Xin Zhao. A fantastic champion for the noob deep down inside of you. He's OP, he slows, and he can kill anyone 1v1. Anyway, hello and welcome to my guide on Xin Zhao. I would consider Xin Zhao as OP (like I said earlier) and THAT is why I play as him. This is my first guide on Mobafire, so please don't flame me for mistakes or my noobish ways. Ok, let's get started.

Pros

1. Destroys enemy carrys
2. Impossible to 1v1 (or mabye even 1v2) because of the lifesteal
3. Great initiator
4. Great at chasing
5. VERY fun to play (if you you think that kicking serious a** is fun)
6. Not squishy
7. INSANE lifesteal

Cons

1. Countered by stacking Thornmail and/or TONS of armour (but it has to be so much armor that is 40% of it wasn't there it wouldn't matter)
2. Not great at escaping (just be careful when you're low health)

The Good

1. Exhaust (makes it easier to 1v1 and chase)
2. (fantastic for 1v1 with enemys like Vladimir and Dr. Mundo who have insane healing, and is also great for getting that first blood)
3. (good for escaping but you rarely will lose a battle)

The Bad

1. (long cooldown and you have insane lifesteal)
2. (leave it for the supports)
3. (this spell is ok but leave it for the tank or supports)
4. ( Xin Zhao is almost unkillable, unless focused, and this spell is on a long cooldown)
5. (it's ok but not worth trading out Exhaust or Flash for, since Xin Zhao isn't THAT squishy)
6. (very long cooldown)
7. (it's not that neccesary with Xin)

The Ugly

1. (you don't run out of mana much and is useless late game)
2. (you arn't jungling)
3. (facepalm*)

Havoc is just too good to pass up so you go all the way down the offensive tree and get a point in the mastery. Resistance , Hardiness , and Good Hands are good masteries that you don't need any points to get to. The Offensive Tree has critical chance and damage stuff but DO NOT put points in them. This is not a critical chance build so only put points in what would help benifit this build.

Runes

For runes I go with 6 Greater Marks of Desolation, 3 Greater Marks of Strength, 9 Greater Glyphs of Alacrity, 9 Greater Seals of Alacrity, and Greater Quintessences of Strength. You get enough survivability from items so no need to have survivability runes.

Abilities

Three Talon Strike - "Xin Zhao's next 3 standard attacks deal increased damage, with the third attack knocking an opponent into the air.
Xin Zhao prepares to unleash a fearsome combo, causing his next 3 standard attacks to deal 15/30/45/60/75 (+) physical damage, with the final attack knocking his opponent into the air.
Cost30/30/30/30/30 Mana
Range375" - www.leagueoflegends.com

This is great for 1v1 encounters and chasing. Use this when you initiate to knock up the carrys and prevent them from dealing damage or running.

Battle Cry - "Xin Zhao passively increases his attack speed and can activate this ability to further increase attack speed and lower his ability cooldowns with each attack.
Passive: Increases Xin Zhao's attack speed by 20/25/30/35/40%.

Active: Xin Zhao unleashes a battle cry, doubling the passive bonus for 5 seconds, and causing his standard attacks to reduce all other ability cooldowns by 1 second.
Cost35/35/35/35/35 Mana
Range20" - www.leagueoflegends.com

This is your attack speed steroid. That extra 40% is devastating and helps you activate Three Talon Strike's knock up faster. ALWAYS activate this skill at the begining of any fight between another enemy champion.

Audacious Charge - Xin Zhao charges an enemy, dealing damage and slowing it and all other enemies in the area.
Xin Zhao charges an enemy unit, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.4) magic damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them by 20/25/30/35/40% for 1.7 seconds.
Cost70/70/70/70/70 Mana
Range650" - www.leagueoflegends.com

I absolutely LOVE this skill. It is an AOE slow, a gap closer, and an AOE damage dealer. This skill is great for initiating, chasing, and 1v1 and 1v2 situations because of reasons above. This is his best skill in my opinion.

Crescent Sweep - "Xin Zhao fiercely sweeps his spear around him, dealing damage to nearby enemies based on their current health.
Xin Zhao unleashes a fierce spear sweep on targets around him, dealing 125/225/325 plus 20/20/20% of their current health in physical damage. For 6 seconds, his Magic Resistance and Armor are increased by 25/25/25 plus // for each champion hit.
Cost100/100/100 Mana
Range20" - www.leagueoflegends.com

This is a fantastic skill for initiating. Audacious Charge to the carrys, Crescent Sweep, use Battle Cry and Three Talon Strike and auto-attacks from there.

Skilling Order

First, put a point in Audacious Charge. This is my favorite ability that he has because it does very good AOE damage and slows. After Audacious Charge get Battle Cry and after that, Three Talon Strike. From then on just level Audacious Charge, your ultimate, and Battle Cry whenever possible.

Once Audacious Charge is maxed, max out Battle Cry. Then, of course, max Three Talon Strike.

At every chance that you get, level you ultimate. This is a low cooldown, average mana costing, semi-high damage, AOE attack. use this at the START of a team fight because it deals a base amount of damage AND 15% of their CURRENT health. Always hit the carrys with this, and if possible hit the rest of the team.

Xin Zhao is a FANTASTIC initiator because he can Audacious Charge into the middle or to the carrys, use your ultimate and destroy the carrys from there.

Unique Skills

The main unique skill that you can aquire is the ability to WHOOP THE OTHER TEAM'S A** (btw don't cuss in the comments just use those star things like I do). Your lifesteal with this guide will make you almost indestructable in 1v1 and 1v2 situations.

I have survived a Nunu & Willump ultimate while Tryndamere was going all out and I STILL lived and ended up killing both of them.

In Depth Look

Start off with a Doran's blade and head to any lane. I find Xin Zhao great in all lanes but bottom is where he shines. With the support of any teamate, Xin Zhao is almost unstoppable. After Doran's Blade get your The Brutalizer. The Brutalizer adds great damage and is the reason Xin Zhao dosn't sink in early game.

Next, you get your boots. I usually go with Mecury's Treads or Beserker's Greaves but it really depends on the other team's composition. After whatever boots you get, get Wriggle's Lantern. This item, combined with your other items, allows you to lifesteal well and gives you armor and a free ward.

After Wriggle's Lantern get Black Cleaver. This item really helps at killing tanks who are stacking armor, and you can now lifesteal pretty decently thanks to Wriggle's Lantern. After Black Cleaver, get Bloodthirster.

Now you have pretty amzing lifesteal but you need some survivability. Sell your Wriggle's Lanter and get a Frozen Mallet AND a Banshee's Veil. You now have really great survivability and lifesteal.

More, you ask? Well then upgrade your brutalizer to a Youmumu's Ghostblade. You can choose to do this earlier but I usually don't because this isn't a core item.

Simplified

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Xin Zhao isn't a fantastic farmer but he makes up for this with his ability to stay in lane while pushing your enemys out of the lane. When your enemys are out of lane (hopefully dead) feel free to either recall or take advantage of the free farm (gennerally take advantage of the free farm unless you have no mana at all. Just heal with life steal on minions).

Jungling

I'm not a great jungler and I've had some success with the new version of my guide, which adds more survivability. I suggest trying this in a co-op vs. AI match before going into PvP matches jungling.

All in all Xin Zhao is a fantastic initiator, almost anti-carry, fantastic assassin, 1v1 beast, lifestealing, awesome dude. I'd say he is one of the best champions in the league so far. He isn't as powerful in the farming and zoning part but his lifesteal makes him impossible to 1v1.

Use Audacious Charge in a teamfight to get to carrys and pound the carrys with Three Talon Strike, your ultimate, and always cast Battle Cry when in a team fight as it comes off of cool down.

Use Ignite along with Audacious Charge and a few auto attacks and hope for first blood. Thank the lord if you solo lane against a squishy carry because they will get under leveled if you play right. Just keep them low and keep on making them go back to base a lot and miss on exp. Just don't get greedy and NEVER tower dive early unless you are an absolute pro. NEVER LET YOUR CARRYS LANE AGAINST A Xin Zhao... EVER or they will get WAY underleveled.

Well I hope you had fun reading my guide. Please rate and tell me what I could've done better or just compliment me on my guide if you think it is great.

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Check back here often! I take all of the criticism seriously and I change my guide often. I've changed my guide almost every day since I've made it.

*July 13-15

- Added coding, fixed gramatical errors, and changed my items a little bit.

*July 16-

- Changed the items to add more survivability, changed the masteries because I was wasting points in useless skills, added more coding and made walls of text into paragraphs, and changed my runes (I'm not sure about the glyphs can someone help me with them?).