Skarner ganking.

[Deleted]

Alright, basically I play Skarner as a 0/21/9 Jungler, and as effective as he is after the laning phase (Very effective!) I'm pathetic at ganking with him.

I position myself and get ready to gank, but because of the incredibly short range on all my abilities and the fact that Skarner can be easily outkited I find it really hard to gank people unless they're careless and run around on low health, or my ult is off CD and even then that's just basically a tool I use for feeding teammates, singling out a carry or killing a tower pusher.

TL: DR
Any tips on effective ganking on Skarner early game?

~Mini

[Xorious]

Always take a route throw a bush, activate your W the moment they see you, try run so you end up behind them (as in, the way they want to run away to), then just mash Q like crazy or ultimate. Btw; if you used your ult, use W to cover more distance and do a Q the last second before the ult stops, so he gets the slow on him when he is back on his feet.

Besides that it's all about timing, knowing the usual gank paths and knowing when you are able to reach your target and when you won't be able to reach your target.

Also, depending on your build. If you are going for a Triforce, normally you would get a sheen early for more damage, but if your problem is sticking to a target a Zeal or a Phage early might help, movement speed or the slow can make quite a difference.

[Toxigen]

Try to have red buff.

[Karnaos]

Ghost helps, or flash.

If you're jungle skarn do smite+flash or smite+ghost.

Make sure the lane you're ganking isn't warded, if it is - find out where and avoid detection.

[Rampant Rabbit]

Ghost + W + red buff = easiest ganks ever.

[valden83]

Yeah I have noticed that too. I find I am the worst at ganking with Skarner out of my junglers, but his jungle is so good and late game so strong, that I overlook that fact somewhat. Still, I think the biggest thing is practice and coordination with your team. When I play with my friends, I found exhaust on my team mates to be an awesome assist tool for ganking.

Generally though, If I want ganking to be my strong point I will tend to use nautilus or maokai. Still skarner's late game makes me like him a ton.

[Axethor]

I've found Skarner's ganks are one of the reasons he is such a great jungler. They are mostly successful for me, netting a kill or forcing a flash/ghost. Post-6 with your ult it's a free kill if your teammate isn't sleeping/dead. The only way to kite him is for him to never get close. One Q and your impossible to escape without flash, and even then your W is usually good enough to catch back up.

[Xorious]

At the people saying to use Ghost, please don't, you'll lose all your endgame use, ghost makes you unable to do the Flash+Ult combination which allows you to initiate teamfights 4v5 out of nowhere, ghost will only be better for chasing, but a flash can serve for that purpose just aswell, if you flash on top of running enemy and hit a Q you're glued to him.

[mrpoker]

Alright, basically I play Skarner as a 0/21/9 Jungler, and as effective as he is after the laning phase (Very effective!) I'm pathetic at ganking with him.

I position myself and get ready to gank, but because of the incredibly short range on all my abilities and the fact that Skarner can be easily outkited I find it really hard to gank people unless they're careless and run around on low health, or my ult is off CD and even then that's just basically a tool I use for feeding teammates, singling out a carry or killing a tower pusher.

TL: DR
Any tips on effective ganking on Skarner early game?

~Mini

With your W speed buff, it should be enough for you to catch people provided they have pushed past the river. If not ask for your lane ally that you're gonna help gank with to initiate the combat with a slow or something then come in.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the feedback, I usually go for my Sheen as my fifth item, after Cloth, Wriggles, Boots and Merc treads.
I don't even bother trying to gank before I get at least the wriggles and boots, as I hit like a feather :
What would some of you guys recommend as an item build? I currently have a modified version of the Sir Spanksalot Mobafire skarner build, depending on the enemy team setup.

[Darkdruidelf]

Thanks for the feedback, I usually go for my Sheen as my fifth item, after Cloth, Wriggles, Boots and Merc treads.
I don't even bother trying to gank before I get at least the wriggles and boots, as I hit like a feather :
What would some of you guys recommend as an item build? I currently have a modified version of the Sir Spanksalot Mobafire skarner build, depending on the enemy team setup.

http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?champ=skarner

Skarner is a support tank. You need philo stone to deal with mana issues and heart of gold for the extra GP5. They both build into some of the best items in the entire game (reverie and omen). Philo stone allows you to give blue to mid. Start regrowth pot instead of cloth armour.

All in all, if that's the build you're following; don't. Any build telling you to go cloth 5 and no GP5 items on Skarner is a bad build. Ignore mobafire in general.

[Axethor]

Thanks for the feedback, I usually go for my Sheen as my fifth item, after Cloth, Wriggles, Boots and Merc treads.
I don't even bother trying to gank before I get at least the wriggles and boots, as I hit like a feather :
What would some of you guys recommend as an item build? I currently have a modified version of the Sir Spanksalot Mobafire skarner build, depending on the enemy team setup.

Ew, wriggles. Terrible on Skarner, and unneeded. Follow this guide on Solomid by OddOne: http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=13232
It hasn't been updated in a while, but it is still perfectly fine. If you want a more up to date one, following Darkdruidelf's link will show you many approved guides that should be just as good.

[Toxigen]

What those guys said. Wriggles is awful on Skarner.

You must have attack speed reds, armor yellows, and movement speed quints. That's really the only way to do it.

I disagree w/ TheOddOne's item build a bit, though. I strongly believe Wit's End is a nearly must-have item for Skarner...perhaps I'm mistaken, but your Q synergizes so damn well.

I think it should go:

- Regrowth + 1 pot
- Philo
- Boots
- HoG
- Sheen
- Wit's End
- Aegis
- Finish Shurelyas
- Finish Randuins

Final Core:
Boots
Sheen
Wit's End
Aegis
Shurelyas
Randuins

I just don't think a Frozen Heart is 100% necessary...the CDR is wasted b/c the attack speed from Wit's End and the passive will beat it.

If you're playing Skarner and no not have the luxury of having a Vlad/Morde in mid, you're going to have to give up blue buff. The first two are yours, but after that you may need to buy a couple mana pots each trip. This is fine, especially w/ double GP/5 items so early.

[Xorious]

What those guys said. Wriggles is awful on Skarner.

You must have attack speed reds, armor yellows, and movement speed quints. That's really the only way to do it.

I disagree w/ TheOddOne's item build a bit, though. I strongly believe Wit's End is a nearly must-have item for Skarner...perhaps I'm mistaken, but your Q synergizes so damn well.

I think it should go:

- Regrowth + 1 pot
- Philo
- Boots
- HoG
- Sheen
- Wit's End
- Aegis
- Finish Shurelyas
- Finish Randuins

Final Core:
Boots
Sheen
Wit's End
Aegis
Shurelyas
Randuins

I just don't think a Frozen Heart is 100% necessary...the CDR is wasted b/c the attack speed from Wit's End and the passive will beat it.

If you're playing Skarner and no not have the luxury of having a Vlad/Morde in mid, you're going to have to give up blue buff. The first two are yours, but after that you may need to buy a couple mana pots each trip. This is fine, especially w/ double GP/5 items so early.

The reason for not picking Wit's End is because getting a Triforce is just so much better, if you grab a sheen it's just as cheap as the Wit's end and it gives so much more damage, more movement speed and a slow proc on top of some extra health/mana and ad/ap. Also, for your Final Core build I'd switch Wit's end with Triforce, leaving a slot open from sheen/wit's end and then put in a Force of Nature for some MR , move speed and regen.

Personally really late endgame for me Skarner would have this build in perfect scenario:

Boots
Triforce
Force of Nature
Randuins
Shurelya's
Hextech Gunblade (more damage, more lifesteal etc)

Most of the time people will not focus you because you are a tank in endgame, but you can still do high dmg with triforce/hextech gunblade.

I usually never get to the point of the Hextech Gunblade tho, because then you are very far into the game (Think 45 minutes+).

[Deleted]

I see Skarner as a bruiser or offtank, his kit doesn't allow for a tank since he has no disruption or taunts other than his ultimate. Plus you build 1/2 damage items, which you probably won't do on Rammus, Amumu or other pure tanks.

Anyway, when ganking with flash, try to bait them on using it first if you have some leeway. That way they won't escape once your ultimate ends. And in teamfights, you can flash+ult an AP or AD that is moving out of the group to poke to win teamfights

[Axethor]

I see Skarner as a bruiser or offtank, his kit doesn't allow for a tank since he has no disruption or taunts other than his ultimate. Plus you build 1/2 damage items, which you probably won't do on Rammus, Amumu or other pure tanks.

Anyway, when ganking with flash, try to bait them on using it first if you have some leeway. That way they won't escape once your ultimate ends. And in teamfights, you can flash+ult an AP or AD that is moving out of the group to poke to win teamfights

If your still building Amumu tank your doing it wrong. Champs like Nautilus or Sejuani do the same thing only better. AP Amumu is the way to go. Bandage toss in then hit your ult. If you bandage tossed the carry they are dead at this point and the rest have a nice chunk of health missing. Now just hit your E while your W is up till you die and your team cleans up.

OT: OddOne's Skarner guide sure leaves much to be desired, but it is a great start point and the gameplay video is good. Like I said, there are plenty of other guides on Solomid, just don't follow Mobafire and their bad wriggles builds.

[Toxigen]

If your still building Amumu tank your doing it wrong.

Yes and no. I think the best build for Amumu is:

Philo
Boots
HoG
Aegis (just too good for team fights)
Sunfire
Abyssal Scepter
Finish Shurelyas
Finish Randuins

You get your early double GP/5 for mass wards / gold production, Aegis for early team fights, Sunfire that synergizes so well with his kit and is great for jungling, Abyssal synergizes well too, then you finish off your GP/5 items.

That's a lot of tanky with a little bit of AP, how else would you build him?

[Deleted]

This is quickly veering into an Amumu thread, back to scorpion man!

[Toxigen]

This is quickly veering into an Amumu thread, back to scorpion man!

WTB mod to change title to Philo/HoG junglers!

[FoShizzleMyGrizzle]

Ganking: Go the normal jungle route, get red whenever you can and get to lvl 4 and gank. dont use W before your going in or your chasing, spam Q + AA = double slow + burn.
So, I'd suggest Q>AA>Q>AA>QQ etc