Why maxing Three Talon Strike first?
Each point in TTS grants 45 dmg (even less if you don't get all hits off). Audacious Charge on the other hand grants 40 dmg (with one hit), 5% slow and 1 sec cooldown. Even Battle Cry with 5%/10% and 2 sec cooldown offers more than TTS.

good build

sweet build dude. i lane with you all the time and we pwn.

Ah i figured out how to vote up lol.

Good Build

not bad, in all honesty I prefer Trinity Force but that's been covered as an alternative. Suggestions: screenshots and some videos of gameplay, other than that good job. +1

Check out my guide for Xin Zhao, as I would like feedback from as many people as possible.

-Hargis2010

wegtw

rewj

Pro build, lot of time and effort, played 6 winning games with WIN ZHAO!. Thumbs up +1 whut? :D

Hmmmm.... I see that none of his abilities scale with AD.... Maybe stacking AD isn't as much of a sin as I thought.

I agree with keels when 3 Dorans is too much but from my experience from Xin zhao is that he doesen't need all that much AD to still dish out great amounts of damage..Altough I would get heart of gold earlier for it's passive, and to have a bigger health pool in early game

@ Keels
Perhaps you're missing the point here. How are you supposed to do damage aside from Crescent Sweep if you can't live more than 2 seconds in a team fight? We don't all have ults that render us invulnerable like Poppy. I challenge you to try this build in a real game before you start complaining about it. Three Doran's may be a bit much, but you get bulked up really early on. If you don't like it, drop it to two. Also, Xin doesn't need a lot of extra damage to begin with. Three Talon hits like a mack truck and Black Cleaver (the only consistent core item for a Xin build) is more than enough to get the job done, especially once you finish PD. Also, what do you have against Frozen Mallet? You get a bit of AD, 700 health, a slow, AND it's cheaper than TF. With Trinity Force (a suggested alternative) you get less health, but a bit of everything else in the process, however; I prefer FM to TF. As stated in the actual guide (if you read), melee champs are now more about health than anything else lately. Be honest, doesn't a Jarvan, Irelia, or Blitz usually make it out of every fight while racking up the kills?

While I agree that he can stick to people like glue, this build isn't meant for catching people alone in the jungle and chasing them until they die or Flash over a wall. This is meant for long, drawn out team fights. In fact, I've gone through two team fights without needing to go back with this before. Again, you could have all the damage in the world, but what good is it if you can't last long enough to do anything? If you think it lacks damage, follow some of the alternatives offered in this guide. Just be sure to build around your team (for example, if you have Amumu, Singed, Sona, Annie, Xin, build a bit more offensive). This is the build that has worked time and time again for me and as soon as I can find a suitable place to upload the screenshot, I'll post it in here.

To address the Warmog's / Atma's combo, it's viable, but I just think that it takes too long to get set up to too little of a benefit. With Warmog's, you get a lot of health, but no resistances.... meaning that carries will still eat right through you.