Xin Zhao Build Guide by helement

Introduction

Xin Zhao is one of the best Attack speed and DPS characters there are out there. When the right items are bought you can beast with Xin Zhao and wreck your enemy team. Xin Zhao's passive Challenge allows to heal for a certain amount every 3 strikes you make. This guide will show you how to take advantage of all that attack speed, lifesteal, etc all in dominating your enemies quickly and efficiently.

CHANGES MADE

As of 4/26/12, I've made changes due to comments by a reader. Hope these changes meet your needs and make sure to comment on what changes I might need because I AM SUCH A NOOB PLAYER AT LOL AND KNOW NOTHING ABOUT BUILDING!!! :D JK I know a little but not PRO.

As of 10/2/12, I've updated items and continuing to update text and add more sections to this guide. Hope you like it and use it in your games.

Items

For items, I would recommend first getting a Boots of Speed then getting 3 Health Potions. Boots and three pots ensure maximum survivability. Boots help you dodge enemy skillshots.

Next, after pwning your enemy lanes(s), you should go back to base and get a couple of doran blades to boost your early game power.

On your second recall to base, you should be able to upgrade to Berserker's Greaves. If you don't, well... lets just say your doing something wrong. :)

Sometime after the 15 minute mark, or 20 minute mark, you should have enough to get 1 b.f. sword. We should start building on our I.E. bout now. Extra 45 AD... >.>

Usually at this time I like to throw in a Vampiric Scepter for some life steal.

During mid-game, if you feel kind of slow at attacking with Xin Zhao, you can start getting the Phantom Dancer. The Phantom Dancer gives you an incredible 55% attack speed and also an extra 30% critical strike and 15% movement speed.

Chasing down your enemies should be a breeze combined with your Audacious Charge and your Phantom Dancer's extra movement speed.


If you feel like you don't have enough survivability, you can always go for a Frozen Mallet. The frozen mallet gives you 700 HP for surviving and 20 AD for extra damage.
I haven't mentioned it's passive yet :3. The passive slows your enemy so you can chase them down easily and get that killing blow in.

Awesome isn't it? :D Alright on to the next item on the list :).

The last item to get would be and Atma's Impaler. For me getting Atma's Impaler is very deadly combined with Frozen Mallet. Since of it's passive, it converts 1.5% of your max HP into bonus AD.

For example: 3000 HP x 0.015= 45 AD
Wow that's a lot isn't it? since we already have other damage boosting items, this will help a bit.
Also, Atma's Impaler also gives you 45 armor and 15% critical chance. Even more critical chance to get that health bar down to zero. The survivability increases for such situations like getting ganked by a turret or just surviving that AD heaver enemy carry.

Masteries

OFFENSE:

My set of masteries for Xin Zhao will be mostly based on OFFENSE. There is a little of defense in there just for the squishy-ness. Basically the masteries go like this:21-9-0.
I would first start adding points to Summoner's Wrath and then Brute Force . That extra AD is always in handy.

Next we shall add 4 points to Alacrity . Extra attack speed=Extra Pwnin' with Xin Zhao!
The ten percent armor pen in Weapon Expertise will help Xin Zhao a lot. Lets say you have 200 AD. Then with the 10% armor pen you would do an extra 20 damage!!! Makes a lot of difference sometimes when last hitting your enemies.

Ofc we should max out Lethality and Deadliness because we need that extra AD and crit damage. Extra crit damage along with your Infinity Edge very late game to push that last bit of turret health down to 0 and GG.

Now, NOW! Time for... DA Executioner >:D. EXTRA 6% damage to enemies BELOW 40% health!:O
WOW! That will definitely turn the tide of the whole game if used smartly. If you have high AD if you follow my build :), you can do awesome extra damage. Imagine your opponent's life bar go down, down, down, and zilch. Don't that feel WONDERFUL??? :D

DEFENSE:

For Xin Zhao on defense, we should definitely max out Resistance because I mean, almost every champion I have ever played with, except for tanks, only have a flat rate of 30 MR. Now, that's kind of little... so that's why i decided to max out Resistance due to that. Add one point to Hardiness because we need 4 points to the next level.

Durability should definitely come next. As I said, Xin Zhao is squishy. :( Some extra health per level should help him a bit it terms of surviving.
FINALLY, last on the list, Veteran's Scars . Veteran's Scars adds an additional 30 health. Doesn't seem like much but will make all the difference later on.

Runes

For runes, we should get Greater Mark of Attack Speed because Xin Zhao the SWAGGA should need EVEN MORE attack speed :D.
EXTRA ATTACK SPEED=EXTRA SWAGGIN'.

Greater Seal of Critical Chance is essential. Critical strike in early game would definitely go up because of this. For example, early game gank, you need that crit strike to finish him off b4 you get turret ganked :). You might think it isn't a lot, but 3.78 percent crit strike is plenty :D.

Greater Glyph of Critical Damage benefits you a lot. Higher crit damage will help that crit soar out of the charts ;). For instance, with Gangplank, I got 1000 damage crit cause of extra crit damage. Now, me i don't buy runes xD. I recommend them in these guides for you people. 2 infinity edges, 1000 crit with Parrrley >:D. Totally owned them that game :O

Now for the Quintessences. The Greater quintessence of desolation will help with that armor penetration I was talking about! Thats like 10% with and extra 9.99 armor pen. I'm stupid at math so I won't calculate that!:D

Well that's about it for Runes :).

Summoner Spells

is necessary for Xin Zhao for escaping. Xin Zhao does not have any escape ability. Now, you may think that his Audacious Charge is an escape ability but no, it's only an ability to catch your enemies.

is VERY important for all champions that are not support or tank(in my opinion). Exhaust slows your enemy's movement by 40%, AD by 70%, and ability and item damage by 35%. This summoner spell is by far the best in my opinion because it also reduces your targets armor and MR by 10 when active. Wow along with armor penetration that will give you a ton of damage and possibly first blood and a double kill xP.

Pros/Cons

Farming

Xin Zhao in my opinion is not a very good farmer early game. He is only a good farmer mid-late game because of his attack speed. You will either have to hit till creeps are dead or what ever you want to do. None of his abilities can really go to waste for farming alone. You either need to last hit minions or ks your teammates :3.

You really need to farm up at least 1k gold if possible before B back to base because you will need to upgrade your boots and start building on your Phantom Dancer :). The next trip will probably to get Zeal or if you survive enough or to your liking, when you get enough for Phantom Dancer.

The rest will be champion kills or assists to get your gold, so use that time wisely to accumulate up enough for The Black Cleaver. After you get The Black Cleaver, you should be almost unstoppable unless the other team got a fed ranged AP carry. Then, then my friend you are probably dead within 10 seconds :P.

Xin Zhao - Champion Spotlight :3

Summary

Thank you guys, for reading this guide if possible. This is my second guide which I hope to add more improvements and changes to this one and future ones. Please upvote and comment for this to be seen and please do not downvote if you think this guide needs something or you want to spam downvote.Again, thanks for reading this and please enjoy your games with Xin Zhao!!!