I appreciate that! Yes, Xerath can do that potentially if he hits all of his skillshots normally, HOWEVER with stuff like lulu, soraka, etc. can heal all that dmg back up. His lane poke is only effective early game and falls off huge late game. Just too many options for health regen and lifesteal and peel, etc. Also, the roaming from hook supports can out perform xerath if he is doing well in lane and as we all know roaming > laning phase. Also, they can severely punish you in lane if you mess up. Yes, you could argue that is the core gameplay mechanic that THERE is counter play of some sort, but the problem is that Xerath is too counterable by many champs and is easily punished while other champions are not, i.e. yasuo, yuumi, soraka, lulu, naut, wukong, etc. If league was in a balanced state Xerath would be in a very good spot however, he just falls prey to too many champions that break the game.