@Riot What're your thoughts on skarner? Is there potential for changes to him in the future?

Scroll down to "My solution" for what is pretty much a TLDR. NOTE! This ain't a "skarner is weak plz buff" thread This is about his game play and design as a whole

This thread, was motivated by a recent mystery skin acquisition (guardians of the sands), for a champion I haven't touched since I discovered my distaste for his new kit.... skarner. Playing a few games recently I discovered just how dire of a situation this champion is in game-play wise......

At the moment, skarner's dependence on his passive spires make him a very 1-dimensional champion who is completely useless as a laner as well as when ever he isn't surrounded by his spires later on in the game (procing the stun/ult doesn't count, he doesn't need the move speed/mana regen to catch someone he has already caught, the atk speed is meh).

To see just how dependant he is on these hunks of junk, I decided to try doing a full clear without the spires (a friend deactivated them for me in a custom then leashed first camp)...... and...... he can't, he can't kill gromp at lvl 1, he can't clear a red buff or krugs at lvl 2 (all with smite) and can barely do it at level 3. He's simply so weak without them. And these things, these spires, as a mechanic, are holding back his potential as a champion. On top of that, he clears slower than warwick and nautilus at at nearly every stage (doubt it would improve with identical gold value item builds). WW, a champ with zero splash damage and naut, a champion with a shield dependant dmg source that monsters pop easily, can both clear the jungler easier and faster than a skarner with no spires. Skarner still got a shield, a stun, and splash damage....

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/news/game-updates/patch/patch-516-notes#patch-skarner To quote a rioter "No matter what position he’s played, Skarner’s dominance over these choke points make him an experience that’s clearly differentiated from other fighters," Now tell me, why would a top lane skarner move away from his lane, to capture these? for the 15 gold which wouldn't even make up half the gold he lost in cs? For 1.5 seconds of vision? WOOOOOOO. There is no logical reason behind it, because NO ONE DOES IT! Well that's a lie, there's probs someone out there who does it, but I for one have never seen it and doubt I ever will.

The absence of his spires make him a horrid late-game team fighter around turrets (despite being strong around bazza/drag), a hopeless champion in lane and a helpless victim against any jungler who can reign supreme over his domain (shaco, graves, eve, trundle, shyvana to name a few)

Moving forward, I think his spires need to go, keeping them as this pathetic band aid is just as bad as when shyvana was being balanced around the existence of sated devourer, sej around cinderhulk or vlad around spell vamp. A champion should not have their power gated due to the existence of another component. Corki is an example of this done right, so is kindred. His old 3 stack passive was fine, and I saw no logical reason in removing it (I mean, look at all these beautiful 3 stack passives/spells riot has given us). And its interaction with his ult gave him a little more depth into trying to get full stacks on an enemy b4 ulting them for extra damage, it helped him clear the jungle WITHOUT compromising his in-lane performance and team fight ability.

My ideal, revert the changes you made, give him his old passive back and re adjust his stats so he can be a champion without a gimmicky passive, a champion that isn't balanced around the existence of a dull and boring passive and above all else, AN ACTUAL JUGGERNAUT!

Let's do a direct comparison of old skarner VS new skarner.\

Old skarner: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Skarner/Background Scroll down to bottom to see old skarner kit/stats

1. P, 3 stack stun+damage bonus stacked with skarners q and E and procd with an aa (4 hits required). Adds bonus damage to targets he ults who already have stacks. This allowed him to stun jungle monsters in his own time, not limited by a time out affect of the new E.
2. Q, Similar to new skarner, but gave movement speed and attack speed against champions (stacks 3 times) , AA lowered it's CD by double (0.5 sec) and it had higher base damage (His new Q only gains %AD %AP dmg, this one was flat dmg+%AD dmg)
3. W, TBH this is the only part where the new skarner has the old skarner beat, base amount of shield+80% ap (was strong early but dropped off hard with ice-born ap removal), identical move speed boosts to new skarner W.
4. E, A slowing projectile, scales with ap. Has a higher ap ratio, base damage and slow amount at all stages of the game than the current skarner W (65%slow, 180+40%AP magic dmg)
5. R, Skarner's trademark, his drive by steal spell. This one goes both ways, it's awesome because it deals additional damage based on passive stacks he has applied to his target while having a higher base damage. However it scales with %AP, which is now absent in the current trinity force and iceborn gauntlet.

VS New Skarner: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Skarner

1. P, His spires. They moved a component of his Q into this gimmicky thing that restrains him within a jungle prison. But they did buff the stats it granted by a large amount (the movespeed and attack speed), but mainly in the late-game...... when he will be spending the least amount of time around and utilising these spires while also granting him mana regen. However, this is ONLY as long as he remains within the spires range or when skarner stuns/ults an enemy champion (YAY 2% MANA REGEN IN A TEAM FIGHT :D). Hence in it's absence, his clears and dueling power diminish, BIG TIME!
2. Q, no base damage, no move speed, no attack speed and the total %AD bonus would mean something, if skarner's stacked AD in the first place. CD is reduced by only 0.25 per AA as opposed to 0.5 of his old Q. The only win I see is an AD ratio on the magic damage component of this spell
3. W,This one is a real winner, %max HP scaling added to the shield. This was a very welcome addition as most skarner build HP anyway but lacked the AP to grant the shield any significance apart from it's move speed increase (didn't change)
4. E, A weaker E that applies his old passive with 1/3rd as many brain cells. 25% additional damage IF he procs it and stuns the target, but a 20% lower AP ratio and a lesser slow at every level. The E can also expire b4 he can stun multiple targets, thus it is limited by the E cool down.
5. R, Lower damage overall, higher mana cost but has an AD ratio. However this isn't enough to make up for the absence of the additional damage of the crystal venom stacks or the higher base damage of the old ult.

While the current skarner improved on utilising his build path with AD/HP ratios, it screwed him over game play wise to a massive degree. The dependance on these spires, removal of his crystal venom passive/ult interaction, base damage nerfs/removals and spell blade item (iceborn+tri force) AP removals (he still has AP ratios) have crushed any hopes of skarner doing ANYTHING other than jungling in the future, aside from the fact that his jungling feels meh, uninteresting, and un-engaging. Which is the last thing I want for this champion.

Riot, don't bother thinking that the solution is buffing the spires, or his kit. It won't fix anything. He will still be this boring, spire centric/gated jungler who couldn't lane/duel out of his spire domain to save his life. He needs a revert or a rework, not adjustments to a previously promising but failed mechanic.

My solution? Revert most of the changes, keep the new W. These reverts are due to the fact that 4 components of his kit are linked via his passive (Q procs it, e procs it, ult utilises it, the passive is it). My ideal layout would be; The new and improved skarner:

1. P, Abolish the spires. Return the crystal venom stacks, practically identical to what is used to be (See link at old skarner)
2. Q, Same deal, if this old passive is to return the old Q needs to as well to grant skarner his attack speed/move speed boosts. I would bring the exact same spell back, no base damage changes, no %AD/%AP changes and no move speed/ attack speed changes.
3. W, Leave it alone, IMO it's perfect for him at the moment and the only thing his GU did right.
4. E, Revert it as it conflicts with his previous design and is a weaker/lazier spell overall.
5. R, Revert it partly, give it its old passive interaction back but maintain it's current AD ratio, perhaps buff its base damage a tad to bring it on par with the old R (As the AD ratio was gained at the cost of his AP ratio)

What would this achieve? What the freaking hell is the point of this wall of text? Kit health and viability. These changes would open up numerous possibilities by removing the prison that is his Crystal spires as well as adding a little bit of extra depth to his game-play by re introducing his old passive/spell/ult interactions. He would overall feel better, as you wouldn't experience this period of "meh now I'm weak" whenever you do gromp/krugs away from the spires influence. He would be strong and engaging, consistently. In ganks, in jungle clears, in team fights, in sieges and in contests over neutral objectives. And he'd still maintain his weakness to being kited.

That's just my take on Skarners current state.

What's your take on skarner at the moment? You agree? Disagree? If the latter, why? [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]