Skarner Build Guide by Merthos1123

diamond

Skarner Top - Challenger Guide

By | Updated on

Rating

Vote Vote

Guide Discussion (10) More Skarner Guides

Runes: Omnistone

1 2 3

Inspiration

Prototype: Omnistone

Magical Footwear

Biscuit Delivery

Cosmic Insight

Resolve

Bone Plating

Unflinching

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+6 Armor
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2

Ghost Teleport

Ghost

Teleport

Ranked #9 in
Jungle Role

Win 55%

Get More Stats

Items

Skarner Top

Start

CDR Core

After CDR Core (Mercs or Tabi)

Protobelt Core

Tank Core

Cleaver Core

After Item Core

Ability Order 1 Point R (E W Q MAX)

Skarner Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Olaf

Extreme

Olaf counter Skarner due to the fact that he has insane healing, true damage and a ultimate that negates Skarner's. To win, only fight Olaf when you have teammates around.

Elise

Ideal

Easy to setup for, use impale to drag enemies into cocoon for a free stun.

Hey, my name is Merthos and I main Top and have managed to peak Challenger 734 LP, I have over 6000 games and I have played him almost exclusively top in season 9. I think playing top is more effective than in the jungle because your jungle slot is not wasted on a champion that has to wait until level 6 to be effective, as playing jungle is reliant on the enemy team to misposition. Overall is a champion that excels at crowd controlling enemies with his massive amounts of cc at capped cdr.

is a juggernaut that excels at crowd controlling his target for a insane amount of time. 's most iconic ability for crowd control is , rears his stinger and suppresses his target for 1.75 seconds. With can setup free kills for his teammates. Overall is a champion that can be used to effectively shut a person out of a fight and potentially make it a 4v5.

Pros

+ Strong when ahead
+ Easy roams with
+ Great setup for junglers
+ Good pick potential with
+ Tanky

is a tanky juggernaut that excels at locking down champions with insane crowd control. has a rough early game but if he gets going he is a very snowbally champion. Roaming with is also very effective due to his giving him over 70 movement speed throughout most of the river and jungle quadrants. 's strongest when he is able to setup his junglers with his insane cc allowing for essentially free kills.

Cons

- Weak early game
- No in lane
- Low mobility
- can be captured by enemy team

has an extremely weak early game usually having mana issues and has a hard time surviving against strong early game opponents. do not spawn in lane so you basically have no passive aside from your e proc or r duration. has no mobility aside from his W speed up, making him vulnerable to ganks. 's passive can be captured by the enemy team making you have essentially no passive if the enemy controls the map.

Summoner Spells

For top you can take or both are great for as he has no gap closer, and both summoner spells can help you get near priority targets with ease.

Rune Choices

Keystones

In my almost 6000 games of top there was a lot of experimentation with which keystones work the best and what were sub optimal. As of patch 10.14 's best keystones are from the ,, and tree's and that includes , , and .

allows to have the versatility of being able to use all keystones.

allows to better escape potential and being able to pull targets further with

allows to be a frontline threat in a team fight with lower risk of dying due to the extra resists.

Secondary Runes

For the secondary runes you should always have as secondary if not running tree.

Resolve Choices

gives a lot of needed crowd control reduction in big team fights so that he can reliably land his cc.

enables to have much needed burst reduction as he is very vulnerable early without items.

enables when using to gain 10 armor and magic resist, in addition to extra on hit damage depending on the size of his shield.

Inspiration Choices

gives much needed mana and health sustain for the early game.

gives extra cdr for the early game and can help smooth out the 35% cdr spike with the cdr core.

free boots on is insanely good on him, it also gives an extra 10 movement speed on top of it.

Sorcery Choices

gives greater mana control in lane.

gives 10% cdr at level 10 that can be capped out with the cdr core.

a good scaling rune on as it gives him extra adaptive force the longer the game goes on.

Rune Explanation

to explain why , , and are the best for there is one way to explain it. What wants in a rune is instant power, what that means is that you can proc these runes with out much effort such as landing 3 abilities, immobilizing, and auto attacking.

Items

's best stat is Cooldown Reduction by far and allows to accomplish his stun combo that rotates his twice and gives him his massive cc time.

First Back

For the first back you should be looking to complete 's most important item which is , This item allows to make use of his high base ad and gives him mana and cooldown reduction both stats that can help immensely early. If you have enough gold after early laning then you should also pick up and as can be a bit sluggish early and easily pushed out of lane with his low sustain.

Core CDR

In order for to accomplish his cc "combo" he needs to reach a minimum of 35% cdr in order for the cool-down to become low enough to perform it. With this information works best when he is paired with 3 CDR components for the early game that includes . This makes a very versatile champion as he can build many different cdr combinations which includes ap, ad, and tank builds.

Boots

Boots on are just as important as items because has no gap closer and getting into melee range will be incredibly difficult without boots. should be taken in the majority of games with a balanced compositions and being taken into a full ad compositions.

Skarner Early

should not be looking to make plays before level 6 unless the jungler shows up. Before the match starts, I would look at the enemy top and jungle and look at their combined diving and ganking pressure, and play accordingly to not lose lane to the enemy jungler. An example for a dangerous combo would be and both are very aggressive early on and elise can repeatedly gank making you useless for most of the early game.

Laning Phase Early

Start by finding out how aggressive your top lane opponent is, and make a gameplan from there. If the enemy is playing aggressive and trying to trade constantly there's a good chance that that the lane will shove towards your side of the map levels 1 through 3, and that's how most lanes will go for top. An example would be the lane which will most likely start with him trying to chase you level one and harassing to get your hp low, in which case you should back up wait for experience and the first wave to shove into your tower.

Short Trades

While has a weak early game it does not mean you need to concede everything in lane. Look for short trades when going for cs to not completely give up the lane. To short trade on you will use to mark and stun the target, then use as you are exiting the stun to complete the short trade.

Level 6

When gets level six he gains access to his ultimate ability , what this allows you to do is pull enemies towards your jungler or into your tower for a kill opportunity. This is when is allowed to make aggressive plays with the team and on his own as he can reposition the enemy for 1.75 seconds and make a disadvantage for the enemy team by pulling priority targets.

CDR Combo

When gets 35% cooldown reduction he can use his combo to crowd control enemies for insane duration's up to 4.5 seconds of hard crowd control. To do this combo first you throw out and make sure the mark lands on the enemy, it lasts 5 seconds, then use on the target triggering the 1 second cooldown reduction on , after that auto attack the target applying 's stun and gain another 1 second cooldown reduction on , when this is done fracture should be coming up within 1 to 2 seconds, allowing you to stun the target again with giving you damage to finish your target, or your team to follow up.

After Laning Phase

As top lane you should be farming and holding lane for the majority of the early game and roaming or using when it is optimal, as when dragon spawns or teleporting to match your top lane opponents teleport or roaming to a different lane as can be a bit slow in the early game. When roaming and teleporting look for priority targets to and which would be targets with the highest damage threat, or secondary damage threat depending on who is closest to your team.

Start

Every laning phase with should start with as it gives mana sustain that he desperately needs as has mana issues outside of .

Gangplank

can be one of the most oppressive lanes early, who can also remove suppression and stuns from and with . That being said the lane is not unwinnable, early game you should be looking to play as passive as possible while farming under turret to avoid his stacks with , and not getting hit by his barrels. When you are six do not be alarmed that he can your but instead use this against him. To do this throw out first to make sure the mark lasts then knowing that he will use his , then mark him as the mark does not leave the champion until 5 seconds which is more than enough time to get 's stun out to set up for a kill.

Darius

can be difficult early on, but the majority of his power lies in the early game, and bullying opponents out of cs. Early game you should be focusing on getting any cs that comes your way without getting to close to him, as he will and to heal himself leaving you with a big chunk of health missing. At level 6 you can coordinate with your jungler for a gank. The only thing you need to do is so that his does not hit your jungler or yourself. Around 3 items is when has enough power to fight back and should play cautiously around before that, especially if he is ahead.

Fiora

can be annoying to deal with early on with her true damage output and sustain with , add this to the fact that she can also block spells or attacks with , becomes one of the strongest laners in the game in a solo lane. While all this is true is not unbeatable for , to win this lane you have to bait the , to do this first land and as your walking up use to make it look like your auto attacking and that will more than likely make her use allowing you to stun her with . The key to this lane is being patient with your and and baiting her out first to make sure you do not get stunned.

Crystal Spires is 's passive. spawns a 1600 radius zone on both sides of the river and all jungle quadrants. In these zones you gain 70-120 movement speed, 43-160% attack speed, and restoring 2% of his maximum mana per second. This is great on if you can effectively use it to roam and get to places in the map extremely quickly.

Crystal Slash is 's Q. attacks with his claws, dealing 0.33/0.36/0.39/0.42/0.45% physical damage in a radius. This ability also becomes empowered if a unit is struck, dealing bonus magic damage equal to 0.33/0.36/0.39/0.42/0.45% physical damage with 20% ability power scaling. It also resets its cool down by 0.25 seconds when hitting any unit and by 1 second when hitting an enemy champion. This is useful on as it can be used as a proc and add extra damage in between other abilities.

Crystalline Exoskeleton is 's W. summons a shield for 6 seconds, shielding him for 10/11/12/13/14% of his maximum health and scaling off 80% of your ability power. While the shield persists gains 16/20/24/28/32% movement speed. This is good on for combat to block burst damage and skill shots. It is also effective as a escape tool due to the movement speed ramp up.

Fracture is 's E. summons a blast of crystalline energy that deals 40/65/90/115/140 magic damage in a line, scaling with 40% ability power. When a unit or enemy champion is struck they are slowed by 30/35/40/45/50% and are afflicted with crystal venom for 5 seconds. When basic attacks a unit or champion that is afflicted with crystal venom he deals 30/50/70/90/110 additional physical damage, stunning them for 1.25 seconds, with its cool-down reducing by 1 second. Additionally when basic attacks a unit or champion he gains crystal charge for the duration of the stun, gaining his bonus. This skill is the most important ability on because it is his way of short trading with a proc and gaining a nice burst of speed thanks to crystal charge.

Impale is 's ultimate. rears his stinger and suppresses his target for 1.75 seconds, dealing 60% of his total attack damage and 20/60/100 magic damage, scaling with 50% of his ability power. For the entire duration of the suppression can drag his victim around with him. After the effect ends they are dealt the same damage, effectively making it have 100% ability power scaling. This ability is good on as it is his main tool in picking off priority targets such as marksmen or mages.

Thank you for reading my top lane guide!

If you would like to see more gameplay check me out here:

Twitch - https://twitch.tv/merthos_
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/lXertixl