League of Legends (LoL) Question: Best marks for jungle Xin?

Posted in Champions | Tags: Xin Zhao 6,690

Best marks for jungle Xin?

Asked by Vynertje on August 23, 2013

So basically, I've been playing Xin a damn lot recently and I have been trying some different sets of runes, but I still have major doubts about my marks.

A short introduction to my Xin for your information:

Seals: Flat armor
Glyphs: Flat magic resist
Quints: Movement Speed

W-Q-E and max E

Dorans start, rush double dorans, elder lizard, continue with full tank items to finish off the build

Also, keep in mind that I play Xin hyperaggressively with lots of counterjungling at level 2.

Anyway, the question is, what of the following marks would be best for this setup?

Flat AD - scales well with Q and the free AD works well with the W attack speed boost as well
Armor pen - Scales well with Q and with your overall armor pen spells. This is what I usually run
Hybrid pen - this is the tricky one, but since your E deals magic damage this could massively increase your damage in the early game while only sacrificing very little armor pen
Attack speed - would be my least favorable choice since you already have an attack speed boost, but it would improve your clear and make hitting Q more easily.

Answers (5)

(1495) |

Attack Speed.

-Lets you get W healing off more often = higher sustain.
-Lets you get Q off faster = more reliable ganks.
-Lets you clear more quickly, especially when cleaning up smaller monsters.

I also recommend starting Q-W if you're getting smiteless. Q-E if you're counterjungling. It's kind of ridiculous that you'd consider counterjungling at level 2 without Q and E. You lose a boatload of kill potential. If doran's start is the only reason you're starting W, then it's not worth starting doran's. Having your other offensive CC ability for your invade is going to give you a way stronger early game anyway.

(1495) |

It's probably fine. I think I just don't like the idea of having W at level one and finding someone who wants to fight me at my red or something. If you start Q, you can head to your red and quickly skill E if you need to fight.

(151) |

AS is pretty damn good yeah but starting W is just way better (if you're not invading of course) as it gives you more damage on Blue as well as more HP back.

(531) |

^this

(353) |

Why don't you start Q and get E second if counterjungling / ganking? xin Zhao has amazing lvl 2 damage. You also clear much faster. I don't see a point of starting W if you're getting a quick smiteless anyways.

And for runes I'd go for 6 AS 3 AD

(151) |

I rarely ever gank before level 3 :| (I start machete). going W -> Q is way better to clear out blue + red

(386) |

Machete is fine indeed, but overall I think doran's will give you more effective ganks and counterjungling.

(353) |

Starting Machete is fine O_O.
If you want to start Doran's you don't have to start w...
You can start Q, get a really good smiteless, and still come out relatively healthy. IF necessary you can use lifesteal quints, which is perfectly fine...

(386) |

Without W it is quite hard to start dorans, and flash is enough to close a gap you need. If I would, I should start with two lifesteal quints :\

(625) |

Attack Speed IMO.

(1) |

I go for armor penetration. At the beginning of the game you start our with 23% ignored armor and 23 armor penetration depending on your runes and masteries.

(539) |

First, flat AD >> ArP early game.

This has been calculated many times by many people. Since junglers want to be as useful as possible early game (ganking and clearing), I dare to say that ArP and HPen are not an option for jungle Xin.

Between attack speed and AD; I am not sure. Since I am not really a Xin Zhao player, let alone jungle Xin Zhao, I'd say AS anyway, since it will allow more succesful ganks. The quicker you have a knockup with the Q, the more useful you are :D

(386) |

Hmmmm, I don't know yet. I'll try the combination as/arpen out, I like that one. Thanks for the answers anyway :)

(539) |

Also, I did find some people recommending AD runes, but they didn't really explain it or they used it in combination with AS runes like I mentioned :P

(539) |

Since I am a very lazy man, I'll quote some reasons why AS would be preferred over AD marks for jungle Xin:
1: "Xin really wants attack speed so he can proc his Three Talon Strike that much faster"
2. "I have used a lot of different summoner runes and grown to like a combination of attack speed and life steal for early game jungling and because these scale with his kit very well."
3. "Getting a mix of attack speed and armor penetration is the best for Xin Zhao. It increases your jungling speed by a fair amount and lets you get Three Talon Strikes out quickly and have them hit hard. Attack speed also lets your passive from battle cry heal you up more so you be more safely sustained in the jungle."

Found some other guides aswell that said AS are the ones to pick, but they have the same arguments so I wont bother to repeat them. I have also seen some people make a combination between AD and AS, which might also be considered.

Again, I am not a Xin Zhao player, but based on the information I found, AS marks are the way to go :P

(91) |

You're still the more experienced player here so if you feel like flat ad marks would be better go for them :P
Or wait for the mighty words of DarkPercy, that works too.

(386) |

From my personal experience, attack speed is only marginal and usually won't make a difference. Movespeed quints, E and W attack speed is usually enough to get the knockup in place and it usually would not make a difference. In that case I would prefer flat AD.