Welcome to my Xin Zhao build. This is my second build. With this build, you will hit hard, have a great early game attack speed and damage output, and shred at the end as well, with some survivability of course. I hope you enjoy this build as much as I did, and if you like it, please vote and comment!

Keep in mind this is meant to be a AD carry build, not a tank build. While I suggest you can build a little tankier, to get max damage, stick to the build.

Updates and changes to guide since release:

4-12-11
Patch V1.0.0115
Battle Cry duration reduced to 5 from 7
Crescent Sweep duration reduced to 6 from 8
Audacious Charge cooldown adjusted to 16/15/14/13/12 from 18/16/14/12/10

This is a rather unneeded and pointless nerf to Xin Zhao. I hope they fix this. The reduction in duration for Battle Cry, according to spreadsheets, with a maxed out DPS build, he loses about 1600 damage in a fight. That's scary.

4-25-11
Release Notes v1.0.0.116

General
Base Attack Damage increased to 59.1 from 52.3
Attack Damage per level decreased to 3.1 from 3.3
Fixed a bug where Three Talon Strike could be activated while it was still active
Battle Cry
Passive Attack Speed is no longer removed while the ability is on cooldown
Attack Speed increased to 20/25/30/35/40% from 15/20/25/30/35%
Crescent Sweep
Armor and Magic Resist reduced to 25
Now scales and gives 7/10/13 Armor and Magic Resist for each champion hit

Xin is fixed.

Guide updated 5-26-11.

1. Red Buff is your best friend early-mid game.
2. YOU ARE NOT AN INITIATOR IN THIS BUILD!
3. Use your ult early fight, not to KS your teammates.
4. Do NOT use your ult for minion farming... sigh...
5. Have fun, and practice makes perfect!

Pros
-High attack speed and great damage output
-A charge that AoE slows
-A hard hitting, battle changing AoE ultimate
-Passively increased attack speed, and a knock-up
-A good 1v1
-A great chaser because of knock-up
-A decent ganker
-Not a horrible jungler mid-late game.

Cons
-Squishy at first
-High cooldowns without Battle Cry up.
-Vulnerable to CC
-If you are locked down and don't get your ult off, you have little team fight value
-Cooldown reliant, without spells up, you have little damage output.

A fairly decent passive, keeps you in lane longer. However, if you are getting zoned or are unable to attack, this is completely useless.


Your main single target damage. This adds a nice chunk of damage for your next 3 attacks, and knocks them in the air at the end. This is what your enemies should fear the most.


Thank god for this - passively increased attack speed, and double that when it's activated plus 1s cooldown reduction on all spells except this one when you attack. Use this as much as you can when your ult is down.


A good initiator and chaser - however you should not initiate with this build. Leave that to the tanks. You should be coming in last, or second to last.


Mmm, I love this spell. A high damage AoE that deals a flat amount plus a percent of their current health. Keep in mind it's their CURRENT health, not max. You need to use this as soon as the team fight starts for max damage.

Standard AD carry masteries - the 21 points in offense is very helpful. You can choose the put the other 9 points wherever you see fit, however I put them in defensive masteries to help out with survivability. If you really wanted to, you could go a little tankier and go with 9/21/0.

Greater Mark of Desolation These are a MUST. late game advantage, people.
These are negotiable... I got these for the extra crit chance that would work well with . You can choose MR instead if you want to be more tanky.
Again, negotiable. You can change these to armor if you want to be more tanky.
Greater Quintessence of Desolation this is a MUST as well. Late game advantage.

My Choices
This is great for catching the runner, and even better for 1v1's. This will shut down their main DPS, and give you the upper hand. I always use this when I play Xin.
This will help you escape, set up ganks, run across the map,and catch runners. This is one of my favorite spells in the game.

Viable Choices
If you don't like Ghost, get this. I don't see a whole lot of use for this with Xin, however Flash always comes in handy, no matter who you play.
This will help with first blood, finishing runners, etc. Not my favorite for Xin, but it certainly works.

Decent Choices
Meh, I don't like this for Xin. This always helps with getting back to lane faster, but there are better spells for him in my eyes. You can also use this to backdoor.

Everything else is a no.

Skilling Priority:
1.
2.
3.
4.

While I have Three Talon Strike and Battle Cry split in the above skilling order, I usually follow this.

Again, this focuses mostly on dealing damage. Stick to this build for max damage.

You should start with 2 Health Pots, and a Mana Potion.

Explanations for my item choices, and other viable items

This is an obvious choice for any AD carry, however, if they are high on CC, get . Boots are ALWAYS situational.

Brb changing shorts. This item was made for Xin. Adds a good chunk of AD, some AS, and armor shredding. This is the main item of the build. first if possible.

This was moved from the what not to get, to the what you can get, to the core items. This is an excellent item for Xin, and it will send your Crit and Attack Speed skyrocketing.

Standard AD carry survivability, plus a nice slow on every attack. With your attack speed, you will never have to worry about falling behind them with this. You can choose to purchase early on to help out with survivability, and finish this later.

At this point in the build, you can change things up a bit. I will continue with my standard AD build, however you can choose to build a bit tankier, or replace items.

I like this item on Xin. Some crit chance, plus the crit chance you got from Glyphs and Seals, this should work just fine. Plenty of AD to add as well.

This will give you some lifesteal, and add a LOT more AD. Try to stay alive and keep stacks if possible, of course. Your high AS and AD will heal you quite a bit with this lifesteal.


Viable Items

This is a good item for Xin. Instead of a you can get this.

If their team is squishy, do not get this. However, if you find their team very tanky, and your massive amount of Armor Pen just isn't cutting it, grab this. This will help.

You can choose to get this instead of if you find that you won't be able to keep Bloodthirster stacks, or if your team would really benefit it.

A good survivability item. This will help you in your overall survivability, specially if they have a . Never a bad choice.

A very overlooked item. If you find their team AP heavy, and don't want to buy a , grab this. This will give you more AD, and an amazing passive.

What not to get

Believe it or not, I saw a Xin with this in 5's and I nearly threw up. Disgusting. WHY????

For most Xin builds, this is a good item. Not for this one. Unless they have 300+ armor, do not get this. You have plenty of armor shredding power from other sources.

No.

Thanks for reading my guide! If you have any recommendations or thoughts, please vote and comment.

In-game name: Black Tides