Xin Zhao Build Guide

Xin Zhao Build

Table of Contents

Abilities

1

Introduction

2

Masteries + Runes

3

Items

4

Skilling Order

5

Summoner Abilities

6

Build Example

7

Summary

8

Pros / Cons

9

Working in the team

10

• Abilities

  [spell=Tireless Warrior]

  Great for laning/jungling, nothing "insane" while in team fights.

  Three Talon Strike

  This is awesome. With Battle Cry active there's just about no cooldown on it, making it great to cancel Karthus/Fiddlestick ultimate or any other channelling spell. And obviously it also works very well for killing people...

  Battle Cry

  This works very well in combination with Three Talon Strike. Not only does it make the attacks much faster, it also reduce the cooldown significantly.

  Audacious Charge

  Good to engage battles. The cooldown is however quite high even with Battle Cry tearing down the CD, so use it wisely - don't waste it!

  Crescent Sweep

  As a tank, you're the one to strike first. And as you may notice, this skill does 25% of CURRENT health, meaning that if you attack first you'll get most out of it. This is another reason why Xin Zhao build's should have at least a few tank items.

• Introduction

  All is written and thought by Izuria. If you feel you can contribute with anything useful then please comment.
  
  Please note this guide may not by any means be "the" way to play Xin - try him out yourself and find your own way to play him.

• Masteries + Runes

  I run with a 24/6/0 build. Link: http://leaguecraft.com/masteries/3010440130331103030000000000000000000000000
  
  The mastery build above is using improved Smite and Rally as it is what I use for summoner abilities. You may toy around with it to suit your purpose.
  
  As for runes I go with this:
  
  3x Greater Quintessence of Fortitude
  9x Greater Mark of Desolation
  9x Greater Seal of Evasion
  9x Greater Glyph of Warding
  
  It's a pretty standard melee-DPS setup.

• Items

  Note: Please look at the "SUMMARY" section if you want a TL;DR.
  
  I start out with Cloth Armor and 1-3 health potions. Work your way through the jungle until you have enough for Madred's Razors as it helps your jungle abilities and is needed in [item=Madred's Bloodrazor] which is a core item in the build.
  
  After you get Madred's Razors, get a pair of Boots of Speed.
  
  After Madred's Razors and a pair of boots I recommend you pick a Ruby Crystal to upgrade into Heart of Gold as it is needed for Randuin's Omen and grants quite a bit of gold.
  
  Once you've gotten that, start getting items for Phage; If you don't die - sword, otherwise pick ruby crystal.
  
  I usually pick yet another ruby crystal after Phage which is used for Aegis of the Legion. I don't recommend you pick this before as Aegis is only "better" than other tank items if you have 2-3 allied champions around you. Finish the Aegis with whatever resistance priority comes first - in most cases this will be magic resistance (due to much armor / dodge) so pick Null-Magic Mantle and finish it.
  
  Now to finish some items. I recommend you get Mercury's Treads as CC is deadly to you, and magic resistance is something you'll need.
  
  Next up to finish is Phage which is going to turn into Frozen Mallet. Frozen Mallet is awesome to chase even the fastest opponents and gives massive amount of HP.
  
  This is about the time you should be getting Randuin's Omen as it works very well with the rest of your skills - I'll explain more about this in the "working as a team" section.
  
  Now to [item=Madred's Bloodrazor]; Start with buying Recurve Bow as attack speed scales incredibly well with this champion. Then finish it.
  
  After this you are going to have to make a few choices depending on how it has gone throughout the game and what enemy champions you're facing.
  
  Magic damage/lots of CC: Banshee's Veil > Quicksilver Sash > Guardian Angel
  Physical damage: Thornmail > Guardian Angel
  A mix: Guardian Angel > Banshee's Veil
  Alternative: [item=Stark's Fervor] > The Black Cleaver > Phantom Dancer
  
  Usually I tend to pick Guardian Angel on a well balanced team, but as I don't have any way to remove CC picking Banshee's Veil is also a great choice. Quicksilver Sash is also good but people usually forget using it in time.

• Skilling Order

  
  The attack speed helps him jungle early on. If it doesn't suit you then pick something else.

• Summoner Abilities

  Smite & [spell=Rally]. Smite to support jungling (obviously) and Rally.
  Another great choice is Ghost as you have pretty much no way to run from an opponent.

• Build Example

  [builder=Xin Zhao/95015484803a89364dca078e2e0f9891]

• Summary

  TL;DR for the item build - if you need to know why then look at the ITEM section, and if that doesn't give you any answer I recommend you to comment and I'll try answer the question.
  
  Cloth Armor -> Madred's Razors -> Boots of Speed -> Heart of Gold -> Phage -> Aegis of the Legion -> Mercury's Treads -> Frozen Mallet -> Randuin's Omen -> [item=Madred's Bloodrazor]
  
  Last item:
  
  Magic damage/lots of CC: Banshee's Veil > Quicksilver Sash > Guardian Angel
  Physical damage: Thornmail > Guardian Angel
  A mix: Guardian Angel > Banshee's Veil
  Alternative: [item=Stark's Fervor] > The Black Cleaver > Phantom Dancer

• Pros / Cons

  Pros:
  
  * Semi-Tank with incredible damage output.
  * All you hit with your ultimate reduces it's health by 25% (or so), doing that on 4+ people is like doing a 4v5 basically.
  * Lots of slow.
  * Good jungler, good laner.
  * Can do middle just fine if it's needed.
  
  Cons:
  
  * CC (mainly stuns) may stop you.
  * No way to get away unless you take Ghost.

• Working in the team

  Charge in with Audacious Charge and use your ultimate RIGHT away. Use it where it will hit most possible, but use it as soon as you can. Use your Randuin's Omen to slow your opponents. Use your other abilities in the mess and if possible you should focus on the glasscannons.