Dayum, the new Xerath is awesome, and decently (not completely, but I can't confirm for sure yet) balanced. His W and E are slow, he requires constant positioning and quick thinking and is squishy as fuck, but his range and damage output are ridiculously high; it's difficult, but you're rewarded intensely for sniping and aiming correctly due to the maximised damage output. I played him top against Garen and did rather well; the harass and passive mana restore give him a lot of lane bullying and sustain.
Loving him, and I'm loving the look and mechanics of the officially announced Vel'Koz now. MORE AP CASTERS PLEASE RIOT YES