After a long-awaited LoL Skarner rework Riot Games finally delivered! Riot has delayed the rework throughout the development however just after 2 years since the voting for the “next rework” that the community wanted, which in the end was chosen with over a third of votes for “Skarner”.
With Skarner right now being out onto the live servers there’s a lot to talk about especially when it comes to the best Skarner build since you can build him in to ways, one is the bruiser build and the second is the full tank build.
Skarner Rework Abilities in League of Legends
New Skarner Passive – Threads of Vibration
Skarner’s attacks, Shattered Earth, Upheaval, and Impale apply Quaking to enemies. Enemies with three stacks of Quaking take % Max HP damage over time.
New Skarner Q 1 – Shattered Earth
Skarner rips a rock out of the ground and uses it to empower his next three attacks with bonus damage, range, and attack speed. His third attack slams the rock into his target, slowing and dealing significant bonus damage, ending the effect.
Q2 – Upheaval
Skarner may re-cast Upheaval to throw the rock as a projectile that explodes on the first enemy hit, dealing the same damage and slow, ending the effect.
Skarner W – Seismic Bastion
Skarner gains a shield and slams into the ground, releasing a shockwave that damages and slows nearby enemies.
Skarner E – Ixtal’s Impact
Skarner charges forward, ignoring terrain, and grabs the first enemy champion or large monster he collides with. He may then carry them a short way, damaging and stunning them if they collide with terrain.
Skarner R – Impale
Skarner impales up to three enemy champions, damaging and suppressing them. Skarner gains bonus movement speed for a short time and carries them with him until the end of the effect.
All of Skarners abilities are totally new a part from his W which still gives him a shield but now it also damages nearby champions with a small shockwave around him.
His Q ability right now is a great AoE especially in the Jungle for a tremendous quick clear unlike before, you can choose to throw it right away or simply hold it in which you will deal bonus damage on your next two auto attacks, in the third auto attack it will give a slow and bonus damage as well. Now it seems that there will be more depth to brand new Skarner than before where his kit was quite basic.
Biggest change that everyone will notice by now most likely is his Ultimate “Impale” that now can stun and move more than a single enemy champion which is absolutely awesome when it comes to engaging for high value targets or even just stunning the whole enemy team their miss position which can be combined with a champion such as Orianna.
New Skarner Build Patch 14.7
When it comes to the Reworked Skarner build in LoL patch 14.7 you have 2 choices to go and become a bruiser for your team or just a full tank that will tank all the necessary damage, you have amazing engage to do that.
LoL Skarner Rework Build Patch 14.7
Starting & First Item/s
Let’s talk about tank Skarner first, to be tanky it’s straightforward forward you will want to go for the blue smite as well as a single potion right at the start as usual but the first item that you be going for is “Sunfire Aegis”.
Boots Choice
Then it kind of depends much more on the champions that the enemy has since if they got a lot of CC (Crowd Control) than a good choice in terms of boots would be “Mercury’s Treads” But then on the other hand if you face a lot of AA (Auto Attack) champions such as Riven, Yasuo, Jinx, etc. in a single enemy team, “Plated Steelcaps” will be a great non-brainer choice.
Third Item – Careful Choice
When it comes to the 3rd item on Skarner you are looking at a choice between “Jack’Shao, The Protean” & “Iceborn Gauntlet”, the different in when you should build which depends only on which champions are in the enemy team. When the enemy has a lot of range champions that can kite you, and you find it hard to gap-close to them then “Iceborn Gauntlet” wouldn’t do much if your team doesn’t have decent CC (Crowd Control).
What you should build in the situation stated above would be actually “Jack’Shao, The Protean” to last longer during team fights, then, of course, you can build Iceborn Gauntlet if they have a lot of AD (Attack Damage) champions since it gives you a nice amount of armour, ability haste and health but on top all of that it slows down enemies for 2 seconds.
Fourth/Fifth Item
Now it purely depends on the enemy team since if you have a lot of AD (Attack Damage) champions you will be better stack up on more armour but if they got a lot of AD champions but the only feed ones with a lot of kills and damage are AP (Ability Power) than building MR (Magic Resist) will be awesome choice to become a lot more useful and tanker.
Skarner Jungle Path Patch 14.7
There are many great Jungle paths and as well as it may seem is purely depends on many factors so let’s break them down for you to know what to think about before game as a Jungler in general:
- What champion in your 3 lanes will win the game solo if ahead? (win condition)
- What lanes should have priority? (intense knowledge about lane matchups)
- What lanes have good gank set up for your champion? (Good CC – Crowd Control)
- What lane wins, loses or is even without Jungle interaction?
- Where is enemy Jungler starting? (super important)
- Where is the enemy Jungler Pathing? (super important)
- Where do you win skirmishes in the river, on top or bot side? (2v2, 3v3, 4v4, think of enemy champions and yours in the team)
- Is the enemy Jungler a 3 camp into a gank champion or do they usually full clear?
- Can pressure enemy Jungler to be better than helping your laners consistently?
- Can your champion do 3 Jungle camps into a gank?
There are quite a few more but these are the most important ones to ask yourself each time you are on the loading screen to have some kind of a game plan rather than any at all since Jungle isn’t just about killing monsters but there’s a lot more to it such as the strategy behind it.
WHICH BUFF TO START AS SKARNER JUNGLE
You always want to start red if possible since it gives you a lot more options however it kind of all depends on which lane has a better gank set up for Skarner, or which enemy laner doesn’t have an escape possibility, maybe they don’t play with flash in the top lane then this lane would be ideal to gank early on regardless.
Starting blue buff is also fine as well but just try and path to the lane that you will be sure to get a kill on early by just them having a good crowd control or if the enemy has a little of escape possibility or close to zero.
How To Know Which Buff Enemy Jungler Started
You should pay attention if the enemy top laner is coming a bit late into their lane or maybe the bot lane is late since then you could get an idea of where the enemy Jungle started, but not only that always look at the enemy laners with your camera instead of a mini-map and pay attention if they have less HP (Health Points) than the maximum, maybe they tanked red or blue for the enemy Jungler? Then you would know since there isn’t any other possibility to lose HP before the lane starts without invading. Another thing is to pay attention to enemy laners mana too since they probably used their Ability to give a better leash(help with the Jungle camp).
General Counter Gank Tips
Now with the knowlage of where the enemy Jungler is starting the ideal thing to pay attention is where is he pathing, top or bot? Pay close attention to two laners which they can gank, between your Jungle camps try and have a quick glanse with your camera for enemy HP and mana that they got left as well as your laner to determinate if you would be the enemy Jungler, and you be close by, would you gank the lane?
If the answer is yes, then you should hover(be close by in a bush) your laner for 10 – 15 seconds, even more, if you definitely think the gank will happen but never more than 30 seconds to not waste a lot of time and temp in the jungle. This kind of hovering will be a great counter gank if the enemy shows up and you are ready for the gank to happen to score a kill or two.
What To Choose – Void Grubs or Dragon
This purely depends on few factors that I have listed below:
- Where is the enemy Jungler?
- Do you win the 2v2 with the enemy top or the 4v4 with the enemy mid and bot?
- Do they have a vision of the objective you want more?
However, if you can get Void Grubs then you should always go for them first instead of a Dragon since they give your team a better lead in pushing and getting turret plates however if your team is losing all of the lanes, they have no opportunity to even push or get turret plates, drake and going for drake soul ASAP will be a good choice in such as scenario.
