Welcome to my in-depth Skarner dominion guide, hosted by caucheka, the mad forum poster. Skarner has been one of my favorite champions ever since release, and with the release of dominion I decided to pick him up again as I figured the crystal vanguard would be good on the crystal scar. Boy had I never been righter ever. Ever.

Changelog

9/27/11 - Added

For Masteries, I take 2/7/21, Making sure to hit Preservation , Haste , Quickness , and Presence of the Master .


I decided to take 2 points in Archmage's Savvy because I didn't really see anything else that was really important, the 1% dodge chance from Evasion is very negligible, along with the regen from Strength of Spirit , plus this is dominion so you don't really have any downtime to heal. Obviously though if you take other summoner spells, make sure to take the mastery point (if available) that goes with that spell.

The summoner spells I use are Revive and Ghost

Revive is probably one of the best summoner spells in dominion. The move speed coupled with the extra 400 health is key for dominions game play. However if you do take revive, make sure to save its use for when you actually need it, like when an enemy is trying to capture one of your points.

Ghost is the other summoner spell I take. Mobility is probably the most important stat in dominion, so being able to move really fast not only allows you to escape or catch enemies, it also allows you to get to capture points quicker.

Other Summoner Spells to Note

Promote - This summoner spell is really good if you try to push a lane or defend it from a wave of minions. Skarner's playstyle doesn't really fit the pusher role however, so its not the best choice.

Flash - While flash is everyone's summoner spell, the map of dominion is built to prohibit much escaping by jumping over walls. the walls are either too short and easy for the enemy to run around or there's a speed shrine next to them. If you are a champion that relies on flash to initiate a fight, it's an acceptable choice. Otherwise there are much better options.

Exhaust - Exhaust is another good summoner spell, which allows you to easily take down an enemy champion or stop them from destroying you. Not much to really say about exhaust.

Ignite - Only really necessary for grievous wounds, the damage is pretty negligible. Useful if you're a dot champion or if the enemy team has lots of spellvamp, lifesteal, or regeneration.

Bad Summoner Spells

Garrison - Might be useful if you are a defender champion. Not much use otherwise.

Heal/ Clarity - The mana regen buff along with health shrines defeat the purpose of these spells.

Smite - There's no jungle.

Clairvoyance - You already see the most important parts of the map anyway, for free.

Rally - This is a bad summoner spell. Period.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - While there is a percent magic pen buff, it's only 5 percent. And you don't get the 15% penetration mastery.

Greater Seal of Armor/ Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - Both of these runes allow Skarner to be a little more tankier, combined with the materies.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - I don't know how many times I will say this. Mobility. Is. Key. To. Dominion.

Other Noteworthy Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed - Skarner's passive works extremely well with some attack speed. In fact if you take these you could probably switch out malady with something for magic pen.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - One thing this build is lacking in is CDR. CDR is a very useful stat on Skarner.

Greater Quintessence of Health - Health quints are good on everyone, always. NO EXCEPTIONS.

To start, I take a Sheen and 3 health pots. The sheen works extremely well with Skarner's relatively low cooldowns, making it an excellent choice to boost early damage. I also start with 2 ranks of Shattered Earth and a point of Seismic Bastion, making sure to pop w to get to mid point faster.

After capturing mid, you should level. Take a point in Ixtal's Impact, and once again pop w and use the speed shrine to get to top faster, assist your team in killing the enemies at top. After taking top, you should defend until you get about 1k gold. Once there, back so you can buy your boots.

Boots in dominion should almost always default to Mobility Boots, which once again is for the movement speed. If the enemy has lots of cc you could always consider Mercury's Treads. Otherwise, Boots of Swiftness would be a good choice as well if you expect to see a lot of combat, as the huge ms boost from mobility would be lost.

After boots I make sure to buy a Hextech Revolver to build into a Hextech Gunblade. Dominion or not, hextech gunblade is one of the most important core items for Skarner. The active and all of the stats are very powerful when combined with Skarner's kit.

When going for the defend 3 points to win the game approach, make sure to have at least one person at top and bot at all times, having the other 3 roam around to help points in need and to pick up the storm shield buff. As Skarner, you will be one of those 3 roamers on your team, as Skarner is great for high mobility but lacks in a strong defense to really just plant his feet at a point and not move, unlike Heimerdinger, Singed, or Swain, for example.

After getting gunblade I go for a Rabadon's Deathcap, Malady, and lichbane. I usually just get to lichbane so it was a hard decision picking an item from theory craft because I never get to build beyond that point. But good final items would be

Guinsoo's Rageblade - Not only is this item fairly cheap but it also gives you the best bang for your buck. The ap for your spells along with as for your cooldowns. The ad also helps too since you're going to be doing a lot of basic attacks.

Zhonya's Hourglass - A really good item for Skarner if you wanted to build some armor. The 100 ap is also extremely beneficial to an ap Skarner build like we have.

Deathfire Grasp - This item has some really great stats, along with cdr which is highly needed. However the active of this item just has too high a cooldown for it to really be that effective on dominion.

Odyn's Veil - This is probably the most powerful new item for dominion only, A very important item if facing up against a lot of magic damage as it not only gives great magic defense but also allows you to turn that enemy damage against them.

Abyssal Mask - Another powerful item that protects you from those pesky mages, along with boosting your damage from not only more ap but an aura that reduces enemy mr by 20.

Morello's Evil Tome - This has all the benefits of deathfire grasp, plus more, without the downfall of the semi worthless active.

Frozen Heart - The last item that we will look at for Skarner, the armor and cdr is what really catches my eye, and the mana and aura are a nice bonus.