IMPORTANT NOTES, PLEASE READ BEFORE ENTERING GUIDE.

Hi, I'm VAIR ee taws and I adore this game so much I like to put effort into building guides from streamers, high elo players that don't do it there selves.
I want to deeply apologies for my bad English, you can always correct me in spelling mistakes.
This time we are staring Xin Zhao played alot by Guardsman Bob.
No jungle guide simply a solo lane guide, some different then most Xin Zhao guides.
Ask your team if they find it OK. for you to go on a solo lane (I prefer mid lane). Ask them to avoid bad setup.
Guardsman Bob is one talented league of legend player, that entertains us by streaming online.
He has his own and many idea's on how to build a good Xin Zhao. He personally hates guides, he doesn't understand that people can follow guides as they are the bible.
I somehow understand what he is trying to say but I think guides can be a very helpfull thing when you don't know alot about league of legends yet and maybe you wanna skip all that experimenting and testing and just wanna see how other people think about item builds, strategies and feedback cause they don't got the time themselves to explore everything this game has to offer.
I decided to bring some idea's of Guardsman Bob into mobafire cause I want to help people find there skill and maybe help them explore the champion in different ways that they wouldn't have come up with themselves. I don't blame you or them, it's hard to get so deeply detailed into one champion and choose your items.
Guardsman Bob doesn't like build himself cause you basicly follow someone's way into a champion that works for the person it self, and he hopes that the people that read his guide do that to.
The way Guardsman Bob builds Xin Zhao totally depends on everything going on during a game. How well you are doing or maybe how bad it goes, you want to do your best at all time and by doing that you got to know in which situations you buy which item.
The build order is always different, or at least most of the times. In most times you get the same items, or about the same in the end of each game. The items which are the core are listed here in this particelur guide. If you understand me here you will find this guide at the very end intereseting and helpfull, I hope I can learn you something with this and help you getting better at this game.
Guardsman Bob would say: Don't read anything writtin here and explore (find out yourself) how to build a champion, you can argue about which skills you should upgrade first and which not. Take time to study your champion skills, read the discription(s) well so you understand what skill gives which effects.

Do the same with items, read what items offer, read the passive givin' and don't forget actives. Some people really need to get use to use active on items like Youmuu's Ghostblade for example. Teach it yourself by not forgetting about it. If you want to get the best out of your game you need to know everything, stay focused and concentrated. Try to think ahead in situations, try to set yourself into the enemies mind. Keep everything thats going on in mid, if you got a Twisted Fate in the enemy team and you're about to dual one in a one vs. one situation. Make sure that Twisted Fate doesn't has his ultimate to screw things up for you, the same goes for Shen. You don't want to end up in a situation that goes bad for you. You can avoid people escaping from death by keeping these little details in mind. You got to control the situation by knowning everything. If something can go wrong, it will. Just think things over and over. Stuns, snares, taunts all enemy champions that have those abilities must be in mind. If you see a Warwick from the enemy you have to keep in mind that he can disable you with one click from his ultimate. Not only you but your teammates are important to watch, if your team ****s it will become your problem too and eventually you're the one losing. You can't control situations that are in other people's hand, when your team is fighting on sore ground, close to enemy towers. If one of your team thinks he can initiate the rest will probably follow like sheeps. This can either go bad or good, in most case senarios it goes bad cause the position of initiating is just bad. It takes alot of knowledge to see those things but you can learn it from dealing with those situations. Try to enjoy your game and even when you lose make the best of it.

You can check him out when he plays:

- 17-2-2011 *Launched guide, published.
- 27-2-2011 *Edited more discriptions on item choices.
- 28-12-2011 *Added another way to build Xin Zhao by editing Trinity Force and Atma's Impaler to the list. Read my explanations and give it a try!
- 28-12-2011 *Edited more details into skill sequence and added patch notes.
- 28-12-2011 *Added Pros and Cons on the Starting with Xin Zhao chapter.
- 28-12-2011 *Added details on elixir's and added strategy map mid lane on chapter: Starting with Xin Zhao.
- 3-3-2011 *Added summoner spells to the guide with details.
- 3-3-2011 *New score screenshot added in the Summary chapter.
- 3-3-2011 *Added Abbreviated Terms to the guide.
- 5-3-2011 *Added Runes and Masteries chapter to the guide, with detailed discriptions (Close to Guardsman Bob rune choices).
- 9-3-2011 *Added alot of information and thoughts into the Introduction chapter. Some idea's from Guardsman Bob and mine.
- 9-3-2011 *Added a champion list "Xin zhao vs. the rest" Champions you might face in your lane.

Version: 1-0-0-109

* Three Talon Strike cooldown changed to 10 from 12/11/10/9/8
* Crescent Sweep base damage reduced to 125/225/325 from 125/250/375

Version: 1-0-0-110
*Quintessences of Fortitude reduced in effectiveness by about 20%
*All Champions with mana had their base mana regeneration increased by 2.5 mana per 5 seconds and mana regeneration per 5 seconds per level increased by 0.2

Can't understand everything I write? maybe this helps a bit:

AA = Auto-attack (Basic Attacks)
CC = Crowd Control (Stun, fear, slow, snare, etc)
FB = First Blood
AP = Ability Power
AD = Attack Damage
MD = Magic Damage
AS = Attack Speed
MS = Movement Speed
MR = Magic Resistance
ArPen = Armor Penetration
MPen = Magic Penetration
LS = Life Steal
SV = Spell Vamp
DPS = Strong Auto-attacker
MDPS = Strong spells; casters
CDR = Cooldown Reduction
OOM = Out of Mana
MP = Mana
HP = Health
MP Regen = Mana Regeneration per 5 seconds
HP Regen = Health Regeneration per 5 seconds

- I've chosen for Ghost simply cause it's effective for Xin Zhao. When you want to chase an opponent or wanna make a quick tower dive Ghost helps alot. Along with Youmuu's Ghostblade's active you can have a great speed bonus for a short amount of time. You can either run away from an enemy or chase them to slaugther them. Since you can charge from a distance with Audacious Charge you can use Ghost very well as an initiate matter.
- My second summoner spell is Ignite cause I really wanna benefit of the early game kills. I use it among my combo, when an enemy survives I make sure I put ignite on it cause I really can't stand a enemy getting away with 30hp or less. So to avoid the frustration of getting that use Ignite. Also it helps alot in teamfights when you wanna target a Swain, Nidalee and Dr. Mundo early levels or any other healing champ. Ignite gives the target 50% less health regeneration which is alot, which make killing easier.
- This optional summoner spell speaks for it self, it slows the target and it makes the target do less damage. Excellent when you are possibly facing a hard AD DPS team or a Pantheon at mid. Even in teamfights it comes in great handy when the enemy carry is fed by your team and maybe yourself. Avoid losing by trowing an Exhaust on the target which disables it in other words. If your team doesn't pick this skill and you are facing a good Tryndamere you wish you had Exhaust. So check out your opponents when you are playing ranked and dress your self against it. It's a great skill to use for gank or if you wanna go into combat and you want to disable your opponent for a few seconds.
- A skill I don't really recommend since you got Mercury's Treads. Anyways it's on the list cause when you facing like four CC champions like Sion, Ashe and Morgana. You just don't want to get killed cause you couldn't get away sometimes. There is not so much to tell this skill gives you more survivability changes when facing alot of CC. Crowd control. Stuns, snares, taunts and even Exhaust will be removed. Which allows you to run away or initiate if needed.

9x Greater Mark of Desolation
- Pretty logical runes on a physical DPS champion like Xin Zhao. You wanna penetrate some armor trough the entire game, these runes give you a big benefit in the beginning, shredding down squichy champions fast. Since you focus on some big damage you wanna get some ArPen too. The Brutalizer gives you another big ArPen boost so it goes well with these rune choices. These runes give you 15 ArPen, which is a great boost on that. Allows you to ignore a piece of the enemy's armor.

9x Greater Seal of Attack Speed
- Attack speed, cause you lack of attack speed on this build, only the active on Youmuu's Ghostblade and later on Black Cleaver provides attack speed. Thats why i've chosen these to help you alot in the early levels to push, farm and kill your opponents. These runes give you 6,9% (7%) attack speed.

9x Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
- Same reason as seals, I don't find 6,9% enough so I trown in another 9 glyph's to stack that amount a bit up. These runes give you 5,7% attack speed in total.

2x Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed
- I wanted to reach about 20% attack speed with runes since you don't got alot items that diliver attack speed. So I've chosen for 2 quitessences to fill it up.

1x Greater Quintessence of Desolation
- To reach 18 ArPen i've trown another quintessence in that gives you 3.33 ArPen. With all your ArPen runes you get 18, you'll benefit alot from those trough the entire game.



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- This item explains it self. Gives you attack damage, critical strike chance and armor penetration cause it's build out of The Brutalizer. The active on this item can help you significantly on one vs one situation's. It boosts your attack speed and movement speed for 5 seconds, remember to put this item on slot #1.


- In most cases I buy these boots cause these boots are allround great. They reduce taunts, snares and stuns by 35% which helps you really well with escaping death from Ashe's arrow or Sion's stun. It also helps you chasing down people that can slow you while running, don't you just hate it when you nearly kill someone and they escape cause u are stunned, snared or slowed? These boots will help you against those situations alot.


- No jungle but still Wriggle's Lantern. Why do you ask yourself? Well it allows you to farm better on your lane since you are not ranged. It also gives you a little amount of armor and lifesteal, along with your passive Challenge this item helps you alot going into combat, while the enemy tries his best to kill you, you slowly gain life back by this item and your passive. Which allows you to do insane martial art sh*t like killing two opponents and making it alive out of there cause this. Triple kill no problem. You'll build this item from your start item Cloth Armor.


- Effective choice, this item boost your health, survivability and gives you a great passive that slows the target for 2.5 seconds. Also it gives you some attack damage. This item will make you more tanky and by that dangerours. After this item tower diving will be a lot more easier.


- One of my favorites. It usually never comes this far in games but if you get the chance of getting Black Cleaver then you'll really do some bad *** damage output. You can shred everyone apart. Using this item and your skill Three Talon Strike you can take out enemies very faster. With the active on Youmuu's Ghostblade this item will be deadly. You can take it on with anybody, even tanks won't be that hard to kill after the passive of Black Cleaver which gives you armor penetration per stack/per auto-attack.


- A bit depending on how you wanna build Xin Zhao but sometimes when I don't need to much attack damage in the game but some more bonuses, Trinity Force is a good choice. It allows you to have a chance to slow the target you hit and it gives you alot of attributes like attack damage, ability power and critical strike chance. I always start building Phage and Zeal. Not Sheen cause it only gives you ability power, mana and a passive which will only be used when using a skill. Xin Zhao is based on auto-attack damage so you have to focus on that. Trinity force gives a great passive 25% chance to slow a target; on cast increases your base damage by 150% for one attack. This item also gives you a bit more mana and health. Since Xin Zhao has a low mana pool this is a nice little boost.


- I've been thinking why I would like to put Atma's Impaler into the build. But since the armor and critical strike chance this is a solid choice. This item makes you more survivable in combat and it boost your attack damage alot cause of the passive it has. 2% of your max. health into attack damage. This item works great along Warmog's Armor cause Warmog's Armor gives you so much health you become tanky and gain alot of damage cause of this item.


- Regarding to build #2. Warmog's Armor comes in mind. I choose this item cause of Atma's Impaler. It makes you very survivable and tanky. Gives you a big HP boost and gives HP regeneration. The bonus cap passive can give you another 450 HP and 15 health regeneration. This stacks by killing minions/creeps. Great choice to gain attack damage by Atma's Impaler and a big boost of HP. Remember that you replace Banshee's Veil with this item so you won't have spell block and alot of magic resistance no more. I would recommend this vs alot of attack damage opponents like yourself.


- Depending on how your games goes, in most cases you will be building this as last but if you having a hard time vs enemy CC I would build this before Black Cleaver cause it gives you more HP/Mana and magic resistance which allows you to survive more damage and tank more. Also it has a great passive that blocks a negative spell every 30 seconds. So when enemy tries to taunt,snare or stun you. Banshee's Veil will block it and allows you to either get away or ingage the enemy.



Build Order #1

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Build Order #2

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- This is one of the main Elixir's I use. I use them alot, after completing items like Youmuu's Ghostblade or Wriggle's latarn I like to purchase an Elixir. Elixir of Fortitude gives you a bit HP bonus and attack damage bonus for a short period. It helps you on your lane but also in teamfights.


- Second choice elixir. This gives you attack speed and critical strike chance which are the two main factors Xin Zhao uses. These bonusses give you a step ahead of your opponent the one you are facing at your lane. I always buy this one when I have enough gold for an item from the build.


- I personally never buy this one since it gives you cooldown reduction which you don't really need since you use cooldown runes and The Brutalizer. It also gives ability power well the only skill that uses ability power is Audacious Charge. You don't wanna focus on boosting that skill up with ability power. Maybe you should buy this after 60minuts when your build is complete and you are rich.


- Facing Twitch or does the enemy uses Evelynn or maybe you are facing Akali on mid lane. Well Oracle's Elixir helps alot vs. these kind of situations. Since your skill Three Talon Strike is a three strike combo you don't want your opponent to dissapear with Shadow Walk or Ambush or akali's circle. Also it helps versus wards on baron and dragon but this is not the main reason you should buy a Oracle's Elixir. Only use it versus enemy champions that use alot of invisibility.

Sight ward
- Your team doesn't want to waste gold on wards. Well then you can buy the cheap ones to ward dragon, baron or maybe your own lane. Sometimes when I'm mid I want to make sure nobody runs out of those side bushes in mid so I ward both sides so I can push whenever I'd like to.


A vaiable choice when you don't wanna waste 400 gold on Oracle's Elixir. Then you buy a Vision Ward and place it on your lane. Against gankers like Shaco, Twitch and Evelynn this can be life saving guys. It only cost 125 gold since the latest patches. So make use of it!

Xin Zhao restores 30 health for every 3 attacks that he lands. This amount increases by 5 every 2 levels.

- A very useful passive while laning. Thanks to this passive you won't get in life troube unless you don'T get harassed like hell. When the game is going on, it is not so important any more but your enemies will rage if you got out of a deadly situation with only 30 hp, thanks to Tireless Warrior. Xin Zhao restores 30 health for every 3 attacks that he lands. This amount increases by 5 every 2 levels.

Scales with:

- Attack speed
- Life steal (indirect, it supports the passive)
Xin Zhao prepares to unleash a fearsome combo, causing his next 3 standard attacks to deal 15/30/45/60/75 (+1 per physical attack damage) physical damage, with the final attack knocking his opponent into the air.

- Great burst damage skill, unleashes a fearsome combo causing to do 3 attacks with extra bonus damage incl. base damage. I always trow one point into this skill on level 2. It allows you to deal some extra damage to the target for 3 attacks, on the final attack it knocks the target up for a 0.5 second which allows you more time to think and to give the target another couple of hits. Your bread and butter ability and, the ulti left beside, your main damage source. Because of its low mana cost you can spam it early on to deal high amounts of damage. But: If it is not necessary, don't lasthit with it. It will only burn your mana. The low CD and the low mana cost let players think they can spam like nothing else and then, they don't have the mana to finish an enemy off. It feels not good, I swear^^
If you buy Trinity Force (it is completely viable, see the item discussion), this skill will deal insane burst damage. With a Black Cleaver, you can add all stacks in only 1-2 seconds. This will boost your output alot, too.

Scales with:

- Attack speed
- Armor penetration
- Attack damage
Passive: Increases Xin Zhao's attack speed by 15/20/25/30/35%.
Active: Xin Zhao unleashes a battle cry, increasing his attack speed by double the passive amount for 7 seconds, and causing his standard attacks to reduce all other ability cooldowns by 1 second.

Activating this ability removes the passive bonus until this ability refreshes.

- Gives you a passive which gives you attack speed bonus. When activated it does the double amount of attack speed. I always level this one up after leveling Audacious Charge first. Cause of the passive and the active it allows you to do more auto-attack damage over time without having any bonus attack speed items. On activation it gives you the double amount of attack speed. Amazing burst damage in just couple of seconds. a nice ability and a perfect sinergy with your Three Talon Strike. If you activate this, Youmuu's Ghostblade and Three Talon Strike, you will hit as fast as a raging Chihuahua and deal damage like a rhino. It will also lower your CDs massively if avtivated, so you can spam your Three Talon Strike and ulti as you want if you can set the CD back with Battle Cry.
Otherwise, play wisely with your mana, don't burn it! It is very, very important for Xin Zhao to finish his combo more than once without recalling.

Scales with:

- Attack speed
Xin Zhao charges an enemy unit, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.4 per ability power) magic damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them by 20/25/30/35/40% for 1.7 seconds.

- Charging a enemy unit from a short distance dealing magic damage and slows the target. Great initiate skill. Always use this as your engagement skill in one on one combat. This is the first skill I always use when I initiate a target. The damage of this skill is not important but the slow is. It allows you to jump to the target, slowing it and giving it some burst damage, it gives you more time to hit the target.

Scales with:

- Ability power
Xin Zhao unleashes a fierce spear sweep on targets around him, dealing 125/225/325 + 20% of their current health in physical damage. His magic resistance and armor are increased by 30/40/50 for the next 8 seconds.

- Unleashing a surrounding sweep that deals surrounding enemies 125 / 225 / 325 + 20% of the targets HP. Also it boost your magic resistance for 8 seconds. Works very well in team fights cause of it's AoE effect. All nearby enemies get hit hard and you benefit from the resistance it gives you for 8 seconds. Allows you to take more damage within the fight.

Scales with:

- Armor penetration

I always level up E Audacious Charge first, why? Cause I want the extra slow first. While you slow the target you have more time to deal more damage over a short time. So eventually you deal more damage to the target. I level "E" and "W" first. Battle Cry because of the passive and active it has, attack speed.

Use Crescent Sweep in teamfight(s), always try to use it on more then one target. This skill is great to open a teamfight after tanks like Amumu or Malphite have used there ultimate. Jump in with Audacious Charge (Try to target a enemy carry) and press Crescent Sweep. It will deal tons of damage to surrounding enemies and gives you some armor and magic resistance for 8 seconds. After that try to target and slaughter the enemy carries, supporters and deal with enemy tanks as last. Don't safe this skill for last cause it does damage 20% of there current health. So it does most when enemeis have full HP.

Why do I choose to level up Audacious Charge before Three Talon Strike? I get this question alot, most players think it's better to level up Three Talon Strike first cause it does damage, but what people don't always know is that Audacious Charge and Three Talon Strike do about the same amount of damage. gives you more then Three Talon Strike cause Audacious Charge slows the target for a percentage and does instant magic damage to the target. When the target is slowed you can do more damage overtime cause Xin Zhao is based on AA, he simply is made to smash hard with AA and thats why you want to have a decent slow. So when you don't level up Audacious Charge you won't get the high instant damage and slow percentage. People can argue about it but some people just don't read the skill discriptions. I think Audacious Charge is a far better choice then Three Talon Strike cause it slows and does instant damage.



Audacious Charge: Engage, jump to enemy target.

Crescent sweep: Deals damage to all surrounding enemies + 20% of there current health into physical damage.

Battle cry: Double's your attack speed for 7 seconds and causing your standart attacks to reduce all abilities by 1 second.

Three Talon Strike: Unleashes a fearsome combo with 3 hits, the last hit knocks-up the target into the air.

Ignite: Trow out a deadly dot on the opponent dealing damage over 5 seconds (ignores enemy magic resistance) and reduces healing by 50%.

You can use this combo when Crescent Sweep is on cooldown, skipping this skill doesn't effect the burst damage Xin Zhao does to his target.

Which are easy and which are difficult, I'll try to explain abit why some are easy or which can be easy and which can be hard. Which u face most of the time. Points to look out for, strongnesses and weaknesses.

Champions can be easy, depends totally on the player skill but that's always the case.
But since you grown some balls you can easily initiate with your charge "E" and harrass pretty hard, I mostly start it at level 3, depends on how agressive they get. If they have range I mostly stay at a safe distance and try to farm as much as I can. When I see a opening I will engage BUT before that you do a protocol which is very important!

1. State your position on the lane, not to far.
2. Check where the other enemy champions are including jungler, top and bot lane.
3. Know how much damage you will deal, how much life you got left and how much life the target has.
4. Check if the enemy has escapes Flash, Ghost or any disables Exhaust blind dart you name it.
5. Try to guess how much life you will lose by engaging, does the enemy has Ignite? How much mana for skills remaining and how much minions(creeps) does he carries around him.

After done the protocol it's safe to engage, sometimes when you engage you won't finish but just harrass, use Xin Zhao's combo to do this. Try to get the enemy at maybe 2/4 of his HP and try to make a finishing touch. Use the protocol everytime to engage!!

Ashe
- Squichy target
- Ranged.
- Slows, stuns

Ashe slows with auto-attack, ultimate stuns you and slows. But she remains very vunerable, squichy target easy to kill. Most of the times has Flash and Ghost. You basicly need to keep an eye out for her ultimate. Without a ultimate and a teammate she is very easy to kill.

Ezreal
- High ranged.
- Strong ultimate.
- Teleport skill.
- Squichy.

Facing a good Ezreal is hard, probably one of the most difficult enemy's to face. But if you have your skills under control it's not impossible, it even can be quiet easy. The trick is to stay behind creeps/minions and initiate after he used his teleport skill. Don't initiate without protocol.

Kassadin
- Semi-ranged.
- Silence.
- Slow.
- Fast teleport.
- Squichy.

Hard, easy till level 6. When Kassadin reaches level 6 it will be harder to kill but since Kassadin has a low mana pool in the beginning it can be easy. Kassadin can be quiet irritating during his harrasment but you have to take advantage of his cooldowns. When kassadin is about to silence you, you'll initiate with your charge. Cause after he done that he can't do much then only auto-attack. He has two main damage skills that give him a quiet strong burst. Try to get Mercury's Treads fast against him.

Annie
- Squichy
- Ranged
- Double stun
- Low cooldowns

Annie is very squichy but does have quiet a load of damage. And since she has almost no cooldowns on basic skills she can harrass quiet well. It can be hard cause of her passive stun. You always need to keep an eye on that cause when you get stunned you'll get toasted fast. When she is level 6 she can double stun you with Tibbers (Her teddy). Try to initiate after she stunned you on a safe place AFTER protocol.

Pantheon
- Stun
- Deceiving ultimate
- Ranged spear

Pantheon is dangerours when you are running low on HP. Cause of his passive on "E" he can critical strike you to death. Also he can trows spear quiet alot. He can stun you can harrass you really bad. When you both turn level 6 he can dissapear and jump on you with his ultimate, always keep that in mind. After he hits something 3 times he gets a passive block on a auto-attack. Initiate when he doesn't have alot of mana and he doesn't have block.

Nidalee
- Heal
- Ranged
- Speed

I had a few Nidalee's on mid lane, some are better then others. What I find annoying vs. Nidalee is her healing. She can harrass you quiet well with AA and heals whenever she wants. The trick is that when she used healing on herself it's time for you to engage and harrass, maybe you can get her to low HP and wait for the final one. When nidalee is at 50% of her HP don't give her the chance to get back on her feets by healing, engage as soon as you can and trow ignite on her, finish with your ultimate and if you did it good she's dead. "Avoid her SPEAR!" stay behind minions.

Vladimir
- Heal
- Slow (pool)

Most of the times Vladimir's don't use flash but Ghost. The thing about playing against Vladimir is that he has very high cooldown on Q in the early levels. You can take out Vladimir quiet well around level 6. When he tryes to Q you, you charge in with AS and use TTS, knocks him up allows you to do some nice damage. He'll probably use his pool cause he founds himself treatent by you, but his pool cost him HP when he uses it. Try to launch another AS and TTS and trow ignite on him (Hopefully his pool is still on cooldown) Anyways when he's ignited and he goes pool. ignite can still kill him in that duration!



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Start with Cloth Armor and 5x Health Potion. Go to your lane (Solo if possible!) Try to last hit as many minions as you can even if you face a agressive ranged like Ezreal or Ashe. Try to not get hit to much by your opponent and wait till you turn level 3. When you are level 3 it's time for payback. When they attacked you and you know you have enough life trow out a agressive combo which hurts alot. First you charge with Audacious Charge and press Crescent Sweep dealing 125/225/325 + 20% of current target's health into physical damage, use Battle Cry and Three Talon Strike to knock the target up. When they probably retreat to there tower or a bit back away from you start farming again. Try to be aware of there jungler make sure you don't push your lane to agressive. Keep using your combo till your target is almost nearly dead, at this point im mostly level 6 so I use the combo from before, if they still survive trow your Ignite on the target. This is a good start if you succeed. Keep on farming, don't recall right away.. only recall now if you are very low on HP. Keep on farming till the mid lane guy returns and stay if you feel that you can handle another fight and else recall and buy yourself The Brutalizer and a pair of Boots. Don't forget to buy some new Health Potion's along the way.

Remember that you wanna stay as long as you can on your lane to farm and kill. Your back at middle try to use the combo again to lower your opponent's life to the max. Finish with Crescent Sweep and Ignite for another kill. If you having a really hard time killing your opponent which is sometimes the case. Try to setup a gank with your jungler Shaco, Warwick or Trundle are nice gankers. This way you can push your lane easier. If you know where the enemy jungler is and middle then try to push mid alot, try to take down there tower fast with Battle Cry. When you are ready and it's safe to recall without the chance losing your tower. Buy Youmuu's Ghostblade and go for Mercury's Treads if you can. Go back to your lane and keep up the same playstyle, last hits and start be more agressive on your opponent. Keep using the combo which is very important to use. Around this time teamfights will start, your job is to take out enemy carries as fast. Always when you recall buy 1 or 2 Health Potion's just in case. Go for a giant belt if your game is not going well for a 100%, if you're doing well go for B. F. Sword to expend it later for Black Cleaver.

If you know enemy is having alot of CC and it gives you a hard time try to build Banshee's Veil with taking a Negatron Cloak first. Most of the times one of the teams is winning but if it's still going 50/50 try to keep doing your job by focusing enemy carry's in teamfights. Your burst damage is so strong they will probably die very quickly. Don't initiate as first but wait for your tank to engage. Try to build out Frozen Mallet to become more tanky and Black Cleaver. Also don't forgot to get your Banshee's Veil up. With all your items done you'll be a bit off-tank and you do quite a big amount of damage. I hope I gave you enough information about the gameplay with Xin Zhao, good luck. Also it's important to buy Elixir of Fortitude and Elixir of Agility trough the entire game. Don't choose these before your items but if you got enough gold left. For example when you're doing pretty well and you're off to buy The Brutalizer just grab a elixir of choice if you got enough gold left. Make sure you use it when your about to battle.


Since you can't always rely on your teammates to call MIA/ss (missing enemy champion) you have to keep an eye out yourself. Check the minimap time to time to make sure nobody is about to gank you. When the enemy uses a jungler you sometimes have to take some risk but not too much. Especially during mid game this job is your own response ability. So stop blaming your ally's for not calling MIA(Missing in action). And just keep watching enemy placements on the minimap. Stay focused and concentrated on your lane and where the other enemies are.

TIP: First you charge with Audacious Charge and press Three Talon Strike and also make sure Battle Cry is on. Finish with Crescent Sweep and if the target ain't dead yet don't forget to trow Ignite on the target.

TIP: Remember to use Elixir's to help boosting your damage. Elixir of Fortitude and Elixir of Agility are recommended. Don't choose them before your build.

TIP: You have a life stealing passive and Wriggle's Lantern. Don't be to afraid to attack with a low amount of HP. Your burst damage and your Three Talon Strike can root the target a bit and will be able to kill. Let's say if your HP is 2/5. Ofcourse don't go in with 100 hp.

TIP: Xin Zhao has a great ultimate Crescent Sweep. Use this in teamfights against more then one opponent. It's using area of effect. It helps you significant in winning teamfights. Try to pick a target that carries the enemy team.

I would like to personally thank Guardsman Bob for giving me more idea's on how to play Xin Zhao.
Still finishing this guide, if you got any commentary or suggestions feel free to leave a comment and don't forget to rate this guide.
Untill next time enjoy this guide and strategies, good luck.