User blog comment:ClariS/Why Xerath's Passive is Bad/@comment-4929329-20130317232050

Since my comment was bad and buried, I would like to make a better statement that you don't have to look for.

Xerath, despite all the range on his abilities, should not be built to snipe from his maximum range. This seems illogical, but if you truly want to play Xerath like this, then your spells literally have greater range than you can see (thus lightly countering the purpose of having long range), and you're rooted, making you an easy to reach target that can be easily dispatched. Lux has Lucent Singularity to help her see where she wants to combo, whereas Xerath has much smaller vision granted by his 3 ult uses, which are short-lived and it has a much larger cooldown, making it an impractical scouting tool. So you can't even use your range to begin with, unless you buy a healthy dose of wards (nothing is usually wrong with this) during the early-mid game.

Once teamfights start happening and wards aren't that much of an issue (other champions granting you lines of sight, as well as their wards) you have to lock yourself down about 1000 range from them. In other words, you're not safe. Lux, again, has the advantage of multiple CC spells, ranging from Lucent Singularity to her Snare, to [in the worst case] her shield to protect her from some minor damage if she is caught off gaurd. You don't want to go near Lux either, as her Passive puts you at a risk for extra damage, but Xerath will disable his root which lowers his damage output. Lux does not need to use her passive for extra damage, and her CC makes it easier to proc, but Xerath absolutely must use his root, which extends his stun range to only 1000. In other words, just about any ranged opponent can get you right after they juke your Q, and CC you before you have time to stun combo. If you un-root yourself, they win again, because you lose your magic penetration, and they have forced you out of the fight for a little while. Lux, in this way, has far greater safety and engage/disengage mechanics, while still maintaining superior range.

So what you're telling me, is that I'm trolling for wanting to build someone with the mobility and damage of Anivia as though he is someone like Lux?