Talk:Xerath/@comment-26203093-20150316172904

Nevermind the range, nevermind the damage - His Q is too dificult to read: He raises his arms to form a(n eventually big) particle when he starts charging should be simple enough. Two problems: He's a giant particle, himself; And he swings his hands when auto attacking. The self inflicted movement slow is the biggest tell, but all you have to do is stand still. In most cases you can deal with a cast by sidestepping due to projectile speed. Here there's no projectile, and the cast speed (not charge) is one of the fastest in the game. And the spell is already competetive in the range department before even a milisecond of charging (so you might not even have to). The width is large enough to force almost every champion to have to run at an exactly 90 degree angle of the beam to not get hit. The time between the cast and the time it takes for a champion to reach the edge is almost exactly the same. Let me rephrase that statement: If you start moving from the centre of the beam at the exact time it start firing, you'll be 15-40 range from the edge (which might still get you hit if you're the size of cho'gath), or around 0.05 seconds away, before boots. That's basically a single frame difference. And if you run even slightly diagonally - which might have helped if it was a projectile, so that's the habit most people have - you get hit.

Most assassins only counter him later - the only one that has any real stability early is fizz due to his mobility. I'm sure you'd like to discuss the other options - but I don't; even zed can be reliably poked once you read his shadow. you have to main xerath to be able to predict him in the lane. He's a pain to play against and, in too many cases, a slow death at best.