Talk:Xin Zhao/@comment-5232898-20121022192403/@comment-178.166.24.118-20121024220645

BC is the best and cheapest source of AD + AS you can find. It also synergizes extremely well with your passive. You can charge in to a priority target, reducing 15% of their armor, and then auto attack 3x and reduce the enemy champion's armor by a flat amount of 45, leaving them naked for your AD carry with his LW to quickly finish the job in two or three hits.

Triforce is a noob trap on Xin. It's extremely overpriced for the benefits you're getting. Just look:

1) The AD and AS are both lower or equal to those of BC.

2) The AP is more or less wasted because Xin doesn't scale well enough with AP unlike the regular Triforce users (Jax, Irelia, Ez and Corki). In teamfights the extra 20hp heal won't make a difference. He also can't proc Sheen as effectively as the champions I mentioned.

3) Xin is not mana hungry at all, 250 mana is another wasted value for gold.

4) Extra movement speed is always useful, but Xin already has a high base MS value and he has a reliable gap closer which also slows.

You're left with the Phage procs (which is getting nerfed next patch anyway) and the crit chance. While I admit crit chance is very strong on any autoattacker it just doesn't justify the 1.2k difference to BC (and on a side note, the damage bonus on Q is not added to the critical strike modifier). As for the Phage, just get a FM if you want to stick to a target. It gives you much more tankyness anyway.

Build order example on top lane Xin: Defensive boots (depending on matchup); early Phage (+ Hexdrinker against Kennen/Rumble/Vlad) and HoG into a rushed BC. Your damage output is insane at this point, specially if you can snowball your lane. Now you need survivability for mid-game skirmishes. Remember that your ult gives great resistances when used properly. That's why hp is optimal here. Get a Giant's Belt and finish Frozen Mallet. The comes either Randuins or MoM (again, depending on matchups). The last item is completely situational. Get an IE or BT if you're stomping the game, GA if your team lacks a tanky initiator jungler or support, BV against heavy Magic damage and burst combo mages, Wit's End if you want to hit 2.0 AS with W, etc.

One of Xin's advantages is being extremely versatile in terms of item choices. It's not really comment related, but I play Xin a lot and I don't mind sharing some of the builds I've used successfully:

Full generic builds:

Ninja Tabi, Black Cleaver, Frozen Mallet, Wit's End, Randuin's, Guardian Angel. -> this is basically an anti-carry build, perfect against teams who are built around a very strong AD carry like Kog'Maw or Vayne. Dash in, single them out from his team with your ult, pop Randuin's, proceed to smash their face.

Merc Threads, Black Cleaver, Frozen Mallet, Maw of Malmortius, Frozen Heart, Banshee's Veil. -> anti-AoE disrupter build designed to throw yourself into the centre of those nasty spells, soak damage and still come out alive. Matchup examples include Vlad, Kennen, Zyra, Nunu, etc. While the damage output is lower, it's also much more tankier and includes CDR. Probably more indicated for teams you can trust to deliver damage without relying too much on you in teamfights.

Defensive boots, Wriggle's Lantern, Aegis, Wit's End, Sunfire Cape, Zeke's Herald. -> teamfight build, very useful when you lose your lane hard but still want to be of use to your team. It's very cheap and achievable even without huge amounts of farm or kills. Worked for me once, I got stomped by a Jax in lane but still made a difference in the match with teamfight presence instead of being dead weight walking around with half components of expensive items and basically doing nothing.

Berserker's Greaves, Phantom Dancer, Bloodthirster, Infinity Edge, Last Whisper, Sword of the Occult -> MAN MODE LOW ELO SMURF ACCOUNT XIN ZHAO

Eh, sorry for the wall of text. I like playing Xin a lot I guess.