How to win the jungle race as Locke against Skarner · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Locke's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Skarner.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Even Skirmish | Dead-even at the first buff: Q nail volleys clear camps at range while banking marks for the first scuttle fight, while Shattered Earth boulder poke chips contests from range. Whoever arrives with more HP and cooldowns wins, so track their clear and pick the moment. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Even Skirmish | Neither side cleanly wins level 2 — an E charge through a wall into the boulder combo stuns you for the whole fight, but the blink-auto mark consume chunks hard, but spending E in a duel spends the escape too. Trade only from full health; with one camp still up on both sides the first mis-step decides this, not the kits. |
| Level 3 Route | Respect Skarner | The Ixtal's Impact wall-stun threat makes corridor fights theirs, and Locke has no clean answer to it at the opening scuttle — an E charge through a wall into the boulder combo stuns you for the whole fight. Fight in open spaces — every jungle wall near him is a stun waiting to happen, and give up the first scuttle rather than the kill. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Respect Skarner — Path Opposite | Levels 4-5 still belong to Skarner in a straight fight — farm the opposite side, answer their ganks cross-map, and wait for your spike. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Respect Skarner's R | A multi-target Impale drag ends the fight before it starts — Locke loses the straight post-6 duel. Hold your dash for the suppression cast and never duel him between walls, and shift your pressure to the side of the map Impale is not on. |
| First Item Spike | Lich Bane / Shadowflame Spike | Lich Bane turns every blink-consume into a Spellblade chunk and Shadowflame sharpens the low-HP crunch. This is your strongest duel window of the game — cash it on a pick, not a coin-flip. Skarner's first item buys the health and cooldowns that let him survive the answer to his own engage. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Respect Skarner Late — End Early | Late game you are a cleanup engine, not a frontliner: enter second, blink the marked kill, and chain E resets. Every sealed soul permanently raises the totem floor — your scaling is the seal count. |
Start Red with a leash and Q the camp from max nail range — W’s grey-health refund keeps the clear honest, but full clears cost real HP, so path toward a healthy scuttle, not a fight. Skarner clears comfortably with boulder poke and Seismic Bastion shields, and he keeps his health through the whole path.
Ranked by the race windows in Locke's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Locke vs Skarner report continues with scuttle & dragon rules, invade windows and safety boundaries, the top-side objective fight, macro rotations and the win condition — plus the live enemy-jungle tracker that shows their start, clear and gank timers in game.
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Skarner pressures 4 of the 7 windows in this race — survive the early game and scale into your windows.
Not exactly — Skarner pressures 4 of the 7 windows, so Locke is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Skarner vs Locke guide →
All Locke jungle matchups →
More Locke jungle matchups: vs Sejuani · vs Shaco · vs Shyvana · vs Taliyah · vs Talon · vs Trundle