Xerath Build Guide : The Only Xerath Support Guide You Will Need

Introduction

Hi,
I am Support_diff, a league of legends player and currently a support main though I have mained every role during my gaming career. I made this guide to be the most perfect support guide there is or will be. I will try to update this guide whenever I can and will also answer your questions as soon as I see them.
I already have created guides for , , , , , and and I am now working on some other guides, which will also be mostly in-depth guides for support champions. I am trying to make my guides as perfect as possible, so if you have a suggestion for a chapter or something else, I am all ears.
Hopefully you enjoy this guide and also learn to play !

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Why Xerath?

, the magus ascendant is known for his huge poke damage and high range ult. He can win most of the botlane matchups easily, but has tough time against supports with high cc.

Here are some things a good player can do:

Poke the enemies out of lane
Make the enemy adc quit the game ather the 15th death
Deal amazing damage starting from the early levels
Win nearly every matchup on the rift
Use his ult to kill enemies that are in mid
combo anyone who dares to come close enough

What You Will Learn

From this guide, you will learn:

what type of enemies you want to face
what kind of adc you want to play with
who is your permaban champion
what items to buy and when
where to place your wards
what are your best combos

Pros&Cons

Pros:

+ one of the best poke supports in the game
+ fun to play
+ doesn't have many counters besides cc supports
+ can deal insane amounts of damage
+ can carry the adc easily
+ fast and easy combos

Cons:

- immobile
- loses hard against cc supports
- relies on hitting skillshots

Summary:

is a great support with even greater poke. He is very fun to play and also easy to master, and also doesn't have many counters, but loses very hard against cc supports because he is fully immobile and also squishy

Runes

Arcane Comet Runepage

is generally a great rune for all poke champions as it adds a nice amount of damage to your poke, which will help you out a lot. The damage scales with level and ability power, which is very good for you as the damage can be more than 200 at late game

is the best option here by far because is very mana consuming champion that will run out of mana pretty fastly even if he used his passive correctly

is a great rune for because it provides you a lot of ability power when you are over 70% of your max health, which is nearly always the case as you never fight in the frontline

is just too good to be real. Just look at the stats. You get 80 bonus ability power by 40 minutes, and the buffs are also goo before that. It would be a shame if you took instead because 's stats are just too good to ignore

is similar to , it improves your poking and extends the time you spend on lane. The increase to max mana is also great as you always need mana as

is a good rune to all champions in the game, though its stats are not game-changing at all. You will have your up over 15 seconds earlier, which is really good for your survivability

First Strike Runepage

has an awesome poke and combos and is also nearly always the one to make the first strike, so the rune is really amazing for you for the damage and gold it provides you

is an amazing rune for all bot lane champions, including . You don't have to buy the basic boots yourself, they just spawn to your items. You already get money with , and now you also save it with

is similar to , it improves your poking and extends the time you spend on lane. The increase to max mana is also great as you always need mana as

is a good rune to all champions in the game, though its stats are not game-changing at all. You will have your up over 15 seconds earlier, which is really good for your survivability

is the best option here by far because is very mana consuming champion that will run out of mana pretty fastly even if he used his passive correctly

is just too good to be real. Just look at the stats. You get 80 bonus ability power by 40 minutes, and the buffs are also goo before that. It would be a shame if you took instead because 's stats are just too good to ignore

Summoner Spells

is a must to take for most of champions, and is one of them. With you can escape or make a good-looking play every 5 minutes, which will save you from a lot of purposeless deaths.

is nearly every time the best option for second summoner spell, as it gives grievous wounds to the target, which prevent it from healing much, very good against and other healer champions. The damage is also surprisingly high even in the early game.

is a really good summoner spells, especially at early all-ins and late game fights. If the enemy team has a really fed , exhausting her will chomp 30% of her damage. If the enemy team has many champions with high burst damage, I suggest you to take .

Don't get me wrong, I don't suggest you to take , but there is one situation when you should take it. If you see a matchup with adc like and a support without much cc, your adc should take . If they don't, pick it yourself, as you already have or in the bot duo.

is a very underrated summoner spell because in certain matchups it can save your life as effectively as . If the enemy team has hard cc champions like I suggest you to take as it will save you from a lot of purposeless deaths

Itemization

is the most bought mythic item for , and it's not hard to understand why. It provides you much ability power, and magic penetration for every legendary item you have. The passive is really good, it offers your poke more damage every 10 seconds

Though is not better than , it is a great tank-killer item because the passive's damage is max-health percentual damage, which is great against enemies with much health

is a great item against assassins like , as it prevents most of their damage with its passive. It also costs surprisingly little amount of money

is a very underrated item for , because it is the most "mathematically correct" mythic item for you. It provides you a lot of ability power, ability haste and health. It is viable only when built with , and when the enemy team doesn't have a lot of health.

the math behind the item

is one of the best items for because it provides you insane amounts of mana. When you reach 360 mana in its passive, it turns into , which is even better item, because it provides you more ability power for mana and also a passive that helps you survive

is a great item for an immobile and squishy mage like . You should build it if the enemies have hard magic damage as it provides you 45 magic resist and a spellshield that is great in both 1v1's and teamfights

is naturally the best item for , as your abilities have a long range that proc this item's passive, which is really useful in combos and the vision is really good when you are ulting someone

is the ultimate snowball item, as the passive makes you more fed every time you score a takedown, but you also lose them on death. If you think that you won't die often during the game and will get kills and assists, you should consider buying

is your go-to antiheal item, because it fits very well to your kit as it provides 90 ability power and 10 magic penetration, which make it a really gold efficient item

is the most expensive item in the game, and for a good reason. It offers a massive 120 ability power and also increases your ability power by 40%. It is a really good item for all magic damage champions, but don't build it early, as it is really pricy

is an amazing item for you, as if your first ability slows the enemies down, it is really easy to hit the rest of them.

If the enemy team has magic resist, is the item you are looking for. It provides you a massive 40 magic penetration and 65 ability power for only 2800 gold, which makes it really gold efficient

is a great item if you need some survivability, as its active puts you in stasis for 2.5 seconds, which is enough to ruin enemies' tower dive or something else

Trinkets&Warding

is the basic ward that you place and it shows the area around it for 90-120 seconds based on champion level. You will start with it and keep it until you get your support item upgraded.Then you will change it to . Before you change it, make sure to use your remaining s if there is a good ward spot without a ward near you.

is the trinket you will change your to. When used, it reveals the wards and traps around it for 10 seconds. Wards will also be disabled, lingering for 2 seconds after no longer being revealed. Use it wisely, because it can be a real game-changer when used right, if enemies don't have sight to baron for example.

isn't really a popular trinket option as it is visible to enemies and only has 1 health, but is a viable choice for the following reasons: Lasts forever if not destroyed, does not count towards the ward limit, has a range of 4000 (very big) and has lower cooldown than .

is the most valuable trinket in the game. It costs 75 gold, but is definetely worth the price. They reveal area like , reveal s and traps and disables them like and last forever like . You can place them in important places like river bush or tribush, or put them to other places with a high probability of having an enemy ward nearby to reveal them instead of using (dragon pit for example). I suggest you to buy one or two of them every time you go back to base, because they are so important source of vision.

Best Laning Phase Ward Placements These are the best ward placements in the laning phase in my opinion as they provide vision to the most important places of the bot-side map like dragon pit, tribush, river bush and bottom bushes. You will be a lot harder to gank by enemy jungler because you know before they try to gank you and have time to retreat. If you are playing on the red side and the enemy team has Kayn, Zac or Shaco, I suggest you to ward the tri-bush looking bush near your gromp so they can't just jump on you without you knowing.
Best Ward Placements After Laning Phase These ward placements are better after the laning phase has ended, because they provide very much vision control to the map and makes it harder for the enemy team to collect objectives, because there is always a control ward on dragon and rift herald or baron nashor. Your team will more easily control the teamfights and splitpushing with these wards.

Abilities

Passive: Mana Surge

Every 12 second, 's next basic attack restores mana, doubled against enemy champions. This is a very good passive, as is a really mana consuming champion, and this passive gives you nearly infinite mana combined with and

Q: Arcanopulse

Begin charging: starts charging an arcane beam, gradually slowing himself up to 50% and increasing the beam's range
Release: fires the beam, dealing damage to enemies hit.
This is your basic poke ability, and it is a really good one, because it deals a lot of damage and is not too hard to hit

W: Eye Of Destruction

calls down a blast of arcane energy, dealing damage and slowing enemies hit. Enemies in the center take increased damage and are slowed more. This is a very good ability, because it is easy to hit if you attack an adc during their auto attack animation for example, and when the enemy is slowed, you can hit your Q on them freely

E: Shocking Orb

fires an orb, stunning and dealing damage to the first enemy hit. This is your best survivability ability as you can stun a that is coming too close for example. When the enemy is stunned, it is really easy to hit the rest of your abilities

R: Rite Of The Arcane

Xerath ascends to his true form and channels for 10 seconds. During the time he can recast this ability 3/4/5 times, based on the level of the ability
Recast: launches a magical artillery, dealing damage to enemies hit.
This is a great ultimate, as the range is really long and it is very good to kill low health enemies, whether liked your adc that or not

Combos

W+Q

This is your basic poke combo, as it provides a nice amount of damage and is easier to hit than just Q without other abilities. Get close enough to enemies to use W on them, the best time to use it when the enemies are in in their auto attack animation, as they can't react immediately. When you W, make sure that the enemy is in the center of the ability if you don't need to hit it exactly, because that way it is really easy to hit it. When you have used your W, it is no problem to hit your Q on them.

E+W+Q

This is your full combo, and it is really easy to hit when you hit your E. You can hit your W when the enemy is still stunned and start channeling Q when W is still in its animation.

Matchups

	= easy matchup
	= average matchup
	= hard matchup

is a very easy matchup for you, because when he loses his long range weapon, you can W+Q him all the time. He is squishy and immobile, perfect matchup for you

is your permaban champion, you can't do anything against him. He has excellent mobility which makes him hard to poke, great cc that can easily get you killed and very high damage, so there is no way you win against pyke

is way too good right now, her damage and cc are just more than enough. You probably win her as your abilities have a longer range than hers and you can stay on lane for longer because of your passive

can't really do anything against you, as if she heals her adc, she gets low instead. She doesn't have amazing poke and is also immobile, which makes her an easy target

has the best hook in the game, it is really hard to dodge and he can also knock you up after hooking you. If he lands his hook, you don't have any way to survive

is similar to , as he is also a great poke champion and immobile, but is not hard to win, as his abilities' range is lower than yours, so you can poke him kind of freely if you just stay behind your minions

has a good shield and ult that cleanses all cc, but she can't shield herself at all or ult herself if you stun her. Target her instead of her adc, because she is immobile and kind of squishy

Hard cc is your worst nightmare, and has the hardest cc in the game. If he manages to hook you, you die. Stun him if he is near enough to hook you, and ward bottom bushes in the case he tries to use to get near you and your adc

Generally doesn't counter any supports, but you really can't kill her or her adc. She is attached to her adc most of the time, so you can't poke her, and she can also heal her adc every time when you try to poke her adc

is easy champion to poke as he is immobile, but he has his stealth which makes him a bit unpredictable. If he manages to surprise you with his stealth, just stun him and run away. He is squishy so you can easily poke him out of lane at early game.

has a great damage, but the thing that really counters you is her dash. When maxed, she can dash every two seconds. Even earlier the cooldown is low enough for her to dodge all your abilities. Her ult also makes her invisible every time she dashes and halves the dashes cooldown, so you can't hit her at all when she is in her ult

is the king of the laning phase, because his auto attacks empowered with his Q are a threat to any adc or support on the rift. He is very predictable, as he needs to pick up his axes in a small time window and you see where they are about to land. Use your W or E to where his axe is about to drop, and you can easily combo him

only has abilities that have a low range except her ult, so you can poke her kinda freely. She is not easy to get off the lane as she has a great heal/shield (the green circle) and a movement speed buff (the purple circle)

I generally don't like at all, as the champion is nothing but a safe farm. He is very hard to hit with your abilities as he has his E that is basically a flash with a 10 second cooldown. He also has a great poke and can farm minions from far with his Q

is very hard to hit because she can dash every time she uses an auto attack, but can't do much to you if she doesn't get close to you. Her ult is also good as she can save her support no matter how hard you are trying to kill them

Understanding Matchups

I haven't listed all matchups here because I see no point in listing 50 champions that can be understood if you understand the basics of and his counters. 's hardest counter is mobility and hard cc, as cc kills him, and mobility disables his most valuable damage input, skillshots. The champions he counters are champions without high cc or mobility. If you understand these things, you know when to play and when not to.

Synergies

	= good synergy
	= average synergy
	= bad synergy

is your best synergy, as he can root the enemies you poke so you can hit the rest of your abilities. You also have a really good ult synergy, as they are very similar and work very well together. is known for his huge attack damage, which can carry you in the late game.

has the longest range of any adc's in the game, and you two have a very good synergy overall. She can easily hit her skillshots after you W the enemy, and if you land your stun, she can put a mine under them so they are also rooted after the stun. She deals massive damage especially if someone steps on her mines

and have a really good synergies, as needs to hit his arrow to deal good damage, and can easily make that possible. also has a good slow, which gives you a free W+Q hit. When he ults someone, you just need to combo them to deal enough damage, as can just finish them with his arrow after your combo, and if the enemy survives, you can just ult them to secure the kill

Understanding Synergies

As you can see, I have not listed nearly any synergies here, as in my opinion these are the ones worth telling, as they are really amazing synergies with , and there are no adc's you couldn't play with. Most of the champions are just ok to play with, nothing too special in terms of synergies.

Gameplay

Before The Game Starts

Nearly all guides on this site start gameplay chapter from the moment you spawn to the rift, but you can literally lose game before it starts. You might get the most hard counter enemies you could, and your team could be full ap so the enemy team can just build magic resist, for example. That kind of game is nearly unwinnable, and you have to do everything you can to prevent that from happening. Here are the types of games you don't want to play at: games with your hard counter or two of them in the bot lane, your team has already 3 champions that build ap and deal magic damage, and if the enemy team has a lot of champions like that you can't do anything against as they are hard to kill but can assassinate you within seconds. Now to the real things you should do before the game starts: firstly, ban . When the ban are revealed, look at the enemy support's picking position. The support is usually the one that bans support champion. Try to take a pick position after theirs so you don't pick and get a nice surprise when the enemy picks . When you have picked, it is time to look at runes. Really, take what you want, both and are viable at any situation with , it is all about your opinion. Then, take a look at your summoner spells. Always take as your first summoner spell, as there is not going to be a game you don't need it in. You have multiple options to your second summoner spell, if you want to know more, check the "summoner spells" chapter.

Invading

When the game is still loading, you have to think about one thing. Invading. Invading is the best thing you can possibly do in the first two minutes of the game, but it can end miserably if you have not calculated the situation well enough. If you do it right, your team will probably get a kill or at least burn a couple of es. When invading, try to get as many teammates with you as you can in order to win the invade, because 4v3 is always better than 3v3. When invading, I suggest you to start with you W instead of Q or E as it deals a good amount of damage, is easy to hit and slows the enemies it hits. Most players would start with E when invading, but it is not worth it because it is not so easy to hit, can only hit one enemy and messes up your level 2 combo if you take it at level 1.

Laning Phase

If you asked 100 challenger players what is the most important stage of the game, most of them would say laning phase, because it is where the hard carrys are made, and also where feeders get their disadvantage. If you win hard at laning phase, you have much higher win percent in the game. Laning phase is the most important part of the game, and now I will tell you how to win in it as well as I can. There are a few things you should be focusing on in the laning phase, which are: securing your adc or yourself some kills, saving your adc from enemy jungler ganks, providing vision to your team, killing dragons, roaming at other lanes if you have time and dealing damage to turrets. The first one (and also the most important one), securing kills, is maybe the hardest one as the enemies are probably as good players as you are, or atleast they should be, so I'm trying to give you all the advantage and guidance I can to make you win more games. Your main source of damage in the laning phase and the game overall is your poke, so that's what you will mainly be doing in the laning phase. When you try to poke the enemies, don't just Q them, it is a waste of mana as the enemies will quickly learn to dodge it, and it doesn't deal that much damage at level 1. It is ok to use it a couple of times before you get level 2, as the enemies are easier to hit because they probably haven't taken their mobility abilities at level 1. When you reach level 2, you need to unlock your W in order to get your power spike, as your level 2 is incredibly strong. When the enemy adc is going for a minion, hit your W on them when they are in their auto attack animation (make sure they are in the middle of the ability), because they can't dodge it very easily as they don't have enough time to react. When you hit your W, next you have to hit your Q. It is really easy, because the enemy is already slowed. The two abilities combined with is a really strong combo that will make the enemies die or recall very fastly. When you get level 3, unlock your E, as it is good for your survivability if the enemies are trying to engage you or your adc. When the enemies approach you, use your E to them, then W+Q them in order to deal the most damage you can. You should play like this until level 6, when you get your ultimate. Your ultimate is very powerful ability, because it is perfect to finish low health enemies. When an enemy is low and your adc has no chance to kill them, just ult them to get an easy kill. Now to the next one, saving your adc from enemy jungler ganks. This isn't very easy for you, as there is not much you can do to save them once the jungler is in your lane, so your thing is to always have wards in the river in order to see the enemy jungler before it's too late. When the jungler approaches you, stun them and run, as you can't win jungler in a fair 1v1. Now to the third one, providing vision to your team. It is one of the most important jobs of players and especially support, because if you control the vision, you control the game. You start the game with , which is the basic trinket. Use it to the places I showed you in the "trinkets&warding" chapter in order to provide the most vision to your team as you can. When you get your 's warding active, you change it to . With you can spot and destroy enemy wards, which is a really important way of using vision as it prevents the enemies' vision from the places you want. Use it, if you feel like the enemies have a ward in where you are or want to make sure you are not seen. If you use your trinket like this, you will provide your team a good amount of vision to your team as the game goes on. Next, killing dragons. Dragons are very important, because if the enemy team gets a dragon, the damage is permanent as the buffs aren't going anywhere as the game goes on. You should always have a ward in the dragon pit, so you know before the enemies are trying to take it. If they are trying to take it, go nearby and use your combos and poke to them, but make sure you are not alone as you are really vulnerable to damage especially in the early game. If the enemies aren't taking the dragon, try to take it yourself. You can't take it with your adc by yourselves, at least in the early game. When your jungler in the bottom side of the map, inform him that you want to take dragon. When you go for the dragon, firstly use if you have one to prevent the enemies from seeing you take it, and place a ward behind the dragon pit or the nearest spot in the enemy jungle to prevent the enemy jungler from stealing the dragon. Now to the next one, roaming. is not a very good roaming champion, because you die most of the time if the enemy jungler sees you in the river only by yourself, as you are immobile and squishy. Your best way of roaming is using your ult, as if there is a fight in the middle lane, you can go near enough to ult there and assist your midlaner with it. That is pretty much everything you can do for your midlaner. Now the last one, taking down turrets. This is a very hard part for as you don't have a lot of damage to the turrets because your all abilities are skillshots and you are an ap champion. Only try this if the enemies are away, because you can easily die if you get caught under the turret. If the wave is not pushed yet, assist your adc with taking the minions by using your abilities to them in order to get to the tower as fast as you can. Dealing damage to turrets is a good way of getting gold in the early game as the plates give you a nice amount of gold if you manage to get them and you consume your support item's stacks every time you attack the turret, which is a really good thing. This is all I've got to say about laning phase, now to the middle game.

Middle Game

When the laning phase ends, middle game starts. In the middle game your main goal is to strengthen you and your adc even more so late game will be easy to you. Your game will go around objectives (mostly dragons), as they are a really good way to gain more power to your team. Don't take stupid fights as they usually end up miserably for your team. You are still very squishy and you can't win 1v1's against other players easily. In the middle game you will roam around the map with your adc killing enemies and securing objectives. The roaming is kind of automatic because there will be team fights and smaller fights around objectives like dragons and turrets and you will join most of them, or if you can't be there, at least use your ult there to deal damage and help your team. is a good champion in the middle game as you are already much stronger and have a significantly better poke than in early game

Late Game

As the name says, late game is the last part of the game. This is where inhibitors and nexus are destroyed and the games end. Late game is going around teamfights, and there are teamfights nearly always when something happens. Teamfight when dragon spawns, teamfight when baron spawns, teamfight when your team tries to push down turrets, teamfight when the enemy team tries to push down turrets, teamfight when multiple champions randomly see eachother and so on. In the late game, your most important goal is to win fights and get objectives, but the second most important thing is to provide vision. In the late game vision or lack of vision might end games, as the enemy team could take elder dragon or baron in peace and then end the game or go splitpushing on any lane and destroy an inhibitor. If you have wards everywhere (jungles, river, dragon and baron pits etc.), you will always see the enemies coming before they get to do anything. Providing vision also causes more teamfights, as your teams will meet in lanes more often. In a teamfight, your goal is to do as much damage as you can with your poke, which is kind of easy. Always stay behind your team's tanks and other players, use your abilities every time you have them and don't focus on tanks, it is better to get the enemy adc and support down instead of a 6000 health . This is all I've got to say about gameplay with support, hopefully you read it all and learned something new.

Game Goals

If you don't have other goals in game than winning, your progress as a player will be significantly slower as you don't know how to get better or what to improve. Most of these goals are optimal and you don't have to and probably couldn't achieve them all in a single game at one time. If you try to achieve the goals by improving your weaknesses, you will see your skills and win percent increase in no time.

10
minutes:

-4 kills or assists
-0-1 deaths
-40% kill participation
-4000 damage dealt
-3000 gold
-support item's warding active unlocked
-level 6
-1 dragon killed
-5 wards placed
-1 ward destroyed
-2 control wards placed

20
minutes:

-9 kills or assists
-0-3 deaths
-45% kill participation
-2 roams leading to a kill
-10 000 damage dealt
-6500 gold
-level 9
-2 dragons killed
-3 turrets destroyed (whole team)
-16 wards placed
-4 ward destroyed
-3-4 control wards placed

30
minutes:

-17 kills or assists
-0-5 deaths
-50% kill participation
-20 000 damage dealt
-10 000 gold
-level 13-14
-3 dragons killed
-30 wards placed
-7 ward destroyed
-5 control wards placed

Quiz

Who is your permaban champion?

the right answer

What type of supports you want to face?

the right answer

What kind of adc you want to play with?

the right answer

What are the two most important warding spots in the early game?

the right answer

What is your go-to antiheal item?

the right answer

What is your full damage combo?

the right answer

The End

This is all I have got to say about support, hopefully you read it all and learned something new. If you did, leave a like and also check out my other guides. Have a great time playing . GG!

The Only Xerath Support Guide You Will Need

The Only Xerath Support Guide You Will Need

Recommended Items

Runes: Arcane Comet

Spells:

Exhaust

Flash

Flash

Ignite

Cleanse

Flash

Flash

Heal

Items

Ability Order The Best

Mana Surge (PASSIVE)

Arcanopulse (Q)

Eye of Destruction (W)

Shocking Orb (E)

Rite of the Arcane (R)

Threats & Synergies

Alistar

Amumu

Aphelios

Ashe

Bard

Blitzcrank

Brand

Braum

Caitlyn

Draven

Ezreal

Janna

Jhin

Jinx

Kai'Sa

Kalista

Karma

Kog'Maw

Leona

Lucian

Lulu

Lux

Milio

Miss Fortune

Morgana

Nami

Nautilus

Nilah

Pyke

Rakan

Rell

Renata Glasc

Samira

Senna

Seraphine

Sivir

Sona

Soraka

Swain

Taric

Thresh

Tristana

Twitch

Varus

Vayne

Vel'Koz

Xayah

Yasuo

Yuumi

Zeri

Zilean

Zyra

Jhin

Caitlyn

Varus

Jhin

Caitlyn

Varus

Champion Build Guide

10
minutes:

20
minutes:

30
minutes: