League of Legends Xerath guide/review

Then new League of Legends champion Xerath is a nice change of pace. I’m doing this review instead of Tao because I’m known for playing zoning champs. It is nice to see League of Legends trying something new with a champion. He is the much awaited artillery piece of League of Legends, that Kog failed to be.

Overall Xerath is not as dominating in League of Legends as I thought he would be. He really shines on Summoner’s Rift as he can farm and out-harass just about any champ.  One thing you must master with Xerath is rapid-fire shots out of locus of power, as he is capable of rapid shots in short order.

Xerath is one of many champs in League of Legends with excellent burst. However he has some long cooldowns, so you really have to make every shot count.

However on League of Legend’s Dominion mode, many people panic and rush away or run into him upon seeing Xerath. This will probably fade with time, but it is rather annoying now. He still proves a rather significant force in teamfights and for holding towers.

One useful strategy for Xerath in Dominon is that he can  hit people at a tower from the distance of a health power-up if you have locus of power on. This makes it a very irritating proposition to ever dislodge you from a tower or even the area around it.

Proper positioning leads to a dominant game. In spots like these Xerath can safely interrupt people at Baron or red buff with little fear of reprisal due to the locus of power speed boost.

Phreak mostly has the right idea with his runes, although you can also go health yellow if you want more staying power. He can have a surprising amount of resilience against melee DPS due to his passive armor buff. Deathcap and Rylai’s Crystal Scepter are both, unsurprisingly, essential for him.

Xerath can get mana intensive so a 9/0/21 mastery setup is essential for regen and for the useful blue buff. On Summoner’s Rift, you have a massive advantage simply due to the playing area. You can interrupt junglers from a huge distance away, nail baron multiple times without being near it and generally smash people without them even seeing you.

So what exactly is missing from Xerath? Mage chains is a single target. This means that if 3 to 4 people come at you, you have little chance of escape unless there is a handy wall to flash over. He also doesn’t have any significant damage over time. Once you have hit with your abilities, that is it. If someone is stacking magic resistance and survives, you are out of luck even if you hit them with everything. This means that magic penetration is essential on Xerath.

Overall Xerath has great damage and is likely very high tier on Summoner’s Rift, less so on Dominion. And he is finally a massive range character for those of us who have been waiting and making do with others. If you are expecting Kog Maw or Caitlyn, don’t. You very much have to play to his range game and wide AOE more than anything else.

So in short, Xerath allows you to get mad b-ball dunks on scrubs due to his ult. If you want to slam jam from the other side of a wall you can. He also allows you to take the game into over-time by making teamfights a dunkfest for your team. Just don’t try to dunk multiple fools by yourself.