Welcome to my guide.

I think that Skarner is a very strong jungler, he is fast, tanky and has strong ganks. He is quite underrated by some people, but if you are reading this guide probably you are one of the people that can understand his power.

He will scale well during the game, becoming a powerfull offtank with the ability of initiate a fight grabbing away a target from the enemy team.

With the quite recent nerf to Shattered Earth mana cost i added a second build that can solve all of your mana problems; anyway with a blue buff the first one is still avaible, but with the second build you can let the second/third blue buff to your AP carry and you can have less pain in case of theire jungler steals your mana golem.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed: these runes are perfect combined with your energize and can helps you to jungle faster.

Greater Seal of Armor: early armor.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: some MR mid and late game.. i think this rune is very nice.

greater quintessence of desolation greater quintessence of desolation: in my opinion a must have, cause these runes will bring down the armor of your jungle.

Smite is a must have for junglers, and you are not an exception ( maybe WW could be ).

Flash is great spell, you can use it for a lot of purpose such as reaching an escaping enemy and throw your ulti, escape from a dangerous situation and so much.

Ghost is a good spell, you can take it if you don't like Flash. It adds some movement speed and allows you to avoid unit collision, some good tools while ganking.

Exhaust is not necessary in my opinion, thanks to your Shattered Earth, but it is viable if you want.

energize
Using autoattacks against champions lowers the cooldowns of Skarner's abilities by 1 second and by 0.5 seconds when used against non-champion units. Autoattacks on towers won't reduce cooldowns at all.

This innate is good, really. You still have short CDs on your abilities and this skill cuts your CDs more.


(Active): Skarner lashes out, dealing physical damage to all enemies in a small area around him. He charges himself with Crystal Energy for 5 seconds if a unit is struck.
If he casts Crystal Slash again while empowered by Crystal Energy, the ability deals bonus magic damage and slows all targets hit for 2 seconds.

This skill is your main source while ganking and jungling. It does nice AOE damage while in jungle that makes you one of the faster jungler in LOL and slows your targetted enemy while ganking. The only problem is its short range, but this will be not a problem with a red buff and/or Seismic Bastion. You can use it on minions to trigger the second slow effect. For these reasons this skill should be maxed asap.


(Active): Skarner receives a shield for up to 6 seconds. While the shield is still active his movement speed and attack speed are boosted.

A very nice skill. This gives you a movement speed buff, an attack speed buff and a shield. The movement speed helps you while ganking and in a lot of situations, the attack speed buff is great combinated with your passive energize. These buffs will expired if your shield is destroyed, so you need to max this spell second to make the shield stronger and use its effects longer.


(Active): Skarner summons a blast of crystalline energy in a line which deals magic damage to enemies struck and marks them for 6 seconds. If any marked targets receive further damage from Skarner, or if they die when struck by Fracture, Skarner will consume the mark to heal himself. Subsequent marks consumed and unit kills will heal for 50% of the last.

Not so much a fantastic skill. You can use it for free heal while cleaning a camp or to finish a running champion. You can max it last. Use it at the mid of a team fight could be a good idea for some free heal.


(Active): Skarner suppresses an enemy champion for 1.75 seconds and deals magic damage to it. During this time, Skarner can move freely and will drag his victim around with him. When the effect ends, Skarner's target will be dealt the same amount of magic damage again.

This skill is great, this skill is Skarner. This skill makes your post lev.6 ganks amazing and allow you to bring an enemy under your tower or bring him far away from his one. It will be great during the entire game allowing you to separate the focused enemy from his team. Just remember to not use it on enemies that can break CC like Olaf, Gangplank or Alistar.
You cannot use Flash during Impale.
A tip is to spin around just before Impale ends because your target will continue to walk back.

These are the core items you need in my opinion..
build 1) This is a pretty standard jungler build that grants you sustain, health, speed, damage and, first of all, free wards. The downside is the mana cause a nerf to Shattered Earth makes Skarner more mana hungry than before. Probably this is the most efficient build in damage and sustain, but actualy i think the second one is better. Anyway we take Mercury's Treads for speed, MR and first of all for CC reduction, Sheen gives you a lot of damage with your spammable Shattered Earth and Heart of Gold gives you the live that you need early and a nice gold bonus.
build 2) This build of core items can solve your mana problems, making you more blue independent, so you can let the blue buff to your carry with no so much problems. Wriggle's Lantern is a great item in my opinion, but your jungler speed is great anyway, you should just remember to buy some wards and ask some help for the first and second dragon.

You should start with the first one if you choose the first build, with the second one if you choose the second build.
In the first case do your job and go back when you can buy Boots and Madred's Razors, in the second case when you can buy Boots and philosopher's stone.

The first starting build is safer and you can gank with more life, so i suggest it to new skarner's users, the second build is quite less save and you should gank with less life, but with a philosopher's stone your mana problems are solved and your AD carry will be happy with the blue buff ;).

This build, in my opinion, grants you the right balance between damage and defence and you can play your off tank role quite nice in this way. Anyway, as usuall, a build is always situational and you should adapt your build to the game you are playing and to your enemies.

Trinity Force is the best damaging item for skarner cause it gives you damage, movement speed, mana and so on............... all stats that you need plus the fantastic effect that works well with your low CDs.

Atma's Impaler is a nice item cause it grants you some armor ( and you need it ) and gives you some damage output in base of the max heath you have. In my opinion it is great for an off tank like you.

Banshee's Veil grants you the MR that you need and works well with Atma's Impaler. It gives you mana and health too, and a nice shield.

Randuin's Omen is a great defence item, you can upgrade your Heart of Gold at the end of the game, gaining a lot of defence and a fantastic active effect.

Hextech Gunblade is a nice item fot skarner, but not so core. You should take it if the game is going so far and you need some extra damage/sustain. In 90% of the games you will not reach this item. Replace Wriggle's Lantern or philosopher's stone for it at the end.

Shurelya's Battlesong is not a bad item for you cause it grants nice heath that works well with Atma's Impaler, CDR and a beautifull active movement speed buff.. You can upgrade your philosopher's stone at the end of the match if you want.

Force of Nature is surelly a great item that grants mobility, tons of health regeneration and movement speed. You can replace Banshee's Veil if you want or take it instead of Randuin's Omen if you need more MR.

Frozen Heart is the alternative to Randuin's Omen or if you need more armor. This item is surelly good and you can take it if you want. His mana and armor bonus are great, but in my opinion you should priorize Randuin's Omen over Frozen Heart cause you are building a Heart of Gold from the beginning and cause i preffer his active effect.

1) Mana Golem using Smite and asking a pull.
2) wolves
3) wraiths
4) Lizzard

GANK whenever you can!