Skarner nerfs and play vs counter play

Okay so, as someone who used to play a ton of Skarner since Season 3, new Skarner needs nerfs. SERIOUS nerfs. Like, the nerfs that are on the PBE aren't NEARLY enough. That's fair enough. And I know you want to work on more champions having niches and unique identities, but I don't think pushing Skarner into his 'area control' identity is a good one.

So there's champions with play and counterplay, right? Zed is a good example. A LOT of ways to distinguish yourself as skilled but also a lot the enemy can do to get you off of them, even if it's a very small window. Then there's champions with play and no counterplay. Old LeBlanc. Very mechanically tough to play but when you CAN play her there's basically nothing the enemy can do.

The last category is counterplay with no play. This is what Akali's W falls under and why she's just a toxic, low-elo-stomper version of Diana. If you have a pink ward or a scrying orb, her W is worthless. And if Akali can't use her W to hide while she waits for cooldowns, then she loses every single fight in the game pre-6, she can barely farm, and most bruisers, mages and assassins will stomp her after 6 too. The Akali has no control over this. If the enemy knows how to play around her W, they win, and if they don't, she does. It's an ability with counterplay, but no play.

To balance Skarner as he currently is you have two options. You can nerf his base stats, or you can nerf his passive. PLEASE NERF HIS PASSIVE. The thing is, the Skarner has no real control over where people fight him. If the enemy team just knows that he's a God whenever he's near a Spire, then they won't fight him in it. If they underestimate him and fight him near them, then he wins. The Skarner can't reposition his spires. He can't force anyone to enter them except in the very specific case of dragon and baron fights, which implies your team actually listens to you when you say 'hey let's bait dragon' which they won't, and even then if I saw a Skarner blatantly trying to start a fight around dragon at 10 minutes as a jungler I'd just walk top lane and get an even trade for it. If he takes over a spire in your jungle just don't go in there for the time it takes him to clear it; if you're on the other side of the jungle you can just take his side. There is so much the enemy team can do to stay out of his passive and absolutely nothing the Skarner can do to force people into it. It's a passive with lots of counterplay but no play and I don't want Skarner to become some gimmicky low-elo stomper who's useless as soon as you enter higher ranks and people just stay away from his spires.