I know I am a little late on this but I feel like the new Xerath lore is kinda a let down. He because a misunderstood God to a villain just because the shrima story line needed one. I honestly do not see why they could not have used Renekton as the villain. Xerath to me before seemed more understandable and now he feels distant then ever before.
Still hate his new lore because it shoehorned him as a villain for Azir.
His lore is deeper now. I like the new one more.
Even before the change in his lore Xeraths ritual caused a lot of destruction among Shurima and he did not care about that,so even in his old lore he had no qualms that his ritual killed hundreds,or maybe even thousands(among those was even his own girlfriend and he said himself he doesn't regret his ritual) just for his own personal goal. I dunno how betraying azir makes him now so much more evil than he was before,especially since it is now implied that he actually intended to better the shuriman society with the help of his new powers(so he that he actually didn't do this just for his own selfish reasons)
Xerath to me before seemed more understandable and now he feels distant then ever before.
I'd have to disagree with this. While old Xerath had his charm, his entire motive esentially boiled down to "Power for power's sake." He was understandable, if only beause of how simplistic his ideals were. On the other hand, Newrath is a bit more complex. He didn't want the power for himself. He wanted it to change the entire way of Shurima, the system that forced him to become a slave.
take a look at kassadin, from a void badass character that beats an entire army to a girl wearing a T-shirt
