In the last few years, League of Legends Developer Riot Games has been regularly updating some of the older champions in the game. When champions are updated, they get new spells that don’t stray too far from their original design, helping them keep up with some of the newer and flashier characters now circulating in Summoner’s Rift. When Skarner’s update hit the live servers in March, players didn’t realize the terror he would eventually evolve into, and Riot can’t even stop him now.
Before his rework in League of Legends, Skarner was a completely irrelevant champion. His pick rate in the popular MOBA game was consistently at the bottom of the scale and he has been in desperate need of an update for years.
Skarner has been the best champion in League of Legends since patch 14.7 was released a few months ago, which brought his new version to the live servers. The team at Riot has since tweaked his stats and even nerfed him completely, but nothing sticks.
According to stat tracking site lolalytics, Skarner has the highest win rate of any top laner in Emerald+ play tiers in patch 14.12, the current patch. Skarner also had the highest win rate in patches 14.11, 14.09, and 14.08. The Primordial Sovereign has utilized the Grasp of the Undying keystone to boost his maximum health, which helps him stay in lane while becoming a behemoth in the late game.
His health was nerfed right in patch 14.12, from a base of 650 to 610, and yet he remains a threat. Skarner’s crown control abilities in one-on-one fights, mixed with his teamfighting strength with his new ultimate Impale, which allows him to drag multiple enemies with his giant spikes, makes him very difficult to balance. While Riot typically gives buffs to champions that get updated, this goes far beyond what we’ve seen in the past in terms of solo queue dominance.
If you haven’t played the new patch yet, check out our LoL tier list to see which champions you can play to counter Skarner. Or, if you’re a cosmetic collector, we have a rundown of what’s currently on offer in the League of Legends Mythic Shop.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC gaming news, reviews, and guides, or get our PCGN deal tracker to score some bargains.
