Xerath's Rework

So I was reading up on what they plan to do with "smaller" scope reworks with the mages, and reading up on what they had in mind for Xerath...

"What we’re happy with: -Keepaway. Xerath has a lot of tension built-in to wanting to be just far away to poke, but never close enough to be in threat range.

What we’re less happy with: -For a mage that feels like he’s ascending to ultimate power, Rite of the Arcane can feel really lackluster. -Playing against Xerath can feel like some of his abilities cheat in his favor

What we hope to see coming out of the update: -Reinforce the use of his abilities at long-range while making them more fair to play against -Make Rite of the Arcane feel like a meaningful crescendo for Xerath’s poke-pattern "

Seeing this, I couldn't help but think-- what if Riot changed the ultimate to be more like the old Locus of Power? Now, I know the old Locus of Power was unhealthy-- constantly being able to blow people up from off their screen was not fun for the other party. From here I'll copy my post from Surrender @ 20...

Riot keeps saying that they want to reinforce Xerath's "long rage mage" playstyle, but...

No mention of old Siege Mode Xerath. :c I know that that was a bit uninteractive during laning phase, but that was EXACTLY the kind of teamfight presence he needed. I feel like if they switched out his Rite of the Arcane and gave him Locus of Power back. This was his MAIN ability back when he was released, the main thing connecting him to his fantasy. I know for it's removal they increased the range on his Q and W, but imagine--

What if Xerath's new ult was....
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Locus Of Power

Cost: Either 100 Mana or None | Cooldown: 60 / 45 / 30 Seconds (Not affected by CDR)

ACTIVE: After 0.5 seconds, Xerath anchors himself to his current location for up to 10 seconds, becoming immune to CC (except knockbacks like Draven's Stand Aside or Nautilus/Thresh/Blitzcrank's hooks) and gaining the ability to cast all of his abilities at a much larger range, (I don't know exactly the range but even double would be okay), while lowering the CD of them by 60%. When Locus of Power Ends, Xerath gains a 20% movement speed boost for 2 seconds.

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With this, Xerath would get his old fantasy of "Long Range Siege Mage" back, especially during teamfights, while not constantly having it up during laning phase. Perhaps shave off a bit of power from his Arcanopulse early on (Although since the update, I actually find myself using Eye of Destruction more since it's much easier to hit...)

In addition, this would make it so his ult isn't just a tiny AoE minibomb that is as predictable as Bard's ult, if not more so, that people only use to ATTEMPT to kill a fleeing foe, but will inevitably not hit at all if the person knows how to side step even minimally.

Now, you may say this sounds too strong, but think of this-- Arcanopulse's cooldown would be lowered to 3 seconds, yes, HOWEVER, it would still need to charge up to reach maximum range, the charge of which takes 3 seconds itself. In addition, this version of Locus of Power doesn't give any more Magic Penetration like the old one does, so the abilities would still do the same damage. And as previously stated, Eye of Pain would have a 4 second CD still, so it wouldn't be spammable either.

Now, if you think this may be too WEAK, I have a solution--

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Locus Of Power

Cost: Either 100 Mana or None | Cooldown: 60 / 45 / 30 Seconds (Not affected by CDR)

ACTIVE: After 0.5 seconds, Xerath anchors himself to his current location for up to 10 seconds, becoming immune to CC (except knockbacks like Draven's Stand Aside or Nautilus/Thresh/Blitzcrank's hooks) and gaining the ability to cast all of his abilities at a much larger range, (I don't know exactly the range but even double would be okay), while lowering the CD of them by 60%. When Locus of Power Ends, Xerath gains a 20% movement speed boost for 2 seconds.

ACTIVE: If Xerath presses Locus of Power once more before the 10 seconds are up, he will unleash his stored up power in a large AoE blast (about the same size as Ekko's stun... or Viktor's stun if that's too much) dealing 150 Magic Damage +30 Magic Damage for each second left on Locus of Power (+70% of Xerath's AP). Using this will instantly end "Locus of Power."

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TLDR: Functions like Riven's ult and gives him a second blast by reactivating, but will force the ult to end.

This here gives Xerath a decision-- use the ultimate for increasing his other abilities or launch it all immediately in a huge blast? In addition, Xerath could use all of his abilities then finish it with the blast with minimal time left-- however this will just leave it as a larger "Eye of Destruction." On the other hand, if Xerath launches it all at once, it'll hit like an Ekko ult, y'know, just without the ridiculous 130% scaling and 500 base damage.

Again, I really feel like this strongly reinforces Xerath's "Siege Mage" archetype while also fitting his "Ultimate Power" theme. The short delay on his ult's startup also forces him to not use it while close to anyone-- or else they can easily kill him before he's able to do any real damage.

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As you can see, I'm quite passionate about Xerath. .w. He was my main mage before his rework, but I just can't find myself playing him nearly as much anymore because I just feel like he's a "long range burst mage" instead of a "siege mage," like he was meant to be. Right now, not much differentiates him from Ziggs or Lux, to be honest.

Riot hit the nail on the head with the original Locus of Power, but I do agree that it was unhealthy being able to constantly blow people up from off their screen. With this idea though, he would only have windows of "supreme power," giving the enemy laner plenty of time, especially early game, to take him down before he gets his power spike again. In addition, it will give him more presence in teamfights while also making him have to think about his positioning carefully, so that he isn't destroyed before doing any real damage himself.

I really hope Riot does well when adjusting him. .w.