Over the last few years, League of Legends developer Riot Games has periodically updated some of the older champions in the game. When champions are updated, they are given new spells that don’t deviate too far from their original design, and help them keep up with some of the newer and flashier characters that now sprawl Summoner’s Rift. When Skarner’s update hit live servers back in March, players didn’t realize the terror that he would eventually become, and Riot can’t even stop him now.
Before his League of Legends rework, Skarner was an utterly irrelevant champion. His pick rate in the popular MOBA game was consistently at the bottom of the barrel, and he had been in desperate need of an update for years.
Now, Skarner has been the best champion in League of Legends since patch 14.7 was released a few months back, which brought his new version to the live servers. The team at Riot has since adjusted his stats and even flat-out nerfed him, and still nothing will stick.
According to stats tracking site lolalytics, Skarner has the number one win rate of all top laners in Emerald+ levels of play in patch 14.12, which is the current patch. Skarner was also the highest win rate in patches 14.11, 14.09, and 14.08. The Primordial Sovereign has utilized the keystone Grasp of the Undying to beef up his maximum health, helping him stay in lane while becoming a behemoth in the late game.
His health was nerfed directly in patch 14.12, going from a base of 650 down to 610, and still, he remains a menace. Skarner’s crown control abilities in one-on-one fights, mixed with his team fight prowess using his new ultimate Impale, which allows him to drag multiple enemies using his giant stingers, makes him very difficult to balance. While Riot usually does give buffs to champions who get updated, this is far beyond what we’ve seen in the past in terms of solo queue dominance.
If you haven’t played the new patch yet, look at our LoL tier list to see which champions you can play that could counter Skarner. Or, if you’re a cosmetic collector, we have a rundown of what’s currently on sale in the League of Legends Mythic shop.
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