I'll be straightforward and short. You came here for a build, i'll give you the build.
This build of skarner makes of him a Hybrid-DPS Offtank. However, to perform as this build, You will need your team's colaboration because you'll have to get the blue during all teamfights.

Skarner isn't the best champion actually. Most of you will QQ because it needs to get upped and boosted. I don't believe so ; he's actually very dangerous, deals massive AOE damage, and because he is really tanky, if you have a support that heals a lot (Soraka being the best, after that there's Karma or, in worse case, Nidalee), you can simply enter teamfights the way a Tryndamere would ; don't worry about being killed. You are invincible.

HOWEVER : You really need the blue, if you don't have it you will die within seconds. You know why? Skarner was designed that he is only powerful if he can spam his spells. And spamming his spells cost a lot of mana, almost more than keeping Anivia's ulti , but a bit less than Taric's.


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Yeah, I realize I stoled the joke in the title from a random dude on youtube. And you know what? I like it. :3

There are two possible ways to play Skarner. You can play it as a 9/21/0, or as a 21/9/0 . I prefer the second option, as you will be an off-tank dps and not a tank that will input some damage. Let this role to Amumu!

Basicly, go for penetration, attack speed, and bonus to every non-crit ability. You *won't* crit often, and you must not rely on those to input your damage. Most of your damage will come from you doing keyboard mashing.

You can play with ;

- Exhaust ; always nice to counter a team's carry or reduce the armor and magic resist of a prey you are chasing, plus the slow is useful at low level.
- Cleanse ; Useful especially in late game. Disables can cut straight your regeneration and survivability.
- Clarity ; if you can't guarantee full access to Blue Buffs during teamfights

ALSO TO CONSIDER :
- Ignite ; True damage is nice, can help finishing off pesky foes that run away with 10 hp, or neutralize the regeneration of carries.
- Ghost ; Can be useful for chasing, or running away in desesperate cases. But your role isn't to run away, but to go in the melee and fight until you die, grabbing the most kills you can.
- Rally ; Not the best option, but still better than flash. It's often understimated, but it can be a good support, and since your regneration will be based on your damage output, it will increase your survivability. It is however useless against a AOE-heavy team.
- Heal ; Not to understimate as well, can be useful if you are about to die, so you can run back into the fight and deal some more damage. You know, healers have cooldowns, and you probably won't be the focus of the fight.

NOT TO PICK :
- Flash. Why ? Your role is not being able to escape, your role is to jump in, do all the aoe damage you can, heal and survive the most you can during teamfights. During laning phase, it won't be useful ; you have a natural "ghost".
- Smite. You won't jungle. End.
- Revive : Teleport/Revive Technique (raise from the dead and teleport back in the teamfight) can be useful with Skarner, but you still prefer not to die.
- Fortify : You are not the tank, you are an off-tank. There are more useful spells to you.
- Clairvoyance : You aren't a support neither.

-Do keyboard mashing.

-In teamfights, if you have the correct allies, you can play reckless

-Take advantage of your passive.

-Remember to position in a way to get the more folks in your aeras of effect. With Nashor's Tooth, you should be able to spam your shield, AOE and Lane-skillshot. Also after ~ 20 seconds, you will be able to use your ultimate again. (Yes, it does come back just as often as Lady double rainbow's big red beam. )

-If an enemy's carry is getting too dangerous, use your ultimate.

-You can also use your ultimate to stop other people's ultimate.

Exemple of champions that are nice to stop during their ultimates : Katarina, Nunu, Malzahar, Warwick, Karthus, Anivia, Caitlyn, Janna (It comes back often anyways), Miss Fortune, Pantheon (during canalisation, in the laning phase) and Fiddlestick (canalisation BEFORE crowstorm. Don't waste your ultimate on a Fiddlestick of which's crowstorm is already active, and worse, don't drag him to your team.).

You can customize your runes, but I prefer to play them with magic penetration, armor per level and magic resist per level, and use the quintescences to get one of each buff. Skarner is not as squishy as all champions are, but her certainly isn't the most tanky neither. This is why I prefer to grab armor and magic resist runes ; you'll only need to grab more hp in order to get tanky. And, of course, spell vamp and lifesteal.

You can focus your quintescences on Spell penetration if you prefer it this way.

Okay, so the core items, that CANNOT be remplaced, are ;
- Sheen, as you will spam your skills
- Rod of Ages (you will need the bonus in mana, HP and AP, plus the catalyst helps during laning phase)
- Hextech Gunblade, as no item is comparable for hybrids. Ensures stable dps, survivability, and has a nice active bonus.

Nashor's Tooth can be remplaced by :
- Stark's Fervor
- Wit's End
- Madred's Bloodrazor
- Phantom Dancer

Trinity Force can be remplaced by :
- Lich's Bane

Sorcerer's boots can be remplaced by :
- Tabi Ninja
- Mercury's Treads
- Bezerker's Greaves

Rylai's Crystal Scepter can be remplaced by :
- Rod of Ages
- Abyssal Scepter
- Hextech Gunblade (Yes, another one is fine)
- Guninso's Rageblade (which will always be up in time, due to keyboard mashing)

My build is costly. I know it, it's pretty obvious. That's why you need to get your priorities at the right place.

Laning phase (the first 3400~ gold)
- Take a Saphire crystal, mana potion and health potion.
- At your first back, build a Catalyst The Protector. It will really help you, especially if you solo top. If you can, grab boots as well.
- Build your Rod of Ages as soon as possible, as it takes 10 minutes to be fully effective.

Laning-to-teamfight transition (the second 3000 gold)
- buy Stigner
- Upgrade your boots to Sorcerer's Boots
- buy Sheen
- If there is money left after buying sheen, you can buy items from the Hextech Gunblade recipe

Teamfight time (very costly for the Full Build)
- Rush your Hextech Gunblade
- Afterwards, rush your Trinity Force
- Finish with Rylai Crystal Scepter
- Nashor's Tooth is the last item to upgrade
- After getting the full build, buy elexirs!


Total cost of the build : 17,895 gold + elexirs, potions and wards not included

Soraka, the Starchild is the fearsome healer that gives you AND your team a nice magic resist bonus , often also armor and additional magic resist, and most importantly ; wish. And heals.

Taric, the Gemknight is another alternative to Soraka. He gives better armor bonus, but cheaper heals. Althrough the AD bonus from its ulti is very intersting to have, and the stun is just as fun.

Galio, the Sentinel's Sorrow can place his shield on you to transform you from Off-tank dps to Tank dps. And you are sure to provide him lots of heals.

Karma, the Enlightned One is a massive AOE-user. She can use you as a beacon for her shield, and you certainly won't say no to AOE damage, shield and heals.

Maokai, the twisted treant is not to forget with all of its AOEs, and 20% damage reduction.

Sivir, the Battle Mistress can deal massive AOE damage, as long as you keep protecting her. This might be a bit tougher, tho.

Kennen, the Heart of the Tempest AOE stuns. What can be better for you? RAWR.

Morgana, the Fallen Angel Reduces magic resistance of enemies (considering most of your AOE damage is magic) and can slow by 60% a whole team. You know what comes after the slow? Stun. Stun equals fun.

Zilean, the Chronokeeper can place bombs on your head and do AOE damage that way, while staying "out of the fight", or at least, at reasonable distance. Plus his ulti revives you. Talk about an excuse to be reckless!