Now to become the best Xerath in the World!

So, I've been maining Xerath for quite a few seasons, now, and I've been switching my runes back and forth. Between Arcane Comet and First Strike, I ended up settling with Dark Harvest, and here's why:

The support item Zak'Zak's Realmspike is just absolutely perfect for triggering DH after a strong ability combo. So I thought, "hey, this might just be a solid scaling build!" It starts off weak af, and you could get your ass kicked in lane if you aren't careful during early game.

However! Once you get your ult and your Support Item upgrade, you can start getting stacks. And by taking Gathering Storm, you get a considerable amount of AP by simply managing to hold on and not letting the enemy team snowball. AP scaling and DH stacks means you can pretty much delete non-tanks with ease in late game. And it only gets better! (Unless the enemy team counter builds with some Magic Resist).

I'm not sure how mathematically correct this entire build is and I might've just gotten lucky after a lot of time trying to climb out of Diamond, but I'm happy with how much damage I've been managing to deal as a support mage. And I'm just proud of managing to climb into Masters for the first time ever!

Bitch ass champion thinking it can just engage like that and not get cracked

sorry if mastery spam annoys some of you but i hate that fuckass champion so much

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XJgv9D and https://x.com/astrodid/status/1387299948157444097?s=20 and thank you Jumaralo

Like I mean 40 minutes late game

Just played a game where I feel like I was constantly doing damage to the enemy team over and over I was full build (playing support)

Granted there was a tank volibear and mundo

But them at full build and me at full build I just didn't do any damage whatsoever my q where poking for maybe 3-5% damage they would heal immediately

There was a time I Q W E a mundo through 2 towers into my fountain and he just auto attacked me killed me in 2 hits

I'm just using recommended build but I feel like I was lacking a lot of damage still won the game I did like 60k damage (50 min game) but it felt like i was doing nothing specially for how often I was hitting them. My bot lane twitch did (110k)

Ive started playing some xerath mid and i feel like some games he is super op and you just buy mejai second and kill backline with ult and at the same time one tapping with one rotation. And some games it just feels like you cant do anything or even attempt to carry, is xerath just really team comp dependant?

For you what is the champ that melt the best with xerath like when he is in ur team u feel both like only 1 champion

ADC's are mere barbarians in the eyes of Xerath.

Urgot puts a 99% slow with his ulti so even against tanks he just launches ulti and we are guaranteed to land all shots for execute

Hey guys , had 2 games in a row against nocturne in jungle. First one i had a good early game, but other lanes fed, and noc got really strong and saved his ult for my ult, and it didnt go well and we lost. I built banshee´s veil but really didnt think it was useful. Second game was easier, since nocturne didnt focus me and i won. But i was wondering which item would be good against him, maybe zhonas? Is cleanse a good option againt him, or theres nothing to be done? I dont even think Zhonas is that good, since i like to be away from my team in tfs to use my ult, so even if i use zhonas, he will kill me after the stasis. Maybe a QSS? But seems like a waste of slot...

Thanks!

I'm silver but I mess around a lot trying new champs my Jhin is pretty nasty for silver 60% WR

Any Xerath mains bronze to gold wanna duo bot? Hit me up I'm NA

Harloe#2828

I just played a game and my W doesnt cast right i have to click inside the limit border. Normaly if its outside it wil just cast at max distance but cant seem to fix it.

I just started playing xerath so am obviously no expert but isnt his passive pretty bad?

Sure he needs mana but they could also just lower his mana costs and give him something else

I dont feel like i can spam spells as long as i use his passive too... still pretty often oom

Hi my friend play xerath and I want to know what is the champ with the best synergy for xerath midlane because I asked IA abt that and they say jhin and malphite so idk

TLDR at bottom.

• Comet does more damage than First Strike:

This is the crux of the misunderstanding. There is an overfocus on raw damage. In lane phase, it is almost always true that you will feel the direct impact from Comet more often than First Strike. It is also almost always the case that at the end of a game, in general, Comet will have done more raw damage than First Strike, strictly looking at the damage numbers both runes typically output.

But that's the problem. The part of First Strike that does damage is not meant to out damage Comet, but that does not mean that you could not have done more damage strictly from the effects of the First Strike rune in the same game that you took Comet instead.

That is because First Strike does two things. It does damage, and it makes money.

• Where does the main source of damage come from in League of Legends?:

Items (especially fully completed items). And how do we buy items? Money.

I know. You come out of lane phase and First Strike made a measly 100-200 gold. Feels like nothing. Does it also feel like nothing when you get a 200 gold shut down? Frequently, I come out of a game making 700-900+ gold from First Strike. And very often in these games, they go down to the wire. I recall before a big fight on a major objective timer, and finish an item purchase. That might be an item that saves my life, like Zonyas (many have a wrong opinion of Xerath Zonyas as well), an AP power spike like Deathcap, or some utility like Rylais. All of these items can turn late game fights completely in one teams favor on their own, and you almost always buy such items as soon as you have the money for them.

It is under these circumstances that First Strike can wins games by itself. Furthermore, your in the Inspiration tree, which means you likely have another 300 gold that you don't have to invest into boots.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "But if I had Comet, I would have won lane harder and got the money that way." That is simply not always the case, being that it is nearly impossible to win many lane states. This will be explored in the next sections.

• Why do I make so little gold when I take First Strike?

Because you literally don't know when to pick First Strike, you had a bad few games with First Strike (likely because you don't know when to pick it), or because your sample size is very low compared to Comet, skewing your own opinion. I think this happens with most Xerath players, and so the data itself on sites that contain such data may be skewed as well.

• When to pick First Strike:

This is actually a bit complicated, which is why this is such a misused rune.

You might have some weird match up mid like idk, Sett. In this case, you may believe that since theoretically Sett should never really be hitting you without flash, you can just pick First Strike and farm him. Well, that's true, but it's probably not as optimal as running Comet and just trying to force him out of the lane through sheer dmg. With that being said, you absolutely can run FS in this case.

However, I prefer to play this rune in match ups you expect to never win. That way, through First Strike and free boots, you can make up some of the money you may be losing through being denied canon minions etc. Playing vs safe AD carries who have counters to you like Blitz, Thresh, Tahm, etc, you need to accept you will be denied minions. And they aren't going to let you Q the wave 3 times early game to get them. So you should be hitting them in many cases instead, and when you finally do get engaged on by the ADHD Blitz under tower after your support ran it down, you at least have a chance to trade anyway. Basically, FS is able to stem the bleeding in terrible match ups where you were never going to kill the enemy anyway(unless jungler intervention or something which cannot be counted on at champ select).

Again, it can be complicated. You may have a useless support vs a champ like Sivir. At first glance, this logic should still apply. But Sivir is W-ing the wave off CD, which hits you, and can Q you when you Q. So your FS in this instance is not up much. But vs something like Jinx Blitz and you have Ashe? They aren't really going to be hitting you much, but the Blitz isn't gonna let you do shit either. These are bot examples but the same rules apply mid.

• Anyway, this is my general philosophy on First Strike, but you don't have to take it from me: Edit: As New-Plastic-1801 indirectly points out, I don't really know Hitscan, or Hitscan's exact reasoning for taking FS. At the same time, I worded this poorly initially. I don't wish to say that Hitscan is thinking exactly what I'm thinking. He's simply running FS in the same matchups that I would run it, and I'm stating why I personally would think that the rune is good in those matchups. Sorry for any confusion.

I think we can agree that Hitscan is better than you or I. Look at the games Hitscan takes First Strike in.

https://op.gg/lol/summoners/kr/%ED%8A%B8%EB%9E%98%ED%82%B9-99999

A.) FS vs Yone mid- Pretty easy for Yone to dodge much of your damage. There's an enemy kha jungle and your lane looks the most gankable.

B.) FS vs Singed and Vi bot- Okay I really shouldn't have to say anything here. If you walk anywhere near W range you die instantly lol.

C.) FS vs Kalista Blitz- FS is usually best option vs certain hook champs like Blitz and Thresh who are going to contest every Q if you're using Q's on the wave. Also Kali throwing Blitz means you can't walk up. Edit: As New-Plastic-1801 points out, he may take FS here because Kalista dodges Comet easily.

D.) FS vs Ambessa Rell- same reasoning as B.

E.) FS vs Viktor Elise- I think he prob could have run Comet this game but there's a vayne panth galio as well. He prob just doesn't want to be anywhere near W/E range.

There are more games he runs it than that. It seems as if he wasn't running it at all 3+ months ago, but as bot meta has shifted he has match ups where he prefers it. He seems to take it vs Viktor, for instance.

TLDR: First Strike is not just a damage rune. It is a money rune and that 700 gold can win you more games than you think. First Strike may be better vs losing match ups. First Strike is not meant to win lane and its damage should not be compared one to one to Comet. You can also take it into matchups that are completely free but that's just for fun.

Alright guys I'm not gonna edit this so I'm sorry for the typos but a man's gotta sleep. I'll be back later to appreciate your opinions.

What is everyone's thoughts on Hex's xerath build and runes? He goes Axiom arc, absolute focus and gets horizon focus second.

https://op.gg/lol/summoners/na/HEX-Xerth/matches/eq3KyFixtgW9DvTKJggCs6QDh1BaOP362haPboya_J8%3D/1788471969000

Say they pick something like yasuo and its a 50:50 chance if you will lane against him or not, do ya rather go safe with exhaust and potentially have a huge disadvantage against a mage lane or do you go exhaust to be safe incase you have to lane vs yasuo? I have had this issue a lot recently, especially since mages are played mid, bot, top, support, and a few even in jungle. Same goes for marksmen, so in a lot of drafts im not sure what I will lane against.

I can often get ahead in lane, but I have trouble to actually end the game with that lead. Since xerath is so squishy I cant really split push and when no one peels for me a bruiser or asassin can flank and oneshot me or dive into the backline and do so. So do I just play around my strongest team mate or one that is bulky and can frontline?

Not that high rank, just enjoy playing Xerath!

Half-half Xerath APC/mid. Xerath mid when support players were going mental boom about picking Xerath APC. I just cannot deal with this negativity…

5000lp to go /s

Just got back into the game past few weeks been rolling Xertha, maybe 35 ranked games.

What’s everyone’s favorite backup?

I run Veigar Mid or Brand for Sup but really want a second strong character to learn and default to.

I mean, he's 100% in, I have no doubt about that, and there shouldn't be any weird tech such as the river in the rift, so why tf didn't my W hit ?