I just played a game as him (yes, I know 1 game can't really be a center of judgement) to find out what's so bad about the guy and as I played him the only thing I could really find bad was his first jungle clear. After which I had an easy time in jungle and ganking was insanely easy. I found myself tanking the entire enemy team and still getting kills really easy.
I went like 7/0/9 and the entire time I was asking myself. What's wrong with skarner?
Droogzy3 votesSkarner is my most played champ in the jungle, his ultimate is flat out amazing in lower Elo, the reason why is because any champion with a giant KILL THIS FUCKER indication does well in that general bracket.
But as you go against skilled APC and ADC, they generally are much more smarter to recognize the need to get a QSS or Zhonya ASAP when they have damage items, thus negating a lot of his potential team play.
I love him nonetheless, but there's a reason he's not popular imo. That could change if more and more people realize you can close the gap super fast with W and Righteous Glory.
Not only that, I don't think a lot of people have quite fully gotten over the changes that were made to him like a year (?) ago. He lost a lot of his damage and stickiness which is what people loved him for. He's definitely still incredibly strong, but he has his clear strength and weakness.
To quote Phreak: Pro's only like using the most bull shit champions they can get their hands on. Skarner doesn't really fall under that category.
Trash MammaI1 votesMan, I already get in my feels when he says "I miss my kind" =( Sounds like Rito doesn't like him or his kind.
Shadow Gilgamesh2 votesProbably because Udyr is the same kind of sticky-sustained damage jungler but doesn't have a stacking mechanic related to his pre-6 stun, just activate bear and punch a guy, so I would bet most people would take the more simple character who isn't any less rewarding than Skarner.
Just my guess though, since I don't play those kinds of junglers.
JAGMAG1 votesallot of people i know dont like him because his lack of damage everyone wants to play champoins that blow up things not some utility jungle lol
YossarianSensei1 votesLmfao Skarner does ridiculous damage, please play him before judging him.
Ternt1 votesSkarner's ult is OP though lol. Not really, but it's definitely useful to get into the back line and ult the ADC or Mid.
Tilomentry1 votesNot a lot of people liked how they changed Skarner from how he use to be in Season 2. Back then it use to be the case where you run at someone really fast, drag them to your team, then perma-slow anyone who tried to attack your ADC. The first thing that really killed Skarner was the removal of Shurelya's Reverie. That got changed into the Coin for support and so jungle Skarner couldn't build it reasonably (however that got remedied with Righteous Glory).
The second thing they did was rework Skarner into something that most people just aren't as happy with. They took the slow off his Q and put it on his E (which use to have no reason to be leveled) and reduced the damage on almost all his abilities. They also made his Q and W work on a "ramp up" mechanic (which I personally dislike).
All in all, they change his mechanics so that he keeps his "stickyness" but took away a great deal of his damage and reduced his ability to peel. Personally I stopped liking the different Skarner after the changes and I think most who use to play him feel the same. As for everyone else, he's a giant scorpion, and people generally are less attracted to playing as inhuman characters.
Raxicor1 votesHe's a fun one to play. The complaint I hear about him is that his gap closer isn't as good as some others like Vi and Sejuani.
lightdragoon881 votesMostly it is because whatever he can do, other champs can do it better.
Sire Hippington1 votesJungler scarener is decent, but shares the same prob as voli: The ganks are very hard to pull off in higher elos. If you don't catch an overextending laner off guard, the lack of a gapcloser and reliable ranged cc(E is really easy to dodge on long range) realy makes it hard to get an advantage early, and without an early advantage, it gets hard to be usefull in teamfights. He also has problems in dueling other popular junglers, and if he doesn't get of a good ult(which is hard if the enemy team knows how to position/peel), his impact in teamfights is low. The effort he has to make to accomplish anything is to high compared to the medicore reward. Especially his passive sucks, land 3 spells AND THEN AN AA to get what Nauts passive does on the first AA...
Besides that, i still hate that they killed hybrid and ap scarner at top with the rework, his scaleings are just poor since then.
GundayMonday1 votesChampions like 
exist that make your kit worthless. He's still good, just in situations that aren't common in the current meta.
Droogzy1 votesChampions like
Late response, but actually with W and Righteous Glory and Swifts, you can catch her with your ultimate no matter how much she dashes, unless you're starting at max range/or if she's fed and can destroy your shield in a few AA, which you really shouldn't be anyways.
Its one of the reasons why I started playing him so much, as a response to Kalista.
GundayMonday1 votesI'd like to see that. What if she saves her slow for your super dash? Can you still catch? Her rend is a % slow that is 45% at max rank. So if she saves it for your super dash, she slows you down pretty dramatically.
Droogzy1 votesGenerally speaking, I watch for when she uses it before going in, once she uses it, that opens an open window of opportunity to catch her. Skarner is heavily reliant on follow up damage, so she usually has other targets she can use her slows on/nor should you be using your ultimate without anyone else around. If you did caught by it, it does slow you down quite enough for her to kite you, I will admit.
I also run swiftness mastery on top of the boots of swiftness, altogether, you get a 32% (I think) reduction in slow debuffs. Coupled with Furor which is easy to proc with E (its hitbox is deceptively big), speeds you up while slows Kalista down, you can usually get on top of Kalista even if she rends you, assuming you time it properly.
GundayMonday2 votesMakes sense to me. Thanks for explaining.