Different Take on Skarner's New Innate

This is tentative, so if there's something you think should be there, say so!

Skarner starts each game with an exclusive Crystal Arachia, which permanently occupies one of his item slots. Upon activation, Skarner plants a Crystal Spire which empowers him whenever he's near it. Skarner can retrieve the Crystal Spire to reduce the item's cooldown. Enemy champions can capture the Crystal Spire to briefly disable its effects and earn some gold.

The idea is that Skarner can plant a spire wherever he wishes, but he can't place them by every camp. He has to decide which camps he'll buff himself to fight or whether he'll save a spire for later. Once the game transitions into teamfights, he can lay down a spire where he thinks a fight may break out and gains from its benefits. He could even go top lane with it, placing it either near his tower for extra protection or in a bush for some "invisible" buffs.

I will admit I don't play Skarner and don't know a lot about his problems, but looking at his changes I see some room for flexibility. I'm not big on entirely scrapping new ideas, so I'd like to preserve what Riot's doing. It'd be interesting to see Skarner be a sort of "zone control" fighter.