Xayah Build Guide by Dragonmysterieu

Hello! And welcome to my Xayah ADC S11 guide. In case you were wondering why you should listen to my guide, I'm a platinum ADC/Support main who has been playing since S5. I don't usually make guides for champions, but I felt like I could contribute a few interesting playstyle variations to one of my favorite ADC's. Hopefully you enjoy the read and can find success with this build.

PROS - Lots of burst - Self peel - Excellent kiting - Amazing follow up - Good waveclear

CONS - Short AA range - Very squishy - Long ultimate CD - Low mobility

Q-AA-E
This is the fastest root combo and packs a surprising amount of burst! This is and excellent weapon against low health unsuspecting foes.

Q-E
This is my last resort to try and snag a very low health adversary just out of AA range.

W-AA-Q-AA-AA-AA(-AA*)-E
This is your maximum damage combo. You should always use this when an enemy is locked in place by a teammate. Most of the time you can squeeze in 4 auto-attacks, but sometimes you will not be able to before the enemy breaks free from the CC, in which case you should use Bladecaller after 3 autos for the root. This combo really depends on your attack speed at the time.

W-AA-AA-AA(-Q*)-E
This is one of the most common combo you will utilize. This combo is the kiting combo. Use your Deadly Plumage for the extra MS and weave in auto attacks while backing up. If the enemy gets greedy and keeps stays in range you can Add the extra 2 feathers from Double Daggers to deal massive damage. I would add that this combo is an important part of playing Xayah and why she is so hard to play. It is important to fully utilize this combo to maximize the champion's strong kitting ability.

Some of you may be surprised to find Hail of Blades as my standard recommendation. I think hail of blades is better than Lethal tempo because in season 11 burst and early game leads are too important. Games are decided by the first 15 minutes. Hail of Blades gives Xayah insane short trade DPS in combination with her Deadly Plumage early in the game. Also, the ability to land a 3 feather root as quickly as possible is indispensable. I do think Lethal Tempo is a superior late game keystone, but the fact of the matter is that by then the keystone won't be as important as the gold difference between you, and the other players.

For tier 1 secondary runes go taste of blood for a little bit more sustain other wise you can go for Cheap Shot for a bit more damage.

For tier 2 secondary runes go for Eyeball Collection.

For tier 3 secondary runes Ravenous Hunter is the best choice in most scenarios. But feel free to go Ultimate Hunter if you feel that the enemy team is intimidating and you need the extra self peel.

This rune is amazing on Xayah. It is incredibly powerful in combination with Essence Reaver and will singlehandedly make the early laning phase more manageable. I recommend taking this rune all the time weather or not you decide to take Hail of Blades as your keystone.

For your final minor rune, I recommend Legend: Alacrity. Attack speed on Xayah means much more than just damage. It allows you to place more feather from Clean Cuts and with less risk. The faster you can lay down feathers, the more likely you are to succesfully trapped your enemies with your Bladecaller. It also makes kiting a lot easier. If you are adament on not taking Legend: Alacrity then your second option is to go Legend: Bloodline

I personally recommend going Kraken Slayer before Essence Reaver. Although, going Essence Reaver first is statistically better. I also recommend only going Immortal Shieldbow when the enemy team has more than one assassin or that you are having a rather poor laning phase. The reason I prefer Kraken Slayer over Galeforce is because the raw stats of Kraken Slayer simply outweigh the benefits of the Galeforce active. Most importantly, Kraken Slayer offers 10% AS as its mythic passive which affects the speed that you can dump you're feathers.

Buy tier 1 Boots whenever you have the spare 300 gold in shop, then buy tier 2 boots after your first item. Go Berserker's Greaves most of the time. Only build Mercury's Treads or Plated Steelcaps against full AP or Full AD team comps respectively or when behind in lane.

As you second item it is best to go with Essence Reaver. This is a core items on Xayah because is lets you almost forget about managing you mana. As long as you don't constantly use your abilities to clear the minion waves before a big teamfight, there should never be a problem.

These items should be build after Essence Reaver when certain champion appear on the enemy team. Often called "champion tax" as an ADC it is important to build these item components early in order to avoid getting flashed on and dragged by a Skarner's Impale or swallowed by a Mordekaiser's Realm of Death. You complete these items later in the game once you have acquire more important items like Navori Quickblades. Examples of when to buy these components : Hexdrinker to prevent being oneshot by Veigar ultimate, and Executioner's Calling against Dr. Mundo or Aatrox.

This is Xayah's last core item. This is where the fun really begins. At this point, you should already have 2 crit items, so upon completion Navori Quickblades will give you an insane amount of cooldown reduction. It takes a bit of time to get used to, but you should almost have permanent uptime on your Deadly Plumage if you manage to keep auto-attacking something. After this Item I recommend adapting your build to what you think is necessary to keep you alive, or to counter the enemy. If you are extremely fed, you should go for even more damage because you know what they say, the best defense is a good offence.

Usually, after completing all my items I like to go Guardian Angel. The armor and passive makes it much more difficult to get picked off in a teamfight by a single enemy. Be warned, getting killed in a side lane alone and losing the passive will make this a waste of gold until the passive is back up. So I recommend only buying GA when you intend to stick with your team.

If you did not build any adaptive items this game then your 3rd legendary item should definitely be Infinity Edge. You should also sell your boots and buy IE if you are full build and have enough gold. When you're winning this item will usually be the nail in the coffin to close out a game, but it could be wise to chose a more defensive item instead when your team has fallen behind.

Bloodthirster is a great item on any ADC with the added 20% crit it now has as of season 11. But I think where this item really shines is against enemy poke compositions and against low damage, tanky team compositions. The life steal and shield will allow you to stay with your team after being hit with and unfortunate lon ranged ability like Xerath's Arcanopulse. This item also excels at dueling tanky champions or other ADC's.

Phantom Dancer is another great dueling item to round out your build. The extra movement speed and attack speed makes it much easier to kite and to outplay the enemies. I would always recommend going Phantom Dancer over Rapid Firecannon because RFC just does not feel very good on Xayah and does not play into your strengths.

Runaan's Hurricane is a fantastic and underappreciated item on Xayah. It give all of the loved stats from other Zeal item's but with an added 25 AD. As a final item Runaan's Hurricane offers a Tonne of damage in teamfights and can be a great purchase if you are your teams only source of AD damage.

Tanks are very popular in S11 and it is common place to have more than 2 on the enemy team. When that happens Lord Dominik's Regards.

Finally, the last item I think you should consider building is the rarely seen, Death's Dance. As mentioned above I recommend Death's Dance against heavy AD enemies. The armor, the sustain ,and the damage the item offers is a rare sight for ADC's but are extremely powerful in the right situation. Keep an eye out when in champ select and try out DD the next time you see a full AD enemy team comp.