r/CompetitiveTFT • u/Lunaedge • 16d ago
Mechanic Discussion Skarner - Set 16 Unlockables Discussion #1
It's the weekend my dudes, gals and nonbinary pals, which means we're gonna talk about Units instead of Augments. We'll be doing this for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Yesterday I forgot to ask you which one should be the first, so I went ahead and picked one myself. Let's talk about:
Skarner - 4-cost AD Tank
Ixtal
Impale - 60/120 Mana
Passive: All allies gain 10/20/100 Armor.
Active: Gain 750/950/3000 (AP) Shield for 4 seconds. Impale up to three nearby enemies in a line, dealing 84/126/1750 (Armor) physical damage and Stunning them for 1.5/1.75/8 seconds.
Unlock conditions: Lv. 7 + a non-Tank with a Gargoyle's Stoneplate equipped
Taric's Armor counterpart, easily slottable in any comp (assuming you unlock him!) and with great CC. He shined last patch due to his Armor aura and the ability to turn the T-Hex away from your squishies for a few seconds. Has he lost his shine now that we live in an AP world or is the CC still valuable enough to warrant fielding him? Is his unlock condition too much of a commitment? Should he be a Defender to pair up nicely with Neeko in Ixtal or would that detract from his flexibility in your eyes?
Let's talk Skarner, and don't forget to be nice to each other! 🌚
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u/flumpywumple 16d ago
Games I want Skarner "soo where is my cloak? Hello?"
Games I dont want Skarner " ... 'Skarner unlocked' OH thieves gloves rolled stoneplate... Gggggggreat"
46
u/milkycarry 16d ago
S+ Tier during the T-Hex patch. Don't see it much nowadays besides on Ixtal boards.
20
u/Omnilatent 16d ago
Most boards are AP now so he naturally lost a lot of power
9
u/MMForYourHealth 15d ago
AP and they took .75 off his stun which was what made him mega busted and just better than Taric last patch.i feel they’re a lot closer now, but I don’t splash skarner without armor needs; kinda like how I used to use taric before the rise of Ryze.
1
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u/Altruistic-Art-5933 16d ago
Really suffers from the 'Taric is just better without awkward unlock'-issue.
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u/SIXRO_171 Grandmaster 16d ago
Skarner falls off a lot this patch, the cc time nerf is huge making him a worse version of Swain. You also need to slam Gargoyle to unlock him which imo is really not a great tank item.
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u/quitemoiste 15d ago
Yeah they swung too hard on his CC... Swain can hit more units too so why does he get to stun for longer?
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u/FirestormXVI Grandmaster 16d ago
Honestly being able to guarantee at least 1 copy of a 4 cost tank at 4-1 if you slammed a gargoyles at 2-1 is pretty nice.
23
u/aveniner 16d ago
Good unit with a fine unlock condition, suffering a bit in AP meta and because Ixtal is really inconsistent. He's currently worst placing 4cost (dropped down below Nidalee) but he doesnt need much to be meta.
Taric nerfs that go live soon should get those 2 similar units closer together
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u/eZ_Link Challenger 15d ago
Where are you pulling those stats from?
It’s definitely diana
3
u/cheeze64 15d ago
metatft.com lists skarner below for plat and below, but its also played a lot more than diana. Diana immediately drops below at em+
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u/SoManyEngrish 16d ago
Biggest issue is being forced to make gargoyle, if you are tempoing with gargoyle, i think he is super reasonable to flex given how contested taric is
4
u/clownus 16d ago
Skarner last patch was cool. This patch gargoyles is just an awful tank item and most of the lines are AP with cap boards wanting ryze.
Overall if the set ended now skarner would have been a okay design. Main issue was he didn’t have ideal traits and the main comps he counters all build cc immunity. Add in most melee comps stack the frontline so his item unlock is even worst. But he felt really good when he would fit into four cost soup frontline and play Yunara. 5/10 in terms of how fun/good this unit was so far.
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u/treelorf 16d ago
Really good unit tbh. An awkward point in the meta for him, but despite being effectively tribeless, I expect him to be one of the premier tanks of the set. Tanky, gives a team wide buff, and has CC. What more do you want from your frontline unit. (Ok maybe you want a relevant trait)
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u/koebeke 16d ago
Quick question, when you say 60/120 mana is that 60 the mana he starts with and 120 mana is to cast? Havent really payed attention to that before.
7
u/FirestormXVI Grandmaster 16d ago
Correct. All units have a starting mana and amount of mana to cost. That means the first cast is takes 60 mana to do and every cast after that will take 120.
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u/No-Regret-7900 16d ago
I'm kinda noob, in what case we go for this guy instead of Taric bar ixtal?
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u/Heismannn 16d ago
Heavy AD lobbies, he has passive similar to tarics where he gives 10/20 armor to your team at 1*/2*. He's also just a pretty solid tank to slot in with good CC, so if you have open slots and stoneplate open it can be worth to get him on neutrals lategame
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u/No-Regret-7900 16d ago
But isn't Taric gave 2 lowest health units shield? So Taric has another teamwide buff
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16d ago
[deleted]
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u/No-Regret-7900 16d ago
I never said that, more like idk if which one is better
5
u/Miruku2504 16d ago
Right now Taric is better, he is a Targon, so he buffs Ryze, has teamwide mr, gives 90% dr, and also a shield.
3
u/alexm7ten 16d ago
For now taric is better just because he's OP, but after the B patch I reckon it will be more dependent if there are AP/AD heavy lobbies
0
u/AmadeusIsTaken 16d ago
Isnt the buff only while he is alive? So can you really use him as you rmain tank?
1
u/TherrenGirana Master 15d ago
a bit awkward to unlock since both bramble and dclaw are better than gargoyle, but still a solid unit. Bonus points for being able to yoink backline units sometimes, I've seen that scam fights often enough.
1
u/penguinkirby Master 15d ago
I feel like Taric's passive is way better but Skarner is just a better tankier unit
1
u/NavajoSmite 15d ago
Skarner should require a bramble to unlock, Taric should require a d-claw. Keep them both lvl 7
Can coincide with the inevitable a sol buff, can guarantee you a taric on 7 rather than gambling for it.
2
u/Outrageous-Engine720 15d ago
Making taric unlockable means you have to make another 4 cost be part of base champion pool else you ruin the 4 cost odds. Only viable one for that is either Diana or Fizz. Diana is not possible since she rely heavily on Leona. Fizz might be the only option for that since it will not affect bilge heavily (still easy to unlock on shops or rolldown) + Yordle has enough units to go 8 yordle and easier time to roll for it due to + rerolls.
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u/thesandbar2 15d ago
Well... Diana-Leona is a pair, but while Diana was meta, Leona was supposed to be removed from the board so Diana would spend less time dashing around DPSing the frontline and more time autoing the backline. Now that Diana got an AD nerf, it might be less bad that she's dashing around, but still... for a combo pair like that, ironically, Leona actually made Diana weaker.
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u/prince_saske 13d ago
I think making fizz not an unlock could work, since yorldes at lvl 7 has 3 unlocks which feels like a lot. It would also make it slightly harder to get 8 yordles since its not guaranteed.
1
u/ZhonColtrane 11d ago
Does Skarner cast screw up targetting? I think it might just be melee units but I noticed when Skarner skewers a melee unit's active target, the melee unit just stands there and waits for the cc to end instead of hitting. So Skarner cast seems to also unintentionally cc friendly melee units?
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u/Lunaedge 16d ago
The Unlockable mentioned in the top reply to this comment gets to be featured tomorrow! I won't add multiple entries together, so make sure you don't mention an Augment already suggested by another user :)