Your first ten games on Xerath: a smurf opener
A ten-game plan for Xerath on a fresh account — the abilities to drill, the real cooldowns to respect, and the habit that costs the most games.
Why Xerath on a new account
A new account gives you ten normal games before ranked opens. That is the only stretch where you can misplay Xerath at no cost to your rating, and most players spend it on autopilot.
Xerath is a mage whose job in a fight is to land a cooldown for a burst of damage, then be safe and largely useless until it returns. 525 attack range means Xerath wins by not being where the fight is. Spacing is the whole skill, not a detail of it.
Xerath is mana-gated, which is the real limit on how often you can contest a wave early.
Drill these, in this order
Mana Surge
Xerath's basic attacks periodically restore Mana. Whenever Xerath kills a unit, this cooldown is reduced.
Arcanopulse
Fires a long-range beam of energy, dealing magic damage to all targets hit.
Eye of Destruction
Calls down a barrage of arcane energy, slowing and dealing magic damage to all enemies in an area. Targets in the middle receive additional damage and a stronger slow.
Shocking Orb
Deals magic damage to an enemy and stuns them.
Rite of the Arcane
Xerath immobilizes himself and gains numerous long-range barrages.
Skill order, and how to reason about it
Take Rite of the Arcane at levels 6, 11 and 16 — the ultimate is always worth the point it costs.
For the basic abilities, Arcanopulse (Q) gains the most from being ranked: its cooldown falls by 4 seconds between rank 1 and max, which is the largest improvement in the kit. That is the usual argument for maxing it first.
This is reasoning from the cooldown data, not a win-rate ranking — a matchup that punishes you can invert it.
- Q · Arcanopulse — cooldown 9/8/7/6/5s, improving by 4s across its ranks
- W · Eye of Destruction — cooldown 14/13/12/11/10s, improving by 4s across its ranks
- E · Shocking Orb — cooldown 13/12.5/12/11.5/11s, improving by 2s across its ranks
Games one to four: last-hitting only
Do not look for kills. Farm, and watch the cooldown figures above — a mage that walks up with its main ability down is giving away a free trade, and at rank one those cooldowns are at their longest.
Ranged last-hitting under tower is its own skill, and these are the games to practise it deliberately.
Games five to ten: trading patterns
Now use the cooldowns. The recurring error for this class is holding the key cooldown so carefully it never gets cast — it never feels like a mistake in the moment, which is exactly why it survives into ranked.
Riot's own notes on playing Xerath
These are the designers' words, not ours — the tips shipped in the client for Xerath.
- It's easier to land Arcanopulse on an enemy when they're moving toward or away from you, rather than side to side.
- Eye of Destruction will make landing Arcanopulse easier as the target will be slowed.
- If you stun an enemy with Shocking Orb, follow up with a guaranteed center hit on Eye of Destruction.
What the stat line does between level 1 and 18
| Stat | Level 1 | Level 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Health | 575 | 2377 |
| Attack damage | 55 | 55 |
| Armour | 22 | 101.9 |
| Magic resist | 30 | 52.1 |
Movement speed 340 and attack range 525 do not grow with levels — they are the two numbers that stay true all game.
Full Xerath page — abilities, stats and every skin →