Riot posted the patch preview for the upcoming Graves patch some time last night. The video includes some decent champion changes, including Skarner buffs, but it’s missing some key champion nerfs that are long overdue. Gunblade is getting some nerfs, which are aimed at “hyper-carry” hybrids like Jax and Akali, but the changes will only really affect Dominion.
Skarner is getting across-the-board buffs – attack speed per level, mana cost reduction on Crystal Slash, duration increase on Impale. It’s a nice set of buffs that should make him much less mana dependent. Honestly, I think he might become the flavor of the month with these buffs. Skarner was in a decent spot, I think he just needed some mana adjustment. Now I can see him as an overwhelming solo top or jungler.
Corki is getting an adjustment to Gatling Gun that should make the damage output from the skill more consistent. I’m not sure why Corki is on the change list, though I haven’t seen him in many games recently. In fact, the only ranged carry I see with any consistency these days is Caitlyn. I would love to know when we’re going to see a couple adjustments to her kit.
The other serious changes made to the game all have to do with Dominion. There’s less ambient XP so the “hyper-carries” get to endgame more slowly. Gunblade spell vamp no longer stacks, and Gunblade is getting stat nerfs to bring the power benefit more in line with the cost.
I thought it was funny that Phreak played Akali for a large portion of the patch preview and yet there was no mention of nerfing her. I’ve thought Akali’s burst was broken for a while now, and after learning to play her using Westrice’s guide and some practice, I can’t believe she’s remained in the game in her current state for as long as she has. I wouldn’t be surprised if part of the hesitation to nerf her is that a lot of people are playing her now and a lot of those people don’t know what they’re doing. A big part of Akali’s playstyle is wrapped up in prepping her lane opponent for a kill before level six. At level six she outlanes virtually every single character in the game. This isn’t just on Noob Island either; it’s at every level of the game. Akali was used to devastating effect in the New York tournament this weekend and was the biggest reason Team Dignitas beat CLG.
It looks like the most exciting thing coming this patch will be Graves, unless of course you’re a Skarner devotee.
I’ve had the chance to play Skarner in a couple games now, enough to give some baseline impressions of his skills and playstyle anyway. I’m going to try to avoid comparisons to Sand King from DotA as much as possible, but I’m going to say this – Sand King had much more flavor. There, I’m done. Let’s talk about Skarner.
I’ve only played Skarner in the jungler, and I think for good reason. His kit is designed around standing on top of his enemies, but he doesn’t have the early durability or sustain to really do that. He is surprisingly fast in the jungle, though, thanks to the constant damage from his Q. It’s fairly easy to pick up both buffs and still have enough health left over for a gank. That can’t be said for every jungler, and it can throw off enemy laners if they aren’t paying attention to your time.
As good as Skarner is in the actual jungle, he’s terrible coming out of it, even at level six. Without any sort of serious dash or ranged CC, Skarner has a pretty tough time getting into position. He’s okay once he has five ranks of his shield and a Trinity Force, but by that point, lane ganks aren’t happening much. His ult also has incredibly short range. It’s fantastic for catching overconfident opponents or when used in conjunction with Flash, but it’s certainly not any sort of reliable initiation or gap-closing skill.
That’s not to say it isn’t strong. There are enough champions that are both position- and cast-dependent that Skarner has plenty of targets to drag around. My personal favorites so far have been Fiddlesticks and Kassadin, though I also snagged a Sona once or twice. I’m glad to see that the duration is pretty short. Also, I’ve heard a couple people say that his ult has too short a cooldown, but 110/100/90 seconds isn’t really anything to laugh at. Granted, he’s got some extra help from the blue buff he’s getting in the jungle, at least at early levels, but I don’t think it really needs nerfed.
If anything surprises me about Skarner it’s that there’s so little chatter about him. We’re only two days past release and already the forums seem fairly devoid of conversation about him. That could mean that people are content with him, but to me it seems as though there aren’t many people that are excited about him. I’ve been able to pick him in most games after 20 seconds or so. So why the low-decibel response?
To put it bluntly, Skarner’s kind of boring. He’s spammy, but his spammy skills don’t do anything that’s all that exciting. He also has a sort of confused set of skills. It doesn’t really make sense that his Q scales off physical damage for the first half but magic damage after. Everything else he does is magic. I haven’t tried out an AP build yet, mostly because Skarner doesn’t seem like he would fair well in lane. That’s next on the test list.
I’m finally back in North Carolina and, armed with a freshly cleaned apartment and a beautiful laptop HP was kind enough to lend me while I was in Ohio, I’m ready to dive back into the happy little world of Valoran. Unfortunately I didn’t have nearly enough time to spend with Blitzcrank this past week, so I’ll be extending his Champ of the Week feature so that the robot gets what he’s due.
In other news, I just attempted to log in, hoping to snag a quick Skarner game before succumbing to the inevitable result of an 11-hour car ride, but alas, a twenty minute queue timer is standing in the way. I think I’m going to let it win, too.
So how has Skarner been? The spotlight looked like a much more accurate representation of a given champion’s skills and abilities. Phreak actually died! OMGOMGOMG! Seriously, though, I don’t consider it a good thing that Skarner is relegated to jungle duty. It seems to me there are much more reliable junglers in the game and Wriggle’s feels like a total waste. Unfortunately, he has no dash, which means he’ll also get outperformed pretty badly in lane without a decent bit of burst damage. This is all conjecture, of course. If you’re finding that his heal allows for excellent lane sustain, let me know in the comments.
Also, how’s the Pantheon buff? I miss the days when I played him, which were basically just after he released. I haven’t messed with him much since.
With that, I’m going to call it a night. Look for me later in the week – I should be around quite a bit.
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.
Riot has graciously stepped onto the E3 news scene with its own explanations of the champions and features in development for League of Legends. Thank god. That Gamespot video just wasn’t cutting it.
The video rehashes a lot of the information I’ve put together on Yorick, Leona, and Skarner, though Paul Bellezza did expand on Skarner’s design direction a bit. In case there was any doubt, it looks like Tanky DPS is here to stay. Bellezza called Yorick a “tanky fighter” who can “pretty much tank down anyone.” Skarner is a “vicious and aggressive fighter tank” (the extent to which that’s different from a tanky fighter is unclear) who allows you to “focus on enemies and the more you attack them, the more you debuff them and are able to take them down.” Wedged in between these two is an archetypal tank with some crowd control abilities. If ever there was a bad time to be a squishy, July and August will surely top it.
I’m hoping that those releases will also come with some itemization/character updates that help deal with Tanky DPS. The idea behind tankier champions is a fine one – longer fights means you get to play the game more – but when it comes at the expense of so many characters and when so much of the playstyle revolves around skills like Jarvan’s passive, the gameplay isn’t very fun. This is the big reason I don’t play Tanky DPS toons – they aren’t enjoyable. It’s fun to get a ranged carry farmed up and burn through enemies. It’s fun to drop Tibbers on a group of opponents and see huge chunks of health fly off. If Riot can find a way to make these longer fights similarly enjoyable, I’ll gladly take the addition of more Tanky DPS champions to the League.
