Hello everybody and welcome to my Xin Zhao build ! Feel free to comment (in english or in french) and rate it at the end, I have a lot of things to say on that character who's my main since S2. Have fun to read it and I hope you will like it.

So, who am I ? My name is Elisyo and i'm a League of Legends player in EU-WEST. At the moment that I write this guide, I'm actually Platinium 1 in SoloQ. Why I wanted to make a build on Xin Zhao ? I think it is one of the strongest champion of the moment if you know how to play him and I have 75% win rate on him in ranked games. I went to Platinium by playing mostly this champion. I'm playing since season 1 beginning and Xin Zhao since his release, so yes, I know few things about him.

PS: I'm now Diamond now ;)

Pros +Gap closer +Strong burst +Knock-up +Devastating ultimate +Natural tankyness +Strong basic damages

Cons -No escape -Vulnerable to CC -Got counterpick champions -Kinda item dependent -A bad use of ultimate can make a fight lost

Since Xin Zhao benefits a lot of early AD, i fit well to take those marks with him, you will have a really good early game with those ! It can be either change for greater mark of armor penetration against a champion who is too tanky like Malphite



You will need this armor against most of your ennemies on toplane, it's the only runes that i wouldn't change for anything.



I like to have a bit of magic resist because even if your opponent is an AD champion, some of them have spells which does AP damages like Irelia's Equilibrium Strike or Jayce's Thundering Blow / Acceleration Gate for exemple. And even if they don't, it will help you mid game with their AP carry. If they are 100% AD against you, feel free to take Greater Glyph of Armor



Like the marks, it's a matter of taste, i really like to begin with early damages to be able to last hit and trade easily. You can change them greater quintessence of armor penetration, Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed for the laning, or Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed if you like to roam early and mid game.

Offensive :

Pretty obvious points, I wouldn't change them for something else !

Defensive

Tier 1 : Block and Enchanted Armor are must have in the defensive build for me, they are both good in early, mid and late game ! Recovery will help you well for the laning ;)
Tier 2 : Unyielding seems nothing, but actually it's a very good point, especialy because Xin is a melee champ. Veteran Scars of course for the extra HP.
Tier 3 : I now only take the extra life and Oppression . It's a very usefull mastery which is very effective when it's time to teamfight since there is a lot of slows or CC like this that will make this mastery a must have !
Tier 4 : I only take Perseverance, since i don't really like the other masteries for Xin, more health regen is a good thing for every moment of the game
Tier 5 : I use 3 points in Tenacious that i think is really really great when it's time to teamfight, and it synergies well with your ultimate. I add one point in Second Wind which is good for you => more lifesteal with your items, and more health back with Z and health regen
Tier 6 : Tenacity ? Yeah of course






Offensive :

The points in the Offensive tree are pretty obvious, if you want you can pick Frenzy if you will take a trinity or another Crit Item :)
The cooldown reduction of Sorcery can be a good choice too !

Defensive

Tier 1 : Block and Enchanted Armor are must have in the defensive build for me, they are both good in early, mid and late game !
Tier 2 : Unyielding seems nothing, but actually it's a very good point, especialy because Xin is a melee champ. Veteran Scars of course for the extra HP.
Tier 3 : 3% HP max, why would I avoid it ?

Flash (5/5) My favorite defensive spell. I like to always have one defensive SS and one offensive SS. I won't speak about it since i think you know everything of that spell.

Ignite (5/5) My favorite offensive spell. The heal debuff, damages and attack damage buff (with the mastery Summoner's Wrath ) are really great in laning and teamfights.

Ghost (4/5) Can replace Flash, in some situations that can work better tha, a flash, don't underestimate that spell since only Singed and Nasus's players are taking it

Exhaust (4/5) A good spell, works well on toplane since not a lot of players take it so they are surprise when you use it. I think it can be a good choice against champions like Jax

Teleport (4/5) There are situations where it can be better than Ignite and Exhaust. If you know you won't win your lane, you can take that to make your team win bot / mid with a good teleport. People often use it to come back on the lane after a death or something like that, use it soundly, it's not always a good thing to use it like that.

Barrier (3/5) Yes, i think this summoner's spell is viable on Xin Zhao, but it's very situationnal. I think this spell is very good against a champion that count only on his burst ( Kennen or Fiora for exemple]].

Smite (5/5) in jungle Only if you go as Xin jungler. AND, even if you don't need it to jungle since you have your Battle Cry, take it, it's a must have !

Cleanse (2/5) I don't think it's a good idea on Xin Zhao, this spells works well on champions that works only on auto-attacks or really squishy champions, which is not the case of Xin.

Heal (1/5) Not a good idea, if you like to have something like that, go for Barrier instead

Clarity (0/5) I think it's the worst spell for Xin, avoid it PLEASE !

Xin Zhao's basic attacks, including those enhanced by Three Talon Strike and Audacious Charge, will reduce the target's armor by 15% for 3 seconds.

-> Armor reduction, will help a lot when you and your team focus tanks
-> Used with Crescent Sweep will help you to focus one target in a middle of a team fight
-> You don't really have to think about it, it works by itself

Tips : There really are no tips for this passive, just try to have the same focus that your ADC or other AD champ to maximize the benefit from this passive.

Xin Zhao prepares to unleash a fearsome combo, causing his next 3 standard attacks to deal his attack damage + 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+1.2 per attack damage)to enemy targets, with the final attack knocking his opponent into the air. Each strike while active reduces the cooldown of his other skills by one second.

-> Your best CC, don't cost a lot of mana so you can use it to farm faster or lasthit better
-> Resets Auto-attacks so you can burst faster
-> Reduces the other spells cooldowns everytime you make a hit
-> Works on towers

Tips : Don't forget that it reduces the cooldown of other spells, if you are chasing someone it can change everything. For exemple you have your Three Talon Strike activated, 2 second on Audacious Charge and you can't get your ennemy. If you have a minion next to you, you can make 1 hit on it to reduce the CD of Audacious Charge and charge him just after to avoid him to run away.

Passive: Xin Zhao passively heals himself every third basic attack by 25 / 31 / 37 / 43 / 50 (+70% of ability power). Active: Xin Zhao unleashes a battle cry, granting him 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 % attack speed for 5 seconds.

-> Gives you sustain on laning
-> Gives attack speed which works really well with Three Talon Strike

Tips : Use Battle Cry before Three Talon Strike to benefit from the cooldowns reduction. If you need to regenerate your life, don't be afraid to stop lasthiting minions and hit to get your life back (don't stop to finish them of course or you won't get any gold)

Xin Zhao charges and challenges an enemy. The charge deals 70 / 105 / 140 / 175 / 210 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to all nearby enemies and slows them for 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45% for 2 seconds.

-> A great ability allowing you to catch up, damage and slow your opponent
-> Low cooldown when you up it fast
-> Put your passive on the target of your Audacious Charge which allow you to use your Crescent Sweep without knocking him back

Tips : If your jungler comes gank on your lane, try to save your Audacious Charge for the moment where your ennemy will flash, it will slow him enough to shut him down in most of the situations !

Xin Zhao unleashes a sweep around him that dealing 75 / 175 / 275 (+ 1.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to all nearby enemies equal to a base amount plus 15% their current health and knocks them back. Xin Zhao gains 15 / 20 / 25 bonus armor and magic resistance for 6 seconds for each champion hit. If a challenged target is hit by the sweep, it is unaffected by the knockback.

-> Extremely powerful ability, you can burst really hard with this spell. If you are confident in your damage, use it early since it scale with actual HP of the target
-> Gives you tankyness, the more champions you hit, the more tanky you will be
-> Can allow you to split their team, if you do it well, this will allow your team to kill your target before his teammates could do something to save him
-> The knockback can be use either offensive or defensive

Tips : Don't forget that only the one affected by your passive won't be knock-back, so you can use it to split a team from someone OR knock-back someone in your team by using your ultimate when he is between you and your team.

HERE WE ARE !
So, why i upgrade Audacious Charge first instead of Three Talon Strike. I have tried both, and personally i prefer to max the charge first since it allow you to chase more and the benefits from maxing the charge instead the three strikes are better for me. It's a personal choice. I calculated the damages for both choices, and i found that if you put your three strikes for both, maxing charge or strikes give you about the same amount of damage. But if you only hit two of your three talon strike you will have more damages by choosing Audacious Charge. As i said it's a personal choice, do it like you feel the best.
If you upgrade Three Talon Strike first, then upgrade Battle Cry second and Audacious Charge last.

Obviously you will max Crescent Sweep when you can.

I have different starter on top lane, i often play with the first and the second one, here they are :

• x3
  It's a good starter, you can use it offensively to get more AD and give you more chance to kill, or it can be use if you turn really low as a "heal" since it will give you extra HP that can save from an Ignite for exemple. With the nerf of the elixir, it's more dangerous to begin with this since you have no ward, so be careful if you choose to begin with that
• 
  A good starter with this new season, I often begin with it now, but remember that it's usefull against poke champ with auto-attacks (ex : Kennen or Aatrox)
• 
  Offensive start, works pretty well now that you have a potion with it, but I still prefer to have more potions
• x5 or x2(or3)sight ward
  Heavy AD against you at top lane like Riven ? Get that, you will be enough tanky to stay safe against that kind of opponent and the 5 pots will allow you to stay in lane a long time. You can trade 2 potions for a ward if you want to be safe against ganks (you'll have to wait 5 gold at spawn)
• x4 or x2+sight ward
  Can be usefull, against a champion who has lot of skillshots, or if you want early mobility for some use.
• x3
  A good alternative to the red pot

Doran's blade


Grab one or two of these, all the stats given by that items are really usefull on laning, i often won against people who went double long sword when i went double dorans since even if they use 150 gold less, you will be able to rape him in most of your trades

Boots of speed


You really need an explaination ?

Vampiric scepter


The life steal is amazing with your Battle Cry to sustain in lane. Moreover you can build good items after with the vampiric scepter

Giant's belt


Gives enough HP to allow you to go on a damage build on mid game before getting tanky items.

This item was good on Xin. Now it is really really great since it gives AD, attack speed, life steal, great active and this passive... OH MY GAWD, the anti IHAVE6KHPYOUDONTEVENDAMAGEME effect. I really love it and i take it often

At pre-season 3 i was taking it as Core item, but now it's different. In most of actual games, people rush on lot of HP items and don't get armor early, so i find other items to be more usefull than this one. But it still a great item since it gives lot of AD, armor penetration and CDR. If your opponent rush early tanking you can get it to be able to damage him hard.

I don't see a lot of trinity in S3, but it still a great item on Xin Zhao. I recommend you to take it if you don't go for the blade of the ruin king. Every stats are good for you, begin with the Phage first, Zeal second, and let's have TONS OF DAMAGE With the new phage passive, the new trinity is clearly OP cause it gives you tons of damage (Phreaks go out of my body !), and isn't that expensive, you can rush it as first item easily

I actually find this item more usefull than Black Cleaver, the passives stats are good for you, and the active will make your burst even more powerfull, with the Battle Cry, you'll need only 2 second to put your Three Talon Strike

A good item, i go for it instead of a Youmuu's Ghostblade when the ennemies have really a lot of armor and my team is mainly AD, so i can debuff them for my mates. The few HP given are a good bonus for you on that item

Attack speed + damages ? That's great, you will be able to damage really fast with this item, take it after having one other damage item before. If you don't have Mercury's Treads, the tenacity from Zephyr is really usefull. (It works well with Ravenous Hydra.

An underestimate item, gives you lot of damages and life steal which can replace the ones from Blade of the Ruined King. I recommend that item against Shen since when he will teleport, you will be able to push ultra fast your lane with that item.

Will help you against heavy armored team, don't take it as first item, it can be the 5th or 6th item.

I choose my boots depending of the team. If you think the armor will be better, go for it. Don't forget that it reduces the damages of auto attacks, so it's a good item against champions like Nidalee AD top or Jayce

You are against double AP team ? They have a lot of CC ? Go for it, you won't regret it !

I often take it as my second item, everything in that item will be usefull for you. Against a champion like Jax, begin with the Warden's Mail, it will help you a lot. When you jump in fights, don't forget to use the active BEFORE your ultimate, it will slow all of them and knock-back them, which is kinda wonderfull

I like that item against a very painfull lane. If i lane against a Renekton for exemple, i know that i won't be able to win him without my jungler, so i take that item to get tankyness and be able to hold trades with him.

Only against heavy AD team, something like 4 AD against you, this item will give them a really great debuff which will help your team a lot

As a 3rd/4th or more item, it can be good, but take some HP before to benefit a maximum from the passive. (The old trinity - Atmog is great on Xin)

A good item against double AP items, gives you AD, MR and a good shield. I recommend you to take it if you have a Vladimir against you

Since Xin scale a lot on attack speed's items, this one is really great if you need magic resist and you'd like to improve your damages too. Now it steals the magic resist to your ennemy, which is Really Really great, I recommend it a lot !

I don't really play with it, but against a Malzahar or a Warwick, that can be really good, the move speed when you use the item can save you in many situations

Cooldown reduction, HP and magic resist, a really good item for Xin. Don't forget that your Battle Cry will heal you more with this item since it increase the heal by 20%

The shield that block one spell is really good, the price have decrease since the S3 patch so it makes it more viable on Xin. If you need Hp and magic resist, you should choose between this item and Spirit Visage

It's a really great item for you and your team. Since you are laning, you can have it fast, so you will give to your team a good mid game with that item, having this with is really a good choice. Upgrade it to get the active for your team !

The "OP" item of the moment, everybody takes it. Actually i prefer a Frozen Mallet if i need HP or a Randuin's Omen than taking a Warmog. It's a good item, but it is a matter of taste

Zeke's Herald

First time you see this item ? Yes i understand your feeling, only few people like to play with that item, and i am one of those. I tried it, and when you already have few damages, you have a Vampiric Scepter and you need life, it's a nice choice to take that

Zeke's Herald

I personnaly don't like that item on Xin zhao, i don't really have problems of mana with him, i prefer to begin with red pots and something else. I don't really recommend it

I don't see it often, i feel better with that item than a Warmog's Armor, it gives AD, HP and a slow on every hits. It's a very good item for you.

It gives both armor and magic resist, which will make you really tanky. I love that item, and in some situation, the revive can change a teamfight. You engage, you are focus and you die, but your team does the same with their bruiser. So your come back with the passive and your team win the teamfight cause you are still there !

More movement speed, which is always a good thing on all the champions

The one that i personnaly take, since you are one of the champion that will engage in your team, it will give a "little shurelya" to allow them to follow you.

There is only two situations where i take it : I loose and i need to be always ready to defend a tower, or i play with a teleport and i makes wonderful gank with the movement speed from the fountain

With this one, you'll be able to stick up to someone since every hits will give you movespeed, if you want to move faster you'll often have to choose between this one and the green one

->Which trinket should I take ?
To start the game, you will always play with the Stealth Ward, it's a free ward and the two other trinkets are useless for you.
In mid game, you can trade it for a Greater Lens which is very usefull when you want to do objectives like Drake or Nashor, or if you face Teemo for exemple.


->When do I upgrade my trinket ?
Well that depends of the game, sometimes I upgrade it fast to get a free pink or a free oracle for the team, sometimes I won't upgrade it until I'm full stuff. You have to make your own choice about it I think. If you face Akali, try to get a fast Oracle's Lens to be able to see her when she becomes invisible !


->So I don't need wards anymore !
Wrong, a ward can help you to get vision on one place, and on top lane you will often need to have the vision on tribush and river, and sometimes on lane bushes. So don't stop buy wards because you have one free ward.

Here's my way to build Xin Zhao, I always try to rush one offensive item, these are my favorites ones :





After I have the choice, I can either go for another offensive item if I'm feed or in a good game, or I'll just go for some tankyness like that :





Then I try to have 2 offensive items and 2 defensive items. I finish my last item with what I need the more, damages, tankyness or else :

• You have a better early game than him, try to fight him at levels 3-4-5-6 when you see the possibility
• The important thing that you have to know about him is that when his second bar is RED, it means that his passive is up, so don't get bait by it !
• Look to his buffs, if you see that his Blood Thirst / Blood Price is on his 3rd strike (a new buff in his bar), avoid to be near him, if he max this spell it makes awesome damages easily
• His ultimate gives him range and a lot of attack speed, Randuin can be your best friend against him
• Aatrox is about sustain, don't forget to pick your Ignite

• If she puts her Mark of the Assassin, don't let her auto-attack you to proc the mark.
• Use the bushes to avoid to get arr*** too much from her Mark of the Assassin
• Try to avoid to stay in her Twilight Shroud since she will always have the advantage in it with the bonus armor/MR and the invisibility
• Ask your jungler to come to shut her down, a fed Akali is one of the worst thing to have in a game. Try to have a Vision Ward ready for that
• You can kill her after 6 with both full life, but take care, it won't be easy to do so
• Oracle's Lens makes a good choice against her !

• This match-up depend of his starting item, if he goes with cloth armor, it will be hard to shut him down, if he goes doran ring, you have a big chance to win this
• Avoid the Rupture at any cost, or he will free damage you. You can use your Audacious Charge to engage him when he tries to use it on you so you will be able to punish him without any possibility for him to defend himself
• Vorpal Spikes go in the direction that he hit, try to avoid to be behind your minions when he hitting them
• His passive allows him to sustain on lane, if he can't last hit, he can't sustain
• His Feast is really strong since it does TRUE damages (it means that Hexdrinker shield doesn't work!), take care when he hit 6. Before level 6 is where you will be able to kill him easily, try to benefit from this a maximum
• If he goes on early armor like Frozen Heart, rush The Brutalizer. If he goes on life with a Catalyst of Aeons, a Blade of the Ruined King can work really well

• After playing many times this match-up, i felt like it was quite easy to win this. You outdamage him every trades and you have sustain where he hasn't any
• Avoid to get harass by his Decimate, if you avoid to get hit by this, punish him directly with a full combo, he won't be able to do anything
• Never underestimate him, like Cho'Gath, his ultimate Noxian Guillotine deals true damage, so if you got too much stack of Hemorrhage, stay back
• He has no escape and you have good CC, don't be afraid to ask your jungler to come, you will snowball your lane so hard that he can't stop you after getting a kill

• When you see her weapon becoming white, take care her passive Moonsilver Blade will work on next attack, it does decent damage so take care
• Crescent Strike is a little tricky to avoid at the beginning, but with training you won't find it hard to avoid
• Everytime you have your full combo (QWE) up, don't be afraid to jump on her, she has no escape, only a shield, you will win the trade
• A Wit's End against that kind of champion will help you a lot, i highly recommend it

• My wosrt nightmare with all the champions that i like, if you can avoid to play against her, do so, it's not a good idea to play against her
• Ask your jungler to come early, even if she has few escape mecanism, you can shut her down pretty easily early with help
• Use bushes to avoid to be harass to much by her Neurotoxin / Venomous Bite, when you are high life she will deal you lot of damage in human form, and when you will be low, she will destroy you in spider form
• Rush tanky items, something with a Vampiric Scepter + Wit's End + Spirit Visage if they have an AP on midlane, or lot of life if she is the only AP of their team

• A skillfull match-ip, if she plays bad it will be easy, if she plays well you won't win that lane easily
• Begin with Cloth Armor and Health Potionx5 to stay in lane a long time and have more chance to win trades
• Avoid to fight her too early, the passive of her Riposte will make her win easily trades
• try to bait her Riposte, you will be able to win trades if she can't use it against one of your Three Talon Strike
• You can kill her on lane, since your Crescent Sweep deals more than her Blade Waltz, but take care, it still do nice damages and if she has some lifesteal, her ultimate will give her some life back
• Warden's Mail is a good item against her

• Begin with Cloth Armor and Health Potionx5 to be able to hold his early harassment
• Parrrley can deal lot of damage if he build critic items, but it cost him lot of mana. Avail from it by attacking him when he is low mana
• His first items will tell you how your lane will goes. If he goes on crit items, don't be afraid to trade him everytime you can, he can only harass you with his Parrrley but can't trade with you. If he goes on mana regen, do the same, he just can't stop you. If he goes armor, take The Brutalizer to be able to damage him
• If he max his Remove Scurvy first, it will be hard to shut him down, try to harass him a bit with auto attacks, and when it is on cooldown, jump on him

• Avoid to fight him early, his Decisive Strike + Judgment will outdamage you and with his sustain he will win the lane if you don't take care
• Try not to stay in his Judgment the more you can
• If you see him use his Decisive Strike on a minion, it's time to fight him. After trading, try to always have an eye on him to avoid him to sustain too much with his Perseverance
• He can only count on his movement speed from his Decisive Strike so he is quite easy to kill with help, having help from you jungler early can make you win your lane
• A little tip against Garen, his ultimate Demacian Justice is making AP damage, so you can "counter" it with a Hexdrinker which will absorb a good part of his ultimate

• Instead of what people could think about the more levels you wait before fighting her, the best it is. Level 6 is the best moment for you to fight her since your Crescent Sweep will make way more damages than her Transcendent Blades
• Don't underestimate that champion, if she has only few % of life less than you, she will stun you and make you hard damage with Hiten Style, you have to play safe against her
• Do not fight her amongst her minions. Between her damage and minions' one you will be crush
• Her ultimate has a low cooldown, and she may use it to get regen life and/or to kill a full wave, take care not to be in it
• If you fight her after 6, try not to be between her and your minions since her Transcendent Blades will heal her more if she hits minions

• Don't fight him level 1-2, he will try to harass you with his Martial Cadence and his Dragon Strike
• Try not to get knocked-up by his Demacian Standard and Dragon Strike combo. He will drop the flag behind you and use Dragon Strike to pull himself to the flag.
• If you avoid to get touch by his Q or his QE combo, fight him, he will have no way to escape or to make you damage
• Always have an eyes on his mana, keep in mind that he needs something like ~110 mana for his QE combo and ~125 mana for ultimate so you can know if he will be able to fight you with full spells or if you can kill him easily
• Don't use your Flash unless you really need to. You need it to escape his ult Cataclysm.

• I think it's the worst opponent for Xin Zhao, avoid it at any cost
• Build tanky, you won't win any trade if you go on AD items (and you won't win with tanky too, but you will be able not to die)
• Focus on farming and ask your jungler to come often if possible
• If you have to fight him, try to avoid to use your Three Talon Strike in his Counter Strike. The more you try to hit him when he is using it, the more damage he will deal.
• I recommend Randuin's Omen and Sunfire Aegis against him

• I don't find Jayce hard to face, trade whenever you can and you will win this
• Avoid to get harass too much from auto attacks and with his QE combo when he is in mercury cannon form
• Get a little of armor at the beginning will help you to contain his harass
• If you can, try to save your Audacious Charge to go back on him after he will knock-back you with his Thundering Blow / Acceleration Gate

• You have to know that Kayle is a melee champion, only her Righteous Fury allow her to attack from distance. Keep that in mind it will help you
• When she is using her Righteous Fury, try to stay in bushes or not too close to her to avoid her harass. Click on her, you will see her buff and you will be able to know when it will come to its end. at the end engage her and do the maximum of damages that you can
• Here again, maxing Audacious Charge is the best thing to do, if you don't do so, she will be able to kite you with her Reckoning + Divine Blessing since you won't slow her enough
• When you hit 6, you will still ahead, use your Crescent Sweep early in the trade to make her the maximum of damage that you can. If you use too late, she may block it with her Intervention and you will loose the trade and may die.

• He won't be able to trade too early against you, try to do so as often as you can, you will outdamage him in most situations
• His Leap allow him to disengage easily but keep in mind that he can't jump far before the level 11 (they all upgrade this spell at this level)
• Taste Their Fear will make you hard damage ONLY IF you are isolated, so try to stay next to minions if you don't feel good to engage and he won't do a lot of damages. If you wanna know if you are isolated or not, you have a way to know : you have little "spikes" around him that will tell you if you are isolated with the classic Kha'Zix's skin. With the mecanic skin, there will be a "WARNING" that will appear on him
• Void Spike is the problem with Kha'Zix. At level 6 he will upgrade this spell and he will shot 3 spikes at the same time. It will be a pain for you since when he will have his Tear of the Goddess since he will have kinda unlimited mana and will only farm / harass you with that. He will stay in bushes to activate his Unseen Threat and hit you without any possibility for you to counter him. That's why you have to try to shut him down before level 6

• Avoid to be hit by his Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike, if he max it first, you will take really hard damages. Don't forget that the less life you have, the more damages he will deal to you with this spell
• Try to not let him to hit creeps after using his Safeguard / Iron Will since he has lot of lifesteal / spellvamp after the second use, so he will outsustain you in lane if you let him do as he want
• Beginning with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion can allow you to countain his harass better
• Taking Exhaust against this champion can be a good idea since he will try to burst you when you are low life with a 1st use of Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike -> Dragon's Rage -> 2nd use of Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike. If you use it at the right moment you can bait him.

• Trying to kill him is waste of time and mana, try to outfarm him and not to be kill will be more than enough for you against him
• If you'd really like to kill him, ask your jungler to come, before and after level 6, you don't really have the damages to kill him alone.
• Getting a Vampiric Scepter and magic resistance early is a good choice, it will avoid you to get poke too hard by Malphite
• ALWAYS have a a ward after his level 6. If his jungler come, his Unstoppable Force + Seismic Shard will give you no chance to run away. Or you are a superhuman and you Flash just a the right moment he will ulti you

• Well, if he goes tanky, you won't really be able to kill him. Everytime you will jump on you, he will Wither you and run away
• Ask your jungler to come often, a Nasus free farm is a pain late game
• Don't stay in his Spirit Fire since it reduces your armor
• Never dive a Nasus when he has his Fury of the Sands up, you will only give him a kill and the chance to win the lane without any help

• Nidalee is squishy early, try to kill her early if possible
• If she goes AP, just avoid her spears and you will be able to win your lane kinda easy.
• If she goes AD, taking early armor items like Sunfire Aegis is better than rushing AD items if you aren't killing her
• Like all Nidalees, she will stay in bushes and try to harass you with auto-attacks without pushing the lane, so stay as far as you can from the bushes and if she goes too close to you, punish her with your combo
• Aspect Of The Cougar gives her nice abilities, don't underestimate her. If you are low life, don't fight her. Her Takedown will just destroy you

• Olaf will be easy match up early game, you can outdamage him, sustain more and tank as much as him. But don't underestimate his mid/late
• Try to avoid his Undertow, if he fail one when he try to hit you, punish him with your combo, he won't be able to handle your damages
• Olaf can either max his Undertow or his Reckless Swing which means that you have to play differently in that case. If he max Undertow, avoiding his axe will give you the possibility to win your lane. If he max Reckless Swing, be careful, he makes true damage, so only having HP can "counter" it. If you think that he max his true damage, try to play more passive
• If you can, try to avoid to fight him when he uses Ragnarok, he get too much advantages when he use it.

• If you want to go through his Aegis Protection : Audacious Charge + autoattack (to hit his passive]] + Three Talon Strike
• Begin with the Cloth Armor starter, if you want to win your lane, you have to handle his early harass with his Spear Shots
• His Aegis of Zeonia reset his passive, don't forget that it could save your life
• Wait midgame to try to fight him, since his ultimate Grand Skyfall won't help him to fight you, you will begin to win against him when you'll hit 6
• Getting early armor is the best thing to do here, rushing Sunfire Aegis with 2x Doran's Blade would be enough for you to make you win the lane

• Play passive, freeze the lane and only farm, you have no way to win your lane alone
• Get tanky items to be able to stay in lane against him without dying, if you have as much farm as him, it's like you have win your lane since you will be more usefull than him in teamfights
• Don't try to trade with him early, his Cull the Meek + Ruthless Predator will just destroy you
• Never dive him if you know that he has his Dominus up

• This is mostly a skill matchup, but if he makes a mistake you can punish him quite easy since you have more damages than him
• Like Nidalee, try to stay far from the brushes since it's his field.
• At level 4-5, if you see him jump from a brush on a minion to lasthit it, you can instapunish him. Jump on him and combo him. Even if he can heal his-self after with his Battle Roar, he will have take more damage than you
• Take her with his early game, he will just harass you with Bola Strike and jump on you when he can with Savagery + Battle Roar
• When he hit 6, try not to forget to say when he is missing, if he begin to roam and you forget to say ss, he will destroy your team

• Don't try to trade with her early, she will outdamage you really really hard with her Broken Wingsx3 + Runic Blade's AA. You should begin with the Cloth Armor starter]]
• Just try to outfarm her on lane, the more you wait to fight her, the bigger your chances to win against her are.
• Blade of the Exile gives her extra AD + a nice ranged finisher spell, don't try to fight her while her spell is active
• if you see her use Valor to last hit a minion or something like that, you can try to punish her when the shield will end.

• Don't stay in his Flamespitter, it really does hard damage, but it will make him naturaly push the lane so you can freeze it easy and outfarm him
• Try to shut him down early, even if he has good damages with his Flamespitter, you will be able to kill him since your gapcloser Audacious Charge will give you the advantage. Try to trade with him just after he uses his Electro-Harpoon
• Don't forget his passive Junkyard Titan, it's the thing that you have to keep in mind to win your lane, if he is the white part, you can trade with him and win, if he is in the yellow one take care, he will make you hard damage. When he is in the red part, he will make you strong damages with AA, but don't forget that he is silence so you could be able to kill him at this moment
• Don't stay in his The Equalizer or you can be sure that you will die really fast
• Don't try to do crazy things against him, he is one of the champion that snowball the most on his lane, if you give him an early kill, you will have a really bad time

• Try to avoid to get poke to much in early game, he will be really really strong in mid - late so you have to take advantage before
• Every Ryze rush the Tear of the Goddess before getting any tankyness, you have to take advantage of it since he will be squishy at this moment, try to fight him early if possible
• I think asking your jungle to come gank one or twice is a good thing, facing Ryze is a lane where you can snowball
• Hexdrinker and Mercury's Treads will be your friends, believe me

• Here is the utility of my item build "Let's backdoor faster than the light", since you can't follow him while he will use his Stand United, you will be able to destroy all his towers everytime he is using it
• Taking a Teleport can be a good thing against him if you want to follow him, but even with that you may not have the possibility to use it well. Think about it
• Shen is kinda hard to kill, you will win trades before he get too much tanking so you can try to kill him, but play careful, a good Shadow Dash when his jungler come and you are dead
• If he is undertower and you want to hit his tower, don't forget he can taunt you with Shadow Dash so the turret will focus you, take care
• If you see him use his Stand United you can either try to follow with a Teleport, or try to stop his cast with Three Talon Strike, or (my way to play most of the time), push the lane hard and try to get towers

• Before he get his Catalyst of Aeons and other tanky items, Singed is a squishy opponent, try to kill him early to avoid him to be out of control too fast
• Stay away from his Poison Trail as much as possible
• Try to save your Audacious Charge to use it after his Fling to come back on him and avoid him to run away
• If you can't handle him, don't try stupid things against him, if singed begin to be feed, he will be just a real hard pain for your team after
• Take Blade of the Ruined King first if he goes on AP items like ROA, if he goes on tanky items like Randuin, go for The Brutalizer and tanking after

• Stay out of his auto-attack range as much as possible to avoid taking his poison harass.
• Wait the good moment if you wanna kill him, if he uses his Blinding Dart to harass you, punish him, he won't have any CC to avoid to be kill
• Try to know if he goes AP or AD, it will change everything. If he goes AD with a Blade of the Ruined King, you will have a hard time. Get tankyness and try to freeze the lane if possible. If he goes AP, he will be squishy as hell, try to engage him at the right moment
• Avoid the bushes after level 6 since his Noxious Trap will just destroy you
• Ask early help from your jungler, with 1-2 kill you will be able to kill him alone quite easy

• Trundle is a very hard champion to fight, he got sustain, nice damages and tankyness. I think that having a BOTRK and a randuin are the best items that you can rush against him
• His Chomp gives him AD that it steals to the one that get hit by him, so if you want to fight him, try to do it while it is on CD if he used it on a minion
• Subjugate is just a nightmare, if you see him use it, you have to Ignite him or he will never get kill
• Ask your jungler help if possible since it's a very hard lane

• Don't underestimate Tryndamere, wait to be level 3-4-5 before trying to fight him, if he goes with an Elixir of Fortitude, his early damages are just insane
• You have to know something, Spinning Slash is making AD damage, EVEN IF TRYNDAMERE IS AP, so no matter if he goes AP or AD, you have to build armor against him
• Take care when he uses his Mocking Shout, the slow isn't very important in the spell, the bad point for you is that it reduces your AD (-80 at level 5), so try to avoid to trade too much while he used it on you
• If you can trade with him, try to do so when he is low in fury, the more fury he has, the more critical strikes he will make, so take care.

• I'll speak about Tiger Udyr since it's kinda the only Udyr that you will see on toplane
• His early is very very strong, try to stay away from him and avoid to take his first hit of Wilding Claw
• Get an early Vampiric Scepter and some armor, he won't be able to shut you down after that. Use your Scepter to get a Blade of the Ruined King after
• Take care of ganks, a gank on an Udyr lane is very very dangerous
• Just in case that you get a Proxy Udyr (and Udyr phoenyx that will just farm all game long between your two towers), get a Ravenous Hydra, get your lane push, and go destroy him with your mid / jungler help, try to get his tower down fast

• Even if he has more life than any other AP, he is still squishy, try to trade with him early to be able to win the lane. If he don't begin with a cloth armor, you will hit him hard
• Don't be bait by his Sanguine Pool, if you use your Crescent Sweep at the same moment, you will loose so much burst that he will punish you
• An Hexdrinker is a good thing against Vladimir to counter his Hemoplague damage
• Try no to be harass too much early game, with his sustain vladimir is quite painful to play against if he is well play
• I prefer to take the 21/9/0 mastery build is better since he is too squishy to handle your damage

• Don't underestimate him please. I'm playing him sometimes top lane and his damages are really really high !
• His passive The Relentless Storm will allow him to fight you even if he is low life, don't forget to Ignite when you see it begin
• Frenzy will deal more damage when you are low life, it's a finisher don't forget it
• Always ward your lane, Thundering Smash + Sky Splitter will just destroy you if the ennemy jungler come
• Don't trade him while he uses his Stormbringer, you will loose for sure
• I don't think that you have to win your lane, build tankyness, outfarm him and it will be ok. You will be more usefull than him in teamfights

• Wukong has a great early, if you wanna trade with him, try to do so before he get his Warrior Trickster to avoid to loose a part of your combo when he will use it
• His Warrior Trickster has few bugs that make it quite easy to see when he is using it. You will see it after fighting him few times
• Build tankyness against him, your natural damages are harder than him, he won't deal you any damage while you will destroy him
• My tip is to play a bit AS Wukong if you can, it's the type of champion that you know how to play against when you know how to play with.

• After some games against him, i find that quite easy to win against him. Even if he has lot of sustain, you will make him too much damage and he won't be able to sustain all of it
• You can win all game long against him, but don't forget to ward, you will play very agressively so you need to have your lane always warded
• When he try to harass you with some ghouls, go in the bushes, the ghouls will stop to follow you
• At level 3, you can begin to attack him, trade him with a Audacious Charge + Three Talon Strike everytime you can and he will have an hard time. Most Yorick's players go on lot of potions early, so he won't have enough armor / life to handle you
• Yorick don't have any escape mecanisms, ask your jungler to come and you will kill him everytime

• Skill match-up, but you have the advantage, it's all about the good moment to fight with him
• Try to avoid to get harass too much with his Razor Shurikens and Living Shadow + Shadow Slash
• Pre and after level 6 are for you, you have more damage and more tanking than him, just don't give him the opportunity to kill you, he will be able to snowball and the lane will begin to be hard
• Wait the good moment to trade with him, try to stay in the "audacious range", what i mean is to always be in range to use your Audacious Charge, and wait. When you see him use his Living Shadow to farm (they always do that), combo him directly, you will punish him hard and he won't have any escape to avoid it
• Just try to avoid to use your Crescent Sweep at the same time of his Death Mark, he would win the trade if it would happen

You got something like 4/0 on your lane, 80 minions and your opponent is 0/4 with 20 minions, what should you do ? There is two choice :

[*]Push your lane a lot, ward everywhere that the enemy come from. If you play like that you will give gold to your team with towers and the best thing is that their jungler and/or their mid will camp you, which means that your team are free to do drakes, go bot etc... I often play games where i tell my jungler "i don't need help dude, go carry other lanes and it will be ok". Try to give your team the possibility to "carry you" while you destroy their team by avoid them to do what they want
[*]Gank mid and bot, go for drakes and towers etc ... While your toplane opponent will try to come back in the game, you will kill his team and give yours the possibility to rape everybody after. Yes when you'll go back on your lane, your opponent may have has much gold than you, but your team will be ahead so it will be totally worth it.

Well, everybody can have bad games sometime, here what i do :

[*]Build tanky item, at least if you take only damages item you will be useless all game long, even if you don't do a lot of damages, xin has good natural one's, so you will be able to tank enemy team in teamfights and still be useful
[*]Don't give up and don't flame, games are not lose because you and your team are 2/15, keep going, ask help if necessary (or don't if you think it will work better if your team try to feed itself without you). And please don't flame !
[*]Don't forget to have one, two or three wards if needed since enemy jungler is camping you, wards are there for that
[*]IT'S NOT THE JUNGLER FAULT in 90% of the time, don't blame him, if you are loosing it will be your fault (because you don't ward, you underestimate your enemy etc...). If you really need him to come help you, ask him, but politely. If you insult him, he won't come more


Never give up, people in all kind of leagues are throwing games, you can "always" win a game, even if you are 10k gold behind, believe me :)

Xin Zhao can be played midlane (still as a bruiser), or jungle, where he is both really good. But i won't speak about it since i'm not really good in those situations, i prefer to give you my points of view on the way to play that champion.

Don't forget that your build is always situational, if you have something like Fiddlesticks, Diana, Ashe and Soraka in your team, take some tanky item since you are the only one who will be able to tank. Choose your stuff wisely after looking who you will face.

Bonjour à vous qui êtes arrivés jusque là et qui, je l'espère avez lu au moins une partie de mon guide. J'espère qu'il vous aurait plu et aider à comprendre, maitriser et jouer ce cher Xin Zhao. C'est un personnage que j'ai beaucoup joué et j'espere donc que mon expérience avec lui vous aura bien aider ! N'hésitez pas à commenter ou donner votre avis sur le guide, je suis ouvert à toute critique / tout conseil.

Petit clin d'oeil à quelques amis au passage : Murdow, Kapittalist, Raylux, Scorpiz, la team NT, et autres qui me reconnaitrait ;)

Thank you for reading my guide, i hope you enjoyed it ! It was my first guide, it took me lot of time to do it but i had fun to do it. If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to put them in the comments below, i'm open to every questions that you could have about Xin Zhao, my build or anything else.

Credits to :

Jhoijhoi for his awesome Making a guide which helpt me a lot to do my work
Oofi for his help while i was doing it !
Kotorie for her support

05/04/2013 :
Guide is finally release, welcome !

23/04/2013 :
Problem with pictures has been corrected

30/04/2013 :
New thing in the common full build item section, order of item that I prefer to buy. Hope it will help you :)
Change item starter with the nerf of the Elixir of Fortitude

02/05/2013 :
Added Tryndamere in the match-up section, I'll add Trundle (and maybe lyssandra) later, I wait to face them before

02/05/2013 :
Patch 3.8, guide updated !

30/04/2013 :
Guide updated a bit, more things soon for the patch 3.10 !

29/08/2013 :
_Changed the first full item build since i prefer the Youmuu's instead of the Black Cleaver, added a few thing about the trinity since it's now really really strong at the moment !
_Aatrox is added to the match-ups

29/08/2013 :
Udyr, Ryze and Trundle have been added to the match-ups, good luck ;)

20/09/2013 :
Added a new section about items build and the order :)
Hope you'll enjoy it !

24/11/2013 :
Beginning of the update for S4 ! I did the masteries, I'll do the starter items soon !

13/12/2013 :
Guide is now up to date :)
I changed my masteries, review the starters items and added a new section about the choice of the trinket, hope you'll enjoy !
I'll may add Yasuo, Shyvana and Mundo later