Talk:Skarner/@comment-212.117.1.33-20120608132510/@comment-178.166.24.118-20120611155458

The only buff that his E would need is regarding the mana cost. Usually people don't level it up until the rest is maxed 'cause it's super expensive to use it in ganks or jungle farming, even if you have a Philo Stone. The ability itself is very good, provides a decent amount of damage and allows for easier dueling against other sustained damage junglers (like Udyr or Shyvana), giving that clotch heal and burst. But use it more than a couple of times and you'll find yourself recalling sooner than you'd wish.

Skarner is one of the best junglers in the game, rest assured. In fact, he's a real solo queue stomper. The main problem about him right now, and the reason why he isn't used competitively, is the extreme blue buff dependency (and the lame gankings pre-6, but nevermind that). The current meta favoures the strong dps mages in the mid lane who also give utility to the team (in MLG the mid lane was almost exclusively given to the likes of Cassiopeia, Anivia, Kog'Maw, Karthus...). And they will need the blue buff, which Skarner so desperatly needs to jungle and gank at a fast pace. A good team will work around objectives and deny blue buffs for Skarner, leaving him very vulnerable to counterjungling.

In short: From a casual gamer point of view, Skarner doesn't need buffs at all because he FACEROLLS most team compositions as along as they dont have shitloads of disabling AoE (a team with the likes of Amumu, Kennen, Nunu, Sona, Malphite, Cassiopeia etc. would be hard to play against as Skarner). From a pro gamer point of view, Skarner needs a stronger pre-6 ganking and less mana dependency, 'cause when it comes to the support-jungler role, he is currently behind Nautilus, Maokai and Alistar. Since these are not all banned or picked at a given time, Skarner gets no love in tournaments.

Fortunately we are all solo queue players. :D