Hello, and welcome to my AP Xin Zhao guide. This is my first guide, so I'll appreciate any constructive criticism. AP Xin Zhao is a very fun/cheesy way to build Xin Zhao. My guide will show you ways to build Xin Zhao to do a good amount of damage, while still being useful in teamfights as a tank/peeler.

PROS:
Crazy good sustain
Good sustained damage
Good crowd control

CONS:
No burst
No escapes
His W's healing doesn't matter if he gets bursted down quickly
His knock-up requires you to hit 2 times before it knocks them up

Please refer to my notes next to the runes.

Please refer to my notes next to the masteries.

Another okay start is a Doran's Ring and 2 Health Potion, for the extra health you get back from your W and extra damage on your E.

But for everything else, please refer to the notes next to my item builds.

Please refer to the notes next to the skill sequence.

Audacious Charge This is your bread and butter spell. You level it up first. You're going to want to use this once, auto attack with Nashors Tooth and Sheen proc, and do it again for good harass.

Battle Cry This is what makes AP Xin Zhao AP Xin Zhao. You are going to want to level it up second, after your E. You are going to want to use this and Q immediately after you use your E for a fast knock-up, heals and to just do more damage in general. A good to remember as AP Xin Zhao is if you can't get istagibbed by the enemy laner, you can always trade. Your heals as AP Xin Zhao are crazy, and you can out sustain basically anyone.

Three Talon Strike You get this at level 1 for the HUGE burst it gives at level 1, plus the knock up. You are going to want to time this with your W after you use E for the knock-up, more damage and to keep the enemy from running away before you can slow them again with your E.

Crescent Sweep You're going to want to use this after you E to the, but before you time your Q and W. This is because since you have no AD, you need all the damage you can get from the 15% of current health. This is also useful any situation, from 1v1s, to teamfights because of the extra armor and magic resistance.

AP Xin Zhao could go in the jungle, but you wouldn't go the builds shown above. To do jungle Xin Zhao, AP is out of the question. You just won't be tanky enough, just like AD Xin Zhao. You would have to build full tank.

You usually are going to be the second person to go into a fight. Your support/jungler should usually initiate, and then you go in by targeting their AD or AP carry. Your job then is to stop them from participating in the teamfight, by using your knock-up on them, then using your ultimate to knock the whole enemy team into different places, messing up their formation. If you have to initiate, it's impossible to jump on the AD or AP carry, so your best best is to jump to their mid line, usually the support or top laner, and then to use your ultimate to knock the AD and AP carry back, thus allowing your team to finish the rest of their team because the AD and AP carry could not participate in the fight. Also, remember if you die doing these things, and your team follows up on you, it will usually be worth it for your team because then by doing what you did, your team can win the teamfight.

Farming is pretty simple. You should cs just like any other champion. Some things that can help you is to punish your enemy for csing. Stand in front of your melee minions, and cs like that. When the enemy top laner comes near to cs, you auto them and use your E on them. Don't let your health fall too low, but you can take quite a few minions shots and still heal up from your W. Once you get a few levels in E, and some basic items you can 1 shot the ranged minions. Try to always attack the minions once each to kill them, otherwise you push the lane. Pushing is not good unless their jungler has bad CC, or only one CC (for ex. Warwick). You should try to freeze the enemy minions at just beyond your tower range. This allows for easier farm, making enemy ganks harder, and you can deny your enemy more cs. You freeze when the enemy pushes up (this happens quite frequently in bronze-silver, sometimes gold league because they do not understand the concept of freezing, only pushing), by taking all of the enemy minions shots at the place you want to freeze at, not attacking them at all. Then you can just cs with security, knowing you are near your tower.

I wouldn't advise someone to do 1st time AP Xin Zhao in ranked. I would advise people to practice in normal games before using AP Xin Zhao in ranked games. AP Xin Zhao is a very unexpected way to play Xin Zhao, so you could do it in ranked to confuse the enemy team.

I hope you enjoyed my guide, and learned things from it. Over all, AP Xin Zhao is very fun and is a great addition to a teamfight. Please rate the guide, and leave comments. I would appreciate all constructive criticism and I would like to know what I can add to the guide. Thank you for reading my guide.

-BOBDABAKER