After a long time, Skarner’s rework has finally been revealed. The crystalline scorpion looks fresh, but some players think his reworked skins are underwhelming. Fans are particularly disgruntled because of the Guardian of the Sands skin which offers little for a high price.
A March 19 Reddit thread goes into some detail regarding Guardian of the Sands Skarner, especially focusing on his recall animation in the 975RP skin. “Guardian of the Sands Skarner shows that modern Riot cuts corners if it can,” user Bubblegum1109 wrote in the original post. They said that Skarner’s old recall was oddly satisfying and minimalistic, a far cry from Riot’s modern recall designs, but that the new ones are quite underwhelming. “It’s the base recall with fucking sand,” they wrote of the reworked Guardian of the Sand recall animation.
The user then went on to compare the reworked Skarner skin with other skins that are equal in price or nearly twice as cheap. “Hextech Galio got new particles, Crabgot got new sounds, recolored particles, new Q and R models, and voice filter,” they wrote, noting both of these skins cost 520RP.
Some users replying to the thread agreed with the thread’s notion that Riot didn’t try their best with the new Skarner skins. “[It’s] just pure laziness,” one player wrote. Many of those replying expressed their disappointment, saying Guardian of the Sands was their go-to and favorite Skarner skin which now looks drastically different.
Though it garnered the most attention, Guardian of the Sands isn’t the only skin Skarner players felt was lackluster. Earthrune Skarner, one player said, “got absolutely robbed” with its makeover from an Earth Elemental into what they describe as some kind of robot.
The Skarner rework is aiming to go live on April 3 as part of League of Legends Patch 14.7. Whether or not Riot Games tweaks some of these lackluster features players are complaining about remains to be seen. At least players seem to like the gameplay changes for the champ.
