Xin Zhao is a burst DPS melee champion who can fit into many different roles, namely ad melee carry, offtank, jungler, disabler, etc. This guide will focus on fulfilling his role as an offtank capable of locking down most wanted targets on the enemy team. Welcome to the world of Xin Zhao, the Tireless Warrior!

Greater Mark of Desolation Greater Quintessence of Desolation

Armor Penetration Mark in order to get through better, great on all melee/range physical carries.

Flat Armor Seals because you want to dominate the lane early on and armor helps you do this

Flat Magic Resistance Glyphs to provide us with more survivability in lane.

Armor Penetration Quintessences as mentioned before, we want our attacks to do maximum damage.

is very good on Xin Zhao, lets you chase/get away with easy.

adds more to Xin Zhao burst.

is good because he has no escape mechanism.

lets you win those 1v1 fights that you would of normally lost and lets you chase down/get away better.

For masteries, go with the standard 21 in utility, most notably picking up cooldown reduction, mana regeneration, movement speed, improved ghost, and neutral buff increase. Put the rest into the defense tree in order to get the more armor/magic resistance and strength of spirit.

For skill sequence, I like to max out Audacious Charge first because it helps to close the gap between yourself and the enemy. Audacious Charge hits extremely hard when maxed first along with AoE damage and slow. Next, I like to max out Three Talon Strike fellow by Battle Cry.

The order of his skills is very important, as such I've listed it in the correct order.

> > > > LEGENDARY

During the lane phase, you are a very good solo laner thanks to his passive. You can solo top quite easily while your jungler does his thing. If you decide to do duo lane, it is best to be paired with a support or hard CC. The ideal teammates would be something along the lines of Taric or Pantheon. You have the ability to pick up first blood very easily when you reach level 3 with your full combo, sometimes even eariler. You want them to be afraid to get close to last hit. If they get close, use Audacious Charge + Three Talon Strike as harassment for getting that last hit on a minion. Xin Zhao should be played offensively in the lane because you are simply one of the best melee laners in the world of league of legends. As such, I think its best not to jungle with Xin Zhao and let someone else who does it better fill the role.

During team fights, you want to target their carries and basically make their life a living hell. You are an anti-carry who mission it is to kill/control their carry while protecting your carry. Do so by taking out their high damage/low survivability champions such as Ashe, Miss Fortune, Annie, Sivir, Twitch, etc. You are also an Offtank and should be absorbing some of the damage. Don't be afraid to take a couple of hits once you complete your first defensive item. You should be auto attacking the whole time in order to gain back life as well. Do not go in first but don't be the last.

As such, you want to position yourself so as to hit as many people as possible with your ultimate, Crescent Sweep. It is a great way to start off a team fights in the right direction and should be used at the beginning in order to gain the improved armor and magic resistance.

Pick up and , it will give you amazing staying power to farm up and get possibly first blood. Afterward you want to build as soon as possible. Wriggle's Lantern will give you amazing staying power in the lane as well as help you with last hitting. It also provides armor, ad, and lifesteal as well as great passive for controlling dragon, baron, and other key factors. For boots, are the best you can get on Xin Zhao because CC is his worst enemy and he has no built in escape mechanism. is a good choice if they have a lot of physical damage output.

Presenting the best item on Xin Zhao, the ! The Black Cleaver is single-handy the best item on Xin Zhao. Scales well with all his abilities with the amazing passive and great overall damage. A good Xin Zhao has The Black Cleaver, period! Its really the only damage item Xin Zhao needs to be effective.

At this point you will be able to rip apart any champion quite easily. Next, you want to build a survivability item. You need to decide between , , or depending on their team.