Request to Junglers and Xerath Players
So...I'm a weirdo who's decided to start playing Xerath jungle (normals, calm your breeches folks), and I'm asking for advice and assistance from those who won't be in this thread to bring spite and hate, and will instead be here out of curiosity or a desire to help.
*Disclaimer: Any and all salt that causes a sudden and untimely frothing rage is of the reader's own cause, and as such, it is advised that those with a low tolerance for civility, discussion, and unranked scum, or a high presence of meta in their blood leave now in order to avoid this outcome. You have been warned. *
(On that note, I'd love if someone could bring up anything I seem to have missed!)
|Pre-Game!| Masteries I run him 12-18-0, in what I assume is a slightly edited AP Burst page. Sorcery, Feast, Vampirism, Oppressor Savagery, Runic Affinity, Meditation, Dangerous Game, Precision, Thunderlord Decree
Vampirism and Savagery are to keep camps from running me over. Being quite honest, I’m fairly certain that without both, his early clears would require double leashing or possibly not even be possible considering the abuse he takes from the camps. Would Deathfire Touch be better on him? Or another keystone soley for a tree that helps his early clears? Any ideas would be welcome!
Runic Affinity and Meditation are to make up for the fact that his only source of MP Regeneration will be Blue Buff and Runic Echoes procs, so that combined with his passive, he can avoid running out of mana at an important time before getting an MP5 item.
Runes I've been using my general adc page in runes to help his early clears (Attack Speed +10.2%, Armor Pen. +2.6, Physical Dmg +7.7, Armor +9, Magic Resist +12.1)...I've been considering using my open rune page to replace the MR blues and possibly pen marks, but I'm not sure what to go for. Would flat CDR to keep his Q and W going be the best option? Or is there another choice such as flat AP, or any others? Is there a different type that might be more effective? Or would completely reformating the page be more beneficial?
Summoners I’ve been taking Smite, of course, since this is a strange little Jungle idea....but my secondary spell, I’ve found, isn’t easily a hard-set flash. Other spells I’ve considered have been Heal, Exhaust, and Barrier.
Flash, of course, is the original jack of all trades. I can flash to secure a kill with Q, or to evade death at the last minute. I can flash to surprise an enemy, or to get somewhere faster if it’s urgent. However, its early game power can be considered small in this specific scenario because if Xerath burns his flash to run, it’s liable for his opponent to simply flash on top of him...or to be mobile enough that his flash didn’t help. Later on, it holds the enormous potential flash has as a given.
Heal and Barrier, both hold same very limited use: aiding a more healthy clear over Xerath’s normal ‘I did it!’ clears. Heal can restore the health you’d wait for with pots in front of Blue in order to both clear it healthier and more quickly. Barrier gives Xerath some extra temporary HP to tank Gromp with, so that he doesn’t even need the heal time to go for Blue. Heal also offers a heal in any other scenario, as well as a heal and speed boost for an ally, so I feel it trumps in this category.
Exhaust is a panic button that can help disable one enemy at a given time, with a shorter cooldown than most summoners. Whether it be exhausting the invading jungler to run or give yourself a fighting chance, or exhausting the enemy zed in hopes of saving the carry he ulted, it offers better use later on to the game.
|For Junglers:| As it is now, I can clear 3 camps + scuttle blue side with no leash before backing by burning some time in front of blue for a pot to heal me up, and then clear consistently from then on if I have both components to my jungle item (Machete/Talisman). After that point, clears are fairly efficient with nearly no risk of execution whatsoever. I'm not too worried about those. What I need help with from junglers is everything before that, and any general knowledge they might want to impart.
Matchups - General What kind of Jungler, assuming he works fine, would Xerath be, and what types of junglers would be bad matchups for him? Just in a general sense (unless someone wants to get technical!).
Skill Order - Clearing His Q seems the best start option. Higher damage than the W, equal damage to the E, but AoE over single target. It helps apply the Talisman effect to the entire camp early on. I get W second since it's another AoE damage source for clearing and talisman, and I get E last to defend myself in the jungle, or to gank a cleared lane. Would spacing the Q and W over outright bursting a camp be better to utilize the talisman's HP leech?
|For Xerath Players:|
Skill Order - Use Is there a skill in Xerath’s kit of three so important to him when found alone that he needs to get his hands on it first, even if it would damage his clears? Something that makes it more reliable for him to be able to survive if the enemy jungler comes in to try and kill him one on one? I’d assume his E, but is the stun that useful that you could drop your early W or Q for it?
Roaming -> Ganking What do you do when you roam on Xerath? How, in effect, do you ‘gank’ the lane you’re coming in to? I’ve been trying to enter lane with Q, and drop a W where they’re running to. If I can, I land an auto or my E for TLD and then leave unless my laner can follow up on it in a way that doesn’t risk both our lives more than the enemy laner’s. The alternate, of course, is ulting a low HP enemy or just ulting to pump damage into a lane.
Dragon Yes, this question is for you! You typically play Xerath mid, so I figure you’d know more on Objectives with Xerath. Is his Q’s damage enough to reliably steal dragon? Or his ult? I’ve done it with both, but feel it was the enemy jungler’s fault for not smiting on time both times. Is there any method or even build you rely on to steal dragons with your skills...or is it just a rare thing that happens time to time?
I'm looking for input to work on this. Anything anyone's got to say is welcome advice as long as it's civil...so let's discuss!
