@RiotScruffy @Morello Some Crystal Clear Impressions of the Crystal Vanguard
After seeing a few red posts talking about how the Skarner Gameplay Update seemed to miss the mark, I wanted to start this discussion to highlight some of my thoughts on what made it so unpopular.
While most people cite the removal of Skarner's perma-slow or healing as to the reasons they disliked the changes, I feel it's a different issue. A different two issues actually:
- The proc on Fracture was important in retaining the "feel" of Skarner, but ended up being removed.
- Skarner's role was further confused (Fighter/Tank -> Carry/Fighter/Tank).
###I miss my kind (of gameplay)### I think the jokes about "Skarner doesn't have an E" may have hidden the fact that the way Fracture (E) functioned was actually quite important to the feel of his kit. Even though it was hard to see the numerical effects of the ability, and many didn't even rank it until later, trying to get healing out of E procs gave the player more reasons to commit to a fight and more to do besides decide who to focus. This process of trying to hit multiple targets, and then follow up on them provided Skarner with additional gameplay. Without it, Skarner's gameplay is pretty simplistic:
- Select target, attempt to auto-attack target
- Use W if available
- Use Q if in range
- Use R if allies are nearby
I would assert that Skarner's gameplay pattern has been significantly disrupted because Skarner's new E doesn't offer any gameplay during fights anymore (although it offers way more on the approach and post fight phases).
##This world is so strange## In my opinion, Skarner's gameplay update did not provide Skarner with a clear role (the bundle of goals a champion is responsible for in a team composition) or niche (the way a specific champion fulfills the responsibilities of its role[s]), and in light of other recent changes (notably Feral Flare) Skarner's role is even more confused that previously.
Prior to his gameplay update, I would have classified Skarner as a hybrid Fighter/Tank. In my opinion, Skarner is a better as a Fighter both because he can have pretty serious trouble engaging and because, as a jungle tank, he is outclassed by the likes of Sejuani and Jarvan IV.
With the consistent AoE damage and slow on Q, durability from W and E, and increased cooldown reduction on champion hits, Skarner represented a consistent and increasing fighter-like threat as teamfights continued. He could be hard to get by, but definitely wasn't the champion you wanted to focus first in the teamfight.
The disruption caused by his AoE slow and suppression from R made him decent enough at peel that he also filled the tank role to some extent too. However, Skarner's performance as a tank often suffered in more coordinated matches because Impale's (R) value as an engage skill fell off very sharply as opponent players became more skillful at positioning. 1.75 seconds just isn't enough time to drag a well positioned squishy to a place where your team can make a significant advantage off of that, let alone surviving the initial 1v5 to get to that squishy.
After the gameplay rework, I feel that Skarner is now trying to be a carry, fighter and tank at the same time. I think this role confusion is the cause of Skarner performing poorly and failing to have a well defined niche.
Skarner now feels squishier. This hinders Skarner's ability to feel successful as a tank or a fighter. While a large part of this is likely perception, I think there were some advantages to having Skarner's durability split up the way it was (that were not explicitly mentioned to have been taken into account). Because the durability was split among two skills, their independent use meant both that Skarner still had some access to sustain midfight and also that the cooldown reduction effects of Skarner's passive could potentially have twice the effect on increasing durability.
This squishier feeling combined with the release of the Feral Flare feels like it's pulling Skarner's role more toward the carry jungler role. Feral Flare feels like an ideal item to buy for Skarner because Skarner is so happy to invest in attack speed early, and increasing his clear speed to such amazing rates augments his ability to counter-jungle. However, this playstyle has huge dissonance with Skarner's ultimate because the removal of Skarner's ability to auto attack disrupts the flow of his kit and hinders his ability to take down his target, precisely the opposite feelings of what you want on a carry.
##On all legs## Looking to the future, I think the best changes that can be made for Skarner will address adding more gameplay to Skarner's kit, especially during teamfights and clarifying his role. Personally, I'd like to see the return of Skarner's "try to proc all the E debuffs" gameplay in a way that moves him toward the carry/fighter side of the scale because I think creating a niche for him within the tank role would require more kit disruption. Some specifics I think are worth playtesting are as follows:
- Allow Skarner to extend slow duration, or increase slow magnitude by hitting targets already slowed by Fracture (E)
- Allow Skarner to auto attack during Impale (R), with necessary reductions in kit power elsewhere
- Allow Skarner to keep his movement speed when Crystalline Skeleton is broken. While it was important to have counterplay to Skarner's increased attack speed, that is no longer the case and having such a key part of Skarner's approach hampered by being behind contributes to Skarner's performance being binary.
- Mess with the max number, duration and magnitude of Crystal Slash (Q) stacks so that Skarner feels like he can build more noticeable increases to attack speed by applying more skill to maintaining stacks.
It should be noted that I don't think this is a popular direction. I got the impression that most veteran Skarner players (who posted about the gameplay update) preferred to play Skarner as a tank. And while I'm not lobbying to do away with Tank-Skarner, I think Skarner has a much brighter future as a Fighter.
