Welcome to the League of Legends Champion Spotlight featuring Xerath, the Magus Ascendant.
Xerath is a mage champion with a couple of neat tricks.
In addition to dealing tons of damage with his abilities, he also acts as a sort of artillery, bombarding enemies from long range.
Xerath’s passive is Ascended Form. A percentage of his ability power is converted into bonus armor, making him naturally durable against physical assailants.
Arcanopulse causes Xerath to briefly channel, then immediately deal damage to all enemies in a line.
Locus of Power immobilizes Xerath for a short duration, giving him bonus magic penetration and increased range on his abilities.
Xerath can also break out of this state by re-casting the ability. After leaving this state, Xerath gains a temporary movement speed buff.
Mage Chains damages and marks a single enemy for a few seconds.
If Xerath hits the marked enemy with any other damaging spell, his target becomes stunned for a short time.
Xerath’s ultimate is Arcane Barrage, which damages all enemies in target area.
For the next few seconds, this ability can be cast two more times for free before it goes on cooldown.
Xerath’s early laning is extremely strong. Once you learn to lead your opponents with Arcanopulse, you can constantly poke them from out of counterattack range.
By learning Mage Chains at level 2, you can further this harassment. Once he gets low enough, Exhaust and Flash will help you secure the kill.
Xerath’s harass gets even stronger once you learn Locus of Power. Every time it’s available, turn it on and poke at your lane opponent.
Again I’m able to constantly throw out Arcanopulse, dropping Ryze lower and lower.
Unfortunately, Locus of Power does have a very long cooldown at low levels, and I end up wasting it before Arcanopulse comes off cooldown, meaning Ryze lives.
Grabbing Sorcerer’s Shoes by level 6 will in fact cause you to deal tons of damage.
After missing Arcanopulse, I lead with Mage Chains and trigger its stun with Arcane Barrage.
Once stunned, Ryze becomes an easy target for the rest of my combo, giving me my second kill of the game.
At level 9 and with a moderate amount of AP, Xerath is an extremely good farmer.
Once an enemy minion wave is coming, use Locus of Power with Arcanopulse, then move back and launch another Arcanopulse.
In the interest of saving mana, you should last hit cannon minions with your basic attack, but immediately taking the other six minions is extremely powerful.
Xerath is even more powerful when wearing the Golem buff. Once again I push around Ryze using Locus of Power, Arcanopulse, and Mage Chains.
Once I push Ryze to his turret, he retreats to the jungle to escape.
However, I take the chance with Locus of Power and Arcanopulse, killing him in the fog of war.
Ganking is also really powerful on Xerath. I spot a skirmish at the bottom river and activate Locus of Power once I notice Janna channeling Monsoon.
Two shots of Arcane Barrage kill her and give an easy kill for my teammates on Ryze.
As we push bottom lane, I stay at Locus of Power’s maximum range.
The cooldown matches well with Arcanopulse, so I deactivate Locus immediately after nuking my enemies.
After picking up the kill on Rumble, I stay in Locus to drop Arcane Barrage, taking down Ryze.
As Riven has gotten out of range, I use Locus’s movement speed buff to rush up to her, picking up the kill with Mage Chains.
We get into a teamfight in mid. Again I open with Locus of Power, poking at Janna.
As Udyr comes in, I drop him with Arcane Barrage and then reactivate Locus to crush Rumble and Ryze’s health.
As I push back into the battle, I get our team two more kills thanks to Mage Chains and the long-range slow from Rylai’s Crystal Scepter.
Xerath also has a number of tricks in Dominion on the Crystal Scar.
After poking Riven off the capture point, I head to the brush below it and activate Locus of Power.
I’m exactly in range for Arcanopulse, forcing Riven to give up the point for good.
Xerath’s long range is extremely helpful against melee fighters.
As Riven jumps me, I lead with Mage Chains and stun her with Arcanopulse right as she initiates.
Too low to fight, she runs only to be dropped by three shots from Arcane Barrage.
As I Flash away from Renekton I wait until Mage Chains comes off cooldown, stunning him as I run for the Speed Shrine.
Once he turns to fight Heimerdinger I land another Arcanopulse.
I loop around away from Heimerdinger and prepare for another Arcanopulse with Locus of Power. Now extremely low, I land Mage Chains for the kill.
You really want to stay around the middle of the map as Xerath as it gives you access to Speed Shrines and allows the most use of your long range.
I head over to my team and help then pick up a kill on Blitzcrank, first using Locus of Power and Arcanopulse.
As he continues to run I repeat the combo and kill him with Mage Chains.
Shortly after, I make it to the Windmill, taking down Riven with Locus of Power and Arcane Barrage.
Once she falls, I chase Irelia. Mage Chains with Rylai’s Crystal Scepter makes it impossible for her to dodge Arcanopulse so we pick up the kill before she can reach the Health Relic.
For runes I take magic penetration marks, ability power per level seals, ability power per level glyphs, and flat ability power quintessences.
This setup is aimed at giving me early lane dominance, using Arcanopulse to push around my opponents while also scaling me into late game with lots of ability power.
My masteries are 9/0/21, taking magic penetration in offense and making sure to take increased cooldown reduction and neutral buff duration in utility. I take Exhaust and Flash, mastering both.
I max Arcanopulse immediately for consistent damage output. I take a point in Mage Chains at level 2 and leave it there as I max Locus of Power second.
This ability order turns me into artillery pretty quickly, able to constantly toss out long-range spells.
For items, I open with a Doran’s Ring in Classic or Sorcerer’s Shoes in Dominion. After adding Sorcerer’s Shoes I immediately grab Rabadon’s Deathcap.
With my core build done, I add utility and damage with Rylai’s Crystal Scepter and Will of the Ancients.
I finish out my build with Morello’s Evil Tome for cooldown reduction and Void Staff if my opponents start to get more magic resist.
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