After two years, the long-awaited visual and gameplay update for Skarner is almost set to hit the live servers in League of Legends. Players are understandably excited, but others are slightly disappointed with how long it’s taken the developers to cook up the new-look scorpion.
In a highly debated post on the League subreddit, players disagreed on whether or not the Skarner rework was “worth the wait” after learning about his new ability set, his revamped base skin and look, and his updated lore.
A vocal group of players was not impressed by the champion after the two-year rework, even though they’re still excited to play him and try out his new skills. Other fans were also disappointed with new Skarner content, such as the redesign of his Guardian of the Sands skin. Ultimately, Skarner took a while to build up and find which new direction the developers wanted to go in without losing his entire identity.
“We should not encourage Riot to take absurd amounts of time to rework champions,” one user said. “Does it kit look fun? Yes. Is his design better? Arguable… Overall, I’m excited for new Skarner but definitely no excuse for a huge company like Riot to need so much time to produce ASUs and VGUs.”
Skarner’s new abilities and design have brought the older champion back up to the standards set by the more recent releases in the game, whether it’s Hwei’s complicated ability set or Smolder’s fiery animations. The Primordial Sovereign was originally released in 2011, but now, he boasts fresh visual and audio effects to go with his modernized kit, while still maintaining that classic Skarner feel.
Even still, pro and casual players alike have praised his kit, with LCS stars saying his new abilities will make him a powerful top-tier jungler in the meta when he drops with Patch 14.7 in early April.
