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Why Doesn't Anyone Play Skarner?
Skarner is the champion, voted on by the community to get a rework in 2023 – but it might even only release in 2024. He’s a unique jungle pick with an interesting passive and a play style unlike any other jungler that is currently scuttling around the rift.
So, why doesn’t anyone – other than CaptainFlowers – play this champion in solo queue, and why do we see so little of him in pro play? Let’s check out Skarner’s kit to try and see just why players shy away from the Shuriman scorpion.
His Reliance on His Passive
Skarner is very reliant on his passive, which sets up six spires around the map. One at Drake, one at Baron and at each red and blue buff. These spires can be activated by Skarner, as well as his teammates.
If Skarner is within an active spire, he’ll gain move speed, attack speed and increased mana regeneration. This is great for his early jungle clear, since he can quickly finish off the creatures. It’s also great for skirmishes, since Skarner will be able to outperform anyone else.
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The spires might give Skarner insane power spikes, but they’re also his downfall. Sure, he gains strong objective control, when the spire is active, but, because of the power he gains from the spires, he has very weak early game stats without them. If Riot were to give him higher stats, he would be impossible to go up against.
For Skarner to thrive, he will have to heavily rely on his team to keep control of the spires on the side of the jungle he isn’t currently playing on. This type or reliance is almost impossible to sustain in a solo queue game with four randoms.
Skarners Weak Stats
As mentioned already, without the spire buff, Skarner is pretty atrocious, especially in the early game. Riot made him reliant on the spires to be on-par with enemies. What does this mean? Well, without the spire he’s weaker than the enemy jungler, which means once a spire is taken by the opposition, it’ll be near impossible for Skarner to get it back since he needs the spire buff to survive.
This makes it extremely easy for the enemy to outplay and predict what Skarner is going to do. That way, Skarner cannot do anything alone and he always has to rely on his team, which in solo queue is pretty hard at times.
Also, Skarner’s strongest phase comes in the mid game. Technically, he’s a juggernaut and should build one or two damage items and then go for health and armor builds. In the mid game, if he’s got access to his spires, he’ll be albe to duel with anyone.
If he’s too fed going into the mid game though, he’ll just shred through anyone. That’s another reason why Riot made his stats so weak early, otherwise the scorpion would just be too OP if he also has a strong early game, along with his spire buff.
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It Feels Like He Has 1 Relevant Ability
Skarner’s ultimate is pretty strong, no doubt about that, but with changes back in season 10, it seems like that’s all Skarner has become. Flash and ult, pull single target to the enemy and that’s it. Time to wait for ultimate cooldown.
His ultimate is his strongest ability and since his skirmishing power has been nerfed in season 10 he feels like that’s the only thing to use him for. Farm, until level 6, then once you’ve got ulti it’s showtime.
Hopefully, Riot will fix his one dimensional play style and do something about his reliance on the spires. His rework should come out next year, so let’s hope that Riot does right by the Shuriman scorpion.