of mana to attempt to harass (or just, is mana hungry) [color=#6EC5FF][b]His goods:[/b][/color] - good cc: suppress ultimate, stun and slow = can protect adc, has peel, good setup for ganks - some sort of mobility: speed with w - some sort of defense: shield on w In theory this all sounds good but the faults actually outweigh the goods. Why? Well I'll go from top to bottom. [color=#6EC5FF]1. HE IS MELEE Why is this a problem? Lots of good supports are melee: Leona, Braum?[/color] Well I can talk about the differences between Skarner and Leona but I can just explain first what the disadvantage of being a melee support is. [b][color=#ffff00]1[/color][/b] If you want to poke, you need to use your abilities. Ranged supports can constantly apply pressure by simply using their auto-attack on either you or your adc. As a melee support, not only can you not do that but [b][color=#ffff00]2[/color][/b] you cannot defend yourself properly if the enemy support happens to be ranged. As Skarner you will be forced to sit, if you're lucky, in XP range in order to stay alive. Because if you step too close the enemy support should mercilessly poke you down and you'll have little to no influence on making her stop. If you do survive until level 6 it might change, but it might not. You might just be too behind now, for you were forced outside of XP range and perhaps you were forced to recall early and now are money hungry and haven't many items. [color=#6EC5FF]2. Needs cash to be tanky or do damage:[/color] As a support you do not get any kills, minion or otherwise. As such you rely on your ADC to bring you the bacon, in the form of assists. In order to get assists, you need to set your ADC up with free kills. You can't really do that as Skarner pre lvl 6 and it isn't too likely you will be able to after 6. In addition to this, as you are weak you could die. The point is, people play Skarner in jungle and gain money through monster kills, assists and kills. As a support, you will only MAYBE get assists and as such you will be very short on cash, which means you can't get items. Items that you need in order to do any damage or be tanky. In addition to this, as a support you need to buy certain things that you wouldn't need to as a jungler. Sightstone, wards and so forth. [color=#6EC5FF]3. Oddly weak lvl 6[/color] It's hard to get close enough to the enemy ADC to ult them without a gap closer. Skarner has no gap closer bar flash. If you do get the enemy ADC, it's still not a guaranteed kill because the enemy can simply flash out of it once the ult duration expires, if that is necessary, or walk away with the assist of their support. Then you'll have to wait until your ult is up again in order to attempt to get a kill, because you don't have any reliable forms of initiation. Your junglers will love ganking for you, though. [color=#6EC5FF]4. Mana come back[/color] One of the things most Skarner players tend to complain about is how mana hungry he is. It sucks when you're top lane, it sucks when you're the jungler and it sucks when you're a support. If you're melee and have to rely on your abilities to stay alive or to retaliate poke, it'd at least be nice for your abilities not to cost an arm and a leg. Unfortuntely, Skarner isn't that lucky. You'll have to spend $$$ to not go oom all the time. [size=7][color=#6EC5FF]tldr: he's got a lot of drawbacks, might as well play better champions[/quote]

[quote=Kodaigan]All in all a good explanation. But I don't really care about the drawbacks, because it's actually fun playing as [[Skarner]] Support. You describe him as squishy as hell. In my experience until now he is rather more hard to poke on. I mean. Blitzcrank had hard times to get rid of me. I find it a bit sad though, that some of you say: "Bad Idea, no fun, use better." Does a game really have to be made out of "good champs?" C'mon. Every single game [[Leona]], [[Braum]], [[Blitzcrank]] and so on. I see them almost always. And personally it gets boring. So I wanted to try something which died long ago before the end of last season. And yes. I am having fun. It is something new I can aim on. Something fresh. Something to think about. But my Problem is, I'm never good in Builds. I always forget what is better for the used champ. So I've decided to ask you guys what you would choose for [[Skarner]] Support. Well then, I'll ask somewhere else maybe if no one wants to welp. :/ Thanks for the replies though. EDIT: Just realized I've never asked for a Build, sorry. So if anyone eitherway wants to share a possible Support build, please respond right away. Thanks ^^ Best Regards Alain/Kodaigan[/quote]

[quote=Janitsu][[relic shield]] > [[sightstone]] > [[face of the mountain]] > [[randuin's omen]]/[[banshee's veil]] > [[iceborn gauntlet]] And throw in [[boots of mobility]].[/quote]

[quote=Jovy][quote=Kodaigan]I find it a bit sad though, that some of you say: "Bad Idea, no fun, use better." Does a game really have to be made out of "good champs?" C'mon. Every single game [[Leona]], [[Braum]], [[Blitzcrank]] and so on. I see them almost always. And personally it gets boring.[/quote]That's because people want high ratings. Skarner wouldn't work well out of normal games/low elo, hence I suggest you pick other things; this, of course, assuming you would enjoy climbing tiers. If your sole goal is to have fun, it's subjective. I happen to find Leona to be an extremely fun champion to play. Unconvential doesn't necessarily mean fun. Conventional doesn't necessarily mean boring. You can't point your finger at people who play conventionals and go "sigh! why do people insist on playing such boring op broken meta champions! I only play yorick and mundo support because it's more fun that way and I don't care that they're "UNORTHODOX"", because saying that is just wrong.[/quote]

[quote=Kodaigan]It is truly funny how you've misunderstood me. Maybe because I wasn't clear enough. Ah, happens. I write not enough. Anyway. I'll try that build out Janitsu, thanks! Best Regards Alain/Kodaigan[/quote]

[quote=Jovy]I don't think that I did misunderstand you, but my point stands either way. You can play Skarner if you find it fun, but it won't work well outside of normals and/or low elo. That's all that I was trying to relay to you.[/quote]