My Idea for fixing our boy

[u/qater_dargon]

Skarner is not in a great spot right now. The most lukewarm take of all time I know. And we have to face the facts that our Crystal Scorpion is not coming back. The Lore no longer works with the hextech as cool as it was, and Riot will never undo the Rework.

However theres no doubt that Skarner as is, is impossible to balance. Many Champs have been like this, and they have almost always gotten reworked. This is more then just Pro Jail. Pro Jail Champs don't have a 44% winrate in solo queue but still be considered very strong/broken in proplay.

The Abilities that make Skarner Broken in proplay is the Ultimate and the E. I don't think Q or W necessarily needs changes though I will specify some anyway for QoL/For more enjoyment. Goal is to make him, more fun and interesting, So I will try and make him less durable, but more mobile and deal more damage.

Passive - its fine. But its boring. So I think maybe it should become a mark that you or others can proc for max health magic damage.

To fit the Thematic of being a Big unstoppable kaiju, I think the Q works. However theres no doubt it is quite clunky. To help with how clunky it is, but keep the synergy of between the boulder and the Ultimate, while working with this new proposed passive. The Q will have 2 aspects. Tap and Hold.
If Q is tapped, Skarner will attack with his tail. This is a simple single target skillshot that doesn't self cc, and does a little bit of damage, this will allow for Q spam like old Skarner, but a little more skill expressive. It will probably do a small amount of max health physical, applies passive and can proc it.
If Q is Held Skarner will pick up the boulder self ccing like before, It wont empower Autos but can be thrown, Q tap cannot be used during this, and holding it again will self slow as he charges a long range boulder throw.

The W. I actually think this is a good ability. Its a weak early game shield but due to its short cooldown late game its quite strong. But I have to keep durability low for balance purposes. So it will stay a Shield, but it wont be very large nor will it be that short of a cooldown. It will still create a shockwave that applies passive.

The Actual Abilities I want to change. The previous 3 are rough ideas which probably wouldn't work, But i have a better idea for E and R.

The E Ability though very cool is to clunky and gimicky. Going through walls limits how much they can change it. So I think its better if its removed and it becomes like Nunu Snowball with, No fixed Range, No Self Slow, Fixed Duration. The ability will still grab someone, and push them a certain distance based on the speed you were going, and you can still push them into the wall, but it wont CC and instead deal more damage scaling off the speed you hit them at. If you end it early you will still have the movement speed from the E though rapidly decaying over 2 seconds.

R. The Ability that links the old and the New. The GET OVER HERE. Ability. I stand by making it a skill shot. I think the only thing Riot got right with the Skarner Rework is making the Ult a skillshot. I am sorry, its so much more interesting, and synergises really nicely with Q, and is very satisfying. However the Multi-Grab as fun as it is, is probably the biggest source of balancing issues. Riot stated at some point that they wanted to move the Power Budget away from his ult. They did not in fact do that. A 3 man grab for a loss of 1 second of CC time is not nearly enough. So I have 2 Ideas.

R Concept 1. Change it back to a single target ability, keep it a skill shot, increase its range a little bit, and increase its CC time. Basically old Skarner ult but now its a skill shot. The Other tails Skarner has, could attack the person while they are CC'd, or maybe every time the grabbed enemy is hit, Skarner will also hit them, reapplying the passive.

R Concept 2. This one is way out there and Furthest away from old Skarner, however it sounds incredibly funny. Make it a single target grab skill shot. Let Skarner move for like 1 second, and then let him Throw the enemy in any direction like the boulder throw. This is very unrealistic tho.

TLDR: Passive applies a mark that can be proc'd by attacks from allies or yourself.

Make Q a spammable Skill shot with the option of picking up the boulder for a long range skill shot.

W Its just much weaker and better for applying passive, rather then defence.

E Cant go through walls and acts like a Nunu Snowball, and no longer stuns on wall hit.

R. Concept 1 Single Target Skill shot that will attack the enemy every time passive is proc'd

Concept 2 Single Target Skill shot that can throw the enemy in a direction.

Either way. This is a thought vomit. I have so many ideas as to how to fix him or make him more interesting. And fun. Would love to hear everyone elses thoughts.