Ideas for the Skarner rework
Skarner is the one I want to see be made the best, he was the champion to got me to join League of Legends but he felt disappointing when compared to other junglers I played at the start like Warwick, and even now is over shadowed by Poppy and Shyvana. I feel that this is mainly due to his primary abilities not being the greatest and needing to be changed. I was going to make this a post about suggestions for both Mordekaiser and Skarner, but I had more ideas and better ideas for Skarners rework, where Morder it was just what should stay and why rather than coming up with some ideas. I'd also like to hear some ideas from other people as well so if you have any ideas for Skarner or additions to my ideas, tell me below.
Now I don't feel he needs as much of a visual update as a gameplay update, Morder needs both but Skarner's visuals are pretty good as is. The most I'd say they should do is redo some models to make them better (the splash art for Earthrune looks so much better than the in game model it actually pisses me off). But aside from that, nothing at all; his design and concept is unique and interesting and his lore is really cool and makes him seem awesome. And his voice is pretty cool, it doesn't need to be changed. Where Skarner needs to be changed however is his gameplay.
His passive was a step in the right direction and gave Skarner something more unique to him, it gave him and his team a bit of area control as fighting him in it was stacked in Skarner's favor. The main problem with it though is that it doesn't interact with Skarner's other abilities, it's just a movement and attack speed boost with some extra mana regen. If his abilities had special interactions while in it, it could make Skarner more powerful. I don't think making him fully based around them is a good idea though, it would make it too easy to shut him down, but giving his abilities extra power in it would make the points much better to use, think of the power ups similar to Renekton's Fury, where it isn't required for the ability to be good, but it makes it much better when used in it. I really want Riot to take this concept and go places with it, I'll go in to how it can be used greatly in a bit, but just imagine the potential it has.
His Q is an ability that either needs to be removed or reworked a ton, I feel it could benefit the most from an extra effect with his passive. In it's current state it doesn't feel like it does much mainly in team fights. If he had it do more in team fights and feel like it does more than Skarner would be on the right path. I think removing it might be the best of the two ideas however. Although I'm not sure what they could use in it's place. Maybe an attack that strikes a single target with his stinger that does AOE damage while in a spire or even true damage in the spire, but that's all I got.
His W also needs some changes though there's a lot to work with it without straight up changing it. The shield and movement speed aren't great but with some more power to them it could be greater. For an extra effect it would be a great way to make use of the spires with an older ability; it could have a greater shield or even reflect physical damage back like thornmail while active in the spire. A passive effect is the main thing that it needs and connecting it to the spire could allow the to give it's abilities more power than just a normal passive like the thornmail thing. W is the one out of the three basic abilities that could work the most with the changed kit if they do something like this.
E has to go. I hate having to say thing but the potential of E isn't enough to keep it around. It's only selling point currently is that it's his stun outside of Impale and that's it. It doesn't do that much damage, have that much range and it feels ungodly slow. There isn't much that could be done with it's current state to be boosted by the spires either, the most I've got is the stun being activated instantly and Skarner getting a buff from it. But that isn't enough to save it, especially when we could have a much better ability. That being said I think Skarner might still needs a CC ability that isn't his ultimate. Maybe they could make it something different that has a stun that either does more damage or a longer duration while in the spire, or a snare that becomes a stun in the spire. Again, this is left up to Riot to decide what they'll do.
And surprise surprise, I think Impale should stay the same. It's fine as it is, it feels satisfying to use and it's very useful in duals and team fights, and it isn't over powered by having a short range requiring Skarner to get up in his enemies face to use it. It's a great ultimate and if it stayed the same, no one would complain.
Honestly, even if they don't do this to Skarner, my main wish is for him to feel fun and great. Even though some people like one of my friends can enjoy Skarner as he is, I feel that there's a lot more potential untapped with him. The main thing I'd like his for his rework is the spires doing more and his ultimate remaining the same, even if the ult was the only thing that remained I'd be happy as long as the rest of his kit is fun. Really, I just want Skarner to be fun and good again. I'm trusting Riot to do it well, they have shown they can with Poppy and Shen, so let's hope Skarner also gets treated like this.