Hey guys, this is my second build here on Mobafire, and I am a pretty experienced AP caster so figuring out Xerath was pretty simple work.

Pros:
Very able caster
Hits like a truck with your W
Naturally durable thanks to his passive
GREAT ultimate.

Cons:
Requires experience with skill shots
Easy to mess up the W
Easily rageable at

For runes, I chose the standard AP caster who doesn't need mana setup. For marks you get magic penetration, glyphs and seals are AP per level for late game scaling, and flat AP quintessences for early game.

For items I noticed something odd about Xerath that I haven't noticed in many other AP casters. The weird thing was that he really doesn't need mana items if you can conserve your mana properly. For early game, you start with a doran's ring and can get multiple of them for the HP and mana regen. On your first time back go ahead and go straight into sorcerers shoes because they work great with the penetration from your W. Then, continue farming with your Q and eventually get a rabadons. At this point in the game you are probably wrecking any champ 1 vs 1, and are dominating the team fights thanks to your range. Get a Rylais Crystal Scepter following your deathcap and you will be set for your core build.

Your role is a caster, meaning, you are not a fighter. Don't think for a second that because your passive gives you armour that you can go initiate fights. You can't, plain and simple, that's a job for the bruisers and tanks to do. If they can't do that, and you end up losing because of it, then don't feel bad. Everyone loses games because people don't know their roles, at least you did.
In a team fight work to stay on the outside and position yourself to hit as many people as you can for as hard as you can with your skills. If that means walking around the bush to get all 5 enemies with your Q rather than just 2, then do it. Once you start playing the role you'll eventually understand it and it becomes rather self explanatory.

For skills I typically start out maxing my Q for farming and harassment purposes. I follow up and max the W for the same reason, and max E last because it doesn't really change much (It's a utility spell, not damage).

Very self-explanatory, so I don't even know why I included this.

Most people starting out with Xerath will miss the Arcanopulse A LOT. That's because it has a delay on it. If you want to land it, then take your cursor and predict where they will be, then fire there, but not on top of them.
For your W you will want to activate this either, A) whenever it's up for poking, or B) to extend past the normal range and finish enemies off.
If you're trying to go for maximum damage start with your W, put your E on them and land your Q. Then follow to de-activate W and go auto-attack them a couple times. If you have your ultimate it's pretty much a guaranteed kill.

Good luck with Xerath, and I hope this helped for those of you that just got him, or had him and had no clue on how to use him correctly.