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Xerath Build Guide by

✅ [14.7] [Master] Free Elo Xerath Guide

Updated on

9.5

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Build Guide By

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238 14

1,110,623 Views

12 Comments

Xerath Build Guide By Updated on

Support

Guide Discussion (12) More Xerath Guides

Stream is Offline

Runes: Standard Runepage

1 2

Sorcery

Arcane Comet

Manaflow Band

Absolute Focus

Gathering Storm

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery

Cosmic Insight

Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2 3

Standard

Flash

Teleport

Items

Starting Items

First Back

Full Build (always good)

Full Build 3 (vs Tanks)

Situational Items

Ability Order Ability Order

Xerath Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Irelia

Extreme

Really hard matchup. Play from far away, if youre too close she can easily gapclose and kill you. Save your stun for when she wants to dash on you. If you play well and defensive early you can start poking in midgame and slowly crawl back by perma poking.

Camille

Ideal

you can ult the target she ults

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Camille

Ideal

you can ult the target she ults

More Xerath Counters

Champion Build Guide

Introduction

Hey, I'm FFrostbite and this guide is about my ! Im a high elo EUW streamer and player, often chilling in mid/high master since I dont play alot of soloq. I've played hundreds of games as Xerath and always perform well!

In this guide I'm gonna show you how to play him to climb easily in SoloQ!

You can find me streaming at my twitch channel. Say hi!
Click the links below and follow me on youtube :) !
My discord tag is: ffrostbite_

Pro and Con

Pros

→ Good Waveclear
→ Strong Pick Potential with Poke
→ Burst Damage wth Combo
→ Good in most Mid Matchups
→ Long Range - Safe Playstyle
→ Able to impact other lanes with R

Cons

→ Skillshot Reliant
→ Immobile
→ Hard CC is your grave
→ Squishy
→ Falls easily behind if ganked/shutdown
→ Bad if enemys have high mobility

Abilites

| Passive - Mana Surge |
Every 12 seconds, Xerath's next basic attack will restore Mana. The amount of Mana restored is doubled if the attack target is a champion.

| Q - Arcanopulse |
Begin Charging: Xerath begins charging an arcane beam, slowing himself gradually up to 50%.
Release: Xerath fires the beam, dealing magic damage. The range increases with time charged.

| W - Eye of Destruction |
Xerath calls down a blast of arcane energy, dealing magic damage and slowing them by 25% for 2.5 seconds. Enemies in the center take more magic damage and are slowed by 60-80%, decaying over the same duration.

| E - Shocking Orb |
Xerath fires an orb of raw magic, stunning the first enemy hit for up to 0.75−2.25 seconds depending on distance travelled, and dealing magic damage.

| R - Rite of the Arcane |
Xerath ascends to his true form and channels for 10 seconds. During this time he may Recast 3 / 4 / 5 times.
Recast: Xerath launches a magical artillery, dealing magic damage.

Ability Sequence

The most common levelling sequence for is the one I am using in this guide which follow Q>W>E>R.

Summoners

Flash
You need flash. Thats all :) No discussion

Teleport
is my standard Summoner at the moment. It helps you get back to your lane after your first back, which is helpful since youre often being pushed in early. Afterwards you can use it to help your team when they get ganked. I really like it because I love to split on the sidelane to build a CS and XP lead and with I can join fights whenever I want.

Barrier
is a good defensive summoner spell vs assasins. Take it vs champs like Zed, Qiyana or Talon. It helps you survive their burst combo.

Keystone Rune

is the most common keystone. With Comet you have alot of free damage in lane thanks to it. It has good synergy with your poke. Can only recommend using it.

is really good against short ranged enemys who cant hit you easily. This way you can farm some good bonus gold in lane. I recommend going it vs champs like Galio.

Starting Items

To start of the item section, let's dive into the starting items. You always start with and . After that your next major buy next to boots is:

Lost Chapter
is your first item. It is really useful in lane since it provides you AP, mana and mana sustain in lane through its passive. You also need it to build your first item.

General Items

Season 14 brought a huge mage item overhaul. The old mythic items got removed and new items got added. Theres several new ones which can be useful, such as: Luden’s Companion, Stormsurge or Cryptbloom. Some old items also got slightly changed. In this chapter I will talk about some important items.

There are some items which didnt change and which are still insane on Xerath. These are Void Staff, Rabadon's Deathcap and Shadowflame. The only new thing is that Shadowflame now makes your spells crit if the enemy target is below 35%. Your "crit" deals 20% bonus damage. I highly recommend building these items in most games after your core items. These core items are (order matters):

Luden’s Companion

Luden’s Companion
Luden’s Companion is a new burst item which replaced the old Ludens. It has super good stats. It will be your go to first item. Its the only mana item you need and adds burst to your combo. I highly recommend building it.

Stormsurge
is new mage item. It provides AP, Magic Pen and Movement Speed. The passive is also super good. If you deal 35% of a champs health within 3secs you get a movement speed buff and after 2sec you deal bonus damage on the enemy. Against squishy champs that shouldnt be a problem with your full combo. Against tankier enemys it wont work, which is why you shouldnt build it against them. Otherwise it is a super good item and can be built. I recommend building it after Luden’s Companion.

Horizon Focus
is a super good poke mage item. It provides AP and Ability Haste. The bonus effect activates when you hit enemys from far away. It will reveal them + surrounding enemys. The target you hit will also get 10% increased damage from you for 6 seconds. This is basically perfect for you - just hit one spell and follow up with all others.

After you finish boots, Luden’s Companion and Stormsurge (and maybe Horizon Focus) I recommend building the items I mentioned earlier in this chapter ( Shadowflame, Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff). I also recommend this order. Other good item choices are:

Cosmic Drive
is a good item. It provides AP, Health, Ability Haste and Movement Speed. If you damage an enemy you get bonus movement speed, which can be super useful in teamfights. I recommend going it if the enemy team has a lot of CC and you need to dodge alot of spells.

Banshee's Veil
is a good item. It provides AP and MR. The bonus effect is a spell shield. Its super good against a few champs which want to open their burst combo with one spell. Examples are (you would block her stun spell), (you block her charm engage) or (you could block his ult).

Zhonya's Hourglass
is really useful in games with assasins or hard CC. If the enemy team has alot of engage / lockdown I recommend building it 100%. This way it gets way harder to kill you. Its also really useful against assasins like . I only recommend not building it if the enemys cant reach you and if you rather built more aggresive.

Matchups

Very Hard

IRELIA

Very Hard

AKSHAN

Very Hard

KASSADIN

Very Hard

FIZZ

Very Hard

AKALI

Hard

DIANA

Hard

LEBLANC

Hard

RUMBLE

Hard

KATARINA

Hard

ZED

Hard

YASUO

Even

EKKO

Even

VLADIMIR

Even

KATARINA

Even

AHRI

Even

SYNDRA

Even

CASSIOPEIA

Even

ORIANNA

Easy

ZOE

Easy

KARTHUS

Easy

AURELION SOL

Easy

ANIVIA

Easy

AZIR

Easy

MALZAHAR

NEEKO

ANIVIA

Easy

LISSANDRA

Easy

LUX

VEL'KOZ

VEL'KOZ

Easy

VEIGAR

Combos

Basic Lane Poke

W > Q

The slow of your W makes it easier for you to hit your Q.

General Combo

E > W > Q

If your E lands, just follow up with W and Q for maximum burst

No Vision?

R or W

Both Abilities give you vision around the Ability Area!

Flash Combos

E > OR Q >

Both can be used to surprise your enemy. They cant react to those in time.
Just cast those Abilities and Flash directly after the cast!
It will launch the spell from the place you flashed to.

Wards

Level 1

Ward the enemy raptor camp at 1:20. This way you can track the enemy jungler early and avoid ganks.

In Lane

Ward at the Enemy's river entrance. This way you can see a part of the enemy jungle and a part of the river.

Control Wards

You want to either ward the brush in the river or next to your lane. This way your team can gank you easier.

General Playstyle

IN LANE

Try to focus on farming the wave with and . While doing so always try to hit the enemy mid to proc and . Remember to Autoattack the enemy laner to get more mana from .
Always ward the river, since youre immobile and your spells make u push automatically.

MID GAME

Waveclear with and . Poke as much as u can with your abilities before any teamfight happens, so u have an advantage in them. Try to move in river and assist your top/bot with .

LATE GAME

Stay in the backline while teamfighting! Try to hit enemy carries with your poke and wait for CC from your team to guarantee your spells to hit.
If you get fed you will 2-shot enemies with . If you get people to <50% hp you can follow up with and finish them off.

Conclusion

Play safe early game/ward river!

Poke enemies with and !

Abuse your insane range!

Stay in the backline while teamfighting!

Try to catch people with your E > W > Q > R combos!