Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

The Status of Xerath

ModRowanstar·8/17/2019, 3:22:41 AM·6 votes·6,800 views

As far as League villains go, I rather enjoy Xerath's narrative and motivation. Power. Its so obvious and simple, yet he applies it in such a new way. It isnt about world domination. It is about ruining everything that Azir built, and making sure all decendents of Azir are crushed and eradicated.

So I believe his visuals and VO stack up rather nicely. I have heard people say that he needs a vgu. I disagree. His visuals are enjoyable and display that raw power that he emanates in lore. I do agree some tweaking needs to be done to enhance Xerath's place in the lore universe.

Voice: I like that Xerath sounds like what a pure energy being would sound like. I believe more menace can be added and more lines that are more personal, referencing the wrongs he believes were committed and his plans (Think Morde in terms of lore exposure through the VO). In addition maybe some tweaks to the voice itself, adding more of an echo, similar to Dark Star skins, but keeping his voice resonating with energy, rather than dark and cosmic like Dark Star Thresh. Also, I would enjoy hearing more rage in his voice because as it stands, the emotion being shown is more of a cold calculating mage type, which is good, but a darker feel would benefit X.

VFX/SFX: So I play Guardian of the Sands Xerath, as I love the gold theme. His other skins could benefit from some texture improvements (I occassionally use his classic skin, but the other older skins aren't as good in my view) to help him feel sharper and more powerful like GotS. Also, the older (including classic) skins could use a vfx update to make his magic look more like swirling raw power, rather than lightning (which does represent power, but makes him look like an electrical mage and not just a raw power mage). Also vfx to create a terrifying raw power sound (i enjoy GOTS sounds) that makes X sound more like a mastery of the arcane.

Those are my main points. I know he could benefit from a full vgu, but he really doesn't NEED one compared to older champs (cough cough, Udyr) and with these changes can fit well into both his and LOL's lore as a whole.

6 Comments

Fasmodey8/17/2019, 9:40:12 AM3 votes

He doesn't suffer with being outdated but his potential isn't maximized. You can rework his passive, add new lines, update ultimate VFX to glory, add new animations like recall, taunt, joke animations, update his base model. Base skill animations don't need much I believe, maybe better SFX.

He will be outdated one day though. His kit cannot be modern in the future without tweaks.

The Ecdysiast8/17/2019, 4:06:56 AM2 votes

I disagree on just about every point. The fact he moves like a cruddy cartoon character's version of levitating--bobbing up and down for no discernible reason-- and still has cast animations as stiff as pre-rework Kayle could be improved upon immensely. The only up-to-par part is his dance, which I assume is where all of the work went.

And it seems like you didn't actually read his story. Something as vague as "power" is not his motivation. He wants strength, of course, but to free himself. Not from the chains that were already broken by the time he enacted his revenge, but from his own personal chains. He already has no reason to hate his dearest friend. No reason to hurt anyone. But he's still trapped by the hatred he held onto for so long. So in his confusion he seeks to end the entire bloodline.

His visual effects definitely need an update. I'm really not sure why they didn't just update all the lightning effects in the game at the same time. Though the fact Voli is in the midst of a rework explains his.

I disagree with your idea that he should just be given generic light/swirling effects. In case you didn't know, lightning is plasma. Using lightning to represent roughly-controlled power like his and Swain's is perfect, thematically. Similarly, giving him more of an echo would make it seem like he has less control over himself, not more power.

Script or Stack8/21/2019, 10:48:06 PM2 votes

{quoted}

As far as League villains go, I rather enjoy Xerath's narrative and motivation. Power. Its so obvious and simple, yet he applies it in such a new way. It isnt about world domination. It is about ruining everything that Azir built, and making sure all decendents of Azir are crushed and eradicated.

So I believe his visuals and VO stack up rather nicely. I have heard people say that he needs a vgu. I disagree. His visuals are enjoyable and display that raw power that he emanates in lore. I do agree some tweaking needs to be done to enhance Xerath's place in the lore universe.

Voice: I like that Xerath sounds like what a pure energy being would sound like. I believe more menace can be added and more lines that are more personal, referencing the wrongs he believes were committed and his plans (Think Morde in terms of lore exposure through the VO). In addition maybe some tweaks to the voice itself, adding more of an echo, similar to Dark Star skins, but keeping his voice resonating with energy, rather than dark and cosmic like Dark Star Thresh. Also, I would enjoy hearing more rage in his voice because as it stands, the emotion being shown is more of a cold calculating mage type, which is good, but a darker feel would benefit X.

VFX/SFX: So I play Guardian of the Sands Xerath, as I love the gold theme. His other skins could benefit from some texture improvements (I occassionally use his classic skin, but the other older skins aren't as good in my view) to help him feel sharper and more powerful like GotS. Also, the older (including classic) skins could use a vfx update to make his magic look more like swirling raw power, rather than lightning (which does represent power, but makes him look like an electrical mage and not just a raw power mage). Also vfx to create a terrifying raw power sound (i enjoy GOTS sounds) that makes X sound more like a mastery of the arcane.

Those are my main points. I know he could benefit from a full vgu, but he really doesn't NEED one compared to older champs (cough cough, Udyr) and with these changes can fit well into both his and LOL's lore as a whole.

I think he needs some voice line updates, something more one the lines about Shurima and how he plans to expand his empire and crush everything that Azir started. The Voice lines right now don't really sound like Xerath imo.

GreenLore8/22/2019, 3:12:11 PM2 votes

I actually think that a VGU could do wonders for Xerath, as his design doesn't look shuriman in the slightest, so a small redesign could work really well there.

That being said I do think that he is currently in an ok spot. He doesn't look or play terrible, but there is definitely room for improvement.