Hi, I'm Pentakill Olaf, I play League of Legends in EU West. Welcome to my Xin Zhao guide, This guide will be focused on mid and top lane Xin, but I have now included jungling. I was 1770 top elo in S2 and I'm currently Platinum.

Why Xin mid?

Many mid laners have very low base armor and most don't even have armor runes, which makes them very vulnerable for Xin Zhao's very strong early game power. Combined the great snowball potential of Xin and great tower killing power Xin can easily carry games.

Why Xin top?

Xin is great top laner too, He can kill almost anybody 1 v 1 early on. Again the snowballing and tower killing potential makes Xin very strong top laner. Only thing Xin is really weak against is camping by the enemy jungler and attack debuffs.

Why Jungle Xin?[/h] Xin got good gank and can be built very tanky while still doing damage. Also your jungle is safe and sustained with your W passive.

Pros:

- Very high damage even with tankier build.
- Snowballs A LOT
- % damage
- A lot of CC
- Strong laning phase
- Takes towers down very fast
- Good ganks

Cons:

- No escapes which makes him vulnerable to ganks.
- If shut down early might be hard to get back into game
- Weak agaisn't attack debuffs (example Malphite's E) and stuns

Marks: Greater Mark of Attack Damage, these are basic choice of marks on most AD champions and Xin is no exception. Another possibility is Greater mark of desolation which are just as viable as AD marks. For jungling Greater Mark of Attack Speed are also totally viable.

Seals: Greater Seal of Armor, No other options, these are best seals in game.

Glyphs: I use Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist if I know I am laning vs AD champion or Greater Glyph of Magic Resist if I am vs AP champion. If I am unsure who I am laning against flat one is a safer option.

Quints: Again, I use basic Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage which give you great damage boost early and mid game. Other viable options in my opinion are Greater Quintessence of desolation which another good option for early to mid game damage. Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed are always viable too.

9/21/0 are most optiomal masteries for jungle and top lane Xin.

On mid lane Xin you might want to go for 21/9/0 but 9/21/0 works just great too.

Passive

Challange:
Xin's Basic attacks and Audacious Charge challenge Xin Zhao's target, reducing the target's armor by 15% for 3 seconds. Only one target can be challenged at a given time.

Q

Three Talon Strike adds a lot of damage to your base attacks and knocks up the enemy on third attack. It also resets your autoattack on use. It also resets cooldowns each attack. This is your main damage ability so you should max it first for the cooldown and damage.

W

Battle Cry is a one point wonder. You only need 1 point to get the passive which gives you a nice sustain on laning phase and active gives you attack speed steroid. I max it last since it doesn't really add that much damage and you will fine with only 1 point on it for the laning phase.

E

Audacious Charge is your gapcloser and slow. I get this at level 2 and max it second for the slow and damage. You should be using this to jump on squishy enemy and AA once and then use your Q to reset AA and then use R for the huge damage burst.

R

Crescent Sweep is your ultimate. You should always get a point on your ultimate when possible. Your ultimate deals % of enemies current health + your bonus attack damage. If the enemy is not effected by your passive it will knock the enemy away from you. It also gives you resists per enemy hit for 6 seconds.

You should always start with either Boots and 3 or 4 health potions or Cloth Armor and 5 health potions. On your first back you should get 2 [Doran's Blade]] and some potions and wards. You can also rush The Brutalizer if you get an early kill or two. After the brutalizer upgrade boots to Mercury's Treads if laning vs mage or a champion with a lot of CC like Irelia or Jax. After these items pretty much everything is situational.

You should get Black Cleaver pretty quick because Xin scales extremely well with flat armor pen and AD and the item is overally broken. If you want you can get up to 4 of these.

Trinity Force is a great item because Xin uses every part of it well. (Yes, Even ap, W and E both got AP ratios) You should get Phage first.

Frozen Heart is good source of CDR which also works great with Xin's Q. It also gives 90 armor and OP passive.

Guardian Angel OP, Gives you good amount of resists and broken passive. Get this as your 4th - 6th item.

Warmogs's Armor Best item ingame. Not kidding. Get it.

Mercurial Scimitar Seems to be strong on Xin. Gets rid of CC and give additional movement speed buff. Get Quicksilver Sash first and then upgrade into Mercurial Scimitar late game.

Which boots?

Mercury's Treads Best boots ingame (and most expensive). I usually get these almost every game since Xin is very vulnerable for CC and you always need magic resists.

Ninja Tabi Cheap and effective. Get these vs autoattackers like Tryndamere or Gangplank or the enemy is very AD heavy.

Berserker's Greaves A lot ahead and want to push towers? Get these, I highly recommend changing these for defensive boots late game.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity Great for CDR but I usually prefer going for defensive alternatives.

Situational items

Randuin's Omen Enemy got alot of autoattackers or you need a tank? Get this. Remember to use the active in teamfights.

Frozen Mallet and Warmog's Armor are both great defensive alternatives for Triforce. You can also get Atma's Impaler but the item is not really worth an item slow late game anymore after nerfs.

Thornmail You dropped to 900 elo and enemy team got Tryndamere, Master Yi, and 3 AD Carrys? Get this.

Banshee's Veil Enemy team is very magical damage heavy and/or got initiating ultimates like Unstoppable Force or Rocket Grab? Get it.

Aegis of the Legion OP item, only get this if nobody else it getting it. Upgrade to Runic Bulwark late game.

Bloodthirster Great item if you are ahead in lane or need sustain.

Phantom Dancer Only get if you are A LOT ahead, there are better items for Xin than this.

Youmuu's Ghostblade Pretty good item, but the new Black Cleaver feels so much stronger.

Hexdrinker great vs magical damage and the passive it great. Also it gives you even more damage. Upgrade Hexdrinker into Maw of Malmortius late game.

Wit's End Gives Attack speed, Magic resist and a great passive for extra damages. Good vs double AP teams.

Flash, SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE

Best summoner spell in game. Can be used offensive or defensive. Play Video

Ignite, BURN BURN BURN

I love this summoner spell, I pick it almost every game. Use it before heals.

Exhaust, WHY DON'T YOU DEAL ANY DAMAGE?

I only get this when nobody else gets it. It's still pretty good but I prefer others.

Smite, MUST IF YOU ARE JUNGLING

Teleport, SPLIT PUSHING AND GANKING BOT

Use this to splitpush and get towers on top lane. Also use it to gank other lanes and help your team with objectives.

Mid lane

*Summoner has left champion select etc..*
I'm not trolling, Mid lane Xin is really good, You can roam, you can get buffs, and you counter almost every AP mid laner. You should ask the other guys to pick AP top so your team won't lack on magic damage late game.

On Midlane you should focus on harass the other midlaner as much as possible early on. Use your E AA Q combo to get the enemy low and don't be afraid to use summoners. At level 6 you can burst almost any mid laner down with your full combo. Beware of ganks though, you have no escapes.
Oh, and use WARDS, they win games.

Top lane

You can still go aggressive early on, but care for those early game ganks, they really decide how top lane goes. If you see enemy jungler on bot lane, you can try to make plays.
On top lane wards are even more important, so get them, usually at least 2 at time depending on which side you are.

Most ideal jungle path in Season 3 Jungle is doing level 3 double buff route. Start from bottom side buff, (Blue side = Red Buff/Purple Side = Blue Buff) and ask your bottom lane to give you smiteless. Take wolves/wraiths first then proceed to take the buff with assistance of lanes. DO NOT SMITE IT. Then rush for the other buff and take it with Smite. Then go gank top or mid lane. If you can't gank them, go farm the jungle and maybe look for ganks bot lane.

Target carrys and other squishy ones and/or protect your carry with Crescent Sweep. Don't use Crescent Sweep to move Amumu/Blitz/Poppy/Malphite or other CC machines next to your carrys.

Thank you for reading my guide, or at least looking at it.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

TL;DR

AD Runes

9/21/0 masteries

R>Q>E>W

Push towers, kill stuff and win games.