Xayah is an ADC who excels at doing rapid, multiple small hits to several people at once thanks primarily to Clean Cuts and Deadly Plumage. As a result, she has excellent synergy with Black Cleaver, and the armor shred lets Bladecaller do as much damage as possible. However, Xayah is fairly squishy, and needs a proper team and wise use of Featherstorm to stay alive and effective.
I am ADC and...

• my team needs an ADC capable of doing AD damage on multiple targets at once
• I have a team that can keep me safe using CC, while also doing sufficient damage to overcome my relatively low damage. Supports such as Zyra or Karma are good at setting up and following up on Bladecaller snares.
• we need someone who's relatively good at shoving and clearing waves easily.
• they have assassins or sticky bruisers that can be trouble for a traditional ADC, but might be mitigated with good Featherstorm and Bladecaller use.

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Pros

+ Good AoE physical damage due to Clean Cuts, Double Daggers, and Bladecaller
+ Actual cc with Bladecaller's snare
+ Excellent synergy with Black Cleaver and Blade of the Ruined King
+ Naturally builds tankier than some ADCs due to Black Cleaver
+ Invulnerability thanks to Featherstorm
+ Strong skirmish potential thanks to the 'double damage' of Bladecaller
+ Strong kiting potential with Bladecaller, Clean Cuts, and Double Daggers
+ Is a bird

Cons

- Extremely weak level 1
- Weak without Blade of the Ruined King and Black Cleaver at the very least
- Landing Bladecaller properly is difficult, and what is defined as 3 feathers for a snare is iffy at times
- Not great at chasing since getting 3 feathers far ahead enough for a snare is difficult
- Extremely reliant on Deadly Plumage during teamfights for good damage.
- Does not do nearly as much as damage as other ADCs like Vayne or Miss Fortune
- Some of her lines go deep into overly obsessed girlfriend territory

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Flash and Heal, as standard for ADCs. Virtually anything through Flash, and survivability through Heal.

It gives you cleave, with works extremely well with her kit consisting of smaller, multiple hits on several targets. It gives you health, which helps with your relative squishiness. It gives you CDR, which reduces the long CDs of W, E, and R. What's not to like?

Blade of the Ruined King has become the star item of the ADC meta. The lifesteal helps you in lane (admittedly not as much as other ADCs since Clean Cuts doesn't work super well with it). The attack speed in particular is extremely useful, since your base attack speed is relatively weak. As Deadly Plumage is percentage-based, it becomes even more useful.

However, I wouldn't be surprised if this item gets nerfed soon, so this one is up in the air.

Being able to position better and ignore enemy or ally placement helps immensely with feathers. In addition, you have poor dueling potential, as it's much easier for one person to keep track of feathers against only you. The additional sustain thanks to the damage reduction also helps, as you really shine when staying alive for a longer period.

CDR boots are realy good on Xayah with this build since she won't be hitting cap regardless, and does well with it thanks to the longer cooldowns of W, E, and R.

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CLEAN CUTS: The feathers. After using a spell, your next 3 autoattacks will throw a piercing feather that will land in a straight line away from your target. Your target will take regular damage, while your piercing targets take significantly less damage. Proper use of this passive lets you clear waves very easily and harass somewhat. Mastery of this passive is necessary to get good bladecallers off.

Your stockpiled feathers max out at 5 feathers, and your stock decays rapidly without subsequent skill use. Hitting inanimates like towers and wards refreshes your stock.

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DOUBLE DAGGERS (Q) : Xayah quickly tosses two feathers a long distance, piercing enemies in the way. Your main long-range AoE, poke, and source of Clean Cuts feathers. It doesn't do too much damage, especially for targets beyond the first, but is very cheap, has a low CD, and sets up two feathers in an ideal spot for a snare.
Max this first, since you won't have items or damage to utilize Deadly Plumage efficiently. It's also your shortest CD, so it's your best source of Clean Cuts and feathers.

• Although it has a setup cast time, it doesn't prevent you from moving. Use it when running away or chasing.
• You'll get an autoattack very quickly after finishing your cast. An ideal combo would be using your Q, launching a quick Clean Cuts shot, then using [bladecaller]] to snare the enemy.
• Two shots of AD damage mean Black Cleaver synergy continues.

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DEADLY PLUMAGE (W) : Xayah surrounds herself and Rakan with feathers, granting her significantly higher attack speed and hits her autoattack targets with an additional blade. Your main source of damage after getting some items and great in teamfights. The 20% extra damage comes from another 'attack' you'll be able to see on your primary target, so your feathers don't get the benefit. However, the extra attack means you'll get an extra Black Cleaver proc in.
Max this second - it's your most reliable source of damage once you have some items.

• Your W gives you a speed boost when you hit an enemy champion. This is excellent for proper chasing and kiting.
• Because Deadly Plumage is a percentage increase to both attack speed AND damage, and as it's your primary damage source, Xayah has pretty good flexibility in what she builds after her core.
• The cooldown is significantly more than its duration, especially early on. You need to use this as efficiently as possible.

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BLADECALLER (E) : Xayah calls feathers back to her, piercing targets between her and them. Hitting 3+ feathers on a target causes them to be rooted for a short duration. The skill scales weakly with critical hit rate and AD, which lends her additional flexibility in her potential items.

Max this last - your other skills are far more important. Bladecaller is your early source of damage, but becomes far too unreliable later on.

• The snare only happens with 3 feathers. Your best bet for a snare is going to be Double Daggers and a Clean Cuts hit, then pulling your feathers back quickly.
• Bladecaller works on all feathers regardless of distance. You can Featherstorm, Flash, and Heal, then pull all of them back for a guaranteed snare on any chasers.
• The feathers do individual damage, so good news for Black Cleaver.
• Pay attention to the number of feathers you have out! The number will be displayed on the skill icon, so if you can't keep track of your feather locations (which is perfectly understandable), then just pulling them back when the number hits 8+ is a good idea.

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FEATHERSTORM (R) : Taking to the air, Xayah becomes invulnerable and untargetable for a brief direction before firing a line of feathers in front of her in a cone. The cone does damage to any targets caught within, and Xayah can move and use summoner spells while invulnerable. However, Featherstorm takes her out of the action too, so be careful with its use. In addition, the cooldown is very long.

• This comboes extremely well with Bladecaller, but not perfectly. Targets that are too close to the feather line likely wont get snared by just the line.
• The range on this is great, but with mediocre damage. Ensuring kills with this can be difficult.
• It's still a spell, so you can't use this when cc'd. Try to get this off before the action begins.
• You're locked into whatever direction you ult in, so be careful with where you're aiming.

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Xayah is sort of a 'surprise' ADC. Her initial damage is relatively poor, until she's shredded your armor to bits and has 10 feathers piercing your back at once. Much the same way, she doesn't seem to have a lot of impact on teamfights until you check the damage done chart.

Xayah is a decent skirmisher in lane with the proper support, as Bladecaller is a very strong skill early.

Early levels, focus on last-hitting and gauging your opponent's skill level. Try to avoid trades unless you're in the proper spot for a good Bladecaller. It might be difficult to last hit efficiently due to your low damage, and your piercing feathers may make farming under tower harder.

Remember that Clean Cuts doesn't increase your damage despite the cooler sound effects, and the piercing aspect can cause unnecessary damage to minions.

Ganks are somewhat difficult to deal with since you don't have a proper escape until you hit 6. If you do get ganked, try to place a proper Double Daggers and a Clean Cuts feather for a Bladecaller snare.


This is when you start becoming truly effective. Black Cleaver is simply too good of an item. The cooldown reduction from Black Cleaver and your boots should mean your W can be up a lot more, and it allows your to really burn down towers when necessary.

Teamfights will rely on efficient use of your W and E. Shred people with Q and your passive, then when you have a good Bladecaller potential or have 8+ feathers (about when your initial feathers begin to disappear) pull them back.

Late-game you really need to try and stay alive, first and foremost. Assassins and bruisers naturally go for the ADC, which means proper Featherstorm use is necessary. Use your great range with Clean Cuts and Double Daggers to hit distant enemies, and make sure you're always attacking to keep using up your feathers.

Bladecaller becomes somewhat mediocre at this point against tankier enemies, as the scaling isn't spectacular. Teamfights are tend to be mobile enough that getting a really good Bladecaller becomes more and more difficult. Try to get E to land on the squishier enemies, and use it for the snare more than the damage at this point if possible. However, if there's nothing that calls your attention, you can E at 10+ feathers for decent effectiveness.