Xin Zhao Build Guide

Xin Zhao Build

Table of Contents

Introduction

1

Change Logs

2

Patches

3

Quick Summary

4

Abilities

5

Masteries

6

Runes

7

Items

8

Skilling Order

9

Summoner Abilities

10

Build Example

11

Creep Jungling

12

Jungling

13

• Introduction

  Hi, i'm SkullDicer, and this is my first guide. The main point of this guide is to help you, so please don't rate it down if you didn't like it or it didn't help you, rather make a comment and give me your opinion (Constructive Criticism) so then i can change it or add more to it. 
  In this guide i'll be telling you about Xin Zhao, I've played against many Xin Zhaos and i've yet to see one go up against mine and win, i definitely don't play Xin Zhao at the top level but i play him comfortably at about 1500 elo using the items and tips i've put in this guide. So please, Enjoy.

• Change Logs

  (1/07/10) Guide Published.
  (2-22/07-08/10) Changed Various Items and smaller parts of guide.
  (23/08/10) Added a Quick Summary of the whole guide and Updated HUGE amount of Guide.
  (24/08/10) Added 2 more skill orders.
  (6/09/10) Added best boot choices for situations.
  (10/12/10) Updated various parts of the guide. - Changed parts, Made it looker neater.
  (24/04/11) Updated parts of the guide - to keep it up to date. 
  (24/12/11) Updated parts of the guide - to keep it up to date.

• Patches

  1.0.0.116 - Xin Zhao got a very nice increase in this patch, take a look for yourself :)
  
  General
     Base Attack Damage increased to 59.1 from 52.3
     Attack Damage per level decreased to 3.1 from 3.3
     Fixed a bug where Three Talon Strike could be activated while it was still active
  Battle Cry                                                                                                                                                       Passive Attack Speed is no longer removed while the ability is on cooldown    Attack Speed increased to 20/25/30/35/40% from 15/20/25/30/35%
  Crescent Sweep
     Armor and Magic Resist reduced to 25
     Now scales and gives 7/10/13 Armor and Magic Resist for each champion hit
  
  1.0.0.120 - Xin Zhao got a bit of a nerf this patch :( which is very sad :(
  
  Crescent Sweep      
     Percent health damage reduced to 15% from 20%      
     Bonus armor and magic resist per champion hit reduced to 5/8/11 from 7/10/13
  
  1.0.0.124 - Xin Zhao recieved another little nerf, what are they trying to do? make him completely useless?
  
  Three Talon Strike    
     knock up duration slightly reduced
  Audacious Charge    
     slow duration reduced to 1.5 seconds from 1.75 seconds
  
  1.0.0.131 - Xin Zhao recieved a little buff, won't help that much but it definitely can't hurt.
  
  Crescent Sweep    
     Armor and Magic Resist increase per champion hit on increased to 7/10/13 from 5/8/11
  

• Quick Summary

  QUICK SUMMARY
  
  RUNES:
  
  x9
  x9
  x9 or  x9 
  x3 or x3
  
  SUMMONER ABILITIES:
  
  
  
  MASTERIES:
  
  
  
  SKILLING ORDER:
  
  
  
  ITEMS: (In Order.)
  STARTING ITEMS:
  & x5 or
  
  Core Items:
  
  
  Possible items to complete your build woth.
  
  
  
  Tips
  -Remember to buy Elixirs late game and Wards all game.
  -Try to always last hit.
  -Always use Crescent Sweep at the start of team fights - does more damage the more HP the enemy has.
  -Kill little parties of creeps when not in a life threatening situation.
  -Always rate this guide + so it can help others as much as it's helped you.

• Abilities

  [spell=Tireless Warrior]

  The Passive: Xin Zhao is healed for 30 points for every 3 attacks that he lands. This amount increases by 5 every 2 levels. Affected by:Attack speed

  Three Talon Strike

  Xin Zhao prepares to unleash a fearsome combo, causing his next 3 standard attacks to deal his attack damage + 15/30/45/60/75 to enemy targets, with the final attack knocking his opponent into the air. Cooldown:10 seconds Ability Priority:THIRD Affected by:Attack speed/Attack damage/Critical strike/Armor penetration Always active this skill last, right after using Battle Cry.

  Battle Cry

  Passive: Increases Xin Zhao's attack speed by 20/25/30/35/40%. Active: Xin Zhao unleashes a battle cry, increasing his attack speed by double the passive amount for 5 seconds, and causing his standard attacks to reduce all other ability cooldowns by 1 second. Cooldown:24/22/20/18/16 seconds Ability priority:FOURTH/LAST Affected by:Attack speed Always activate this skill right after using Crescent Sweep.

  Audacious Charge

  Xin Zhao charges an enemy unit, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 magic damage to all nearby enemies and slowing them by 20/25/30/35/40% for 1.7 seconds. Cooldown:16/15/14/13/12 seconds Ability priority:SECOND Affected by:Ability power/Magic penetration Always active this skill when first attacking an enemy.

  Crescent Sweep

  Xin Zhao unleashes a fierce spear sweep on targets around him, dealing 125/225/325 + 20% of their current health in physical damage. His magic resistance and armor are increased by 25 + 7/10/13 for every champion hit for the next 6 seconds. Cooldown:75 seconds Ability priority:FIRST Affected by:Armor penetration Always activate this skill right after you use Audacious Charge. (The more hp they have the more Damage it does)

• Masteries

  
  
  

• Runes

  x9
  A MUST for any DPS/Carry.
  
  x9
  A great choice is flat armor, it make you less squishy and give your more survivability. It really helps his early game and its a very good choice if your going to jungle.
  
  x9 or  x9  Magic Resist will give you more survivability against casters especially in team fights, while will be mid-late games.From lv 10 forwards, The MR/Lv will give you more then the flat MR, but it really is your choice which one you prefer.
  
  or x3
  Its nice to start of with some extra Attack Speed but its also nice to have that extra health early game.

• Items

  NOTE: Throughout the laning phase, its always a good idea to buy wards and health pots.
  
  Start off with getting Cloth Armor & Health Potion x5 or Doran's Shield
  
  First Recall Back
  Boots (See below for best boots for your situation.) [item=BF Sword]
  
  Second Recall Back
  The Black Cleaver
  Third Recall Back
  Phantom Dancer If your a little behind compared to where this guides up to, then thats aright, thats basically just the optimum games when you can get the items this early. This is where the core build finishes.
  
  From there you should go for any items that could you help in your current situation, for example Frozen Mallet if your getting focuses a bit this item will give you some health and prevent your enemies from getting away.
  Atma's Impaler  is a great item and has great synergy with any items that give health such as  Frozen Mallet or  Warmog's Armor.
  Next you might need even more damage and some lifesteal, if so, i recommend the  The Bloodthirster it really is a great item even more so when you about the extra damage and lifesteal you can get from it. But if you have say yourself and 2 other attack damage champions on your team, and neither of them have it, it may be a good idea to get a [item=Stark's Fervor] instead as it helps the whole team.
  
  The core build is approximately 7000 gold, and for what you get out of it it's a pretty good deal. Ff you went for the complete build I've recommended here, it will go up to about 15000 which is quite expensive, and you will only likely complete the build if its a long game or you get very fed - which should be easy for you.
  
  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________
  
  Boot Choice
  
  Boot choices are generally a personal preference and affected by team strategy and composition
  
  Mercury's Treads
  
  Another pair of boots that other Xin's usually go for, Perfect when theres a whole lot of CC coming from the other team. These are generally the preferred boots i'll go for. 
  
  Berserker's Greaves
  
  The generally unaccepted boot of choice, great for attack speed. The pair of boots really does give good attack speed for its cost. These boots are best bought early on for the attack speed bonus.
  
  Boots of Swiftness
  
  Awesome for running / chasing.
  
  Ninja Tabi
  
  Usually the boots of choice, simply because of the dodge and armor bonus.
  
  

• Skilling Order

  NOTE Always max your ultimate (Crescent Sweep) First.
  This skill order maxes Battle Cry first, its generally for the people that don't tend to gank as much at the start of the game, however, picking this first, it gives you the edge in laning, attacking a lot faster than my team mate and last hitting letting me get more minion kills to buy my items.
  
  
  
  In this skill order, Three talon strike was maxed first, with the extra damage from it when maxed, and the cooldown short, you do immense damage very fast, if the team fights keeps going, you can just keep spamming it every 8 seconds. (Shorter with cool down runes)
  
  
  
  This skill order is one that's leveled up steadily between the skills, but maxing Audacious Charge before any other to get that little extra slow, it can be the difference in killing an enemy and them getting away with 50 hp because you just can't catch them..
  
  
  
  This skill order maxes Audacious Charge first followed by Three Talon Strike, most of you and myself will probobly prefer to max this build first for the extra slow and damage.
  

• Summoner Abilities

  I usually go with either Exhaust and Ghost
  but I've found various other combination's work quite well.
  
  Flash - Works well if needing to get out of battle if the enemies start targeting you.
  Ignite - Useful if you just can't catch the enemy and there on low hp.
  Smite - An obvious choice if jungling.
  Teleport - Useful in 5 v 5's, useless in 3 v 3's.
  
  Not Recommended
  Surge - Surge isn't that bad when you see what it gives you, but the ability power really doesn't help so it's not very viable.
  Promote - Promote could work well if you need to push turrets and you don't have a tank, but i wouldn't take it.
  Heal - He heals every 3 hits.. besides, isn't this more of a supports job?
  Clarity - Zhao rarely will run out of mana enough to need it.
  Clairvoyance - Just buy wards, better than wasting a summoner ability.

• Build Example

  Core Build Example
  [builder=Xin Zhao/0e9a40e160fd55a61c285a8e6388509d]
  
  Complete Build Example
  [builder=Xin Zhao/8c9a1c5c69e3cd77f4a7efa2b470b6c8]

• Creep Jungling

  Whenever you get a chance and your not in a life threatening situation, go kill the little party of creeps around the map, its a good way to get a bit of free gold and to get those buffs which can help a lot in team fights.

• Jungling

  TO DO: Write a jungling guide.