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@Riot about xerath

Papy Mougeot·4/8/2014, 9:48:03 AM·3 votes·585 views

Hi, I'm LordOfTheLeague () on EUW. I used to be a xerath main before his rework (61% win rate in s3 ranked with him) and now I barely play him because of this rework. My opinion about him is that his basic spells are awesome and his ultimate is the most unfun ability to use ever. If his popularity had not dropped so much few days after the rework I think I'd say new xerath is just not for me but he is sitting at 1.9% popularity for 48.29% win rate.

I'm pretty sure every people who played xerath the first few days enjoyed his basic abilities and dropped him for his unreliable and unfun ultimate.

I'm just proposing you to remake this spell closer to what was his old ultimate (which was the best part of old xerath I'm pretty sure).

So I would ask to you, Riot, if you could find a way to balance this new xerath while making his ultimate Aoe radius as high as his old one (Arcane Barrage) with the same range as the new one(rite of the arcane).

I remind you that new xerath has lost his %magic resist penetration which was already a nerf of all his damage source already.

What I suggest for a "small rework" is to reduce the base damage of Rite of arcane - (which is hella high) : MAXIMUM SINGLE TARGET DAMAGE: 570 / 735 / 900 (+ 130% AP) (from the wiki)

  • and maybe even increase the cooldown by 10-20 sec at rank 3 and all of this to increase the aoe radius of this spell. Both his team fight capabilities and the fun of the character will be hightly improved.

2 Comments

Ironstryde4/8/2014, 6:42:05 PM3 votes

I completely agree with you about the new ult lacking in impressiveness, but for different reasons. I had a similar post with a different suggestion for his ult. I really want to play the new Xerath as I love his theme and basic spells, but his new Ult simply feels not fun to use.

All other champions you are encouraged to use their ultimate while teamfighting. Xerath you are only encouraged to use his ultimate while a million miles away, which prevents you from using any of your other skills for damage. So basically they are saying don't contribute to the teamfight, just kill steal with your ult (as it doesn't have enough dmg or width to really turn a teamfight like Ziggs or numerous other examples.) Or... if you are close enough to use E or W don't use your ult or you will be instantly slaughtered by a gap closing bruiser. It just seems disjointed to me currently.

His old ult allowed you to use other spells. You could still protect yourself with your stun while ult'ing. Now you would never want to use his ult while being pursued or while kiting. You basically would just be giving up a free kill.

Here is my idea:

Rite of the Arcane: The projectile firing part is essentially unchanged. Rite of the Arcane draws a field of arcane energy at the location of the cast. This arcane field lasts for X duration and slows any enemy champions who walk through it. For each arcane barrage fired the duration, power of the slow and size of the field decrease. If Xerath fires all three barrages the energy of the field is consumed and it vanishes.

I really think this would solve the problem of Xerath's ult feeling worthless if near team fights. He can break ult early and sacrifice ult damage to have a positioning tool and ability to assist and save team members. It would almost like a reverse Jayce acceleration gate.It would open up the door for an incredible amount of decision making. It can be used in mix situations. Fire 1 or 2 shots and have a weaker smaller slowing field. This would make for so many interesting gameplay decisions and would make Xerath a possible counter to stampede teams like the Shiv/Sivir teams.

I don't believe the idea creates a balancing issue either. There is a major trade off. If you use the full large slow field you get no damage. No damage for an in combat CC use is a fair tradeoff to me.