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Choose Champion Build:
Spells:
Ignite
Flash
Ability Order
Determination (PASSIVE)
Xin Zhao Passive Ability
7/19/12 XIN REWORK
Stats
Base Attack Speed increased to 0.672 from 0.658
Attack Speed per level increased to 2.7% from 2.5%
Challenge (Passive)
Xin Zhao challenges his target with his basic attacks and Audacious Charge, reducing their Armor by 15% for 3 seconds. Only one target can be challenged at a time.
Three Talon Strikes
Now reduces his other ability cooldowns by 1 second with each strike
Attack Damage ratio increased to 1.2 from 1.0
Cooldown reduced to 9/8/7/6/5 seconds from 10
Battle Cry
Passive: Heals Xin Zhao for 26/32/38/44/50 (+0.7 Ability Power) every third basic attack
Active no longer reduces other abilities' cooldowns
Cooldown reduced to 16/15/14/13/12 seconds from 24/22/20/18/16
Mana Cost increased to 40 from 35
Audacious Charge
Now challenges the target
Damage increased to 70/115/160/205/250 (+0.6 Ability Power) from 70/110/150/190/230 (+0.4 Ability Power)
Slow increased to 25/30/35/40/45% from 20/25/30/35/40%
Slow duration increased to 2 seconds from 1.5
Range reduced to 600 from 650
Cooldown reduced to 13/12/11/10/9 seconds from 16/15/14/13/12
Crescent Sweep
Now knocks all unchallenged targets back
Now has a 1.0 bonus Attack Damage ratio
Cooldown increased to 100/90/80 seconds from 75
Armor and Magic Resist bonus adjusted to 15/20/25 per champion hit from 25 + 7/10/13 per champion hit
Now has a new particle
As of patch v1.0.0.143 this guide is now outdated. Over the course of the next couple of weeks I will be updating my guide. Do not use this guide anymore as I will probably change everything in it. After playing Xin for some time I have come to conclusion, he is quite strong borderline OP. His burst damage is ridiculous, and his kit is just so good. He has sustain, hard cc, gap closer, a built in


Hi, this is Calibern. My favorite class of champions are AD melee champions such as





Pros
![]() + Has huge sustain + Has built in dash + Has a knock up + Deals a lot of damage along with being tanky + Can lane against most ranged champions effectively |
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Cons
![]() - Vulnerable to cc - Not as tanky as lets say Garen or Jarvan - Needs farm, or to be fed to be effective - Takes a bit of practice - Riot keeps nerfing him! |
I usually use








Other options
-

-

-

-

- greater glyph of Replenishment Xin isn't really mana hungry, but there are times when you spam all your skills to get kills.
-

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Of course there are other paths you can take that work well. These masteries are the best for Xin, in my opinion. The offensive tree got some major buffs so it is a lot better for Xin as of right now. Going down defensive tree would probably be the second most effective. The utility tree is more catered towards mages and support so it isn't as useful, but still viable. If there are any paths you used that you found effective, then leave a comment and I'll test it out.
Top Picks:





Its the best summoner spell for tanky dps champion. With


There are just some situations where you need to get past terrain, or get a huge distance between you and your enemy.






Is really good at early levels for getting first blood, or shutting down



Viable Summoner Spells
Teleport
Is viable if you are solo laning. It gives you great map control. Turret getting killed? teleport there in an instant. away from team fight? Teleport to a nearby unit. Make sure you takeFlash or
Ghost so replace
Exhaust with this.
Cleanse
Not one of my favorites, but it serves its purposes. CC reduction is awesome, but its cool down is less than ideal for a defensive summoner spell.
Smite
Smite is absolutely a must if you go jungling on Xin. He can not jungle without it. It makes his jungling speed decent, and is great for stealing dragon and baron. However never get this if you are laning.
- Any spells not discuss in this section are absolutely useless on Xin.

Xin's passive is very good through out the game. It's like a mini last whisper, but it applies a debuff letting your allies take advantage of it too. This means 2 things not only do your attacks hit harder, but if your are laning your minions do extra damage to the poor fellow. Note this is armor REDUCTION and not armor penetration. What this means for you: say enemy champion has 100 armor. First thing that gets taken off is the 15% from passive leaving them with 85 armor. Then your percent armor penetration kicks in (I'm assuming you didn't build


Notes:
- Does work on creeps, but not turrets.
- Both
Three Talon Strike and
Audacious Charge apply it.
- Works for allies as well.
- When combined with
Crescent Sweep the champion does not get knocked back.

This is by far my favorite skill on Xin. It gives a huge attack damage bonus, and on the third hit it knocks enemies in the air allowing you to get another attack in. Not many people use it to its full potential, because they don't realize it resets auto attacks so you should use after you hit and not before the fight occurs. Also this skill lowers all your spells' cooldowns. Has a 1.2 AD scaling, which applies to all three attacks making this skill very powerful.
Note:
Three Talon Strike's cooldown timer starts after the third hit is landed, not when you first press skill.
- Only the third hit procs spell shields like
Banshee's Veil, or
Spell Shield.
- Only the first hit resets auto attack timer.
- Each buff has about a 5 second duration.
- Attacks in three talon strike have a faster animation than regular attacks.
- Knock up works in blind, and fear(if you move close enough to enemy, the knock up will activate and break the fear).
- Gives you a slight range increase.
- All three attacks gain the AD scaling.

Active gives you a huge attack speed boost, and passive gives you sustain. Has a .7 AP scaling which gives you an additional 3.5 points of healing from masteries when



Note:
- It's passive works in blinds and on structures.

Gap closer that has AoE slow built in. Just get one point in it for utility.


Note:
- Xin immediately hits his target again after he lands
Audacious Charge.
- Has about a 600 cast range, which is about the same auto attack range of most ranged carries. Ex.
Ashe has 550 range,
Vayne has 550 range, and Caityln has a range of 650. *Note* auto attack ranges are slightly larger than spell range.
- Can kill invisible units from AoE damage. (rarely works, but I gotten 2 or 3 kills from the AoE damage)
- It is long enough to jump through some walls. Any wall you can put a ward through, you can dash through. Remember you need to have sight for it to work, so most of the time its useless unless there is a team fight going on.
- Counts as magic damage, so works in blind, and can't be countered by dodge.

Overall I think this ultimate is beast. It has 1:1 AD ratio with bonus AD , and it now stacks with armor penetration. Also it deals heavy AoE damage with a knock back. Also the resistance buff is can save you from some unfavorable situations.
Note:
- Its range is 375, which is a little more than
Amumu's
Tantrum.
- Knocks opponents back by 650 units which is a little bit longer than your E range.
- Can knock through champion made obstacles like
Cataclysm, or
Crystallize as well as map terrain.
Skill Combos
- Combo #1- Ganking/ regular fight
Audacious Charge-->
Crescent Sweep-->
Battle Cry-->
Three Talon Strike--> auto attack--> repeat
You can use this combo w/oCrescent Sweep if its on cooldown. I like to save
Crescent Sweep for when enemies start piling up on me just so I don't die, but you can use it right after you jump in if the enemies are clumped up. ALWAYS use
Battle Cry before
Three Talon Strike. Here's why: with
Battle Cry active you can land your three talon strikes faster. If you use it after
Three Talon Strike you don't gain the 3 second cooldown reduction from it. At level 18 with all the items built you have 20% cooldown reduction which lowers cooldown to 9.6 seconds. With the 3 secs shaved off from
Three Talon Strike you lower it to 6.6 seconds. The buff itself lasts 5 seconds so it will only have a 1.6 second downtime. Now let's say some kind soul gets zeke's herald on your team
Battle Cry has no cooldown when used with
Three Talon Strike. *NOTE* Always use
Battle Cry before
Three Talon Strike I can not stress the importance of this enough.
- Combo#2- 1v1 enemy initiates and starts to run
Battle Cry -->
Three Talon Strike-->
Crescent Sweep-->
Audacious Charge--> auto attack--> repeat
Fun fact:Three Talon Strike and
Audacious Charge resets auto attack timer
Also feel free to open withCrescent Sweep, but I wouldn't. After
Crescent Sweep no sane person would stick around so you catch up to them with
Audacious Charge. IT IS KEY THAT YOU DON'T INITIATE WITH
Audacious Charge
- Combo #3- Initiating w/ tank
Audacious Charge-->
Crescent Sweep-->
Battle Cry-->
Three Talon Strike
It is best if you build a bit tanky so you don't melt in the team fight.
- Harass- Just use to zone enemy or get them low
Audacious Charge-->
Battle Cry-->
Three Talon Strike
The enemy will usually run away after you finish due to the fact that they have almost no health. Don't harass if you're at a disadvantage (ex. half health and attacking someone at full health and mana, when enemy jungler is about to gank, and other obvious circumstances.)
Skill Sequence Explanation




Build #1 AKA Tanky DPS Build
Most of the time your build will resemble this. Two defensive items are about all Xin needs. This particular build is used against a balanced team where they have 1 mage, 1 ranged AD, 1 offtank, a jungler (either a AD offtank, or Fid), and a support.This build deals major amounts of damage along with being decently tanky. Don't forget to use



Most damage is from


When I say super tanky I actually mean **** load of HP. It does decent amount of damage. This is a meta golem build. Since the nerf to Atmogs, this build became a bit weaker, but still viable. I get heart of gold at the 12min mark, so I can get a decent amount of gold from it. I get







For times when you are forced into support role, because A. your team needed a support and you "forgot" to change champion or B. you are fell behind in early game and need to get back in the game. This build isn't as optimal, but it works phenomenal in certain situations. Like the







By far the best starting item for solo top at the moment. Unless it's going to be someone like




By far my favorite boots. It can be a lifesaver; never underestimate 35% cc reduction. It also gives a decent amount of magic resistance, but of the boots it is the most expensive. Use your rule of thumb to decide whether to get this,


These are the only two damage items you actually need. You get every thing you need from these two items: AD, Crits, move speed, attack speed, armor penetration... you name it it has it (except life steal). I don't like the options for life steal, I feel like they are too limited in what they do. Bloodthirster is a good item, but doesn't do enough to make it a core item, and the same thing goes for Zekes.
These 2 items are all you need to deal out a bunch of damage. The other 3 items should be situational. Most of the times it'll look like 1 armor item, one MR item, and 1 more offensive item. I highly recommend not swapping the core items for anything.

Offensive items are nice, but as the saying goes the best offense is a good defense. Defensive items allow you to survive and continue to dish out damage at same time. On the other hand no offensive items leave you useless to your team so be balanced in your item selection. Any item not discuss in this build are useless (in my opinion), or i forgot to add it in on Xin . Leave comment if you feel like I missed a item, or you feel like a item should be removed. Thank you for your honesty.
Item Sequence








A T T A C K D A M A G E |
SPA |
|
SPA |
A T T A C K D A M A G E |
Item Sequence







A T T A C K S P E E D |
SPA |
|
SPA |
A T T A C K S P E E D |
Item Sequence






L I F E S T E A L |
SPA |
|
SPA |
L I F E S T E A L |
Item Sequence







H E A L T H |
SPA |
|
SPA |
H E A L T H |
Item Sequence










R E S I S T A N C E |
SPA |
|
SPA |
R E S I S T A N C E |
Pros
|
SPA | SPA |
Cons
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- Three Talon Strike resets your auto attack, so swing then push Q for a quick double attack.
- When using Three Talon Strike, you can hit anything twice and then the third hit will knock someone up. You can hit two neutral minions and charge out of the bush to get the third knockup hit on them.
- When you are ganking someone, save your charge and use better positioning to get the hits in. They will flash away if you get close enough to hit them and THAT is when you should charge in. This will allow you to get them no matter what.
- Your charge ability plus Three Talon does massive damage, so test your limits on who and when you can tower dive as Xin can generally kill someone before the tower even blinks and take only a hit or two.
~By Hahano
I did not write this part of the guide. It is an excerpt from Hahano's Who is your jungler and what does he do?

His jungle gets screwed up so easily, and he spams his skills a lot in the jungle so mana consumption is actually noticeable.. Before starting jungling learn how to gank. Ganks are what separates good Xins from bad Xins. Don't recklessly charge at the enemy when you can just walk up to them and wack them around. Learn how to cut off enemy escape points. Don't build for damage, utility is much more important for a jungler. Movement speed is much better for your ganking, and clearing time then a few damage items. That being said here's my mini jungle guide.

Item Choice
Choose your starting item depending on the situation. If you are new to the jungle or want to keep your health up, start off with





force]], and

Masteries
Runes
Runes




Greater Mark of Attack Damage- 8.55 attack damage is really good for clearing our minions and keeps your health up from attack damage. These are the best marks to use, and they are relatively cheap. Your q, and ult scale with AD, so its beneficial. They cost a grand total of 1845 IP for 9 of them.
Greater Seal of Armor- 12.69 armor blocks out so much damage from monsters. They keep you alive and healthy in the jungle. They are an absolute must. They cost a grand total of 1845 IP, it is really inexpensive.
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist- 24.30 magic resistance at level 18 makes it harder for mages to kill you. Makes you even tankier than you already are, so it is a smart investment. They cost a grand total of 1845 IP.
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage- 6.75 attack gives you a grand total of 15.3 AD. They cost a grand total of 3075 IP.

Route:

- Start at wolves.
- Then move on to blue. You can take it out near 80% health with smite.
- At this time you should gank mid or bot if they are pushed up. Jungle if not.
- Move on to wraiths.
- Take red and gank.
- Next move on to golems.
- Gank at this time or take dragon.
Ganking
SpaceRemember always save your dash for their escape attempt if you can. If they warded you have to charge in when your allies initiate them, because they will be distracted. Take advantage of that and charge in at full force. Other times you can just stroll up to them and start wacking them around, and can save your charge for their inevitable their escape attempt. Their are 3 types of ganks and 2 styles of ganking. First type and most common is coming in from the side, and hoping you can kill them before they get to their tower. Second is coming in from behind them through the triangle bush, or the pathways in mid. This type of gank blocks off their escape route and forces them to run further, and almost always result in a kill, or having them use a summoner spell. Third type of gank is very effective, but you need to fulfill the requirements: be in side lane, and have partner fully pushed up. Basically you walk in to the very top bush while the enemy can't see you through the fog of war. Then you wait for them to push, and attack with everything you got. Using dash is most surprising, because the don't have time to react. The first style of ganking is the most common which is the dash and



SpaceWhen to gank is the most challenging aspect of ganking for most lane Xin mindset people. Don't gank when your health is questionable. The worst thing you could possibly do is give your opponent a free kill. If your opponents are pushed to your tower for god sakes don't charge in; walk up to them and hit them with

Review Time
How to Gank
- Walk up to opponent hitting them with
Three Talon Strike to save
Audacious Charge for their escape
- Rush in with
Audacious Charge and hope that you damage output is enough to put them down.
- Use the side bushes to surprise your enemies
- Use the triangle bush, or pathway to cut off enemy escape route
- Use the fog of war from river to go in
When to Gank
- Don't go in below 75% health if they are at full
- Gank when they are pushed up
- Gank if enemy jungler is about to gank allies
- Gank if your ally is in trouble
- Don't gank if they are at turret
- Don't gank if their jungler is at dragon
Warding

Map Objectives- Dragon should be warded at 10 minutes if they have a jungler. The gold from dragon can be game changing. If you get it twice you already gave your entire team 380 gold which is like killing someone on a spree. Getting it three times is like giving each person on your team 2 kills. So that means dragon control is very important.
Baron buff is game changing. A baron buff can win you a game if you ace the enemy team at baron and steal the buff. A baron buff can make you lose a game if the enemy team gets it. Baron buff stats are as good as an item that cost 2k+ gold. So that means late game with all items max, baron buff will be like a extra item which as we all know is a major advantage.
Countering Counter Jungling / Ganks- These wards prevent the enemy jungler from gaining the upper hand. These wards are purely defensive. They can save your allies life, and sometimes your own.
Counter Jungling- These wards are used to counter jungle the enemy team. These wards are extremely offensive, and can net you 1 or 2 kills. They can help you steal a buff or two. However they are risky, so only use them if your team has an obvious advantage. Most games I won't get past orange level wards.

High threat= don't get too aggressive, try not to push lane too far
Medium threat= harass if you can, last hit but don't push lane too far
Low threat= LOL you can tower dive them even if they have full health(joke), push lane as far back as you want (watch out for teammates obviously)
This ranking applies to if you are similarly skilled as person behind the champion. Some people who play

- You two will burst the enemy lane down to oblivion. You guys can do so much damage together, but you will fight over kills.
-Only engage her after her


- The cc on this guy is insane. Knock up


- STAY BEHIND MINIONS OR TURRET. You do not want to get

- God I love


- For the same reasons that he is a good partner, he is also a high threat. You can't aim


- Stun, and charge about all i can say about her.
-I get this weird twitch thing in my neck every time I see



- Ashe will take your minion kills. Her damage early game is mediocre at best. She will die to enemy carries fairly easily. She is very squishy throughout the game. After laning phase is over you and her are best friends.
-Against an Ashe just use


-He's like a second


-His threat comes in the form of his cc. You can shut you down quite efficiently, and cause a lot of damage to your team. Be on the look out for


-This guy harasses like a boss. He can zone out two people with absolutely no problem at all. His skill combo gives you a free kill. His damage output is insane especially his free ignite as a passive(

-OMFG! Why the hell does he do so much damage T.T? Brand will do so much damage to you in lane, you won't be able to farm without taking a lot of damage. Most of his combos are skill shot base so try to dodge him and then charge him. Try to kill him ASAP,or you will be screwed in team fights. Brand excels at team fights with his AOE damage and

- He has great cc, and can shut down just about anyone. Just do e+q combo when he initiates.
- He has great damage output for a tank even if its a single target nuke (


-You guys don't really have synergy with

-He has huge sustain, and decent damage. Bring ignite with you if you know your facing Mundo. Mundo probably builds health, and not armor so he isn't as tanky as you think early level.
-He harasses and you finish them off. Try not to take all the farm, he needs his item as much as you do. I hate

-





-You guys have amazing sustain with his


-CAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCAWCWACWACW! **** ITS




-He harasses really well, and deals a whole lot of damage. Just pick off any champion thats low. There have been many times when his global


-He harasses a lot and isn't susceptible to cc (

-DEMACIAAAAAA! You guys deal so much damage.




-He is so tanky and can do so much damage at the same time. Basically impossible to kill for you, and he can regen any damage you do to him after a couple a seconds. Key to fighting


-Zones enemies well, and turret deals amazing damage. but both of you need farm so its gonna be a long early game. Best way to fight with him is pick off enemies that are targeted by turrets.
-Stay away from his turrets. Dodge his grenade they add up, and he is mana hungry so try to take him when his mana is low. Remember his turrets go away if you kill him. He has huge regen, so don't harass and back off, keep the pressure on him. Early game he is a pain, but he starts to lose his effectiveness after mid game. Try not to leave lane against a dinger when you don't need to, he can push turrets like a frikin boss.
-You both have hard CC so initiating is easy. With her

- Facing

-Janna is a support champion so if you lane with her your cs will be higher. But you also become the only source of damage in your lane. What she lacks in damage she compensates in utility. Basically she is a toss up.
-The only thing to worry about is her cc. Her

-He has a great buff with his

- There are 3 types of Jarvans; dps, offtank, and tank. Of the 3 offtank is most common. Offtank Jarvans deals decent damage but his true strength comes from being able to outlast you in battle treat him like


- Jax is basically another version of you. Has

-God I hate Jax, he deals so much damage, and is freaking tanky. He also has an AeO stun,




-He harasses well, and prevents enemies from flashing away. Just let him burst them, and charge in when they are at 1/2 health.
-His threat level comes from the fact that he can go in burst you down, and flash out. Before level 6, just wait for him to use silence on minion, and then charge in.

-You both jump on enemy,and that's about it.
-AIM HER FAST. Never let her use her ult for the full 3 secs, you will get demolished. Best way to do this is save three talon strike for when she ults. She is squishy early game, so initiate when she is not around minions, otherwise she can

-Last hit as much as you can while you let Kayle zone the enemies. Jump any enemies foolish enough to aim Kayle.
-Initiate after she has

-Great damage and his stun comes in handy. You job is to keep him alive in team fights by taking out enemy champions who can kill him. He has one of the best ultimate,

-Kennen can take out your entire team. Just like fiddles ultimate you should be weary of his. Its basically a combo of Amumu, and fiddles ult. In lane you have to deny his gold and exp. You have to dodge both his




-I feel sorry for your laning enemies. Lee, and Xin can take out anyone with there burst. You go in first, because Lee's dash works better when they have lower health.
-




-She has great range, and her snare and slow lets you stick onto your target better. finales funkeln is great for finishing off target you couldn't.
-Lux is one of my favorite people to lane against. She's one of the couple of people I can dominate in lane. Her skill shots are relatively easy to dodge. For her


-His q takes a decent chunk of hp of the enemy champions. That plus the fact that his slow allows you to save your charge for their inevitable escape, almost guaranteeing you a kill.
-I hate Malphite. He has a 50% attack debuff, that's right 50% it's AoE also,


-First of all I gotta say he has a awesome name. Say it with me "Mal-za-har". Anyways he only has damage no really good cc that helps you. (Silence lets them run so I don't count it.) Your damage output enough should be able to kill enemy champions
-Oh god I hate his


-He has great utility with his


-The things that make him a good partner are what you look for in an enemy. 1v1 solo top you absolutely destroy him. You can regen his sapling damage from passive so easily. That means they have to come close to you in order to turn up the pressure. That means all you have to do is wait for him to snare you and then commence attacking. He will be at about 2/5 hp and running away. That means you will have your charge up and q off cd in 2 seconds, allowing you finish him off easily. Never aim Maokai in team fights, he is only bait, so aim for the squishies behind him.
-If the enemy team has a huge range advantage, then you guys are screwed. Basically your raw damage output will be enough to take down most other lane
compositions.
-He becomes extremely problematic when he becomes fed. Best way to beat him is keep harassing him, Yi has little sustain, and his

- She has great harass, but so squishy early game. Just try to give her time to align her ult up. It deals ridiculous amounts of damage mid to late game.
-She is so easy to kill. If you get your



- Morde just isn't what he use to be. He doesn't pump out as much damage as he used to. He brings nothing to the team. Just let him harass while you farm, and occasionally harass anyone coming close to you. I would love to be facing you lane.
- Oh, how the mighty have fallen. I feared this champion once, but now he is just a shell of his former self. He has no sustain, and his skills drain his health. His shield is really weak now and without it Morde is squishy. Just attack him as much as possible, your sustain will be enough to absorb his hits.
-You two can out sustain anyone. Her




-



-

- He is one of the few champion you can beat in lane now a days. Just keep the pressure on him. The moment he gets close e + q onto him if he likes to fight you then max q first, if not max e first. You beat him in a straight up 1v1, but if he gets near your minions he can regain it faster than you can. Never aim him in team fights, go for the mage behind him. Nasus is so much harder to kill when you are in the middle of a team fight.
-She has great harass both AD, and AP. You guys can't be pushed out of lane. This lane is all about wearing down your opponent in small engagements and not full out fights.
- This lane is a toss up. Sometime I dominate, and others I am holding on to dear life. Early game you have clear advantage but as soon as she builds some sustain and armor you are screwed. AP Nidalee is far easier to kill than AD Nidalee.
- This lane is all about over aggression.

-



Last Hitting- Try to do this every game in time it will become second nature. *Tip Melee Minions take 3 hits to die to tower, so you attack after second tower hit. Ranged minions are trickier, they take only 2 tower hits. So attack once wait for turret to hit then hit again.Of course this only applies if its only you and the tower w/ no minions around.
- Read this if you are unsure who to buy next.(Click here!)~Jebus McAzn
- This is an overview of every aspect of the game. It goes more in depth than I did. You should read it if you have 20 minutes to spare. (Click here!)~Mowen
- This guide describes one if the most important consumable in the game, the ward. (Click here!)~Panglot
- I can't jungle Xin, so if you want to jungle with Xin read this guide. (Click here!)~Hargris2010

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