Who to play with Skarner — best team synergies

The Equalizer (R) is a strip of fire that lasts five seconds and slows by 45%: anyone caught inside has to walk out. Impale (R) drags up to three champions right into it and holds them for a second and a half, and none of them can leave.

Bellows Breath (W) makes the target Brittle and stretches the crowd control that follows by 30%: the Impale (R) suppression goes from a second and a half to nearly two, and a full team burst fits inside that margin.

Mobile champions always stay outside the short reach of Apprehend (E): you hand him one suppressed and motionless with Impale (R), and Noxian Guillotine (R) executes it. The execute resets on the kill, so one pick opens a second one.

Unstoppable Force (R) knocks the group up and Impale (R) collects three of them the moment they land: two lockdowns chained back to back with no gap. Your page says your engage telegraphs and gets dodged, and with him you never have to enter first.

Impale (R) puts you inside their team and your page is blunt: you have no sustain and get outlasted in a long duel. Stand United (R) shields you from anywhere on the map the second you land, and Shadow Dash (E) taunts whoever leaves the suppression.

Unraveled Earth (E) only detonates and stuns when someone is forcibly displaced across the field: Ixtal's Impact (E) and Impale (R) are pure forced displacement. And Weaver's Wall (R) builds on demand the terrain your drag needs to stun against.

Vision of Empire (W) deals 50% more damage to anything already locked down: Impale (R) suppresses up to three champions, so the hit lands empowered on all three at once. And Demonic Ascension (R) drains the pile you just dragged onto him.

Pyroclasm (R) bounces between nearby enemies and every bounce can set off Blaze (P): the dirty work is putting them next to each other, and that is literally what Impale (R) does by dragging three into one spot.

Summon: Tibbers (R) lands on a pile that cannot move, and with Pyromania (P) charged her next spell stuns for a full second: chained onto the Impale (R) suppression, the target never starts moving again.

Command: Protect (E) attaches the ball to you and shields you on the way in, so you are the one who carries the damage. Then Command: Shockwave (R) piles them into one spot, exactly where Seismic Bastion (W) slows and Impale (R) collects them.

Worth it against teams that stand close together: Slicing Maelstrom (R) pulses every half second and reapplies Mark of the Storm (P), but he has to stay in the middle of it. With three champions suppressed by Impale (R) he can, and for free.

Her page says it plainly: without a slow in front of it, mobile targets walk out of half of Bullet Time (R). Impale (R) holds three of them completely still for a second and a half and Seismic Bastion (W) slows whoever is left around them.

Inferno Trigger (R) fires ten shots that can all crit: against a grouped team it ends the fight, and grouping them is your job. Wild Rush (E) resets on every takedown, so the first pick opens the next two for her.

Deadly Flourish (W) roots anyone an ally has just hit: the Upheaval (Q) boulder does it from range, so the target is pinned before you have to show Ixtal's Impact (E). Then Curtain Call (R) closes it out from outside the fight.

Your page says your engage has a tell: Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R) opens the fight for you, from off-screen. And the Frost Shot (P) slow on every hit gives you time to switch on Shattered Earth (Q) before you dash in.

Kanmei's Steps (E) gives her speed but not a dash: anyone who reaches her kills her. Ixtal's Impact (E) rips the diver off and Impale (R) suppresses him, while Arc of Judgment (W) slows almost to a standstill whoever you want to grab.

Worth it against teams that end up lined up: Spray and Pray (R) pierces, so three champions suppressed by Impale (R) on the same axis all get hit, and Contaminate (E) detonates the venom on all of them. He is still a 48%-winrate marksman in China.

Stranglethorns (R) knocks up two seconds after it lands, and keeping them inside has always been the problem: Impale (R) drags them in and suppresses them, Seismic Bastion (W) slows the area. Grasping Roots (E) roots whoever still tries to leave.

Your page says you have no sustain at all and simply get outlasted in a long duel: Wish (R) heals you wherever you are, even in the middle of them after Impale (R), and it heals 50% more under 35% health.

Beat Drop (E) escalates once crowd control has already landed: after the Impale (R) suppression it arrives as a stun, not a slow. And Encore (R) charms in a line and extends on every champion it clips, meaning the three you piled up.

Crescendo (R) stuns the first target it touches and slows everyone else inside: she opens, and you walk in with Ixtal's Impact (E) onto a target that is no longer moving. And Aria of Perseverance (W) gives you the sustain your page says you lack.

Your page says you always reach contested objectives second: Inspire (E) empowered by Mantra (P) hands a shield and speed to you and one more nearby ally, and you get there first. Focused Resolve (W) roots up to two champions while you line up Ixtal's Impact (E).

Worth it when the suppressed targets stay lined up: Final Spark (R) pierces everything it touches, and Impale (R) puts them in a row and holds them there. Lux sits at 48.8% in China, though, and a bad angle means the beam hits one body.