To Riot: A Response to Crystal Shrine Skarner Change

Skarner is a champion that should be amazing, and for awhile he was considered one of the best junglers in League. However time after time we have seen how hard it is to balance a character with the kit he was released with. The previous rework has generally been met as a general nerf to Skarner, and so when I heard that he was going to be reworked, I was excited. What I am seeing now is far worse then the rework before it. I understand that numbers and other kit changes could be key to this new idea, but what these shrines give Skarner perplexes me. Skarner has always been a character who when ahead is far too dominating, but when behind is very hard to contribute anything to his team, and in general as the game progresses he has a harder and harder time in the late game being a threat. This shrine mechanic just makes that problem even worse, so much so in fact that I didn't even believe it when I first read it.

Skarner doesn't need to have shrines to help his already supreme clearing speed become better. He doesn't need mechanics to snowball ahead of the other team or crash and burn. And he certainly doesn't need these shrines to boost his stats to be a great champion, or at least not in the way they are being utilized. It becomes more of a hassle for him and his team to try to secure to keep him going, and it also makes it easy to shut him down (unlike Garen, Darius and Mordekaiser, whose power has been shifted onto their Kit's and Abilities rather then their ability to control the map). So here are a couple of solutions

1: Drop the shrines entirely. I expect many players would feel this would be the best course of action. Or you can...

2: Give control of this new mechanic to Skarner, and make it something that teams want to protect rather then something a team is Forced to protect. Have it be an ability that maybe goes like:

E: Crystal Shrine Range: 250/800 (Shrine Radius) Mana: 70 Cooldown 1 Recharge Time: 25

Skarner marks an area with a magical shrine, and after 1 second a Crystal Shrine appears in that location. While in the radius of the Shrine, Skarner gains 20/25/30/35/40% attack speed and 10/15/20/25/30% bonus movement speed and allied champions within the radius of the Shrine gain half these bonuses. While the effects of the shrines do not stack, Skarner can store up to 3 at a time and place as many as 3 in an area. These shrines last for 10 seconds, or until destroyed. (These shrines acting like Zyra plants and decaying health over it's duration.)

Not only does this give Skarner a useful ability to use in all situations, it can also be set up and utilized for initiation, for escape, or for clearing. It gives Skarner power, keeps him buffed while also giving counter play, is easier to balance, gives Skarner windows of vulnerability when he does not have charges available, and keeps the idea of utilizing a radius that Skarner performs well in, without making it tied to parts of the map.

3: Completely rework Skarner from the ground-up. This is the most drastic, but as problematic as Skarners kit can be, it may be necessary to re-visit what specific role Skarner should be filling and create a new kit around it. Naturally it seems that he should be a Juggernaut, so perhaps another look at other ways you can make him slide gradually to a position of power.

I know you guys do great work, and many champions I would have never picked up have been some of my favorite champions after they were reworked. So please, consider these changes. From me as a fan, a lover of gaming, and a belief that we can strive to make Skarner even more awesome.