I main Xerath mid lane and his ultimate is almost a joke to hit. Yeah, it has a lot of range and what not but its the easiest skill shot to dodge in the game. If the diameter of the Ult hit box was boosted I would be completely happy. If you play Xerath you know what I mean. If not i recommend playing him and using his ult before you criticize my recommendation.
Joe Dredd9 votesXerath in no way needs buffs his skills aren't even hard to hit.
AHeroNamedHawke4 votesIt also does an insane amount of damage, so I'm fine with it being hard to land
The problem I have is it feels extremely unsatisfying, similar to Irelia's ult. You just throw some pebbles a mile away and they go sploosh, nothing like an ultimate for the Magus Ascendant
DJ Siamak3 votesThat's probably because the rest of his abilities are crazy strong.
Noob Slaýer2 votesI am talking about his Ult not his other abilities. His Ult is a joke
Averia2 votesI am talking about his Ult not his other abilities. His Ult is a joke
Whether or not you're talking about his ultimate, a champions ENTIRE kit has to be taken into account when buffing or nerfing said champion. And a lot of diamond xerath players would care to disagree with you about his ultimate. If they buffed the hit radius they would definitely need to nerf the damage as it already 100-25's most carries if all hits land.
The trade-offs to it's small radius is a huge spike in damage, and you can easily pop your ultimate around a teammates/your own CC. You have 2 CC spells. Land them and make actual use of the CC.
Talamare3 votes900 + 130% potential AOE damage from 5600 range...
For Reference - Pantheon and Twisted Fate are 5500 range Ziggs is 5300 for 500+90% for perfect hit or 400 + 72% for near miss
Yea, I think it's fine if its a little tricky to hit it
HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD
GloriousKaiser1 votes900 + 130% potential AOE damage from 5600 range...
For Reference - Pantheon and Twisted Fate are 5500 range Ziggs is 5300 for 500+90% for perfect hit or 400 + 72% for near miss
Yea, I think it's fine if its a little tricky to hit it
HIGH RISK, HIGH REWARD
High Risk would imply that Xerath would be in danger in using his ult to kill someone.
Talamare3 votesHigh Risk would imply that Xerath would be in danger in using his ult to kill someone.
Risk doesn't need to equal danger
An extremely high damage but extremely difficult to hit ability is still High Risk
Compared to something that is easy to hit for average damage, then its low risk, low reward.
GloriousKaiser1 votesRisk doesn't need to equal danger
An extremely high damage but extremely difficult to hit ability is still High Risk
Compared to something that is easy to hit for average damage, then its low risk, low reward.
You're not risking anything but a cooldown. You lost your ult, big deal, you wouldn't use it defensively anyway. That's what W and E are for.
You know what's really high risk? Garen running to execute a carry. Sure it's "easy" in the conventional sense but in practicality, very difficult to pull off, especially in the mobile meta.
Would Ezreals ultimate be High Risk then? It's relatively hard to land a Xeraths usual ulting ranges.
SexyTaylorSwift2 votesXerath's ult also means that he has to sit in place, risking enemies walking up to him and going boom boom.
Talamare1 votesYou're not risking anything but a cooldown. You lost your ult, big deal, you wouldn't use it defensively anyway. That's what W and E are for.
You know what's really high risk? Garen running to execute a carry. Sure it's "easy" in the conventional sense but in practicality, very difficult to pull off, especially in the mobile meta.
Would Ezreals ultimate be High Risk then? It's relatively hard to land a Xeraths usual ulting ranges.
Cooldown is a pretty huge factor when determining the risk level of an ability
An ability with much higher cooldown is often considered higher risk than one with lower cooldown In this case its 120 seconds vs a reduceable 80 seconds
Everything is a Risk, using Flash is a Risk (both offensively and defensively), CSing is a Risk, Warding is a Risk Everything is a Risk because when you are doing 1 thing, you cannot be doing a 2nd.
Everything is a Risk, the best players do correct threat assessments to see if that Risk is worth taking.
JustMyBassCannon1 votesAssuming that risk always means self-endangerment.
The risk-reward comparison, in this scenario, is comparing an easy-to-land shot (one that you're guaranteed to land if you know what you're doing) versus one that takes serious precision to hit your targets.
You are gambling on whether or not you can hit with the ultimate. If you want a safer gamble, you pick someone like Ziggs. You have a better chance of hitting, but a lower payoff for it.
If you want, we can call it a gamble instead of a risk-reward. They almost mean the same literal thing, but maybe you'll be able to get past the whole "I'm not risking my life, therefore there is no risk" mentality.
brad3 votesits really not
take your time and aim your shots... one of the few abilities in league which require patience
Big Nasty Mèat3 votesSo what, you missed all your ultimate shots. You can still chunk 50% of someone's health with one Q from two screen away with no risk.
DrCyanide2 votesIt's not a coincidence that as soon as he got a "Nerf-fix" for his ultimate the pros stopped playing him.
Given the similarities between Ziggs and Xerath, I think Ziggs is in a better spot. He can at least land all 4 abilities without ally intervention.
Sooko2 votesits the easiest skill shot to dodge
Second easiest 
^^
Be Kind Rewind1 votesIt was nerfed without any compensatory buffs. There was an error in his coding apparently - CDR reduced the gap of time between when you could fire your ulti shots. At max CDR, you could bombard an area with all 3 shots pretty rapidly, ensuring that they covered a wider area, or quickly sniping someone while they were unaware.
By normalizing the gap to around ~1 second, they indirectly forced you to wait for your target to react before you could fire more at them.
I don't know why they didn't compensate for it somehow. If I recall, they said themselves that they'd be looking out in case they needed to buff him in exchange or something. And yet they never did.
EfficientDynamo1 votesAgreed. You can hit 2-3 on an enemy that is panic-running or someone who is focused on something else (like fleeing one of your teammates), but anyone familiar with going against Xerath can dodge most or all of the shots without burning flash or a mobility move.
Personally, I think it might be a good idea to make his ult work like his W (wider circle with more damage in the middle). Don't make it as wide as the W, but maybe 50-100 units increase in radius to each ult shot?
Rawrful1 votesYes, it is hard to hit people that have upgraded boots and are trying to avoid it. But, you can use it on CCed people and they explode because all 3 hits on one target is like... Absurdly much damage. Give and take, you know.
Noob Slaýer2 votesYes, it is hard to hit people that have upgraded boots and are trying to avoid it. But, you can use it on CCed people and they explode because all 3 hits on one target is like... Absurdly much damage. Give and take, you know.
Yes i agree completly. From my experience Vi's Ult is a free set up for all 3 Xerath ults. If you miss any your bad or your reflexes are horrible haha!
Bresn1 votes"Ult hit box was boosted"
GG early game.... in EG Xerath can snipe anybody because generally everybody has no boots or tier 1 boots and it still takes skills with mobility skills to avoid moving into the ult.
The last thing we need in Late Game and Middle Game is a Xerath penta kill.
the Anarchit3cht1 votesreturn to old xerath pls
Leblancs Boob1 votesHis Q is hilariously impossible to dodge to compensate for his ult being hard to hit. He's easily one of the strongest mid laners in the game and also one of the few viable mages left.
Haestro1 votesNo, buffing its width would remove it as Riot's patented "We know you are scripting".