Talk:Xerath/@comment-5561377-20130529112940/@comment-8468980-20130602162910

There are a few problems with sending someone like Xerath top lane.

1. Surviving a tankier top laner and early game ganks without the luxury of the safer mid lane. Traditional top laners have the ability to build masteries and rune pages solely around defensive stats that counter their lane opponent without sacrificing much build integrity later on. AP carries like Xerath can't really do this since they need to be farming and prepared to be primary damage dealers for their team.

2. Going top lane hinders roaming significantly, and depending on your top lane opponent probably altogether. Top lane protecting against pushing, this means Xerath won't be able to take advantage of his long spell range and roam. Plus, even if your opponent does give you a break, it's not like when ap mid leaves lane; xerath would need to cross two lanes to go bot.

3. You're screwed over for blue buff if you're purple team. Even if you're blue team, you may have to contest blue with your mid or get invaded more often.