Xin Zhao/Strategy

Skill usage

 * passive heals every three attacks, allowing him to sustain himself in lane for a while by autoattacking minion waves and turrets. Doing so for extended periods however will push your lane, so watch out for gank attempts.
 * You can reduce cooldown faster by spamming . However do take care of the mana cost early game, as you can easily run out of mana for a fight by continuously spamming  too much.
 * resets the attack timer, so getting one basic attack off, then using the ability will yield a greater DPS.
 * The attack speed granted by is great for taking down turrets and minion waves, whilst also being extremely effective while jungling.
 * One should always have at least one point in early for the health restoration and attack speed.
 * does magic damage and slows enemies surrounding the target; you can use that to your advantage by charging a nearby enemy in order to slow another just outside its range. This ability will also pop (or similar spell shields) on any of the affected targets which is extremely useful if your team has an incoming area of effect disable.
 * Bear in mind that if you use this tactic to jump to a priority target with, you will want to auto-attack them at least once before using in order to apply the  debuff so that they aren't knocked away from you.
 * Try using where it will hit the most enemy champions. It will not only deal more damage, but greatly increase the armor and magic resistance bonus.
 * is a great initiator. Lunge at a target with and use  to do the most damage possible. If you can cast it while in the midst of the enemy team, it will also grant  a large amount of armor and magic resistance to survive in the fray.
 * To further increase the effectiveness of the initiation, try and aim your attacks specifically at a high value target such as the opposing carry before using as this will cause them to be, reducing their armor, separating them from their teammates and marking them for your allies.
 * is an formidable ambush ganker. and  make it very hard to immediately escape from him and deals high initial damage, and  makes it so that even targets with escapes can be chased effectively.
 * is very good at tower diving enemy champions who are low on health, even at low levels; a combination of, and  can grant you enough defense to survive the tower hits and damage to quickly slay your opponent.
 * slows the enemy enough to be able to land your with almost complete success if they have no blink or dash ability, guaranteeing the knock up.
 * is a good jungler with 's passive effect and a great ganker with and  after finishing his jungle route.
 * The best time to gank is when the enemy champion has recently used all their escape summoner spells such as and  (or abilities such as  or ).
 * It is best not to use all your crowd control at once, time each of your crowd control abilities with your ally allowing an easy kill when your enemy gets out of melee range you can then to ensure your kill.
 * can assist in ganks by knocking enemies back towards your allies, but be sure that you are both in front of them and do not currently have your target before you do so.
 * Using on a minion near the target enemy champion will prevent them from being, so that using  will knock them back.
 * can be used to escape ganks on some occasions by targeting a minion or a champion along your escape route. Combined with, this can allow to escape most unfavorable fights. Use it on an enemy across a wall for a clean escape (eg: throw ward across small golems wall, then dash to golems, whne they flash in or come around, flash is still available for use)
 * can be used to knock enemies away from you when trying to escape.
 * When attempting a retreat, ensure that your pursuer has not been first before using  as otherwise it will have no effect on them.
 * and  can kill a tower very quickly in late game, as long as there are enough minions around to keep it from targeting . However, if building AP, Xin Zhao's heal lets him sustain from tower attacks even without minions around him.

Build usage

 * is a natural fighter with a strong reliance on autoattacks and an excellent attack speed steroid; consequently, items that grant attack damage such as work well with him.
 * Attack speed items like allows  to heal from the passive on  more often, increasing his survivability, and triggers the knock-up from  more quickly.
 * If you're in need of some Magic Resistance, Wit's End is a very good item for him.
 * Items that offer attack damage and attack speed together are excellent choices for.
 * passive armor reduction along with can grant  massive armor shredding power against squishy targets.
 * also works well with his innate if the enemy team has stacked a lot of armor. Note that armor reduction from his passive applies before armor penetration calculations are taken into account.
 * is an especially useful item to . The attack damage of the item increases his overall DPS, the ability power increases the healing from  passive, and he benefits well from the attack speed, movement speed and procs. His high base attack damage mean he can also proc  for massive damage.
 * Purchasing BotRK, Trinity Force , and Zephyr at the same time, along with  active, will grant enough attack speed to almost reach the 2.5 cap.
 * allows  to be more tanky. Using  at the start of a fight will increase your armor and magic resistance, which can increase the duration of active.
 * is an excellent health item for, and the 40% slow is extremely helpful in preventing your target from kiting you.
 * Getting with  will provide considerable additional attack damage and some critical strike chance which has excellent synergy with 's naturally high attack speed.
 * Cooldown reduction and attack speed items are doubly effective on due to the flat CDR on . This means that items like  and  synergize well with him.
 * Ravenous Hydra is a great item to increase survivability, as the damage and health steal can be enough to keep Xin Zhao alive during heated fights, especially if there are enough minions around for him to feed on.

Jungling

 * Starting items:, x4 OR ,  x5
 * Skill progression: →  → →  (You can start with W for Sustain/Attack speed or E for AoE Damage on the jungle.)
 * Jungling order:  Ancient Golem (Leash) → Wolves → Wraiths → Double Golems → Lizard Elder (Smite) → Wraiths → Gank
 * OR Lizard Elder (Leash) → Wraiths→ Double Golems → Wraiths → Wolves → Ancient Golem (Smite) → Gank
 * Level 2 gank: Wraiths → Lizard Elder (Smite) → Gank (level up and  in this case)

Countering

 * is very vulnerable to kiting when his is on cooldown.
 * Try to CC when he is attacking you or your ally, The crowd control effect can turn the tide of the battle to your allies favor.
 * Build armor items to mitigate his damage as mainly deals physical damage.
 * When engaging, Try to split with your allies to reduce the armor and magic resistance he will get from his.
 * Keep in mind, while you can not get knocked back from . This makes him less effective 1v1 after he used
 * is a great counter to since it reduces damage through armor, and reduces his attack speed, which is central to his damage output.
 * is a great alternative, however do remember that he can heal himself through the damage if he has Life steal.
 * Avoid stacking health without armor as deals physical damage based on your current health.
 * Stay with your allies when fighting Xin Zhao, he can only knock up one target at a time.