Please verify that you are not a bot to cast your vote.
Not Updated For Current Season
This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page
Top Lane:
Annoying but playing safe, letting the wave push towards you and picking up anti-heal early will reward you with an occasional kill.
Just ult him during a gank so that his healing is useless.
Ahri
Mid Lane:
Ahri is extremely difficult to trade against well, due to her hypermobility and her ability to zone you off of running her down with your charm.
Stay off to the side of your minions when in the lane so she has to decide to either hit minions or you (but not so off to the side that she can charm you). Once you hit 6, begin to roam and get your other lanes going.
Akali
Top/Mid Lane:
Not sure why but every Akali player must reactivate E if it hits something, ult them under the tower when they do.
Akshan
Mid Lane:
Early laning phase will be hard since he has a lot of pressure with Q and the ability to E off the sides of the lane however if you're able to make it past that you'll be fine or the rest of lane. Just make sure he doesn't get ahead from other lanes and also either hit him with E before or after he uses E since you will not hit him with it (However, you can R and grab him out of it).
Amumu
With Divine Sunderer his Tank build is tolerable but care for Thornmail.
I have yet to encounter an AP Amumu, but from the amount of MR you have, I would he's a threat
Anivia
Mid Lane:
Wall is annoying, Q is annoying, R slow is annoying and her E does too much damn damage. If you can last in lane good job, spend your time in other lanes or you won't make it much further since both you and her scale into burst machines.
Annie
Mid Lane:
Her point and click stun screws you over, as well as her R coming out instantaneously and stunning you. Wait for ganks since she lacks high mobility, or roam on other lanes.
Aurelion Sol
Mid Lane:
Get inside his ring and you'll be right.
Azir
Mid Lane:
If you somehow manage to fight this dude, just poke with E >> AA's and you'll be right.
Try and ult him as well before he uses his R so that you take him with you.
Brand
Mid Lane:
Extremely difficult lane to win, a lot of his damage comes from AOE burn so you'll be getting hit almost no matter what. If you're able to close the gap on him, you have to kill him in the time of your cc since the second it runs out he'll more than likely full combo you and either outright kill you or almost do so. Roaming is a good idea but waiting on ganks is also a good idea
Camille
Top Lane:
Not too bad, the true damage is threatening but your E >> AA damage is more so.
If you ult her and swing her outside of her ult while it's active, it will cancel and you can walk free.
Try to land your E when she uses her's for an easy stun once her E is over or missed.
Cassiopeia
Mid Lane:
There's a unique interaction with Cassiopeia where if you ult her and she reacts with her ult, you won't be hit by it since you're technically turned around (this is why you're able to walk normally even though you're faced backwards). When fighting her you need to bait out her W so that you're able to quickly close the gap and deal with her. Recommended to play safe until level 3, otherwise 6.
Cho'Gath
Top Lane:
Stay moving and he can't touch you. Care for silence though since it can cuck some of your damage.
Corki
Mid Lane:
I have no clue if I'm being honest, good luck.
Darius
Top Lane:
It's sort of a 50/50 gamble, you will lose some and you will win some.
He can hit you with his Q if you walk away from him while ulting, it's the same range.
Diana
Mid Lane:
Annoying Melee Mage, take Corrupting Potion and play for 6.
Dr. Mundo
He's not too great in Jungle anymore, plus your ultimate goes through his Passive due to some dumb mechanics.
Top Lane:
Again, not too much of a threat due to Impale mechanics, but don't underestimate the healing he can pull out of his ass.
Evelynn
You will always win early, use this advantage or suffer the mistake of letting her scale.
(Just invade after first clear, she takes about 15 seconds longer than you.)
Elise
Very annoying early and will burst you for stupid damage but she can be dealt with very easily if you outplay or have your team nearby. Also, ult her after she's used Rappel or if you can burst her before she can do so.
Additionally will fall off late game.
Ekko
Never see him Jungle much anymore so I'm unable to really pinpoint how strong he is into you.
Just try and stay out of his god-forsaken stun bubble.
Also, you can probably just ult him and let your team burst him down before he can Rewind.
Mid Lane:
Wait for E blink, then E him for free poke.
Fiddlesticks
You will beat him in 1v1's.
Keep as much vision on his as possible or you're making yourself open to a lot of deaths and "?" pings.
Fiora
Top Lane:
Can and will fuck your CC.
Bait her Parry by being intimidating and walking right up to her, once she uses it, go to town.
Fizz
Mid Lane:
Can catch him out pretty easily if he wastes E, otherwise try not to take shit trades.
Galio
Mid Lane:
A decent threat since you are somewhat AP based, but your AD damage should scare him away.
Gangplank
Top Lane:
Annoying but most GPs are dumb and so will waste W on your stun, in which case just ult and kill.
Garen
Top Lane:
Can't touch you unless you let him.
The silence might be a bit annoying.
Gnar
Top Lane:
Pre Mega: Play safe till 6 then annoy with poke
During/about to Mega: Stay away.
Gragas
Probably a threat?
Graves
Kind of hurts, unless running that one shot build in which case, really hurts.
Just stun and run if you feel threatened, he can't catch you.
Gwen
Everywhere?:
Since you're a close combat fighter, you immediately negate one piece of her kit, her slow doesn't really affect you since you can either slow her back or stun and run.
% HP damage is scary though so be careful.
You can't interrupt her Q no matter what, including ult so care for that.
Hecarim
Horseman.
Pretty lacklustre ever since he got butchered a few patches back, but will still hurt pretty bad if he gets a lead.
Heimerdinger
Top/Mid Lane:
Almost impossible to close the gap on Heimer due to his zoning potential, but if you can do it you will obliterate him. Play safe and wait for 6 since you can then use it for when you get ganked or to deal with him yourself using a Flash combo.
Illaoi
Top Lane:
You win short trades/Impales into Tower.
You will lose long trades.
Irelia
Top Lane:
If you're fighting her post-6, you can pretty much shut down any play she wants to make with your E or R. Otherwise, wait until 6.
Ivern
Unless his team are roaming gods, he doesn't stand a chance against you.
Daisy might prove annoying in fights but if you simply ult Ivern and drag him away from Daisy, you should be able to kill him before the "We have Blue Buff at home" is able to get to you.
Jarvan IV
Due to his new buffs this patch, his damage with a Lethality build is stupid. You can pretty easily avoid his knock-up or run him down with the mobility you have passively. Try not to solo fight him unless you have a decent lead and are in spires, or else it'll turn into a decent behind.
Jayce
Top/Mid(?) Lane:
Can knock you away with his hammer.
That's a positive btw, just ult him and take him with you.
Katarina
Mid Lane:
For the most part not too bad, but if you accidentally drag her over a dagger while ulting, say goodbye to that kill.
Karthus
I don't find him scary since most of what he does, you can just cancel.
Kassadin
Mid lane:
Actually not too terrible, your ult doesn't count as a channel and most of your early game damage is physical so you can punish him pretty hard.
Just don't shove the wave too forward or expect to be ganked.
Kayle
Top Lane:
Beat her in the early game otherwise, you'll be spending your time ulting her or whoever she ults.
Kayn
Shut him down early.
Blue Form is no threat.
Red Form will absolutely dominate you in the mid-game.
Kennen
Top Lane:
Annoying rat, punish early or suffer late game.
Ulting him is almost near useless as if he ults before you do, you're taking the stunning thing that you want to run away from, with you.
Kha'Zix
Ouchie Bug.
Try not to fight alone otherwise, use your CC to get away.
If you're ahead though this isn't even a challenge.
Kindred
Easy to deal with early, if they get a lead though, troubles arise.
You can ult them out of their ult
Kled
Top Lane:
Hard to punish and harder to kill.
Recommend this be a dodge.
LeBlanc
Mid Lane:
Unless you have a lead on LB, she's untouchable. She can just W E Q W you to death. Let the wave push under the tower and if she thinks of doing anything and you can react fast enough, you can just ult or stun her and let the tower do its job.
Lee Sin
You win trades early, he falls off late.
Only good Lee players pose a threat.
Lillia
Somehow can be faster than you in situations, so deserves to die.
Otherwise dies pretty fast if you catch her out.
Ult her before she can do anything big in a team fight.
Lucian
Top/Mid Lane:
Fuck Lucian. You lose until 6, at which you can put some pressure back on to him because if you ever grab him, you will be able to run down and kill him.
Lux
Mid Lane:
She zones you off pretty hard with her Q and E but if you dodge them or bait them out you can pretty easily deal with her. If she's poking you too hard and you can't deal with it, stick to roaming and getting ganks from other lanes/jungle.
Malphite
Top/Mid Lane:
Maybe if you're camped by Jungler he's a threat, but he doesn't bring much to the table that you can't deal with.
Malzahar
Mid Lane:
His spell shield is very troublesome for you since it cancels out your E effect, try to get rid of it with a Q or AA or an E if he's behind minions (You can use the minions to reset the E). His ult cucks you pretty hard but if you both activate R at the same time, you take priority since yours is not a channel.
Master Yi
Only a threat if he gets ahead, he'll lose scuttle fight unless you don't have spire or he has back up.
Mordekaiser
In Jungle, you will win the short trades as long as you keep him from sustaining his passive.
Your spires are still active in the Death Realm if you are on top of them on the Rift.
Top Lane:
Q is easy to dodge unless you get E'd, in which just pop a W to soak some of the damage.
Inside of the Death Realm is a coin flip depending on what's up and where you are. You can normally survive the 7 seconds but unless you can get back to the tower in time you'll get run down.
Morgana
Black Shield.
Nasus
Top Lane:
Freeze wave, poke dog off the wave, ult him during his ult and you should be fine.
Late game is a different story, you know that though.
Neeko
Mid Lane:
Her ability to hit you with her E through minions makes it really difficult to deal with her. Unironically you should try to stick in front of the wave if you're planning on fighting her, since the E root is reduced on the first target. If you're playing safe, stay off to the side of minions like Ahri, don't let any be in between you and Neeko. *Pay attention to when she presses R, you cannot cancel it with your R and if you grab her you WILL get hit and be still stunned even after your R runs out since her stun lasts longer*
Nidalee
Don't let her get ahead and no problem, just ult her into the team if she does.
Nocturne
He only beats you out early in Jungle if you play poorly, don't press Q before he uses his spell shield otherwise it will activate his buffs and allow him to win the trade guaranteed. If you land the E before he brings his shield up, you will stun him with your auto attack, doesn't matter if his shield is up or not.
Top Lane:
Same rules apply to Top Lane as they do Jungle, don't be stupid and accidentally activate his spell shield and poke with E if it goes through.
Btw if he puts his fear on you, there's pretty much no way from avoiding it. But it does allow some good bait for ulting him under tower
Nunu & Willump
If they know how to play Nunu, fear them.
Most of what you can provide in a gank, he can do better. Other than repositioning someone obviously.
At the least, you can stop Nunu from getting any decent charge on his Ultimate or Snowball with your CC.
Olaf
I'll be honest, I've never fought an Olaf in Jungle in all my games of Skarner. Might this be because I permaban him? Maybe...
Orianna
Mid Lane:
She can play extremely safe if the player has a decent understanding of ball placement and damage. She can punish your movespeed increase with her W and can reduce the slow she gets with the same ability. The best bet is to either roam when 6 or wait on a gank since he can almost never 2v1 and will die if she gets CC'd at all.
Pantheon
Top/Mid Lane:
Same play in both lanes; play safe, let the wave push, don't let him get you too low and drag under the tower when he gets too close.
Poppy
Never see her.
Don't buy Galeforce I suppose, since that's the only way she'll win into you.
Top Lane:
Can't punish you too well early game, but that doesn't mean fight her. Play safe like normal, ult when she mispositions.
Qiyana
Mid Lane:
Decently dangerous, only really scary if you're too close to a wall or she lands a root.
Ult when available.
Quinn
Top/Mid Lane:
Like Lucian except there is a play where you can ult her during her knockback and you take her with you.
Rammus
Dangerous until you get Divine.
Don't ult him, that's a waste.
Don't let him catch you or catch you out, his team can and will kill you.
Rek'Sai
You are the superior Shuriman Bug Monster.
Riven
Top Lane:
If the player is good, you will probably struggle, but let the wave push under your tower, wait for them to fuck up and ult them for free.
Ryze
Mid Lane:
His AOE control screws you over a bit since you have to play behind minions. If you get rooted just out of range of him he can more than likely kill you 100-0. You can very easily stop him from going anywhere though with your wave clear pressure in the lane and the CC in your kit.
Sejuani
In a 1v1 you will win, anything else is a coinflip depending on whose ultimates are up.
Sett
Top Lane:
Will punish any misstep however, you can do the same. Don't let him get between you and minions, don't let him get between you and tower, just don't let him get between anything.
When you ult him under tower, try to put him in between the tower and the wall so that if he ever tries to ult out, he will just hit something immediately.
You can outplay his W in multiple ways.
- Ulting and right-clicking right behind him puts him behind you, completely dodging the effect.
- With an E auto, you will gain the spire move speed, allowing you to move out of the way.
Sion
Top Lane:
Hardly a threat, but can set up good ganks.
Shaco
Annoying, Annoying, Annoying.
Not actually that bad though.
Demonic Embrace will reveal its position while invisible, even if for a short moment. So take advantage of that
Shen
Top Lane:
His kit in general can be pretty annoying, but he can rarely ult when in the lane with you due to the cc you have.
Shyvana
Dragon Lady useless unless AP.
If AP, run.
Singed
Top Lane:
Genocidal Fart man is hardly a threat, just don't care and eyes out for ganks.
Skarner
???
Why are you playing Blind Pick?
Well... I suppose that you would win if you're using Divine and they're using Chemtank.
Swain
Mid Lane:
Swain normally sticks to support these days but if you fight him in the lane you would be better off spending your time roaming or swapping lanes, he's too difficult to fight and even if he can't kill you solo, you will die if you're ganked. At the least in a team fight, you can grab him and drag him away from your team so that he doesn't control or turn the fight.
Sylas
Mid Lane:
Funny double suppression interaction.
But he is very much a threat and you should play safe and wait for a Gank or beat him to 6.
Syndra
Mid Lane:
She plays with her balls and she'll play with yours if you don't take her seriously. Don't contest wave or attempt to attack if she has her stun up, it'll knock you away and set you up to die. Roam if you're not confident.
Rengar
Fight in bushes or far away from bushes and you win.
Top Lane:
Keep the wave near your tower, he jumps on you? Ult him under the tower.
Rumble
Why is this guy in the Jungle?
If he gets ahead you lose.
Mid Lane:
Fuck mages. Roam.
Taliyah
New Taliyah buffs seem potent but aren't worry some. Since you don't have a dash you negate her E and can very easily dodge the W. Just Flash > R if she ever becomes a problem.
Talon
Top/Mid Lane:
Stay on top of the wave, don't let him roam and follow him if he does.
Tahm Kench
Top Lane:
This guy is pretty much your worst nightmare pre-mythic. He can out damage you, out cc you, out tank you and outrun you if you don't play right. Try not to take extended trades with him since he will out sustain you with Q and E. Play safe till you get your Sunderer since even if you're 6, dragging a Tahm under the tower doesn't do anything to him.
Teemo
Top Lane:
Annoying as fuck early but once 6, punish every mistake and misstep he makes.
Trundle
In spires you win, even if he ults you.
If he's ahead that rule no longer applies, wait for backup.
Top Lane:
Don't push the wave far up and he can't do much to you, poke with E -> AA whenever possible, ult combo when low.
Tryndamere
Top Lane:
Poke with E >> AA, ult him if he tries some dumb shit under the tower.
Twisted Fate
Mid Lane:
In the early game he will out poke you and more than likely also out last you. If you make it to 6 and you can make it past his gold card (and everfrost if he's got it), you'll have a pretty easy time dealing with him.
Udyr
Try not to fight him, like ever.
Just ult him when the team is nearby.
Urgot
Top Lane:
Fuck Urgot, an uncancellable stun dash that guarantees him a massive shield and burst.
Ban in top, Ban Ban Ban.
Veigar
Mid Lane:
His cage makes getting to him extremely hard, spend your time baiting it out so you can get someone to gank your lane or spend the time helping other lanes. Don't leave him alone for too long though, he'll get free farm, make your rotates short and sweet, or bait him out of lane and get your team to deal with him.
Vel'Koz
Mid Lane:
Hard to gap close but if you can do it you will more than likely pick up a kill. Play safe till Sheen or 6, then attempt to fight whenever possible (best to do it when his airborne is down).
Vi
Depends on her build, but for the most part in any lane, you should be fine. Just don't let her get a lead on you.
Viego
DO NOT LET THIS MAN GET EVEN 1 KILL.
Ult him and let someone kill him before he returns the favour.
There is no coming back once this sad sack of farts gets a lead.
Viktor
Mid Lane:
Will outpoke you due to Q and E, make him burn all his mana by baiting his cage and Q/E, then set up for ganks. Viktor is also hard to deal with since his cage fucks you over in some of your CC chain combos. If he's taken Phase Rush you're better off spending your time roaming, you won't be able to get to him.
Vladimir
Top/Mid Lane:
Lots of poke and not a lot you can do. Roam if you're in mid or wait until you have 6 before you fight him. You'll have less of a chance if he takes Phase Rush since you'll have a hard time catching him while he's in puddle and has movespeed, but if you can bait it out of him and catch him off-guard you can definitely kill him.
Volibear
Scary Bear isn't really that scary in 1v1's.
Top Lane:
Scary bear is also not very scary here, but can poke you with passive.
Warwick
Get anti-heal early, or enjoy struggling.
Ult him and get team to burst before he can make an impact.
Wukong
Top Lane:
Monkey man will buy the same items in the early game as you, so you're gonna have to win through outplay.
Save your ult until after he ults, don't forget it activates twice.
Xerath
Mid Lane:
Try to not let him abuse you beyond repair, if you can make it to 6 and have Sheen you will kill him. Xerath succeeds at long distances so closing the gap on him is priority, just make sure to avoid the stun.
Xin Zhao
I would say that this is one of your most threatening matchups, at least early game. He will out heal you and he will out damage you. Hope that either the guy playing him is new to Xin or that your team is nearby because until 6, you will struggle.
Top Lane:
Can and will poke you through minions, but let the wave push towards you and he won't ever really be able to successfully kill you in one go.
Yasuo
Top/Mid Lane:
You will not lose, abuse.
Vex
Mid Lane:
For a champ made to counter dashes, she does a damn good job at countering Skarner too. It's almost impossible to get on top of her as long as she has her passive up so until it's down you pretty much are forced to play safe/from behind.
Yone
Top/Mid Lane:
Somewhat more of a threat than his drunken Brother, still not enough to scare you unless he gets a lead somewhere else.
Yorick
Top Lane:
Don't leave him alone, don't let him cage you, don't let him E you. Just don't let him anything.
Wait for 6 or request ganks.
Zac
Without his team, free kill.
With his team? Better to run.
Zed
Mid Lane:
Scary but AD Assassin, so playing early and poking, while stopping him from roaming will reward you
Ziggs
Mid Lane:
In early game lane you're better off safely waiting on ganks or helping other lanes, you won't be able to get to him until you have your full kit active. His E slow and W knockback are obnoxious but at the same time you can use the W in your advantage, if you R him right as the bomb goes off, you'll get knocked back and take Ziggs with you.
Zoe
Mid Lane:
If she hits you with sleep just W right as the drowsy turns to sleep, should reduce the damage decently. Care when going all in
on Zoe, she has multiple escapes and will leave you empty handed if you mess it up. Grab Zoe with R if she gets too close to you with hers, it'll take her out and put her right in front of you.
Zyra
Mid Lane:
Another midlane that got designated to support, if you fight her make sure you can kill her in an all in since if she lives she'll more than likely get away. If you're not confident, spend your time roaming and rotating, you have more pressure and mobility than she does.
Thresh
2 words.
Impale, Lantern.
Malzahar
1.75s of Suppression? How about 4.25s instead!
Realistically though, nothing that special happens when you two are together, just screw that one person in particular.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Thresh
2 words.
Impale, Lantern.
Malzahar
1.75s of Suppression? How about 4.25s instead!
Realistically though, nothing that special happens when you two are together, just screw that one person in particular.
Please remember to Read the Notes under each area, since that's where most of the information about the build is stored.
About me!
What's up! I'm DooDooSlayer, I have been playing League for just under 2 years and in that time I've acquired 400,000 points with Skarner.
I fell in love with the Champion when I played a One for All game and forced my mates to all play Skarner by troll picking him. Ever since then I've bought every skin, read every bit of lore, learned all his tricks and played every build that's out there to try on the Crystal Vanguard.
While I don't take this game very seriously in the competitive aspect, seeing that the highest I've gotten to is Gold, that doesn't mean my wisdom in Brackern builds is any less credible than the ones you see done by the big leagues (if there are even "big leagues" for Skarner mains).
I find Skarner to be a really special champion with his Passive, Q and Ultimate all being unique to him and so it bothered me to see him on such a low pick rate for how good he is. So hopefully, with a bit of convincing and explaining, I'll be able to bribe you and many others into picking up this forgotten champion and bringing him back into the spotlight.
Why the name "ProtoSkarner"?
So this has a story behind it, so get comfortable.
Back at the start of the season, with the introduction of the new items, I was looking to try something new. I got sick of the speed builds that were from previous seasons and I wasn't looking for a repeat of it with Turbo Chemtank, so I looked towards other items. I tried a few items like Riftmaker, Eclipse, Goredrinker and even the new Trinity Force!
Unfortunately, these all had some sort of lacking side effect that made the item synergize poorly with Skarner (For example, the old Trinity Force had its mythic passive as "10% bonus attack speed", which Skarner had no need for, that's changed now however). With me testing all these different items, eventually 11.4 came out which introduced a new passive for Cosmic Drive which stated that if you had 160 AP, you would gain Ability Haste and scaling Move Speed.
This pretty much set my path for what kind of build I wanted, which was a "Hybrid Damage Bruiser". Next, I needed a Sheen item and also to find either hybrid damage or hybrid shred, you know what item gives double armour pen and has a Sheen in it? That's right, Divine Sunderer. The rest of the build sort of fell into place, %HP burn item that gives AP and HP? Demonic Embrace. Armour shred item with HP? Black Cleaver. For the most part, the build was complete, the only thing left was boots and a 6th item, which became Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Muramana, both being for their respective stats and for Muramana in particular, the ridiculous amounts of damage adds onto the build. Skarner's best damage item has always been Muramana so adding it here was a no-brainer.
Now the only thing that was left was the runes. Prototype: Omnistone stood out to me at the start, seeing that since it was a hybrid build, a hybrid rune set could compliment it. It worked in the beginning, a few problems did arise in terms of sustaining in a fight as well as some of the runes letting you down in various situations.
While Skarner can use all of the runes in the game decently well, due to the inconsistancy of Prototype: Omnistone, I felt that people might not use the build as much. Conqueror became my new starting point in terms of a main rune. It gave everything the build wanted, from Adaptive Force, to gaining "Omnivamp" (Not really Omnivamp) after gaining max stacks, which Skarner could do in ~1 second. This became the Final Build, however due to the roots of Prototype: Omnistone and seeing that it was one of the reasons that I made this build, I kept the name (and even the rune set of you check the 3rd option for rune sets).
In Top lane you will be put into a lot of champs that have a strong lead on you in the early game, Darius, Sett and Irelia to name a few. This is why we take Aftershock, it gives you armour, magic resist and a small burst of damage (at least in the early game). This allows for you to trade very easily, seeing that in 9/10 situations, you will activate your CC first and land the first hit.
As for Conqueror, this one is much better for the Jungle since you will almost never be taking short trades and your power in the Threads of Vibration allows you to have the advantage in a fight. Most Jungle fights are either between you and the enemy Jungler or whatever fight a gank happens to bring and so Conqueror brings the extra power you might need to win, as well as allowing you to have room for things like Triumph and Last Stand which will boost you even more so.
Jungle Clear
Short and sweet. Red start: Red > Raptors > Wolves > Gromp > Blue > Scuttle. Blue start: Blue > Gromp > Wolves > Raptors > Red > Scuttle.
You almost never want to take Krugs at the start of the game since your early game power is incredibly strong and you want to abuse that lead by being at scuttle before your opponent. You can always go back to take the Krugs after you have gotten the Scuttle Crab.
Note that if you start Red, you'll be in River at 3:10, if Blue then 3:05 (If you clear perfectly).
How to play The Crystal Vanguard
This isn't going to be your in-depth guide on how to play Skarner to his maximum potential, however, I feel like I will cover enough about him that it's all you will need.
Combos: Skarner's combos are nothing special, but they're very strong.
E > AA > Q >> AA.
Very simple combo, your opponent will be stunned for the entire duration of this, so it allows some good burst damage after which you can simply run away from since you will have your spires buff active, from E proc.
E >> Flash >> R >> AA.
This is the go-to "**** that one person in particular" combo, just grab the poor sod you E'd and let you or your teammates go to town.
E > R > Q > AA > E > Q > AA.
This seems complicated, but trust me it's not. The main point is that you'll want to land your E, if you don't land your E don't even bother fighting as you have lost a big source of initiate damage. This combo is pretty much the end all be all of Skarner combos and allows for some pretty insane damage and CC chain (you hold your opponent down for 4.25s).
Early game laning.
In the early game you are weak, no other way to say it. You will not win most all in trades with most of your opponents and so here's how you play around it.
Let the wave push to you. E > AA > Q to harass in the lane, while also using the E's you put on minions to clear them, get back your E faster and gain back a decent amount of mana (You may also want to use W, but use it sparingly as it is EXTREMELY mana intensive in the early game). You never want to all-in unless either your opponent is low enough that you can successfully kill them in an E Combo or if you are being ganked by your Jungler. Once you hit 6 you can play a bit more aggressive but don't push the wave back as you want your opponent to stay close to the tower to allow a surprise E >> R (Drag under the tower) >> AA >> Etc. combo. Only do this if your opponent oversteps or refuses to respect your power while near a tower.
Also, while this combo is strong, it's obviously only strong if your opponent is the one being targeted by the tower, do whatever you can to get aggro on them (attack while no minions are under tower, do it while ignited/ Bami's Cinder, etc).
Early game jungling.
The jungle clear is explained above but for the most part in the early game, you are looking to either farm, get the drag or gank overextended lanes, as until 6 you will be unable to gank a lane that's sitting even. Once you are 6 though, go to town on ganks.
You are able to fight the enemy Jungler in most situations, especially if you have Sheen, but do it quickly as things may turn south if enemy laners start showing up.
Every opportunity your Impale is up, you are looking to use it. Whether it be in an actual gank, during an Obj (The enemy cannot Smite while suppressed) or in a big team fight, you are looking to take out the most dangerous person in the situation.
Late game.
Late game Skarner is pretty much the same for both roles as you will have a large impact in both Obj's and fights (the only difference is whether you'll smite or not).
Farm -> Fight -> Push -> Clear Objectives.
There is no point in the game where you shouldn't be doing one of these things. Until you are full build you shouldn't stop farming, you are extremely important when it comes to fights due to your frontline capabilities and picking power, your tower damage is quite powerful once you have your sheen item and your importance during an objective fight is immeasurable.
Remember to abuse your speed during fights and your ability to swerve in and out of combat effectively, no other champion is able to stay moving at 500 MS in a fight as well as Skarner is (except maybe Udyr but like, ??? He's getting his rework soon so who cares).
Note: Always keep eyes on your carries when your Impale is up, they get dived on? Give them a "get out of grey screen" card by grabbing the enemy off them.
Some additional tips/notes.
- W takes time to build up, remember this when using it to chase down or pull back opponents
- Impale has a 0.25s Root during the cast time of the ult, which means that any and all spell shields (Excluding Morgana's) will be broken by this Root and then the suppress will activate, performing as usual. Abuse this knowledge.
- Coming from the above tip: This cast time root also allows for some really weird interactions with enemy knockback abilities (Like Lee Sin, Tristana and Azir). If you can time it correctly and see when your opponent casts their push back ability, you can Impale them and take them with you. If you do this too early it will cancel the opponent's cast, too late and Impale simply won't go off.
- Q can be cast simultaneously with an AA, allowing a weird burst of damage that most enemies wouldn't expect, just right-click to start up the AA and press Q at the same time, it's quite weird to activate but it doesn't take much to get the hang of.
- E has a cast time that halts Skarner. This means that if you're chasing someone, you have to remember that you will stop abruptly for a very short amount of time, which may allow them to escape the range even if they were in it previously.
- The 2nd hit of Q will not stack Black Cleaver as it is not Physical damage, even though it has an AD Scaling.
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.