Talk:Xerath/@comment-15020375-20140329005143/@comment-6778736-20140330165745

The first clip is irrelevant, as it's from V4 of the rework, back when the ultimate did more damage overall and had a better hitbox, Xerath had passive penetration and almost every single spell had higher base damage. What should be noted for both clips is that, unfortunately, testing on the PBE is kind of inefficient in terms of feeling a champion's actual power level, as most players don't play well enough to warrant legitimate results. It's pretty much there to nerf blatantly strong aspects/abilities and nothing more.

The thing is, for a champion to be useful, he has to be usable when ahead AND when behind to some extent. Ziggs can easily contribute to ganks, teamfights etc. even if he's behind, dealing significant damage. Lux's nase damage can be more than enough to deal near-lethal damage to a carry with one combo. Gragas still wrecks no matter what happens. Leblanc's base damage and ratios make it so she can assassinate with a single item. Syndra has a great mix of raw utility, high DPS and aconsistent lethal burst.

If Xerath is behind, all he can do is weak poke, waveclear and an occasional stun on a bruiser/tank. His teamfight damage is negligible in most situations. His AoE is negligible against champions. His burst is nonexistent unless he's several levels ahead. All he provides is damage, and even that he can't do right.

On the jungle thing: no. AP junglers flat-out do not work unless the champion's named Elise. Xerath's clear'd be terrible, he'd need to hog blue for most of the game, his ganks would be ineffective since Xerath is so squishy that he can easily get singled out, and don't even get me started on how horribly he'd get butchered through counterjungling and counterganking in the bruiser-carry jungler meta.

On the other hand, Support Xerath can work in a way similar to Karma, although he lacks the utility to either inflict damage consistently or save his carry consistently, making him a risky pick.