Hello everyone, and welcome to my Xin Zhao guide.

This is my first guide, and any feedback is welcomed and greatly appreciated. Xin Zhao is an all-around fantastic champion to play, and is also a great pick to take to Ranked. Thank you for taking some time to read this guide that i have put together.

So now I present to you, my Xin Zhao guide

[*] Strong dueling power [*] Good ganks with E and Q [*] High sustained damage output

[*] Easily kited after E is used [*] Vulnerable to high CC teams [*] Squishy in the early game

[*] Overall still a badass [*] Play this guy [*] Rekt Scrubs

Attack Speed Marks serve to provide for a greater clear speed.
Armour Seals for general tankiness.
Scaling MR glyphs for a more tanky late game.
Flat AD Quints to compensate for the Attack Speed Marks.

Personally, I enjoy taking W first on Xin Zhao for a higher clear speed, but if you happen to be invading or you are getting invaded you can get Q for the knock up and extra damage.

Some people like maxing Audacious Charge over Three Talon Strike. The important point in maxing your Q is that every hit while your Q is active, reduces your other cooldowns by 1 second, which adds up to a grand total of 3 seconds (+ the amount of time you take to hit the target thrice) of shorter cooldowns. Maxing your E provides slightly more burst, a greater slow, and it reduces the cooldown from 14 to 10 (1 second reduced with each point in E). Looking at this data, maxing Three Talon Strike is much better than maxing your E.

Three hits of Three Talon Strike= 3 seconds of lower cooldowns for ALL your spells (except your Q itself)+time taken to hit them. Maxing E first reduces the cooldown of E ONLY by 4 seconds. Therefore I highly recommend that you max your Q over your E.

A must-have for all junglers. Also a must so you can obtain your Skirmisher's Sabre. Self-explanatory why you get Smite over all Summoner Spells.

Exhaust makes for great dueling potential, and a great ganking spell. Even if you lose the mobility and escape that Flash would provide, Exhaust is better for eliminating the ADC.

On the Blue side

I always start with the Ancient Krug in the bot lane (better leash and stun buff from the Krug), and then I shift to the Red Brambleback and finally I take the raptor camp. This process will give you enough gold for your Skirmisher's Sabre. This is important as Hunter's Machete gives you a bonus 15 gold from each large neutral monster kill, while Skirmisher's Sabre will give you 30. Even if 15 gold sounds like a small amount, the extra gold will make a difference, along with giving you the ability to smite enemy champions. After obtaining your Skirmisher's Sabre, clear the rest of the camps and rotate around the map to apply lane pressure.


On the Red side

Starting with the Gromp is not a problem here, but I still prefer taking the Ancient Krug for the stun buff they give when smited. When starting Gromp, I recommend shifting to your Blue and then the Murk Wolf camp, followed by backing and obtaining your Skirmisher's Sabre. From here, clear the jungle and gank lanes as you would if you started on the Blue side.


After 1 clear of the jungle

By now, Xin Zhao should be level 3/4, and you have a point in your E. Generally, snowballing your other lanes should be your main priority. However, never neglect your own farm as a jungler. You still need your Devourer to be useful in the later stages

Throughout the game

Aim to complete your Sated Devourer, which makes on-hit effects apply twice. Magic damage from the Devourer, % health damage of the Blade of the Ruined King and your Three Talon Strike will make Xin Zhao a high burst damage champion.

Securing the Rift Scuttler and the Dragon give 2 and 5 stacks to your Devourer respectively, so ensure that you have control over the Dragon Pit, and take the Dragon whenever possible.

In this chapter, I will go over certain item choices.

First of all, many people struggle between Black Cleaver and a Last Whisper.
Last Whisper: +40 Attack Damage (2300g).
Unique passive (Last Whisper): Physical damage ignores 35% of the target's armor

Black Cleaver: +400 health, +40 attack damage, and +20% cooldown reduction (3000g)
Unique passive 1 (The Black Cleaver): Dealing physical damage to an enemy champion Cleaves them, reducing their armor by 5% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 6 times for a total of 30%

Unique passive 2 (The Black Cleaver): Dealing physical damage grants 20 movement speed for 2 seconds. Assists on Cleaved enemy champions or kills on any unit grant 60 movement speed for 2 seconds instead.

Looking at the base stats of both items, we see that Last Whisper and Black Cleaver both provide the same amount of Attack Damage (40). However, Black Cleaver provides 400 health and 20% cooldown reduction, on top of the 40 AD.

6 stacks of Black Cleaver = 30% armor reduction
Last Whisper = 35% of target's armor ignored

Let us assume that Xin Zhao is about to kill Nasus. Nasus has 100 armor. Last Whisper effectively leaves him with 65 armor, while Black Cleaver will add up to a grand total of -30 armor, which puts Nasus at an effective 70 armor. Many people would assume from here that Last Whisper is a much better choice, especially for tanky champions such as Maokai and Garen. However, Black Cleaver also provides 400 health and 20% cooldown reduction. 400 extra health translates to slightly more survivability, and the 20% cooldown reduction also lowers the cooldown of Xin Zhao's spells. This means that Three Talon Strike and Battle Cry can be casted more often, which will increase your damage output significantly as compared to the Last Whisper. Black Cleaver is certainly the more cost-efficient item in this scenario:
700g --> 400 health and 20% cooldown reduction, along with the movement speed buff from the Phage component in building Black Cleaver.

Second, Randuin's Omen and Frozen Heart:

Randuin's Omen --> +500 health, +70 armor (2850g)
Unique PASSIVE --> When hit by basic attacks, the attacker's attack speed is reduced by 15% for 1 second.
Unique ACTIVE --> Slows the movement speed of nearby enemy units by 35% for 2 + (0.5% armor) + (0.5% magic resistance) seconds. (60s cooldown).

Frozen Heart --> +100 armor, +400 mana, and +20% cooldown reduction (2400g)
Unique PASSIVE --> Reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 15%.

First, let us compare the armor difference.
Randuin's Omen provides 30 less armor than Frozen Heart.

Next, the other stats:
Randuin's Omen provides +500 health as compared to Frozen Heart, while Frozen Heart provides +20% cooldown reduction and +400 mana.

Passives:
Frozen Heart applies the de-buff in a 700 AoE, and Randuin's Omen applies the same 15% attack speed de-buff to champions who attack you.

Analyzing this data, Frozen Heart appears to be more cost-effective than a Randuin's Omen. Applying the 15% attack speed de-buff as compared to only applying it when you're attacked will have a greater impact in the late stages of the game when both teams group up to contest objectives such as Dragon or Baron Nashor.

Building either of these two items is situational though, and completely up to the course of your own game. For example, the bonus health from the Randuin's Omen will not be to your advantage if the enemy is a Vayne since her Silver Bolts do bonus true damage (flat amount + % of target's maximum health). On the other hand, stacking health is much better than stacking armor against a team who have Black Cleaver or Last Whispers.

Third, Wit's End:

Wit's End --> +30 magic resistance, +50% attack speed
Unique PASSIVE 1: Basic attacks deal 42 bonus magic damage on-hit.
Unique PASSIVE 2: Basic attacks steal 5 magic resistance of the target for 5 seconds (stacks 5 times --> grand total of 25 magic resist stolen, 55 effective magic resist from Wit's End.

Why Wit's End?

Sated Devourer makes on-hit effects apply twice. This means that each time you hit your target, Wit's End now does 42x2 bonus magic damage on hit, for a total of 84 magic damage per hit. Coupled with your Blade of the Ruined King and Devourer, your damage will be a mix of physical and magic. Auto-attacks will also shred the target's magic resistance, which makes your Devourer and Wit's End do even more damage.

Why is Wit's End Situational?

Getting a Wit's End means taking up an item slot. While Xin Zhao will have a stupid amount of damage with this build, he will also be less tanky than he could be, as you have bought a Wit's End in place of a defensive item, Spirit Visage, Randuin's Omen, Frozen Heart or Banshee's Veil, just to name a few.

I don't actually recommend this item, unless you're absolutely crushing your enemy. If that's the case, feel free to buy this item.

Fourth, Bloodthirster and Ravenous Hydra:

Bloodthirster --> +80 Attack Damage
Unique: +20% lifesteal (this means that multiple Bloodthirsters will not give you 100% lifesteal: 5 Bloodthirsters still give 20% lifesteal. AD still stacks so 5 Bloodthirsters = 400 AD)
Unique: Your life steal overheals you, converting the excess healing into a shield that absorbs up to 50-350 damage and decays when out of combat for 25 seconds.

Ravenous Hydra --> +75 Attack Damage, +100% base health regeneration, +12% lifesteal
Unique PASSIVE: Basic attacks deal 20% to 60% of your attack damage to units around your target.
Unique ACTIVE: Deals 60% to 100% of your attack damage to units around you.

Why are these items Situational?
Lets start with the Ravenous Hydra. This item grants health regeneration (which isn't very important since Xin Zhao's Battle Cry gives him a heal every third attack). More importantly, the active will make your auto attack reset, much like Jax's Empower. If this is timed properly, auto attacks will be executed faster which leads to an overall higher DPS. However, Ravenous Hydra is still a luxury item that should not be bought in an even (you have no advantage) game.

Next, Bloodthirster:
+80 AD? +20% lifesteal? Free shield? What's not to love right? However this item does have downsides. Much like any 'luxury' offensive item ( Wit's End, Zephyr, etc.), building this item takes up another item slot which could be used for defensive items. Lifesteal is only effective if you get to hit them, and if you get blown up, forget about making this item actually useful in your arsenal. I recommend getting this item only when you're stomping the enemy team as well.

Xin Zhao is overall a tanky character with high DPS output, but being tanky doesn't make him invulnerable (stuns/snares/slows). Diving in alone to try and assassinate the enemy ADC is possibly the most reckless thing you can do, unless you are absolutely certain that the ADC will be annihilated by a single combo (though if you die it isn't worth it either).

That being said, Xin Zhao's main role is to put out sustained DPS during a teamfight, which translates to not dying in 2 seconds. Pick your fights wisely. For example, if the enemy ADC is out of position and is a Jinx, feel free to dive her, with your team's backing of course. On the other hand, if the enemy ADC happens to be a Vayne, hang around until your team decides to engage. From there, either peel for your own ADC, or jump on the enemy. Good decision making is crucial in the team fighting stage of a match.

Overall, Xin Zhao is a great champion to play, but is overshadowed by junglers like Master Yi and Lee Sin. I highly recommend you give Xin Zhao a try if you haven't already. Thank you all for taking time to read this guide, and do provide feedback or post your opinions so that we may all share the wonders of playing Xin Zhao!

*If you're taking Xin Zhao to ranked, Flash is the wiser choice as compared to Exhaust.