It will take only a spark...

I remember reading Morello (or someone) saying he was going to suggest making his W make him immune to displacement effects (you know, since he's chained to the ground and all) as a small flavourful buff to help him.

Do you know if that's still happening? I don't play Xerath, but i really liked the idea of it.

He needs to be able to siege mode for as long as he likes, like a siege tank. Having it on a timer is a nuisance.

His biggest problem is that his Kit doesn't have any synergy well with itself. His main problem is a badly placed stun. To stun them you have to E -> Q. Congrats, you just got a 1 second stun that you cant follow up pre 6. Post 6 all his damage is front loaded into his ult. If that's on CD your kit has absolutely no damage and you fall into the "So what i stunned him" again.

Every other champ with CC has a great follow up with powerful skillshots (Ahri, Veigar, Brand EQW, Cassio WQEEEEEEEEEEEE, Karthus WEQQQQQQ slow makes it hard to dodge, anivia Q E combo...) His CC is pointless in the laning phase. He's giving up another full on damage spell for CC and it just doesn't work on him. The one thing he has is range but if you want a siege comp Kog is the go to guy for harass.

Max your E, pick up Locust of Power at 4 and if you hit 6 with 3 points in E and a point in W you can instakill someone from range.

It has higher base and more scaling than his Q and is substantially better for bursting early on while his Q is superb for sieging up but that's more late game oriented.


Double doran's into DCAP, then Rylai's and Void Staff.

21-0-9

mpen reds, health/lvl yellows, mr blues (per/lvl or flat depending on matchup) and either flat AP quints or MPEN

Xerath excels at wearing opponents down, this is why he prefers long, idle engagements, he can poke and harass from a relatively safe distance, not care about MR for the most part, and when his team does commit to a fight, he has a powerful Ultimate to deal significant AoE damage. Laning is about landing a few Q's here and there, and using your stun for the extra damage and protection (don't forget to AA). You want to use his stun to secure kills primarily, it's his strong single target CC intended to stop one target from executing orders. If you can force a flash on the enemy by around level 4, the lane might as well be yours because if you can get off a stun and an Ultimate charge, you can follow up with a R,Q,R ignite for over 700 damage before they have a chance to react (or flash if they still got it). Xerath synergizes great with a jungler, just because if he can get his stun down he can chain it with other CC and get off his full damage (which scales well with AP and his magic pen)

About his damage...You have to realize that his Q goes onto a 5 second CD, with a 4 second CD on Locus of Power, with the added effect of 1300 Range and 40% bonus magic pen (throw in some more CDR, even faster). This gives him immense poking power that if it had the damage of more powerful spells (like Gragas Q) it would become overpowered with how it relates to his kit and play style. He treads a careful line where in some cases he's very powerful (almost seeming overpowered with his range and penetration), and other times underpowered with his reliance on magic pen and making sure his burst gets the job done. Health, like for most Burst mages, is his only true counter, which is why an item like Liandry's Torment will be nice because you can counter that just a little bit. Look forward to magic pen being an even greater asset to his kit, and keep trying. His power is there, just needs to be unleashed

You do realize that this description fits AP kog better right?

I feel like this is de javu. I am pretty sure I have seen this exact same post twice in the past by the exact same person. o.O

I'm unfamiliar with this, however I would like that change. I never pick Xerath if the enemy team has blitz/naut...I've seen some bad things.

Just because you can't necessarily guarantee a kill against certain ap mids in lane doesn't mean he is underpowered. The flip side is that you can never really be zoned or denied farm even if you're outmatched because of his crazy range. I love the fact that his range means it is incredibly hard to counter you, even with the standard ap counters, so you always get to late game with good farm. And god help any short ranged mids like swain, they will get dominated. Xerath is pretty good against kat too, you can poke her down pretty easily so that by the time she hits 6 your stun and ult will kill her before she can do much damage and she will be losing in cs.

I primarily use his stun to push or stop their combos if they get to close, or to lock down a carry or a charging bruiser in a team fight. I don't think it is that much of a disadvantage that you can't combo after it, it is primarily a defensive tool or to guarantee a gank/kill.

One of my favorite strategies is waiting until they recall and come back, and bursting them down with the full combo until they are at 1/4 health, they are force to recall again if they are smart and lose several waves of exp, or stick around and risk a poke that will end it. Even when they do recall, your ult will almost be back up by the time they get back.