Mobafire completely screwed my guide, some chapters are replaced or deleted. I won't update my build anymore...




2011-10-23:
- replaced Garrison by Cleanse. CC are the bane of Skarner

2011-10-21:
- changed buy order, Wit's End is better early, and better than Zeal for Skarner, even if Zeal is closer to complete Trinity Force.

2011-10-20:
- replaced Ignite by Exhaust, gunblade nerf happened.
- replaced Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction by Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power

2011-10-19:
- replaced Greater Quintessence of Evasion by Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed
- replaced Mobility Boots by Berserker's Greaves. In the end, it's better to have attack speed than running faster.
- replaced Wit's End with Zeal and Trinity Force. With Hextech Gunblade nerf and Skarner buff, I think it's viable again to go for Trinity Force.

2011-10-08: initial post.

Start with Berserker's Greaves and an Amplifying Tome and run to the windmill.

Then, get Sheen it gives some AP and increase your damage, a very good item on Skarner since you will spam his skills.

Buy Wit's End to spam your skill, and Hextech Revolver, you will be able to sustain a good amount of damage. Upgrade it to Hextech Gunblade when possible.

After that, you can start buying tank items, like Chain Vest and Negatron Cloak, upgrade them if you feel the need, or go for Trinity Force. You won't be able to buy all these late game items. Most of the time, I prefer to finish Frozen Heart (there currently are lots of AD carries in Dominion) and upgrade Sheen to Trinity Force. If I had to buy a Negatron Cloak, I upgrade it to Odyn's Veil and skip Trinity Force.



Kassadin or LeBlanc: worst matchup IMO. Burst, CC, escape... Buy Mercury's Treads instead of Berserker's Greaves.

Is there any AP champs, Kog'Maw, Teemo, Rammus, Kassadin, LeBlanc, Xerath, Akali, Shaco, Evelynn, Ryze, Karthus in the enemy team? Buy a Negatron Cloak after Hextech Gunblade.

Olaf? Buy Ionic Spark and Phage to complete Trinity Force.

Jax? Be sure to have your Frozen Heart. Quicksilver Sash can also be useful to break free from the stun. I like to buy Moonflair Spellblade if there are too much CC in the enemy team.

Against stun, fear or silence ( Shaco, Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, Soraka, Blitzcrank, Jax, Pantheon): Moonflair Spellblade (the cheapest tenacity item) or Quicksilver Sash. Or you can try a more offensive crit build with Cloak and Dagger and Atma's Impaler instead of Frozen Heart.

Against Riven, Tryndamere, Master Yi, Udyr, AD Sion and ranged AD carries, Frozen Heart should be enough, or grab a Thornmail with it.



Skarner is able to survive because the spellvamp from Hextech Gunblade on Shattered Earth is amazing, and the shield from Seismic Bastion shouldn't be underestimated, you can cast it quite often with his attack speed and CDR.

It's better to fight these champions with a teammate.

Kassadin, LeBlanc: don't try to fight them alone, they can burst you quite easily, and you won't be able to do anything while being silenced or stuned.

Jax: Skarner is a melee attack speed champion, you may trigger his stun more than once if you don't have Sword of the Divine.

Olaf: true damage is painful, your armor becomes useless. Stack some life.

Kog'Maw: long range, slow, deal damage from a percent of your life. Try to get some MR.

Teemo: good poke, good mobility, and the shroom slow. But you can win if you can Impale him.

Vayne: good poke, true damage, good evasion. Frozen Heart should help to deal with her, and if you can Impale her, she's dead.

Rammus: stack some MR.

Ignite
With the current meta of Akali and Jax in Dominion, it's better to stop lifesteal/spellvamp if you want to kill them.

Surge
The new skill synergize well with Skarner, more AS and AP.

Cleanse
Silence, Slow, Stun can kill easily Skarner...

Garrison
A good spell if you need to defend or dive a tower. If the enemy is capturing your tower, use it when the tower is half health to regenerate it, and try to grab one of the enemy, who was capturing it, with Impale. They will think twice before capturing a tower when Skarner is around :)

You can also take Ghost if you want more mobility.

Start with Berserker's Greaves and an Amplifying Tome and run to the windmill.

Then, get Sheen it gives some AP and increase your damage, a very good item on Skarner since you will spam his skills.

Buy Wit's End to spam your skill, and Hextech Revolver, you will be able to sustain a good amount of damage. Upgrade it to Hextech Gunblade when possible.

After that, you can start buying tank items, like Chain Vest and Negatron Cloak, upgrade them if you feel the need, or go for Trinity Force. You won't be able to buy all these late game items. Most of the time, I prefer to finish Frozen Heart (there currently are lots of AD carries in Dominion) and upgrade Sheen to Trinity Force. If I had to buy a Negatron Cloak, I upgrade it to Odyn's Veil and skip Trinity Force.



Kassadin or LeBlanc: worst matchup IMO. Burst, CC, escape... Buy Mercury's Treads instead of Berserker's Greaves.

Is there any AP champs, Kog'Maw, Teemo, Rammus, Kassadin, LeBlanc, Xerath, Akali, Shaco, Evelynn, Ryze, Karthus in the enemy team? Buy a Negatron Cloak after Hextech Gunblade.

Olaf? Buy Ionic Spark and Phage to complete Trinity Force.

Jax? Be sure to have your Frozen Heart. Quicksilver Sash can also be useful to break free from the stun. I like to buy Moonflair Spellblade if there are too much CC in the enemy team.

Against stun, fear or silence ( Shaco, Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, Soraka, Blitzcrank, Jax, Pantheon): Moonflair Spellblade (the cheapest tenacity item) or Quicksilver Sash. Or you can try a more offensive crit build with Cloak and Dagger and Atma's Impaler instead of Frozen Heart.

Against Riven, Tryndamere, Master Yi, Udyr, AD Sion and ranged AD carries, Frozen Heart should be enough, or grab a Thornmail with it.



Skarner is able to survive because the spellvamp from Hextech Gunblade on Shattered Earth is amazing, and the shield from Seismic Bastion shouldn't be underestimated, you can cast it quite often with his attack speed and CDR.

Put 1 point in each skill at the beginning, then upgrade Seismic Bastion and Shattered Earth at the same time, with a point in Impale whenever possible.

Use Seismic Bastion to close the gap or flee, and use all your skills whenever possible when you attack someone, especially Shattered Earth. Late game, with the attack speed from Recurve Bow, you'll be able to spam these skills a lot, that's how you'll stay alive, with the shield and the spellvamp on Shattered Earth and Ixtal's Impact.

Remember you can use Ixtal's Impact on fleeing enemies, if they are neaarly dead. It's also a good skill to stall enemies from capturing your tower. Align yourself and hit them all with it.

Use Impale on a fleeing enemy or to protect a teammate. You can also drag an enemy into your tower if they try to be aggresive. It's also a good idea to use Impale if you need to stall your enemy while your teammates arrive.

When you grab someone with Impale, remember to use Shattered Earth just after it, then Shattered Earth again to slow your target when Impale ends. Also, don't drag your target during the full duration, drag him a little bit, then turn around before it ends, your target will be moved a little bit farther. No need to cast Seismic Bastion before Impale (except if you needed to close the gap), because you will lose the attack speed boost during Impale.

When you start, if you go top be sure to take the inside path, it's the fastest. http://i.imgur.com/KoCRX.png

If you go bot, start with Sheen instead of the boots.

Most of the time, I tend to be in the top part of the map, capturing top or backdooring mid. Always take a look at the minimap to see where the enemy is heading, to not engage a useless 1v2 fight in the jungle, or to prevent a capture. Also, don't chase an enemy in the jungle, the most important part of the game is to capture towers.

Don't hesitate to teleport back if bot is attacked, Skarner is powerful enough to defend bot if needed, then get back to top.

Use the speed boost (obviously) and you can sometimes try to ambush someone in the jungle by staying in a bush and grabbing your enemy with your ult.

About the storm buff, take it only late game, because you may die too easily early/mid game, let it to other champions.

The initial rush should be 4 top, 1 bot.
If you get top, defend and try to rotate who will go back to base first to get some health, then get back top to defend.
If you can't get top, fallback and push the creep wave, attack top when you have 3 or 4 players top. If the enemy team has 4 players top while you push the creep wave, send someone to backdoor their mid tower.

After a few minutes, the game will stabillize, and you should adapt to what the enemy is doing if you have 3 points. The best setup IMO is 1 bot, 2 top, and one in the bush near the speed boost at mid.
Do they try to gank bot? fallback, send one more people bot, and defend.
Do they try to backdoor mid? intercept with the mid guy and defend, someone from top can come to help
Do they try to push top? mid guy can help them.

This strategy works if your bot player can push the lane, because the enemy team will have to send more people to defend bot lane, and will reduce their effectiveness to capture top or mid.

If you happen to wipe a few enemies, rush their mid and bot tower, depending on where the enemies are.
bot and top lane should always try to push their minions, and fallback if the enemies have respawned (because 2v3 top may be ganked). Pushing minions will slow them down because they will have to clear the minions.

It's better to fight these champions with a teammate.

Kassadin, LeBlanc: don't try to fight them alone, they can burst you quite easily, and you won't be able to do anything while being silenced or stuned.

Jax: Skarner is a melee attack speed champion, you may trigger his stun more than once if you don't have Sword of the Divine.

Olaf: true damage is painful, your armor becomes useless. Stack some life.

Kog'Maw: long range, slow, deal damage from a percent of your life. Try to get some MR.

Teemo: good poke, good mobility, and the shroom slow. But you can win if you can Impale him.

Vayne: good poke, true damage, good evasion. Frozen Heart should help to deal with her, and if you can Impale her, she's dead.

Rammus: stack some MR.

I use Yaric to setup my recommended items.
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