After spending a long while in limbo, Skarner finally got the attention he deserves in a rework. But it seems its effects weren’t long-lasting, as the champion’s popularity has already fallen to below pre-rework levels.
As pointed out by Reddit user bodynasr in a July 25 thread, Skarner’s pick rate in the jungle has dropped below 0.62 percent—a tad lower than his pre-rework self. According to lolalytics, the champion was picked in the jungle role nearly 90 percent of the time in Patch 14.6 prior to his rework.
Now, jungle Skarner appears in nearly 30,000 fewer matches, winning in a meager 45.6 percent of them. The champion’s popularity on the top lane has tripled, however, which may have impacted his jungle performance, though even there he struggles to crack a 45 percent win rate.
Both the new and old versions of Skarner did not find much success in winning matches, as he never surpassed the 50 percent required for a champion to be considered somewhat balanced. Overall, in both situations, he sported around 44 to 46 percent win rate, lolalytics shows. In higher elo games, players did significantly better with him, managing to score around 53 percent on average. Even so, Skarner’s high elo win rate has dropped off in the past few patches and now sits even below the pre-rework version, the same as his popularity.
Players in the thread claim Riot is likely planning a significant buff to the champion that will essentially focus on all of his abilities, with one even saying they are purposely letting him be sub-optimal before dropping a massive all-encompassing buff. Whatever the case, it’s obvious reworks aren’t the only thing that can bump a champion up. Constant mindfulness is needed to keep them afloat in the fluctuating meta.
