7/19/12 Xin Revamp
7/19/12 XIN REWORK
Quoted:
Xin Zhao (Remade)
Stats
Base Attack Speed increased to 0.672 from 0.658
Attack Speed per level increased to 2.7% from 2.5%
Challenge (Passive)
Xin Zhao challenges his target with his basic attacks and Audacious Charge, reducing their Armor by 15% for 3 seconds. Only one target can be challenged at a time.
Three Talon Strikes
Now reduces his other ability cooldowns by 1 second with each strike
Attack Damage ratio increased to 1.2 from 1.0
Cooldown reduced to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds from 10
Battle Cry
Passive: Heals Xin Zhao for 26/32/38/44/50 (+0.7 Ability Power) every third basic attack
Active no longer reduces other abilities' cooldowns
Cooldown reduced to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds from 24/22/20/18/16
Mana Cost increased to 40 from 35
Audacious Charge
Now challenges the target
Damage increased to 70/115/160/205/250 (+0.6 Ability Power) from 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.4 Ability Power)
Slow increased to 25/30/35/40/45% from 20/25/30/35/40%
Slow duration increased to 2 seconds from 1.5
Range reduced to 600 from 650
Cooldown reduced to 13/12/11/10/9 seconds from 16/15/14/13/12
Crescent Sweep
Now knocks all unchallenged targets back
Now has a 1.0 bonus Attack Damage ratio
Cooldown increased to 100/90/80 seconds from 75
Armor and Magic Resist bonus adjusted to 15/20/25 per champion hit from 25 + 7/10/13 per champion hit
Now has a new particle
As of patch v1.0.0.143 this guide is now outdated. Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be updating my guide. Do not use this guide anymore as I will probably change everything in it. After playing Xin for some time I have come to conclusion, he is quite strong borderline OP. His burst damage is ridiculous, and his kit is just so good. He has sustain, hard cc, gap closer, a built in Last Whisper and steroids. He is much better then he ever was.
Introduction
Hi, I'm Kyle and im going to Teach You How To Kyle in this guide build or whatever you want to call it of Xin Zhao. This is really going to be basically my first serious guide. melee ad champs are probably my favorite type of champion. On the contrary to what people might think, Xin is a tough champ to play in my opinion. So I feel like if you are not experienced with Xin Zhao that jungling is the way to start with him because he is a very fast and quick jungler. With people who are experienced in league of legends in general you can try to solo top with him. I hope to help people learn how to play Xin Zhao better with this build. And I would love any one to comment and rate this build whatever you think it deserves.
ALRIGHT LETS GO
Pros/Cons
Pros/Cons is a good way to let you see how he excels and his drawbacks
Pros
+VERY good at focusing carries and knocking back the tanks because of his ultimate
+INSANE damage when tanky and when not tanky u can seriously 2 hit some champs
+Has a Knock up to get the advantage over enemies in 1v1s
+Has a dash
Cons
-Riot keeps nerfing Xin!
-If CC'd he will be destroyed
-Takes a bit of practice with the Rework
Runes
I usually use Greater Mark of Strength, and Greater Quintessence of Strength for easily last hitting minions. Also Xin Zhao now scales with AD so they help his damage on both Three Talon Strike and Crescent Sweep. Notice that Challenge is armor REDUCTION therefore armor penetration marks and quintessence are extremely useful too. Picking between AD and ArP is up too you. ArP is useful if you are planning on killing your opponent over farming, while AD is better if you plan on farming more while under a turret. Next up I use Greater Seal of Resilience, and Greater Glyph of Shielding to compensate Xin's squishyness at early to mid game. There are other options if you don't like the ones I chose.
Other options
- Greater Quintessence of Fortitude the extra health helps early game and can save you from the extra damage from ignite.
- Greater Quintessence of Swiftness Xin lacks mobility if he hasn't bought boots so this is a viable pick.
- Greater Mark of Alacrity its meh... but its better than attack damage per level, and critical damage.
- Greater Seal of Alacrity I don't really like using attack speed yellows, but its better than nothing.
- Greater Glyph of Replenishment Xin isn't really mana hungry, but there are times when you spam all your skills to get kills.
- Greater Glyph of Focus cool down reduction will let you spam your skills more (you really shouldn't but you sometimes will).
Masteries
Offense

Summoner's Wrath- After the patch I've been using Exhaust and Ghost more and more so, it's pure stupidity to not get this mastery. It buffs both spells substantially for only one point.
Brute Force- I like this version of it better than the 1 crit chance. The 3 damage just benefits the most for you out of any of the other tier one masteries
Alacrity- 4% attack speed is nothing major for 4 points, but it is better than Sorcery.
Deadliness- Great mastery, took me awhile to see how good it was, but wow, the damage it gives is just amazing.
Lethality- Goes really well with Deadliness.
Weapon Expertise- I thought love was only true in fairy tales..., Now I'm a believer, Not a trace Of doubt in my mind, I'm in love I'm a believer..., All I have to say.
Havoc- T.T What have they done to you old friend... Either way 3 points for 1.5% damage is a toss up.
Vampirism- Mmmmm... Lifesteal *drools*, combined with passive its almost impossible to push you out of lane.
Sunder- Looks like the enemy is better off going into battle naked. Nothing changed about from the old masteries except it takes more points to reach it.
Executioner- 6% damage when enemy is below 40%, sign me up. Only thing I don't like about it is that it only works when enemy is below 40% health. The other top tier masteries work at all levels of health so unfair.
Abilities

Xin's passive is very good through out the game. It's like a mini last whisper, but it applies a debuff letting your allies take advantage of it too. This means 2 things not only do your attacks hit harder, but if your are laning your minions do extra damage to the poor fellow. Note this is armor REDUCTION and not armor penetration.
Notes:
Does work on creeps, but not turrets.
Both Three Talon Strike and Audacious Charge apply it.
Works for allies as well.
When combined with Crescent Sweep the champion does not get knocked back.

By Far the best skill on xin zhao. it can completely shut some one down and allow you to get a few more auto attacks in on them without taking return damage. Xin always has the advantage against other melee champs because of this ability.

I love this skill because it allows you to be able to get damage before attack speed. For example, bloodthirster before your phantom dancer if you choose to have critical hit chance. The skill gives you a huge attack speed boost and the passive just allows you to stay in lane or jungle longer.
Be sure to know
It's passive works in blinds and on structures.

Great gap closer with a slow. Snag one point in it till the later levels for the utility.
Important:
Xin immediately hits his target again after he lands Audacious Charge.
Has about a 600 cast range, which is about the same auto attack range of most ranged carries. Ex. Ashe has 550 range, Vayne has 550 range, and Caityln has a range of 650. *Note* auto attack ranges are slightly larger than spell range.
Can kill invisible units from AoE damage. (rarely works, but I gotten 2 or 3 kills from the AoE damage)
It is long enough to jump through some walls. Any wall you can put a ward through, you can dash through. Remember you need to have sight for it to work, so most of the time its useless unless there is a team fight going on.
Counts as magic damage, so works in blind, and can't be countered by dodge.

Im so glad they changed his ultimate to be like this. It allows him to just completely isolate squishies and destroy them. It also deals insane damage which just makes his ultimate ridiculous
Remember:
His ult can knock through champion made obstacles like Cataclysm, or Crystallize as well as map terrain.
Skill Combo
I like to hit my q and w before i even use my charge because xin immediately attacks after the charge making the three talon strike begin sooner than it normally would. If you are initiating a teamfight it is great to jump right to their adc or apc and automatically ult to get the tanks and all the cc away from you so you can just focus on destroying the carry.
Jungle Route
I like ganking a ton. So this is the route i do
FYI
Purple Side
1. Get decent leash on blue with Smite
2. Go straight to red and wreck it. no need to smite because you wont have it anyway.
3. Then go to wraiths. By now you are level 3 and can gank top with great success
Make sure to gank mid every time you cross over from red side to blue side. It will help mid out tremendously.
Conclusion
All in all I really hoped to have taught you something about Xin Zhao and how he can be used. as i said this is my first serious guide and would like feedback in the discussion section and remember to rate it!!
TchMeHw2Kyle Out