Hello Fellow Summoners! Is your favorite role in League of Legends the role of AD Jungle? Then you have arrived at the right guide. Xin Zhao is ready to Win Nao!

In this guide, I will be explaining how to properly use Xin Zhao in the Jungle. Xin is a very highly rated and selected Champion and for good reason. He has a very strong early game with the correct Runes and Masteries. He's capable of dealing decent damage while being able to tank very well. Plus, he has two forms of hard CC Post 6.

Below, there will be Specs, math and some in depth reading so make sure to read everything before using this guide so that you may fully understand what Xin can achieve.

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Pros / Cons

Pros:

Fantastic Ganker,
Knock up,
AOE slow,
Great Sustain with Battle Cry,
Lane Pusher,
Extremely fast,
Strong Early game

Cons:

Ranged AD Champs like (Most other ADC Range is in range of your e)
Weak without farm
Vulnerable to cc
Relies on Flash

Abilities

Challenge (Passive)

Xin Zhao challenges his target with his basic attacks and Audacious Charge, reducing their Armor by 15% for 3 seconds. Only one target can be challenged at a time.

This passive is great for many things:
Helps clear jungle much faster
Reduces armor while ganking with use of Audacious Charge (W) or auto attacks.
Helps Isolate a target when your Ult is up.

Three Talon Strike

Deal Damage equal to AD + 15/30/45/60/75 (+1.2 AD) for three auto attacks. The Third attack knocks up the target for 2 seconds.
Reduces his other ability cooldowns by 1 second with each strike
Cooldown 9/8/7/6/5 seconds

This is the ability you will be choosing at lvl 1. You need this quick burst of damage plus the knock up to help with wolves and blue. This ability will be useful after that with Battle cry for a few reasons:
Increases Damage output with attack speed and speeds up the CC you dish out with Q.
Will help clear jungle. Always Remember, Use Battle Cry before you use this so you can get proper cooldown reduction.

Battle Cry

Passive: Heals Xin Zhao for 25/31/37/43/50 (+0.7 Ability Power) every third basic attack
Active: Increases Xin Zhao's Attack speed by 40/50/60/70/80% for 5 seconds.
Cooldown 16/15/14/13/12 seconds
Mana Cost 40.

This will Be your lvl 2 choice after Wolves and Blue Buff. You will also be maxing this ability first for several reasons:
Better early sustain
Faster CC
Higher Damage output (I shall explain in detail below)

Audacious Charge

Now challenges the target
Damage 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.6 Ability Power)
Slow 25/30/35/40/45% for 2 seconds
Range 600
Cooldown 13/12/11/10/9 seconds

Core of your whole ganking skillset. This is your gap closer and out ranges even a couple of ADC's. 2 Seconds of slow is pretty decent when coupled with your W and Q. They will either die or burn their flash. Make sure the lane you are ganking is aware that you will be going in so they can deal damage and possibly get the kill. Make sure to feed your APC's and ADC's first. Only take kills to SECURE a kill.
Make sure you initiate with this skill in team fights and always focus that ADC/APC.

Crescent Sweep

Deals 75/175/275 (+1.0 AD) Xin Zhao an AOE spear sweep on targets around him, dealing damage + 15% of their current health in physical damage, knocking back any unchallenged targets, and boosting his armor and magic resistances 6 seconds.

Cooldown 120/110/100
Armor and Magic Resist bonus 15/20/25 per champion hit.

The skill that makes you broken. This skill complete's your combo in teamfights/lvl 6 ganks. This skill deals decent damage and has very useful cc potential. Try to position yourself to use this to hit enemy champions into tower range if the time ever arises. This is even useful in running away. As long as you do not Challenge a target chasing you or your team, you may knock them away to save yourself, or even an ally in need.

Summoner Spells

Smite

This is always a must on any Jungler for the simple facts of faster jungle clears, counter jungles, dragon/baron secures for your team.

Flash

I always take Flash as my secondary Summoner Spell due to it's ability to jump walls, make quick escape or even quick ganking help. Only take this summoner spell if you are used to using it and know the right times to use it.

Other Viable Summoner Spells

Ghost

Ignoring unit collision and 27% Movement speed increase for 10 seconds is definitely a nice feature to have when ganking or even in an escape situation. Only choose this Summoner spell if You aren't a fan of flash.

Exhaust

Only take exhaust for champions lik40e Teemo or other champions with movement speed buffs in lane to shut them down.

Ignite

Take this if you really want to secure kills for your team and feel you do not need an extra escape.

Xin's abilities Synergize incredibly well with one another. Here are a few nifty facts about how Xin and his abilities work:
Q: Three Tallon Strike - W: Battle Cry
Whenever you use Q, It resets the auto attack animation. What this means is whenever you press Q while auto attacking, he will immediately strike again as soon as Q is pressed. Best used Directly after an auto attack, especially after activating W, Battle Cry. Always remember to W and auto attack once before using Q unless you need that knock up right away. In this case, press W and Q at the same time.

Now, why do we max W first?:
Here I shall show you just why we do this.
78.4 Base Attack Damage at LvL 9
.832 Base Attack Speed

MAX Q at Lvl 9 with 2 points in E Damage over 10 seconds:
E Deals 105 Damage
W Increases attack speed by 40% New Attack speed 1.164/second
W Gives 11.64 Attacks per 10 seconds.
Q Deals 225 + 47.4 Damage over less than 3 seconds 272.4
78.4 x 8.64 = 677.4

272.4 + 677.4 + 105 = 1054.8 Damage over 10 seconds

MAX W at Lvl 9 with 2 Points in E Damage over 10 seconds:
E Deals 105 Damage
W Increases attack speed by 80% New Attack speed 1.497/second
W Gives 14.97 Attacks per 6 seconds.
Q Deals 45 + 47.4 Damage over less than 3 seconds 92.4
78.4 x 11.97 = 938.5

92.4 + 938.5 + 105 = 1135.8 Damage over 10 Seconds

W maxed does more damage in ganks and teamfights. Also, you will have your hard cc from Q being delivered much faster, making you more efficient in ganks. Madreds will also being able to proc more often due to an 80% attack speed increase and you'll be healing yourself for more, making you more efficient in jungle.

Lvl 6 Combo:
While ganking, the most effective combo to get a kill in the lane you are ganking goes as follows:
E, Audacious Charge into the squishiest champ in lane (MAKE SURE the lane you're ganking knows you are doing so. NEVER Gank within enemy tower range unless you know you can get the kill). As soon as you hit them with E, R, Crescent Sweep to deal significant damage and knock away anyone nearby. As soon as your ult animation is finished, Press W, then Q to finish your CC and damage. This will most likely get you that kill for your team.

Teamfight Combo with Ravenous Hydra:
Always remember to FOCUS AND TARGET THE CARRIES. Your goal mainly is to single out that ADC with E, then Immediately R to disrupt the enemy team's formation. It is at this point that you will most likely become focused for a moment. When that moment Happens, Proc your Ravenous Hydra Active to deal Max damage and heal as much as you can. It is at this point that you try and hard CC Whichever carry is left remaining with your WQ Combo.

With this Rune/Mastery setup, it will grant you 15.3 AD + .664 AD per level, 18.04 Armor, 8% Armor Pen, 4% Cooldown Reduction, 5 damage per attack/ability blocked, 7.5% Slow effectiveness reduction, 10% slow duration reduction, 500 Health + 93 health per level , 10% Reduced Crit Damage, .9(2%) Magic Resist per level all at Level 1. You are quite tanky early on. 500 Health and high armor make Wolves and Blue easy to do. Xin Naturally gains decent AD and his skillset makes him a perfect Tanky Assassin/CC Dealing Badass. This setup makes you durable at lvl 1 and will make you EVEN MORE durable all game.

Starting

Hunter's Machete Health Potionx5
An Obvious Choice for any Jungler. Extra Damage and Sustain.

You will want to start off at the Ancient Golem (or start wolves with help, then blue), then Wolves, Wraiths, Golems, Red, gank, then any camps that are up. If pressure to the lane is the only thing that can be done during first gank, head to the closest camp (preferably Wolves or Golems) and clear the next camps in line. If you are high enough health at this point, you may choose to gank again if desired.

750 gold

Madred's Razors Boots

I decide after a gank or two to go b and grab myself some boots and madreds for the extra movement and armor, making you tanky, and the extra damage on monsters is great for any point of the game. I Usually keep this around until I get my Locket and Hydra.

From this point, I will continue to clear the jungle from left-most camp to right-most camp or vise-versa and go in for ganks where needed. Also, do not be afraid to hold a lane for someone if they are in need of going B also.

Core Build

Locket of the Iron Solari Vampiric Scepter Berserker's Greaves Giant's Belt Tiamat
I generally Like my Midgame to build into something like this. I like to rush Locket right after I go b the first time. It provides 425 Extra Health, 35 Armor 10 health regen per 5 seconds and 10% Cooldown reduction. This ultimately makes Xin beefier and makes his cc worthwhile. Vamp Scepter for extra Sustain and Damage. This will later be built into Hydra with Tiamat. Giants belt for the extra health and ability to build into Mallet, Warmog's, Randuin's or even Sunfire Cape.
With 805 Extra Health, 60 Armor, Sustain and AD, you're pretty damn tanky and can even start spreading damage around at this point. Remember to gank often and continue to clear camps while grabbing dragon whenever it's up. Dragon should first be taken around 7-10 Minutes in. Always try to have bot come with you or even mid come with you in order to clear dragons quickly. Dragon Respawns every 6 Minutes once it's slain, so make sure to grab it whenever it's back up. Remember, it's 950 Global gold distributed throughout the team. REMEMBER TO WARD! When you have enough to Straight up Buy a Tiamat after you have bought Locket, boots, vamp scepter and giant's belt, go B. Sell Your Madred's and now It's Time for The Hydra's Damage to shine.

Normal AD/AP Mix teams

Ravenous Hydra Wit's End Frozen Mallet Warmog's Armor
This is the Typical Last items you will want to pick up. That Hydra Dishes out Damage. I would recommend moving your Locket to item slot 1 and Hydra to item slot 2 So you my use their actives at appropriate times. Wit's end will give you that team fight MR Plus 40% Attack speed. Mallet gives you 700 health plus makes it so whoever you target will never ever get away in team fights. Finially, Warmog's Gives you 1000 extra health and regen, so once fully built (if you get that far) you will be super tanky with a pretty decent AD Getting spread around.
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For those who need a bit of something else: Viable Late game options

Spirit Visage Black Cleaver Randuin's Omen Sunfire Aegis Blade of the Ruined King Runic Bulwark
These Items can also be viable on Xin. Buy these if you feel you are lacking in any department.
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Final Build

With this full and final Build, No one can ever get away from you. Your job now in a team fight is to single out the fed Carry or Carries. You will be slowing people and dealing a ton of damage while being able to soak up lots of damage. Xin becomes a super tanky killing machine with the final build.

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Thank you for reading my guide. I hope this helps you take Xin into your Ranked Jungle games into the near future. GL and HF! :D
DMFF