Skarner/Strategy

Skill usage

 * is a durable, speedy bruiser, excelling at chasing and locking down targets and dealing consistent hybrid damage. His kit best serves him in the jungle, offering fast clear times and effective ganks.
 * is a powerful passive effect that allows to apply small stuns and amplify the damage of his ultimate,.
 * provides a constant source of hybrid damage in an area around him as well as a stacking personal attack speed and movement speed buff.
 * cooldown reduces with auto attacks. Thus, this skill synergizes strongly with attack speed items such as or . The faster  can attack, the faster this ability will become available again and the more DPS he can push out.
 * When engaging in a fight, be sure to before your first auto attack to get the full effect of the cooldown reduction.
 * In order for to apply its bonus magic damage you must first be 'charged' by hitting an enemy with this ability at least once.
 * When ganking, charge off an enemy minion while on your way to enemy targets to maximize your damage output.
 * is bread and butter when jungling. Simply cast it whenever available to quickly clear minion camps between objectives and ganks.
 * The purchase of a is a powerful item thanks to the ability to repeatedly proc its passive effect with.
 * provides with a shield, allowing him to soak up more damage in all situations, and giving him increased mobility while it holds.
 * Activate when ganking to quickly close the gap towards your targets.
 * Be cautious not to cast it too early - if the effect runs out before you reach your target, they may be easily able to escape.
 * Using during fights in melee range will give  a noticeable advantage over his enemy should they be fighting back.
 * Keep in mind that movement speed bonus will only persist for as long as the shield remains. If the shield is broken before the duration ends, the bonus will still be lost.
 * For these reasons, use the additional mobility the shield provides to avoid skill shots or spells that may break the shield.
 * is only true ranged ability that strikes in a line, dealing damage to all enemies it hits. It will also apply a debuff on the targets, slowing them by a percentage.
 * Casting into a quick strike of  is a popular and effective means to keep your target in range.
 * Mana cost is really high through all the game, so using it in jungle to clear camps or to poke early isn't a good idea as your mana will quickly drained and your kill/sustain potential will be really hurted.
 * is his trademark ability, suppressing an enemy target while allowing to freely move them around.
 * has unmatched utility when ganking, engaging, disengaging, or saving targets.
 * Using during a gank will allow you to pull your victim further away from their turret, giving your friendly laner more time to engage them, and yourself more space to slow and damage them over.
 * Casting, or using  into an  is a powerful way to grab key enemy targets and pull them into your team for a quick kill during team fights.
 * When falling back, grabbing strong enemy initiators such as or  early and pulling them further away from your team will put them out of position and make their strong ultimates ineffective, saving them from a hard engagement.
 * can easily pull away dangerous targets from a friendly carry using, then slowing them with after the link is broken.
 * 's damage is amplified with the number of stacks of Crystal Venom. Managing the stacks is key to getting the most damage out of.
 * Remember, consuming stacks with  does not put  on cooldown. The best combination to do the most damage and crowd control is to get 3 stacks,  before procing  with an auto attack, build up 3 stacks again, then proc.
 * During, you will be unable to auto attack, cast or . , , and other Summoner Spells will still remain available.
 * Use to damage and build stacks of.
 * Using will allow you to pull your victim further back than otherwise.
 * drags the opponent directly behind . You can turn around just before its duration ends to flip the enemy to the other side of his character model, getting that little bit more distance before the enemy is released.
 * is uniquely powerful compared to other suppression spells such as and, in that it cannot be canceled by outside sources such as stuns and silences, as it has no channel time.
 * It can still, however, be broken by the purchase and use of a by the victim.
 * Be wary not to spam all of your spells as soon as available, or you will risk putting yourself out of mana quickly and before you need it most.
 * Save the casts of for when the attack speed buff ends to refresh it efficiently. When clearing minions, cast it once every five seconds to maintain its bonus magic damage.
 * Avoid using when not receiving damage. Activating it when an enemy turns to fight you will give you an immediate advantage in damage and tankiness.

General

 * Generally, build should focus on Attack Speed, Cooldown Reduction, Health, Armor, and Magic Resist, with a minor in Mana,  Attack Damage and/or Ability Power.
 * Getting an item that grants attack speed will help his cooldowns.
 * short cooldowns and great scaling with attack speed, attack damage, and ability power make him a perfect candidate for taking advantage of the cost effectiveness of.
 * Any of the on-hit effect items like or  are good choices for attack speed items for.
 * A -based item synergizes perfectly with . Due to the low cooldown of his,  can continuously proc the 's effect. Coupled with the fact that  has the highest base Attack Damage along with  in the game, he is the absolute best candidate to wield a !
 * A is an exceptionally strong item for,  gives his abilities more damage and gives him more mana,  increases his already strong chasing power by giving movement speed and the attack speed works well with his  cooldowns,  gives more chasing power, damage and provides some extra health.
 * An, alternatively, provides with a tankier option. Compared to the , it provides less overall damage and movement speed, but offers more Armor, a consistent AoE slow, increased AoE damage, cooldowns, more Ability Power and more mana.
 * Although innately a hybrid champion, has more abilities that scale with ability power and pretty high ability power ratios when compared to attack damage ratios. Items that grant ability power might be more useful. Also there are more ability power items that give him what he needs and synergize with  unique kit than attack damage items.
 * Building on  gives him many useful stats. Its combination of large cooldown reduction and attack speed bonuses gives him incredible ability to spam his skills. The ability power is useful due to his decent AP ratios.
 * Building supports both his defenses and his damage. The ability power strengthens all of his skills, including his shield, while the Magic Resistance makes him more hardy versus mages. To top it off, the conveniently sized Magic Resistance Reduction Aura results in you dealing more damage with your skills.
 * The is a good item as it gives a lot of survivability that  needs in spell vamp and life steal and more attack damage and ability power for his abilities.
 * As needs to be very close to his target to do damage, any build should look upon survivability items with either health, armor or magic resistance.  and  are good cheap choices.
 * If one is looking for magic resistance and ability power for, is a good pick.
 * A can be bought to inflict extra damage with.
 * Items such as and -based items aid  in battling against being kited.
 * can run into mana problems. It is important that you build mana item(s) to address this issue:
 * Building a or a  should be any jungle 's first primary objective, as it replenishes mana (and health) as you deal damage to jungle monsters.
 * Getting an greatly helps solves mana problems while giving a phenomenal amount of benefits.
 * Building a works wonders, if the situation calls for such heavy attack damage resistance.
 * Getting a will help with mana problems, but does not grant much late game utility. Consider getting  or  if you plan on spending a lot of time activating abilities (constantly jungling past level ~9). Combining  with attack speed items tends to increase his overall damage more so than buying straight attack damage items (for example, ).

Chasing Potential and Sticking to Ennemy Targets

 * chasing potential makes him a very dangerous threat, improving this to stick to ennemy targets with items can be a very good strategy to use or  and kill ennemy champions.
 * Additionally, this bring a lot of Utility to, allowing him to carry game by providing damage and utility to his team.
 * allows to gain movement speed when attacking. And the Sheen passive makes the item really cost efficient on him. Moreover he benefits of every stats given by this item.
 * makes a less expensive, tanky solution to as well as providing Cooldown Reduction. Even though giving less damage, it's a very good item as it's a power spike to, making him good midgame even if not ahead.
 * Although not recommended, is a decent item on Skarner because it give a good amount of Health, AD, and a powerful on hit slow.
 * Homewer, unlike the slow Targeted on only one target, and not zoned. Also you don't have the Spellblade passive, actually loosing a bit of burst damage for more sustained damage orientation. Also it's just 403 Gold cheaper than  and  makes more use of these component.
 * and are two great items for, as they both provides health and an AoE slow for your team :
 * provides 500 Health, 70 Armor, an attack speed reduction if you are attacked and a powerful scaling-on-tankyness slow. This give you a lot of opportunities to get a good initiation on the ennemy team as well as not dying to fast when doing so.
 * grants 500 Health as well as 300 Mana to resolve some mana problems and sustain in your jungle. It gives you a powerful Movement Speed boost, then a 80% AoE slow. This item is more of a high risk, high reward item as it makes you very vulnerable to %HP damage and doesn't grant any Armor or Magic Resistance.
 * Last but not least, give a high sustained slow with your abilities, as well as 400 Health and 100 AP. This make it a good item on  as he will benefits of almost every stats from this item and it will slightly increase his chasing potential for his team to follow up. Additionally the extra health will make it less vulnerable to kiters like.

Jungling

 * Building  later into  was a good strategy as it provided a good amount of health, armor and survivability. However, he could benefit more from a depending on the his build as his  provides physical damage.
 * Now with the new jungle changes, can go through multiples paths.
 * is the equivalent of that help speeding his Q damage early. Additionally, the CDR and the armor penetration will helps while ganking a bruiser/tank laner top, or will just make you dealing a lot of damage to squishies in early ganks. It's also a strong base item, allowing you to take tankyness to make a transition into mid game. Note and keep in mind that  is a good physical dealer anyway, and that this item give good benefits when ahead.
 * provide a lot of early/mid game tankyness that helps you when ganking. This can also allow you to tank dive while using on the champion to bring him into your teammates. It also allows himm to take a more offensive item then going into more tankyness, making  a very good tank and even more of a teamfight engaging threat. Combined by  and/or , he can become a very good inititator that slows and crowd control the ennemy team, as well as still providing decent damage to his team.
 * Note that homewer, this decrease his dueling potential and makes him very team reliant, so if you don't trust your teammates's damage, going to this route can put you further behind, don't ignore this when going for the jungle enchantment.
 * is actually an efficient item on, as adds him bonus attack speed and scale with Attack Speed to be casted. It can also helps him to clear faster. Even he will deal less damage when ganking, he'll be able to CC the target more quickly, make use of this information when going to gank. This item can be followed by an  then going for full tankyness to make you a good Magic damage dealer if your teams lack of magic damage and deal a lot of physical damage.
 * Alternatively to for the magic damage dealing role, and even if not especially recommended,  can be a good item if going for AP or magic damage dealing.
 * as stated above, can be a good and decent alternative to (Magic Damage dealing part). Even if it seems strange, note that every  ability scale (except of his passive) with AP and have viable scalings. Also, if facing a team that doesn't have a lot of Magic Resistance, and have some armor, the Armor Pen and the AD of  can be replaced by 80 AP without losing the Cooldown Reduction. Also note that this AP will increase your Shield's Value by 64, and your  damage by 32 ( will just benefit of a 16 damage addition), as well as adding an incredible 160 damage to a full ultimate, making your level 6 ganks more efficient (360 Magic damage at level 1 Ult).
 * Note that you can avoid going full AP as runes and masteries, as taking this item along with or  will give  a total of 110 AP and a good damage potential as well as bringing a lot to his team (Magic Damage, Tankyness, Slows, Teamfight Engages ...).
 * You can still though take Magic Penetration Runes even if going with AD Masteries as most of your damage are AP. You will benefit of +6% Magic Pen if you take 21/9/0 Masteries, so you can be able to do a lot of damage early.
 * is another choice to, homewer it doesn't have the same synergy that have and is less useful in the mid game stage. The AoE is still good and the bonus HP is the best way to get end game tankyness. Homewer in this case,  could be a better choice because it could synergyze better than Cinderhulk.

Jungling

 * Starting items: , 5x OR , 5x
 * Skill progression: >   >   >   >  >
 * Jungling order: Blue Golem → Wolves → Red Lizard  → Wraiths (lv 3) → Gank

Countering

 * movement speed boost will persist only if the shield is unbroken, destroying his shield will make the movement speed boost disappear.
 * Buy a to end the suppression from . Champions such as, , and  also counter his ultimate.
 * Be careful when turret diving a low health . He can use his and drag you around the turret.
 * Some champions with a knockback ability (e.g. or ) can help an ally that is dragged by . Use this to make sure  doesn't drag them too far.