Hello, everyone. I'm Sir Chocobo, Esq. and I am here to share with you my favorite off-meta top pick: Off-tank Xayah. Now this is a personal favorite of mine as it is very fun to play and tilt your lane opponent with, provided you know your matchups and opening. So that is why I am here to share it with you all. For right now this guide is more of an overview and general guide as opposed to a completely "in-depth" guide, though my goal is for it to eventually be just that; so, while I won't be going into excruciating detail about all of the topics, I will try to give enough information for it to be worth your while. If you want any specific details covered in this guide that aren't there already, please be sure to let me know, as I will attempt to update this roughly once every other patch if I can.

When it comes to runes For Xayah top, Building as a regular adc is all good and fine. However, the way most top champions work nowadays makes it more imperative than ever to have some level of survivability. This is why i personally prefer to bring Grasp of the Undying on Xayah top and opt for an Off-tank Build, as opposed to Something from the Precision tree.

Primary Runes: Resolve

• Grasp of the Undying
  This Rune is the core of the build. It is what allows you to start stacking health from the get go. Even though it has a lowered efficiency on ranged champions, it is still invaluable in improving your survivability into the mid and late game.
  
  
• Demolish
  As you are going to be stacking health and have less AD than Xayah would normally be building, this rune is here in order to aid you in getting turret plates early as well as helping you to siege towers in the mid to late game. Font of Life is also a potential option, but your snare will be primarily used for disengage rather than engaging the enemy.
  
  
• Bone Plating
  This rune is to assist in the repeated trades that tend to happen in top lane, though Second Wind is also a viable option against certain matchups, such as Darius, Gangplank or Singed
  
  
• Overgrowth
  This rune simply stacks nicely with the Grasp of the Undying Keystone Rune, while the other two options, Revitalize and Unflinching, don't offer much to Xayah.
  

Secondary Runes: Precision

• Triumph Legend: Alacrity Legend: Bloodline
  These three runes are interchangeable, depending on the matchup. If you feel you need more survivability, take Legend: Bloodline, more dps, take Legend: Alacrity, and if you are anticipating situations where you will be fighting multiple enemies at one often (such as frequent ganks from the enemy jungler), take Triumph.
  
  
• Coup de Grace
  This is a handy rune for top lane as most champions you face will be stacking health. The reason Cut Down isn't as usefull here is because you are stacking health as well, meaning they need even more health for you to get full effect. Last Stand is also viable if you feel you will be able to get a large number of Grasp of the Undying stacks against your particular lane opponent.
  

Mini Runes



Attack speed is self explanatory, you want quick trades so you want more attacks in that short span of time. The armor runes can be swapped for or .

Itemization for Off-Tank Xayah is very similar to that of an attack speed bruiser. She build a mix of damage, attack speed, health, and resistances.

Mythics

Eclipse
This item will be your go-to mythic roughly 90% of the time, unless you need a more defensive option.

Stridebreaker
This will be your defensive Mythic choice. This will usually only ever be used against your biggest threats, such as Aatrox , Darius or Pantheon.



Boots

For boots, you should be prioritizing a more defensive option, but can go offensive if you get a lead.


Plated Steelcaps
Mercury's Treads
These will generally be your defensive boot options.



Core Items

Black Cleaver
This item provides a good deal of the core tats you are looking for (Health and Attack Damage) while simultaneously providing a strong passive for dealing with the beefier opponents you will encounter top lane.


Blade of the Ruined King

Like Black Cleaver, this item gives strong core stats that you are looking for, and helps you deal with beefier opponents.

Your goal in the early game should be to start stacking up Grasp of the Undying as much as possible early on. However, this can potentially come at the expense of pushing the lane towards your opponent. Try and match the pace at which your opponent autos and pushes minions, additionally, pay attention to whether or not one of your minions is being ganged up on by multiple of your opponent' minions, and focus your Grasp of the Undying charge buildup on an opponent's minion of a matching type. for example, if one of your melee minions is being attacked by multiple opposing minions, but your minions are all spreading their attacks, build up your charge by attacking an opposing melee minion to balance out the minion deaths.

Alternatively, you can purposefully push the wave repeatedly towards the enemy tower, and use the opportunity it provides to get wards deeper into river or at the exits of the enemy jungle for earlier gank warning. If your opponent is really having a difficult time with the wave, you can even get a deep ward in the enemy jungle to keep track of their pathing and position.

You should only push for tower damage if you have either managed to push your lane opponent to recall, or you know that the enemy jungler is not in a position to gank you.