Skip to content

Some Tips and Builds for Skarner 3.0

lightdragoon88··5 votes·3,179 views

http://leaguecraft.com/meme/asset/meme_760px_12143.jpg

So there is a lot of....mix feelings around this Skarner rework and I know that feeling is only going to increase when the masses get their hands on them. If there is one thing the Fiora rework has taught me is that people will go to build and max what they did on the champ before the rework, which for Skarner right here is going to be really bad. So I am going to offer what I have found during plays, watching others, and checking all his stats changes so that you can understand and make your new Skarner games much smoother, easier, and of course, fun.

Keep in mind this is for Jungle Skarner, not lane Skarner...I'm not that good at lane Skarner. :(

  1. DON'T MAX Q!!! MAX E!!!!

This is going to be the biggest problem most people are going to have when they try Skarner. Everyone is so used to maxing Q and leaving E as a 1 point wonder, but that is going to have to change.

Yes you should get Q at level 1, but it should stay at 1-2 points. Why? let look at what it does when you level it both Q and E up.

Q:

COOLDOWN: 3.5 / 3.25 / 3 / 2.75 / 2.5

COST: 10 / 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 mana

Physical Damage: 33 / 36 / 39 / 42 / 45% AD

Bonus Magic Damage: 33 / 36 / 39 / 42 / 45% AD (+ 20% AP)

E:

COOLDOWN: 13 / 12.5 / 12 / 11.5 / 11

COST: 55 mana

Magic Damage: 40 / 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 (+ 40% AP)

Slow: 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65%

Bonus Stun Damage: 25 / 50 / 75 / 100 / 125

I would like to point out that there is NO BASE DAMAGE ON Q. All maxing Q does is slightly lower the cooldown and increases the mana cost. Unless you are buying early AD, maxing Q does almost nothing damage wise and just make it cost more. Maxing E on the other hand lowers cooldown, increases slow, and increases the base damage on both the first hit and the stun damage. Also stunning a target takes 1 second off E for each target stun, that makes the lower cooldown on each rank more noticeable.

  1. BUILD HEALTH/TANK

Skarner W now scales with his max health (12-16% of based on rank) I would argue maxing this second after maxing E first but what you max second can be flexible based on the team comps. With the tanky health Skarner you will have a powerful shield and will still deal lots of damage with the new item Titanic Hydra

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pWzgrhsY3M0/VcupUiOV_KI/AAAAAAAAvvI/mjZC59Ula_I/s320/titanic1.jpg

This item gives 400 health (good for Cinderhulk and Skarner's W), 50 AD (Good for Skarner's Q) and Health regen. But the big thing is it passive, It's passive and active makes your auto attacks do bonus damage based on your max health. So buy building this item with health and tank, Skarner can not only take the hits, but can deal so much more back. Speaking of health....

  1. New Warmog http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wNPT2-Zql0E/VcFmSBo8pYI/AAAAAAAAvIk/iVtHsJKhxpQ/s320/warmogsarmor.jpg

This change only heals you if you max health has gone pass 3000 (which if you are building health tank is easy to do), but now the heal is 3% of your max health PER SECOND when out of combat. Skarner's new passive has him recover 3% of his max mana PER SECOND when you are in his special zones. With both the zone and warmog, Skarner can get back to max health and mana very fast, making the need to recall to heal pointless. Once you get watmog, you will only ever have to recall to buy items and wards. Because of that.....

  1. item 1300 item 1305 item 1310 item 1315 item 1320 item 1325 item 1330

This boot enhancement is actually much better for Skarner to use than homeguard. With the health and mana regen Skarner will be getting from warmog and his passive zones, you will hardly recall, if you are not recalling much..you are not using homeguard much. Furor on the other hand Skarner can use all the time and to great use.

And that's about all I got. Hopefully this will help you guys out when you play Skarner. If you have any questions let me know and I will try to answer them.

9 Comments

lightdragoon882 votes

Any questions?

junglerboy163 votes

Yeah, in your opinion, is Trinity force still going to be a good pick up on him, or should we try and just get as much pure tank as possible? I can easily see finishing out the build with a Dead man's plate or Sterak's gage and then a sheen item, but I don't have a PBE account so I haven't tried any of this for real, just theory crafted.

lightdragoon881 votes

Trinity Force is still a really good item on him. He has AP ratios and the mana and movement speed is good (so you can replace the furor boots with homeguards or another boot upgrade) and it does give HP too.

The thing is, you can get just as much or more damage to both single and AOE with Titanic Hydra and going tank.

Dead man's plate is also a good item on Skarner and I highly recommend building it.

lightdragoon881 votes

Guess I should leave my build..I use:

item 3709 item 3742 item 3065 item 3083 item 3111 and Titanic Hydra

Not in that order mind you, but final build is usually this.

Earthpine1 votes

How do you gank pre-6? I've tried playing him now and on PBE but after the E stun wears off the enemy always escape without burning a summoner spell or dieing.

lightdragoon881 votes

What are your allies doing during the gank? lolz.

But seriously the best thing I could say is "Stay between them and where they want to escape."

With your Q being an AOE, you can focus more on being a wall between them and their turret so that they have to either A) Focus you (allowing your teammate to attack them) B) run around you (taking time for you to hit more Q's), C) use Flash. or D) Die.

lightdragoon881 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMIu6pRh8q8

This Youtuber, Pants are Dragon, has a little guide on new Skarner that I really agree with. He also maxes E first and builds health with the new Hydra item.

lightdragoon881 votes

Well the patch is through and Skarner 3.0 is live now, I last reminder and hope you guys do well with him.

More from Tips & Tricks

More by lightdragoon88