Looking for some tips from Xerath mains, and Twitch mains

DeloricVI·Apr 16, 2015·1 votes·1,195 views

Ok, as the title says I'm looking for tips. I feel like I can use the champions, but I'm having a lot of trouble... I'm going to try to narrow it down a lot. I know it's not so simple to describe how to play a champion in a few words. I've tried looking up guides, but I just can't seem to get results.

Right now, I'm taking a hiatus from actually playing league (I feel like my constant string of frustrating losses have made me unfit to play ranked; I'll just keep failing if I continue to play unranked, keeping me from being able to properly recover my playing ability). I figured, in this time, since I'm playing like trash, I'd see if I could get some advice from people who don't play like trash. Maybe I'll learn something.

I've been practicing with Xerath recently and playing against bots is really easy for me. However, in game, I have so much trouble with actual players. Even when I land my q's, they just don't seem to want to die. I end up poking most of the game, and either not getting any kills, or getting ganked and killed. I'm a lot better at placing vision than I used to be, but I swear that the junglers wait until the second my ward times out to come in and cc me until I die. I know Xerath is not mobile, so it's a very bad idea to go in unless you know for certain that you can secure the kill (i.e. low health, jungler is elsewhere for certain, probably should have your ult up). How can I avoid this stalemate?

Also, on mana management and starting items.... what items do you usually start on Xerath? I really don't like the results I've been getting with Doran's Ring; I usually get more out of boots and pots. Half the time, I bully them out of lane before they burn my second potion. I can often times afford either a good chunk of my archangel's staff, or a needlessly large rod on my first back.... Most of the time I feel like my passive is better than the Doran's item, especially if I can get easy aa harass on my enemy laner.

Overall, I think my Xerath game is getting the brunt of me being burned out, so it's hard to say where I'm going wrong.

My biggest questions with Twitch are mainly revolving around his q. How do you use this thing? I've seen people use this in such a way that makes him not just annoying, but downright terrifying. I can't seem to do that. I mean, you have to time it right, which is part of the skill in it, but I could use some pointers.

Another question I have came up while I was playing a ranked game... I was doing OK, but not carrying as hard as I've seen people do with this champion. Someone asked me: "Doesn't Twitch usually build BotRK first?" Most builds I've seen for the current patch, for Twitch as well as pretty much everyone else, rushes infinity edge, unless you need something else for the situation (i.e. hexdrinker if you have a roaming mid to handle, or a support that deals lots of damage like Brand). I've just been doing the standard IE into either bloodthirster or BotRK. Then I'd decide between a couple items depending on everyone's build... last whisper for if a tank is getting obnoxious and building thornmail, phantom dancer for if I just want more attack speed and crit, yommu's if it's somewhere in the middle... you know, standard adc stuff. Is there anything I've been missing that's really broken on Twitch?

6 Comments

Leeroy JennkinsApr 17, 20151 votes

just poke hard dude like life depend on it do not save mana he have his pasiv and beacuse you probably poke out enemyes they will be feared to atack you beacuse you full health (atleast try to save health beacuse this dont work if u dont save) and freely spam it on minions beacuse you gona push hard and they will lose lane sooner than you and if u poke long and good your jungler will see the low healths and 100% will come to take kills (thats how 99% junglers think and try to do all time) i hope i help you and one thing ward river beacuse their jungler...

DeloricVIApr 17, 20151 votes

I'm well aware of how important vision is to mids, especially the immobile arcane cannon that is Xerath. Xerath doesn't have the best defenses since his rework, so you have to rely on keeping everyone at bay.

But what's your opinion on starting items? I usually try to start building other things in my build depending on the opponent... and if that opponent is someone like Yasuo or Ahri I usually take the "boots and pots" setup I mentioned... do you think that's good? I presume you've played a lot of Xerath, since you're giving me advice. (Much appreciated!)

DrPooIApr 17, 20151 votes

I like the idea with boots and pots against easy to dodge skill shot champs. However, i climbed out of silver with xerath by usually poking the enemy laner down whenever possible. Your passive gives you tons of mana so spamming q's (making sure to hit) is essential to winning. I never got countered because they were always too low to retaliate. My issue was usually getting ganked and wards/map awareness are the only things to keep you from dying so I wouldn't say boots and pots would help much there. I almost always start dorans ring and two pots. Runes I have 12 mr and 9 armor I think. This is decent enough to keep from being poked too much. But the main thing with xerath is to poke constantly. Usually what I do is try to align a cs with the enemy for a q so I get a little gold from a poke. Also, qing when they are about to last hit is very rewarding and easy. But again, poke all day long and wait for ganks if you aren't good enough with landing your ult. Because honestly, if you can land those ult shots no one should be leaving lane alive. Also, a tip I have noticed helped me, you don't have to use all your xerath ults in 2 seconds. I usually wait them out if the enemy is trying to evade them or try to push the enemy towards me or a team mate with the shots to secure the kill. This comes with practice though but just play enough pvp with xerath and you will realize he's a poke machine. But late game is very team reliant since he isn't mobile. So try to keep your team with you mid to late game. I hope this helps. Xerath summoner 30

DeloricVIApr 17, 20151 votes

Oh, I agree with the ult. It's hilarious to see someone dance around two shots, and then they start to recall... then... splat

FredartApr 17, 20151 votes

players are just like bots, learn their play style then use it against them. Except the players that are good are able to change up their play style on a dimes notice.

Drunk RummateApr 17, 20151 votes

try to land your W before you Q. The slow makes it a lot easier to hit Q. If you land stun you can immediately W+Q as a followup before the stun ends for massive damage. Try to avoid using your ult when players are isolated because it's pretty easy for them to dodge. Take advantage of the chaos of teamfights or when players are forced to run in a particular direction to land easy ults.