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Skarner Build Guide by

Sting train skarner pre season 5 update

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1 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author zeeg193

Skarner Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (1) More Skarner Guides

Spells:

Flash

Smite

Items

Typical Jungle Start

first trip back

first complete

CORE BUILD TARGET

defense options additional

offense optional

Ability Order

Skarner Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Braum

Extreme

can stop you in your tracks

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

this is my guide to skarner a highly underplayed champ that is very misunderstood but the fact that he is so underplayed gives anyone who plays him a advantage because less people know how to counter him also this is my first guide so any comments on improvements that could be made i would like to hear and will keep updated as the seasons change and any patch notes that affect skarner or the items. Updated for pre season 5

Runes

attack speed is your best freind for clear times on skarner works with your spamming of your q and after a couple items your clear times become insane in the jungle.

Masteries

again focusing on attack speed and extra damage giving you that early punch ahead of the competition. and most importantly for a jungler clear times.

Items

ok now as far as items go skarner has a lot of flexibility but a BoTRK is something you should focus on as soon as you complete your jungle item and boots it gives you massive damage spike and helps your ganks in every way from compensating his gap closeing with its active move speed steal to improving your passive on your q with higher attack speed and damage all around with his spamming of q.

i recommend the boots of swiftness over boots of mobility because i like the in combat movespeed over clearing vast areas then losing them when the fighting starts because you entered combat. plus with skarners w you can up your movespeed between lanes and pop out fairly quickly enough to compensate for no boots of mobility.

With the new jungle items and smite upgrades i have found that the trailblazer smite greatly increases clear times and sustain for skarner before you start ganking going with the devourer is really the most effective as well since you will have such high clear times getting stacks will happen insanely fast attack speed increase stacks with your q making you stick to your victim even more just cant beat the benefits of this upgrade.

there is some debate in taking ice gauntlet over trinity force ice gauntlet does indead have great effect in skarners claws but i like trinity force as well because of the movespeed buffs and attack speed buffs but again if you need a tank ice gauntlet is probably better since it gives you some armor and lots of spammable slow. trinity force offers a harder gank in my opinion and skarner puts all of its stats to very good use.

i like hydras because it increases your survivability and also greatly increases clear times in jungle but only reoccomend it if you are getting fed otherwise grab some tank gear like a banshees or sunfire cape

other tank items depending on if your opponents are heavy ad or ap if they are heavy ad grab a thornmail heavy ap grab spirit visage or a maw of malimortus

Skill Sequence

your bread and butter is always your q cannot stress enough to spam this like crazy has a really low mana cost only 16mp

secondly your w for the movespeed between lanes for ganks and sheilds are always nice

last level your e its good to grab a point in it when you hit 4 but level everything else before you level it up again after that gives you a moderate slow skillshot that is fairly easy to avoid but has decent range and works well for early ganks if you find yourself in a good position to do so.

as always level your ult whenever possible a mobile suppress that can completely cripple the other team by stealing their adc and making them a shiny beacon for your team to focus.

Spells

smite for jungle clears and flash that is all no other viable options for skarner in my opinion

Summary

early game you want to focus on farm to 6 start on our bottom if purple start with the gromp and smite to start will give you the buff just for smiting so use that damage boost to your advantage then grab blue skip wolves and raptors go streight for red then grab the new golems and smite them if you didnt use it on red proceed to raptors then wolves if done right nothing should be respawned yet and you can recall buy smite upgrade and boots head back to gromp. If your on the blue side start new golems smite early for the stun buff then kill red go streight to blue grab gromp with smite then wolves and raptors port back smite upgrade and boots. then head back to new golems either side you will arrive shortly after they respawn so there is no down time with skarner can keep your jungle clean very easily and stacking all the move speed grab the ****s in the middle before you gank lanes for the ward and an extra 35 gold plus health anytime you get a chance as well since vision control of dragon is paramount in the new meta. after second jungle clear you should be able to start taking dragon as well without having any ganks. if you have some ganks go ahead and grab it earlier.

mid game is really when you start to shine your w gives you great map presence allowing you to gank bot then ride the skarner train to mid or top your move speed gets very hard to avoid with a trinity force and boots of swiftness when you couple that move speed with your ult you can drag someone trying to run away so far back they die without puting up a fight. deep pushed towers are great gank tools as well nothing as annoying as being grabed and pulled under a turret while unable to fight back.

late game peeling off your adc or snagging theirs with your ult is your first priority spamming q all game gives you massive damage output aoe and gives you even more move speed in combat mash your q constantly in combat to keep your stacks up and with the low mana cost only 16mp you should never run out especially with a blue buff. spam your w as often as you can as well not only for the sheild but move speed boosts are awesome for your ult dragging your helpless victims around like a rag doll.

Ranked Play

just be sure to keep your wards up and theirs down as much as possible those pinks are your best freind in the dragon bush and baron bush the enemy being blind allows you to gank unhindered and having vision control almost always means victory.

Dragon control is huge as soon as you complete your jungle item gank bot and free them up to help you down the dragon. getting those buffs stacked early and keeping the other team from capturing dragon is essential and dragon control wins more games than heavy ganks.

the new neutral mob wards are also very handy giving you vision and gold plus a little free health inbetween lanes or if your jungle is cleared which will happen with skarner .

Pros / Cons

Pros:
Strong ganks post 6
great clear times in jungle throughout
doesnt drop off late game
pretty sturdy early game
has a mobile suppress and massive mobility/map presence
naturally tanky
great duelist 1v1 even against a fed zed if you have kept your farm up after you get sheen.
Cons:
no real sustain needs lifesteal or health regen of some sort
early game is very blue dependent to keep up clear times
heavy cc teams will shut you down
no real gap closers very close fighter

Creeping / Jungling

Team Work

always grab adc with your ult and make him stand out to your team spam your q at all times on your way through to damage everyone in the front line on your way to the adc drag the adc back to your team for instakill then pick off all the squishies you can get your claws on. tanks last priority always. unless your peeling from your adc. always try to be the initiator if you can and get the jump on them with your w communicate with team to prioritize targets and engagements.

Farming

you have amazing jungle clear times spamming your q especialy after you get a BoTRK so try not to cs in the lanes unless its to push a lane leave that for your teamates for their gold the jungle can provide you with all the gold you will ever need. along with strong ganks your clear times can bring you back from behind so dont get discouraged by a failed gank early and always remember spam that q