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Base Skarner VGU splash
Image via Riot Games

Riot lines up Skarner nerfs for LoL Patch 14.9 after scorpion’s win rate skyrockets in solo queue

Riot Games is planning substantial nerfs to Skarner in LoL Patch 14.9 to bring down his excessively high pick and ban rates.

Skarner’s was reworked in Patch 14.7, and he’s been closely scrutinized by League of Legends developers ever since. After his Patch 14.8 changes boosted his win rate in the solo queue, he’s set to receive a few nerfs in Patch 14.9.

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Patch 14.8 went live on April 17. It immediately improved Skarner’s win rate after a plethora of tweaks were made to the scorpion champion. Now, it looks like more changes are on the table, as revealed by League content creator Spideraxe.

Shortly after the changes went live, the creator found additional changes that were added to the PBE servers and shared them on X. It turns out Skarner already has three nerfs lined up, one each for his passive, Q, and W.

Earthrune Skarner VGU splash
Skarner is dominating the early Patch 14.8 meta. Image via Riot Games

When it comes to his passive, its health damage is reduced from 7-12 percent maximum health to 7-10 percent. This means he will deal substantially less damage with his other attacks, as they’re empowered by his passive. His Q’s health ratio also was lowered from six to five percent bonus health, and his W’s base damage also took a hit, being lowered from 50-150 to 50-130.

While it’s too early to tell whether Skarner is an overpowered pick in solo queue at the time of writing, his initial stats for Patch 14.8 are more than impressive. He currently boasts a 52.93 percent win rate in the jungle, according to U.GG. This comes alongside a massive 26.5 percent ban rate and five percent pick rate. In Patch 14.7, his win rate was dreadful, and landed on 42.44 percent by the end of the update.

With such a gargantuan climb in the rankings, it’s no surprise Riot Games is quick to react. Don’t take these changes for granted, though, since Patch 14.9 is still two weeks away and scheduled for a May 1 release.


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Author
Image of Mateusz Miter
Mateusz Miter
Freelance Writer at Dot Esports. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.