The Basics of VG Top
I am wrldclass*** and I have reached Pinnacle of Awesome in solo que using skaarf a great deal. I have over 230 games won and I can honestly say that I lose about 1/4 games in solo que. My mains are Skaarf, Catherine, glaive, and petal. I play a variety so that I can pick the character that will best compliment the style of my team-mates. If your team mate picks Saw and Petal, for instance, do NOT pick skaarf. If you want to win, you must play for the team. If you want a lot of kills and don't synergize then you will lose in all higher tier games. I will explain which heroes skaarf likes to work with later. For now, I want everyone to remember to play for the good of the team.
The build. Top
I hate to break it to you, but there is no sure-fire build to make you unstoppable. A build is something that changes depending on the opponents, your team, and what the enemy builds, and what your team builds. Changing your build smartly and adapting to counter the enemies makes you unstoppable. Here are some examples.
You see the enemy team has Aardan, so you build crucible instead of fountain to get out of his ult (two crucibles between the team is nice for the annoying aardan ult)
The enemies have all built aegis, so you build a broken myth instead of more CP.
The enemies counter you perfectly (Taka, Petal, glaive). So you must build more tanky items and opt to play support instead of a carry in the mid game. But still farm them early on.
Early Game: Creating The Deficit Top
Skaarf is dominant in the early game. For the first three levels, you are the team's carry. This is why you build boots, you need to escape because if you die, your team mates are done. Play very aggressively. In the beginning, buy boots. Then watch to see what the enemy buys (your boots will get you to the battle faster and make up for time anyway.) If the enemies have lots of scout traps, then buy a flare and get the jump. If they have potions, they probably plan to play aggressively and you need a scout trap (its a mistake to play aggressively against early skaarf unless they have a skaarf too). If the enemy has a flare, try to initiate combat and use your flare before they get theirs out, or lure them into your scout traps and make them think they have the jump. Basically your goal in the early game is to kill the enemy junglers, over and over. Not even saw will start doing the big deeps to your turret until he is maybe level 6 avoid the lane early. Use your team-mates to kill the enemy junglers at level 1 (this is easy for skaarf and one other hero). Next kill their whole jungle and hide. Kill both junglers again. Go into the lane and offer support at this time while your junglers clean out jungle again. Then kill the enemy junglers again (you will need to be buying potions and utilizing heal NPC to stay up). If they have not ragequit, yet, then they are very resilient. Take your now stacked team and pound the enemy laner. At this point, I find that the enemy laner will be level 4, your whole team level 3-4, and the enemy junglers level 1-2. This creates the deficit. The enemy team will not recover from this for the whole match. Now your much stronger junglers can continuously bully the enemy junglers while you turtle in the lane and get that extra gold to build eve of harvest. Even if the enemy has a taka and a petal, there is nothing they can do for the first 1-5 levels. Especially with your team-mates helping you. When the gold mine is about half full, just capture it while all three of you are in jungle.
Mid Game: The Win Top
Skaarf loves to go for early wins. I win most games with skaarf in fifteen minutes or less. The enemy should be playing very defensively at this point since you just roughed them up in the jungle. At this point you should have your eve of harvest and travel boots, a couple scout mines to avoid getting ganked, and potions. Leave flares to your support unless they have taka. If the strategy is going as planned, you have created a massive deficit in level between your team and the enemy. Now, the health of the Kraken is based off how much gold has been earned that game by both teams. The enemy will have barely any, and your team will be swimming in it. This means that you can kill the Kraken very quickly and easily (only engage kraken with all three members of your team unless it is ace, then go for it with two.) Killing one member of the enemy team is plenty to go for kraken if you have your whole team. Cover the place in scout mines and go for it with your team. The enemies are incapable of killing you, so if they try to get you while your team is on kraken just take a break from kraken and kill them. 4/5 times your team will get kraken and the enemy damage will be so pathetic that they cannot kill it with your whole team following kraken in lane. If the enemy ninjas it, they probably had a joule or petal ult and got lucky. Even if they do, it doesnt matter. Your team will easily kill kraken and collect a nice, free 500g (which is why you must engage with three members unless ace). The Kraken likely will not kill one of your turrets (because the health of your team's turrets is based off your teams gold), but it will ruin the enemy turrets with you and your team.
Skaarf : Late Game Top
This is about the 25 minute mark. Either your opponents are VERY skilled, very lucky, or your team is not playing aggressively enough. They will have caught up to the level deficit, but not gold. You can afford to build tankier items at this point. The enemy will probably have mostly their core build, while you have the gold to counter build. Counter them so you will live a long time with eve of harvest. If the enemy has any shield, i highly recommend broken myth. Your team must utilize their level and gold advantage as efficiently as possible in the mid game. Because, honestly, skaarf sucks after 25 min. It is very unfortunate if you can't win before 25 min. Buy shield pierce, maybe a crucible, shatterglass, eve, aegis/metal jacket, and your top boots should be done last.
Teamwork Top
Skaarf loves to work with heroes that can soak up damage. Heroes like Glaive, Joule, and Catherine are great to have in the early game.
Slaarf also loves to work with heroes that can slow at low levels. This makes Kruul a great match. His passive slow is a death sentence to the enemy at level one. Adagio works well, also. The arcane fire applies a DoT and slows, the enemy will have two DoTs on them and may underestimate how much damage they are actually taking.
Skaarf doesnt do a great job with Taka or Petal. These heroes both hate to take damage, which leaves you with two squishy heroes that don't want to get hit. An enemy glaive can devastate both taka and skaarf.
Other tips. Top
Don't walk into bishes carelessly. Use your fireball to scout out enemies.
Don't push far into the enemy's half of the lane. Skaarf is easy to gank. Just kill enemy minions so that your minions push to their turret, then fall to jungle.
Sometimes you may want to upgrade the skill B five times and skill C twice if the enemys build lots of crucible or aegis to counter your ult. Even with broken myth, the ult is sad when they have lots of shield.
Conclusion Top
Well, this is my first guide, hope you like it. I'll make changes when they are necessary. Really bothers me that not a lot of people like to play skaarf. So this might help.
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