As of patch 4.21, devourer is no longer viable on... well... ANYONE. The reason is that when devourer enchantment gave 40 on-hit damage on purchase, it was VERY gold efficient. Guys? RITO has done it again :(. I now only get devourer if I KNOW I am going to snowball hard early game.

BUT BUTTERS XD! WHEN WILL I KNOW THAT I WILL WIN EARLY GAME AS SKARNER?
Guys, to put it simply... never.

BUT BUTTERS XD! DOES THIS MEAN THAT SKARNER IS USELESS AND SHOULDNT BE PLAYED?
OF COURSE NOT! I will update this guide as I test skarner out a little more with the juggernaut/warrior enchantments. STAY POSTED!!!

Hello! My name is BUTTERS XD, I am an avid League of Legends fan ever since my friends got me into League 3 years ago. I am a jungle-main currently bordering on gold/silver elo, but this season I plan to get all the way to Platinum with my three main junglers: Udyr, Wukong, and my little secret weapon, Skarner.

Pros

+ One of the strongest duelists in the game + Great in team-fights due to suppression ultimate + Hard to catch due to Seismic Bastion + Great chaser due to Seismic Bastion + One of the best users of Sheen + Fast jungle clears + Strong Split-push if you went Trinity Force + EXTREMELY STRONG LATE GAME

Cons

- Very squishy early game - Mana hungry when not in the jungle - Quicksilver Sash - Can be kited easily if you miss a Ixtal's Impact - Quicksilver Sash - Is vulnerable to counter jungle pre level 4 (you shouldn't have a problem dueling afterward) - Misses his kind :(

The reason Skarner will be so much stronger this season. This Revamped Feral Flare gives Skarner everything that he needs. The 50% attack speed helps to proc more Shattered Earth. The stacks on this item will also rack up quickly since assists and kills count as two stacks. This means that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO AFK FARM TO STACK UP THIS ITEM!. Skarner's god-like ganks will leave you with plenty of stacks.

As a champion who likes to run into the enemy back line, the tenacity is a must.

This gives you manna, a good amount of armor, and a nice passive, but the 20% CDR is just too good to pass up

Pick this item if you are at all fed or are planning to splitpush. If I am 3-0, I will definitely buy this item. Otherwise, you will buy the Iceborn Gauntlet

The classic item for Skarner. If you get this, you can effectively perma-slow your target. If you get this, focus on team fighting. With runes and masteries, and the frozen heart, your CDR should be at 40%

This mini sion ult for your whole team is great for when you need to be the initiator of the team. Otherwise you can pass this item up

IMO the best magic resist item in the game. Gives great amount of health, MR, and a spell shield. I actually get this every game unless the enemy is a 4 AD comp

I only get this I really need more MR than the banshee's veil

Great armor item. Get this after your Frozen Heart if you need more armor. This is also quite effective against those silly Udyrs ;D

I get this armor item if I want to do even more damage while being tanky.

I usually only get this as a 6th item so the massive health it gets is coupled with as many resistances as possible

Get this item if you went Trinity Force and still want a slow.

I get this item if I did not build a Mercury's Treads

THE ULTIMATE SPLIT PUSH ELIXIR! seriously though, the towers will melt.

If the enemy has too much CC to function. Coupled with Turbo Chemtank, the movement speed your team will get is rediculous.

The Attack speed reds are for more Shattered Earth. You can substitute the movespeed quints for more attack speed, health, or flat AD. I prefer my Skarner to be as fast as possible ;D

So Feral Flare has always been really strong on Skarner. So why wasn't any body using it on him? It was because of his manna problems. Season 4 Skarner NEEDED the spirit stone to survive the jungle. Now that the spirit stone is effectively built into the Ranger's Trailblazer, he can build the Devourer enchantment without manna problems.

This Revamped Feral Flare gives Skarner everything that he needs. The 50% attack speed helps to proc more Shattered Earth. The stacks on this item will also rack up quickly since assists and kills count as two stacks. This means that YOU DO NOT HAVE TO AFK FARM TO STACK UP THIS ITEM!. Skarner's god-like ganks will leave you with plenty of stacks.

You still do want to farm as any other jungler would, but it is much more important as Skarner to gank and snowball the other lanes.

Season 5's new jungle can seem like a disorienting, painful, or even scary place to be in, but DO NOT FEAR! I will explain it all!

BLACK CIRCLE = SMITE HERE!

These are the jungle routes for Skarner! I have designed the route so that you will take full advantage of the health buff given when smiting the red buff, so that you have enough health to gank top if needed. You will want to smite the first camp as soon as it spawns to get full use of its buff.

PRE LEVEL 6

Pre level 6 ganking for Skarner is actually deceptively strong. The key is your passive, Crystallizing Sting. Top is the easiest lane to gank pre-level 6 because of how long it is meaning that you have more time to stack up your passive on the enemy top-laner. Run up behind the enemy with your Seismic Bastion, then Shattered Earth and auto attack him until your passive stacks up and stuns him. If your laner has any CC, this should net a kill, if not, back or go farm the jungle.

POST LEVEL 6

Post level 6 ganking is where the magic happens. You can just about gank any lane you want and net a kill. Make sure to put as many stacks of Crystallizing Sting as possible on the target so that when you ult it does maximum damage. I find that the best ganks Skarner can pull off is either bot lane or a counter gank. Or even better, a counter gank down in bot lane ;D.

To pull off a counter gank, have your lane over extend and wait in the bushes near your laner. The enemy jungler will be salivating at a chance to gank the overextended "free kill." When the enemy jungler comes close, pop out the bushes and ult them before the enemy jungler can do anything serious. This will almost always score a kill and possibly two is the enemy laner wasn't smart enough to back off.

HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE YOUR ULTIMATE

This video is old, but it still very much applies to current Skarner.
Play Video

This is where Devourer Skarner shines compared to all-tank Skarner. The problem with all-tank Skarner is that your damage will fall off hard late game. With the devourer enchantment YOUR DAMAGE WILL NEVER FALL OFF! You will more than likely have at least 50 stacks by now from farming, kills, and assists. This means that each basic attack will be doing 90 BONUS magic damage every hit. This + your AD + your sheen proc from Q will have you hitting everyone like a truck regardless of whether your ult is up or not.

During late game Skarner's ultimate can turn a teamfight in your favor. If you are the initiator, make sure that you use the Turbo Chemtank active to give your team a massive movement speed advantage. Also if you are the initiator, you need to ult the other team's most fed champion. If you are not the initiator and instead your team has a Malphite or Jarvan IV to start the teamfight, I find it better to use your ultimate to peel the assassins/divers off your carries.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Basically, if you go Trinity Force and buy an Elixir of Ruin, you can solo towers with easy, eventually not even needing minions to back you up. Splitpush Skarner definitely takes some practice and warding but the pressure that it brings is rediculous.

THE GATES ;D Play Video

This is my first guide on mobafire and I had a lot of fun making it. Feel free to critique me on whatever I did wrong and need to improve. I hope you enjoy the new and GREATLY improved Skarner.