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Another Skarner rework Idea

Shahamut··6 votes·2,414 views

So, for this project, I poured over his lore and short story a bit, and tried to take things I saw in the story to design the kit. Here is what I have come up with so far:

Crystal Song: Skarner holds a strong connection to the material world. He can sense/feel/hear the world around him in a way not understood by other species. Skarner has true sight in a small radius around him. While remaining motionless, Skarner is able to tune into the Crystal Song and extend that vision.

Crystal Energy: Skarner draws energy from the earth. He starts at zero crystal energy that slowing increases as he moves around. Standing still increases the rate at which his crystal energy regenerates and also allows him to regenerate HP up to 50% max HP scaling to 100% Max HP later in the game. Max 110 Crystal Energy.

Q: Frenzied Strikes Cost: None Cooldown: 12/11.5/11/10.5/10 (cooldown functions like Riven Q) Passive: Enemies hit by Skarner's Auto Attacks and Frenzied Strikes grant crystal energy to Skarner. First Cast: Crystal Slash- Skarner Swings his claw wide hitting enemies in front of him in a wide arc. Dealing physical damage. Second Cast: Crystal Smash- Skarner swings down hitting a small area in front of him, dealing physical damage and grounding enemies struck. Enemies in the middle of the area are also rooted for .25 seconds. Third Cast: Crystal Sting- Skarner strikes a target with his tail, pulling them toward himself and dealing physical damage.

W: Crystal Exoskeleton Cost: 30 Crystal Energy Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Active: Skarner gains a LARGE phsical damage shield that lasts for up to 6 seconds. While the shield persists, Skarner gains the following benefits: Increased Movement Speed (no ramp up, just a burst of speed) Bonus Magic Damage on Frenzied Strikes Resistance to Slows>>>>>Immunity to slows

E:_ Fracture_ Cost: 40 Crystal Energy Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8

Active: Skarner strikes the ground with his tail, shooting crystal energy out in a cone in front of him. After a very short delay, crystals erupt from the ground, dealing magic damage, slowing, and charging targets hit with crystal energy. If Skarner deals damage to a target [auto attacks or Frenzied Strikes(Q)] The target is stunned and Skarner restores a small amount of his crystal energy.

No numbers at this juncture, just ideas. I could add some flavor text if interested, or highlight the parts of his lore that inspired the different aspects of the kit, BUT here is the big thing:

I need an Ultimate: So to all the Skarner enthusiasts out there, what kind of ultimate would fit well with this kit, while remaining thematic and true to his lore?

Also, feedback in general is appreciated.

Cheers!

"I miss my kind..."

EDITS:

Passive: now also allows Skarner to restore HP while remaining still, capping at 60% Max HP level one, but scaling to 100% Max HP level 18. (60% at level one, +10% at levels 6/10/14/18)

Q Passive: Forgot to mention that AAs also grant crystal energy.

Q2- Crystal Smash: Added a sweet spot to the aoe, all targets hit are grounded, but targets in the sweet spot are also rooted for .25 seconds.

Q3- Crystal Sting: Removed the slow after the pull.

E- Fracture: Removed the heal for stunning targets. Now restores additional Crystal Energy on stun.

Thanks to Predatorator for the conversation/suggestions thus far!

20 Comments

Hammermancer3 votes

I thought skarner was an invisibility champ bc i never see him

TakaDama1 votes

I like the overall idea, but a few ideas:

Crystal Song - I love this.

Crystal Energy - While I'm a bit more reserved about this as I personally am terrible at playing manaless champions, this is actually great as it helps solve his mana issues by simply removing them. Sheen is still a good item as well due to the Q change proposed.

Frenzied Strikes - This is good as far as putting emphasis back on his Q and not his W or E. Only things I would change is the root on Smash to grounded+slow and the slow on Sting to root; smaller hitbox + more build up = stronger CC.

Exoskeleton - I would just make it a moderate health shield in general and grant him bonus armor while the shield persists. Otherwise very nice.

Fracture - I do have one suggestion here, and that is to add a tap/hold mechanic similar to Pyke's Q that changes this from a short-range cone to a long-range line; while it is definitely a dream for me to stun multiple enemies easily with Fracture, his current Fracture is useful for catching opponents while ganking.

Impale - His ult is iconic in terms of gameplay, and the only thing I would add here is maybe synergystic passive with Exoskeleton (like Sivir's ult and Ricochet) that grants Tenacity while it persists.

Shahamut1 votes

Crystal Song: Thanks ! :)

Frenzied Strikes: That makes sense, I will probably update the thread. Though to be sure, the last Q is actually targeted. It wouldnt have to be, but I kid of like it better that way. The main thing I wanted to achieve was to keep is melee range displacement (his current ult) while opening up his power budget for something more. If I were to keep his current ultimate, I would probably change the last strike of this ability.

Exoskeleton- Inspiration for this was the fact that while magic pierced his shield in his short story, the weapon broke on contact. This distinction allows the shield to be larger, and like Morgana, makes the shield have some niche uses for avoiding slows since magic damage wouldn't break the shield itself.

Fracture- I was picturing a fairly good sized cone, though how to portray it in words is outside of my ability. I guess imagine a SLIGHTLY wider and SLIGHTLY longer Mordekaiser Q(?) with a delay to give people time to react.

I am definitely a big fan of Skarner's current ultimate and would love to see it remain whenever he eventually gets changes. If this were the kit, Im not sure we could keep Q3, thats a lot of displacement.

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

3rd cast of Q should still be a skill shot

Shahamut1 votes

{quoted}

3rd cast of Q should still be a skill shot

In my final draft, it's a line skill shot that stops when it hits a champion or reaches max range. :-) I can link that later if you want

PuIse1 votes

I remember when we tried this back when RiotScruffy was looking for ideas.....they used them for RekSai . good luck rlly i mean it

Shahamut1 votes

BUMP for visibility

Predatorator1 votes

I saw your idea, and i'd lke to hear from you: what's the goal of these changes? How this proposal solves live skarner's problem (agency, feast/famine, not excelling at nothing in particular etc.) How do you think these changes will shift skarner's role? How will this make skarner more attractive to the playerbase? How will skarner compare to the other up to date champs after this update?

With that being said:

  • Passive: i like that somehow it has references to the lore, by empowering him for interacting with the terrain, and it's interesting that he uses another resource than mana. i'm still attached to mana, but it doesn't sound bad, especially since you gain it from moving around, which is a staple of skarner gameplay, and sets it apart from other champions' resources. The vision buff is also nice, true sight can help alot for invades, and the increasing of invisible champions.

However i think that for staying still, the payback may not be enough, what do you think about slapping some hp regen also? From the lore he buries in the ground to restore his health. It may also not be as overbearing as warmog's ior garen, since you have to stay still.

Also, what do you think if the crystal energy he gains from the ground could be another form of scaling, rather than a source? giving him a guaranteed stat to scale off may make him more consistent and help him when falling behind.

  • Q: i don't know how does riven Q work, but i like it, always been a fan of this concept for skarner's Q. It may also look like an interesting take to remove his ult and redistribute its power elsewhere in his kit. There were some claims that his ult holds too much of skarner's powerbudget, and makes it hard to make other parts of his kit appreciable powerwise. Also Qss becomes a less desirable counter against him

However removing skarner's ult is dangerous: it's really unique to skarner, and most, if not all players, are really attached to it. It sets skarner apart from other champs, and contributes to high moments of playing skarner. also riot has a sweetspot for that skill.

  • W: why physical only? You think skarner is most susceptible from physical damage? Also does the ms buff expire as the shield gets popped? switching to physical only may allow it to be more substantial, and it means the annoying aoe magic damage won't contribute to popping it off. Slow immunity is nice. also the way it connects to other parts of the kit.

  • E: it's nice that it summons crystals from the ground, it helps with his sticking pattern. also it helps him to synergize with wall effect champs, which are a good chunck, And often picked (are the crystal solid?). also the heal is nice as it helps skarner in prolonged pursuits/fights.

My fear is that it may be too much strapped to it: maybe take out the stun and just make the crystals to ground the enemy?

  • R: right now i don't have a good idea. However it has to make people forget about old skarner's ult, which is a great responsibility. It has to be a high moment for skarner's player, and to be cohesive with his new kit. it referincing the lore is a bonus.

It could be something triggered by his gemstone? after all his is the most powerful of all. Something like a zone with effects? Empowering his abilities?

What could skarner need that can be his ult?

In the end, from what i get, this update will make skarner a juggernaut, having more sustain, and probably more consistent damage. it looks sticky also, and still should have this weakness of having to walk up to you to do anything. Which are points i like

Shahamut1 votes

The primary goal with the changes:

Give Skarner a new(ish) kind of playstyle that was more specifically defined and specialized. My thoughts were to keep him still in the general area of a sticky fighter who crushes lone victims.

How will this affect Skarner's role? If you mean "role" like jungle/top, I think that will remain largely the same, but he will be better at both. If you mean his role like Tank, Fighter, Assassin, etc, then I think he will go back to being a light fighter/bruiser or maybe a juggernaut: Good at deuling and possibly initiating fights since the shield gives slow resistance/immunity.

How will this make Skarner more attractive to the player base? Well, Im not sure since that tends to be a VERY subjective matter in the first place. I think just him having some agency in how he plays the game should do a great deal, and honestly, I think visuals do a lot for that kind of thing, and there are some definite areas for visual potential XD. Overall, Im not even sure how to measure that lol. I think the unique resource will help though.

After the update, how will Skarner compare to newer champs? I guess this is another question Im not sure how to answer. I think he would fit in just fine, but I also believed that Crystal Venom Skarner was a perfectly good champion. I think there is definitely a place for simple kits and champions, like Skarner/Garen etc, but they still need to have tools to win with. I think Skarner would have better/more defined weaknesses/strengths with this kit than current.

ON TO THE KIT!

Passive: I had thought about having healing while standing still as well, maybe if he stays still long enough he burrows in and regains hp as long as he stays there? I think (for laning purposes) it would need to have a cap, like up to 75% max HP scaling up to 100% later. Also, if I put healing on the passive, I would probably remove the healing aspect of his E. More on that later.

As far as your question about crystal energy as a stat to scale, I would like you to clarify what you mean by that: Like, he can store a higher maximum amount of it scaling? or he collects it as a separate thing and regains mana for his resource? If the former, I definitely like the idea, being able to store more energy means more usage in extended fights. If the latter, I'd prefer not, only because there are enough "collector" champions as is in my opinion: Stackers like Veigar and Nasus, Chimes with Bard, Souls with Kayne/Swain, marks with Kindred, etc. I like the idea of it being a unique resource to Skarner.

Q: Riven's Q1,2 and 3 have a "window" cooldown which resets the skill if not used. The ability's overall cooldown begins after your first cast, so spacing out your Q1,2 and 3 gives the illusion of shorter cooldown.

It was definitely the goal to leave his ult "open" for something new with this version of Q. Though it wouldn't be terrible to have it there still. I feel like its inclusion would be just too much single target cc, but with all the new champions that are coming out, Im not 100% convinced. Still, wanted to leave it open ended there. For discussion sake if nothing else.

W: why only physical damage? Well, for a few reasons: 1- It gives Skarner a more defined niche, opposite of Morgana, anti cc shield (Skarner's only being slows, but I had thought about all cc at least once XD). In this iteration, the buffs would indeed be tied to the shield still. All of this was inspired by the lore/short story. In it, while Skarner's shell is glowing (I am assuming his W is active) we see someone attack skarner with a weapon and the thing just breaks, where as later when attacked by Magic, it pierced his armor. This gives him a niche for being able to tank Physical Damage, and magic ranged slows (which ANY mage could have if they buy Rylia's) would not be a way to kite him. Champions like Ashe could still kite him, but he would have a slightly better chance at reaching her with a bigger shield until it was broken.

What would you think if it was basically a morgana shield but physical? Just curious.

E: Following up with earlier: If I add health regen to his passive (sounds so good XD) I would simply change the heal on his E to "gathers additional crystal energy".

The idea here was actually not creating physical crystals, actually. Thought the idea is interesting. I just liked the imagery from the short story where skarner uses this ability. As it compares to the current E: Its still an Aoe Skill shot, just instead of a line, I made it a cone so it can still hit multiple enemies. Because the cone is more reliable than a line, I took out the bonus damage for stunning them and also removed the cooldown refund. The slow plus stun becomes his primary form of cc and engage vs ranged. And since you wont have the 5 second stun chain of current Skarner (E/R/AA/E/AA) it will actually be allowed to deal some damage or have a decent ratio.

R: I had lots of ideas for a different ultimate for Skarner: One being a sort of Nasus/Renekton style where he "powers up" for a short duration and changes some of his abilities/empowers them and causing him to rapidly gain crystal energy, the other was the same, but with the option to use his current ultimate (ending the buff).

I agree that it will have to be done carefully. Skarner's ultimate is hugely iconic, and I wouldn't want to see it leave without proper justice being done elsewhere.

Predatorator1 votes

{quoted}

The primary goal with the changes:

Give Skarner a new(ish) kind of playstyle that was more specifically defined and specialized. My thoughts were to keep him still in the general area of a sticky fighter who crushes lone victims.

How will this affect Skarner's role? If you mean "role" like jungle/top, I think that will remain largely the same, but he will be better at both. If you mean his role like Tank, Fighter, Assassin, etc, then I think he will go back to being a light fighter/bruiser or maybe a juggernaut: Good at deuling and possibly initiating fights since the shield gives slow resistance/immunity.

How will this make Skarner more attractive to the player base? Well, Im not sure since that tends to be a VERY subjective matter in the first place. I think just him having some agency in how he plays the game should do a great deal, and honestly, I think visuals do a lot for that kind of thing, and there are some definite areas for visual potential XD. Overall, Im not even sure how to measure that lol. I think the unique resource will help though.

After the update, how will Skarner compare to newer champs? I guess this is another question Im not sure how to answer. I think he would fit in just fine, but I also believed that Crystal Venom Skarner was a perfectly good champion. I think there is definitely a place for simple kits and champions, like Skarner/Garen etc, but they still need to have tools to win with. I think Skarner would have better/more defined weaknesses/strengths with this kit than current.

Good, we share the same thoughts =)

ON TO THE KIT!

Passive: I had thought about having healing while standing still as well, maybe if he stays still long enough he burrows in and regains hp as long as he stays there? I think (for laning purposes) it would need to have a cap, like up to 75% max HP scaling up to 100% later. Also, if I put healing on the passive, I would probably remove the healing aspect of his E. More on that later.

I'd love to see skarner's borrowing ability to be translated into his gameplay, but i cannot seem to find a way that doesn't look like rek'sai. Also burrowing may conflict with the augmented vision range. Best solution may be removing the act of burrowing and just make him to heal and see further after staying still for x seconds. The heal could be over time. Probably it's redundant with the heal on E, but i think that skill got alot going for it anyways. Maybe a small heal, like 20-30 hp per target hit? Probably skarner's going to use conqueror anyways, so it should work anyways.

As far as your question about crystal energy as a stat to scale, I would like you to clarify what you mean by that: Like, he can store a higher maximum amount of it scaling? or he collects it as a separate thing and regains mana for his resource? If the former, I definitely like the idea, being able to store more energy means more usage in extended fights. If the latter, I'd prefer not, only because there are enough "collector" champions as is in my opinion: Stackers like Veigar and Nasus, Chimes with Bard, Souls with Kayne/Swain, marks with Kindred, etc. I like the idea of it being a unique resource to Skarner.

I mean that crystal energy could also be a stat unique to skarner, to which his abilities scale with. For example Q damage may scale with ad and crystal energy, shield amount may scale with hp and crystal energy, and so on. There's still the interesting gameplay to keep up the crystal energy for good scalings. Scalings can be higher if crystal energy stays also as skarner's resource, so spending it shouldn't be a big worry. i just like the idea of skarner having his own stat to scale off =) The mana regen is nice and alternative, but at this point i'm rather intrigued with crystal energy being the actual resource. Lots of pretty stuff can be done with this thing, good job =)

Q: Riven's Q1,2 and 3 have a "window" cooldown which resets the skill if not used. The ability's overall cooldown begins after your first cast, so spacing out your Q1,2 and 3 gives the illusion of shorter cooldown.

animation cancelling is not involved right?

It was definitely the goal to leave his ult "open" for something new with this version of Q. Though it wouldn't be terrible to have it there still. I feel like its inclusion would be just too much single target cc, but with all the new champions that are coming out, Im not 100% convinced. Still, wanted to leave it open ended there. For discussion sake if nothing else.

The aoe root on his second cast seems too much to me, unless it's something like 0.25 seconds or less. This kit gives skarner alot of cc.

Also here's an alternative version i was thinking of. It's more about isolating a target and setting it up for his ult: 1 - First Cast: Crystal Slash- Skarner Swings his claw wide hitting enemies in front of him in a wide arc. Dealing physical damage. Enemies caught in the arc are pushed aside, except for the ones directly in front of skarner. Second Cast: Crystal Smash- Skarner swings down hitting a small area in front of him, dealing aoe damage and rooting the target in front of him for 0.25 seconds. Third Cast: Crystal Sting- Skarner strikes a target with his tail, pulling him toward himself and dealing damage and slowing the target for a short duration. Unsure about the slow, seems too much cc, toghether with the rest of his kit.

It looks a bit extreme too, but i wanted to go all out, tell me what do you think of it.

W: why only physical damage? Well, for a few reasons: 1- It gives Skarner a more defined niche, opposite of Morgana, anti cc shield (Skarner's only being slows, but I had thought about all cc at least once XD). In this iteration, the buffs would indeed be tied to the shield still. All of this was inspired by the lore/short story. In it, while Skarner's shell is glowing (I am assuming his W is active) we see someone attack skarner with a weapon and the thing just breaks, where as later when attacked by Magic, it pierced his armor. This gives him a niche for being able to tank Physical Damage, and magic ranged slows (which ANY mage could have if they buy Rylia's) would not be a way to kite him. Champions like Ashe could still kite him, but he would have a slightly better chance at reaching her with a bigger shield until it was broken.

Nice, i also like the reference to the lore.

What would you think if it was basically a morgana shield but physical? Just curious.

i think that's going to negate alot skarner's weaknesses as a juggernaut, unless it has an incredibly longer cooldown, say 25-30ish seconds if not more. resistance to slows is fine, because they're almost anywhere right now, but for stuns, and other heavier ccs it's better if the shield couldn't counter them.

E: Following up with earlier: If I add health regen to his passive (sounds so good XD) I would simply change the heal on his E to "gathers additional crystal energy".

The idea here was actually not creating physical crystals, actually. Thought the idea is interesting. I just liked the imagery from the short story where skarner uses this ability. As it compares to the current E: Its still an Aoe Skill shot, just instead of a line, I made it a cone so it can still hit multiple enemies. Because the cone is more reliable than a line, I took out the bonus damage for stunning them and also removed the cooldown refund. The slow plus stun becomes his primary form of cc and engage vs ranged. And since you wont have the 5 second stun chain of current Skarner (E/R/AA/E/AA) it will actually be allowed to deal some damage or have a decent ratio.

Of course since the crystals were not solid objects gamewise, the stun would be appropriate. After all skarner needs something to fare at higher ranges than melee. So like this the skill is perfect.

But as for the Q, i wanted to share with you another version of the skill, for the sake of it: Active: Skarner strikes the ground with his tail, shooting crystal energy out in a cone in front of him. After a very short delay, crystals erupt from the ground, dealing magic damage, charging targets hit with crystal energy. The crystals are solid objects, but Skarner can pass through. Skarner gets a movespeed buff when moving towards the crystals. If Skarner deals damage to a target [auto attacks or Frenzied Strikes(Q)] Skarner heals a small amount of HP(moderate if the target is a champion or large/epic monster).

R: I had lots of ideas for a different ultimate for Skarner: One being a sort of Nasus/Renekton style where he "powers up" for a short duration and changes some of his abilities/empowers them and causing him to rapidly gain crystal energy, the other was the same, but with the option to use his current ultimate (ending the buff).

I agree that it will have to be done carefully. Skarner's ultimate is hugely iconic, and I wouldn't want to see it leave without proper justice being done elsewhere.

It's funny that we're praticaly remaking skarner without an ultimate =p. But i think it's really hard that it will be removed/changed into something else. At the most i can see some mechanic being made for it, but the core skill will stay in my opinion

Shahamut1 votes

Good, we share the same thoughts =)

:)

I'd love to see skarner's borrowing ability to be translated into his gameplay, but i cannot seem to find a way that doesn't look like rek'sai. Also burrowing may conflict with the augmented vision range. Best solution may be removing the act of burrowing and just make him to heal and see further after staying still for x seconds. The heal could be over time.

I see your point. I really do like the idea of getting some hp back for being still and "taking it in" so to speak XD

I am probably going to update the post and put the heal on his passive and have Marked E targets restore additional Crystal Energy.

I mean that crystal energy could also be a stat unique to skarner, to which his abilities scale with. For example Q damage may scale with ad and crystal energy, shield amount may scale with hp and crystal energy, and so on. There's still the interesting gameplay to keep up the crystal energy for good scalings. Scalings can be higher if crystal energy stays also as skarner's resource, so spending it shouldn't be a big worry. i just like the idea of skarner having his own stat to scale off =) The mana regen is nice and alternative, but at this point i'm rather intrigued with crystal energy being the actual resource. Lots of pretty stuff can be done with this thing, good job =)

I had a version like that at one point, but I eventually scrapped the idea as his crystal energy became way too complicated and convoluted to understand quickly. Just having it as a resource became the final iteration. I think the unique resource is cool, thanks for the compliment :)

animation cancelling is not involved right?

Auto attack animation cancel, yes. Using movement commands to reset the Q animation? Heck... NO... XD

The aoe root on his second cast seems too much to me, unless it's something like 0.25 seconds or less. This kit gives skarner alot of cc.

Also here's an alternative version i was thinking of. It's more about isolating a target and setting it up for his ult: 1 - First Cast: Crystal Slash- Skarner Swings his claw wide hitting enemies in front of him in a wide arc. Dealing physical damage. Enemies caught in the arc are pushed aside, except for the ones directly in front of skarner. Second Cast: Crystal Smash- Skarner swings down hitting a small area in front of him, dealing aoe damage and rooting the target in front of him for 0.25 seconds. Third Cast: Crystal Sting- Skarner strikes a target with his tail, pulling him toward himself and dealing damage and slowing the target for a short duration. Unsure about the slow, seems too much cc, toghether with the rest of his kit.

It looks a bit extreme too, but i wanted to go all out, tell me what do you think of it.

This is actually a typo... I think I simply meant to ground targets hit, not root them... XD the 3rd Q would be a free grab if they were rooted XD Grounding prevents them flashing or Ezreal jumping. If you worked hard enough to get that close, no blinking allowed! XD

Only reason Im not a huge fan of the pushing enemies aside is for laning purposes. If you WERE going to do it that way, however, I would just add a "sweet spot" to the effect for figuring out who was pushed away and who wasn't. T'is an interesting idea none the less. I kind of like it :) I don't think the slow would be too much cc, Darius is a juggernaut with a pull/slow which is almost always followed by a second slow with his W. However, since Skarner can follow up with a stun, I think its fair to say the slow wouldn't be necessary. Besides, Frozen Mallet exists. LOL

i think that's going to negate alot skarner's weaknesses as a juggernaut, unless it has an incredibly longer cooldown, say 25-30ish seconds if not more. resistance to slows is fine, because they're almost anywhere right now, but for stuns, and other heavier ccs it's better if the shield couldn't counter them.

We have the same thoughts then :)

Of course since the crystals were not solid objects gamewise, the stun would be appropriate. After all skarner needs something to fare at higher ranges than melee. So like this the skill is perfect.

<3

But as for the Q, i wanted to share with you another version of the skill, for the sake of it: Active: Skarner strikes the ground with his tail, shooting crystal energy out in a cone in front of him. After a very short delay, crystals erupt from the ground, dealing magic damage, charging targets hit with crystal energy. The crystals are solid objects, but Skarner can pass through. Skarner gets a movespeed buff when moving towards the crystals. If Skarner deals damage to a target [auto attacks or Frenzied Strikes(Q)] Skarner heals a small amount of HP(moderate if the target is a champion or large/epic monster).

I honestly feel the zoning potential to be too strong when creating solid objects. I think if I wanted it to work that way, I would have to make it a targeted affect of some kind, something like: Skarner strikes the ground with his tail, after a short delay the target is enveloped in a crystal for .25 seconds. Afterwards, the crystal explodes leaving small shards on the ground in an area around the target. Enemies moving on the crystals are slowed, while Skarner gains increased movement speed while walking in the area.

However, I think I like the AoE effect better.

It's funny that we're praticaly remaking skarner without an ultimate =p. But i think it's really hard that it will be removed/changed into something else. At the most i can see some mechanic being made for it, but the core skill will stay in my opinion

Yeah, its kind of funny. Here are 2 of my ultimate ideas, just to showcase it:

Title to be determined, but I will use this placeholder:

Crystal Song of Death

Skarner becomes enraged, feeding on the negative energy around him, he gains increased base movespeed, and regerates crystal energy as if he were standing still for 10 seconds. During this time, Skarner gains a one time use of:

Impale- Active: Skarner strikes a target with his tail dealing a moderate amount of damage and suppressing them for 1.75 seconds. During this time, Skarner can move, cast Q and W, and drags his target with him as he moves.

Crystal Song of Death (v2)

Skarner becomes enraged, empowering his next ability cast:

Q: Impale (old ult, but shorter duration, probably lasts 1 second instead of 1.75)

W: Skarner's shield becomes a general damage shield instead of a physical damage one. Skarner slow resist/immunity also applies to roots and he cannot be grounded.

E: Targets hit are no longer marked with Crystal Energy, but instead are stunned for one second.

Very rough drafts, but let me know what you think :)

KlydeFrog1 votes

Umm no leave as is yes the passive is annoying af and yes his passive was his old q

Shahamut1 votes

Skarner mains are not happy with Skarner's current kit. Im sorry if you like it, that is your opinion, but the passive is easily proven to be one of if not THE worst passives in the game simply due to Skarner's lack of personal agency and their non-contribution to winning the game.

KlydeFrog1 votes

Bro I've been playing skarner for years and I don't know how many times I've posted on how trash it is. However is it better because the aoe is twice the size so you can get all camps while being affected by the spires yes is it better that it's not shown on minimal heck yes. The best rework was the one before the spire rework . But it's people's runes that make them do bad nothing more. 2 runes you need always is transcedance and nimbus cloak hands down IDGAF who you are . The other ones it doesn't matter as much . If I'm laning top I will always go grasp of the undying. Jungling it's glacial augment boots and lastly approach velocity why you may ask is cause A you should always max e no matter what. So with that being said approach let's you gank better due to slow and glacial augment. Also blue smite is affected by glacial augment. That's when I'm feeling the warrior jungle item . Expose weakness is usually most of the time I'm using cinderhulk .

Shahamut1 votes

You aren't telling me anything I dont already know. Im posting to throw up ideas, because Skarner straight up sucks right now... I dgaf about his pro-play presence where he is just a glorified ult bot that goes full tank and gets 100% countered by QSS. I want the sticky, speedy, kill you dead Scorpion back that I loved, or at least something better than this poor excuse of a champion that we have right now. Skarner deserves better.

His passive is not his old Q, its part of it, and locked into a jungle where you have to have a winning team to contest and keep your passive... It doesn't help you take turrets, or defend your base. It doesn't make you a better objective controller because HEY lack of agency. Kalista has better objective control. REND. Nunu has objective control. CONSUME. Chogath. DEVOUR.

Im not sure what exactly you are arguing about/for. All I am saying is Skarner need reworked, that passive needs to go. Heres a fun suggestion. So what is it you are actually saying?

KlydeFrog1 votes

The previous rework was by far his best hands down due to the fact that what the spires do now is what his old q did. As long as it his any enemies it gave a increased attack speed that stacked and if you hit someone with 3 things you stunned them . Meaning he was a split push monster as well as you throw Tiamat on him you aoe stunned whole teams lol. But this one doesn't bother me I have my nimbus cloak

SpringBossLP1 votes

This looks very interesting and the Passive also sounds very cool. I like it :)

Shahamut1 votes

{quoted}

This looks very interesting and the Passive also sounds very cool. I like it :)

Thanks :-)

FlameHalbrdOkido1 votes

We have a few magic shields and i think only 1 current physical shield, so i like that he has that, and it allows the physical shield to be MUCH bigger than normal

R - Return to Slumber Passive: While off CD AA and Abilities apply Crystal Venom stacks to target enemies up to 4 times applying a DoT Poison. At 4 stacks Skarner can cast R Active: Skarner leaps into the air for 0.5 sec during which he can move then lunges in to target area and furiously burrows down taking any nearby enemies with him suppressing them and making them untargetable by enemies for 1 second.

R - Kinetic Vengance First Cast: Skarner starts channeling storing x% of damage he deals and y% of damage he takes, reduced by z% against non-champion sources. While channeling Skarner generates a zone around him that slows enemies. The radius and slow scales with the amount of damage stored, decaying by 10% every second after dealing or taking no damage for 1 second, down to a minimum. Second Cast: Skarner blasts crystal energy in the target direction.

Shahamut1 votes

{quoted}

We have a few magic shields and i think only 1 current physical shield, so i like that he has that, and it allows the physical shield to be MUCH bigger than normal

R - Return to Slumber Passive: While off CD AA and Abilities apply Crystal Venom stacks to target enemies up to 4 times applying a DoT Poison. At 4 stacks Skarner can cast R Active: Skarner leaps into the air for 0.5 sec during which he can move then lunges in to target area and furiously burrows down taking any nearby enemies with him suppressing them and making them untargetable by enemies for 1 second.

R - Kinetic Vengance First Cast: Skarner starts channeling storing x% of damage he deals and y% of damage he takes, reduced by z% against non-champion sources. While channeling Skarner generates a zone around him that slows enemies. The radius and slow scales with the amount of damage stored, decaying by 10% every second after dealing or taking no damage for 1 second, down to a minimum. Second Cast: Skarner blasts crystal energy in the target direction.

Hm. I'm not sure how I feel about the first one: the name sounds defensive in nature, but its usage seems aggressive/offensive, the effect feels the same, sort of defensive but with no heal, sort of offensive, but no damage.

EDIT: just saw the passive. Ok, so I'm still curious what the goal is in the usage of the ult since it requires a venom'd target. Maybe share your thoughts on how this would be used in optimal scenario?

The second is a neat idea, but I have never been keen. On abilities that are optimized around being hit XD. I'm not completely opposed to them, but on an ultimate ability, without a taunt of some kind, is too unreliable imo.

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