Skarner: Riot plans

You have an interesting definition of 'long range', Zenon. You know that flash isn't always up, right? Yeah, his ult is powerful, but it almost every meaningful way, it's worse than a Singed fling. Sure, you can move farther in a Skarner ult than a Singed fling, but his has less cooldown and doesn't lock him down from autoattacking. Singed also has a stronger AoE slow, tenacity, and health regen, meaning it's easier for him to dive into an enemy team. His itemization is also probably better, but that's because itemization in this game is all kinds of terrible.

Honestly, the permaslow might have been toxic, but it was also basically the only thing that Skarner had going for him. Without it, and with the changes you made in the remake, he's now just another bruiser. It's not that he's weak, it's that he's generic now. And trust me, you are not wanting for generic bruisers.

Also, if Skarner's permaslow is toxic, what about Ashe's? Plus Olaf's and Mundo's; sure, they're skillshots, but if you get hit by one, you're getting hit by the next one unless you have flash or some other way to escape.

I'd like to like you the same question I've been asking rioters in regards to Skarner; why should I pick him? Besides 'I like his aesthetics' or 'his VO is cool' or 'GIANT CRYSTAL SCORPION', gameplay wise. Why should I pick Skarner over Vi? Or Mundo? Or Warwick?

i agree that he is not in a terrible place atm. But I really want to ask if it would be possible for someone to work a little more on crystal slash. It needs to read better and feel better to use. It is a hodgepodge of hullabaloo right now between empowered crystal slash and the attack speed buff. I find myself at a loss when playing him as well as facing him, I never really knowing how much attack speed I/he has because crystal slash/empowered crystal slash is 2 staged while the attack speed buff is 3 staged.

Skarner's gone from being a self-reliant pick to being a niche pick reliant on his team to choose the right combination for Skarner to be effective and his enemies not to counter pick Skarner out of the game.

Sometimes it does seem hard to justify picking him over other junglers that aren't as reliant on their team or as easy to counter-pick (imo).

I'm not sure if that's a problem with Skarner or an issue with other junglers being too strong as generalists (ie: good for everything). Lee Sin being an example of someone who isn't reliant on his team and can essentially do similar things to Skarner.

" There was no way a kit with potential permaslow on it could ever be allowed to have sufficient power outside of the permaslow to even feel somewhat impactful. "

The rest of his kit doesn't feel any more impactful than it used to. The attack speed is just the same value as the past without the frustration of having it broken, the ramp-up on the movement speed is frustrating at best, the E feels more punishing than rewarding because of the combination of how much his kit relies on it and the fact that it isn't a particularly fast or wide skillshot (and the long cooldown means that missing and being unable to use your passive is extremely heavily punished), and the R is just the same as it was. The most impactful and enjoyable part of his kit was removed, and the mechanisms put in to replace it aren't enjoyable to use. Surely some QoL changes to make him less frustrating to play wouldn't be out of the question? Right now, it feels more like I'm fighting against the kit than working with it.

"I personally have had great Skarner games."

So have I. I've also had a lot of games where I wasn't able to have any impact because my enemies could easily outplay and cc/kite me but I had no mechanisms to outplay them. Having virtually no chance to fight back isn't fun.

But the problem is in the end why pick him? Pick Vi, Elise, Kha ect ect.. He is just outclassed. I like the rework and it's alright but if I had LP on the table I'm still just going to pick a sure thing that far greater chances of winning. He's outclasses is my point.

"He brings an incomparable bit of power (reliable long range displacement and lockdown)"

By reliable long range lockdown, are you referring to his E? Because that isn't reliable. Are you refering to his ultimate? Because that has a 350 range.

It's not incomporable power. It's displacement, and it trades range for reliability if he gets in range. It can very easily be compared to the displacement from Nautilus or Blitz or others like them, and in a lot of cases, it comes up lacking. This is not some supremely powerful mechanic that necessitates keeping the rest of his kit unsatisfying.

If only any of that was true. His power is very lackluster for a melee fighter, his jungle clear is subpar at best, and his shield has less AP ratio than makes up for a well-placed E shot before, and that had a 10 second cooldown before this rework, draining even more power from his kit. A bunch of wishful thinking is all any of this is.

And don't give me any of this about his ranged slow being reliable. He doesn't even catch up in time for the duration of the slow to end, typically. He's only lost power in every area, and you're using a transferred Attack Speed buff that is more "reliable" to rationalize it.

Meanwhile, his slow prior to rework was 40%. On AoE. I mean seriously, is there anything you people do prior to the rework? It's not the permaslow that "had to go", it was the overkill slow ratio. Seriously, as much slow as items like Rylai's and Mallet give, it gave melee Mallet slow in an AoE, Which now with Rylai's will give a whole 15%. I mean seriously, it's a sad joke what you guys do to balance champions when they "get sick".

Even in the next patch, there's quite a buff for Skarner, as 's cost is decreased some.

I feel like we are being insulted.

"I've had good games with him" is an awful bit of handwaving. I've had good games as insert weaker champ here, but that sure doesn't mean insert weaker champ here is strong/in a good place/etc. Hell, I've had bad games as Nasus top and pre-rework Kass... does that mean they were balanced (or even weak)?

And yet, here were are... it seems like every 3rd red post about Skarner contains "I've had good games with him".

How is his win rate? Relative to prework? His pick rate? Also relative to prework?

Those don't tell the whole picture, no doubt... but they are infinitely better than "I've had good games".

I can actually deal with the lack of a permaslow. Hell, I will get IBG at some point and get my permaslow back (which that + Mundo says permaslow isn't as toxic as we are let on to believe). I'm just taken aback that a champ picked about 1% of the time is nerfed for features still in the game (permaslow) while champions like the ticking time bomb that is Nasus (don't end the game fast enough... Nasus does it for you), Lucian (who virtually obsoletes every other ADC in the game), and others continue to dominate ranked (for a game with over 100 champions, I'm seeing the same 20 get recycled with frightening regularity).

And to top it all off, any identity that Skarner had (that thing that made the dozens of us, dozens!, pick him) was removed in the process.

Also, quick question, why in all that is holy was his shield move speed given a ramp up? You removed permaslow from Q, you made E a skillshot with a fairly long cooldown, and then you guys decided to add a move speed ramp up on a pop-able steroid?!?