LoL devs ship micropatch to buff Skarner after abysmal rework debut

Skarner, the old Brackern of Runeterra, is getting some love from Riot Games. They have micropatched a buff to the champion, who performed with an abysmal 37.03 percent a day after its VGU release hit live servers.

Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison, League‘s lead gameplay designer, shared an interesting anecdote about the champion’s role. “Top is outperforming Jungle when at low mastery (yet to be seen whether that’s the case when mastered, though). High mastery Skarners are performing pretty well on him.”

The beloved scorpion from Ixtal currently has a win rate of 46.68 percent in the top lane through Platinum ranks and higher, according to stats aggregate site U.GG. In contrast, it stands at 38.59 percent in the jungle after being live for around two days in League of Legends.

Despite his low average win rates, Riot feels that the champion is “quite strong”, but players need to learn his ability combinations, such as Q before E, to use him on the Rift effectively. 

Skarner’s mana growth was decreased, while his E cooldown was also reduced. His W ability’s mana cost has been increased, which should make it harder for the champion to lane.

Riot also touched upon his Q ability, Shattered Earth, feeling “a bit heavy” while the champion uses Upheaval (throwing a rock toward the enemy). The developers want to make the ability “impactful” and strike the enemies hard while adding “sufficient counterplay” where a recalling time could give players to dodge their abilities is a “work in progress.”

Riot states that the micropatch will address both the power levels of the champion. However, the changes expected to take down the win rate of the top lane Skarner and transition him back to the jungle will only come in the next patch.