Coming straight from lolking's famous feature, I shall display how
Xin Zhao matches up to a lot of potential junglers. The ratings I will use are mainly three : Easy (green) , medium (orange) and hard (red)
Aatrox : Medium Great duelist, and a not-so-bad ganker. He has the highest sustain in the entire game. You do not want to fight this guy unless you have
Executioner's Calling . Of course pay attention to his resource bar since the colour indicates when his
Blood Well is available or not.
Amumu : Easy Although a great ganker, he has the big weakness of invasions ,
STEAL HIS BLUE BUFF and he'll not be a threat whatsoever, since he's so dependent on it He is a pretty weak duelist, he will not usually consider dueling a xin zhao 1v1 unless he catches you on very low hp or something. Counter jungling this guy should not be a problem either.
Darius : Medium King of 1v1s frankly, he is going to give you a hard time despite your attack speed and cc. He does rely on his blue buff so make sure to steal that, or at least deny him that. In his ganks he relies heavily on his
Apprehend to successfully kill someone, so anyone spotting him a fair distance away with a
sight ward is going to be fairly safe.
Diana : Easy Close to zero 1v1 potential early in the game, compared to you. Ganking pre-lvl 6 as diana is a joke. After 6 though, it becomes a problem to deal with her ganks if she lands a
Crescent Strike on her target. In a 1v1 you win even if she lands everything on you.
Also relies on her blue early game. You know the drill, do not be afraid of counterjungling her.
Dr. Mundo : Hard What a pain, harasses like a boss and laughs at you if you try to kill him. You cannot kill him without
Executioner's Calling , It really works wonders on mundo and other heavy-sustain champions. If he lands
Infected Bonesaws you're going to have a bad time, his ganking is pretty much bad since the only thing he has for cc is a narrow-hitbox slow.
Elise : Medium Great all-around kit, her weakness is extended fights.
She doesn't rely on her blue too much, like you. Ganking power is amazing too, the range of that
Rappel is a lot. This really is more of a skill matchup, if you can dodge her
Cocoon stun, you'll be fine pretty much, however, if she does land it you'll lose a lot of hp. Work your way around that.
Evelynn : Easy Unless she's super-fed she's not going to be a problem in a 1v1. Counter jungle this widow. While she does have the annoying
Shadow Walk feature, her ganks aren't that powerful because she has no hard cc, she's just going to spam
Hate Spikes at everything she sees mostly lol. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THAT SHIELD. If she hits several champions with her
Agony's Embrace that shield will be hard to take down.
Fiddlesticks : Easy Easy as hell. His most recent changes got him weaker in the sense that his
Terrify now makes you run away from him instead of in random directions.
Just save your
Three Talon Strike for when his
Bountiful Harvest and it's an easy 1v1. His
Crowstorm is scary especially if he has
Zhonya's Hourglass, so have your team spread out until it's finished. Then immediately jump him and kill him.
Hecarim : Easy Very reliant on his
crest of the ancient golem. So if you deny him that with a successful invade he's going to struggle massively. His ganking is not to be taken lightly though, take note that he can move while he's snared with his
Devastating Charge if he's close enough to you.
His fear from his
Onslaught of Shadows is meh, doesn't last that long. And he's not winning against you in 1v1 fights early game. But counter-jungling this guy isn't a good idea still. Be careful.
Jarvan IV : Easy Sucks in 1v1s unless he builds damage instead of tankiness. EXTREMELY RELIANT ON HIS BLUE BUFF. Seriously he has some of the most ridiculous mana costs alongside people like lissandra. You must counter jungle him early game. Have your lanes warded at all times, since his ganks are VERY scary especially with that
Cataclysm.
Have your team spread out so his
Golden Aegis doesn't gain much strength and he can't trap numerous people in his
Cataclysm. His grandfather saved you from Noxian imprisonment, so you owe him.
Jax : EXTREMELY DIFFICULT If you see this guy you may as well surrender.
You cannot 1v1 him since his strength is extended fights. And he sticks to you like a sore throat. Even worse, he is not dependent on his blue and his teamfighting is superb (Given he lands his
Counter Strike on more than one person) . Pretty much the hardest matchup for you.
His damage is a mix between physical and magical but he mainly deals physical damage, so prioritize some armor, particularly
Randuin's Omen and
Frozen Heart.
You have to shut him down pre-6, in 1v1s you can bait out that
Counter Strike then dash away with your
Audacious Charge, then jump back on him or a quick
Three Talon Strike. Engaging in short bursts instead of one long fight is going to help you a lot. Or skip reading all of this and ban him lol.
Kha'Zix : Medium An assasin just like you, but with much less reliance on autoattacks. Neutral monsters in the jungle do not affect his isolated
Taste Their Fear damage, so keep that in mind when fighting him. You will also have a better chance of winning vs him if you can dodge his
Void Spike. He relies on getting kills constantly for his mobility, so you need to focus him in teamfights. Once you get your
Blade of the Ruined King and
Phantom Dancer you should win 1v1s with him.
Lee Sin : Medium Versatile jungler/top laner. An all-around kit just like
Elise, but with a little less damage and a shield. His mobility can be scary, but is mainly dependent on his
Resonating Strike, so if you can dodge that you can 1v1 him. The
Tempest/
Cripple can be bad news for you early game since it can slow your attack speed a lot, and you don't have your items yet.
This is also a skill matchup mainly. Depends on who gets more successful ganks.
He will also usually start at his
blessing of the lizard elder, so steal his
crest of the ancient golem while you're at it to deny him experience/gold
Malphite : Difficult Another counter to autoattack-reliant champions like yourself. What he is going to do is stack up lots of armor, and that is bad news for you, especially if he gets
Randuin's Omen or
Frozen Heart. Average mana-hunger, stealing his blue is going to definitely help but not as much as you think. I'd definitely avoid fighting this rocky bastard. Try to counter gank since he does not deal much damage if he's going pure tank.
Master Yi : Easy Easy to 1v1 early game , particularly when you get your
Blade of the Ruined King. Counter gank AND counter jungle this guy. You can disrupt his
Meditate with a
Three Talon Strike but I'd avoid saving it for that. In teamfights (Any stage of the game) He can become a threat, and you must time your
Crescent Sweep correctly to push him back from your team. Otherwise he can kill people late game easily.
Morgana : Varying All her strength depends on landing her
Dark Binding.
If you can dodge it it's goodnight for her. But if she lands it you're in for a lot of harass.
In teamfights her
Soul Shackles is mediocre because it doesn't last for long. You can avoid it by pushing her away when she goes for it. Steal her
crest of the ancient golem.
Nasus : Pretty Hard This dog's weakness is early game. However even if you try to engage him he'll just slow you to a crawl and laugh at you. He has zero dependence on his blue buff unless he needs to spam all of his skills. STAY AWAY FROM HIM DURING HIS
Fury of the Sands.
He gains more ad per second your are close to him. If he builds lifesteal he is going to be impossible to 1v1 even with an
Executioner's Calling. He can even turn a fight around at low hp by slowing you and then
Spirit Fire to
Siphoning Strike for massive lifesteal. Just avoid this guy altogether. He is like
Darius in ganking, If you spot him a fair distance off, he's not a threat. Shut him down early game, or you will BECOME DUST.
Nautilus : Easy The king of cc. A hard initiator too. He will almost always go super tanky with more than one
Warmog's Armor. His
Titan's Wrath is extremely hard to take down because it scales with his hp and moreover, it lasts forever. He is pretty mana hungry though.
So stealing his
crest of the ancient golem will give him a bad time like
Amumu and
Hecarim. He does suck in a 1v1 but avoid fighting him if he has either
Randuin's Omen or
Frozen Heart. You should knock him back whenever he tries to initiate and you'll be fine.
Nocturne : Medium It all revolves around the fact that if he blocks one of your Qs with his
Shroud of Darkness you are screwed. Even if he doesn't you can lose if you're not careful. Get out of his
Unspeakable Horror with your
Audacious Charge. You can deny his
Paranoia with
Crescent Sweep if you're grouped up although you need some timing to prevent a death and turn the fight around.
Nunu & Willump : Who the hell invented this guy
Ice Blast after
Ice Blast after
Ice Blast. It just doesn't end. His
Visionary only accounts for one spell per fight. So if he chucks that
Ice Blast at you and keeps fighting he may go out of mana. A
Banshee's Veil is going to help a lot, since his
Ice Blast is the only targeted ability he has. In teamfights you must prevent that
Absolute Zero with your Q or even your own
Crescent Sweep if necessary.
Forget about counter-jungling because of his
Consume.
Pantheon : Baking beats spears? Without armor you are going to have a bad time 1v1 with this guy. Also you must not let him block your
Three Talon Strike with his
Aegis Protection or you're screwed. His ganking is mediocre, unless he uses a
Grand Skyfall for it.
Rammus : Sonic. Fastest guy in the game. His ganking is extremely scary, however his dueling is extremely weak. COUNTER JUNGLE this guy like crazy. You cannot hope to counter gank him. You can also push him away from your team if he's getting close to an important target with his
Powerball. Good luck catching this guy.
Rengar : Pain in the ***. Same thing with
Pantheon. Without armor you're screwed.
He isn't as strong in extended fights, and when he uses his
Thrill of the Hunt he will have to commit to the fight or run and most likely die. Ward the lanes' bushes and he's not getting anywhere near your laners pre-6. Avoid fighting him without armor.
Sejuani : Nautilus with damage Good luck escaping this boar. Builds extremely tanky and deals considerably good damage. One of the best initiation tools is that
Glacial Prison. Like
Malphite, counter ganking is effective since she's relying on her laner for the assist.
Shaco : Die laughing 99% of the time shaco will invade your jungle just because he can. He cannot do anything in extended fights. A good shaco is almost impossible to deal with. Keep your lanes warded at all times. A popular trick with shaco is that he'll bait you into walking into a brush when he's very low hp, only to find that he has 3 or so
Jack In The Box's stacked up, these things will kill you by themselves if he's ap. Your
Crescent Sweep doesn't help much either since you can't see him if he jumps :/ Removal of
Oracle's Elixir made it difficult to deal with him (Unless you have a
Twisted Fate in your team). Distinguish his clone from the real guy with your passive.
Shen : Medium Weak duelist, follow the same routine with
Sejuani and
Malphite.
Shyvana : My god She builds as tanky as shen but she deals a hell of a lot more damage, enough to kill. She will likely start at
blessing of the lizard elder, take the chance to steal her
crest of the ancient golem away and deny her some experience/gold early on. You can interrupt her mid-flight with a well timed third
Three Talon Strike or knock her back before she reaches her target with your
Crescent Sweep. Counter ganking/ counter jungling are both bad ideas.
Skarner : Piece of cake
Quicksilver Sash /
Mercurial Scimitar Both end his
Impale, also his natural cdr is ruined with hard cc, and you have two of those.
Champions with a knockback ability will help an ally that is being dragged by skarner.
Get in front of skarner and use your
Crescent Sweep to make sure he doesn't drag his target too far into his team.
Tryndamere : Mediocre Hard cc is your ticket to winning 1v1s with him. Especially early game. Ignite him 2 seconds after he activates his ultimate at 1 hp to ensure a kill. You can chase him easily, and you can keep him off your team with your
Crescent Sweep.
The only reason this is rated as medium is because of his late game. Once he gets a few items he becomes extremely ridiculous with those crits. Fortunately you still have the edge if he doesn't have his ultimate, since you have 2.5 attack speed and
Blade of the Ruined King active and enough lifesteal to win the fight.
Udyr : Ok Pretty mana hungry early game, deny his
crest of the ancient golem and he will struggle. He is also vulnerable to kiting since he has no gap closers. You won't usually need to but you can keep him off your team if he's running way too fast with your
Crescent Sweep.
Vi : Medium Unless you're building tanky, she's not going to be much of a problem, especially if you can dodge her Q. And if she goes tanky, your
Blade of the Ruined King helps here.
However you cannot use your
Crescent Sweep to deny her
Cease and Desist. And her ganking is pretty strong. So work your way around counter jungling her (Even stealing her blue can annoy her a little).
Volibear : Varying Fun fact :
Ignite almost completely negates his
The Relentless Storm at level 1. His damage comes from you being low hp, so if he catches you at low hp then goodbye. Otherwise you should win fights. Even more so
Blade of the Ruined King counters his naturally tankiness.
Warwick : Meh
Quicksilver Sash /
Mercurial Scimitar negate his
Infinite Duress and
Executioner's Calling/
Ignite counter his sustain. Treat him like you would a
Dr. Mundo.
Xin Zhao : You counter yourself Just sit down, have a cup of tea, talk about your childhood, your mother, anything.
It's funny how a champion counters himself. In this case, assassin xin needs to gap close to his target with his
Audacious Charge to kill him, you also have the ability that denies your gap closer, your
Crescent Sweep.
If the other xin goes tanky and you're going assassin, look for fights and counter gank him.
While xin is a strong initiator, either xin can deny the other with a
Crescent Sweep. He's not dependent on either buff for damage. In a 1v1, if he sees you , that "I want to prove I'm better than you" feeling will kick in, and he'll jump at you without thinking. This is where you immediately retaliate with your
Crescent Sweep, and jump to him with your
Audacious Charge. This will give you the bonus armor and the max damage, so even if he ults when you jump back to him he will already have his
Challenge on you from his initiation in the first place.
Chances are the other zhao could have taken the time to read this very guide himself, in that case grab a
Jax and go cry in a corner.
Zac : Piece of cake You can use
Ignite and
Smite on the bloblets that he seperates into when he dies. You can crush the goo that seperates from him whenever he uses an ability by stepping on it. Your
Three Talon Strike and your
Crescent Sweep interrupt the charging of his
Elastic Slingshot.
He needs to be very close to you to deal the majority of his damage, making kiting a viable strategy. His
Cell Division has the very long cd of 5 minutes.
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