Skarner : The Crystal Vanguard (reworked Crystal Spires)

Shuyin178··1 votes·411 views

The goal I have in mind is to help make his Crystal Spires more interactive, instead of just being there as a stat booster for him and free gold for the enemy team. The full idea is still a big WIP so input on good and bad points would be welcome.

Passive : Crystal Spires [Effect Radius: 115 (same as live)] CRYSTAL SPIRES: Skarner's presence causes a number of Crystal Spires to appear at set points on the battlefield, which can be captured by champions who stand near them for 2 seconds. Once captured, Crystal Spires are owned until contested and the defending team can stand on the spire to prevent the opposing team from capturing it. (same stuff as live) Crystal Spires grant 30 gold split among its captors upon being captured, or 15 gold if only a single champion participated in its capture, and provide Sight around them for 1.5 seconds upon being captured, becoming impossible to recapture for 15 seconds. (again the same)

CRYSTAL CHARGE: Skarner gains power with the more Crystal Spires your team controls. (benefits that require being near a Crystal Spire's range only occurs with controlled Crystal Spires, or while stunned or suppressed by Skarner's spells) (near meaning within its effect radius)

1 Spire: While a near a Crystal Spire, Skarner gains 43 - 160 (based on level)% bonus attack speed and restores 2% maximum mana every second.

2 Spire: Every 4 seconds Skarner's Crystal Spires pulse, sending energy outward, andnon-allied units inside of the pulse are detected (think Red Trinket, but blurs instead of actual champion outline). If an enemy champion is detected, Skarner and his allies are alerted (same kind of alert as Scryer's Bloom).

3 Spire: Basic attacks reduce Crystal Slash's cooldown by 0.375 seconds, quadrupled to 1.5 against enemy champions. While near a Crystal Spire, Skarner gains 80 - 130 (based on level) bonus movement speed.

4 Spire: Crystal Spires pulse every 3 seconds now. If Crystalline Exoskeleton is activated near a Crystal Spire, shield strength is increased by 50% (10/11/12/13/14% maximum health to 15/16.5/18/19.5/21% maximum heath) and bonus movement speed increases by 16% over 1.5 seconds (originally over 3 seconds).

5 Spire: Skarner's Impale suppresses its victim for 2.75 seconds (originally 1.75).

6 Spire: While near a Crystal Spire, Skarner is immune to all Crowd Control and remains immune for 1 second after leaving its range.

Let me know what you think, what seems broken and what seems unnecessary. Part of the goal here is to give Skarner real reasons to contest spires. Something to keep in mind though is that Skarner almost never has 4+ spires controlled at the same time, if he does it's not for very long unless his team has complete control of the map.

7 Comments

Visionova1 votes

Skarner needs a rework that gets rid of the stupid spires, not doubles down on them.

Shuyin1781 votes

You're not wrong, however until that happens it wouldn't hurt to have the spires feel more meaningful and give Skarner a real reason to actually contest them.

Shahamut1 votes

The entire problem is that the more power you put into the spires, the more power has to be removed elsewhere.

The spires are a contestable objective. This means that Skarner can be 100% DENIED the power put into them. The more power they have, the worse Skarner becomes. Its just bad design. Which is why they have almost no real power now on live.

The other problem is that you are gating the power by requiring his team to have control of the ENTIRE map essentially, which is impossible if you aren't already face rolling the enemy team, and even then I think you would be hard pressed to control more than 4 at a time.

Shuyin1781 votes

Because on average you'll only have 3 spires at most, the rest of his kit doesn't need weakened beyond what it currently is. In addition, only SR has 6 spires on it, so Skarner can't get maximum power on any other map (especially Howling Abyss that only has 3). So I feel that changing the spires into this version would be better for Skarner to help him and his team want to control the map more and contest the spires to help strengthen their team.

Right now Skarner's spires are basic stat boosters, nothing special about them at all, in addition all of the benefits come from being within range. This new version gives Skarner himself a bit more power if he actually tries to keep control over his spires.

Shahamut1 votes

Again, the problem still lies in that he can be completely denied this power, and there are other FAR more important objectives on the map. Skarner becomes a liability at that point to his team when you add extra stuff for his team to do in order to keep him relevant.

There is no version of these spires that would be balanceable, and no version that any Skarner player would accept/enjoy.

Im not just salty either, I appreciate what you are trying to do. I went through a similar phase where I wracked my brain around it endlessly, and it all comes down to the same things:

1- if they are contestable, they have to be weak, since they can be 100% denied, meaning Skarner would have no way to "comeback" once behind, since his power is locked in objectives he wouldnt be able to contest. Feast or Famine.

2- Making them moveable, just adds another layer of boring gameplay where Skarner now has to waste time draggin these things around to make use of his kit. Yuck.

The correct way to have a contestable passive is to do something like Kindred, or (to an extent) Rengar. These passives can be 100% denied if the enemy team plays right, but if Kindred or Rengar succeed, they get a buff, and that buff stays. They have to work for it, but there are solid rewards that you don't lose once you have them.

Why not make Skarner fight over random crystals for buffs? Because then it would just be a melee Kindred. Uniqueness is lessened significantly.

hater free zone1 votes

When Skarner's shield breaks, it leaves crystals that empower him. Problem solved.

Shahamut1 votes

[zombie-brand-facepalm]

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