The Xerath adjustment from last patch meant to buff mid and nerf support landed closer to neutral than desired, and both landed slightly win rate negative despite intending mid to be buffed. The power shift in the last list was a good foundation to build on and in this change we are pushing the mid exclusive lever of mana restoration on kill to make sure the list is clearly skewed towards the mid lane. Additionally adding some power back into Xerath's base damages to make up for some of the early game power removed from the previous base damage removals.

Xerath has lost some focus as a premier artillery mage mid laner over time and has transitioned a good chunk of his play rate to support. We would like to make some power adjustments to more clearly emphasize his prowess as a mid laner and reward high cost AP purchases with his kit.

Xerath support is currently performing very well in solo queue, poking the competition down until they have to reluctantly recall. While the 13.14 buffs had a larger impact for Xerath mid, they still increased his win rate as a support (where he was already quite powerful). Since his mid win strength is currently in a reasonable spot, we’ll be nerfing his access to mana in a way that targets him as a support and doesn’t affect mid quite as much.

Despite Xerath’s success as a support, he has been an unpopular and mediocre mid laner. While we don’t mind Xerath support being viable, we’d like to make picking Xerath mid a more consistent and realistic option for those who want to play him there. With these changes we’re giving him more access to mana, particularly in the mid lane, to help him trade and clear waves. We also want to reward Xerath players for landing consecutive missiles while using their ultimate, so we’ll be adding bonus damage and adjusting the numbers accordingly. While the base mana nerf will be a hit to Xerath support (there’s room as he’s currently quite strong there), the passive proc on structures will be helpful for him no matter which role he’s picked into.

The Magus Ascendant has been descending throughout all of Season 2022. Even though he's supposed to be at his weakest when his enemies manage to get close, his current stun window is a little too short for him to get a chance at escaping. We're upping the duration at all distances so that he has an opportunity to get to an optimal range, as well as to make it more satisfying when he snipes from afar.

Our resident laser-sniper has been in a confusing state, having more of a blast as a support than as a mid laner. By re-tuning his scaling to favor level and gold scaling, this should help energize mid Xerath.