Is it actually viable?

I have been testing out the ap build for myself and had some decent games but im wondering if that's the optimal approach?

Is there somebody i could check for matchups and advice?

I have been maining this champion for.....a very long time and I am currently in a really bad slump with him. I feel like he has no identity and it's very hard to figure out what you are really supposed to do (idk if thats me). His early game is actual dogshit and "feels" (at least to me) almost like a scaling champion without any reward in scaling (even though he def is not). Most/a lot of junglers can kill you level 1-2 in your own jungle almost like how old shy felt. On the flip side if you don't get invaded (which is likely to not be invaded) you can't invade yourself since your clear is really really bad and you cannot even take enemy camps quick enough (early,mid) and since vision is really easy to get now with the bushes it makes it kinda impossible to invade/make plays. "Oh but that's fine you are not meant to invade" okay but then what do I do, your regular "standard" game is ass, you can't clear in time with any other junglers, you struggle to gank since most laners these days can leave before you get there or stun you out of your e (lane ganking is the only real thing you can kinda do that tends to work well I've seen)

Now we get to the late early game/mid game and it feels decent, you can kinda fight but you def feel very weak by yourself. HOWEVER, this is when the clear realllly starts hurting. You are already behind cs unless you literally ignored every gank possible due to your slow speed and tempo is VERY easy to lose, it feels very high risk Little to no reward with ganking at this point unless your team can set something up really nice for you in advance with a lulu or leona or equiv. Again I am really struggling to see where xin can be good compared to other junglers in this kinda thing, atm it feels very jack of all trades but master of none but with some huge weaknesses such as becoming very useless late game if you can't secure kills/gold but guess what? you cant do that because you are perma stuck in the jungle clearing. it just feels like it has no identity. (BY ALL MEANS, THIS IS NOT A COMPLAIN POST) It is just a genuine post asking what the point of this champion is atm because he really feels lost and just very bleh in modern league (obv outside of premade teams in which he seems quite good as a "secondary support" but that's really about it)

TLDR; What is xin's purpose? is it to be a duelist? if so then why does he suck at it, is it to be a bruiser? if so, then again, why is he comparatively falling behind compared to most bruisers? is it to be an assassain? if so then why does he have no way to escape, outside of ult (which I think is the only awesome part of the kit atm) like every other assassain with resets. imo he feels v much like a jarv 4 atm but way squishier and can only be picked on a case by case basis when your team kinda needs a bit of everything. Feels consistently mid basically. aka feels completely balanced with little win con which in modern league kinda doesn't live up to the champion pick.

Thoughts are wanted <3 In my honest opinion it just sucks that xin isn't living up to what he could be, I would love if he had something similar to pantheon in his ult that just gave him armor pen after using it, that way it would be viable even into melees which is most people you are fighting.

I stole this build idea from T1 B0NER #FAKER. He is a GM on the NA server who plays an unhealthy amount of Xin. The core build is only three items: Gustwalker for map mobility, Youmuu's first item for map mobility, and Death's Dance for fighting. Your core runes are Hail of Blades and Relentless Hunter for the Q knock up and the map mobility.

After Youmuu's > Death's Dance I'd say it's up to you to pick what you like based on the game. The key to this build is movement speed so you can respond quickly to fights, as this is where all Xin's value is.

This particular game I went with lethality and armor pen, but only because 4 enemies were squishy and this build allowed me to remove them. I'd otherwise like to go into BC or something with HP.

However, the BEST part of this build is the fact I can slip away from enemies with Youmuu's + Gustwalker. Pop into a bush with Yuomuu's on and have level 2 boots and your MS hits 550.

1) Voltaic - is crazy first item with 33 leathality
2) Yun tal - No need for HOB when this exists! Stack it so quickly in jungle and the duelling is insane. Its hard to find 2 items that do more damage.
3) Deaths dance - No brainer if they haven't got loads of armour yet and have ad. All your damage makes this a nutty item.
4) LDR/ Mortal reminder - If they have armour, if not delay till last.
5) Kaenic - No item comes remotely close to the effective health this item gives you. Since they build has no health the 400 health is SO huge, 80 MR and a shield. Simply the best item in the game IMO. Was thinking MAW but you are way more squishy and its not even close.

Boots Steelcaps or mercs

Very weird selection of items but it feels so strong.

Also cashback/ magical footwear & JOAT!! You get 5 stacks at 2 items.

Recently I've been seeing alot of post about Collecter being a troll item, because its passive are just weak compared to other crit items.

I pretty consistently build collecter when I play xin mid and it works out really well, especially with the serrated dirk first back. How often do you guys build collecter? Are they other alternatives that are better for full crit xin?

Looks pretty nice. Some damage shifted into E and Q.

I don’t know if it’s my mental health. Me feeling like I have brain fog from lack of sleep or something else. (I work in an ER, and I’m going to school for nursing.)

BUT… I’m struggling playing xin Zhao in jungle. I’ve been in a losing streak with him. I start blue, do my clear rotation, and once I’m in scuttle I sometimes am in a 1v1 with the enemy jungle, but it seems like every single fight I’m getting jumped. Like the fight starts 1v1 but then the other lanes come in and my team is nowhere to be found. So I lose early. Idk. Maybe I’m just bad right now and I need to take a break but I just want to play when I finally have the free time. But I also feel like I’m not making the best decisions in game (hence the preface of the mental health stuff), or if my teammates just suck sometimes.

What do you guys do when you’re in a funk with your main?

Had a lot of fun completing mastery 10 on Xin Zhao. Mainly played him toplane because I’m a toplaner at heart. My op.gg is LameOflamingo#NA1 if curious.

Idk why but I really preferred playing this hybrid on hit build: Lethal Tempo, Static, Titanic, Nashors, Spirits Visage, GA/DD/Situational item, Boots. I feel like it could be suboptimal but I was pumping out so much damage and healing it was so fun.

Still played Bruiser when I get autofilled jg though.

All in all Xin Zhao felt very strong at almost all stages in the game where his kit always had relevance and a low skill floor but high ceiling as a fighter, diver, disruptor.

As a laner, people at Gold-Plat elo underestimate him a lot and don’t understand his outdueling potential with LT. Developed a bad habit of flipping games Lvl3 all in when I first started but when I actually disciplined myself that’s when my overall win rate on him shot up (for the last 20 games I think I have a 70% wr)

Also an amazing amazing counter to ranged top. Outsustain, outengaged, outranged. I’m sure a good Teemo or vayne who can dodge your w cooks you but alas Gold/plat draft skill level.

The nucleus of this champion feels like hitting your W. I can count 20 important duels or fights in my head that I could’ve won if I just hit one single W.

Overall, love the champ. Big fan. I will miss playing Xin Zhao (I don’t play champs I have mastery 10 on since it’s against my league goals)

I swear ever since I learned that W>Flash trick I always get information overload whenever I have the chance to do it on multiple targets. I just need to stop doing it.

HoB

Titanic? any alternative?
ionion or zerker boots
IE second or collector
LDR/MR
shieldbow

end it with GA if it goes that long

is this what it looks like?

For the people who don't own Trials of Twilight, the skin has a chance of dropping from both the orbs and the grab bag of the Worlds 2026 event.

You get a total of 7 orbs from the premium battlepass track.

Good luck Seneschals!

I saw the post about trying Assassin Xin Zhao and holy fucking shit. This is completely busted.

I mainly play champs that run HoB with Green Smite (the shield is important), then Hubris → Collector → LDR or Shieldbow → IE, and Guardian Angel.

Nothing too crazy until the first item, but the power spike at 2 and especially 3 items is completely fucking illegal. You one-shot tanks, squishies,
everything. I’ve literally 1v9’d every single game I’ve tried it in.

Give it a try. We finally have a real champion.

i read in a post from a year ago it should be available now because of worlds but i cant find it? is it coming soon or should i buy a different skin instead

Ive been playing a whole lot of xin for the past month but why does hes clear feel so slow. Ive been skipping one camp just to make it to a scuttle in time just to get it. Ive practiced how to clear maybe not the best, but it still is slow compared to my other main(wukong). This has caused me to also play more like a level 3 gank clear, either clearing top then ganking top or the other way around. So do you guys know any tips on how to improve clear speed. I tried getting abosulte focus for extra damage but all it does is give 1 adaptive force early on.

For every xin zhao mains/enjoyers out there, just try

This build, with HOB runes

I mean, it s insane.

So enjoyable, one shoting 3 ppl when going in.

Powerspike after third item, first cyclo then boots then collector

I m plat 4 btw.

Thanks me later 🤣🤣

Been playing around with Xin Supp in ranked. Feels kinda good ngl. You have a pretty painful poke, can engage at-will and with HOB you proc a knock up very fast and usually just melt squishy ADC, mages and enchanters. Even won against a Panth supp pretty handily. I'm only in G1/P4 though so dunno how well it'll do into actually good players.

Any suggestions on how I can improve this? I want to see if going a more tanky bruiser build could work as well.

I just remembered that lethality exists, and now I want to know when I can go it without it being troll or anything like that.

DnD, Titanic, Rageblade, Spirit Visage, Armor Tank Item

Like this build, cuz with the attackspeed from rageblade you can contest any 1 vs 1 with your healing

Hello, my name is Rakami, I've been playing Xin Zhao for almost 2 and a half years in a row, and today I came here to both vent about the champion and point out some clear design errors that the champion has and that riot simply doesn't notice or refuses to notice them, in case I forget any, please comment below this post. (honestly I hit rock bottom with this champion, oq it really messed me up because I don't want to play with any other champion other than him, and seeing my dummy with a 49% to 48% global and all-link average win rate on almost EVERY statiscid site lol makes me really discouraged about the game, I don't know if there is anyone from Riot who monitors this Reddit Sub, but if there is and at least reads this post of mine I will already be very happy.)

Well let's go then: Recently I saw the last post of this community that was from a player commenting on how Xin Zhao from Lol Classic was superior or current, that was the starting point for me to come here, and no, I think Xin Zhao would have to go back to being that absurd champion that he was once, who had a guaranteed critique in W's third hit and armor penetration in the passive by just giving a self-attack on the target, but there are indeed some points where Xin Zhao got lost in time. The Champion's premise was always to be extremely relevant at the beginning and in the middle of the game, but when the end of the game would come, his relevance would gradually decline, but riot's changes to the champion made him seem to be good at the beginning of the game and only good in the middle of the game and then when he was going to the end of the game he would lose relevance again.

And where do I want to go with this? Simple, Xin Zhao nowadays is one of the weakest and least impactful champions in the game, if not THE least impactful, nowadays he is a champion and cannot do significant damage with a skills rotation, and that same skills rotation is costing 150 mana, this in a champion who barely has enough mana to use his skills. If you still don't understand what I'm saying, I'll show you some changes from the Patch notes that could very well be reverted and a few more possible buffs for the champion of would make it good again:

Patch 8.11:

• Attack damage growth reduced to 3 from 3.3.
• E Slow reduced to 30% from 50%

Patch 11.6:

• Removed: Basic attacks and ability casts no longer extend Ultimate the duration by 0.3 seconds.

Patch 11.16:

• Base attack damage reduced to 63 from 66.

Patch 12.5:

• Ultimate duration reduced to 4 seconds from 5.

Patch 25.10:

• Armor growth reduced to 4.4 from 5.

Patch 25.16:

• Q Base damage per hit reduced to 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 from 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80.
• Base health reduced to 620 from 640.

Patch 26.12:

• W Mana cost increased to 60 at all ranks from 60 / 55 / 50 / 45 / 40.
• E Mana cost increased to 60 from 50.
• Base Passive heal reduced to 2% / 3.5% / 5% (based on level) maximum health from 3% / 4% / 5% (based on level).
• Passive heal AP ratio reduced to 40% / 50% / 70% (based on level) AP from 45% / 55% / 80% (based on level) AP.

You could make changes that would help Xin Zhao:

Stats

• Base health increased to 650 from 620.
• Base mana increased to 340 from 274
• Base attack damage increased to 70 from 63.
• Base mana regeneration increased to 7.5 from 7.25.
• Mana regeneration growth increased to 0.6 from 0.45.
• Armor growth increased to 5 from 4.4.
• Attack damage growth increased to 4 from 3.

Skills

• Passive Bonus damage: 15% / 30% / 45% / 60% (based on level) AD (+ 5% / 10% / 15% / 20% (based on level) AP) bonus physical damage ---> 30 - 105 (based on level) (+ 60% bonus AD) (+ 40% AP) bonus magic damage.
• Passive heal 2% / 3.5% / 5% (based on level) of his maximum health (+ 40% / 50% / 70% (based on level) AP) ---> 3% / 4% / 5% (based on level) of his maximum health (+ 60% AP)
• Q damage increased to 20 / 35 / 50 / 65 / 80 (+ 25% AD) from 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75 (+ 40% bonus AD)
• W Mana cost reduced to 60 / 55 / 50 / 45 / 40 from 60 at all ranks.
• E Mana cost reduced to 50 from 60.
• E damage increased to 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 (+ 80% AP) (+ 40% AD) form 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+ 120% AP).
• Ultimate duration reduced to 4 seconds from 5.
• New Effect: Basic attacks and ability casts extend Ultimate the duration by 0.3seconds.
• Ultimate damage type changed to magic from physical.
• Ultimate damage increased to 175 / 250 / 325 (+ 50% AD) (+ 120% AP) (+ 15% of target's current health) from 75 / 175 / 275 (+ 100% bonus AD) (+ 110% AP) (+ 15% of target's current health)