Hello I'm Intaake, and I play on the NA server. A little background about me, Skarner has been my jungler of choice since level 10; however, after the previous patch I discovered he can lane choice as will. So this guide is here to help you learn the basics of Skarner and to show an effective build in the jungle.



please note that the notes throughout this build explain choices

Pros
-Gets tanky with very few health items
-Ult takes a champion out of the fight completely
-Ganks are strong with slow as CC and great chase ability
-ADC or APC becomes useless in team fights
-You're a freakin' scorpion
-Relatively fast clear times with the ability to counter jungle
-NOW HAS LEGENDARY SKINcons
-Can be easily kited
-No built in sustain
-Damage is dependent on sheen
-Blue dependent early game
-Building damage takes away from engage ability

: With the new revamp to the jungle in S5, smite now serves a multi-purpose role to include, Baron, Dragon, Buff, and Scuttler control, increased gank effectiveness, increased dueling potential, and increased clear speed.

: Flash the most used summoner spell in the rift. Post level 30 almost every player has flash in game. That being said flash has multiple uses on skarner. First the usual flash is an escape spell, use it to get over walls, flash jukes, flash jukes into bushes that appear over walls. Second flash over walls to smite baron or dragon. Third flash into a champion to initiate a fight.

Attack speed marks (9) - Only Skarner's Q still gets help from attack speed, but his clear speed greatly benifits from the attack speed. Every attack on minions takes his Q cool-down .5 seconds and 1 second for every attack on champions. Needless to say attack speed still greatly benefits Skarner.
Flat Armor seals (9) - Standard on all junglers. Allows for longer time in the jungle. Since the new jungle is more unforgiving than ever with only 2 pots these come in play quite imperatively. Not to mention every champion does physical damage.
Magic resist per level glyphs (9) - Skarner is a tank right? And tanks need resistances right? So of course you need to run magic resist something, why not per levels. Not to mention this build is very armor intensive so somehow at least a small compensation has to be made.
Movement Speed Quints (3) - Want to be able to out run almost every champion? Well with movement speed quints this is possible. These quints also allow you to have more effective ganks, less time spent between camps, and more escape potential.

Here I will propose 4 jungle routes 2 for each side. Keep in mind mana is scarce early and I would not put it past an enemy team to invade your blue. For the Purple team you get blue earlier than the Blue team. However with the new jungle I strongly suggest you follow one of these routes to get a stronger leash.

Blue team

Route 1

This first route is more of your typical jungle route where you get the buff first and follow up with the other camps. For this route you should smite both buffs and be sure to have your top laner ward your blue buff for the possible counter jungle invade.

Start Red buff (smite)
Follow with raptor camp
Head for blue (smite)

Route 2

This is more of a season 5 new path. Since smiting the jungle creatures gives a buff of some kind starting camps other that buffs are reliable as well. The Golem camp will provide a stun on every first and every 5th hit there after. With Skarner's passive this means little damage from the jungle camp large monsters.

Start Golems (smite)
Follow with Red buff
Head for blue (smite)

Purple team

Route 1

Again this is a route new to season 5 where Gromp gives you a quasi-thornmail buff where attacking creeps and champions. This is like having season 4 quill coat on steroids. While it doesn't stun the creeps or champion like the golem buff does it helps with clears and is the preferred jungle route on purple team.

Start Gromp (smite)
Follow with Blue buff
Head for Red (smite)

Route 2

Back to a more standard route. If you don't feel comfortable with your ability to sustain mana or you are new to the jungle, then don't hesitate to start blue in the end you will just have smited both buffs rather than get a special buff.

Start Blue buff (smite)
Follow with wolves
Head for Red (smite)

By this point you should be level 3 and poised for a gank. Look for lanes that are over extended also look for lanes with strong crowd control (CC) that will allow for a strong in lane gank. If neither is present or you just want to farm stay in the jungle and farm up until you have the gold for the jungle item a pink ward and boots.

Good gank routes for tops include from blue side through tri bush and for the purple team through river.

For mid avoid going through the mid bushes whenever possible and instead gank around the far sides near the enemy tower.

for bot purple team ganks through tri bush and blue team ganks through river.

For any of the lanes if you feel strong enough to dive either chase the enemy to the tower and dive or gank around from in between tower tiers.

There are a few easy tricks that help make it more effective.

[1] The flash grab -- possibly my favorite initiate, as you can startle the team with this play changing the tides of war

[2] Extending the pull distance -- Pull the target toward your team then in the last few milliseconds run away from your destination. (this pulls the target closer to where you want them) This takes some time to master, but it has extreme effectiveness when used correctly.

Skarner's whole purpose in team fights is to get in grab the biggest threat and drag them into your team. When done successfully the enemy will be down a champion and be face with a 4v5 situation. Your choice is simple, ult their most fed player, their adc, or their apc, avoid ulting tanks or supports (unless the support was a kill lane support like a lux or vel). Once your ult sequence is finished you have 2 choices first peel for your carries (only if your team has no one else peeling or if your carries are dying in teamfights first) or second head straight back into the enemy team and push the damage down their throats (ideal as you have AOE and crowd control). Most importantly know your team, if you have an engage team fight, if you have a team that needs to pick the other side off ward the jungles, and if you have a disengage team save your ult for peel. If you are behind don't be that guy that starts losing fights focus on farming and getting picks to get back into the game.

Don't be afraid to flash into team fights to get an ult. You are your teams best CC.

This is not a be all end all guide. If you don't follow it, it doesn't mean your bad as Skarner; feel free to change anything to your play-style. In addition, anywhere you see That I can make improvements feel free to comment or even suggest. I'll be sure to try it, and baring that it works you will see it in the guide following a few tests with results.

I'll leave this update by stating that; due to my relative lack of experience with guide making I am open to ways to add important sections, videos, or pictures to the guide to improve the reader's effectiveness.

2/5/2013 -- Primary build redesigned after ranked testing, secondary build altered after season 3 patch, additional proofreading, and secondary skill sequence changed to allow for more reliable jungle
6/11/2014 -- redesign to reflect s4 and new features with s5 updates to come
11/25/2014 -- updated for S5 and major revamp to guide as a whole.
5/12/2014 -- updated the guide to reflect new lights on skarner and removed top and alternate jungle guide.