Who needs PD?
Who needs IE?
Who needs BT?

Trinity solves all your problems.

When you see this, don't think "OMG ******ED BUILD THIS SUCKS"

This is not a Glass cannon Xin build
This. Is. TRINITY ZHAO.

You are not a squishy carry, but an offtank who strives in battles and deals damage while surviving the whole fight.

Dont hate on it. Try it first :)

Pros:
-Tanky. A trait that most Xin's dont have. 99% of the xin zhaos go glass cannon carry. this will catch opponents offguard - "WTF WHY IS HE SO TANKY AND DOES **** LOADS OF DAMAGEEEE"
-Does LOTS of damage. Although you wont be getting crazy crits and super attack speed, you still blow up squishies instantly.
-Survives and dominates teamfights.

Cons:
-Very expensive build. Requires lots of farming.
-because of ^, need to be able to last hit and farm properly.
-gets focused no matter what because you are xin zhao :P

I take Ignite and Flash.
Flash is good on anyone. and I take ignite because I think that those early kills are very useful for xin.

If you can't use ignite properly, then feel free to take Exhaust or Ghost instead.
The other spells have their uses, but are not as good as the ones I pointed out here.

Armor Pen marks - obvious

Armor Seals - for extra tankiness early on

Magic resist/lvl glyphs - same as ^

3 Armor Pen quinces, because really, having above 20 armor pen at level one will make you deal true damage to squishies without much armor.

21/0/9, for obvious reasons. Sure, ur an offtank, but you still want that extra damage.
grab utility mastery (increased buff duration) because you want red buff. It's a great help. Take blue if no one wants it because if you like to spam ur skills, its decent on xin zhao.

Okay, so i changed this part. Well, 3 talon strike does give you nice burst, but I think the charge is also great with the aoe slow and damage. So now, I choose to get level 2 strike at 5, and then leave it there until the end. You will still deal lots of damage, and really, I just think it works well. Everything else is pretty self-explanitory.

Items. This is what makes this build different from the other Xin builds.
Why no Phantom Dancer?
Why no Black Cleaver?
Why no Bloodthirster?
Why no Infinity Edge?

This build focuses on a offtank Xin, who has decent survivability and still great damage.
So why Trinity Force?

Lets think about this.

+30 Attack Damage - Who doesnt want extra AD?

+30 Ability Power - Perhaps the only this that you cant use. but the other stats evens it out

+30% Attack Speed - With this, you dont need to worry too much about getting crazy AS

+15% Critical Strike - Useful, especially with Atma's crit stats

+12% Movement Speed - Great with the Move speed quince and FoN. Lets you chase easier. Combined with the slow from the passive and from frozen mallet, no once can escape.

+250 Health - extra help on the tankiness and the atmas passive.

+250 Mana - Xin doesnt have a big mana pool, and if you spam, this 250 mana can help lots

UNIQUE: 25% chance on hit to slow the target by 35% for 2.5 seconds; - combined with frozen mallet and the extra move speed, you are a rampaging nightmare. No one can escape.

On cast, adds bonus damage equal to 150% of base damage. - This is amazing. This passive allows you to burst lots harder with your 3 talon stike and just buffs your damage greatly. And the more AD you have, the more it does. Great for early on and later in the game.

Those stats are not something to scoff at. They. Are. Good.

After your frozen mallet, you should be level 18. At that point, you should have around 3k health. Grabing an atmas will increase your damage by 60 flat AD and giving you some nice armor and crit chance.

At this point, you lack some Mres. If you are kicking *** and chewing bubble gum, then just proceed straight to Madreds to maximize your damage and make you a tank shredder.

If not, get a force of nature. The magic resist is great, the bonus move speed is amzing and the passive gives you great regen. Well, really, I tried both, and I feel like Banshee's Veil is great, so i added that into the core and put FoN into situational.

For boots, I usually take Berserker's Greaves for good attack speed for more damage output. If you find that they enemy team has soooo much CC and ur just getting focused down every fight, then feel free to get Mercury's Treads. Its a decent item and the Mres is certainly useful.
^ well, obviously, mercs. Sorry bout that.

Dont forget to get elixers!!!
If you find that you have around 250 gold at base, and you already have your trinity, then buy a elixer of agility. This bonus attack speed is really nice, and dont forget to buy it after you finish the build as well.

Elixer of Agility -> Elixer of Fortitude -> Elixer of Intelligence

Buy an oracles if needed.

As many people suggested, offtanking does not have the exact same build every game. It depends on who your enemies are.

The build I listed above gives you nice Health, damage and around 140 of Armor and Mres.

However, there are several items in which you can get.

Duff suggested dodge seals + Ninja Tabi. I don't like this because early on, this build does lack some Mres, so if you don't get Beserkers Greaves, IMO, Mercury's Treads is a better choice. The Mres is much welcomed and the tenacity is just so good for teamfights and little battles in general.

After your core items Trinity Force, Frozen Mallet and Atma's Impaler, you lack some Mres. If you are having trouble against any AP carry, get a Negatron Cloak before the Frozen Mallet or Atma's Impaler.

Instead of a Force of Nature, some other choices are Banshee's Veil, which is also a very nice item. The shield is great again people who needs to combo or has huge nukes such as Brand, LeBlanc and Karthus. The extra health and mana helps with extra survivability and the Atma's Impaler passive. I just prefere Force of Nature because I love the movement speed increase and health regen. Also, it does have 26 more Magic resist than the Banshee's Veil.

A Hexdrinker is a decent item as well. The extra attack damage and magic resist is good, and the passive is decent against nukers as well.

Wit's End is a nice item as well. If you find yourself needing extra attack speed, and some extra magic damage and magic resist.

For the last item, I usually take a Madred's Bloodrazor. The extra stats are all very useful and the passive allows you to shred everyone up, including the tanks. This also makes you very hard to counter, as your normal attacks are physical but the madreds passive is magic damage.

If the enemy is stacking armor, you might want to get a Last Whisper. It gives solid stats and good armor pen.

If you wish to be more tanky or if you think that you are getting focused down too much, another choice is to get a Guardian Angel. The extra armor and Mres is good, and the revival passive is great for a final teamfight or push.

It takes exprience, so dont expect to get the perfect item set the first time around. Play often and you should get a feel for what you need.

What is the better item? That is a good discussion. But you know how I solve this?

Get both.

Simple as that.

Problem officer? Suck it.

Theses 2 items makes you impossible to get away from and devilishly tanky.

/endofdiscussion.

You need this so much it unbelievable. To be able to play this type of xin properly, you need to be able to farm. Take as many last hits as possible. Ideally, you want to take the solo lane. According to the current metagame, the offtank goes top. Normally, you wouldnt do this, but as TRINITY zhao, you need the farm of solo lane. Gank often. Xin's good at it.

Gank lots, do it with ur jungler if you have one to make it more effective.

In teamfights, you want to sustain damage, but you also need to destroy that squishy carry at the back. Once you blow them up in 2 seconds, you can proceed on with the fight and just find the second squishiest character, then the 3rd, and so on.

CARRY TEAM ALL DAY TRINITY ZHAO :D

Not much to say here. Read the build. And actually try it. It might look questionable, but trust me, I carry teams all day with this XD