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[–]Rich0 38 points39 points ago

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Fucking OP in ARAM

[–]Rawrjeevz[Rajeevsucks] (NA) 2 points3 points ago

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I love how everyone screams OP in champion spotlight or just by looking at his skills, he has A MILLION RANGE + Stun, HOW CAN YOU GET AWAY!? And when people actually play him they realise his long range is compensated with low-er damage than the normal ap caster, never the less, awesome character, he is ALL about positioning, if you siege up in the middle of the engagement you won't get far, he is the best pusher in the game when it comes to destroying inhibs, siege outside the enemy base and cover your team while they tower. Very fun to play.

[–]JackDostoevsky 2 points3 points ago

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he has A MILLION RANGE + Stun, HOW CAN YOU GET AWAY!?

Except that Mage Chains has shit range. I feel like I always have to get too far into the engagement to hit someone with it, at which point I don't want to siege because I won't be able to get away.

The only time I've found Mage Chains especially useful is when using his Ult.

[–]Rawrjeevz[Rajeevsucks] (NA) 1 point2 points ago

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Yeah, that's why i said Million range + stun, instead of A million range stun. It's really inconvenient, i always feel vulnerable when i un-siege just cause i have to throw mage chains, then resiege.

[–]Trux42[Trux 42] (NA) 7 points8 points ago

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He's ok. Difficult to play well, but who needs to play well when you can double Q every wave for near-perfect cs. Too reliant on his ult to do any damage, W could use some tweaks (would much rather see it have less of a delay without the movement speed buff). Going for fast CDR seems the best route for a number of reasons. 3 second Q, ~6(?) second E and minimum downtime on ult. He doesn't have the best of ratios on his basic skills, but his ulti makes up for that pretty fast. % spell pen on W makes building for flat spell pen less than ideal.

Overall, relatively linear champion and playstyle, without many options in build. At least he's not non-autoattacking AD. 5xbloodthirsters is such innovative design.

[–]Psychobolt 6 points7 points ago

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His dmg seems a tad low for the amount of set-up he needs to get it off. If you put him next to most casters it dosnt realy add up.

[–]Theledin[Theledin] (EU-W) 4 points5 points ago*

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You're plain wrong there.

His dmg seems a tad low for the amount of set-up people thinks he needs to get it off.

(tried to fix that)

He has 3.1 AP ratio on his full burst combo, thats way more then pretty much every other nuker. Just don't follow Phreaks shit build with W>E, if you just E+R+Q+R+R ignite you have great burst at decent range without being immobile whatsoever, you can also W after it and get another Q off.

TL;DR: Skill E over W and stop going into W all the time, only if you NEED to get the range.

[–]RoBellicose[RobwhOrr] (EU-West) -1 points0 points ago

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or the 30% spell pen? its not only for the range that w is skilled. and if you get cdr early then spamming w > q is brutal in lane.

[–]Theledin[Theledin] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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30% spell pen is irrelevant in lane because your opponent will most likely have 30 mr (which you negate by runes and sorcs). If you get cdr early you can spam W Q in lane still pretty often, with the difference that you can actually kill people instead of just poking them out of the lane ..

[–]ThereIsNoBox 0 points1 point ago

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Percentage spell pen does very little in the lane. E is another flat out, targeted, long range nuke (and it comes with a stun...). If you get CDR early then spamming E->Q is brutal in the lane.

[–]RIPdig -2 points-1 points ago

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Maybe they could buff his damage at close range after you use your "w" the damge could go back to what it is now? Would that work?

[–]Emptypiro 2 points3 points ago

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I like him. I wish his spells had more impact, but i am pleased overall.

[–]Problem_Santa[GZdeMosselman] (EU-W) 2 points3 points ago

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I've seen him do ok in dominion, but he needs 1 or 2 bruisers to hide behind else he is dead meat.

[–]Verdandeify 0 points1 point ago

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I've only ever seen him do awful on Dominion. It's kind of a shame, as his kit looks like it'd fit the playstyle fairly well.

[–]Nerkson 11 points12 points ago

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He's got amazing poke, though there are some things that people should attempt to realize:

  • Using Locus of Power while in the middle of your lane is just asking to be ganked. You have to know where people are and assess the risks. Just watch out for the enemy, and if they have a jungler with some form of a stun (Udyr, Warwick at 6, Amumu, so on) then be ready to break Locus off fast.

  • Running him Ghost/Flash is probably the best overall set up. Ignite/Flash would provide more damage, but Xerath is a slow beast. He needs some way to get around more than just Flash and the occasional minor speed boost from Locus.

  • His Passive isn't exactly super strong. It does help don't get me wrong, but it's certainly one of the weaker free gold passives. Don't worry about stacking ONLY AP. Some CD Reduction helps with his ultimate, but he has a pretty low CD frame any rate.

  • Once again, his poke is just good. I sort of like Rylia's in the fact that landing a Mage Chain will make hitting Q that much easier.

  • The Spotlight suggested nearly all AP/Level runes. I strongly suggest Mana/level Yellows or Blues though. He does need some mana regen. Picking up two Doran's Rings + Some form of Rune'd Mana regen will greatly help with lane sustain. Blue buff helps a ton too.

  • I've heard that Spell-pen boots do not work very well on him due to how they interact with Locus's innate % Spell Pen. However, you're not in Locus 24/7. Make your judgement calls here as you see fit.

[–]csiz 3 points4 points ago

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I wonder how much his passive will change if he is to go bottom with support and leave the ad carry mid. Free armor with ap seems really strong that way.

[–]Nerkson 4 points5 points ago

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Really, I'm not entirely sure. I would just be guessing and making up conjectures. Also, I'm bad at the maths so uh yeah, let's try this.

He starts with 16 Base armor, and gains 3.471 Armor every level. Max would then be 75, according to Leaguecraft.

So, 75 base armor. His passive is 15% of AP goes to Armor. Let's say 450 AP is the average amount for an okay game. That would be 67.5 Armor, giving him a total of 142.5 Armor. The game might round up or down one, not sure.

That's an acceptable amount of Armor, but the passive will hardly give him much early on. At best, he might have 60-80 Armor during the laning phase, which an early Brut could fix handily.

It's an acceptable passive, but it feels a bit odd. Survivability is survivability so I'll take it, but I wish it was different.

[–]AlonsoQ 0 points1 point ago

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Another way to look at it is in terms of EHP vs. physical. The obvious comparison is with Vlad's passive, which gives 1.8 health per AP. Since the EHP gain from 1 point of armor is 1% of your base health, the amount of health you have changes the worth or armor, and vice versa.

Let's start by assuming they're both level 18. Vlad doesn't usually get armor from runes or masteries, and if he gets Zhonya's it's going to be pretty late. So he'll have just the 71.5 base armor. Each point of AP will provide 1.8 * 1.715 = about 3.1 EHP vs. physical.

Going by the spotlight, we'll assume Xerath will pick up Rylai's around that time, so he'll have 2240 health. Each point of AP will provide (0.0015 * 2240) = 3.36 EHP vs. physical. So... Xerath's passive is only about 10% more effective than Vlad's at 18, and that's with extra HP. And Vlad's passive, of course, provides survivability against magic damage as well, suffers less from Last Whisper, and gives him additional AP if he builds health.

Everything should be taken in context, of course. Vlad doesn't have Xerath's range, and is going to start every fight at only 85% health.

[–]ritosuave[Rito Suave] (NA) -4 points-3 points ago

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Your math doesn't relate to the post above, because you're doing endgame calculations. The passive would really be useful during the laning/early phase of the game. The current meta is to bring a strong AD carry bot with a support babysitter. The point was that Xerath pokes really well, and the passive armor means that you would be well served to buy AP items early. It could make for a very interesting countermeta build sending him and a support bottom, and putting cait or someone else mid.

[–]logarythm 1 point2 points ago

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I think that's what they were going for with him. Soraka/Xerath (Or even trololol MorgannaSupport/Xerath) bot lane. Maybe Vayne solotop instead, with a Galio or Talon mid.

[–]Scyths 4 points5 points ago

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I've tested out Soraka/Xerath agaisnt Caitlyn/Soraka and it's piece of shit seriously. I would not recommend it at least not agaisnt caitlyn who's got a good burst. I think you can do well agaisnt Ashe but overall it doesn't work quite well.

[–]logarythm 1 point2 points ago

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Guess I'm wrong. Thanks for testing it for me :D

[–]ZentaPollenta[Marqe] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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Well, RS (Now Dignitas) stated in their last AMA that one of their strats was banning their sustain supports and going heimer bot (So for instance ban Soraka Sona and maybe pick Taric or Alistar). That would leave the enemy lane with very little sustain. The tactic basically was: Poke the living sh*t out of the lane. And they have been pretty successfully with it, alledgedly. I think it could work (maybe not at tournament level, but the vast majority aren't playing at that level) So Xerath sitting there poking could work.

TL;DR: Ban Soraka and sona, pick a sustain support, place Xerath bot, harass and zone the living buggery out of the lane.

[–]Scyths 1 point2 points ago

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By banning substain champions, you're letting them pick OP champions of the moment. It could work with your strategy but then again, I'm not quite sure. It certainly will depends agaisn't what kind of 'Elo?' you would be playing. (Saying ELO there because the bans depends of your ELO. Best exemple : Tryndamere)

[–]ZentaPollenta[Marqe] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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at the moment, there are no "obvious" OP champions out there. There are only "i can't fucking bother to play against these" or "these champions will fuck up our comp", or as a counterban (They ban soraka, we ban karthus. Or they ban garen, we ban akali.) + banning out sustain supports would make Xerath kinda OP.

[–]Scyths 0 points1 point ago

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I mostly agree but the obvious thing about Xerath is not his damage, he's actually doing less damage than the other mages who are "normal" but he has way more range and cooldown than the others. His late game is also kinda ruined. He's not snowballing well late game even if fed early (At least not agaisnt Tanky with tons of HP). I think brand counters him very well. He can lane well agaisn't Morgana with his W and Q and even harass a little but don't think he can win after lv6.

Btw sorry double post up there, kinda bugged.

[–]ZentaPollenta[Marqe] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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It is exactly at lvl 6 that he becomes truly strong. He's a siege champion with strong harass, but his ultimate makes him relevant in other aspects of a game. He can suddenly stun someone, deal TONS OF DAMAGE and then if they're not dead, he can continue doing great damage with only his E and Q. His damage is truly great. While not matching that of someone like Brand or Cassiopeia, he has better burst damage with his ultimate, which is on a fairly low cooldown. If the ultimate is down, he still has strong poke and can be a pain for the other team. His Q hurts like a mother... once he gets blue or some other CDR. + stuns every 5 seconds is great credit to team. A dual lane without proper sustain can't handle Xerath being able to non stop harass them under their own turret while he's at a totally safe range.

[–]Takuun 0 points1 point ago

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Well the AD carry would likely get outclassed mid by whichever AP mid is there and the team with the AD carry mid would be behind because of how well AP characters scale with levels alone compared to AD scaling no where near as good with levels but instead with items.

[–]fishhand 5 points6 points ago

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On your last bullet, I've read that sentiment before but it doesn't make sense not to get sorc shoes just because it makes your locus less important, spell pen boots will always up your damage: if the enemy has 100 MR, you have merc treads and level 5 locus, they have 70 MR. If you have sorc shoes and level 5 locus, they have 56 MR.

[–]Chetyre 13 points14 points ago

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Well, I mathed this out a bit. Here's some facts:

due to how mresist works and how casters work we need to assume a couple things. First off that you'll have magic pen reds (8.55 flat pen) and archaic knowledge (15% mpen). Due to how magic resistance works, flat is calculated first, then percentage, and percentage stacks multiplicatively. So for our two examples (one with sorc boots, one without) we start with 100mr. Minus the 8.55 magic pen puts us at 91.45 for both. For our sorc boots builds, subtract another 20 to bring you to 71.45, then we have 40.5% mpen from locus and archaic (remember it's multiplicative, not additive). That means our target ends up with 42.51275 mr, give or take.

Build 2, with no sorc boots. 91.45 plus the 40.5% mpen would bring the target down to 54.41275. So really with those sorc boots you're only getting about a 5% increase in damage (and I believe this number goes down the higher mr they achieve, too early in the morning to do more math). So yes, it does technically up your damage but I feel that being able to cast more often is going to increase your damage by more, despite their slightly higher mr.

Basically, I have no problems buying cdr boots for Xerath and I think you should feel the same way. Having max cdr means you can constantly slow the other team (if you have rylai's) and with a cd of ~35 seconds on ult means you can use it both to poke before a teamfight and afterwards to clean up.

[–]anadomie[Lyco Suxx] (EU-W) 1 point2 points ago

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You are bsically right with what you are saying, still you are already able to cap your cdr with blue buff, blue pot + Masteries only.

[–]Legitamte[Doctor Awesome] (NA) 1 point2 points ago

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It's hard to judge pen vs. CD from a purely numerical approach, but here's a fairly simple way that I usually look at it: which is more likely--that I will win a fight because of the 20 MPen; or that I will win a fight because my stun came off cooldown a second faster? Generally I am in favor of cooldown on this one, because he's a more sustained caster--on someone like Annie who revolves around how effective one huge burst is, I would go Pen.

[–]fishhand 2 points3 points ago

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Thanks for the math. You're probably right that late game 15% CDR will up your damage more than the 20 mpen from sorc shoes, my only point was that simply because you have % pen is not reason enough to discount sorc shoes.

However, until the enemy gets an MR item they will be at ~30MR (carries) and the 20 mpen from sorc shoes helps more than the 40.5% from archaic knowledge and locus of power. Also, I'm not familiar with the leveling order for Xerath's skills, but I imagine Locus isn't maxed until level 12, and there's nothing wrong with buying sorc shoes early and switching out for CDR boots later.

[–]RoBellicose[RobwhOrr] (EU-West) 0 points1 point ago

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cooldown on xerath is amazingly powerful, as you can fire a silly amount of q attacks in one teamfight. the problem with getting it early is that you need a competent jungler who can feed you blue or you'll drain your mana quicker than anivia. Spell pen boots aren't really necessary - the damage increase is not large early on as the base damage on xeraths attacks isn't great anyway - the most effective poking comes from using locus, and that gives you all the mpen you need. If you have a jungler you can trust, always get the cdr boots over mpen. Of course, there are situations where merc treads are needed.

[–]fishhand 0 points1 point ago

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20 mPen from boots is better than 30% until they have 66 MR.

[–]irobeth[irobeth] (NA) 2 points3 points ago

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The sentiment is that his % passive cannibalizes some of the MPen from the boots, making them less cost-effective. If you need more MPen you can buy them, but it may be more effective to buy CDR boots and go with Void Staff(?)

[–]fishhand 1 point2 points ago

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I understand the thought behind it, and certainly end game casters should have void staff. But early game sorc shoes do significantly increase the damage you do when you consider that without MR items carries have only 30 MR.

[–]irobeth[irobeth] (NA) 5 points6 points ago

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If only Haunting Guise upgraded into something useful...

[–]ArmorMog 2 points3 points ago

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Your 1st point can't be more true. Every time I see a Xerath siege up, that's go time for me. Trundle has been my favorite so far to use against him. I don't care how fast he moves coming out of it, he's going to have a pillar right behind him leading him to me.

[–]NolanVoid 0 points1 point ago

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Question on the spell pen: would the percentage from Void Staff stack with the percentage from Locus? If so I can't see a reason not to grab CDR boots and a late game Void Staff if they are building MR.

[–]Liquid5n0w[5n0w] (NA) 1 point2 points ago

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They do not stack additively, but multiplicatively. So total pen with void staff and masteries is 0.6 x 0.85 x 0.7 = 0.357 so about 65% pen of their MR. Instead of 85%.

So about 15% is 'wasted'. But not really because you still reduce their effective defense by 40% when it becomes void's turn to apply.

[–]Nerkson 0 points1 point ago

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I believe they do stack!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point ago

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I think you can stack Void/Locus/Mastery % spell pen to get a total of ~65% spell pen.

[–]Cleansing_Fire 0 points1 point ago

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When I tried him out in a custom game, I learned that percentage spell pen caps out at 49%. Just FYI.

[–]ThereIsNoBox 1 point2 points ago

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With Void Staff and the 15% mastery you will have 49% Magic pen.

[–]Scyths -1 points0 points ago

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I've heard that Spell-pen boots do not work very well on him due to how they interact with Locus's innate % Spell Pen. However, you're not in Locus 24/7. Make your judgement calls here as you see fit.

Actually, I've heard from a red that the % penetration went before the normal penetration. So apparently when "X" has 100 armor and "Y" has 20 penetration + 50% penetration, it goes (100-50%)-20 = (100-50)-20 so it should be 30. Correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not quite sure. I've heard that a very long time ago.

[–]MetallicDragon 7 points8 points ago

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% penetration works after any flat penetration or reductions.

[–]tbydal 2 points3 points ago

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You heard it a long time ago and it was correct a long time ago. They swapped it around though, the synergy was just too strong.

[–]johnmedgla 3 points4 points ago

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I like his concept, but he just doesn't have the late game impact to justify giving him the solo he needs to accomplish, well, anything. Needs a smallish ratio buff on at least Q I suspect.

[–]Theledin[Theledin] (EU-W) 5 points6 points ago

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I don't agree with that. The ratio on his full combo is over the top comparing to other nukers while he has still higher range (3.1 AP). His Q has "just" 0.6, but it's a short cooldown, long range spell. Comparing to Annies W which has 0.75 but also has way smaller range and longer cd, it has pros and cons. The real problem is rather the very low base damage on Q rather then any of his ratios. It should be at least 250-255 imo, to help his mid game damage. Ofc I wouldnt mind if they buff his Q ratio too, but his late game damage is already pretty strong. (1.8 on an AoE ult with that range is hilarious)

[–]Ekanselttar 1 point2 points ago

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Im gonna disagree as well, he gets to be extremely good lategame where he's got a few hundred AP and does true damage on carries. Played an 80-minute shootout where every character reached full build, and I was still by far the most dangerous champ on either team.

[–]Thedeepone31 1 point2 points ago

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I agree, I think bringing it up even from .6 to .7 would be good.

[–]fertfert 0 points1 point ago

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I think his e needs a rework. Most underwhelming spell imo

[–]Grafeno 1 point2 points ago

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I find him very meh early game, meh midgame and really good engame.

Overall conclusion: Meh. You'll own if you get into lategame, but that doesn't happen too often.

[–]RedCarmine 1 point2 points ago

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I'm finding him really powerful, I won't be surprised at all if he becomes a FOTM after a high elo player starts streaming him a lot. He doesn't need any buffs in my opinion.

He is powerful through every single stage of the game. He starts out with powerful harass (if you are good at landing your Q), at level six he has an incredibly powerful nuke combo, and if whoever you are laning against has taken about two Qs, you can guarantee a kill with your ultimate and ignite every time. He never loses his relevance, all the way into late game with incredible harass and a bunch of free magic pen and armor. With Rod of Ages and Rylai's you practically are as tough to kill for AD champions as a full tank. To top it all off he has great farming and hard cc. Really what more do you want? Hell, he even has high AP ratios, more than Veigar.

[–]stacksandwhiskers 1 point2 points ago

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Standing at my tower blue pilling after a fight and having a Xerath from behind a wall pound me in the ass makes me very sad. But very satisfying for the Xerath, I'm sure.

[–]TomorrowByStorm[TomorrowByStorm] (NA) 1 point2 points ago

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I love him. I sat down the other night and played 26 games in a row with him to try all these ideas I have for him and to see what he was capable off. Here is what I've learned thus far.

*Xerath is not a carry. He has RIDICULOUS power in his range and ult, must remain too far out of the battle. He simply can not be the champion doing the most dmg for your team.

*He is a great mid if you know how to play it back and wait for your six. Once you have Ult capabilities his bust dmg goes through the roof.

  • He is THE best person for shutting down the current AD/Support bottom meta. I would even go as far as to say he may have been built for it on purpose because it works to damn well. Just put him with a ranged AD carry bottom and you simply can't lose if the AD is good and Xerath builds to support.

This is what I do. I stack full AP runes. I know a lot of you will go gasp no M.Pen Reds?!! Deal with it, I like having as much early game smack as I can get with him. Then 10 - 0 - 20. For cool downs, Move speed, mana regen.

Early Game: Intro Meki and 2 Health Pots, go bottom lane with your Ranged Ad carry (Ashe is best IMO, but I haven't be able to try a Kog). Let the carry farm farm farm. When they need to back farm yourself, but where most your money is going to come from early on is Champ Kills/assists. Take skill order R>Q>W>E. Intro with Q, W, E. Every time your opponents try to come in and last hit...smack them. Every time they try to come into harass your carry. Smack them. If they aren't good a dodging your Q ZONE THEM HARD. When someone drops low enough for a pretty secured kill...Stun them, and let your carry kill them. As soon as I have 610 gold I B and grab the Tear. This is just great for Mana Regen and A larger mana pool late game when you will really really need it. If I'm doing really well grab boots one as well.

Mid Game: Once you have your Ult you can be MUCH more aggressive! Xerath's Ult deals a TON of dmg. With maxing W second you will be able to pop Locus pretty much when ever you want. I pop it every time I shoot off a Q to harass pretty much. Continue as before Zone Enemy, Harass them any time the step into range, but now start picking up some last hit. Rush the CDR boots, then Will of the Ancients, then The Evil Tome. This combo on his is for me, his core build. The CDR, The Spell Vamp, The Mana Regen...all beautiful on Xerath. If you have this by the time you are LV 12-14 you're doing well and should be able to Q every 2-3 seconds, Pop into and out of Locus any time you want due to the 2 second cool down, and when your ult hits lv 3 it will be at a 35 second cool down...which is....so good.

Late Game & Team Fights: Find someone's dick to ride. For me it's whoever is getting the most kills or the Tank. Follow this person everywhere. NEVER EVER EVER GO ANYWHERE ALONE! Xerath can 1v1 just fine against just about anyone but will pretty much never survive a gank...even under the tower. By now you can farm entire waves of creeps whenever you want. Make up for the lost early game farm. Use your ult to farm huge waves..it comes back really really quick. Get a Crystal Scepter for some extra health and Team Slows. Then build the Hat. Finish by completing the Tear into the Arcangles. This should equal roughly 700 AP. This will make your ult do nearing 1700 dmg if all three hit. That's a lot of dmg that can be dropped on the whole team if they group. When team fights look like they are coming stay in the back and start unloading q's while in Locus. Pop out, move, do so again. Wait for a time when they group up on a team mate and then Do this combo "E, R,Q,R,R,Q" You just threw nearing 3300 Dmg into the team fight.

Important Side note: When you are harassing early game do so from angles that don't hit your minions. This way your just screw your Carry's farm.

TL;DR. I think Xerath is a Support Mage like Zeilen only he doesn't fall off in DMG late game.

[–]KaelNukem 2 points3 points ago

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His W needs to be faster, I can't hit people that flee because W takes to long before I can shoot my E. THis needs to be faster.

[–]RebBrown[MC_Squared] (EU-W) 1 point2 points ago

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9/0/21 + flash + clairvoyance. Don't go mid and dominate the lane thanks to the insane poke. No one can hide from you thanks to CV.

[–]Arcs_Of_A_Jar 2 points3 points ago

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This is exactly the build I go. I don't aim for many kills early game (or for most of the game, honestly, more on that later), just good farm and poking the enemy out of lane. So far, I have on 4 separate occasions forced an opponent to bluepill before me with boots and 3 pots, me running a Doran's Ring.

CV is justified in my mind because if you're playing Xerath right, you should never be in range for an ignite or exhaust. This is actually super incredibly important: if you get caught, either they CV'd you, the Kass/LeBlanc/Lee Sin has mad good map awareness, or you're dumb. I almost literally never anchor myself in plain sight, and I'm always behind a wall/in a bush/behind my team's tank. This makes it nigh impossible for most champions to reach you. This includes Akali. I'll re-emphasize, if Akali is able to reach you, you're dumb.

Also, I'll rebutt the suggestion to level E before W: leveling W second is hypercritical because by that point in the game you can't afford to be close enough for a non-range increased E, and the ability to relocate siege locations in 3 seconds is super-important, both for staying out of range and for staying in-range.

[–]RebBrown[MC_Squared] (EU-W) 1 point2 points ago

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Though it depends on the lane, I often go for W over E too. Getting the cooldown of W down under 10 seconds is a big thing. Your Q normally ends up pushing one of them into the bushes. Your CV reveals that. Your W lets you hammer away at the bushes. They run back to their bush. You reposition, W up and boom, more Q's. Once they're under their tower, you can still safely barrage away with W. CV then helps you keep an eye out on the river and jungle.

shrugs that's just how I play him and I can see how some dismiss that, opting for a full glass cannon instead.

[–]Arcs_Of_A_Jar 0 points1 point ago

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I think the build we follow is the only one that can really justify full glass cannon, otherwise it's too easy to catch and demolish you. That is, unless you're talking about glass cannon playstyle, which only seems to work with naturally tanky casters (e.g. Swain) or high-mobility casters (e.g. Kassadin, LeBlanc).

[–]RebBrown[MC_Squared] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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What I meant - ignite and get in close when you think you can get the kill.

[–]CryHav0c 0 points1 point ago

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Sorry for the late response, but do you need CV? Couldn't you usually make a guess as to where they are at top or bottom? Obviously late game it would help you more, but I'm still tempted to take flash/ghost for survivability.

[–]RebBrown[MC_Squared] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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You need nothing, but CV means you can harass wherever you go while helping out your team. Ignite is a waste imo as it means you're too close. Ghost could be okay, but that means you're out of position - CV would've helped you there. Teleport could be okay, clarity means you're doing it wrong and exhaust/smite/revive are just no-no's on Xerath.

CV + Xerath's range = crying opponents.

[–]anadomie[Lyco Suxx] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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I really like xerath alot, since his gameplay differs a lot compared to other casters. He is a great poker when positioned correctly, but relies on his ult too much to put out decent damage. Imo his Skill numbers need to be adjusted slightly, because his DMG output is quite weak compared to other casters (Except for his ult which can do quite a lot when used correctly, but if the enemy team positions well you won't be able to use it to it's full potential)

[–]dalek167[foe16] (NA) 0 points1 point ago

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Does his W increase range for summoner's like ignite/exhaust?

[–]Thedeepone31 0 points1 point ago

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nope, sadly.

[–]stfalx 0 points1 point ago

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He is annoying but if u can get close to him he is dead.

Akali / Kassadin :X

[–]JackDostoevsky 0 points1 point ago

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UGH, I solomid v. Kass last night as Xerath.

That was one of the most painful experiences I've had in this game.

[–]stfalx 0 points1 point ago

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You have to realise that Kassadin is a great anti mage. He is not overpowered, hell he just received a deserved buff to his passive but it's not that great it simply mitigates some caster damage.

[–]JackDostoevsky 0 points1 point ago

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Oh, I know, I'm not saying he's OP. I was the only real AP champ so I had mid, and it just happened to be paired off with Kass. -_-

[–]stfalx 0 points1 point ago

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If you are agasint kassadin i recommendt you get a tanky mage or a nuker with silence [le blanc] :) not that imobile thing everybody made fun of.

[–]Bluedemonfox 0 points1 point ago

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He is better when played on dominion. Also I tried going spell pen boots instead of cdr in 1 game I did pretty good, but I had offense masteries and ad/armor pen runes by mistake xd

[–]fishhand 0 points1 point ago

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Haven't played him myself but the ones I've played against have shown that he has consistent AOE burst, not as much burst as Annie but puts out the AOE from longer range. He's not much of a worry if you're fighting him 1v1 but he easily bursts enough to put you out of commission in a 2v1 and with his long range and stun can be frightening and hard to escape.

[–]BlindKitty 0 points1 point ago

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Pretty high burst on relatively low cooldown. Lategame poke is op.

[–]cobrabb 0 points1 point ago

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In my opinion, Xerath is a decent champion that might fit well into certain teams.

Early Game: He isn't able to do much besides lasthit creeps and hope that someone doesn't gank. If you have a good jungler you can try to set up the stun for the kill.

Once he gets his ult he has a bit more harassing/killing potential, and once you get ~60-80 AP he can farm like a boss. Generally, I try not to roam too much as Xerath, preferring to just farm if possible.

Use farm to get some more AP and maybe some MRES (you will already have decent armor). He works better on teams that can utilize his stun early game and also teams that have a good amount of magic damage from other sources (Cho'Gath, Singed, etc.)

[–]Kektek 0 points1 point ago

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I don't have a ton of experience but his AoE damage seems really strong in teamfights. I wasn't as effective at finishing people off, but hitting ~3 people with your ultimate at Q usually turned things in our favor.

On the other hand, his laning phase seems more troublesome. His mana and lower single target damage makes it harder to be aggressive. My best results have been with a lane partner that can take advantage of the stun. I haven't played him mid yet, but it seems like he'd have trouble vs. burst casters like annie, brand, or malz. But perhaps not!

On Dominion, he's pretty decent at defending points, but easily killed 1v1. Even if you're doing well you still need to rely on your team.

[–]Arcs_Of_A_Jar 0 points1 point ago

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A well played Xerath should never have problems against Annie and Brand, you simply out-range Annie and Brand's poke. Malz is more difficult in a different sense: it's somewhat difficult to deal with his never-ending push, because as he's gaining mana from each minion dead you're losing mana from casting Q to keep minions off the tower. However, in direct conflict Xerath can easily poke all three out of lane.

[–]higherbrow 0 points1 point ago

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I've been pretty dominant on him. He plays a denial game in lane, because of his massive range. You can keep people from last hitting without interrupting your own farm too much. If they try to ignore your harass, it's not like you can't kill early.

Mid game, his ganks are very good, if he can get a good flanking position he doesn't even have to get into danger to put out a pile of damage.

End game he can rule a team fight if his positioning is good.

[–]Torlen 0 points1 point ago

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I haven't seen him in a single game.

[–]Inoyh 0 points1 point ago

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Xerath is a great laner, though he gets raped by anti-carries. Hes also hard to use in teamfights as all his spells are skillshots. It's very akward to have to cast 6-7 spells in a single combo, takes forever and most of the times you get CC'd and die before you get to use all your ult charges.

[–]Arcs_Of_A_Jar 0 points1 point ago

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Consider smart-casting his ult and Q: I can literally pull off my full QRRRQ combo in the time it takes Q to cooldown from first cast.

[–]passislisk[LordofdragonsD] (NA) 1 point2 points ago

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Take note of this, it helps your combo time IMMENSELY if you smart cast on him specifically because you have so many buttons you need to press. I have my keybindings set to always smartcast, and it is really easy to whip out an ERQRRQ combo, it would take much longer if I had to click 6 times.

[–]arto7177 0 points1 point ago

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Is there some way to enable smart casting for a single ability?

[–]Arcs_Of_A_Jar 0 points1 point ago

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Go to key-bindings, there should be an entry for Smartcast spell 1. This refers to the skill that is normally in the Q key-binding. Set that keybinding to Q and it will replace your normal cast of Q with smartcast. Ditto with the ultimate, replace spell 4.

To be honest, though, I feel it's awkward not to do the full switch between smart and non-smart cast, sometimes you'll be mashing a skill button and wonder why it's not casting.

[–]arto7177 0 points1 point ago

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I more meant a specific skill so I do not have to change smart cast back on certain champions.

[–]Arcs_Of_A_Jar 0 points1 point ago

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Unfortunately no, from what I can tell. Yeah, it's a bother, but on the plus side it's forced me to learn smartcast with all my champions. :P

[–]arto7177 0 points1 point ago

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Yeah I should get on that.

[–]MFMFMFMFMF[Edward Marie] (NA) 0 points1 point ago

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Played him for the first time last night; he's cool and I absolutely dominated my lane vs karthus, but my bot lane did horrible and my team ended up surrendering very early due to a legendary urgot, so didn't really get to experience him much. anyway, he's interesting but a bit clunky. It's jsut really annoying when you w, then they just run out of range of your e and all you can do is fire off a random q and w again; it's just frustrating. I feel like a much better mechanic would be that instead of using w and being still for a second when you can't do anything, you should instead only be able to use it after remaining still for a second and have the transition be instant. Also I heard somewhere that someone suggested being able to just right click out of w instead of having to hit w again which would be really nice. He just doesn't flow as well as someone like Brand.

[–]passislisk[LordofdragonsD] (NA) 0 points1 point ago

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I think the clunkyness is a singificant issue, and without it he would be extremely overpowered. For example he is much more mana efficient than brand, which is one of the factors that helps win lanes. In general I'm fine trading spells with casters in middle because every time they miss a skill shot they are losing out on a lot more mana than I am.

[–]VillainGuy 0 points1 point ago

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The only thing I have to say about him, is that when I carried one game with him? I was able to blast away an akali with my 3 ult burst, and one E.
I chuckled and grinned, as I hate facing akalis.

[–]Ladnil 0 points1 point ago

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It's rather funny how little respect/fear I have for an opposing Xerath in lane. It's entirely possible I've yet to face a good one, but so far he seems rather unintimidating. Even if he stuns you, you're not dying unless his jungler shows up.

[–]tidal_flood 0 points1 point ago

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Tough lesson I learned yesterday. Never play Jarvan with a xerath enemy. Your ulti = death trap for your teammates who's flash is on cooldown. Also made my ulti useless because it was:

1) keep it on and get pelted

2) Shut it off and use it only for the gap closer.

[–]The_Unreal 0 points1 point ago

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If you're going to play this guy, you'd damn well be able to land that extreme range poke. I've faced 2 Xerath's that couldn't and it did not go well for them.

He's really intriguing. I enjoyed Dan Dinh's commentary, and it gave me great insight on how to fight him.

[–]ajacks0n 0 points1 point ago

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He has a weak early game and kind of requires a passive lane, but pretty much as soon as you get a deathcap you can burst down nearly anybody you can catch with your E/ult combo.

I have lost some of my lanes hard before, and was still able to snowball after sniping a couple of kills.

[–]Melkster 0 points1 point ago

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I'm not a big fan of Xerath, personally, for these reasons:

  • He dies easily (quite squishy, no built-in escapes, his stun is rather hard to get off when his ult is down)
  • He doesn't really do that much damage (long cooldown on his spells, his Q is a skillshot that can easily be avoided, and his abilities just don't do that much damage anyway.)

Compared to other casters like Annie or Karthus, he seems very underpowered.

[–]Im_Clowny 0 points1 point ago

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I'm playing a lot of Morg mid to blind-counter him in blind-picks. She can farm really safe away from his poke and even if I get hit that passive spell-vamp just heals me right back up. Not to mention black-shielding his stun.

His early game can be really nasty if you get caught without shield he can chew a lot of HP down, but I found past level 6, binding him then flashing in and ulting is pretty much a free kill.

[–]pengu1nz[penguin] (NA) 5 points6 points ago

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morgana tends to do that versus anyone

[–]bearwithchainsaw 0 points1 point ago

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Personally, I dislike his playstyle. But thats just me.

Visually, Riot did a very great job on him. I really like how he looks, and what his effects look like. Really neat concept, and hes fun to look at in game!

IMO, a good addition to the game, and is something a bit different.

[–]Rayezilla 0 points1 point ago

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I've been playing some Xerath, I quite like his look and feel.

[–]Maaku 0 points1 point ago

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Killing people over Walls then proceeding to type "sniped" in all-chat would be my favourite thing.

[–]geezlers 0 points1 point ago

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Late game is when he really, really shines. At this time, you'll probably be at 600-700 AP. This is when your damage gets really out of control. Your Q should hit for about 600-700 and your E for slightly more than that. Don't forget, you have 30% extra spell pen with locust of power. Your ulti has potentially 2000 damage, probably the highest of any caster. With about 700 ap, you also get bonus 105 armor, give or take (700 * .15), which should give you about 200 armor along with your base. This will make it hell for any AD assassins or ranged carries to kill you quickly.

[–]Poptartica 0 points1 point ago*

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I was playing him in dominion, and I sometimes go bottom. At first I was having a really rough time VS. strong bot champions, but the second I went in with a catalyst most of the good bot defenders lacked the burst to overpower the constant healing + leveling I was getting from my items. This pretty much left me to freely use my Q/W to poke nonstop every time it was off CD, then use the speedboost to get out of range to disallow them a kill or a few pokes. I don't see him do well in dominion often but I think the problem is a lot of people aren't using the speed boost from their W aggressively to kite when their other things are on CD. (this is assuming they've leveled it and the CD is roughly what, 4 seconds? For me, with my CDR items, my Q and W had the same very short CD so it worked well)

Anyway he's a fun dominion champ, but if you miss any of your skillshots the enemy team will think that you have no damage output because you pretty much need to land everything.

As others have suggested, Rylai's is nice. I also like exhaust, mostly because if there is a tanky melee or assassin (which you will see a ton of in dominion obviously) chasing me and I'd like to kite around while my spells come off CD. Oh yeah, and exhaust is amazing if you happen to be going top as well. Anyway just thought I'd add some dominion-related input since there are already a lot of good comments about SR.

[–]MrPeppa[MrPeppa] (NA) 0 points1 point ago

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His range is a little out of control when you consider that none of his attacks are true skillshots. Plus he has 4 AOE chances to proc his stun...overdone imo

[–]RoBellicose[RobwhOrr] (EU-West) 0 points1 point ago*

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A lot of people seem to think that CDR is only useful to reduce long cooldowns, when in actuality its best on characters with short cooldowns. If an ult has a long cooldown it's only getting used once per teamfight regardless of your CDR - if your Q ability has lvl 5 cooldown of 4 seconds, 40% cooldown will allow you to spam ~5 or 6 more shots of it in the teamfight. Xerath needs his CDR so that he makes full use of his locus.

P.S. his taunt is based on powerthirst which makes me crack up every time I hear it!

[–]dou10 0 points1 point ago

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Bought Xerath, but compared to Brand, Xerath's burst is kinda weak to me though his Locust of Power i guess compensates for it.

[–]NolanVoid 0 points1 point ago

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I find him to be a lot of fun, in SR, haven't played him in Dominion. People always bitch and cry when I pick him, and then I go 3-0 in the laning phase and proceed to taunt the rest of my team for the duration of the game. I always have a ridiculous KDR unless the game drags on really long in which case I usually come out close to even.

You have to know when to use Locus of Power. You use it when you are behind three of your teammates. You use it when you are behind your tower. You use it when someone near death is running away and you want to try and Lux them while they are in the fog of war. You do not use it in the middle of a duel. You do not use it when you are overextended. In fact, you should pretty much never be overextended because you have Locus of Power, so why bother?

Flash and Ignite for summoners, because if you don't run Ignite your opponents will keep getting away with 2hp and you will be pissed off. I've found the best way to play him for me so far is to take mid or top and go boots x2 Hpots x1 Mpot. After that I usually end up grabbing two Doran's Rings for health and mana sustain, finish my CDR boots, and transition into Deathcap, because you should have enough health from the double Doran's if you are playing smart. Then pick up Rylai's next. I have stopped getting Morello's becase I feel like health is more important over the CDR when you are bursting someone down with your combo. If you don't have enough health, someone like Akali or Leblanc will just stand there and duel you, and they will win.

Normally I farm until level six and then poke them down to about 60% health, then go for the kill combo: E,R,Q,R,R, Ignite, and then use whatever is on cooldown to keep hitting them until they die. So far I've had an easy time against Akali, Anivia, and Brand. Morgana is always banned, and if I get first ban I usually go for Kassadin too, which upsets the team, but they would probably be upset about something no matter what, so c'est la vie. I've seen Caitlyn lane against him and she seems to get her feelings hurt that someone can actually keep up with her ridiculous range, so I imagine he doesn't have a hard time against her.

[–]Megumii[Megumii] (EU-W) 0 points1 point ago

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This, Xerath is pretty amazing and if he ever gets buffed the QQ will start.

[–]rhythmguy 0 points1 point ago

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It generally takes a few weeks more than this before we see people really playing the champ properly... so far I think people play him incorrectly. A Xerath on a team generally means that team will lose.

[–]kitsukei[S] 0 points1 point ago

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Oh really? I've played xerath since release and haven't lost a single summoners rift game. although it's only about 5-10 games.

[–]rhythmguy 0 points1 point ago

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Yes, I've seen a lot of Xerath's (probably 20 games with him in them) and they almost always feed badly. I've seen maybe 3 with more kills than deaths?

[–]bobisoft2k5[Resisty] (NA) 0 points1 point ago

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Played him once, did decently but that was mostly because the other team was kind of bad. I'm not usually one to reference a "pro" or guide on these things, but I think ColbyCheeze hit it on the head when he did his Xerath first look/impressions. He's pretty underpowered although his mechanics are interesting.

[–]achillesfist 2 points3 points ago

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no offense to his person, but colbycheeze is no pro. He always thinks people are underpowered, unless there's a huge consensus that they aren't, because he's bad.

[–]Holybasil -3 points-2 points ago

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I find him Turrrrible... The fact that you have to stun yourself for 1.5 seconds before you can take advantage of the extra range is silly. Nor can you cancel it midcast.

His damage also isn't something to boast about. If you go against someone 1 on 1 you will lose.

And the only chance you may have to do proper damage is with your ulti up. If it's on CD, then you're basically screwed.

So you need CD reduction, which means you don't get as much AP as you could, meaning you won't have as much armor and he's already pretty squishy to begin with.

Dominion hes pretty useless as well. Sure he can cancel a capture, but he can't kill anyone and by the time you're ready again, it's too late.

Like many has compared before. He is Brand with extra range and less nuke.

[–]papasmurf255[papasmurf255] (NA) 7 points8 points ago

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The fact that you have to stun yourself for 1.5 seconds before you can take advantage of the extra range is silly. Nor can you cancel it midcast.

With a silence on the enemy team, you will be so screwed. If you W and get silenced, you can't cancel your W or cast anything else. Basically silence makes you useless and dead.

As I predicted, Xerath is Kass's bitch.

[–]RIPdig 1 point2 points ago

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I feel like as it is now Lux can do what he can do only much better.

[–]Holybasil 0 points1 point ago

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Mmm yes. Too bad Lux's cooldowns are so god damn long.

[–]CorAutMors -1 points0 points ago

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doesnt do enough damage for an ap in a standard team comp

[–]sniperx99 -3 points-2 points ago

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Every time I see a Xerath on my team

He is countered so hard by silences. WARNING: Anecdotal evidence ahead. I've lost every game that I have had a Xerath on my team. He seems like fun to play, but the design is just not fun in my opinion.

[–]Hammedatha 2 points3 points ago

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What caster doesn't get countered hard by silences?

[–]sniperx99 2 points3 points ago

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Sorry, I should have been more specific. For any competent opponent, they turn that silence into a stun on Xerath. You just wait for him to go into siege mode, and then silence. Suddenly, he can't exit siege so he can't move and he can't cast. I feel like a silence on Xerath is about 100X more damaging than a silence on another caster.

[–]Hammedatha 0 points1 point ago

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I see. I think that generally the best way to use seige mode is to get out of it ASAP. I never got silenced while in seige mode, though characters like Kass do absolutely demolish me as Xerath.

[–]masterm 0 points1 point ago

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with siege mode you arent supposed to be near the enemy.

[–]sniperx99 1 point2 points ago

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There are many, many things you aren't supposed to do. Doesn't stop people from doing them. Human stupidity never fails to amaze me.

Also, there are getting to be quite a number of champions, particularly popular champions, that have have silences and jumps, which allow them to close the distance. In draft pick, if I see a Xerath, that automatically locks me in as either Kassadin or Talon.

I don't really like the whole "one (or more) champion(s) hard counters this champ" system. That's not good design, in my opinion.

[–]Poptartica 0 points1 point ago

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This is exactly how I react when I see a Rumble on my team. I don't care what ANYONE says. I have never, ever, EVER seen one not fail incredibly hard in dominion. He seems so good on paper for that place too. And yet, every time someone auto-locks as him, that video is pretty much my exact response. Maybe when I see an awesome one I will change my mind.

[–]FrozenRevolver -2 points-1 points ago

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His W is just too trash. The biggest issue is even if you are immobile and have a (decent) increase in range, it doesn't pay off for being completely vulnerable to getting walked up to and killed.

His R needs a shorter cooldown, it should work like Kass or Kog's ultimate. You can spam it but the cost starts to ramp up really hard. The problem with Xerath is his damage is super situational, if you are in a tight spot where you can line up your Q and hit everyone and people aren't spread out then you do pretty nicely, but in an open area you are kind of a single target stun and you might land one or two ults. A hero that serves as artillery should be spammy (think Kog). If you miss your ultimates you are pretty much useless and even then you are strongly dependent on your team and their positions, etc. He has the potential to be great but his W needs to be remade into some sort of movement speed debuff instead of a literal anchor and his R needs to be turned into a spam-able skill with aa 200-300 mana increase per cast.

His passive is also kind of ass, it won't save you from anything that has a decent amount of Armor Pen/Damage.