PROS Great beginner pick Scales fairly well Easy to learn/no hard combos

CONS No poke Runs out of mana without blue No kite

Hello! I'm CaptainDonut, a low ELO scrub. Since I had some trouble with jungling in my lower levels, I've decided to make a guide to help all those who are in my position. Welcome to my first guide: Beginner's Guide to Xin Zhao!

AD reds give you that extra "oomph" when ganking. Also very effective when clearing jungle camps. The armor yellows give you protection vs. AD champs, while MR blues give you all around protection when coupled with the armor yellows. The move speed quints are optional at lower levels, however when you hit level 25+ they come in handy for chasing those low health first-bloods.

Max R first. Always. Unless you're playing Jayce or those types of champs. But enough of the digression. Maxing Q first on Xin gives you more clear when farming, and it gives you a nice damage boost. Maxing E next gives you a bigger slow for better initiates, and maxing W last makes sure that you do well late game. W is good early/mid game when you're farming and need sustain.

Flash. All around great spell. It allows you to chase, escape, and juke the hell out of people.

Smite is a must-have for all junglers.

OTHER VIABLE SPELLS

Just one. If you don't have flash available, ghost is another great mobility spell.

When you first start your game, take your blue. Ask for your mid and top or adc/support for help. If they know what a smiteless (not using smite on the blue golem) is, don't smite your blue. If you don't get a smiteless, clear wolves, wraiths, red, then mini golems. If you DID get a smiteless, go straight to red and smite it. Then go to mini golems, wraiths, then wolves. Don't forget to use your health potions. After your initial clear, you can go back and buy your stone/boots. After this, there are two different ways to go. Gank and farm. If you pick the gank path, gank top or mid, whichever one is pushed to your tower. If you chose to farm, take your wolves, wraiths, mini golems, blue, and red when they respawn. Note that smite is not only for red and blue. Smite has a 70 second cooldown while blue and red buff have 5 minute respawn timers. This means after taking blue then red, you can use smite on the larger mini golem, blue wraith, and brown wolf twice before your blue respawns (including going back to buy). You should have the 2nd or 3rd highest CS on your team (behind your mid and ADC) at all times, and don't fall too far behind.

Ganking with Xin is fairly straightforward. Here's the combo: E -> Q -> W. First you E to your hapless victim. While he tries to run, quickly activate your Q and W in quick succession. With your Q, the third auto attack that hits when it is activated knocks up your target. Your whole gank relies on the knock up. Your W increases your attack speed, so this combo makes for a quick CC.

Xin Zhao is a great starting jungler. He has sustain, 3 CC's, and is straightforward to learn. I love playing him, and spamming /dance /laugh is hilarious. I hope you enjoy my guide! Feedback is appreciated.