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Is Xerath poor man's Vel'koz?

Verdade·1/30/2017, 11:17:15 AM·13 votes·7,189 views

Hello, as a long-time main i decided to take look at , considering he's supposed to have similar gameplay - siege/poke mage with decent kill pressure. First few games? I was useless. Man, i couldn't do anything because Xerath feels extremely heavy. I attributed this to muscle memory because i couldn't nail his skillshots (especially perfect W hits). However, as i got better at this, he still felt really bad, and here's why:

Compared to VK -has insane mana costs (which is balanced by his passive, however that leads to another problem) -his passive REQUIRES him to autoattack (forcing LONG RANGE MAGE to go into medium/short range just to get mana? k...) -if he wants to poke he can't waveclear and vice versa (Q is both waveclear and poke) -it's much harder to land whole combo/all in (E is much harder to land and less reliable, also cleansable) -his kit makes him extremely vulnerable (R roots him just like VK but for longer, Q slows him alot) -kites himself (due to Q slow, Vel'koz is kiting monster able to kite even ghosted Darius/Trundle) -less damage on all-in -is much easier to counterbuild (100% magical damage) -much less teamfight presence -unreliable ultimate (which deals quite good damage but only if you manage to hit all shots) -predictable/telegraphed abilities

Im not QQing or anything, i just want to know WHY would i want to pick Xerath over Vel'koz? He's more straightforward, easier to pick up, but that's it. Range, poke damage, CDs are very similar, however the rest is just in favor of Squid. I remember playing Xerath before his rework, his ultimate felt MUCH better, his W gave him ridiculous range and %MRpen which made him true siege mage, but now he just seems weird and heavy.

75 Comments

Pierce The Veal1/30/2017, 11:30:32 AM19 votes

I miss old xerath.

Old Xerath's kit:

Passive: gain 15% of AP as armor.

Q: same but without chargeup.

W: root self and extend range of all abilities. Also gain significant % magic pen.

E: Apply a mark on target, hitting champion with another ability will result in the champion being stunned.

R: three charges of energy explosions. Can move while casting, w extends range of ult as well.

Xerath was never meant to be a mobile champion as you can see. He was a siege cannon that sat there and bombarded you with effectively true damage, and didn't run even if you got on top of him (armor).

But his playrate was poor and as such Riot changed him, much to the disappointment of the Xerath community.

Spoofghoul1/30/2017, 4:22:39 PM7 votes

Xerath ascended to become urgot

DunkinNoobs1/30/2017, 9:07:19 PM4 votes

They're fairly different. Xerath has much stronger poke and 1 shot potential later on in the game. His pick potential is also quite high with his long range E. His late game is overall much stronger than Vel'koz, scaling much harder with raw AP and longer range. Vel'koz has a much stronger lane and is very strong mid game but falls off a fair bit late game. He's also a much stronger duelist, so he doesn't require as much protection as Xerath and he's significantly more mobile ass well given how his spells work.

SettDownShutUp1/30/2017, 4:48:41 PM2 votes

The poor man's Velkoz, oh god that's perfect. Screw "The Magus Ascendant", he's "Xerath, the Poor Man's Vel'koz"

k wìx1/30/2017, 8:26:42 PM2 votes

I've been a Xerath main for a long time. He's currently pretty weak. The order of power goes like this between the three poke mages:

** Ziggs > Velkoz > Xerath **

Ziggs is at the top of the ladder currently (due for some nerfs, i'd wager!) Velkie is pretty damn well balanced in my opinion. Xerath is a touch weak - he pays too much for his reach (the mobility trade-off hurts a fair bit) and his scaling is not so good - his mana requirements are insane, but his passive makes up for it. Essentially he has no passive, as it all just kinda works out.

**In short, Xerath needs some buffs to compete with either of them. There is absolutely NO reason to take Xerath over the other two - If you check playrate and winrate as the skill/rank of player increases, you find that Xerath falls farther and farther. ** *(You'll note the opposite happens to Ziggs)

Some buff ideas from a Xerath main:

Letting his passive convert mana into damage would be amazing. This would encourage him to build mana-heavy items (tear!) and give him the niche he needs. Though players will start complaining about his damage, as people who can't juke cry foul about ranged poke. This could really help his awful late-game scaling
His ultimate should collect charges over time, like 1 minute per charge, maximum of like.. 6-8 .. something high so if he saves up, he can become terrifying from range, as it is now - it's like a really shitty Jhin ult.
He should passively regenerate more a bit mana if standing still. This works with his thematic and hits his mana problem head on.

/fixed

Jbels1/30/2017, 11:30:35 AM2 votes

Eh, he's more like the worse Ziggs

Liofa1/31/2017, 6:18:14 AM2 votes

It's funny cause Xerath is one of Velkoz's hardest counters.

And A Real Hiero1/30/2017, 11:35:15 AM2 votes

Vel' Koz is my boy but goddamn do I fear matchups with Xerath.

Sexy Jack Rabbit1/31/2017, 3:15:31 PM1 votes

Xerath has considerably higher range, better AP Ratio's, better base damage, better mana sustain and more reliable CC. His abilities also lack the massive travel times of Vel's excluding the E which is about matched.

Sire Hippington1/30/2017, 1:17:51 PM1 votes

Xerath has more potent poke, better waveclear from more range, and his ult is not to be underestimated. Lategame, he can kill a squishy with his ult alone from fullhealth over half the map - IF he lands all shots. His ult allows him to followup on allies cc with heavy damage from a long distance, that's something that shouldn't be underestimated, especially if premade with the jungler.

Stars Shaper1/30/2017, 4:47:06 PM1 votes

I believe that Xerath range is the reason Riot wants to keep him in the middle/low pack. If you are familiar with FPS especially ppl whine a lot about being obliterated by unreachable range no matter the skill, timing, aim and whatnot involved in it.

I mained Xerath since before his rework and I got to say that the current version isn't bad if you have a team with a decent frontline and you can guard yourself from flankers.

Compared to Vel'koz I can't say much because I'm not really good with him but I can say that Xerath can cause a lot of panic (against ppl who don't know much about countering him) during teamfights where that fat red line passes through and he starts bombarding from half a map distance. Vel'koz on the other hand has the same level of threat because of his CC and fast combo, his weakness being that he has to be still in the enemies vision range in order to unlesh his full combo.

What I do believe is unfair towards Xerath is how much visibility his ult gives, there shouldn't be the fat red line standing still at his max range for enemies to see where they are safe, the whole concept of Xerath is to be the guy that can kill you from the Fog of War if you are not careful. Plus there isn't a Keystone that works good with his kit, all possible choices (DFT and TLD) are just bad and you get to chose the which is less worse for the situation.

Add to this that Artillery Mages are just underperforming while Viktor, Ryze, Cassio and Syndra dominate their lanes because they got the same waveclear, higher damage and better CC than them, plus they get to be either tankier or burstier with their range being just a bit inferior. Of all of them (which is a small class since we have Xerath, Ziggs and Lux) Xerath took the shortest stick, he can't melt towers nor have zoning, his CC is easily dodged, needs far better accuracy and even his waveclear is underwhelming in comparison (he still needs Q+W after 2 items).

Acheron161/30/2017, 6:13:21 PM1 votes

Ziggs is a superior version of Xerath:

Xerath's passive is offset by his retarded mana costs, Ziggs' passive gives him extra poke on laning phase and extra tower damage His Q slows him and is telegraphed, ZIggs' is almost instant at intermediate range and deals more damage Xerath's W is telegraphed and very hard to use to the full potential (hard to hit with the middle), Zigg's is a gap opener, a mobility tool and a tower executioner Xerath's E has diminishing return the closer you are to him, Zigg's blocks an entire passageway for 2 years Xerath's R has 3 charges and a small box despite being very long range, Ziggs' has 3 times the size of Xerath's (meaning you most likely hit it) deals almost the same damage as 3 charges (which I remind are hard to hit all 3), has instant cast time and doesn't root him.

WHY would anyone pick Xerath instead of Ziggs?

five oh tree 1/30/2017, 9:33:45 PM1 votes

I'd face vel over xer any day, lol. Xer is so much better at poking. No one is going to stop the 900 damage beam late game that he spams. your tanks can't stop it, your bruisers aren't going to reach him ever. You pretty much have to pray to god he fucks up somehow and someone capitalizes on it. You can play around all of vel's abilities much more successfully. as a champ with no mobility, you can dodge pretty much vel'koz's entire kit. Vel'koz is better at killing tankier, less mobile enemies, but he can't reach the backline without risking his life. Xerath can just throw Qs through the front line into the back line until everyone is dead.

Redhood Mon1/31/2017, 12:38:56 PM1 votes

Xerath has only 1 skill that can be blocked by Yasuo's windwall.
Vel'koz has 3.
Everyone love Yasuo.

conclusion: I hate Yasuo.