League of Legends (LoL) Question: Is Skarner still viable?

Posted in Champions 8,898

Is Skarner still viable?

Asked by IShouldGetALife on May 14, 2013

I've been wondering lately whether jungle skarner is viable or not, I think he is but I'm not sure whether thats just because the times I played him recently the enemy team was worse than me.

Answers (2)

(531) |

Nope. He's slow, his ult isn't as strong anymore since the nerf and his damage becomes non-existent after mid-game.

(36) |

k cool thanks for the advice

(415) |

Takes a coordinated effort to really shut him down. But yea

(36) |

so like amumu high risk high reward kinda thing (obviously he's got a different playstyle than amumu) you counter jungle him hard he fails?

(415) |

Lol, and whenever me and Berzerk duo we champ enemy Hecarims into oblivion in his jungle. :3 he can fall behind very easily if you make it your job to make his life hell. :D

(36) |

lol yeah my friend couldn't do that on account of the fact that I was the only other person on my team not to feed and the enemy adc was a vayne so... yeah i might have to try him sometime

(531) |

I've seen a hecarim getting ahead and solo-carry the entire game. We were 25/11 and we lost because of that one Hecarim.

(36) |

oops again half was @GMD half was @OTG (I'm an idiot)

(36) |

sory that was supposed to be @GMD

(36) |

@OTG those aa resets are pretty damn good and i love vi's ult, also the only hecarim I've seen become a murder horse (as you put it) is my friend and that was an amazing sight he almost brought my team back from a 2 inhib deficit.

(415) |

He's forced into pretty much a support tank role if he's behind, to be fair. he's a full blown murder horse when ahead. :p

(531) |

@OTG: No, Hecarim just needs a few items to be a beast. His W makes him indestructable late-game.

(531) |

Hecarim is a stupid comparison, he's just so much better in many ways. Mostly because he's plain OP as ****. I get the Vi comparison, Skarner's ult is, in theory, a lot stronger but he needs to reach the target for it and Vi's is just easier to pull off. On top of that: she has way more damage with that stupid E. Two AA resets? Really Riot?!

(415) |

Hecarim snowballs like mad and is nigh unkillable late game, however he suffers if he's counterjungled or behind. Very strong, but slightly risky.

(36) |

@ OTG yeah I never used to like Vi but i tried her and it just felt good playing her but i've never tried hecarim so am I missing something?

(36) |

Yeah he used to be fun, oh well thanks again for saving me from making a stupid decision.

(415) |

I thought what killed himw as the fact that hecarim and Vi do his job better/easier?

(531) |

Same, he was one of my favourite junglers in S2 but he's just not good anymore.

(36) |

ok thanks its probably good that i waited for an answer before going into ranked and now i won't. Sad though i used to love playing him :'(

(25) |

The reason he is bad this season is because of item selection. Skarner scaled extremely well off of cooldown reduction and armor/mr last season, because his shield had such a short cooldown (with his passive). This means his shield would be constantly up, and would count as more health the more resistances he had.

Skarner scales badly with the health items that people buy nowadays, like spirit of the golem which is super broken for all junglers.

His e is pretty much useless, and that was forgivable last season because of how well his passive meshed with his q and shield. Due to the indirect HUGE nerf to his shield, it isn't as strong as many other shields, skarner now has 3 pretty average skills instead of 4.

That being said, his ultimate is still broken (you can displace enemies) . He's just not as viable as nautilus who is pretty much stronger than skarner in every way.