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Why pick Xayah over other adcs?

Myrkrvaldyr·4/24/2017, 10:33:48 PM·3 votes·6,443 views

I'd like the thoughts of only those who have extensively used her so far. I've had over 34 games with her (already have her lvl4), not that many, sure, but I've fought enough to more or less give a rational opinion.

First of all, I'd like to say she's really balanced, if anything you might tweak some numbers. She has painfully obvious flaws, besides having no mobility her zoning is rather easy to avoid and it's healthy, unlike Cait's eternal traps, don't fight her between her feathers and her, especially if you're squishy. Her natural AS and scaling are rather low, she's meant to build crit and has a steroid but she's easy to kill if you're not dumb enough to just stand still in front of her and let her get feathers on the floor. She has problems killing a tank unlike the likes of Kalista and Vayne, she needs item 3031 and item 3035 to have a chance against tanks. She does not get the super high AS Kalista and Jinx get, even with her W maxed. I've seen more people building bork item 3153 on her, she does need that extra damage and life steal. Her only cc, a root, is not guaranteed to hit, it's not really hard to dodge her zoning. I bet she'll stomp in low elo but skilled players won't have a problem with her feathers. Xayah is not a duelist, and since she has only 525 range kiting with her is not that safe compared to Ashe or Miss Fortune. I can imagine some people building Frozen Mallet item 3022 to keep the enemy at bay for better kiting.

Her ult is, well, an excellent tool to pull off some sick counters, dodge, get those feathers and proc that beautiful damage + root with your E. The possible multi root you may get in a team fight certainly sounds attractive and shouldn't be hard to pull off if the enemy is busy attacking others and gives you enough room to use your ult and proc the multi root. But, is that it? Is that all her niche? A team fighting ADC? if that's all she's supposed to be, I'd honestly pick MF. You'll likely have an engager or some mid laner that could keep the enemy team locked long enough and then voilà, ult everyone, MF's ult is much stronger.

Xayah to me seems to be some sort of hybrid between MF and Quinn, damage and AS-wise. Her laning phase may feel oppressive because she has an amazing wave clear but pushing like crazy only opens you to ganks, and since you have no escapes other than the small mobility you get during your ult (which has a very long CD) you're very dependent on your support to survive if the jungler is good enough to avoid the feathers, a Lee Sin should make easy prey of you with his mobility and a Yi will prove to be very hard to root, too.

Why pick Xayah over other ADCs? What can she bring to a team that others ADCs can't? Jhin is an even better option, his super long range root and amazing ult to slow down targets for your team make him a much better choice. Xayah doesn't have strong CC, neither does she have natural high AS. Don't get me wrong, I love her design and her ult, but I don't see yet what's special about her and how she fits in a team.

17 Comments

Sonasaurous4/25/2017, 12:46:13 AM2 votes

I just got her, and I'm not an adc main, but so far I can say she is very fun to play...but feels really weak. She does feel really weak and definitely needs number tweaking, especially since all of her damage is in her feathers which, like you said, are easily avoidable.

Though I feel like her root should probably be increased. 1 second at all ranks for something that's easily avoidable and easier to mess up seems very lackluster. I've noticed that whenever I managed to root people, it was while they were running away, but they were far enough away that by the time I caught up with them the root was already lifted and they were running again. So if the root is supposed to help Xayah kite, it doesn't seem very effective in chasing.

But again, number tweaking. She could honestly use some. She's not hyperscaling into late game, so she doesn't contest very well against the other adcs. She is fun to play though, so I guess that's why you pick her. She's fun. Niche pick.

Penns4/24/2017, 10:55:38 PM1 votes

Because if you max E... https://puu.sh/vv7lc/bb85b0f18c.webm kappa

Idk, I like her. She feels strong in some situations and weak in others. And with Rapid Fire + the W speed boost + Warlords speed boost she can actually chase pretty well.

Taliyah Rocks4/24/2017, 11:11:38 PM1 votes

Yeah i think Xayah and Rakan miss an identity of their own, other than their mutual synergy. When they reworked adc they wanted to give each of them some kind of niche, but i fail to find it with Xayah. She has a really short range for an adc, and unlike Lucian she no mobility to make up for it. She can do a lot of damage yet she doesn't have the hypercarry potential of a Kog or Twitch. They should at least buff her AA range to 550 to match other adc.

Knight Sky4/24/2017, 11:30:25 PM1 votes

Personally i havent played a ton of xayah but ive been doing with two buddies spamming rakan, im mastery 4 as well. I think xayah is a solid pick in a couple situations. The obvious one, if you wanna duo with someone shes a great option b/c xayah & rakan are insane together. But aside from that I think shes a good pick into playing against a heavy assassin comp. She's really the only adc i see that can consistantly counter assassins. She has the untargetable ult, and more importantly she's amazing at kiting with feathers and snare. Unless you play it poorly shes great against assassins, and also good if your lookin for a teamfight and splitpushing oriented champ, for the same reasons of being able to survive by herself and kite. U might not agree but meh its my 2 cents, take it or leave it, gl on the rift

Çhåryzård4/24/2017, 11:34:19 PM1 votes

Because she's different and I find her more engaging and mentally stimulating than other adc's

That's just me though

LeBlanc Jameś4/24/2017, 11:50:29 PM1 votes

I'm not sure why you would pick her. I haven't yet.

I have played against her numerous times as Twitch. She has not been an issue once. Her ult is a minor annoyance. she uses it to run away when she's getting shredded.

chipndip14/25/2017, 12:01:47 AM1 votes

She's safer into divers and assassins.

Blussom4/25/2017, 12:12:01 AM1 votes

Those new champions are very strongXayah Rakan , i lose all my game when they are on the enemy team. There need to be nerfed . It is not balance.

Kiharon4/25/2017, 1:46:42 AM1 votes

I think teamfighting is a pretty big focus for her. It may end up being a case of having a combination of things all available on other ADCs but not all in the same package at the same time.

Her AoE is less windowed than other marksmen except perhaps Sivir. Hurricane can give all marksmen persistent AoE, but her AoE is available from level 1.

MF is the better full wombo option, but I would say Xayah has better persistent AoE presence. It's also less punishing if you happen to miss a Xayah E vs an MF ult. Another point to consider is that Xayah ult is 1.5 seconds of setup (during which she is untargetable and able to move) versus 3 seconds channel for MF. This leaves MF more vulnerable and is not autoing as soon (though this is not an issue if everyone dies in the ult).

Xayah has strong neutral objective damage due to the ability to use Bladecaller on them. It's not Kalista Rend level objective control but it is useful. Against towers, she's probably not all that special without Rakan, but I don't want to do that much math to verify.

Xayah has some zoning and counter engage potential, but this is more something I see as a bonus than a reason to pick her over others.

The ult counterplay is probably the other big defining thing for her. While Ashe can get some self-peel with her ult + slow, but that's still not much peel in a lot of cases (especially if you miss). Xayah on the other hand, can negate delayed damage (Karthus ult, Cait ult, Fizz ult, Zed ult) in cases where an Ashe ult may not be able to stun to cancel or dodge big incoming skill shots.

Threaly4/25/2017, 2:01:05 AM1 votes

I almost never played ADC. I'm an OTP with Hecarim. Basically the skin and the feathers thing seemed cool and it's my first time I try the new champs coming out(really ^^). Now I'm kind of addicted by her, really, I love her gameplay I find it really really fun. Now I can't get over it :D I play her H24, I'm lvl 5, rushing lvl 7, wish me luck :)

LostFr0st4/24/2017, 10:36:04 PM1 votes

I think you answered it yourself. Her ult is something the class has been missing; legitimate one-click self peel.

Asterfix4/27/2017, 6:09:27 AM1 votes

I find her to be kind of bursty but she's not meant to be a 1v1er. She can turn a teamfight with a maxxed E and 8 feathers. Dodging them is easy in lane but not during a fight. Honestly to fix her I wouldn't make the feathers have such a large model. Half the size of it so you can lose track of them in the chaos and Give her a movespeed buff from Q or E instead of W in the "if it hits a champ gain bonus move speed for a second or w/e" like lucian.