❤ Introduction ❤ Pros and Cons ❤ Abilities ❤ Summoners ❤ Runes ❤ Items ❤ ❤ Matchups ❤ Gameplay ❤ Extra ❤

Hello and welcome to my Xayah Guide! Obviously if you're reading this you seek knowledge, tips or even just some information about Xayah. I have put a lot of effort into this guide and plan to keep adding to it and improve it's quality in all aspects. It may not be the most well written guide but I sure aim to at least teach you a thing or two. Overall, if you like the guide an up vote is appreciated and any comments helps me improve the guide or just help you.

Boo! My name is Niklaus and I reside inside of the Oceanic region. At the moment I currently ranked at Gold. I started playing the game around 2 years ago when a friend from school introduced me to the game. I played a few champions and found Katarina who was my main for quite some time. I ended up switching towards more of an ADC play style and decided developed further with the release of Jhin. When the release of Xayah came around I instantly loved everything about this new champ and the connection to Rakan. I have been playing her ever since 19-04-2017. But enough about me... "TO THE GUIDE!"

My main reason for playing Xayah is her unique feather play style and combination with Rakan. Unlike most other ADCs, you have a very strong self-peel with your feathers and when combined with a Rakan can allow you to put out some serious damage. Due to her all in kill potential with her Bladecaller she is very effective when played with a heavy CC support like Leona or Nautilus. Her feathers can simply be used to set up pressure and even completely burst unsuspecting enemies during team fights or simple duels. She is also overall a very strong ADC at the moment as she can be strong most of the game but really shines in the late when she is throwing out feathers faster than flies to rubbish. Xayah is best when she is given time to setup her feathers with team that can peel from the enemy front liners, allowing her to destroy the enemy team.

> Very unique and fun to play > Feathers are very strong > W allows for Kiting > Featherstorm, for surviving or dodging CC > Extremely strong in team fights She is a unique champion that is definietly fun to play! He self-peel is provided by her W and her ultimate can be used to a both a lifeline from damage or a quick release of feathers for loads of damage. All this makes her very strong both in and out of team fights and objectives.

> Weaker against mobile enemies > Feathers require setup before use > Not very mobile > Weaker early/laning > Can't fly around the map :P Unfortunately Xayah is not overly mobile outside of her Deadly Plumage. leaving her vulnerable to mobile champions when her ult is down. He feathers have high potential damage but require time to be setup for Bladecaller. For some weird reason Riot didn't grant her the power of full flight.

Clean Cuts

After using an ability, Xayah's next 3 basic attacks will hit all targets along their path and leave a Feather for 6 seconds. The main target of her empowered attack takes full damage and on-hits while other targets take 30-50% damage. Xayah can store up to 5 empowered attacks.

Xayah has a unique passive which is great for clearing waves, poking and most importantly setting up Feathers. It can take a bit of getting use to while using her passive as you need to attack from the correct angle to position them correctly but once you play you'll get good at it quickly. Once you get your attack speed items it becomes extremely effective for clearing waves and setting up quicker for Bladecaller.

You will get a lot out of this passive if you line up a wave and use Q to damage the minions and get 3 stacks to start taking out the wave. You will pretty much be able to take out the mage minions early with this combo. As well as farming lane it can be used extremely effectively on jungle camps with multiple monsters. While poking just try to hit them behind the minions as often people ignore the poke damage but it adds up over time.

Feathers stacks will show under the health bar and are limited to 5. With this limit, it is best to only use an ability when you have 2 or less as this means you won't lose any excess stacks.

Xayah throws two knives dealing 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+ 100%) physical damage and leaving two Feather. Targets hit after the first take 50% damage. Cost: 50 Mana Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 First comes her Q ability which is a very simple and typical projectile skill shot. It may be simple but it is extremely good in clearing minions or monsters when combined with your passive Feathers. It has pretty good scaling with you AD and has good base damage up to 240 at level 18. Overall it has a good cool down with a low price and is your primary source of poke and your best farming tool. For clearing waves its as simple as lining up with the minions as they approach and throwing your Q down the middle, followed up by simple empowered basic attacks. Clearing most jungle camps are just a case of positioning to hit all of the monsters. In lane you will use it a lot but just remember not to spam it to much until Essence Reaver or you might find yourself out of mana. A simple trick for a quick stun to catch them off guard is simply using Q and one basic attack followed by Bladecaller when the feathers stop. This can be very effective at stopping an enemy support walking into you or just to escape from someone chasing you. It can also be used combined with your supports CC (preferably Rakan :P) and can sometimes lead to a kill. If you find the enemy getting away with low how you can most often grab them with you edge of your Q as it has a decent range and you can close a small amount of distance with your Deadly Plumage. Overall the scaling is rather strong as it grants anywhere from (300-400) with the late game AD. Combine this with the 240 at 18 and you have an ability that hits like a truck. Unfortunately it bleeds 50% of that damage after the Feathers hit the first target but that doesn't matter in team fights as much as you other abilities combine with your Q to output a lot of damage.

Xayah creates a storm of blades for 4 seconds that grant her 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50% attack speed and cause her basic attacks to strike an additional time for 20% damage. If Deadly Plumage strikes an enemy champion, Xayah Gains 30% movement speed for 1.5 seconds. If Rakan is nearby he will also gain the effects of Deadly Plumage. Cost: 60 / 55 / 50 / 45 / 40 Mana Cooldown: 16 / 15 / 14 / 13 / 12 Next is Deadly Plumage. A slightly undervalued but surprisingly good ability that is great for increasing damage over a fight or sieging as well as a boost when playing with Rakan. If underestimated this spell can do a lot of damage to the team and their turrets! You should typically aim to use the ability after you've used your Q and basic attacked once so you don't lose Feathers to the cap, this maximizes your empowered attacks and combines with the bonus attack speed provided by Deadly Plumage. In general you should aim to use it around the middle of a fight as it doesn't last a super long time. As you should already be aware, when Rakan he gains the effects of the ability. This allows great synergy in team fights or taking down objectives as general damage and attack speed is increased on both champions. Combined with this it can be used to help escape as it grants bonus movement speed when it strikes an enemy champion. Combine with your Zeal items like Phantom Dancer and Runaan's Hurricane, it can give you between 1.5 and 2.0+ attack speed. This increase your rate of setup for Feathers and therefore damage output. Another quick but helpful trick is to use this ability right before your next basic attack as it will maximize the use of its short duration.

Xayah calls all Feathers back to her, dealing 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 (+ 60%) (+ 0.5% / 1% Critical Strike) physical damage to enemies they pass through. Hitting an enemy with 3 Feather roots them for 1 second. Minions take 50% damage from Bladecaller. Cost: 40 Mana Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 Second last, comes Bladecaller, probably the most essential part of Xayah's kit. The ability returns all Feathers, dealing damage and the way back. It grants a Root if 3 or more hit a single target and deals less damage as they pass through and only 50% damage to minions. Its scaling is slightly weird but allows for insane damage late game. This ability can save you, or cause your death. Try not to use it unless your have a confirmed root on the enemy and plan to go in otherwise it will leave you vulnerable and harder to win a fight. Something a lot of new Xayah's do it use it right before Featherstorm making the Feathers produced useless. Though sometimes it can't be helped save it for after Ult to root the enemy. The best time to use it outside a fight is to clear a wave or a camp after using Double Daggers and basic attacks. Like a couple other abilities in the game, Bladecaller does reduced damage to minions and less damage as it passes through enemies, though not very noticeable, it is there. Its scaling off of both Critical Strike and Attack Damage makes it extremely strong late game at 70-100% crit. A simple trick for a quick stun and to catch them off guard is simply using Double Daggers and one basic attack followed by Bladecaller once the feathers have stopped. This can be very effective at stopping an enemy support walking into you or just to escape from someone chasing you.

Xayah leaps into the air becoming un-targetable. She then rains down daggers which deal 100 / 150 / 200 (+ 100%) physical damage and leave behind a line of Feathers. Xayah can move while in the air. Cost: 80 / 90 / 100 Mana Cooldown: 140 / 130 / 120 Lastly is the all important and awesome Featherstorm. It is an extremely versatile ability for both aggressive and defensive plays. It provides the invulnerability for defense as well as the Feathers for both defense and offense. It can be used to dodge and cancel ultimates like Zed's Death Mark and Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow. In team fights it can cause havoc for the enemy team as it allows you to instantly setup a large amount of Feathers for a huge root and damage. Thought not typically used for initiating a fight, it can be very effective at catching the enemy off guard and winning a fight out right. On the other end of the scale is the defensive use. It can be used to dodge a hook or an ultimate from the enemy. This puts a lot of pressure on the enemy team as it makes it hard for them to fight when you have a get out of jail free card. When playing against another Xayah try to use yours after hers. While in lane it can be a great way to escape a gank from the enemy or turn a fight on the enemy bot lane. If used correctly it can stun all three champions. On top of this it can turn the fight in an instant with its damage output and stun. This quick setup gives Xayah instant ability to start fighting and Featherstorm can even be used to pick off a distant target if all else fails.

With the new Runes Reforged for Season 8 being new and available to everyone, it is a learning experience for everyone. My current setup for Xayah may change but for now I have found much success. Starting with Precision for primary tree like all ADCs and Domination for secondary to catch a few extra stats with Xayah's kit. More defensive Runes are not as necessary as Featherstorm and Guardian Angel provides most of that throughout the game.

Primary - Precision - Improved attacks and sustained damage

Lethal Tempo Xayah benefits from the bonus attack speed from Lethal Tempo combined with her W for inane number of feathers in a short amount of time.

Triumph The extra health on takedowns allows you to commit a little harder and still be able to reset and continue. TLDR = OP Dangerous Game.

Legend: Alacrity Fairly straightforward, grants even more attack speed. More damage, life and feathers! What's not to love?

Coup De Grace Extra damage on the lower health targets means you'll pop people even harder with E towards the end of a fight.

Secondary - Domination - 18% Attack Speed

Cheap Shot Provides an obvious boost in damage after E allowing you too annihilate, works even better with crowd control heavy supports too!

Zombie Ward The practically double ward is great for increasing trinket value and general vision to keep you safe in lane and even some of later game.

Flash Teleports your champion a short distance towards the cursor. Range: 425 Cooldown: 300

Heal Heals the caster and allies, grants 30% movement speed for 1 second. Range: 850 Cooldown: 240

Flash grants a free escape, gap close or even just a dodge to keep you going. It combines well with Featherstorm to provide a clear and effective escape. Try to keep it for the most dire situations though as Xayah can be very immobile.It works as a free escape from CC, damage or ganking it can put you quite some distance from the enemy. It is great if you misplay and end up without a Shunpo you can use it to dodge long range and global ultimates like Final Spark, Mega Inferno Bomb and Trueshot Barrage.

Like Flash, Heal is the standard spell ADC spell as being squishy sucks and a way to get a quick boost of health to survive is fun to have :P. It can be very effective in the early laning phase as Xayah's damage is delayed due to setup of Feathers and the heal lets you survive the little amount of time to finish them off.Overall it is great for winning a fights, saving allies in a fight or your support in lane and grants a tiny amount of movement speed if you ever get greedy and want a kill (typically doesn't work out anyway).

Cost: 450

Doran's Blade Doran's Blade is the typically start for most ADCs and for good reason. It give AD, Health and Life Steal. It provides that little bit of necessary max health and sustain for farming and remaining in lane. It allows for only one Health Potion but that isn't a problem if you play safely enough.

Cost: 450

Doran's Shield

Cost: 3100

Infinity Edge The most iconic ADC item ever! It is a simple item providing 70 Attack Damage and 20% Critical Strike like Essence Reaver but increase all Critical Strike damage by 50%. Extremely strong item for the late game when you have 70-100% Crit.

Cost: 3400

Essence Reaver

Cost: 2600

Statikk Shiv After finishing Infinity Edge, aim to start building Statikk Shiv. At this point when combined with Feathers it makes short work of minions waves allowing you to focus on pushing a later combines with Rapid Firecannon to hit turrets off of waves. The general stats are great and will contribute to E damage with Critical Strike and the end total of the build.

Cost: 2600

Rapid Firecannon This comes after Statikk providing better range for initiating W and initial burst damage on a enemy or wave. and finishes off the core. Mentioned before, Rapid Firecannon plus Statikk Shiv allows lighting to hit turrets. Overall it's a similar story to the last in boosting E damage and climbing to that 80% Critical Stike.

Cost: 1100

Berserker's Greaves Again, another standard ADC item. The boot of choice Berserker's Greaves which grants 35% Attack speed to allow you to setup fast. Building this is fairly standard in almost all match ups and getting it early is really helpful for Clean Cuts.

Cost: 1100

Ninja Tabi You swap Berserker's Greaves for Ninja Tabi late game for defense if you find yourself taking too much damage to survive in fights or just being assassinated. Though Featherstorm protects you a lot it can be helpful to have some defense so you can build more damage items.

Cost: 3700

The Bloodthirster Bloodthirster is your main choice for most games as the life steal and over heal stack up quick with Xayah's attack speed. While building I would recommend building a Vampiric Scepter first because at this point in the game you will need the life steal and if you need to switch to a Blade of the Ruined King or Mercurial Scimitar you can. Other than that the 80 attack damage is great to have and overall it is a strong item to take on any ADC.

Cost: 3600

Mercurial Scimitar This is obviously situational but can really help in CC heavy matchups. Though your ult Featherstorm is good for dodging a lot of CC it is not always up and sometimes you need it during prolonged fights. Its has weaker stats for its cleanse active but makes up for it with the ability to build a Quicksilver Sash as an early defense if you are against a support like Leona or Nami, it can keep you throwing out that damage.

Cost: 2600

Lord Dominik's Regards Similar to the rest of the other Armour Penetration items it's fairly basic when it comes to choices. Building just Last Whisper can be a temporary if you need it early and builds into it. Buy this against the typical tank Garen, Nautilus etc. For late game it provides good stats.

Cost: 2600

Mortal Reminder The alternate to Lord Dominik's Regards, build when they have a lot of life steal and it will also give the Last Whisper passive for the more tanky champs. If you are playing against people like Draven try to build an Executioner's Calling slightly earlier than most due to his early life steal build.

Cost: 2400

Guardian Angel Probably the most common defense if built on Xayah. It now provides the bonus AD and Armour combined with its revive passive. It is great for a sustained fight and gives you a good amount of defense with a Phantom Dancer to duel the enemy ADC. It can help you survive an assassin burst but can sometimes leave you vulnerable if the fight does not last long enough. Overall a great item and the preferable option if you do build a defense item.

Cost: 3250

Maw of Malmortius This is your earlier defense against burst choice. General magic resists stats but a simple Hexdrinker can be built instead of the full thing if you are in a lane against someone like Blitzcrank. But I would recommend building a full Maw of Malmortius if they have a LeBlanc or Katarina to increase your ability to survive and kill them.

Early Game

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Starting with level 1 is Double Daggers for both poke and wave clear combined with Clean Cuts. Unfortunately due to Xayah's short range her trades are bad without the pressure of Bladecaller on the opposing laners positioning. At this level you want to be using Q to beat them to level 2 and gain the power spike from E to pressure lane. Remember to attack the minions as much as possible while keeping the potential to last hit. Now things get a little more interesting at level 2 with Bladecaller as the next ability to take and is the most essential part of her kit to deal massive amounts of damage at once later game and grant her the Root pressure during fights. During lane you should still be playing from a safe position but the added ability to Root lets your farm a little easier against most match ups. If you don't make it to level 2 first then just sit back and continue passive until later levels.

Level 3 is another point in which kill pressure spikes with Deadly Plumage especially with CC heavy supports such as Leona and especially with Rakan as they allow you to capitalize on the extra damage and Feathers. Activate it early during trades on to clear the waves quicker if the minions are under turrets or the enemy is shoving. Just remember to still position safely during these earlier levels as you don't have the protection of Featherstorm.

Levels 4 and 5 are fairly straight forward and simple. Similar to 3, look for favourable fights and wait for ganks at this point as Xayah is still fairly weak if targeted during fight. If you are losing lane play particularly passive as not it is better to lose CS then fall behind and let the enemy get stronger.

Now things get serious... ish. Now with Featherstorm Xayah can now be played surprisingly aggressively from here onward and is extremely safe from the initial engage of fights. You can use it both defensively against the enemy or even pick it off low health enemies under turret or to quickly get feathers out in tight spaces. This combined with Bladecaller can really start to burst the enemy ADC and often the support as well. Against ganks it can be used while retreating under turret and even turn it around. It is important to use it when something like Zed's Death Mark is used to avoid the ability all together. Some close to lane examples include Varus - Chain of Corruption and Leona - Solar Flare.


Mid Game

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Mid game can be a key point in every game as there are a couple important points mainly involving objectives. At this point second items are being finished and the outer turrets on either side have fallen. You'll start grouping mid and siege turrets or claiming objectives such as Baron and Dragon. You should have built Berserker's Greaves and either Essence Reaver and Rapid Firecannon or Infinity Edge and Statikk Shiv. As team fights are same throughout most of the game only affected by scaling, I'll leave it till the Late Game section.


Late Game

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Team fights are pretty similar throughout most of the game being strongest late. As an ADC you will pretty much be targeting whoever is closest to you 90% of the time. As the enemy carry will also sit towards the back line it is best to leave them to the mid laner or other front liners to distract or kill while you focus on getting rid of the enemy front line. Now this isn't always the case as you will occasionally have to help kill the fed enemy carry by running in a little deeper but you are running huge risks of being focused and killed. But again its situational and you should just follow this a general rule.

Due to Featherstorm Xayah can play rather aggressively forwards in fights or poke leading up to fights as she has a free dodge and potential burst with it. This also allows her to engage early in team fights and get to rooting quite a few enemies early on in a fight. As her cool downs are relatively low and even more so with a cool down focused build with Essence Reaver she can provide great sustained damage throughout most of the fight. At this point in the guide you'll know the two different builds I recommend as they both provide slight differences. You'll be aiming to build Essence Reaver against the more mobile team comps where you need to hold them down and Infinity Edge for stronger hits and Bladecaller burst. You'll likely be focused during fights and as Xayah is great at kiting you can simply use Double Daggers to peel yourself and kite the enemy with the pressure provided by her Feathers and Bladecaller. If the fight is under a turret use the Double Daggers + AA combo and get a quick stun on those attack the turret to start shredding them with Deadly Plumage. Simply kiting against some champions especially when fed won't simply work. This applies to bruisers / fighters, the characters that deal damage but tanky enough to be considered a tank and survive a longer duration.

These bruisers are champions that a huge threat to Xayah and any other ADC for that matter. Much like assassins you should maintain a large distance if they have their CDs. They are particularly good a chasing you down, CCing and killing you before you can do anything, even during the midst of a team fight. Only engage when you have sufficient peel and team mates for CC and even then its not guaranteed. Irelia for example can dash to you and shred you if she has Bladesurge. On the alternate side of this, if they do not have their engages up they can be very easily killed or chased mid to later game.

Assassins are another weak point for ADCs as they often have extreme mobility and high burst to get in a deal tons of damage right in your face. Zed and even mages like LeBlanc or Ahri can threaten you. The main thing to watch out for is the gap closers in their kit as this lets them quickly close a distance and in same cases Youmuu's Ghostblade makes this even faster. They will attempt to dive the back line in most fights to render you useless as you'll be low or completely dead, potentially dooming the team fights if done right. Maintain a poking distance in team fights until their abilities are gone and go in after this. When making a pick outside of a fight make sure to still remain away from both assassins and bruisers as they can still easily jump to you and kill you for free.

Moving on to a couple ways to start out a fight. First with a surprise bush Double Daggers AA to initiate and then Bladecaller to root while you shred with your abilities. This can actually insta burst some squishies and grant you the advantage in a follow up team fight. Another way is by using Featherstorm to intentionally bait out abilities. It sounds decently risk and thats because it is but can work wonders in negating some key abilities early. For example if Zed's Death Mark or Varus's Chain of Corruption.

Direct simple team fighting on Xayah is like any other ADC and is simply adapted for most circumstances. She can be very dependent but independent for fights as her self peel allows he to burst and escape most enemies.

These are just a few of things you need to keep in mind when engaging the enemy team in an all out fight or trade but can be played around with enough knowledge and skill.

Conclusion Thanks for reading up to this point and as incomplete as it is I am working to finish it off as soon a possible. Once again I'd please leave suggestions and if you enjoyed give it a thumbs up! Tune in for more updates and any changes will be listed in the changelog below!

Changelog - 10/11/2017 - Runes Reforged, Season 8. - 5/7/2017 - Finished off core items and started matchup chapter (will be long WIP) - 1/5/2017 - Abilities info, Summoner Spells Info, Items Info - 4/5/2017 - More ability information - 20/4/2017 - Lots of general changes and additions - 17/04/2017 - Released Guide, Yay!