With Skarner's League of Legends win and ban rates continuing to rise, Riot Games developer Phreak has been forced to step in and track down the root of the problem: a debunked exploit based around the scorpion's iconic kidnap ability.

Skarner’s rework, which finally went live in early 2024, transformed the beloved Crystal Scorpion into a behemoth on Summoner’s Rift capable of slamming players into walls and dragging enemies down with his ultimate. After playing, League top laners found ways to break the scorpion’s most iconic ability, leading to Phreak now crushing the mechanics and speaking out about the overall success of the champion’s rework.

Phreak, who leads League's live balance team and spearheaded Skarner's rework, admitted today that he wished he had "done better" with the champion when he previewed Patch 14.14 on YouTube. In the same video, Phreak delved into all of Skarner's balance changes and warned that he's going to be "on a balance rollercoaster" with this update.

The most anticipated change is the removal of backwards casting on Skarner's E ability, which allows the scorpion to grab opponents from behind and slam them into walls. Now, Skarner will have to look his enemies in the eye when engaging them, which was the original intent of the ability.