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Skarner Build Guide by Im Not Gay EUW

Jungle THIS is how to play skarner.

Jungle THIS is how to play skarner.

Updated on August 22, 2018
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Im Not Gay EUW Build Guide By Im Not Gay EUW 58 6 215,037 Views 23 Comments
58 6 215,037 Views 23 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Im Not Gay EUW Skarner Build Guide By Im Not Gay EUW Updated on August 22, 2018
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Skarner
    Aftershock Skarner
  • LoL Champion: Skarner
    Predator Skarner

Runes:

Resolve
Aftershock
Demolish
Chrysalis
Unflinching

Sorcery
Celerity

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Smite

Smite

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Who am i?

I'm "Im Not Gay" I play on the EUW server. I used to be a Trundle one-trick and got into platinum 4 in season 7. In the Preseason and season 8 I started to pick up Skarner and I'm having a lot of success with him right now. That's why I decided to make this build.
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Lore

Long before people searched in Shurima, Skarner was busy with his biggest adventure, to find the perfect crystal for him. The young creature named Skarner was looking many years for that 1 perfect crystal, as he was afraid of dying cause of the weakness it brings being without a big Crystal. Day and night he has been looking for it and then after a long time he gave up. But the moment when he gave up he felt some magic under the ground, he digged down until the warmth of the earth shred his shell. He heard a voice deep in his head and he wouldn’t give up till he found that crystal his voice was talking about. Then after a few days he found it and it was the biggest crystal he had ever seen. He slept with the crystal for many years because the crystal gives him a lot of power. Skarner feared the humans because they were a danger to him and the sand creatures. Unfortunately there were robbers trying to steal Skarner his Crystal, but fortunately Skarner woke up as the only sand creature of his tribe. A lot of sand creatures already got their crystals taken away as they didn't have much chance to survive without. Skarner protected the crystal and started to fight the robbers. He killed a few of them as the rest fled away. Skarner tried to wake up the other sand creatures but many died and the rest didn’t wake up. Many weeks later Skarner had the choice to protect the still sleeping but living sand creatures or go on with his journey he tried to defend the sand creatures from the humans but he couldn’t anymore as he stopped doing so. Skarner tried to look for the stones as he tried to track them. Skarner was lonely and felt alone. He occasionally heard a lost crystal calling to him, that gave him a feeling that of joy and anguish in equal measure. He focuses his sorrow into unshakable determination, and refuses to rest until he has recovered every last life stone.

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Why and When?

Skarner overall is a pretty solid pick for almost every Team Comp. He has a fast clear speed, a solid gank potential, very hard CC and just great Damage. In my opinion, it's one of the best champions to one-trick.

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Pros / Cons

Pros


+ Very Tanky
+ Great CC (so great ganks)
+ Very Fast
+ Great Damage output for a tank
+ Map Control with your Crystals
+ Great clears


Skarner is a great Jungler. He has very good gankability because of his Ixtal's Impact + Impale. He also has a very good damage output with his Shattered Earth. The Damage is very nice for quick clearing speed, but his clearing speed gets even better. His Passive makes it that if he stands in the Aura surrounding a Crystal (captured by your team) he gets a massive attack speed and movement speed boost!
Cons


- Kiteable
- Relies on follow up
- Not the best for a comeback
- Long cd ult
- Hard cc keeps him from engaging
- Unpopular :c

If Skarner cannot engage in team fights his potential to carry drops by a lot. Then you have to rely on your team to make an engage and you have to try to defend your backline from incoming threats, such as an incoming Zed or Nocturne. Just make sure you protect the backline well with your Ixtal's Impact and Impale and you will still be able to soft-carry the game to a win.
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Spells


SUMMONER SPELLS
-
SMITE: If you go Jungle you need smite. Duh.
FLASH: I prefer Flash over Ghost because if you have Flash you can easily grab a target just by Flashing onto him. While with Ghost you have to run in and then you can get stunned or other forms of Crowd Control.
GHOST: Ghost is a viable option tho. It works perfectly with your Rune just to get some extra Damage while you are Ghosted. Its your personal preference really.
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Skill Sequence

ABILITY
SEQUENCE
1

Q
2

E
3

W
4

Q
5

Q
6

R
7

Q
8

E
9

Q
10

E
11

R
12

E
13

E
14

W
15

W
16

R
17

W
18

W
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Rune Page 1


Keystone
  • Aftershock: In my Opinion this is the best choice for Skarner. The Armor and Magic Resist Buff makes you immortal while you drag away the Enemy with your Impale and right after that, you do a nice little bit of Damage which is helpful for every 1 v 1 scenario.

Demolish
  • Demolish: Great turret push potential. Helps out a lot for getting the first turret in the game after you have successfully ganked a lane.

Chrysalis
  • Chrysalis: Its just a great choice overal. It makes you stay healthier in the jungle in early game and it will make you deal slightly more damage as the game continues.

unflinching
  • Unflinching: This rune makes you a lot less vulnerable to CC its very useful for when you are going to gank without your Summoners up. Try to use your in fights for when you really need the 15% extra Tenacity.

Celerity
  • Celerity: The 3% movement speed is very nice to just get that little bit of speed needed to stun an opponent with Ixtal's Impact or just to come in range for your Impale. The extra Damage is also very helpfull because you get extra movement speed from your Crystal Spires which will make your early clear better.

The Ultimate Hat
  • The Ultimate Hat: This Rune will let you ult way more often then you normally would. This will be very useful when you are in late game.
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Rune Page 2


Keystone
  • Predator: This is also a very good option for Skarner. It really helps out on your ganking potential. If you are confident that you are tanky enough and just want to snowball early and help lanes a lot, this might be the better Rune Page for you.

Cheap Shot
  • Cheap Shot: After you use your Impale or Ixtal's Impact you will gain a bit of extra Damage. This will just allow you to get better dualing potential especially early. I think the heal of Taste of Blood is just too little and has a way to high cooldown to have a good effect on Skarner in the game and Sudden Impact just doesn’t do anything worthwhile for Skarner at all.

Zombie Ward
  • Zombie Ward: Vision is overall a big job for the Jungler overal. Being able to clear wards and put your Zombie Ward there, will just make the game way easier for you and your teammates.

Relentless Hunter
  • Relentless Hunter: This rune will make you even faster from mid to late game. It’s just the best option of the 3 choices. You won’t profit a lot from Lifesteal or Active Item CDR.

Celerity
  • Celerity: The 3% movement speed is very nice to just get that little bit of speed needed to stun an opponent with Ixtal's Impact or just to come in range for your Impale. The extra Damage is also very helpfull because you get extra movement speed from your Crystal Spires which will make your early clear better.

The Ultimate Hat
  • The Ultimate Hat: This Rune will let you ult way more often then you normally would. This will be very useful when you are in late game.
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Item Comparison


TRINITY FORCE
VS

ICEBORN GAUNTLET
In my opinion Trinity Force is the best option for Skarner. Every stat it gives can help Skarner a lot. I also think Skarner has enough stick potential, so he doesn't need the Iceborn active. In the end the Damage and stats Trinity Force gives is worth more then the value of the Iceborn Gauntlet. The only reason when I would consider Iceborn Gauntlet is when the whole team goes bad and they are going an AD-Heavy Comp. At that point, I will just go full armor and make sure we at least have a Tank on the team.
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Items

By now you guys should all know that the first 3 items for skarner in the jungle are: and The rest of the item choices are down below.

Armor
Magic Resist
Remaining items
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Jungling


Red side Route:
    1: Blue (+ leash)
    2: Gromp (Don't forget to lure him into your Crystal Area)
    3: Wolves
    4: Razorbeaks (CHICKENS!)
    5: Red
    6: Krugs
    7: Crystal + back to base
Blue side Route:
    1: Red (+ leash)
    2: Krugs
    3: Razorbeaks (CHICKENS!)
    4: Wolves
    5: Blue
    6: Gromp (Don't forget to lure him into your Crystal Area)
    7: Crystal + back to base


Of course, ALWAYS try to go for a gank whenever you see someone who is easily gankable, but that is game dependent.

After you have done these 7 steps you have enough gold to buy + ( for Predator). Then you are level 4 and can solo drake. Make good use of it, people often don't expect it. Then try to get level 6 asap and start ganking A LOT. That way you can carry the game very hard.
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Ganking

In the Images beneath you can see how you should gank with Skarner, if you are on the Blue team, look at the Left picture, if you are on the Red team, look at the Right picture. The colors represent the safety of the gank. I'll sort them out from Bad to Good in the list underneath the image. The only one I won't put on the list is all the black lines. You should never take on of those lines.


Red: For this ganking path you really need coordination, vision and you need to be very sure you will win this. You will dive the enemies under the turret. If you have enough damage you will be able to burst them down and flee safely but if something goes wrong there is a high chance the enemies will be able to kill you.
Yellow: This is a little more high risk but also higher reward. You will most likely find the enemy between you and your ally. This means your gank will have a higher chance of succeeding but if the enemy Jungler also comes then they could turn on you.
Green: A very safe way of ganking. Often even when you make a bad decision and they are turning the fight to their advantage you can still leave without consequences.
Blue: The safest and most often best way of ganking. Most of the time you are using blast cone to get the gank started.


To summarize:
If you want the easiest gank go for the Blue line. If you want a low risk gank go for the Green line. If you are sure the enemy Jungler isn't close or you know that you are able to 2 v 2 them go for the Yellow line. If you are ahead and want to force a fight, even tho I still don't recommend doing it, take the Red line.
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Team Fighting


For Team Fighting you can have one of these 2 Roles:


Protecting the ADC/Mid Laner: If you have a fed ADC or Mid Laner who is able to carry Team Fights just protect them as good as you can. You can use your Ixtal's Impact and Impale to pull assassins away from them and just soak up a lot of damage with your Seismic Bastion

Attacking their backline: If you don't have a very good ADC or Midlaner or they are just not capable of carrying, or they have a very fed enemy who is carrying them, just go into their backline with and pull them towards your team using Impale and you will most likely be able to carry the Teamfight afterwards.
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Tips and Tricks

Tips:
-Triforce q timing
-Before the game starts look at their Champions and see who you are going to Camp.
-Never engage with your Impale always first go in with stalkers blade + Ixtal's Impact + Seismic Bastion. If the enemy then uses flash you still can ult him back, also if you kill the enemy without your ult you can still use it for the next gank.
-You can solo drake on LVL 4.



Trick:
-If you don't have smite and the enemy Jungler is trying to steal it just ult him and let your team get the objective.
-You can afford to die if you make sure their carry also dies because of it.
-If the enemy buys QSS FIRST stun them with your Ixtal's Impact then if they have used their QSS, use Impale, but if you have seen multiple times that they will keep their QSS for your Impale, use it first so that you still have a CC afterwards.

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Summary

To summarize everything I have put in here, here is a list:
Runes: or only use predator when your team doesn't have an engage or you want to gank a lot.
Items: and then just go boots and tanky.
Skill order: R>Q>E>W, First go for damage and clear then for CC.
Jungling: Rush through your first camps till you can buy + (Aftershock) or + (Predator). At that point you are level 4 then solo drake. Then farm till 6 and you can start ganking very heavily.
Ganks: Go in from behind and use your ult effectively!
Team Fights: Protect fed Teammate or rush to kill their fed Teammate.
Rating: Gimme a +rating please :3
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Special Thanks

A Special Thanks to Psiguard for giving me a lot of tips for my guide, I really learned a lot from all his tips and I think he played a big part in making this guide as good as it is now.
With all of his help, let's try to get the highest rated Skarner build!
I know we can do this!
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The End

This was my guide on how to play Skarner. I hopefully have taught every one of you guys a lot. Thank you guys for watching my full guide!


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