Talk:Skarner/@comment-24363729-20140110040928/@comment-24442220-20140119214837

Been playing him top for a little while. He definitely is weak and mana hungry early, but his mid-late game and teamfighting is strong. I've had a win rate of well over 50% percent with him toplane.

For summoners I grab TP and ghost. Teleport so you don't miss out on cs and lose tower (you might need to back often) and ghost for early lane recovery and team diving. Flash is also a good replacement for ghost. I wouldn't grab ignite though. It's primarily a spell to kill enemies that are getting away. Enemies don't get away from permaslow skarner!

He suffers against manaless lane bullies (shyv, renekton) and ranged kiters (jayce, elise). He is not only squishy early, but has almost no mana most of the time. Start Q -> W -> E and then max Q and W alternating. Focus on Q if you need more farming/trading potential or W if you are getting harassed/ganked a lot.

I typically start flask, 2x HP pots, and 1x MP pot. You just need to hold lane, stick to your tower, and make it through the first several levels. If you can manage to not give up too many kills or cs, you can easily recover into mid game. Against AD tops I try to rush a sunfire first, whereas AP tops you could go SV/Banshee's. After that grab Merc treads and you are sufficiently tanky enough to hold your own. I typically don't call for the jungler unless I'm getting dived on constantly. My jungler would be better off snowballing other lanes or farming. Skarner can recover on his own.

Next, you need to build your damage item. Because we are spamming Q all the time, you're going to want either an iceborn or triforce. I prefer Iceborn for the mana and armor, but if you really need that extra damage get triforce. Following that grab Wit's End for more MR and damage. At this point I usually have about 230 armor (with iceborn) and 120 mr with about 2.5k health. You can stop building tanky items here if you'd like, but I always grab a warmogs. Your resistances are already high, and the 1000 health adds much more to your effective health than more armor-stacking would.

At this point in the game you are a king. As long as their whole team isn't miles ahead you are golden. When teamfights arise, peel for your carries with your q. Don't immediately dash to the backline to ult the enemy carries unless you know your own carries will be safe (your ulti is the best assassin cockblock in the game). Between your Q and sheen procs, they won't be getting away.

As far as the last item goes, it depends what you need. If you need MR, I would get an Abyssal Sceptre, it synergizes with your Q and sunfire extremely well. If you need armor, randuins is a good choice, or atma's if you want to keep stepping outside the meta (you are playing skarner after all). Finally for just more damage, I prefer a Zephyr. Although you waste some money on double tenacity, the movement speed for diving, attack speed for your passive, CDR for your Q, and AD for your sheen procs is just unfair. Make to spam your Q and shield when taking towers. the sheen procs and bonus AS help you melt towers.

Although all this can change when the rework hits, for now I consider him viable. He's definitely more useful late-game than a renekton. Be prepared to get pooped on early. Be prepared to get flamed for a "troll pick." Also be prepared to have fun when you do surprisingly well.