When is Skarner going to get some love?

Shahamut·Jul 9, 2019·33 votes·13,878 views

Title.

This champion was wrecked by the juggernaut update, with multiple rioter confessions of it being so. So many other champions, Leblanc, Kog'maw, Zac Ultimate, I could go on, have gotten their reverts.

Skarner is a perfect candidate for at LEAST a revert.

What makes me sad is that playing Skarner at the highest levels (challenger and pro play) means: Jungle, Full Tank, No Sheen...

He has so little damage that good players wont even build damage on him...

Please Riot, there are not many one trick Skarner players left. How about a little love for the Scorpion? Please?

75 Comments

Fear the KaynJul 9, 20199 votes

He's secretly really good but let me tell you why nobody plays him, and its actually really simple. He's a big scorpion with incredibly boring and outdated quotes and lines. And his kit is very boring.

ShahamutJul 9, 201911 votes

Big Scorpion. I like that. Not everyone has to like it, but its kind of who he is.

Boring/outdated quotes/lines: Boring is an opinion. I find his quotes to be fitting to his character, and that is satisfying enough for me. Outdated? Yes. He could use some more lines to bring him up to date with the current lore/world.

Kit is boring? That again is an opinion. I enjoy his kit. I find it very fun and challenging, especially with all of the crazy mobility and what not in this game. What I do NOT enjoy, is most of my power budget being locked into a mechanic that A) Doesn't help with objectives B) Can't kill towers/base, C) Can't PROTECT my towers/base, and D) Can be COMPLETELY denied by the enemy team. If your team is losing, you get no spires. Period.

AhrisJul 10, 20192 votes

Isnt Skarner pretty new due to rework compared to many champs? His model looks good, his kit looks fine, and used sometimes. He is a tank afterall, not a dps. Maybe a bruiser, but he does do decent damage early I think? I would understand building tanky is boring, so maybe Riot can tweak things here and there to make him more viable as a bruiser?

His ultimate will always be good due to catching one person and bringing him to ur team. Unless you are at like top diamond elo, then most players position themselves badly, try warding a lot and it will probably help you do much better catching people.

FrancisMuniJul 10, 20193 votes

Half his kit is useless
He is really squishy without items. He is only tanky because you build tank items on him. Even a Veigar becomes tanky with tank items. Skarner's base stats are lower than some ADCs and his only survival or tank tool is a small shield that has long cooldown and fills one of his abilities slots.
If you think that he does decent damage early, go test him. In a couple of seconds you'll realize that he has about the same dps as a cannon minion. Even a Soraka does more damage than him for the first 5 levels at least.
There is a lot of ults that are better than Skarner's, like Jarvan, Camille, Warwick, Mordekaiser... Having a lot of CC is useless if you can't deliver it. Skarner doesn't have real mobility and he has to be besides his target to ult, so 95% of the time he can't use his ult.
He is only used in tournaments. In Solo Q almost nobody plays him. He is bad to the point that his winrate falls drastically when they buff him, because the buff encourages people to try him and the results of that are catastrophic. I haven't seen or played with/against in my entire life a first time Skarner that does decent. Every time they lose incredibly hard. The situation would be understandable if Skarner was a really difficult champ like Orianna, Azir or Draven; but it isn't normal that no one can make an average skill champ as Skarner work unless they main him.

AhrisJul 12, 20191 votes

Then you must clearly understand why Skarner is picked over those "better" champs in competitive right? Lol.

He is probably a hard champ to play, that is why most people dont play him. Visually, he is not humanoid either, so less people plays him.

Idk if he is fine or not, but seeing Riot not buffing him, then he is prob fine.

KlMANov 26, 20191 votes

Skarner deals great damage, he specializes in trading early and his sustainability with jungle shrines is absurd, most games i don't have to back pre 6 and i can still consistently gank with great affect, skarner is a purpose build champ, he cant team fight but he can focus cc any carries and can duel non-dps champs or squishy well.

Sire HippingtonJul 10, 20193 votes

I love him beeing a big scorpion, i love his lines and i loved playing his Original version and even liked the first rework. The only big issue is how his current passive forces him into jungle(i liked him toplane) and how his ult holds back the rest of his kit, despite beeing removed by 1300g. even though i like that ult, i could totally live with a different one if it means his base kit can have solid numbers again. Or with it beeing a skillshot like Dehaka in HotS has, though maybe removeing the passive pillars would free up enough power for his basekit to be statisfying again.

KlMANov 26, 20191 votes

Boring kit? you must be tripping there is not a better feeling then dragging a helpless screaming vayne from the safety of her back line into the waiting arms of a nunu ult

robotmasterJul 9, 20198 votes

https://giphy.com/gifs/harry-potter-pottermore-M28rUlcjueKUE Sad times for the loneliest boy in the game.

A Sutpid IdotJul 9, 20193 votes

I mean skarner had like a 65% winrate or some bullshit when he was strong.

FrancisMuniJul 9, 20194 votes

Skarner was that strong 4 years ago. By that logic almost any champ has to be nerfed to the point that he is right now.

KazekibaJul 9, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Skarner was that strong 4 years ago. By that logic almost any champ has to be nerfed to the point that he is right now.

No other champion got close to Skarner the day of Juggernaut patch release. He was one of if not the first Hotfix champions. Neeko and release Xin got close. Weedwick im not sure on the numbers strictly.

ShahamutJul 9, 20193 votes

Your point? Im not asking for jugger-snot Skarner. I want this current iteration destroyed. I want pre-juggeraut Skarner back.

KazekibaJul 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Your point? Im not asking for jugger-snot Skarner. I want this current iteration destroyed. I want pre-juggeraut Skarner back.

Skarner wasn't "Strong" 4 years ago. He literally tilted the entire balance of the game to the point of "If they lock in skarner, dodge or AFK it's over." 4 years ago. He was strong at the beginning of the season, and can potentially come back into pro meta, if tank items keep getting buffed.

HIS ULTIMATE DOES 20 FRIGGIN DMG AT RANK 1!

Because it's a Suppression that lets him drag you into his team or under his own turrets? It's the single strongest ability in the game, being point-and-click Hard CC, a displacement, and having a long duration all at the same time. The damage doesn't matter at all. Reverting Skarner to pre-juggernaut patch would result in him being even more forgotten and useless than he is now.

PredatoratorJul 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Skarner wasn't "Strong" 4 years ago. He literally tilted the entire balance of the game to the point of "If they lock in skarner, dodge or AFK it's over." 4 years ago. He was strong at the beginning of the season, and can potentially come back into pro meta, if tank items keep getting buffed.

Because it's a Suppression that lets him drag you into his team or under his own turrets? It's the single strongest ability in the game, being point-and-click Hard CC, a displacement, and having a long duration all at the same time. The damage doesn't matter at all. Reverting Skarner to pre-juggernaut patch would result in him being even more forgotten and useless than he is now.

He was not useless pre juggernaut, he simply was not as popular, because he was balanced and the only people playing him were actuaslly his mains. But he was fun, and going lane skarner didn't feel like an handicap match. he was discovered again by the pros when 4 years ago his rework made him broken. but he could still multistun, his ulti was the same. the main difference is that now he requires the whole team to mantain control of his spires if he wants to stay relevant through the game.

He's outdated and needs a update

ShahamutJul 9, 20193 votes

THE KIT IS STUPID!

The spires were over buffed.

The spires REMAIN as a terrible game mechanic.

ZeroAgainstJul 9, 20193 votes

u really gonna say skarner needs work whens the last time you've seen Trundle lmao

A Sutpid IdotJul 9, 20199 votes

{quoted}

u really gonna say skarner needs work whens the last time you've seen lmao

Trundle is actually very good though.

ShahamutJul 9, 20198 votes

Trundle is played in 2x as many games as Skarner is...

ZeroAgainstJul 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Trundle is played in 2x as many games as Skarner is...

idk ive seen 1 lcs game trundle was picked while skarner was all over msi

HahahahyenaJul 9, 20193 votes

it's probably because he suffers from an outdated and incredibly linear kit, he sees a lot of success in LCS and in SoloQ because of it,

build MS/tank and go ult the carry

I play him a lot (only because movement speed is like a drug to me and im addicted to it) and since it "works" without it being first pick first ban worthy i dont think riot will touch him any time soon.

i dont have much recollection of skarner pre-juggernaut so i cant say if his previous adaptation is any better than his current self, and since ive played a shit ton of him post juggernaut my personal bias is gonna be the current adaptation

ShahamutJul 10, 20195 votes

His "success" in the LCS isn't nearly as simple as you make it. He doesn't see a lot of success either in pro or soloQ.

a 50% winrate on a champ that has a 1.1% pick rate (meaning he only gets played by his mains) is not ok.

Let me just put it this way: Pre-juggernaut Skarner actually dealt damage. Sheen was a must buy on him. The highest level of play only play him as an ult bot, if only to force the enemy carries to blow money on a QSS.

The spires are a total fail, and they need to go.

HahahahyenaJul 10, 20192 votes

I know he doesnt see THAT much success, but because he is high-mid tier in viability thats why i said he works in pro and soloQ

post juggernaut skarner still deals damage even without building sheen, but he's much more effective building tank and MS rather than going damage. the spires i do agree are just a bad gimmick that do nothing but hinders skarner gameplay wise

I dont know about you but i think pre-jugg and post-jugg might have had the same pick ratios, maybe better pick ratios, i dont really know how to support this claim other than the fact that he is played in LCS.

ShahamutJul 10, 20192 votes

Prior to juggernaut, Skarners lcs presence was actually zero. But he had a much bigger soloqueue presence, and a much larger group of mains.

Skarner has no damage. Ez example of what I'm talking about:

Skarners ultimate, at max rank, has 200 base damage (100 x2). Prior to the jug changes, you could forgo a stun from your passive and do bonus damage on your ultimate, I think at max rank, your ultimate could deal 700 damage base if you used all 3 of your passive stacks.

Your Q scaled with bonus AD, but also had a base value that was around 80 dmg. That's 160 dmg when charged. (Skarner currently will deal about 120 ish when charged)

His E used to have a base damage of around 240 I think, with 80% AP scaling. Now it's only 250 IF you can land the slow AND get proc the stun. Otherwise its 140 and 20% AP.

Compare his numbers to Nautilus for example. Skarner has NO dmg.

Sire HippingtonJul 10, 20192 votes

One little hint to get your facts straight: New skarner has also a total ad ratio as physical damage on the ult, adding 120% ad total which is ~170 at lvl 18 just from basestats.

Also for the comparsion with nauti, his raw base as+ad and the spamabillity of his Q still give Skarner more dps than naut, even autside his crystals. just that dpsing as a immobile melee is not a very realistic scenario and compared to similar champs like udyr or mundo, his damage is nealry non existance.

Notsaying skrner doesn't need love or work(i personally would love a revert to his OG state, or a mix from the OG and first rework, i really miss his old healing mechanic), but i still think we should stick to facts when discussing him.

However, i think the ult doing low damage is totaly fine, else it would once again consume to much of his powerbudget. my main issue with current scarners damage is that his Q feels meh and 'charge' mechanic feels pointless without the old stacking buff or the very old slow and that his AS sucks outside of the crystal zones. Other than that, i really miss meaningfull AP ratios and more magic damage. Beeing hybrid both in damage and scaleing once was scarners thing, now his E and ult do half physical damage shifting his overall damage profile alot more towars physical, and his Ap ratios went from greate on his OG state, to ok in the first rework to barly any on the live version.

SgtAwesomenessJul 10, 20193 votes

Please stop reworking my mains

ShahamutJul 10, 20193 votes

this needs reverted, not reworked again.

C1OUTJul 10, 20193 votes

Who?

ShahamutJul 10, 20192 votes

Lol

SociopathFriendJul 10, 20193 votes

Skarner is a perfect candidate for at LEAST a revert.

I would argue otherwise. Yes he's not as powerful now but at least he's interesting. Yes he's locked behind a mechanic that turned out poorly but again, it's interesting and different from everyone else.

Putting him back to the way he was just means you end up having to rebalance around that- at which point you might as well put forth the effort to update him going forwards instead of back. I'd rather they try again to update the kit rather than send it back.

ShahamutJul 10, 20192 votes

Putting him back the way he was would give him actual carry potential and make him an actual duelist again.

SociopathFriendJul 11, 20191 votes

He's got the strongest CC in the game- he shouldn't be an actual duelist.

FrancisMuniJul 11, 20192 votes

There are a lot of champs that have ults that are as good as Skarner's or better, and still are bruisers with good damage or even juggernauts. Camille, Jarvan, Warwick, Vi, MORDE FUCKING KAISER (AKA I remove you from the tf for 7 seconds and probably kill you).

ShahamutJul 11, 20191 votes

Strongest cc in the game????

Nautilus ?

PhearBunnyJul 10, 20193 votes

Skarner and Leona should both be on the rework list. Full blown rework for Skarner. Partial for Leona. Idk why they arent. They are mechanically dysfunctional, and become more so, everytime new champion/rework releases. Outdated immobile kits simply cant keep up with the hyper-mechanics creep, and they just get worse and worse with time.

KazekibaJul 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Skarner and Leona should both be on the rework list. Full blown rework for Skarner. Partial for Leona. Idk why they arent. They are mechanically dysfunctional, and become more so, everytime new champion/rework releases. Outdated immobile kits simply cant keep up with the hyper-mechanics creep, and they just get worse and worse with time.

Leona is a solid counter into hyper-mobility champions because when mobility consumes a huge part of your power budget, not having it for 3.5 seconds means death.

PhearBunnyJul 10, 20191 votes

{quoted}

Leona is a solid counter into hyper-mobility champions because when mobility consumes a huge part of your power budget, not having it for 3.5 seconds means death.

Gl hitting those hypermobile champions. Most players aren't going to waste mobility until you use Zenith Blade. Then when they dodge Zenith Blade because its one of the most avoidable CC's in the game, they have a 12second window to do anything they want to do, because your Zenith Blade is on CD and u are now a useless sitting duck.

KazekibaJul 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Gl hitting those hypermobile champions. Most players aren't going to waste mobility until you use Zenith Blade. Then when they dodge Zenith Blade because its one of the most avoidable CC's in the game, they have a 12second window to do anything they want to do, because your Zenith Blade is on CD and u are now a useless sitting duck.

summoner 3 + Q Ally CC Land your freaking R Not being bad at Leona summoner 4 + E mindgames

ZemasuJul 9, 20192 votes

What i miss more is the slow on empowered Q.

xelakerJul 10, 20192 votes

I'm viaaaaaable! Finally viable!

ShahamutJul 10, 20192 votes

"Nah, man.. you really arent... "

Skarner item 3070

NevrankroatonJul 10, 20192 votes

He isn't in a bad spot tho?

Even with a revert (which is honestly not needed now that they finally made some of the QoL buff like FREAKING NOT SHOWING THE ENNEMY TEAM THAT YOU TOOK A SPIRE deep breathe), it won't change his issues and it won't make him strictly better. What you win in damage input, you will loose in raw power in term of clearing speed, safety, etc.

He is used in competitive, he is viable at high elo, you can use it at lower elo. And he tend to be a huge stat stick/issue when you buff his damage too much and he just Q you to death with no retaliation than hoping you are a kiting person.

He has 50% win rate, he was always a niche champion so his playrate isn't really something to discuss about. He could get some mini buff but honestly I think he is in a ok spot.

ShahamutJul 10, 20193 votes

his spires lock him into troll status if you want to play him anywhere but jungle.

the spires are his ONLY stat stick ability and they can be completely denied

his spires can't be used to defend your base, or to take the enemy base

his spires don't make him better at controlling objectives. Cho'Gath R, Kalista rend (W?), Nunu Q, are powerful objective controlling abilities.

his spires don't help him gank

his spires are a poor gimmik that need to be done away with. period.

SpaghettiVaseJul 10, 20192 votes

Didn’t skarner literally just get changes like 3 months ago to benefit his clear and his invading?

PredatoratorJul 10, 20192 votes

{quoted}

Didn’t skarner literally just get changes like 3 months ago to benefit his clear and his invading?

more like they bring his clear in line with the junglers. krugs were outside the spires, and that made them so unconvenient to clear either you ignored them, or spent alot of time to clear them

radetariJul 10, 20192 votes

I like the champion but I understand why he is overshadowed by everyone else still i do so enjoy when someone dives me and i ult them or smth like that

imo his q doesnt do that much dmg his e should be able to be procked by q w is ok... ult should last a bit longer on higher levels

just something i noticed from my games of skarner i played

RatpieJul 10, 20192 votes

I actually really like skarner LOL.....I think with just a little tweaking he could be very doable again. I don't think he needs huge things done.

ShahamutJul 10, 20192 votes

Im still waiting RIOT, this thread has gotten more attention than several of my last posts combined. Come chat with me!

Suh ShiJul 11, 20192 votes

I think skarner could use a few quality of life changes. I personally feel like he is pretty good (although he could use a little bit more), and i enjoy the way he plays, but i don't play him consistently enough to know if he is too weak. I always build him tank and go predator. I think some solid changes to him could just be in how he procs some of his CC, and maybe the missle speed on his slow. I mostly play shaco though, and i think that shaco is in desperate needs of changes to make him more fun to play and more interactive to play against. I hope that we both can get what we are looking for, or, at least, some attention from riot!

ShahamutJul 11, 20191 votes

I feel bad for shaco mains. Hes one of the few (if any?) Other champions I would say is in as bad a state as Skarner.