Hello dudes and dudettes. This is my Xin Zhao guide. Feel free to comment any flaws you see in my guide. Have fun reading it, hope you will learn from this guide. :D

Hello! My name is iRoAnne and is a player from the PH server of League of Legends. This is my first ever guide for anything so please respect my noob coding. I actually have no more time to play League because of school and mostly of my rotting PC and Internet. I think Xin Zhao is a great Top Laner because of his CC and passive heal. Please respect my guide. :)

Pros +Very tanky in early game +Good gap closer +Strong burst +Great pusher +Wonderful Ultimate

Cons -No escape mechanism -Needs good use of Ultimate -Vulnerable to CC -Item Dependent -Can be counterpicked

Xin Zhao has 2 abilities with scaling AP. I take this rune for more damage in Audacious Charge and more passive life steal in Battle Cry





Xin Zhao has another 2 abilities that scales AD. So I prefer taking this rune, so you can CS better and fare better in scrimmages with your opponent in lane.





I think taking this rune is self-explanatory, but it provides you with more survivability. (That's it XD)





This rune is optional. But I take it because some mid-laners often gank the Top Lane when they hit level 6. This rune gives him a bit of resistance against champions like Katarina with her devastating Death Lotus





(Like I said in the Glyph's section.) :)) Hell no! It gives you approximately 5 AP! And what does 5 AP give you!? +3.5 Life steal every 3 attacks because of Battle Cry!? Heck yeah! Another 3 damage in your Audacious Charge!? It's not that big of a bonus Shut up! 3 is a big number so still Heck yeah!

CD Reduction mastery. And instead invested its points to the Defensive mastery.

Flash Spoiler: Click to view The summoner spell that won't ever leave my picks. This is a "Get out of Jail for free" card or "Hit and Run" card. I usually use it for escaping but if you want to chase and your opponent is already a significant distance, you can use Flash + Audacious Charge combo. Hurray for gap-closing skills \o/

Ignite Spoiler: Click to view All hail for the mainstream Flash + Ignite summoner spells! This gives you the Ultimate KS spell to piss off your carry. This spell has many uses, it can be used to finish fleeing champions, or what my friend sometimes use against Garen to disable his Perseverance passive.

Ghost Spoiler: Click to view This can be used for chasing like Flash but I think this is better if your opponent is really far away because its effect is longer and you can cover more distance.

Barrier Spoiler: Click to view I used to take this because my play style used to be really defensive. This is pretty optional and your tankyness can compensate for this.

Xin Zhao's basic attacks, including those enhanced by Three Talon Strike and Audacious Charge, will reduce the target's armor by 15% for 3 seconds.

• What's better than an enemy champion with lower armor!?
• Can be used to mark the champion your team will focus on.
• Pretty much self-explanatory

Xin Zhao prepares to unleash a fearsome combo, causing his next 3 standard attacks to deal his attack damage + 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+1.2 per attack damage)to enemy targets, with the final attack knocking his opponent into the air. Each strike while active reduces the cooldown of his other skills by one second.

• Reset your attacks so you can immediately use the bursted damage after your auto
• Lowers your cooldown by a total of 3 seconds (1 attack with Three Talon Strike lowers abilities cooldown by 1 second
• Additional damage works on towers.

Tips: You can use this to push the tower till next week because it gives you more damage and it also procs your Battle Cry passive.

Passive: Xin Zhao passively heals himself every third basic attack by 25 / 31 / 37 / 43 / 50 (+70% of ability power). Active: Xin Zhao unleashes a battle cry, granting him 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 % attack speed for 5 seconds.

• Gives you more attack speed to proc the passive more
• Synergizes well with Three Talon Strike
• The ability that gives you OP sustainability in lane

Tips: You must use it before you activate your Three Talon Strike so it will benefit from the -1 second CD reduction with its fairly long cooldown.

Xin Zhao unleashes a sweep around him that dealing 75 / 175 / 275 (+ 1.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to all nearby enemies equal to a base amount plus 15% their current health and knocks them back. Xin Zhao gains 15 / 20 / 25 bonus armor and magic resistance for 6 seconds for each champion hit. If a challenged target is hit by the sweep, it is unaffected by the knockback.

• Can be used for chasing since it's a gap-closer and has CC
• Has great damage since in this build we are building AP items
• With good timing, you can dodge some skills given that there's something you can charge on. (e.g. Baron Nashor's knockup, Cho'Gath's Rupture. etc.)

Tips: Like my tip on Battle Cry. Always use this skill before activating Three Talon Strike. It's slow is also good to chase and with the AP items, you can use it for KS you can use it for last hitting enemy champion given that they allowed you to. :)

Xin Zhao unleashes a sweep around him that dealing 75 / 175 / 275 (+ 1.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to all nearby enemies equal to a base amount plus 15% their current health and knocks them back. Xin Zhao gains 15 / 20 / 25 bonus armor and magic resistance for 6 seconds for each champion hit. If a challenged target is hit by the sweep, it is unaffected by the knockback.

• Can be used to isolate an enemy champion
• Could be used as an escape mechanism (Not Recommended)
• Gives you MORE armor
• Can be used to damage tanks

Tips: You must use it to its fullest. Initiate with it since it will give you more survivability. And by the defensive one. Use Crescent Sweep without Challenging the opponent so you can knock them back.

I personally upgrade Three Talon Strike first than Audacious Charge since I go on a more offensive approach. Three Talon Strike's cooldown lowers by each level so if you can spam it, you can also use Audacious Charge more. I obviously max Battle Cry last because the bonus heal does not increase by much and I focus on bursting damage.

And I take Crescent Sweep whenever I can obviously.

Spoiler: Click to view I take Doran's Ring and 2x Health Potion when I lane at Top Lane. With the 50 AP and with following my masteries and runes, you can have a decent sustain while you build your core items.

Spoiler: Click to view You can also take Doran's Blade if you want to focus on CSing instead of the defensive approach the Doran's Ring gives you.

The Brutalizer

I build The Brutalizer because of the Armor Penetration and additional AD for Three Talon Strike

Sheen

I either go Sheen first of The Brutalizer first because both of them synergizes very well with Three Talon Strike. The Spellblade passive of Sheen ensures your first hit after activating Three Talon Strike will get noticed.

Boots of Speed

SELF-EXPLANATORY :)

This item pretty much gives you more than you asked for. The AD for Three Talon Strike and Crescent Sweep, CD Reduction, Armor Penetration and Health.

This is the "ALL-IN-ONE PACKAGE" that Xin Zhao needs. It gives More health, the spellblade passive, attack speed and critical strike chance! Pretty good for the 3728 gold price tag. :D

The Blade of the Ruined King is a real great item on Xin Zhao. It gives AD, Attack Speed, more life steal, the slow and some damage to KS again? tanks and the ANTI-TANK OMGSUPERDAMAGING PASSIVE

This item is a must have for hybrid carries and AP carries. 120 AP and 30% AP increase? APOCALYPSE

This item is also epic. It gives you AD, AP, life steal, SPELL VAMP and another slow! No one can escape you with all your CC from these items. \(o w o)/

This item also gives you AD, AP, life steal and spell vamp with only the stacking attack speed bonus. :( BOO YOU STINK! This can actually save your arse if you're below half health and can be used to push towers. :D

Zhonya's is a HUGE item on Xin Zhao. It gives him the AP and the Armor. And that active is really good so that when you're about to die, you won't die. :D

Randuin's Omen is a must have if you are facing really, REALLY hard carries such as Jax and Fiora. Its Active is really useful if you want to escape clashes or your gonna get creamed by ganks.

You die after initiating!? Guardian Angel gives you the insurance to make sure you are gonna have a kill or assist by the time you fall on the Summoner's Rift. :D

Enemy team pissing you off because of bursts? Maw of Malmortius is the item that gives him AD, AP and MR. Plus that shield will piss off any would be attackers that will try snipe you.

Spirit Visage is an overall good item for Xin Zhao. It gives, health, CD reduction and has the highest MR bonus in-game with Banshee's Veil.

Banshee's Veil is a really great item on Xin Zhao. The extra HP and MR is good. But what really sets it apart is the 2 OP passives. One give you the chance to block 1 skill every 25 seconds and the other gives you HUGE HP Regen after a fight (Considering you survived) :D

These boots are the one i really prefer on this champion. Its attack speed bonus might be meager. But coupled with Battle Cry the attack speed bonus is really noticeable.

These boots are my all-time favorite boots. I usually take this whenever I play Katarina, Volibear and when I cannot really decide what boots to use on a champion. The movement speed bonus is insane and couple with Enchantment: Homeguard you can always be ready to push and/or defend.

This boots are a must-have when the enemy is full of CC skills and you can't move because of it. 35% is a huge reduction in long stuns.

Think Xin Zhao cannot solo Baron Nashor!? Yes? THINK AGAIN!


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This is something like, you got 5/0 on lane. Anyone who ganks you gets either gets killed or beaten half to death. You should:

• Push your lane like there's no tomorrow~! When the jungler and the AP carry will usually team up with the Solo Top champion to help against you. You can usually use this to your advantage since you're already wasting the time of the jungler and the AP Carry to either farm items or gain Exp. And if you're even overfed. You can take them all down. (Source: Me. Played Xin Zhao against a Riven, Nasus and Katarina)
• Go Dragon: Getting the Dragon is the first step in controlling the game. It deprives the other team of additional gold (Gold given is greater than a downed tower)
• Don't underestimate your enemy. Your enemy might be waiting for the right time to bounce back against you, or they are just playing with you before. Underestimating them can cost your whole game. (I lost countless of games because I'm pretty stubborn and think that I cannot lose my lane.)

Or you're experiencing something like the picture above.^^

• Building tank items is a must~! Why would you even rush damage items when you can't even hold your candle against them. Be as sturdy as a rock, build tank items. :D
• Ward your surroundings. Except if you think you're a freaking Challenger Tier dude with godlike map-awareness and you don't want wards getting in your way. Having a ward other than the Trinket counts. :)
• Don't flame. Like the LoL tip when you're starting a game. Many players lose if they flame more instead of focusing in the game.

Xin Zhao can be played as Mid still with that build, or jungle (haven't tried hybrid Xin Zhao on jungle). I laid my opinions in this guide. I'll constantly improve this guide when I play him more. (The reason I haven't played lately is in Self-Introduction section.


I also laid out many build types in this guide. I will experiment more in Hybrid Xin Zhao and update item build so you will have more choices. :D

Thank YOU for reading my guide. Hope you will upvote UPVOTE IT DUDES!. It might've many holes in the guide but please bear with it. (It's my first ever guide. I only made it in 9 hours and it kinda looks rushed) Feel free to comment anything you want me to modify in my guide. Bad comments are welcomed since it will make me strive for more better guides. And Questions will indeed be answered when I have the time to login. :D

Special Thanks

• jhoijhoi for her epic Making-A-Guide guide. This helped me so much in starting my very first guide :D
• Laggermeister for his Ten Commandments of writing a guide guide. :)
• IceCreamy for his How to use Columns guide. Really helped me on formatting my guide. :D
• hidan159 for his Jinx Guide which I used on my formatting too.
• iIchi Bot My teammate/Ranked Duo partner. I thank him for teaching me LoL and many heroes like Katarina and his contribution on the Item Builds. love ya dude. :D
• My friend that gave me the idea of a Hybrid Xin Zhao. Sorry for owning your Lux with my Nidalee but, thanks anyway. :D
• Siv HD! He gave me many ideas because of his video guides and how to play certain champions like 6 Rod of Ages build for LeBlanc and his all-time favorite move "Brushy-Brushy"
• A lot of previous guides I used as reference guides.

Sometime in the future. I will put the Matchups like: Xin Zhao vs Fiora, How will he fare against her. What to do when you face her, and how hard is it to lane against her.





This is kinda optional to put, but I'm gonna put it sometime later because some people might need to it.





The best way to attract readers is with a beautiful guide. Just like IceCreamy said: "Guides are like women - the inside is the most important but the eye wants something as well." :D



Want me to put something else. You can just comment it. :D

03/22/2014
Guide is written and published. Hurray! I have nothing to do for the whole day! \(o w o)/