I'm LycheeMochigome, and I have about 500k mastery points on skaarl combined on my accounts. Though I am gold with a 70% wr, I feel as though this guide goes through many of the matchups I have found throughout my games within this elo and many of the basic tips and tricks that you need to win lane on him. Also, Skaarl is just a fun champion that I think is unique in league of legends. :)

Though Skaarl seems simple, he is actually quite the complex champion! Tiny mistakes that you make on him may just cost you a death... So I've just outlined some of the tricks that you can use on him.

1. USE YOUR COMBO

Skaarl's combo while mounted is just E+Q, pressing q immediately is important since it reduces your cast time and allows you to catch enemies by surprise. Also, I feel as though it extends the range of your dash so that you can stick on them. Afterwards, you can just beat them down with your W and autos until they're dead. When you get your titanic hydra, you can then change your combo to be E+Q+W+Titanic, possibly using your R to stick on the ADC in the beginning of the fight. If they have no peel, this combo usually has the ability to one shot mages or adcs or assassins while you're ahead in items

2. DON'T LEVEL W IMMEDIATELY

Many Skaarl players make this mistake; keeping this ability on standby and not putting the point on it immediately allows you to turn on your W whenever you want it once per game, and in the early game this is how you get 99% of all your First bloods. Usually, the laning phase will consist of you immediately throwing Q's at the enemy. When they think they can beat you, they will make an attempt to dismount you and kill you. Here, you can use your pistol in combination with your W level up by clicking Ctrl + W (it doesn't delete your league i promise) then stack up your courage meter really easily. Though you could learn some other small tricks such as using your tiamat before you use your pistol, saving your W level up is one of the most important things you can do as a Skaarl player.

3. ROAM MID/BOT

Okay, so I've just won/lost my lane. What can I do so that I dont int LycheeMochigome's game? Kled's R allows him to go to other parts of the map and focus objectives such as dragon or create leads by giving your mid/bot a kill. I personally go mid a lot more since it is just closer. Also, don't be afraid to dive the turret, with or without minions. Your passive makes it so that if you demount while the turret is attacking you, you drop turret aggro. Also, diving mid may depend on the mid match up as well. If it is something like ahri, I may be more reluctant to dive her since she has 3 dashes + flash. On the other hand, bot lane may be easier since they could be pushed in and are over-committing. Roaming too much I've found causes you to miss cs from your lane, and overall, it may not be worth unless you run something like teleport or get back to lane immediately.

Either way, Skaarl is the type of champion that is strong early, but can be easily punished if he is set behind. Either way, continuing to fight after you're dismounted is a choice that you need to make. You may not have the movement speed to outrun anyone in the game, but your pocket pistol q does allow you to get over walls to make a quick escape. 2 times.