Xerath Build Guide by FrultJulce

Introduction

Hello, i'm Fruit. Welcome to my Xerath Guide.

I'm currently Diamond 4, and have hundreds of games on Xerath. I hold a 4.41 KDA and a 70% Winrate on my main account, as well as very high KDAs on smurfs.

Xerath is best reserved for players with good skill-shot accuracy, but can nonetheless still be used successfully by the not-so mechanical.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

Amazing Poke
Amazing Range
Waveclear
Mana Sustain
CC
High Damage
Amazing Siege
Great scaling
Global Ultimate

Cons:

Squishy
Hinges on skillshots
Low Mobility
Can't get jumped on
No self peel
Needs to poke before fully engaging in a fight

Summoner Spells

Take Exhaust when you are facing bursty, all-in melee champions such as Talon Master Yi Fiora Zed.

Take Barrier when you are facing bursty, all-in champions such as LeBlanc Ahri.

Take Cleanse when you are facing hard CC champions, along with a decent follow up enemy jungler such as Twisted Fate and Gragas or Annie and Rek'Sai.

Take Heal when you are facing champions that poke a lot. Examples: Orianna Azir Viktor.

Runes

Xerath is a late-game champion, and so with Scaling AP he becomes an unstoppable monster as the game progresses. You can also run Scaling CD runes instead of Scaling AP runes if you think that you won't be getting many blue buffs.

Alternative Rune Pages:

Skill Sequence

Always start Arcanopulse

If you think you are going to get ganked, or if you are planning a gank with your jungler, go Shocking Orb second.

If you plan on bullying the enemy laner during the early game, you can go Arcanopulse
into Eye of Destruction into Arcanopulse

Items

Mejai's Soulstealer If you get a few kills early, you might want to pick up Mejai's. It is a risky purchase, but Xerath has enough range to be able to play safe. Don't buy mejai's if you're facing champions that will dive you such as Talon or Fiora.

Zhonya's Hourglass Purchase this first if you're facing all-in AD champions such as Zed , Talon or Fiora. You can alternatively just purchase Seeker's Armguard first, and then build into your standard Morellonomicon.

Morellonomicon Always purchase this first, unless you need to purchase Seeker's Armguard.

Luden's Echo Always purchase this second, unless you need Seeker's Armguard or Zhonya's Hourglass.

Void Staff Purchase this when your opponents have heavy Magic Resist. Only purchase this after Morellonomicon and Luden's Echo.

Rabadon's Deathcap Purchase this when you want more damage. Only purchase this after
Morellonomicon and Luden's Echo.

Sorcerer's Shoes Purchase this when your opponents have Magic Resist. Try to Purchase this after Morellonomicon.

Banshee's Veil Purchase this when you're facing burst champions such as LeBlanc or Annie.

Guardian Angel Purchase this when you're facing a team with mixed AD and AP and need to live longer throughout teamfights.

Farsight Alteration Purchase this as soon as you hit level 9. It will allow you to gain vision in unsafe brushes and fog of war areas from a long range. You can also use Farsight Alteration to help finish off fleeing enemies who've ran into the fog of war.

Sorcerer's Shoes - Alacrity Purchase this when you want to be more mobile in fights.

Elixir of Sorcery Purchase this before major team-fights and sieging.

Vision Ward Always have one pink ward on the map. Purchase at least one on first back, so that you can safely play without getting ganked.

Health Potion Purchase this when you have extra gold. Try to never leave base without at least 2 Health Potion.

Combos

Tips: Try to land the middle of Eye of Destruction on your enemies so that they are slowed. You can use Arcanopulse and Eye of Destruction on creeps in order to open space and throw a Shocking Orb at the enemy champion.

Harass -

If the enemy is in front of the creep wave:

Land Shocking Orb into Arcanopulse into Eye of Destruction. After Eye of Destruction they will be slowed, and so you can thus easily auto attack them to proc your passive.

If they are behind creeps:

Arcanopulse into Eye of Destruction into Shocking Orb (If possible)

If they are on top of creeps:

Eye of Destruction into Arcanopulse into Shocking Orb

Teamfight -

Poke:

Arcanopulse into Eye of Destruction into Shocking Orb (If possible)

Engage:

Shocking Orb into Arcanopulse into Eye of Destruction into Arcanopulse

Clean up:

Arcanopulse (If possible) into Rite of the Arcane. Look at your ultimate to see how much damage it will do, and then, from this, determine how many shots it will take to kill: only use if you think you can hit the amount of shots required. You can use your Scrying Orb into Rite of the Arcane if they leave vision.

Laning

During the lane phase your main goal is to farm and pressure enemies off of cs.

You have a very safe level 1-5 laning phase because of your range.

You can easily push in the enemy laner early, and continue to poke them down while they farm under tower. If you do this however, their jungler will likely come.

Try to play towards the side that your jungler is currently on so that you both may easily meet if anything goes awry. Ask your jungler to help ward around mid. You should expect the enemy jungler to gank you constantly due to your low mobility/absence of a gap closer.

Use Mana Surge on cooldown to regain mana.

Roaming

Xerath is a great roamer, mostly due to his ultimate. Rite of the Arcane

Hover over your ultimate Rite of the Arcane to see the range of the ability. You can always just use Rite of the Arcane instead of committing to a lengthy roam that would lose you pressure/farm.

If you come from Fog of War during a roam, your abilities will be harder to dodge.

Creeping / Jungling

Simply use your Arcanopulse followed by Eye of Destruction to kill lane/jungle creeps. Use Mana Surge to replenish your mana afterwards.

Don't be afraid to take your jungler's wraiths or wolves or even the enemy's wraiths if such is currently safe and available.

Power Spikes

Early Game:

Your goal is to farm and push the enemy out of lane. It's not likely to solo kill early, but possible.

Mid Game:

You start becoming strong. Group up with your team for dragons, make sure you poke before fights. When enemies are low from your poke, hard engage and you can smoothly win.

Tell your team to group up and siege. You have amazing wave clear and your poke is starting to sting. If presented with the opportunity, a sudden combo can require a squishy target to recall.

Late Game:

You are at your strongest point, and your poke is extremely effective. You can 3 shot any carry with your combo, so long as they don't have a lot of resistance. You can also use just Rite of the Arcane to push carries out of the teamfight. 2 hit shots of Rite of the Arcane during a teamfight will chunk a carry to about 1/3 of their health. After chunked, they will be very hesitant to walk up close, and if they do, you can easily pick them off with your long range Arcanopulse.

Ranked Play

Overall, Xerath is definitely a good choice for ranked. Try to avoid picking Xerath vs Assassin's and heavy tanks. Pick Xerath in a team-comp that can siege well and has some peel and hard engage. I have also noticed that the higher elo you are in, the better Xerath is, as more people realize his powerspikes.