Welcome, all. This is my first time creating a guide on here, and while the organization or use of pictures for items in paragraphs may be lacking, I think you will find this a very viable look at how to run a Xerath support. As far as support for Xerath better than Mid Mage, that is reliant on your ADC and yourself being able to finish off each other's kills, and Xerath you will find is a great finisher.

Xerath came around free rotation this week, and I decided to take a ride on the wild side and jump into bot lane with him. While he is not a sustain support, he does have slowing spells, and what makes him valuable is his poke ability. While you cannot protect your ADC, your long poke spells Q and W will help keep opponents away, your E will stun, and overall help keep you (both) out of danger.

I would most recommend Xerath Support if you are playing with another aggressive ADC who has lock on capabilities or stuns. I highly recommend JINX ADC, I have yet to lose a lane when paired with her, or maybe somebody else aggressive like Draven, Lucian, Caitlyn, or even Teemo. Perhaps avoid Corki, Twitch, and Ashe, who I do not deem as compatible with Xerath.

If you wish to play as an aggressive support but your ADC doesn't seem with it, I would suggest Morgana, whose Q snare has almost the same range as Xerath Q, which I hope to make a guide for in the future. If I do, I will link it here sometime down the road.

Laning is a lot of fun with Xerath's long poke. You will be wanting to get magic penetration items early (after your basic Ancient Coin and Doran's Ring) so tat you can maximize your damage as soon as possible. As stated before, your support role will be poking the enemy more than really assisting in protecting your ADC, and so taking out their Support quickly will allow you to be more aggressive in pushing back or killing off their ADC as well.

Be aware however that you are very squishy early-game, so ward the river against ganks, because burst-attacking assassins are you're biggest weakness. And if you ever have to fall back to your tower, your own Q range is longer than your tower's, and use that to make your opponents second-guess diving in to get you.

As you are finishing up that laning phase and beginning to work more with your team as a whole, you're going to want to beef up a little as you prepare for team battles. Your range will keep you in the back lines most of the time, but a Banshee's Veil will help with adding health and MR, and Zhonya's Hourglass will give you more armor, just in case things get messy. It is great to use your wards in-lane, so you can see your targets you may be trying to ult with R as they flee battle.

You should grow accustomed to the pattern of E-W-Q-R as you fight down mid with your team. E to stun, W to get that massive damage, Q as they flee, and R if necessary to hit him if he's escaping. Once your ult range is maxed out, you'll be adding some numbers to your kill column. You should be abandoning your "Support Mentality" as you really have very little to offer in the way of actually supporting. Instead, be ready to use your MP and AP to the fullest to quickly take out enemies, giving your teammates the numbers advantage to finish off the rest.

Running the Xerath Support should be taken with an aggressive behavior as you might see with the Morgana Support, getting a stun in so you and your ADC can combo on the enemy. Even if your enemy somehow beats you in-lane, whether due to your ADC being stupid and feeding (all us supports know THAT pain) or your other lanes not being able to win out and so you face 2v3 or 2v4, overall you will still have FUN with Xerath if you're a fan whatsoever of that poking and sniping type of gameplay.

I am leaving commenting open, this is my first guide and I would love some feedback whether you agree, disagree, or have ideas for how I could make some minor changes to the guide. Don't forget, if you have a completely different idea for a Xerath Support, can always make a guide yourself, and maybe then I will learn something from YOU!