Skarner Build Guide by Merthos1123

grandmaster

Skarner Top - Challenger Guide

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Runes: Skarner (Grasp)

1 2 3 4

Resolve

Grasp of the Undying

Shield Bash

Second Wind

Overgrowth

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Approach Velocity

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

1 2

Flash Ignite

Flash

Ignite

Ranked #9 in
Jungle Role

Win 54%

Get More Stats

Items

Skarner Top (Start Item + Mythics)

Start (D shield + Health Potion)

First Back (Sheen + Refill + Control Ward))

Mythic (Choose One)

Build Order (Sunderer/Tri) (Carry)

Build Order (Chemtank) (Ult-Bot)

Moonplate Core

Moonplate

Situational Items

Situational Tank

Ability Order EQW

Skarner Passive Ability

Champion Build Guide

Introduction

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 and

Why Skarner?

is an immense crystalline scorpion from a hidden valley in Shurima. Part of the ancient Brackern race, and his kin are known for their great wisdom and deep connection to the land, as their souls are fused with powerful life crystals which hold the living thoughts and memories of their ancestors.

"We are one. We cannot be shattered." - Skarner

is a champion that excels in crowd controlling his opponents allowing him or his team to secure kills and objectives, due to the massive pressure puts on his enemies.

Why Play Skarner?

- Giant Crystal Scorpion
- Unique Ultimate
- Up to five seconds of hard cc.
- Played in Top and Jungle
- Snowballs
- Versatile

Abilities

SKARNER ABILITIES

PASSIVE ABILITY

Crystal Spires

- 's presence spawns six crystal zones on the map located in both rivers and all jungle quadrants. When the zone is captured you gain brief vision around the zone and gold. While in the zone gains a massive increase to his movement speed, attack speed, and mana regeneration.

- While is in the top lane there are no zones that increase your power, effectively leaving you with no passive. However there is a way to activate the passive in short bursts using and . When stuns or uses , gains Crystal Charge which gives his spire bonus for the duration of the crowd control. This is crucial for top lane as Skarner needs all the power he can get in the early game.

Crystal Slash

- slashes in a aoe circle dealing maximum health physical damage on the first charge, and on the second charge dealing maximum health magic damage.

- This ability is 's dps tool that allows him to access his q auto combo and gives him a edge in skirmishes, due to the ability reducing its cool down on auto attacks. This is crucial for top lane because Skarner has low damage after his Fracture and Impale are used. Therefore Crystal Slash can give you a huge boost in damage that no one expects.

Crystalline Exoskeleton

- When cast gains a shield equal to his maximum health, and gives him ramping movement speed.

- For top lane is a great tool in mitigating damage and gaining extra movement speed. This is crucial for top lane as Skarner has no innate sustain and low mobility.

Fracture

- launches a blast of crystal energy that slows enemies and marks them with Crystal Venom. When auto attacking the marked enemy, stuns the target, reducing its cool down and gaining Crystal Charge for the duration of the stun.

- For the top lane gives access to his short trade combo and Crystal Charge for the duration of the stun. This is crucial for top lane, because Skarner needs this to get uncontested trades, and can be used for his most powerful crowd control setup which uses Impale.

Impale

- attacks with his stinger dealing physical and magic damage on the cast and end, also supressing the target allowing to move the target freely. is also affected by Crystal Charge for the duration of the suppress and reduces the cool down of .

- is what makes a very powerful champion as hes the only one who can freely move someone with their ultimate. It allows to gain cool down reduction on his and gives his five seconds of crowd control. This can make your opponents unable to move or react. This is crucial for top lane as Skarner needs this to setup kills and can be used to peel enemies. This can also be used to setup the tower fracture combo, which allows Skarner to make the enemy champion get hit by tower shots for the duration of all your crowd control.

Summoner Spells

is most effective in my opinion with . This is due to having a weak early game, and needing extra power to win against his opponents. It allows to play more aggressive and snowball further into a giant scorpion monster that runs down his enemies. That being said, if you like teleport you can opt for it, but just remember that his early game might feel a lot weaker, due to his low damage output during this stage.

on is very important as he has no gap close. He needs it to perform the flash combo to catch priority targets. He also needs it to escape ganks or finish off targets.

on has been something I have recently been using to gain extra power during the early game. This can help snowball and gain massive advantages in skirmishes and teamfights.

Teleport can be great on if playing safe is more your playstyle. It gives you a chance to fix waves or teleport to another place on the map to put pressure.

Combos

SKARNER COMBOS

's combos are easy to pull off, but are still needed to be known in order to make the most out of his kit. has very high amounts of crowd control due to his reducing its cooldown when Crystal Venom is consumed. This allows to get his up another time to increase the crowd control duration up to five seconds of hard cc.

Short Trade

This combo allows to do the majority of his damage in lane. Shoot at the enemy and consume the Crystal Venom mark to activate Crystal Charge while using to exit the trade.

Five Seconds of CC

This combo allows to achieve his five seconds of crowd control. Throw out, then the enemy dragging them into your tower or team. As ends proc the Crystal Venom mark for the stun. Throw again to increase the crowd control time.

Impale Turn

This mechanic is very important to increase the range on 's by turning your character model at the end of the duration.

Crystal Slash Autos

This combo allows to while auto attacking increasing dps dramatically. Use this in conjunction with other combos to get the most out of 's kit.

Runes

SKARNER RUNES

After extensively testing for a long time with runes reforged. I think I can finally come up with what runes are the best for top lane . For keystones should be using , , , and . For secondary runes you just use the opposite of the keystone that you are using. Examples are if you are running a resolve keystone like , for secondary make sure you are taking , and . If you are running an inspiration keystone make sure you are running or with for your secondary runes.

These are the four main keystones that top should be using can be used to increase short trade power in lane, and can be used against melee targets that are less mobile. can be used to help 's tankiness throughout the game. offers you versatility in rune choice, because can use most runes effectively. Finally can offer you versatility in summoner spell choice changing how you play every fight.

These are the main secondary runes that you should be using for resolve. gives you extra damage and tankiness for building hp and using . can offer insane lane sustain. can offer you nice burst reduction against high damage opponents like . gives you increased health which amplifies and .

These are the main secondary runes you should be using for inspiration. offers you insane lane sustain. gives extra mobility in lane. gives you faster boots that are free at 12 minutes offering you extra mobility.

Items

SKARNER ITEMS

During the preseason the items changed drastically introducing new items called mythics which only one can be built. After extensive testing I have found that , , and to be the most viable mythics on . As for legendary items should be building moonplate items such as or , then going items based on the situation, for example or .

Starting Items

Doran's Shield should always be started on as it gives him sustain in lane. This makes last longer in lane gaining more gold and experience.

Health Potion should be always started with as it offers even more sustain. This lets use the health pot defensively or offensively, when fighting or retreating from enemy champions.

Sheen should be always built after your first back, as items are incredibly effective with 's proccing it constantly.

Mythic Choices

Divine Sunderer is a great mythic for , because it gives him a maximum health sheen proc. This proc can be used with to deal massive single target damage to all opponents and heal . This item is great for bruiser as it gives him health and attack damage.

Turbo Chemtank is a amazing mythic for , because it gives him a active that gives him a insane speed boost towards enemy champions. allowing to get off easily. This item is great for as it gives him health and resists.

Trinity Force is a amazing alternative for , because it gives him a sheen proc that does more damage early. This item is great for as it gives him stronger 1v1 potential.

Legendary Choices

Sterak's gage gives burst reduction through a shield when hit by large amounts of damage. This is important for because he needs to frontline and without a strong defense he could easily die.

Randuin's Omen gives armor and an active that slows reducing damage dealt by physical attacks and critical strikes. This is important for as it gives him a strong defense against marksmen.

Thornmail grants grevious wounds which decreases the amount of healing enemy champions. This is important on , because one of his weaknesses is fighting sustained champions as they can outlast him.

Dead Man's plate gives mobility and armor, as well as access to a passive called momentum that builds up to 100 to unleash a magic damage empowered auto attack. This is important for because of his low mobility and damage without items.

Spirit visage on gives him increased magic resist and increases 's power. This is important on as he is frontline champion, and having more shield and health can make him survive a lot longer.

Force of Nature grants mobility and magic resist, and increased speed when getting hit by magic damage. This is important for as one of his weaknesses is low mobility and magic damage due to burst.

Abyssal Mask grants increased damage on immobilized targets, health, and magic resist. This is important on since both and are immobilizes.

Boots

Plated Steelcaps should be built on against compositions that use physical damage and auto attacks in their kits.

Mercury's Treads should be built on against compositions that use magic damage and crowd control in their kits.

Top Lane Skarner

Top Lane

I play in the top lane because I have more games in the role. I believe it can be just as good as jungle , because 's kit is incredibly strong and versatile in a lot of different situations. Making him a great pick in almost every single game.

Champion Bans

For top I would always recommend banning champions that make you unable to lane for example, for me in high elo, I usually ban because her tower diving presence can be incredibly dangerous early, and usually shuts you out of the game for a long time. When I get secondary jungle another great option is to ban because he is one of the only champions that can directly counter your ultimate. These bans are just examples, but I would highly recommend them as these give me the most trouble in the laning phase or when jungling.

QSS

This item is what counters and it is called when built this allows enemy champions to cancel out your ultimate leaving it useless. Fear not as this does not mean is completely useless, to get around this problem there is a combo that utilizes and stun to still get a use out of . To pull off this combo you need to first land without proccing the stun. Then or walk in to , and as soon as they use qss for , stun them with the Crystal Venom mark left on them by .

Wave Management

Wave management is very important on top , because wave management can decide if you win or lose the early game due to jungler prescence. For the most important wave state is resetting the lane by pushing all the minions into the enemy tower, and managing a slow push to give pressure in lane due to the minions stacking. For early game when you trade on you should automatically begin to slow push. This allows you to get towards the goal of resetting the lane. After the laning phase is over you want to start to push the lane constantly to roam, or split push depending on how your team is doing. If your team is behind then trying to roam after pushing might be a solid option. If your team is ahead then trying to split push, and putting pressure in the side lane is also another option. This does not mean that you can't roam when ahead, its just a way of thinking about what would be more beneficial for your team, roaming or splitting.

Early Laning Phase

In the early laning on , you should try your best to cs and land short trades. The short trades allow to get towards his goal of resetting the lane by creating a slow push. By short trading your lane opponent, their minions will die faster due to them gaining aggro on you. This allows you slowly build up a minion advantage to push the lane into the enemy tower resetting the wave. This allows the enemy minions to push back into your tower to repeat this process over again.

Teamfights and Objectives

This is where shines and can use his insane crowd control to benefit his team. Before a team fight breaks out is where can be incredibly effective. You should always look if you can or walk in to or to stun priority targets like carries or junglers. This can instantly turn the fight into a 4v5 gaining a huge advantage for your team, often times outright guaranteeing the objective. For river objectives such as baron or dragon, is incredibly strong as he has access to .

Conclusion

Thank you for taking time to read my in-depth guide and hope you learn more about this amazing champion. In order to make this guide code examples from jhoijhoi's Making a Guide were used, and I greatly appreciate this resource. For anyone looking to create a guide on mobafire should use the excellent examples in that guide.

If you would like to see more gameplay follow me on Twitch or Youtube If you have any questions drop by my twitch stream or discord server, and I will be glad to answer them.