Welcome to my latest guide, this time featuring:
Skarner, The Crystal Vanguard

Skarner is an almost well rounded champion. The only other champion that fits a role similar to Skarner, is Sion, The Undead Champion

Skarner can currently be played in 2 effective ways:
-Hybrid or AP Jungler
-Hybrid or AP Laner

For now, I will focus primarily on the Hybrid Lane build, for jungling builds are still a work in progress. I will also, later, fit in a full Tank, and an AP Tank Build.

Read on fellow summoner to the newest monster to League of Legends, and may this guide help give you an idea on how to play Skarner.

Special thanks to RaskolnikovsAxe for helping me with some info, Give him a hand everyone!

Here's Some music to listen to while you read ^_^ It's in German and sounds amazing. Play Video

Skarner is a bad *** Crystal Scorpion, who can focus down single targets, do a good amount of damage, and hold his own in a team fight with a core build like mine. Below I will display his stats, as well as his Scalings.

Health: 440 (+96)

Mana: 205 (+40)

Attack Damage: 54.1 (+4.2)

Attack Speed: 0.625 (1.44%)

Attack Range: 125

Health Regen: 7.5 (+0.85)

Mana Regen: 6.45 (+0.45)

Armor: 19 (+3.8)

Magic Res: 30 (+1.25)

Mov. Speed: 320

Energize(Passive)Energize
Basic attacks lower the cooldowns of Skarner's abilities by 1 second against champions and 0.5 seconds against non-champions.



Crystal Slash(Q)
Skarner lashes out with his claws, dealing physical damage to all nearby enemies and charging himself with Crystal Energy for 5 seconds.
If he casts Crystal Slash again while empowered by Crystal Energy, he deals bonus magic damage and slows all targets hit for 2 seconds.

Cost: 22 / 24 / 26 / 28 / 30 mana
Physical Damage: 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+0.8 per bonus attack damage)
Magic Damage: 20 / 32 / 44 / 56 / 68 (+0.4 per ability power)
Slow: 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 %

Cooldown: 3.5 seconds
Radius of AoE: 350(About 3x his auto attack range)



Crystalline Exoskeleton(W)
Skarner receives a shield for up to 6 seconds. While the shield persists his movement speed and attack speed are increased.

Shield Strength: 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+0.6 per ability power)
Attack Speed Bonus: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 %
Movement Speed Bonus: 15 / 17 / 19 / 21 / 23 %

Cost: 60 mana
Cooldown: 14 seconds



Fracture(E)
Skarner summons a blast of crystalline energy which deals damage to enemies struck and marks them for 6 seconds. Any further damage dealt to marked targets by Skarner will allow him to consume the mark to heal himself. Subsequent marks consumed will heal for 50% of the last.

Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 mana
Magic Damage: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+0.7 per ability power)
Heal: 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 / 90 (+0.3 per ability power)

Cooldown: 10 seconds
Range: 600



Imaple(R)
Skarner suppresses an enemy champion for 1.5 seconds and deals magic damage to it. During this time, Skarner can move freely and will drag his helpless victim around with him. When the effect ends, Skarner's target will be dealt the same amount of magic damage again.

Cooldown: 110 / 100 / 90 seconds
Cost: 100 / 125 / 150 mana
Magic Damage: 100 / 150 / 200 (+0.5 per ability power)

Range: 125(Same as Auto Attack range)

Pros:
-Deals a lot of damage, and fast
-Fairly good Skirmisher
-Is almost perfectly well rounded
-Great lane sustainability
-Can drag you to your doom! >:D


Cons:
-Mana hungry early game
-Reliant on team for securing kills unless you have full build
-Lacks range with skills(except with E)
-Needs a few kills in order to make core build

Skarner can farm like a mufuggin monster, as long as he has enough ability power or a high enough leveled Fracture.

When you use Fracture, use your Shattered Earth on all the minions you can to regain as much hp as possible from your Ixtal's Impact's health regen ability.

By end game you should have a minimum of 180 minion kills. MORE IS BETTER!

~Early~

In your early levels(1-7), do what every good laner does, and farm. The best way to harass and farm at the same time, is to launch your Ixtal's Impact towards an opponent while they are behind minions.
Then once you see they are injured, walk towards them but stay between all the minions you hit, and use your Shattered Earth so you can heal yourself.
Most times, the enemy you hit will back off a bit once you start walking towards them, so that makes it easier to grab those minions.
After doing this a couple of times, they will think you are bluffing once again, so then they get offensive. THIS IS GOOD. Now you can unload your entire kit unto them, and they will regret ever trying to fight you. Be careful not to span your Shattered Earth too much, and same with Ixtal's Impact, that way you don't run out of mana so easily. Skarner's early stages are very mana hungry.

~Mid~

In your mid levels(8-13), you may develop the need to buy wards... THIS IS GOOD. It means you are becoming paranoid because an enemy wants your +500 Gold bounty, meaning you've been getting kills, which is ALSO GOOD. Try not to be a kill hog, because you are not a carry, you won't have the ability to take on 3 or 4 or even all 5 of your enemies in a game. You have the role of a damage dealer, meaning you need to do some damage, step back if things get too hot, and step back in to burst more if needed. -OR-
You walk right in... Do your damage, and you stay in because with your lifesteal and spellvamp, PLUS your ability to heal, should keep you alive long enough to do damage, and continue to burst.
Also... KEEP FARMING!

~Late~

Your last few levels are going to either be a breeze, or a hell hole. If you haven't gotten many kills, you will soon. By this time, if you have been farming, you will have a good portion of your build( Trinity Force, Banshee's Veil, Zhonya's Hourglass) making it possible to do some hefty damage along with having enough survivability. If you haven't gotten any, or many kills at this time, go for Hextech Gunblade instead of Guinsoo's Rageblade. This way you are almost tee'd a kill.

For my Hybrid build, I take standard AP Caster runes:

Magic pen Reds
Since all of Skarner's abilities deal magic damage, I think Magic Pen was the best option in terms of Marks

Mana reg. Per lvl yellows
Skarner's early levels are a little hungry on the mana, so some regen per level seals are really good to counter this issue.


Flat AP Blues
Since I play Skarner as an AP burst champion, I like having a lot of early game AP, making the most use out of my Ixtal's Impact.


Flat AP Quints
By level 1, I will have 39 AP, making my Ixtal's Impact deal about 110 points of damage. If you are laning against squishy champs with 4 HP bars, that's 4 Ixtal's Impact's and they are dead.

I take standard Caster Masteries as well, taking improved Flash, and Teleport.

I had some issue with wondering whether I should actually take CDR masteries of any kind since Skarner's PassiveEnergize takes care of that kind of issue.

Switching to 9/21/0 or 0/21/9 are also good choices since Skarner can excel with either.

The items I originally chose are different from what is posted now, if you are interested, you can ask me for the list.

I build my Tier 2 boots before Trinity Force, but you are more than welcome to do it after since he has Seismic Bastion to move quick, it makes getting boots soon almost unneeded.

Other good boots include:
I question these -->

Death Hat is another good choice if you are looking to melt your enemies faster, but I prefer to go with Zhonya's because of the extra armor, and active.

My core is this:

Below, I posted some items for what to do during certain situations:

If you are facing a heavy CC team:

Continue your build right to when you get your Rylai's , then Branch off and follow this;
if your opponent has a Mordekaiser or any other type of suppression, or lengthy stun, or Debuff effect like Vladimir
Go with a Quicksilver instead of the Force of Nature.

For when facing heavy AD opponents:

Still build your Rylai's but then branch off into this;


Yes these are very Tanky alternatives, but they work really well against what you need to fight.

For my Primary build, I focus on Fracture because it's his most damaging spell.

I dont really work on my slow spell, Crystal Slash due to the fact that it has a low damage output early game. Yes, using it again on an enemy will slow them, giving you the advantage of throwing your spells out on your enemies a lot more, but I like being able to trash my opponent's towers as well as having a good shield and GTFO'ing when I need to.

You could also focus on his AoE ability but I like having a faster attack, and stronger shield rather than my opponent being slower than I need him to be since I have a bunch of slows in my arsenal.

I usually go with Flash and Ignite

But here are other extremely good alternatives to go with:

Ghost : Not only useful for escapes, but also fun to use to pull enemies in to your turret after using your ultimateImaple on them

Teleport : Having at least 1 ally with this spell in the group proves to be very useful. I use it when I play support Soraka so I can aide my allies in a time of great need, as well as try to keep enemies out of an open lane.

Exhaust : On top of having 4 slows already, this may seem a little overkill, but when your gunblade is on CD, this works wonderfully.

Clarity : Skarner has some early mana issues. This not only takes care of that problem, but shares some with your ally. Get the Improved Clarity Mastery if you use this to maximize its usefulness. Not a necessary pick since later game, mana becomes no problem. USE ONLY AS A LOWER LEVELED PLAYER.

Using your ultimate when after someone hits you while under your tower, will make them pay with their lives, and giving you a kill.

Skarner is the second champion to be part of the Zodiac.

The first is Alistar , who is also part of the Chinese Zodiac group of champions, which include:
Twitch (Rat)
Cassiopeia (Snake)
Wukong (Monkey)

I think Nasus may be part of this group as the Dog, but Warwick may also be that sign...

Even though he is not a dragon, Renekton may represent this sign.

Well, I hope this helps you understand Skarner in the same perspective as I have.
I'm not saying I know Skarner in and out, but this is what I think is best for him to fit my playstyle.

Please leave a Comment for improvements, hit that Upvote button if you like it,
and I'm open to suggestions.
Expect Semi-Frequent Updates :D
Thanks for reading
Sincerely, Blakhart

August 12, 2011
After a very helpful tip from RaskolnikovsAxe, I switch my Malady for a Guinsoo's. Also changed the skilling order to be more aggressive, as well as defensive.

August 19, 2011
Changed Rylai's into a Banshee's Veil to accommodate for Skarner's tad bit of squishiness. Though he will now lack a little bit of Ability power, and a little health, it's made up for in some more mana, as well as the Banshee's passive.

September 02, 2011
Added a little color to a few sections to make everything flow more vibrantly, as well as fixing a few grammatical errors. Slightly fixed the skilling order to match up with my descriptions from other sections.