Xerath the forgotten? or misunderstood?

[quote=lordcloaker]I've been playing a few weeks and I've learned so far that I am best with AP heros, so I try to really focus on the free champions each week and find the ones I really like. This week Xerath really impressed me and I've been killing and winning alot with him. I was surprised when I found very little on him on the foruns. He has great guides and stuff, but it seems he doesnt get picked in high level games. I wanted to understand why? I also wanted to know which champions are considered better options. thanks[/quote]

[quote=CasterMaster]No. He's more like a "secret weapon". Once the weapon is mastered, he becomes a crazy beast. He's strong in the right hands but in high level games, often the hands are not the right ones. However, he does get picked in high level games and is just as strong of a champion like everyone else. Take [b]Chauster[/b] for example. He plays [[xerath]] extremely well and is probably one of his top mages (though he plays support for CLG).[/quote]

[quote=Zell]Players who tried [[Xerath]] out likely died from boredom. High mortality rate among [[Xerath]] players.[/quote]

[quote=CasterMaster][[xerath]] isn't a boring champion though o_O[/quote]

[quote=Zell]Fun when compared to the likes of [[Ryze]], [[Sion]] etc. Boring when compared to the likes of [[Brand]], [[Ziggs]] etc.[/quote]

[quote=CasterMaster]You can say that, but remember, it's everyone's own opinion. I think [[xerath]] is more fun than [[brand]] and [[ziggs]], maybe others don't. It's just how it works[/quote]

[quote=tehAsian]Tbh, I find [[xerath]]'s animations boring :/ He's like, never going anything interesting, he's just going pewpew with his Q and stuff.[/quote]

[quote=Zell]I chose the example of [[Brand]] on purpose, he is similar in some ways to that of [[Xerath]] but I like to think of him as the higher skill-cap version of [[Xerath]]. Heck, [[Xerath]] stun isn't even a skill-shot yet a straight-forward E > R (yeah there is situations where your ultimate will be down but for major team-fights it will be (or should be) up). Having three charges on ultimate doesn't help, even if they split-up you can follow up on the prime targets. Also, the amount of free armor granted from his passive [[Ascended Form]] just adds to a layer of defense forgiving bad positioning as if his humongous range doesn't do that already.[/quote]

[quote=CasterMaster]That's not a reason not to play [[xerath]]. Well, not a good one =\[/quote]

[quote=Zell]Of course it's not a reason to not play [[Xerath]], never said anything of the such. If you strive to win then adding [[Xerath]] to your AP mid champion pool is without a doubt a valuable asset to pull out when the situation calls. The matter of my first two posts were that concerning of why [[Xerath]] may or may not (in my opinion not) be underplayed. Whenever you have fun playing said champion is a complete different question at hand. Its a matter of perspective in the end.[/quote]