Skarner/Strategy

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Gameplay

By Ryan 'Morello' Scott

Greetings Summoners!

Today, I wanted to give a little sneak peek into the gameplay behind Skarner, the Crystal Vanguard.

The idea behind Skarner is to get on people, stay on them, and really capture that inevitability of being run down by a predatory creature. Additionally, we wanted to avoid an instant gap closing mechanic so there's appropriate counter-play.

The primary way Skarner accomplishes this mission is through his ability Crystal Slash and his passive, Energize. Crystal Slash does a quick, point-blank AOE and empowers the ability if it hits. Empowered casts will do bonus damage and slow (making successive uses really useful for sticking to his target). His passive causes his spells to cool down faster each time he auto-attacks - a natural combination with the empowered Crystal Slash.

Properly utilizing Skarner's passive is central to his gameplay as a whole. For example, Skarner's ability Crystalline Exoskeleton puts up a shield that grants additional movement and attack speed while it's up. The bonus attack speed will help greatly decrease the cooldown time of his abilities, leading to additional Crystal Slashes or more uptime on this steroid.

Skarner's marquee ability is Impale. This ultimate causes him to skewer an opponent with his tail and drag them around for a few seconds. The positional manipulation of the ability can turn a teamfight by peeling an enemy off of a wounded ally, or dragging a greedy enemy into a tower.

Players have been asking for another monster champion for a while, so we're happy to deliver Skarner, our own weaponized arachnid.

Champion Spotlight

Recommended Items

Tips

Playing As Skarner

Playing Against Skarner

Tricks

Ability Usage

• Skarner is a durable, speedy bruiser, excelling at chasing and locking down targets and dealing consistent hybrid damage. His kit best serves him in the jungle, offering fast clear times and effective ganks.
• Crystal Slash provides a constant source of hybrid damage in an area around him.
  • Crystal Slash's cooldown is reduced with auto attacks. Thus, this skill synergizes strongly with attack speed items such as Blade of the Ruined King or Wit's End. The faster Skarner can attack, the faster this ability will become available again and the more DPS he can push out.
    • When engaging in a fight, be sure to Crystal Slash before your first auto attack to get the full effect of the cooldown reduction.
  • In order for Crystal Slash to apply its bonus magic damage you must first be 'charged' by hitting an enemy with this ability at least once.
    • When ganking, charge Crystal Slash off an enemy minion while on your way to enemy targets to maximize your damage output.
  • Crystal Slash is Skarner's bread and butter when jungling. Simply cast it whenever available to quickly clear minion camps between objectives and ganks.
  • The purchase of a Sheen is a powerful item thanks to the ability to repeatedly proc Spellblade with Crystal Slash.
• Crystalline Exoskeleton provides Skarner with a shield, allowing him to soak up more damage in all situations, and giving him increased mobility while it holds.
  • Activate Crystalline Exoskeleton when ganking to quickly close the gap towards your targets.
    • Be cautious not to cast it too early - if the effect runs out before you reach your target, they may be easily able to escape.
  • Using Crystalline Exoskeleton during fights in melee range will give Skarner a noticeable advantage over his enemy should they be fighting back.
  • Keep in mind that Skarner's movement speed bonus will only persist for as long as the shield remains. If the shield is broken before the duration ends, the bonus will still be lost.
    • For these reasons, use the additional mobility the shield provides to avoid skill shots or spells that may break the shield.
• Fracture is Skarner's only true ranged ability that strikes in a line, dealing damage to all enemies it hits. It will also apply a debuff on the targets, slowing them by a percentage and causing your next auto-attack to stun them.
  • Casting Fracture into a quick strike of Crystal Slash is a popular and effective means to keep your target in range.
• Skarner's Impale is his trademark ability, suppressing an enemy target while allowing Skarner to freely move them around.
  • Impale has unmatched utility when ganking, engaging, disengaging, or saving targets.
    • Using Impale during a gank will allow you to pull your victim further away from their turret, giving your friendly laner more time to engage them, and yourself more space to slow and damage them over.
    • While having a short cast range, Impale is not blocked by terrain, and this makes Skarner capable of dragging enemy champions directly through any terrain after it connects. For example, if an enemy champion is standing above the dragon pit and close enough to the ledge (such as if they are attempting a steal), Skarner can cast Impale on the enemy champion above, then drag them into the pit with him. This tactic can also be done in certain areas of the jungle where the walls are thinnest to accommodate the skill's short range.
    • Casting Flash, Ghost or using Righteous Glory into an Impale is a powerful way to grab key enemy targets and pull them into your team for a quick kill during team fights.
    • When falling back, grabbing strong enemy initiators such as Amumu or Galio early and pulling them further away from your team will put them out of position and make their strong ultimates ineffective, saving them from a hard engagement.
    • Skarner can easily pull away dangerous targets from a friendly carry using Impale, then slowing them with Fracture after the link is broken.
    • Using Crystalline Exoskeleton will allow you to pull your victim further back than otherwise.
    • Impale drags the opponent directly behind Skarner. You can turn around just before its duration ends to flip the enemy to the other side of his character model, further increasing the distance you displace them.
  • Impale is uniquely powerful compared to other suppression spells such as Warwick's Infinite Duress and Malzahar's Nether Grasp, in that it cannot be canceled by outside sources such as stuns and silences as it has no channel time.
    • It can still, however, be broken by the purchase and use of a Quicksilver Sash by the victim.

Mastery Usage

Item Usage

• Building attack speed indirectly reduces Crystal Slash's cooldown.
  • Any of the on-hit effect items like Blade of the Ruined King or Wit's End are good choices for attack speed items for Skarner.
• A Sheen-based item synergizes perfectly with Skarner. Due to the low cooldown of his Crystal Slash, Skarner can continuously proc Spellblade, coupled with the fact that Skarner has some of the highest base attack damage in the game.
  • A Trinity Force is an exceptionally strong item for Skarner. Sheen adds some damage to his abilities and he makes exceptional use of the Spellblade passive. Zeal gives Skarner some attack speed and movement speed, which is valuable to him for reducing his Crystal Slash cooldown and allowing him to keep up with an enemy champion. Phage grants even more sticking power through it's passive and Skarner greatly enjoys the attack damage and health it grants.
  • Iceborn Gauntlet, alternatively, provides Skarner with a tankier option. Compared to the Trinity Force, it provides less overall damage and movement speed but instead offers armor, Spellblade with an AoE slow, cooldown reduction, and more mana. It is also a cheaper option, which could be helpful if you are not ahead.
• As a hybrid champion, Skarner has strong attack damage and ability power scalings on his abilities. Depending on what you build, you could deal heavy physical damage or a nearly 50/50 mix of physical and magic damage.
• Items such as The Black Cleaver, Sterak's Gage, and Titanic Hydra are all great choices for attack damage on Skarner.
  • The Black Cleaver is present in nearly any Skarner build, due to the multitude of valuable stats it provides. Additionally, he is able to make great use of both passives on this item through repetitive usage of Crystal Slash.
  • Sterak's Gage is especially strong when combined with an item such as Trinity Force or Iceborn Gauntlet, as it directly increases the damage of the Spellblade passive. The passive grants a surprising amount of attack damage and survivability should you be bursted down.
• Strong ability power items on Skarner generally include some type of defensive stats as well as AP, as you would otherwise be lacking tankiness to fight. A few powerful AP items on him would be Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Liandry's Torment, and Zhonya's Hourglass.
  • Rylai's Crystal Scepter is powerful thanks to granting a large chunk of health and ability power. However, the real strength in this item lies in it's passive. Although Rylai's Crystal Scepter's slow usually only effects his Crystal Slash, this effect alone makes it potent as it essentially grants Skarner a permanent slow as long as he continues to cast Crystal Slash.
  • Liandry's Torment is strong thanks to the magic penetration and the damage-over-time passive it has. This passive also benefits from the large roster of crowd control that Skarner has. In combination with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, an ability power focused build on Skarner can deal hefty damage over time and keep an enemy in place to put it to effect.
• As a low mobility melee champion, most Skarner builds include multiple defensive items so he can survive and close the gap between himself and the enemy team.
• Randuin's Omen and Righteous Glory are two great items for Skarner, as they both provide defensive stats and additional crowd control to add to his plethora of slows and immobilizes:
  • Randuin's Omen provides Health, Armor, and damage reduction from critical strikes. It also gives an attack speed reduction to an enemy that auto-attacks you and a powerful AoE slow. If an AD Carry is the biggest threat on the enemy team, Randuin's Omen will aid greatly in keeping you alive as it can greatly reduce the amount of damage received from their auto-attacks.
  • Righteous Glory grants Health as well as Mana to resolve some mana problems. It can grant a massive movement speed increase for yourself and your team. If your team lacks initiation, it would be recommended to build this item as it allows you to easily pick off an enemy champion through usage of Impale.
• Dead Man's Plate is an excellent item on Skarner. It grants heavy defensive stats at a fairly reasonable price, but the movement speed passive on this item is invaluable to Skarner no matter the situation though. This item allows Skarner to chase better, flee better, and arrive to fights right on time. If you are to purchase at the minimum one defensive item, Dead Man's Plate should often be a go-to choice.
• Frozen Heart is another strong armor item on Skarner. He greatly values the cooldown reduction and armor on this item. Additionally, the mana is useful to allow Skarner to cast spells carefree of his mana.
• Locket of the Iron Solari and Banshee's Veil are both very potent magic resist items on Skarner. When facing heavy AoE magic damage or a Double-AP comp, Locket of the Iron Solari can greatly mitigate the magic damage you and your team receive. When worried about single-target burst though, Banshee's Veil should be purchased.
• Due to Skarner's lack of dashes or blinks, he greatly benefits from an early pair of Boots of Speed.
• Boots of Swiftness are an excellent option when being kited by a champion who is simply faster than you. When facing several slows on the enemy team but low amount of hard crowd control, Boots of Swiftness also allow you to crawl through and reach your target.
• Mercury's Treads are a great purchase when faced with several instances of hard CC on the enemy team. When faced with an early magic damage threat, these are also suggested.
• Ninja Tabi should be purchased early against teams who are purely physical damage, as often you will need as much armor as possible to survive. The damage reduction against auto-attacks also improves your jungle sustain and brings an AD Carry's damage down noticeable.
• In the modern jungle, Skarner is very versatile, able to perform many different roles based upon his item selection and playstyle.
  • Warrior dramatically increases his Crystal Slash damage. Skarner also benefits heavily from Warrior's cooldown reduction, allowing him to gank more often with Impale. After purchasing Warrior, Skarner can easily transition into purchasing tank items for the mid-game. Note and keep in mind that Skarner is a strong physical damage dealer anyway, and that this item gives good benefits when ahead.
  • Devourer is a situationally strong item on Skarner, as his Crystal Slash is lowered by auto-attacking. However, because Crystal Slash's damage is based entirely on his own attack damage it is generally more optimal to purchase cooldown reduction and attack damage when building offensively. That is not to say that Devourer is entirely useless, as it can make Skarner into an excellent duelist.
  • Cinderhulk is another choice for Skarner. The Immolate passive speeds up your clear and the bonus HP scales your tankiness throughout a game. In an average game, Cinderhulk is the enchantment you should most likely purchase.
  • Runic Echoes can be good for Skarner. The stats together with Echo provide an earlier powerspike as well as strong mana sustain and a speedy jungle clear.
    • When used in tandem with Runic Echoes, Rylai's Crystal Scepter becomes an impressive offensive item that sports a strong slow added to Crystal Slash and a good chunk of Health and Ability Power.

Countering

• Crystalline Exoskeleton's movement speed boost will persist only if the shield is unbroken, destroying his shield will make the movement speed boost disappear.
• Buy a Quicksilver Sash to end the suppression from Impale. Champions such as Alistar, Olaf, and Gangplank also counter it.
• Be careful when turret diving a low health Skarner. He can use his Impale and drag you around the turret.
• Some champions with a knockback ability (e.g. Fling or Headbutt) can help an ally that is dragged by Impale. Use this to make sure Skarner doesn't drag them too far.
• Skarner gets large buffs inside the perimeter of Crystal Spires under his control. Try to refrain from fighting in these zones, or prevent him from gaining control of them.

References

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