Seriously; he outranges every other mage, and his Q has about a 4 second cooldown with a ~70% fucking AP ratio. He has no problems with sustain with his passive, he has a stun, and his ult allows him to snipe anyone who gets away.
Tell me how to play against him besides "counterpick" and "dodge his Q." Because no shit that would help.
Teslyn7 votes
ScissorsNstuff6 votesyou need to strut your chesthair and go fight him
If he backs off he will have to farm from range which costs mana.
If you are ranged then he has to fight from even further away.
Be prepared to give up SOME cs to zone him out.
He may occasionally regain control when his stuff is off cooldown but the point is to MAKE him use it. It doesn't matter if he runs out of mana or not, he has a mana passive afterall, but the point is to force him into a more predictable play pattern you can actually control the pace of.
venomous frost2 votesassassins like fizz, zed,... and all in him everytime you get close
PureSilvrr1 votesSpellshields, he looks to open up with an e to stun you, but hell be forced to q you to get it off, because w is a decent cooldown, and his q is most of his damage so hell have to wait till its back up to kill you
(mast 5 xerath)
TheHappyReaperz1 votesHis Q slows him while he channels, so that's the best time to try and land some CC. His AA range is shorter than his other skillshots, so keeping him a distance from minions, will help decrease his mana sustain. His only CC is single target, so its best to engage in/near a minion wave, so you can duck behind a minion when he fires it off.
Escheton1 votesIt seems you pick 
, kill em all quick-like, then shunpo to safety.
Handy Sandy 1 votesI really used to hate fighting Xerath, mostly because I play 
who's pretty much useless against him and permabanned him every game when I had a ban chance.
In the laning phase, don't stand in your minions, position yourself so he can't hit you AND the minions at the same time with his Q, or any other ability really. Shove him to turret and get some boots early so you're able to dodge his skillshots. If needed, get edge of night or banshee's veil depending on your champion. If he chooses to shove the lane with Q without attacking you with his Q, you can go in for a trade. Be careful of his passive and E, trade if you aren't too scared to give him a little mana.
In mid/late game, his Q will really, REALLY hurt you. In teamfights try to get your team to engage first so you aren't poked down with 900 damage Q's every 5 seconds. Focus him, he does high AOE damage. A little cc will ruin his day.
Overall he's immobile but does a ton of damage with a slow/stun to get away while being a pretty strong laner with sustain. If you cc him though, he's an easy kill. If you have decent waveclear, a gapcloser and have a bit of damage you can stand up to Xerath. Also, take advantage of his cooldowns. Especially the thing he's gonna spam which is his Q.
420 grams1 votesIf you can't dodge his poke, you gotta all in him and kill him before he pokes you out.
Meep Man1 votesBecause no shit that would help.
That's how I feel reading this. Everything he does can be dodged very easily with some quick reaction time. What more do you want besides "Dodge his skill shots"? If everything has a delay and can be dodged, you can beat him with good reactions.
God Raijin1 votesNot to be a meta slave, but honestly. Just play an AD assassin like 
or 
, ......
is still OP, even if you don't do well against 
at very early levels, The fact that you can build early magic resist and lethality should give you a big advantage at level 6. can't fight you face-to-face if you all-in him. His ult can't compete with the bust of your ult.
IF you are having trouble early, try not to trade too much, just farm with Zed Q, or sustain with talon Q, all in at 6, and then if the game is still in laning phase, shit on Xerath multiple times once you have
Akenero1 votesLiterally walk towards him and kill him.
Incarceration1 votesJust all in him. As a mage, you will always have a stronger all in combo than this guy. Pop Ghost if needed, get some mr, and try to dominate him in lane. Put some vision down on the map. He will usually roam down to ult, so have the map warded and all in him.
WitchQueen Annie1 votesI strugged against him as a 
the other day in lane.
