Xerath Counters Classic 26.22

Xerath meets an Ahri who can stand in three different places inside one recast window. Spirit Rush moves her and damages at the same time, up to three enemies a hop, and the bolts pick champions ahead of the minions beside them. Minions feed Essence Theft as well, since any enemy hit counts.

Fox-Fire arrives as one heavy fire and two faint ones, all three finding enemies near her on their own. The wait between casts shrinks with every point she puts into it, so a longer lane hands Xerath more of them.

Space between the two mid turrets does not take Ahri long to cross, since Spirit Rush moves her three times before it leaves. Spending all three to arrive at Xerath finishes the trade on foot, and the third dash is the last of them for a while.

Beyond the first few trades, Xerath is up against a passive that gains from being hit. Void Stone turns fifteen percent of the magic damage arriving at Kassadin into attack speed instead, so the longer an exchange runs, the faster he swings inside it.

Null Sphere silences for one second when Kassadin first takes it and reaches two at full rank. Silence stops a champion activating anything, so an early point in it is over almost as soon as it arrives, and only the last points make it long enough to change a trade.

Side paths into the lane hide most of Kassadin's approach. Riftwalk only reaches somewhere close by, so the rest of that distance gets walked. Spend it on the last stretch, and Xerath meets a melee champion he never watched arrive.