What is a good build for Xerath?

Answer 1

Start dorans ring then build into lyandris and then Sorc shoes. Afterwards look for some tankiness possibly such as rylais or Rod of ages. Go for Death cap! should be fine by then. if ur losing lane go for a second dorans and farm.

Answer 2

Karthus The Deathsinger

Start items

Sight Ward

Health Potion

Crystalline Flask

Core items

Rabadon's Deathcap

Rod of Ages

Sorcerer's Shoes

Endgame items

Deathfire Grasp

Zhonya's Hourglass

Void Staff

Build 2

Start items

Sight Ward

Mana Potion

Health Potion

Faerie Charm

First Back

Boots of Speed

Tear of the Goddess

Core items

Sorcerer's Shoes

Enchantment: Homeguard

Rabadon's Deathcap

Endgame items

Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Zhonya's Hourglass

Void Staff

Laning

Karthus is a mid-lane AP carry. He is best mid-lane because he will be against another AP carry most likely, has the ability to roam and gank both side lanes and help fights in the jungle, all at equal distance, and has access to not only his creeps but his team's wraiths and wolves (when your jungler isn't around to do them and you have the survivability to take them on without taking much/any damage) and the enemy's wraith camp (generally want to have that entrance warded, provides good sight on the river and enemy jungle to prevent ganks and gives you sight of when wraiths are up to steal them -- most often, unless you have basically total control over your lane and have been taking the enemy's wraiths time and time again, you want to leave a lesser wraith to counterjungle the enemy jungler, and then repeat the process when they respawn 50 seconds later). This farm is so important, especially on Karthus, let alone any AP carry, because Karthus is a hyper carry -- that is, he outdamages most other carries late game (AP and even AD -- especially with Exhaust, late game at full build, he can 1v1 almost every champion) and can immensely change the tide of a battle, with his big AoE damage, huge DPS (especially on single targets), super saiyan slow, and his global ultimate. And when he dies, he still does damage. And if you are playing suicide zombie karthus, he comes back for a second round and does it all over again. Karthus's ability ratios are really good too, adding to his needs of items.

Because, as mentioned in the intro, Karthus is somewhat weak against a good sum of mid laners (although he can still do well vs. many, and even vs. some book counters if he plays it right), the need for a lot of farm is even larger. Thankfully, with his low mana cost, low cooldown Lay Waste, which refunds it's mana cost fully, partially, or even gives some extra depending on the level of Defile, along with the AoE clear of Defile, Karthus is an exceptional farmer. If you have some downtime in lane, say you push a wave or the enemy goes back, take wraiths and wolves -- you can clear them quickly with your Q, especially if you hit a single target with it, and your AoE clear. You need all the farm you can get.

The beauty of Karthus, however, as such a strong mid-late game carry, you could do horribly early game, but as long as you farm well and get your items, you will still stomp any enemy carry late game, even if they got a bit fed.

When playing Karthus, you also want to try to roam to other lanes when your opponent recalls/gets pushed out/gets killed and you don't have to recall immediately. You have pretty strong ganks with your damage and your Wall of Pain slow.

Also keep your eye out for Requiem opportunities, but remember, especially early game, you want to make sure you don't waste it.

Make sure that your allies don't telegraph your gank, that is, start moving forward or using spells such as a stun or ghost way before you are able to jump in, or when the enemy is close to their turret and you aren't able to dive. When you are in position to jump in, and the enemy/enemies are in a good position to gank, signal your allies to move forward, either with words if you are in a voice program or with a ping, or even with a quick "GOGO" in chat if you type quickly. If they have a hard CC, such as Udyr's Bear Stance, they should use it right before you jump in, so that the enemy doesn't have any time to react to it (ie flashing out or Vlad pooling out since they see you are coming before the CC hits). If they have soft CC, such as a slow, they should use it right as you are going in as well. If the lane you are ganking has zero CC whatsoever, you should initiate the gank with your Wall of Pain but make sure your allies are in position to quickly follow up.

Keep in mind that gank opportunities dissipate quickly. If you notice a good chance to jump in, don't hesitate. If it is an actual good opportunity, the worst that could happen is they get away but you force them to go back or burn a flash, ultimate, etc. Remember, you don't have to net a kill for a gank to be successful. Although you may be upset that you won't get any gold for your efforts, your allies will be in a much better position if the enemy simply burns flash. That means that they are easier to gank in the future, and an easier target for your allies to kill for 4 minutes or so. If you do hesitate and lose a good gank opportunity, you not only prevented a possible good situation for your teammates, but lost a lot of your own time as well that could have been used farming, getting kills elsewhere, or buying and healing.

A lot of times, if you can't immediately roam and help another lane, you generally want to recall. Despite you most likely being able to stay in lane when your enemy has to recall, due to your mana sustain with Defile and your health sustain with Hextech Revolver, you shouldn't overstay your welcome. You generally want to either push the next wave and then roam and gank when your enemy recalls, so that you both deny them XP from creeps to their turret and also can pickup potential kills for yourself or other teammates, putting you farther ahead, or recall. If you just continue to sit in lane, and your opponent goes back or even falls to you, despite you possibly being super far ahead in gold from kills and CS, if they come back to lane with more items than you have, they are technically ahead of you and can come back. When you have an advantage, you have to remember to push it.

For instance, say you start the game with boots 3 pots and the enemy Gragas does as well. You both farm well for about 5 minutes, but you are farming a little better. Then you tick 6 and kill him, and then continue to stay. You are out of health pots. Gragas returns with double Doran's Ring. Despite you being ahead in gold by a longshot, he has quite a bit of itemization over you now -- he is technically ahead at that given moment and has a much higher potential of killing you than you do of him. While he has his basic boots and double Doran's, you still only have boots. Now, you won't be able to kill him -- you might even die to him -- until you go back. Now you are losing the potential advantage you had over him.

Now say you recalled right when he did, and straight away picked up a Catalyst the Protector when he got his double Doran's Rings. Now, you have sustain and survivability. Instead of possibly dying to him, now you can lane against him and kill him more easily than you were able to before.

Counters

As mentioned earlier, Karthus does do well against certain lanes, even lanes that may be usual counters if he outplays them; however, generally Karthus is a weak laner due to his lack of hard CC and burst, along with his squishiness.

Champions that you generally want to avoid if possible (draft mode)

-Champions with single target abilities, ie. Ryze and LeBlanc -- they can easily melt down your health bar.

-Champions with hard CC, such as, once again, Ryze, LeBlanc, Veigar, Xerath, anyone with a silence (listed above), etc. -- can cancel your ult and set you up for some nasty harass and possibly open you up to a gank, of which Karthus is quite weak against, since he has no hard CC to deter the enemy ganker, only a slow with Wall of Pain and Exhaust if you are taking it; even worse if you are playing suicide Karthus and not taking Flash nor Exhaust (against champions with a lot of hard CC, that can easily disengage from you trying to get into the middle of their team, generally suicide Karthus is not a great idea, although it can still work).

-Champions that have huge burst/nukes, such as Xerath, LeBlanc, Kassadin, and Veigar -- they can shut you down completely before you have the chance to even do anything, because Karthus is so squishy (especially if playing suicide glass cannon Karthus)

Overall, you want to try to avoid these matchups if you can; if you can't, or you are playing blind pick, just hope for the best, and try to outplay them -- if you know you are against a hard champion for Karthus to deal with, stay back, don't engage them unless you get a gank from your team, just farm and get strong. You can still outscale them late game if you don't feed them.

League Of Legends Champions Guide : elohell.net