Hello Summoners, My name is Wike, also known as Wikelive on twitch and I am a Vayne / Xerath Support Two trick. I peaked D1 in S8 and consistently hover around Diamond 2 in Season 10. I am usually an ADC main but whenever I play support I usually go with Enchanter supports. One day I randomly picked up Xerath and tried to play it as support (before it was even a thing) and just started dominating lane..
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There are a ton of mobafire guides on here that can range from being simple to being really detailed. I will try my best to explain the champion in an advanced way so you don’t need to learn by trial and error. I will also include wave management tips/warding tips and macro tips to help you climb while playing any support champion with this guide.

Xerath does a ton of magic damage from afar and can change the outcome of a team fight before it even happens. Xerath is an AP mage that does a lot of poke damage and burst damage. Xerath is traditionally played in the Midlane but we play him as support because we like his damage output and poke potential. Xerath is a great pick when your team decides to go Yasuo/Zed/Talon Mid making it a 4 AD comp.

Pros:

• High Scaling AP damage
  
  
• High Range
  
  
• Has 2 forms of CC
  
  
• Lane Bully
  
  
• You can take control of games if you end up taking some kills.
  
  
• Hard to miss skill shots (if you follow a few simple rules.
  
  
• Has really good synergy with Jhin/Ezreal (currently in meta).

Cons:

• Immobile - You need to always be aware of where your positioning is
  
  
• Fragile - If you misstep you will probably die instantly
  
  
• Not really considered a Meta champion.. Tanky/Crowd control supports are preferable in today’s meta.
  
  
• You can steal cs and gold from your ADC which can tilt your ADC if you do it often.
  
  
  
• Countered easily by tanky engage champions.
  
  
• Medium Skill Cap champion - I wouldn’t say you need to do anything fancy like chain crazy combos but he does rely on you hitting your skill shots. He is basically useless if you can’t land your skills.

SUMMONER SPELLS - FLASH: Flash* - Always run flash .. There are no instances where you would need to go ghost over flash. SMITE: Barrier* - I run barrier 90% of the time as Xerath support unless the ADC wants to run TP or Exhaust.. TELEPORT: Heal - I will run heal if the ADC goes with TP/Ignite/Exhaust/Barrier

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Skill Order:

W > Q > E > Q > W > R > Q > W > Q > W > R > Q > W > E > E > R > E > E

Explanation:
I Always start W over Q because it is definitely easier to land W shots over Q lvl 1 to build spellthief stacks. The difference in damage is not worth starting Q over in my opinion. Only start E if you need to chain a max stun for an early game invade. Look to max Q first because it provides the most damage. Be careful on where you aim your Q and W because it could mess up the wave / steal minions from your ADC which can be tilting. You want to minimize taking gold from minions and focus on converting your spellthief stacks. After maxing Q you will max W next and lastly E

E>Q>W>R - Stun into Q and W to have slow CC still be in effect after they aren’t stunned anymore which allows you to hit a slowed target with your Ultimate (Optimal Combo)

W>Q Main Combo in lane to build up Spellthief stacks.. You can actually chain auto attacks with W > Auto > Q to mix things up.. Although being in auto attack range is risky in some situations it can throw off the enemy because they would expect you to throw only spells - They will telegraph their step.

E>W>R - If you manage to hit stun just assume that you’ll get your main damage off. Slowed targets are easier to hit with your ulti hence the combo.
W>R - This isn’t really a combo but a slowed target makes your ultimate 10x easier to hit. This is why some people run Rylais on Xerath.

Flash Q Combo - I wouldn’t necessarily call this a combo but you channel your q and walk up knowing you are out of range of the target. Most people will not expect you to flash Q and will assume you are out of range. If you do it fast enough you can sometimes snag some easy kills. This is a high risk - high reward combo.. It is not worth flash Qing for a 1-10 Nami.

Flash W is not as good as Flash Q because it has a charge up time. W is just slower in general but can do a good deal of damage.

SpellThief’s Edge - Your form of gold income. You should be focusing on trading with auto attacks / abilities / attacking the tower often to maximize your Spellthief's edge. Just like how you wouldn’t want to have 3 stacks on your relic stacks, you want to make sure you have a cooldown running most of the time. Think of it as a race to completing your item. The faster you complete it - the more gold you have in your matchup against the enemy support. You don’t want to put yourself behind and do 0 damage to a fed top or mid laner. To remain relevant you have to make sure you are in lane absorbing experience from creeps for the majority of the game. You are not a roaming support like blitz, leo, bard, thresh..


I always talk about getting an edge early game - If your team decides to invade you can try to get 60 gold by hitting an Auto>W>Auto and back off (ping team off) unless you have an opening to secure a kill. This gives you a great start with 60 gold before you even get to lane. The most optimal back is getting Two Amplifying tomes or finishing the Lost Chapter with Boots. This gives you a crazy amount of damage. You want to make sure you can finish your support item before they finish theirs as a tracker of how ahead you are. (Check their support item to see if you are ahead) Most people use cs as an indicator of how ahead you are in terms of gold but supports earn their gold by support items. Also, xerath needs to avoid all in engages as he is a poke heavy champ. The focus of laning is to make sure they can’t go for cs after wearing them down to 30-40%... You should punish the ADC as much as possible everytime they start their auto attack animation to cs. Best lanes to go against are immobile adcs/and non tanky champions. The worst matchups are engage supports like Naut/Blitz/Leona/Thresh/Even Sett.

Always be aware about your range between you and the enemy especially when you are channel casting your Q (since you are slowed and an easy target) because if you get caught you will most likely die.

Hitting E can be a little tricky as it is about angles .. Since it is a projectile you need to keep in mind the travel time - max distance (as the stun is based on the distance). In lane it is hard to land E most of the time because there are minions in the way. You would have to create favorable angles and throw the stun where you think they would be as a reaction to your other skills. You can also track where they would most likely be under tower - or if they would want to step up to cs you can predict their movements. IF you get into a situation where you can lane and E - you will mostly chunk them for at least 40% of their hp with your combo. RINSE AND REPEAT UNTIL THEY CRY FOR HELP.

Mid-game is dependent on 4 Scenarios

Standard game - (Neutral) You are even in lane both you and your adc is even with their adc in exp and farm.

You are ahead - (Aggressive) At this point you want to set up aggressive wards and try to help your teammates punish them for being behind. Try to deny vision / take enemy jg camps with your teammates to push the lead. You can also stay in lane and just punish/zone their bot lane from getting exp/gold over and over. You can ping mid lane and combine your ultimate with crowd control to add extra damage. Things are just so much easier when your team is ahead ;).

You are behind - (Defensive) I know it sucks, but sometimes your team is just getting outclassed. The most you can do in this situation is focus your attention on their squishiest target and wait for a misplay or mistake to swing the game tempo through shutdown gold. You want to minized dying even though they are fed and try to play optimally even though you feel as if you are doing negative damage.

Prioritize poking down the ADC / Assassins / Mages / Bruisers - TANKS LAST.

The basic idea is to make them start a team fight with 1 or more half hp champions.. Imagine hitting a Q and just ulting an Ezreal making him blow his Heal and E and forcing him to go back - or even the jg. You can then have a 4v5 forced fight or take an objective..

Imagine a circle around you for each ability you have.. That is your zoning indicator that they will approximate before making a decision to engage on you and your team. Play around those ranges carefully and know that they exist.

As a support player in general you want to be tracking where the enemy jungle is as best as you can. This allows you to ward in preparation of an incoming gank. For example: Their JG is starting Blue > Gromp > Wolves > Red and you are playing botside. Since you know they are pathing top, you don’t have to worry about a gank until they finish clearing their camps. And you wait until they show top or mid before overstepping past the river.

Common places to ward as a support - Tri-Bush, River Ward, River bush Ward, Deep lane ward in bush (for tp ganks), Aggressive deep ward in enemy jg (don’t do this unless your wave is pushed up to their tower so they can’t just rotate. Objective ward.

Typically you want to pink ward a location where you and your team can defend it if necessary. You don’t want to pink ward on their side of the map unless you have a clear lead and want to take over their jg. It is ok to pink ward the pixel brush to help your jg obtain information. Pink ward for the dragon pit is very important especially before and during the dragon fight.

As Xerath support you will most likely hit the wave with your Q and W and get flamed for pushing the wave unintentionally. Sometimes keeping the wave in front of your tower is more important than hitting the enemy for 200 dmg.

Learn how to prep minions for your ADC -
2 Tower shots + 1 auto attack from ad
Ranged minions need prepping before your ad gets some additional ad.
1 Tower shot + 1 prep auto attack

General rule of thumb is 4 ranged minions against a fresh wave = freezing the wave
Last hitting the wave against an equal wave will result in a slow push.

There are three places where you want to keep the wave in bot lane.

Draw a line for these positions on the map **

Defensive - In front of the tower but out range of the tower so it doesn’t bounce the wave back and also mess with your adc’s ability to farm.

Neutral - Middle of the lane, in alignment with the river.

Aggressive - At their tower (not in front of the tower) within range of tower hits so the wave can bounce back / deny gold.

If you always shove the wave to the enemy tower.. You are more prone to incoming ganks whether or not it is from tri-bush, river, or even a TP from lane bush.

You have to ask yourself questions on where the enemy jg/solo lanes are every time you decide to push up to get tower plates. Do not blame your jungler for being overly aggressive and getting punished for it.

If you are struggling in lane and want to set up a favorable position for your jg to gank you, follow the Defensive wave management setup and ask for a gank from your jg.

I hope this guide can help you improve as a fellow support xerath player! If you appreciate the guide please follow me on my socials !!!

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