I have taken inspiration from ALL THE BEST Xin Zhao players and am combining those DIFFERENT PLAYSTYLES to make you adapt to any Matchup/Game thrown at you.

My Main Inspirations are:

• 1vsAll (1300+LP Challenger & Korean Youtuber/Streamer Inventor and Goat of Xin top!)
  (Credited for the Conqueror Setup vs ranged & weak laners)
  
• XoraV1 (1200LP Peak, Multi-Season Challenger on Brazil Server OTP)
  (Credited for the Conqueror Resolve Setup vs harder lanes)
• SenKiya#NA1 (950+ LP Grandmaster OTP)
  (Credited for the Grasp of the Undying / Lethal Tempo Titanic Hydra Crit Setup)
  S25 GM account, Youtube, Youtube climbing account
• kenono #EUW (800LP Peak Challenger Trinity Force/Crit Xin Top OTP )
• Pleutre#Lol ( 300LP Master without banning anything EUW Xin Top OTP Streamer/Youtuber)
  (Similar Tanky/Safe and very FLEXIBLE setup rushing Titanic Hydra)
  

2 Main Setups
1. Aggro Setup ( Eclipse/ Trinity Force builds)
Followed by either Crit with The Collector and Mortal Reminder/ Lord Dominik's Regards or Bruiser with Black Cleaver and Titanic Hydra) often using Ignite + Doran's Blade
(Used vs most Champs, like Yone, Jayce, Rumble, Kayle, Gnar, Aurora, Gangplank, Smolder, Darius, Aatrox)

2. Tanky/Safe Setup ( Doran's Ring + Titanic Hydra builds) (vs Champs you can only beat through sustain, like Camille, Sett, Kled, Garen, Illaoi, ALL TANKS)

When to pick XinZhao Toplane:
Overall Xin likes 5 types of enemies
(Look for these types of champs in the game Im not rating the lane here):
1. Enchanters: Xin Zhao like to play both WITH Enchanters AND AGAINST them!! Sona, Soraka, Seraphine, Lulu, Nami, Renata Glasc
2. Squishy/Oneshottable non-Statchecking Melees (So champs like Rengar, Yone, Yasuo, Akali, Sylas, Riven, Zed
3. Mid-Low CC or Mid-Low Peel Tank champions: i.e. Sion, Ornn, Zac
4. AP Champs as Xin Zhao really likes RUSHING Maw of Malmortius (Insane if they have 2 AP Top JNGL)
5. Multiple Ranged Champs in Enemy Top/Mid/Jngl as Xin Zhao gets increase value out of Audacious Charge & Crescent Guard and Xin Zhao can build Stridebreaker giving him insane sticking potential (this is a bit weaker nowadays)
IN YOUR TEAM!:
1. Reset champs like Katarina, Jinx, Viego
works especially well with Crit Xin building items like The Collector and Mortal Reminder/ Lord Dominik's Regards
2. Engage skirmisher champs like Jarvan IV, Amumu, Sejuani, Zac, Rell
or champs who open fights for you like Annie, Aurora, Bard etc.
(Xin doesnt really want to be the first and only engage/fight starter)

When not to pick Xin Toplane:
1. You have 0 Engage/Followup team, who only want to poke/run away/get run into i.e. Heimerdinger, Janna, Kindred, Zyra
You dont want to be the sole primary engage so look for skirmish heavy allies!
2. Enemies have high Disengage/Counter-Engage Champs ( Janna, Thresh, Poppy, Gragas, etc.) or high lockdown cc i.e. Leona, Alistar, Rell, Skarner
3. Strong ganking Junglers like Pantheon, Nocturne who you cant kill/run away from
4. Melee Statcheckers, because Xin thrives if he can jump in and actually win the duel, champs like Darius, Garen, Volibear, Nasus, Sett want you to run into them and are too tanky to kill quickly
5. other types of Champs Xin doesnt like playing against: Amumu, Annie, Lillia, Mel either too much Frontal CC & Burst or too much Range/Speed

Xins Items are quite flexible and dependant on enemy top&jngl, runes & gamestate:

Starting Items:

• Doran's Blade: If dueling power is needed, scales better (often paired with Ignite & full damage build)
  Usually best when you wanna play for Priority
• Doran's Ring: For better Health and Mana sustain, better shorttrades, better vs Tanks (often paired with TP and scaling Titanic Rush builds)
  Usually best when you want to let yourself get pushed in

Boots Options:
When you think youll win feats go Ionian Boots of Lucidity and upgrade ASAP to Crimson Lucidity!
OTHERWISE:
Mercury's Treads or Plated Steelcaps are must buys in some games!
Both of which you wanna upgrade later into the game or whenever you have 500g left over
Otherwise sitting on Boots is fine too as getting to 3 completed Items as fast as possible can decide important midgame teamfights!

(Matchup dependant)
Default Rush:

• Titanic Hydra:
  Titanic Crit build!(best scaling 1v9 build for Solo Queue!!) or Haste Bruiser Riftmaker Hybrid (depending on how much DPS enemy team has and how well your team is doing, Crit can often carry losing teams better)
  Opens up proxying possibilities with early Tiamat, while stacking early health with Ruby Crystal, Tunneler and Giant's Belt give REALLY GREAT sustain!
  More about these 2 builds!
  
  While Titanic Hydra + Doran's Ring builds are definitely the easiest to play (because great sustain, waveclear and no mana issues), there is still a wide variety of matchups like Darius, Aatrox, Volibear, Nasus or 90% of ranged Matchups, that require stronger early dueling power, calling for Eclipse/ Trinity Force Aggro builds with Doran's Blade + Ignite!
  
  
• Eclipse: Generally the most flexible Rush Item for Xin.
  It massively improves your already great short Trades and synergizes well with Xins weaving in an out playstyle syncing Eclipse procs with his abilities/combos!
  In many matchups like Darius, Jayce, Riven, Olaf etc. you need the extra damage to kill them before they kill you. This is where Rushing Eclipse with Magical Footwear and Cosmic Insight is REALLY great!
  Cosmic Insight gives more uses of Flash Ignite Eclipse and Titanic Hydra this is why you ALWAYS take it if the matchup doesnt REQUIRE you to take Approach Velocity or Jack of all Trades instead!
  
  Eclipse can either be followed up by Black Cleaver, Titanic Hydra and Death's Dance for a bruisery high haste build or by The Collector and Mortal Reminder / Lord Dominik's Regards for a high dmg crit build.
  Crit is preferable vs matchups like Aatrox where you need the extra damage to kill them quickly or if enemies have very HIGH DPS & often squishy champs (i.e. Master Yi, Kog'Maw Vayne Aurelion Sol etc.), as theres no point building HP if youre gonna get oneshot before getting off multiple combos!
  
  If you or your team are really far ahead i generally suggest not going crit as the Bruiser build is less risky. Its also great if you feel your team has WAY enough damage already and you just need frontline to survive/engage
  
  
• Black Cleaver:
  Ever since the visual Rework of Xin Zhao his W has been changed to instantly fully stack Black Cleaver which has made this already great item even better!
  This item is especially good in 3 scenarios:
  1. The enemy laner stacks early armor with Plated Steelcaps or Bramble Vest
  2. They are a champ that you need some HP to survive against like Renekton (who will otherwise oneshot you after 6 with Ignite
  3. Your team is winning hard and just need frontline (Faster Titanic Hydra and Death's Dance by skipping Eclipse
  (4. youre vs K'Sante)

Other Rush Options (Situational)

• Maw of Malmortius: Pretty much a MUST BUY vs most AP champs or even better when vs 2 Magic Dmg Champs Top & Jngl. Great Scaling, The Omnivamp is INSANE in teamfights and Skirmishes!!
  
  
• Trinity Force: Best if you wanna go best scaling Damage build. Compared to Eclipse it gives more All-In Statcheck Power, while Eclipse requires more weaving in and out when fighting bruisers, waiting for cooldowns and Eclipse procs (also better at killing Towers)
  Downside: (433g more than Eclipse) + being forced to buy awkard and inefficient components like Hearthbound Axe and Sheen can make you lose an otherwise winnable lane. This is why i mostly go it only vs champs like Kayle or Smolder or when really stomping my enemy laner hard early!
  
  Trinity Force scales better, especially once you get some Crit items like The Collector or Lord Dominik's Regards which is why you want to run it either if youre gonna stomp lane anyways or if youre winning early hard but are scared of getting outscaled, gives movespeed (with Phage) which feels really nice, The Trinity Force crit build works super well with Jack of all Trades as you can get 10 stacks quite quickly (i.e. Doran's Blade Plated Steelcaps Trinity Force Lord Dominik's Regards The Collector)

"Outdated"

• Sundered Sky: Used to be most flexible Option for Grasp of the Undying scaling/sustain HP-Synergy build, either followed by HP-Synergy items or damage items, makes you really tanky and scales well with your high Health from Health Scaling, Overgrowth & Items, Good at short Trades in Lane, Godlike in skirmishes, especially good vs teams where you can proc it multiple times
  The main problem with this item (only for lane) is that it delays other essentials for Xin too much like Armor Penetration with Black Cleaver & Lord Dominik's Regards, Waveclear with Titanic Hydra,
  
• Essence Reaver: Only used to buy when you are snowballing!! Similar/higher dmg to Eclipse/ Trinity Force, Only buy when youre winning lane hard and dont need Triforce Spike 1v1 Power, Damage scales great because your W Wind Becomes Lightning scales with Critical Strike Chance, Lets you stay in lane forever with 0 Mana - Problems. Lowkey too expensive right now though and missing Eclipse shield and %hp dmg proc really feels bad in side 1v1s or 1v2s

Any other items like Stridebreaker OR Blade of the Ruined King are either too expensive/too low damage/too squishy and usually are WAY better as second Item!!!

Other:
Warden's Mail + Plated Steelcaps: Can completely ruin some laners like Tryndamere, Kled, Sett, Jax
Catalyst of Aeons If you wanna play vegan lane vs champs like Heimerdinger where you just need to sit back and survive, makes you practically unable to be poked out of lane

Muramana: Tends to be too slow for higher MMR games buying Tear of the Goddess early practically makes you go 400g (more than 1 kill) behind in Stats which doesnt work

Stridebreaker: 3 Criteria need to be met then its a really good Item 2nd-3rd:
1. You're ahead quite a bit ( Phage often helps with Snowballing)
2. Your team has enough/high damage
3. You're vs many slippery/ranged Champs

Ravenous Hydra I think there might be some Matchups that justify buying this item (as a Rush?) but i havent found one yet personally where i would prefer it over any other item (still testing)
1vsAll builds it vs Malphite but i think there are better options for tank matchups

Blade of the Ruined King: Expensive but Good if vs multiple (2-3+) high HP Targets ( Sion, Dr. Mundo, Cho'Gath), and Black Cleaver is not needed, getting both is just too gimmicky

Aggro/Damage Setup:
Building high Damage on Xin is VERY valuable as your Ult makes you artificially tanky, the goal is to be able to oneshot squishies then ult to walk out or keep killing

Playstyle:
XinZhao is really good against most Marksmen (ranged) champions or weak lane champions that cant deal with someone jumping on them.
Against those weak duelists you should play aggressive lv.1, with an E ( Audacious Charge) All-In at lv.1.
Be careful not to jump into too big waves like either full untouched lv.1 wave or the second wave right as it arrives! Those things will make you lose even against weaker enemies.
Against some enemies if you got a really good lv.1 trade you can skill Q lv.2 and look for the kill, otherwise if your not confident it will be enough go for W lv.2

In many other matchups, especially against melees you tend to not win the lv.1 E All-In and should instead start W Wind Becomes Lightning. Dblade start is all about playing for wave priority so you get your levelups faster, trading with AA->W->AA, which lets you win short trades against most champions.
If you feel you can't play for Priority early you might want to consider Safe Setup

From lv.3 onwards you should trade against weak duelists/ranged with your combo E->AA->Q->W (VERY FAST BURST COMBO), then either chase them down for kill OR back away -> wait until your Q is about to expire -> AA a minion -> YOUR E will BARELY come off cooldown as your Q3 is about to expire -> Jump on them or Flash Knockup and follow with E if they flash away
(look at Combo section for example)

Against stronger duelists you could still be aggressive with Combos like: E->AA->W->AA->Q->Q->Q->W for the quickest way to get your W back in combat, but THE BIGGEST TIP for Xin Top is to let the enemies engage on you. Once they used all their spells theyll try to retreat and thats when youll strike dashing on them and running them down with your LOWER COOLDOWNS than 99% of Toplaners

In general even if you just get an equal health trade, Xins INCREDIBLE SUSTAIN from Determination means those trades are benefitial to you.

Thats also why Ignite is so MANDITORY especially in ranged matchups, because it means you often get uncontested access to the wave (because the enemy is scared) letting you heal up.

Xin Zhao becomes really strong around lv.4-5 when you get some points into W Wind Becomes Lightning and can freeze the wave after having recalled.
Then your next big spikes are lv.9 for fully maxed W Wind Becomes Lightning and Eclipse giving you GREATLY IMPROVED short trades (see Matchup section for specifics)

Build:

You go Doran's Blade most matchups, often buy Executioner's Calling early if they have any healing
VS AP Champs you (almost always) buy Hexdrinker -> Maw of Malmortius ESPECIALLY if the enemy jungler is AP aswell, which lets you beat 95% of AP Champs in the 1v1 easily

Default Eclipse Builds: (look into Matchups for specifics)
Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Cosmic Insight, Magical Footwear, Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, Flat Health (for maximum early stats)

1. Eclipse Bruiser build:
Eclipse -> Black Cleaver/ Titanic Hydra -> Titanic Hydra/ Black Cleaver -> situational

2. Eclipse Crit build:
Eclipse -> The Collector -> Mortal Reminder/ Lord Dominik's Regards -> Immortal Shieldbow or situational

Click here for: Bruiser vs Crit (Explanation)

3. Trinity Force Crit build:
Conqueror Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Jack of all Trades, Biscuit Delivery, Attack Speed, Adaptive Force, Health Scaling
Trinity Force -> Mortal Reminder/ Lord Dominik's Regards/ The Collector/ Infinity Edge -> situational
Best scaling and highest dps/statcheck build

Click here for: Eclipse vs Trinity (Explanation)

4. Cleaver Rush build:
Black Cleaver -> Titanic Hydra -> situational

Best Situational Items:
Maw of Malmortius, Death's Dance, Edge of Night, Serpent's Fang, Guardian Angel, Kraken Slayer, Sterak's Gage, Wit's End

Comparing Crit Items:

The Collector	VS	Infinity Edge
Better buildpath		Stronger on Completion/When you can back on BF Sword
Executes in Fights		quite a bit better dmg scaling with crit multiplier (for Q and W)
25g per kill

Mortal Reminder	VS	Lord Dominik's Regards
AOE healcut with R		200-500 more dmg per combo depending on armor/gamestate
Early Executioner's Calling		200g cheaper

Safe/Tanky Titanic Rush Setups
These Setups can turn horrible matchups into winning matchups

General Playstyle:
This "Safe" Setup is focused on SHORT TRADES and ABUSING SUSTAIN from XinZhaos passive Determination and Runes.
Doing this you slowly widdle down stronger earlygame champs letting you win otherwise unplayable matchups.
This build is GREAT VS Camille, Sett, Kled, Illaoi or any Tank)
This build SUCKS vs champs that can run you down or where you need dueling/statcheck power: Darius, Trundle, RANGED CHAMPS)

Builds:
What defines this setup is going Doran's Ring (Increasing your Determination Heal and fixing your Mana issues with Presence of Mind)
and RUSHING Titanic Hydra which is already one of Xin Zhao's best items because of its interactions with Three Talon Strike
Usually you let the opponent push early (RESPECTING THEIR LEVELUP TIMERS!!) and try to establish a Freeze infront of your Tower!

As you are rushing Titanic Hydra you can decide whether you want more sustain (prioritizing Ruby Crystal, Giant's Belt, Tunneler increasing Determination and Second Wind healing by alot) or more waveclear (prioritizing Tiamat potentially letting you proxy and/or roam easier)

1. Titanic Crit Build:
Titanic Hydra -> Mortal Reminder -> Infinity Edge->Flexible Tank/Durability Items (you have enough dmg with 3 item core!!)

The most expensive, highest damage, best 1v9 build for most elos

2. Safe Scaling Build: with Teleport or vs Tanks with Grasp of the Undying & Ignite:
Titanic Hydra -> Black Cleaver -> Riftmaker giving you an insane 2 & 3 Item Spike vs low-ish DPS enemies
Finishing build options: Jak'Sho, The Protean, Unending Despair, Spirit Visage, Overlord's Bloodmail, Force of Nature, Experimental Hexplate


Comparing Crit vs Bruiser:
1. For Soloqueue Crit should probably be default, I have lost countless games where I heavily win lane, botlane looks even early, I start building bruiser and instantly enemy adc get 5-10 kills and carry the game (as bruiser xin without the right team guaranteeing a dead adc, even when fed you're helpless). Crit in a Soloqueue environment scales better in terms of independant usefulness
2. Bruiser is less risky, if your botlane specificall is doing well early you should prioritize Bruiser
3. Crit is great vs certain champs ( Aatrox, Volibear, Darius, Kog'Maw, Viego, Katarina, all those champs you need to kill fast)
4. Bruiser is very good in balanced Teamcomps/Drafts (1 Enchanter and 1 Primary Engage/Teamfight initiator) because you can make full use of your high haste, getting multiple rotations of spells vs Crit which is better in Soloqueue clown fiesta comps where everyone plays random champs & for themselves
5. Enemy Teams DPS: if enemies have such high DPS that Bruiser Xin is gonna die before getting a second rotation of spells just go Crit instead and oneshot someone with your 1 rotation of spells

Runes:
Normally
Lethal Tempo, Presence of Mind, Legend: Alacrity, Coup de Grace/ Cut Down, Second Wind / Bone Plating / Conditioning, Revitalize/ Overgrowth

The difference between Conq and LT isnt huge, LT just gives slightly better scaling with Crit build you already have enough raw dmg later with LDR, IE and in Lane the attackspeed often leads to 1v2 opportunities and faster healing of waves after trades with the bonus Attackspeed

Grasp of the Undying, Demolish, Second Wind, Overgrowth, Presence of Mind, Legend: Haste
Shards: Attack Speed, Health Scaling, Health Scaling/ Flat Health
Matchup dependant who you go this vs but overall its quite better in lane especially for shorttrades

Weaknesses:
Xin Zhao is mostly very immobile (defensively and in terms of roaming speed)
Avoiding Jungle Ganks by placing a deep Stealth Ward in the enemy jungle (lv.1 and whenever you pushed your lane) lets you track the enemy junglers pathing, which is one of the most important skills to help you climb as Xin Zhao Top!!!

Overall Xin Zhao is very slow in moving towards objectives and around the map as he has no freely useable dashes/movement speed buffs.
This means 3 things:
1. Always show up early to objectives ideally 30-40 seconds in advance and push your waves early enough to be able to do so
2. Heavily communicate with your team to wait by spam pinging and telling them to wait for you if you happen to be late
3. Dont randomly roam to midlane (unless you managed to proxy or are wildly ahead in top) as youll be slow on the way there and slow on the way back often losing WAY more resources than youll win if successful, also Xin just get alotta value of staying in lane with his passive

The last downside is Xin Zhao's lv.6 which for many Matchups ( Renekton, Aatrox, Darius, Yorick, Riven, Mordekaiser) is a serious but temporary despike!
In return for this you get a champ that loses pretty much NO matchup pre 6, has insane sustain strong killpressure (even when dying once ore twice through his Sustain), carry potential and scaling!
If respecting these Matchups at 6 bothers you too much i recommend playing Xin Zhao as a counterpick only into Matchups where this isnt the case ( Aurora, Gangplank, Yone, Smolder, Kayle, Jayce, Rumble, Akali, Sion, Cassiopeia, etc.)

Laning/Trade Combos:

(prepping your passive if you are going for a trade helps, as it gives bonus dmg)


Main Quick Trade Combos:
1. AA->Q->W (or lv.1 AA->W->AA)
2. E->AA->Q->W->(disengage and stall Q until last second)->Q2 minion->E->Q3->W

E->AA->Q->W will always leave your W and E on a similar cooldowns (depending on W level)
(This combo is doable from lv.4 onwards with 0 haste!) Play Video
All-In/Full commit Combo: E->AA->W->AA->Q->Q->Q->AA(wait for W)->W or starting melee: AA->W->AA->Q->E(somewhere here)->Q->Q->AA(wait for W)->W
This combo gives highest W CD reduction and best for if the enemy will fight back. Once you have enough CDR 3 Qs fully reset your W giving you 2 quick Ws Play Video
Q Prep Combo: Q Minions twice->E->AA(Knockup)->W
(this combo is often used to tower dive! There are better combos for trading!!)
Q Minions Twice -> Flash -> knockup -> W -> AA+Ignite is often better to surprise finish opponents off, especially if you just used E Play Video
Longrange Engage with W->E (Usually only good if you are coming from the front, If you are flanking the enemy team (which you should) you probably wanna engage with E or R->Flash)

Followup/Delayed W Combo (highest damage (useful) combo for lane) W->Wait2Sec->E->AA->Q->Q->Q->W Play Video
W -> Flash -> E for super longrange W or repositioning a missing W Play Video

Crescent Guard Ult Combos:

(in general your ult does Current HP dmg, so it does more if they are higher HP, If you know that you want to fight someone to the death 1v1 you might wanna use it earlier rather than later, this ofc has tradeoffs like more ppl coming or disengaging and using it for turret dive combos etc.)

R->W is really fast so the full main damage combo can fit in R for maximum damage Play Video Full Fast Max Damage Combos: E->AA->Q->R->W or long Combo: W->Wait2Sec->E->AA->Q->R->Q->Q->W Play Video
E->R mid-dash especially good when diving for maximum burst as you skip the R animation Play Video
You can R->Flash into many people in teamfights, this pairs especially well if you R->Flash->W->E or R->Flash->E Play Video
Can be combined with Q-Prep for the "Pleute Special" for ultimate towerdiving combo
Q minion twice -> R -> Flash -> E -> Q3 -> W
Play Video
You can R someone into a Wall to stun them without knocking them back far. This is especially useful when towerdiving in toplane letting you R(into Wall)->W hitting both parts of your W while they cant react letting you followup with E if they flash afterwards Play Video

Ult Insecs:

Unreliable Variation: E -> Flash behind enemy (so E doesnt mark enemy as challenged)-> Ult Play Video
Improved Xinsec: E -> W (hitting a second enemy) -> R -> Flash behind primary target Play Video