@Riot: about Xerath's Ultimate.What would You like to trade in his kit,for a more reliable ultimate?

Predatorator··2 votes·835 views

Hello there, and thank You for reading this. As the title says, I'd like to talk about Xerath's ultimate, which actually seems to be a big flaw in his rework. It just allows too much counterplay:

  • champion-sized AoE;

  • relatively slow travel time;

  • max range, impact area, and Xerath himself made visible to the whole enemy team .

But still what it offers is nice:

  • among the highest damage from an ultimate(by hitting with the whole clip);

  • Highest non-global range ingame (at rank 3).

Anyways, the point here is that the average player is perfectly able to dodge all 3 the shots, by moving randomly (generally moving in circles). Yeah, aming and ensuring all the shots to hit the target, requires the Xerath user to take in account several factors, and from that comes the skill, and eventually the satisfaction from hitting the target, which is something i'd like to preserve.

So, here are some ways to improve it:

First of all, make the max range indicator to not be visible from enemy units (Xerath himself is made visible, and however, i don't see a good reason to make all the enemies across the map to know i'm ulting. If it's so important, however, make something less noticeable, like...idk, a round-shaped shockwave running from Xerath to his ulti max range, and the global announcement ends there. The shockwave may have the same colors as Xerath's VFX). Then (take one):

  1. to make a larger AoE (it could work as Eye of Destruction, full damage with bullseye, lower damage by hitting with the edges);
  2. to increase the bullet's travel speed;
  3. a slow (it may stack or not).

However, it's important to keep in mind how Xerath is at the edge of being OP (Xelnath pointed out that too). This has become more clear with the "tone down" of his competitors. So, in order to avoid a straight nerf to follow the achievement of a more reliable ultimate, how are You willing to shift his power from, to his ultimate? Right now, Xerath generally have:

  • good damage;
  • highest range ingame.

That said, in my opinion, i'm ok to lower his ultimate max range, and/or his damage (not significantly), in order to have a more versatile ultimate. And i think that's all, what are Your thoughs? Sorry for my English, and sorry for the wall of text, and thank to whoever managed to read it all =)! EnolaGay45

12 Comments

SnowFall1 votes

the one thing i dislike about his ult that even with slightest move it cancels. more than that, xerath kit just seems more flawed after rework. previously he had a pattern of moves, was a bit predictable but i was fine with that, now he just has a bunch of spells that hardly synergize with each other.

Predatorator1 votes

I've played Xerath v1 alot, and i still miss him, he was so unique and awesome. His old W was awesome, and the utlimate was reliable, and the passive had a sense post-laning phase. However, You have to keep in Your mind that the rework occurred for a series of reasons, where pleasing the old Xerath players wasn't the top priority. I had Your problem in the beginning, but when You'll get used to it, it won't be a problem anymore. About the spells, there's a kind of synergy between them, most of all thanks to his new W, which opens the way for followups quite well. The only skill that doesn't synergize quite well is his R, for which You need to get into safety and root, interrupting the cast of other spells.

Ironclad Dragon1 votes

Give him that Archon spell from Diablo 3. Make him test the boundaries of his coffin and turn him into a swirling arcane storm.

Predatorator1 votes

I don't know what are You referring at, because i have never played Diablo III. How does it work?

Ironclad Dragon1 votes

Archon: Transform into a being of pure arcane energy for 15 seconds. When in Archon form, your normal abilities are replaced by powerful Archon abilities, and your armor and resistances are increased by 40%. Every enemy killed while in Archon form adds 1 second to the duration of Archon.

Predatorator1 votes

Actually that looks nice. Keeping in mind the big problem of taking an ability from another game, i would remove the defense's buffs, since being tanky doesn't fit very well with Xerath.

Ironclad Dragon1 votes

His old passive made him a little tanky.

Predatorator1 votes

I know, and that makes sense to the changes. The changed passive helped to better mark Xerath's identity as an artillery: abuse Your high range, because if the enemy comes at You, You might have a bad time.

Worgslarg1 votes

IMO, make his ult a player tracking, target ability. drop its aoe damage to 75% damage to secondary targets. If a targeted long range ult is too overpowered, allow him to fire the charges much faster( 3 charges in ~ 1 secs time), and disallow others to see where he is firing. If you know where he's going to hit in advance, evasive manuvering is made a bit too easy.

Predatorator1 votes

I'd rather having it as a skillshot, because i still want to preserve the mastery You need to achieve to hit someone, and the satisfaction that comes from that. The changes i've suggested are meant to shift the ulti from "almost impossible to hit with" to "it will take mastery to hit with". However, i agree that increasing the AoE and decreasing the damage at the edges of it, may be the best idea.

BlahDS1 votes

if there is one change I want to see on his ult, its a visual update.

Currently, you shoot like... puny pellets at people, and it doesn't look like they do very much damage even though they do. It doesn't really feel epic when you shoot them either. His old ult looked really cool and now it's the derp.

Predatorator1 votes

I know, the animations don't really support Xerath's nature as the purest magic being, and i will never be tired enough to stop myself from asking for better visuals. However, there are rumors of an ultimate Xerath skin coming with an eventual Shurima event. I don't use to mind rumors, but there's nothing bad for keeping that info in mind.

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