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Before level six this is a dream lane. You can poke her so easily and she can't do anything. Call in an early gank if she overextends for an easy kill. After six she is a nightmare though. Stay back, don't overextend or do any of that. Stay at max range, because if you don't she will come in and kill you with ease. As long as you don't let her get ahead you will be fine though.
Ahri
Easily one of your worst matchups. Never pick xerath into her. She has good poke, insane kill potential and good crowd control. You have to stay at max range and behind minions at all times. If there aren't any of your minions in lane, and she has her ultimate you might as well already be dead. Try to poke her, save your e until she ults towards you and take barrier. ALWAYS stay behind minions.
Anivia
Can be hard going against a good one. Stay at max range, but don't be afraid to stun her. The problem is when you get stuck by her ice wall. she has free reign to damage you because you have no gapclosers or mobility. Stay back if you can, but don't be afraid to harass. You can easily outpoke her before 6. If it is after level six,and you get her into egg form, and you have your abilities on cooldown and you can't kill it, use your ultimate, as it's guaranteed damage.
Annie
Easy lane. Stay out of her range and poke her. She has no range on you at all. She has some kill potential with flash tibbers but thats it. If you take barrier even that won't kill you. I love going against Annie.
Aurelion Sol
You hardly ever see these guys, but when you do it isn't that bad. Just poke them down. Don't let his Q hit you and watch his roams.
Azir
Skill matchup. You both have good poke, but he has more damage over time. If he is running from you, and places a soldier, ult that, since it's likely he will dash to it.
Brand
He's a lot like you, except he has less poke but his combo does more. Dodge his W, and Poke him.
Cassiopeia
Just poke her. If she comes into range though, run. She has crazy kill potential once she hits her q. Don't come into range of her ultimate, as if you do, you will die.
Cho'Gath
Who plays this lol
Corki
Pretty even matchup. He is very good in the early game, he has good poke after six and he has amazing roams. You have better poke, and if he tries to come towards you, you can e him.
Ekko
Can be hard. A good ekko can be very hard. You outpoke him of course, but he has a great gapcloser that can let him easily dodge your e or q. Save your e until after he rolls. You need to get away. Take barrier, and don't let him get 3 stacks of his passive.
Fizz
Can be annoying, although you do outpoke him. Don't let his ultimate hit you and you're fine. You out damage him, but he can dodge all of your skill shots and outplay you.
Heimerdinger
Just poke. He has to stay in range of his turrets so there is a smaller area that he can dodge in. Don't get in range of his turrets though.
Galio
I personally hate this guy because you can never kill him once he stacks enough magic res. Rush Sorcerers Boots early.
Jayce
Pretty even. He has good poke on a longer cooldown, the only difference is that he can all in you with his hammer form.
Karthus
Dodge his Q and poke him. He has no range on you, no hard cc and an aoe ability that will never affect you.
Kassadin
Dodge. Super annoying
Katarina
Stayback. Don't get near her Blades. She can assassinate you early. whatever you do, don't feed her. Stay under tower, go down by 20 cs, it doesn't matter, don't feed her. Watch her roams.
LeBlanc
Dodge. She hits her e and you miss yours and you're dead. She can easily dodge all your skillshots.
Lux
LOVE going against her. You do everything she does but better. You have better poke. Don'g go into auto range, and if she steps outside of he minions to q you, punish her.
Malzahar
Easy Matchup in my opinion. His skillshots are easy to dodge. His void crawlers can be annoying though so if he spawns them on you run under tower.
Morgana
Do people play this? What a joke. Stay behind minions and poke her. She's dead.
Orianna
Skill matchup. She can be annoying, but she doesn't have amazing range. Stay away from her ball and stay diagonal from her and out of her q range. Her ult can cancel yours.
Ryze
No range no change ;) Poke him
Syndra
Rush abyssal. She can do lots of damage if she hits her stun but so can you. Avoid it at all costs.
Taliyah
Avoid her W and you're fine. Watch her roams and follow up. Stay behind minions so her q can't hit you. You outpoke her easily
Talon
Really annoying. Great roams, can leap on you and can turn invisible. Poke him if you can and whatever you do, stay out of his q range. Watch out for his level 2. Ask for ganks. Don't ult if you are low on health unless you are under tower, Talon players sometimes ult after you do, come in and burst you down.
Twisted Fate
Outpoke, dont let him stun. Easy lane. Watch roams
Swain
You outpoke him (Like everyone else) Don't let him snare you. Stay out of his range and when he ults RUN.
Veigar
Stay out of his E's range.
Vel'Koz
You do what he does but just better. His e can cancel your ult and your e can cancel his. Stay behind minions, poke and repeat.
Viktor
Skill Matchup. He does a lot of quick damage and excels in quick trades. Don't get caught in his w, and don't let his ultimate get near you.
Yasuo
I personally don't have a problem with yasuo. Avoid his tornado and you're fine in my opinion. If he dashes on your minions stun him, w q and you did a good chunk of his health.
Zed
Stay out of range of his w. Rush Zhonyas. Once he gets his ult you're dead. Watch his roams.
Pros:
*BEST POKE IN GAME
*Two second stun at max range
*When ahead, Can one shot any squishy.
*Super long range ultimate, great in low elo
Cons:
-Super Squishy, no escapes and when jumped on you only have a .5 second stun
-No gapcloser
-Ultimate can be super hard to land
Spells
Spells
Good options -
Flash - Always take it
Barrier - good against high burst targets, great for baiting
Ghost - can help secure kills and run
heal - I personally never take this but it can work
exhaust - great against assassins like zed Bad options - Ignite you should never be in range to cast ignite.
Teleport - Xerath needs a summoner to help him survive the laning phase
Gameplay
Gameplay
Xerath is a champion that is very good in teamfights. If possible, try to line his Q up with more than one champion. Stay behind your frontline and poke from afar. A long stun is a great way to kill a high priority target. It is much easier to land one in a teamfight because there are many more things to pay attention to. If you ultimate in a teamfight, it is likely the enemy team will forget to dodge it too.
Laning phase
Laning phase
During the laning phase you should always have wards around. Be perceptive. If the bot lane takes a while to show up to lane, they leashed so you should play towards the bottom side of the lane. Vice versa for top. This is because the enemy jungler usually does their full clear before ganking. They will end up on the opposite side of your lane. Poke Poke Poke. Thats your strength. Learn how the enemy dodges. If they have a tendency to lead you one way and then go the other, use that knowledge to aim in the direction they were running from. Don't use your w unless you know it will hit when someone stops to farm, or they are locked down. You always want to get the most out of this ability by hitting the center. Once you get a few items you can one shot a wave. Just walk up, charge your q and release it in a line and you have yourself some easy farm. If your junglers are fighting, go in to help because you can easily do damage from over walls thanks to your great range. In low elo, people won't know how to dodge your ultimate very well. Aim where they are walking. In higher elo, people know how to dodge Xerath ultimate. Some will walk back and forth very fast. Aim on top of them. Some walk where they came from. Aim on top of them too. The zig zaggers are the worst though. They walk calmly away from you and side to side. This is very annoying. Just do your best
Deathfire Vs. Thunderlords
Deathfire Vs. Thunderlords
Thunderlords Decree is much better in the laning phase. It will give your e>w>q combo a bunch of extra damage. Sadly, it is essentially useless in teamfights. Deathfire will always let you have an impact due to its burn damage on everyone you hit.
Fun things you can do.
Fun things you can do.
+If the enemy is running but is just out of your Q distance, You can flash while charging to land your Q with ease.
+ If you know the enemy has a dash, use your ult where you think they will dash for style points.
+If you are too close to a melee champion, you can flash away and E them to stun them for longer than you would have if you didn't flash. Then hit them with the center of your w for the 80% slow and you should be safe enough.
Thank you for reading!
Thank you for reading!
Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it and I hope you learned something from this guide. I will continue to update it in the future! If you have any questions or comments just comment on the guide, as I check the website on a daily basis.
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