Talk:Xerath/@comment-4832742-20140608215525/@comment-25010134-20140609152707

Xerath has a godly mana sustain that makes him nearly untouchable to melee champions. I managed to make an Akali feed me so much until I managed to get a Rabadon's very quickly. IN EARLY GAME. And his range is so terrific until I can't even express how strong it is. Also, he has an AoE ability kit that is so terrifying until if you even get close to him you get burst down very quickly, should he have enough damage.

Meanwhile, Vel'Koz's range is fairly limited and he has sacrificed sustain in lane with damage. He is a very, very tricky champion that makes ranged mid laners cry as you land your full combo. But against melee champs he makes it hard because of his single target abilities, and the enemy champs can use minion cover. But should Vel'Koz manage to land his full combo, his ult can end the enemy VERY quickly.

Comparison:

Xerath has sacrificed ungodly damage for ungodly sustain, meaning that he could be one of the most durable champs in LoL. The thing that makes him special is that if you are playing 1v1 against him, it is IMPOSSIBLE to get a kill without special help. In early levels, it is impossible to burst him down quickly when playing 1v1 against him, and by that time his e-w-q would have already cc'ed you so much until he can kill you with auto attacks. And don't even talk about the damage and range on his ult once he reaches lvl 6. And as for ganks; as long the ganker doesn't have a blink/dash ability, Xerath can get double kill with his e and w to cc them and land his q and r. Which is why Xin Zhao is a powerful counter to his midlane game. He is a guy who is deceptiely squishy but makes up for it with his cc's. In summary, he can only be taken down by a team composition with hard CC's and high damage, but if a auto-attack reliant champion without blink/dash abilities is against him, his rampant spamming makes him nigh-invincible.

Meanwhile, Vel'Koz sacrifices a decent sustain with ungodly damage. His passive makes him too dangerous to chase down, and despite his main cc's as slows and knockups, his ultimate will make it easy to disengage and wreck teamfghts. But he is very, VERY squishy and can be caught rather easily. This means that he can be countered easily. Without his ult, he is nigh-useless in teamfights but in 1v1s, he wrecks the enemy team. His e can be compared to Xerath's w, but the difference is far from similar. Vel'Koz's E has a VERY DAMN SMALL area and only provides a short knockup, making it useful to only Vel'koz's combos. However, Xerath's w has a MUCH larger area and deals slows that, although lasts only a bit longer, can allow his allies to catch up. But the main thing is Vel'koz's Damage Output. Xerath focuses on being a defacto turret of sorts, dealing deceptively high cc's TO ENTIRE ENEMY TEAMS with spamming his abilities. Meanwhile, Vel'koz's kit allows him to kill the more important targets with his e-w-q-r combo but exhausts his mana in the process, unabling him to do any more. But Xerath's passive is EXTREMELY powerful and allows him to have a virtually free mana potion every 12 seconds.

But what makes them different is not only their sustain and damage, but their escape tools.

Xerath's E makes it IMPOSSIBLE to chase him down 1v1. In 1v2s, his W makes it EVEN MORE impossible to properly chase him. 1v3s? Please. Refer to the previous. Only when faced with 1v4s or 1v5s can he be chased properly. This is only if the enemy team doesn't have a guy with a blink/dash spell, of course.

But Vel'koz is not only squishy, but easy to catch as well. That is, if you can stand up to his damage. Again, his E makes it impossible to catch in a 1v1 chase should the guy have no blink/dash abilities, but 1v2, 1v3, 1v4 and 1v5s make it hard for him to fight back if the enemies are at full health and catch him by surprise. While Vel'Koz will be able to kill alot of them, he will still die.

In conclusion, the choice between Xerath and Vel'koz leaves it up to the scenario. Want more sustain and more ranged harass that won't be blocked by minions? Go Xerath. Want to kill champions faster and don't care about mana costs? Go Vel'koz. I've played both of them in the midlane before, and I can tell you, Xerath is a much annoying threat compared to squishy Vel'koz.

But of course, it depends on your skill, but IMO I like sustain and gradual damage more than bursty murderers. :D