Is Skarner still worth picking up?

Web Cobra·10/30/2014, 3:13:08 PM·1 votes·1,568 views

I just started picking up the role of jungler and have been playing Amumu,FiddleSticks, Nocturne , Hecarim and Udyr, with minor success, and I played Skarner on free week a while back, and he seemed fun, I didn't play him before he got reworked so I don't know how he got changed but I did read all the threads QQing about his rework, so where does he stand right now? should I pick him up if so how should I build him, runes etc,etc TL;DR should I pick up Skarner for the jungle? if so how do I build him

31 Comments

Lumus Avatar10/30/2014, 3:38:01 PM5 votes

You're hard-pressed to find anyone who will speak for Skarner in any role, I think. It's even more uncommon to find really good Skarner players.

I'll just say that Skarner is my favorite of all the champions even through all the buffs, nerfs, and reworks. I pick him for jungle 100% of my time on SR and I always win jungle with him and make meaningful successful ganks for which my team thanks me. We do NOT always win game.

He has a bit of a learning curve, less so if you've never played him before. I'm still learning the right way to build his latest incarnation - I'm sad because I actually have to build tank now as opposed to relying on my shield.

I think he is still a very unique champion who is focused on team work. He's a giant friggin' scorpion, that's awesome to me. You just have to know this difference:

If you're jungling Lee Sin, you solo gank. This means you dive into a lane on an enemy champion when they're not expecting it and destroy them by yourself. When you Jungle Skarner, you rely on coordinating with your team. You have to tell your laner(s) who you're going in on and you have to wait for the right time and then, you have to attack together. Skarner lacks the damage output to solo gank (until much higher levels) However, he can successfully gank at level 3 with good coordination.

I guess what I'm saying is that you buy him because you love his concept and art and kit, and are willing to struggle to be good at him because he's awesome. You don't buy him because he's unstoppable and easy to use. I think he is just as good as any other champ, but you have to be good at him to achieve it, and a lot of people don't like champs you have to work to be good at.

Don't buy him if you're just looking to easily and consistently win jungle. Buy him if you like a unique champ who has seen ups and downs and largely kept his identity (except for his awesome passive, that's gone), and you want to show that you are willing to put in effort to be good at your champ and role.

ParinoidPanda10/30/2014, 4:24:18 PM2 votes

I actually take skarner 60% of the time I jungle: ranked and normals.

He is a tanky beast who still has some decent damage ratios. His gank and lockdown potential is just shy of Blitscrank, but with the tankiness of Nautilus. He really requires your teammates to deal the actual damage in a fight, but he can dish out some of his own if you build him right. You just have to remember to lock down squishies only. Don't blow your ult on a tank, like, ever. :P

He can counter-jungle like a boss, and is only countered by Udyr and Xin Zhao. Kha'zix, Shaco, Lee Sin, and others are all on equal, or below, footing. Once you learn how to duel, you can push them out of their own jungles. Just be wary of any laner help they will get.

Make extra certain you take AS Marks or ~~Glyphs~~ Quints. He absolutely needs AS at lvl 1 to do jungle well. I've been painfully aware of when I don't and it's not fun.

Build:

Standard:
followed by
Kill them ALLLLLL:
followed by
WE NEED A TANK NOW:
followed by

Don't be afraid to snag a item 2049 to go along with your midgame switch to sweeper . I frequently will buy 8+ wards in a game, so getting this before I finish my sheen item is common for me. Sell for 6th item.

Also, as with any tanky champion, throw on a Thornmail and Ninja Tabi if they have an AutoAttack champ that is really hurting.

PimperGnome10/30/2014, 4:45:03 PM2 votes

If you enjoy him...he's worth picking up.

Orbv10/30/2014, 4:54:40 PM2 votes

I prefer Sejuani, because she can engage far away. Skarner realistically has a much harder time coordinating a gank than say Xin/Mao/Naut, BUT once he does touch the enemy, he's really good at sticking to them.

Remlap122310/30/2014, 4:57:45 PM2 votes

Skarner has a good kit (after completely destroying him, thanks Rito) but his damage is sub-par at best (nerf Skarner instead of broken ass Lee Sin, thanks again Rito). If you can build him properly, he's a sticky tanky duelist that is a nightmare to get away from, but if you don't know how to use him by coordinating proper ganks with your team, he's not going to be very good.

L7xLoTek10/31/2014, 7:24:29 AM2 votes

Skarner is definitely good to pick up and a lot of fun. Be sure to master orbwalking/stutterstepping/attack canceling if you want to be successful with him (once your attack connects, immediately issue a move command so you'll get moving sooner and thus stay in range for more Qs and auto attacks).

Usual build for me is something like item 3209 item 3111 item 3025 item 3068 item 3091 item 3146 I run oddball runes (flat health regen quints and mana regen per level glyphs with armor seals and hybrid penetration marks) and 0/21/9 masteries (again, get that mana regen). is a must for both the damage and the additional slow while (and armor and cdr and mana... All the awesome, right here) item 3091 provides a stupid amount of extra damage. Feel free to substitute in any high-health/armor/magic resist item depending on the matchup for item 3068 and while I love item 3146 for the extra damage, sustain and slow, it can be substituted with another big defensive item if you are being focused/bursted.

The rework QQing was mostly about the first rework until they re-reworked him (expect to see something similar for Cassiopeia soon) to have more CC in the form of the stack mechanic ministun.

Dominick Destine10/30/2014, 5:44:25 PM2 votes

I play Skarner regularly in plat bracket.

He is solid and can compete with the high end junglers... he is inferior to them, but not to the point where he is unplayable. I would not recommend the 9/21/0 mastery build people keep suggesting, I would recommend 4/23/3 (ASPD / standard defensive / MVSPD)

Anomander10/30/2014, 3:48:11 PM1 votes

All champions are worth picking up....

YoungFishFillet10/30/2014, 5:50:23 PM1 votes

Skarner is actually easy to play which makes him boring after so many games. Thats why no one plays him. After you build trinity on him it's over. You should also try playing other jg champs because there are far better ones and fun to play. Also ap on him is useless. You wants ad attack speed and movement spee and just spam q and rape

Meep Man10/30/2014, 6:36:40 PM1 votes

Skarner is worth getting for the jungle. His ganks are extremely good and he has pretty decent clear time. He needs appropriate runes and masteries however.

futuresight2310/30/2014, 7:56:58 PM1 votes

He is a pretty decent choice as far as junglers are concerned at the moment. He clears well, he has competent damage early while being able to transition into being a beefy frontliner and his ganks when he gets his ultimate are very strong. His ganking without his ultimate while not the best can work assuming you can land your E given that Skarner's passive can stun if you get to your target and that he does do decent damage on his own.

MattAkhavan10/30/2014, 9:10:08 PM1 votes

if you have fun playing him, you will climb no matter what.

Fluppets10/30/2014, 5:25:41 PM1 votes

If you're going tryhard in high elo: No. He is too binary in his playstyle and gets outclassed by tier 1 Junglers.

However he is a solid pick if you're looking to main him below Plat. I main him in the jungle and im doing pretty good with him. His strongest point is actually his surprise factor. People dont know his passive that stuns and they dont know his damage potential.

A problem is that your teammates dont know this too, so they stop chasing, right when ur about to land that Passive proc AA (stun), the CC and damage skarner brings are not up front, the longer a fight takes the better.

You want to look for Attack Speed, CDR (40%), Armor/MR (synergy with shield). Jgl item= item 3209 Boots = item 3158 or If you run CDR runes (I do) item 3111 or item 3047 depending on threat (CC or fed AD) Core = item 3025 (90% of the time) item 3078 If really fed (other 10%) and item 3091 Situational = item 3143 item 3102 item 3068 item 3105 item 3075 Tankiness depending on what your team needs,

You'll notice the absence of item 3110 because I hit max CDR with my build, i dont like to waste stats, its still very good though.

item 3091 synergises really good with his kit, AS, MR, MR shred... Wits end builds its MR very fast, so dont underestimate the MR it gives.

You run AS Quints and Hybrid pen marks for dueling or AS marks for clearspeed, Armor yellows and CDR blues Masteries 9/21/0 Atm im testing 3/24/3 with 7.5cdr from runes.

PS: he is my Main for Jungle.