Hello Mobafire users, you may be looking at my build and thinking WTF is this? But have no fear! I have played Skarner since launch, and have tried many builds for him, I find this build to be the best for him so far.

Edit 16/08/12 This build still works! I finish the laning phase part shortly.

Whilst Tanky AD Skarner works just fine, I believe that hybrid put's him at his best, his healing from fracture becomes unholy, and his ability to spam Seismic Bastion makes him a real beast in 1v1 situations! And also because of the attack speed boost he is able to use his ultimate frequently especially since with Nashor's Tooth grants him CDR anyway.

Summoner's Wrath
Since you use exhaust, this can help you since you can use this to catch up to a running target and do further damage to then because of the Armor + MRES reduction.

Brute Force
For Skarner, in the early game most of your damage will come from physical.

Alacrity
You thrive of attack speed to spam crystal slash.

Sorcery
Extra CDR, why not?

Weapon Expertise
Armor pen, since we don't actually get any penetration items if we are snowballing this helps us greatly.

Arcane Knowledge
Same reason as Weapon Expertise , we need this.

Vampirism
Even though we get lifesteal from other items such as Hextech Gunblade, this will give us a slight boost. (little numbers help)

Sunder
More armour penetration? Always helps!

Executioner
Do further damage to those who are closer to death, this helps.

Summoner's Insight
Good Hands
Swiftness
Runic Affinity

Crystal Slash:
The perma-slow, we all know of it, this is Skarner core spell IMO, it has really nice damage for it's spammable nature, and Trinity Force works great on it too!

Crystalline Exoskeleton:
This is another great ability of Skarner, the move speed, shield and attack speed buff is great, you can keep this ability up all the time with my build!

Fracture:
This is Skarner weakest ability, early game it's mana cost is painful but gives some nice sustain, late game though it gives decent damage and an amazing heal at no mana cost.

Impale:
So much about this ability is great, you have the ability to shut down anyone in a team fight for a little while along with dishing out some decent damage, it has so many uses it is one of the best ultimate's in the game!

1. Impale
As with all ultimate's, you'll want to max this whenever you can (6,11,16).

2. Shattered Earth
As this is your main source of damage with your auto attacks, you max this second.

3. Seismic Bastion
Since this is your escape/entrance, shield and attack speed buff max this third.

4. Ixtal's Impact
As the level 1 sustain from this skill is enough to last you, you max this last.

Quintessences

Greater Quintessence of Destruction:
For me, hybrid penetration is where it's all at, since my build is based around pure hybrid damage, you should get these.

Marks

Greater Mark of Destruction:
As with the quintessences, you want hybrid penetration so these marks will do perfectly.

Seals

Greater Seal of Resilience:
Since we're all about damage output we get pretty much no defensive items, these seals will help us.

Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Warding:
As stated above we get no defensive items, these glyphs will also help us.

Other than these runes, standard AD runes also work fine.

Now obviously it would be COMPLETELY ******ED to follow this exact item build every game! The build above is only if you're having a great game, I switch up items if I'm doing bad.

Core Item:

Trinity force: This is the item you MUST GET on Skarner no matter what! Trinity force procs all the time because of Shattered Earth! Thus this item is a part of him, you get this as your first major item every game. All other items aren't CORE.

Boots

Usual:

Berserker's Greaves: If you want to follow the DPS path, you should get these boots, the attack speed from these is great.

Alternative's:

Mercury's Treads: If the enemy team has alot of CC or magic damage dealers get these, they work great in any situation.

Ninja Tabi: Is there a Tryndamere or Vayne that's dealing a load of damage? These boots are for you, the armor and AA damage reduction works nicely.

Boots of Swiftness: Personally I would never use these, but if for some crazy reason you need to get these it won't do any harm.

GOLD ITEMS

Usual:

Philosopher's Stone Philosopher's Stone: Core item!, even if you don't get the other gold items this one is a must, it helps Skarners laning phase since his mana regen is poor, the health regen works too!

Additions:

Heart of Gold: The extra health is awesome since it makes you more tanky whilst giving you the nice gold per 10 passive.

Kage's Lucky Pick Kage's Lucky Pick: Another great gold item for Skarner, the ability power enhances Skarners abilites so if you wan't more gold overtime this is awesome too.

Avarice Blade: This item is probably the worst of the GP10 items, but it still gives a slight boost to Skarner, so if you really need the extra gold don't pass this item up either.

Damage Items

Usual:

Hextech Gunblade: A great hybrid damage item, I will always get this if the game is going great. The lifesteal and spellvamp are awesome since you do alot of magic and physical damage.

Nashor's Tooth: The attack speed and ability power boost work great with Skarner kit, if your game is still going great get this.

Guinsoo's Rageblade: IMO this item rocks, the hybrid damage on it is really nice and the passive on this item is amazing, you can keep spamming Shattered Earth to keep the passive up too!

Rabadon's Deathcap: This is the boost you need end game! The ability power you get from this item is excellent, you should now be an unstoppable force with insane damage. If you got this far into the build congratulations!

Alternative's:
Wriggle's Lantern
Phantom Dancer
Bloodthirster
Infinity Edge
Black Cleaver
Lich Bane
Madred's Bloodrazor
Last Whisper
Void Staff
Deathfire Grasp
Manamune

Tanky Damage Items

Usual:

Frozen Mallet: The passive on this item along with the huge HP boost works great if you need to go tanky, I usually get this with the Rylai's Crystal Scepter anyway so you become a hp monster. Also if you get those 2 items I would recommend getting a Atma's Impaler too.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: The passive on this item along with the huge HP boost also works great if you need to go tanky, as stated before you should consider getting a Frozen Mallet and Atma's Impaler too if you get this item.

Optional's:
Atma's Impaler If you need to take the tanky route with alot of HP get this item, the boost is incredible!
Wit's End
Zhonya's Hourglass

Tanky/Tank Items

Usual:

Warmog's Armor: Awesome HP item, works great with Atma's Impaler, highly reccomended if you need to be a tank/tanky DMG dealer!

Frozen Heart: This should be the armor item you get if the opposing team have some heavy AD damage dealers. The cooldown reduction, mana and att speed debuff work great.

Banshee's Veil: A good item if your up against a strong magic damage dealer, the passive on this item is excellent too.

Guardian Angel: The passive on this item is amazing and this item's stat boosts are great too!

Alternative's:
Randuin's Omen
Force of Nature
Thornmail
Sunfire Aegis


Now you've seen the items I consider when building Skarner I will show you 3 builds which I think you should try in different circumstances.

DPS
Result:
Berserker's Greaves
Trinity Force
Hextech Gunblade
Nashor's Tooth
Guinsoo's Rageblade
Rabadon's Deathcap

Tanky DPS
Result:
Berserker's Greaves
Trinity Force
Hextech Gunblade
Frozen Mallet
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
Atma's Impaler

Tank
Result:
Mercury's Treads
Warmog's Armor
Frozen Heart
Trinity Force
Force of Nature
Guardian Angel

Of course you won't strictly follow these builds, but they give nice stats depending on what your looking for. Try them!

Early Game/Laning

Laning with Skarner is extremely simple, your basic rule should be passive play then punish, Skarners damage is really high, but a lot of people don't realise this fact and will often try to fight you, punish them for doing so with a couple of Shattered Earthes and auto attacks. If they somehow win the duel vs you, you can simply slow them whilst running.