Questions about Xerath

[quote=Nazathul]I am a new player lvl 21.. I have really been enjoying playing AP champs, and have really kinda found a good fit in Xerath.. I was wondering what ppl thot would be a good Rune set up on him? And I keep running into this smart casting term.. What does it do? And would Xerath benefit from it?[/quote]

[quote=L1LShadow]Smart casting is when you target where your cursor is, the default is Shift+SkillHotkey(Q,W,E,or R), it is used to cast spells faster since you are skipping the part where you have to select the spell and then click again to cast it. An example is Malzahar, he can use his combo instantly before he ults so he can get the full damage instead of having one spell go off then ulti. For runes, this is just theory crafting but MPen Marks would increase his early game damage so much you'll dominate mid. For Seals you can go for Health for survivability or Ap because of your passive and MORE early game power. For Glyphs you can get CDR so you depend less on cdr items. Flat will help early game and scaling is late game. If you are low on mana and want health or ap from seals you can get mana/5 for glyphs and vice versa if you want cdr on glyphs but low on mana. For Quints you can get 3 or 2 flat health and 1 movespeed quint for the survivability.[/quote]

[quote=Nazathul]Do you think that smart casting would benefit Xerath?[/quote]

[quote=L1LShadow]It should benefit everyone really, one way it'll help Xerath is that you'll be able to cast chains and pulse almost simultaneously so it'll stun them right away.[/quote]

[quote=XnMiller]Spacing Xerath's spells sometimes are more effective than an instant burst. For my runes with xerath, Flat AP quints, flat mp5 seals, AP per level glyphs, and MP marks. buy a doran's ring, 32 AP off the bat and scaling quickly. No mana problems, but need to be wary of health.[/quote]

[quote=Sacull_Kinslayer][quote=L1LShadow] It should benefit everyone really, one way it'll help Xerath is that you'll be able to cast chains and pulse almost simultaneously so it'll stun them right away. [/quote] You basically already can do that without smart casting. You can cast your q (or R) before E ever lands so you can pretty much instantaneously stun someone. And I use MPen reds, Mana per 5 yellows, flat CDR blues, and Flat AP Quints. Standard caster 9/0/21 mastery setup (with you being only level 21 get the 9 in offense tree first).[/quote]

[quote=PsiGuard]I'm not a fan of smart-casting in general. Especially for long-ranged skill-shots like [[Xerath]]'s. The only time I would consider using smart-cast would be for fast combos on champions like [[Annie]] and [[Ryze]], or spammable spells like [[Twin Fang]]. Use whatever you prefer. Some pros use smart-casting almost exclusively, while others almost never use it at all. It's really up to what suits your preferences and your champion's kit.[/quote]

[quote=DuffTime]Smart casting is widely considered to be the most effective style of casting amongst high elo players.[/quote]

[quote=Lugignaf]I think I have all my W skills on smart/self cast. It speeds things up so much. It makes Maokai's E>W>Q combo go far smoother. Make's Lee Sin's shield dash more reliable and it forms it so I don't have to click myself if I just want the shield. Auto target the AD carry with Nunu's blood boil. It's just a good thing overall. It's bound to center mouse button for easy access too.[/quote]