My schedule has been all out of sorts this weekend, thanks to a wedding, a trip to my beloved Cleveland, and my upcoming return trip south. Rest assured that I’m still keeping pace with the League and will try to get a little content together over the next couple days, despite my travel.
First on that list is the Skarner official skill list release. Without further ado, let’s take a look:
Abilities:
Energize (Passive): Basic attacks lower the cooldowns of Skarner’s abilities by 1 second against champions and 0.5 seconds against non-champions.
Crystal Slash: Skarner lashes out with his claws, dealing physical damage to all nearby enemies and charging himself with Crystal Energy for several seconds. If he casts Crystal Slash again while empowered by Crystal Energy, he deals bonus magic damage and slows all targets hit.
Crystalline Exoskeleton: Skarner gains a shield and while the shield persists his movement speed and attack speed are both increased.
Fracture: Skarner summons a blast of crystalline energy which deals damage to enemies struck and marks them. Any further damage dealt to marked targets by Skarner will allow him to consume the mark to heal himself.
Impale (Ultimate): Skarner suppresses an enemy champion and deals magic damage to it. During this time, skarner can move freely and will drag his helpless victim around with him. When the effect ends, Skarner’s target will be dealt additional damage.
It’s no secret that Skarner is going to be Tanky DPS, a fact that’s confirmed by his skillset. He has an activated shield with passive damage boost, hybridized damage, and a self-heal. Golly, do you think we’ll see anyone build Trinity Force on him?
Answer: Yes. Crystal Slash is pretty much designed around Sheen – cast it once to proc Sheen, get in an attack or two, hit it againfor the slow and another Sheen proc.
I want to be clear – I’m not knocking his design. As I was writing that last paragraph I was actually thinking that Skarner sounds like a lot of fun. He’ll have great sticking power and strong survivability. The one thing he’s really missing is some mobility.
I will say this: I’m a little worried about the strength of a moving suppression. The other two suppressors in the game – Malzahar and Warwick – also self-stun when they suppress, which gives the skill some sort of balance. Skarner is going to be able to move about, which will definitely cause quite a few problems when coupled with another stunner on the team. The only thing that remains unclear is whether Skarner can use different attacks while his target is impaled. I have no idea how long his ultimate lasts, but it seems easy enough to assume that his best use will be to take a carry out of the fight and continue dealing damage to the rest of the enemy team. I’m not in love with the mechanic. Imagine if he can use Flash while a target is impaled. Suddenly his ult becomes a tower hook at a huge distance.
We’re bound to find out about his power level tomorrow. I’ll be on the road all day, but I’d love to check your comments and impressions of Skarner at my rest stops along the way. Drop your thoughts in the comments.
