Talk:Xin Zhao/@comment-4636093-20170912145655/@comment-27588937-20170913210500

It´s too early to know how this change will work out in the game, but I have to disagree with opinions of the rework being a massive buff or nerf. They are rebalancing power and trying to change the gameplay of the champion. Let´s see the 5 abilities one by one:

- Passive: You loose your armor reduction debuff to the enemy. Keep in mind that this was not a buff to your armor penetration, but a debuff to the enemy champion so any ally attacking the same target would also benefit from it (and Xin ganks a lot)

- You get a nerfed version of your W healing. As Krufix said, most of the time a Xin would start with W and that meant 30 HP healing on every 3rd hit from lvl 1. Now, on lvl 1 you get 13.75 HP (8+5.75). This means that in your first jungle clear you will be less healthy, probably forcing you to get an extra potion or 2 and giving up (in my case) the control ward I started games with.

- You get a very similar extra damage on 3rd hit (slightly minor at first levels, slightly stronger at top levels). The main difference here is that is does not count as a critical hit anymore (I don´t know if it get bonus from critical hitting). So for those who love critical, the door is now open (not my case)

- Q: You get a massive nerf here. Leveling the ability only gives you 5 extra damage in the next 3 hits and 1 sec CD reduction. On top of that, instead of geting 20% of your AD as bonus, you get 70% (40% according to Surrender at 20) from your Bonus AD. Early game, when you have no AD items (and you will not for a time if you still go for Bloodrazor) it means 40% of 0. As far as I see Q is to be maxed last now, you get the most important benefits with a single point in it.

- W: This one is new. You get a 2 steps damage dealing attack. Since all the old W has been spread in the other abilities, this one is a buff. I don´t play Rengar and I don´t know how easy is to land his Q, from the comments I read I take it´s not that easy. But this skill gives Xin extra burst.

- E: This one gets a nerf. Sure, you get old´s W AS buff but you loose about 30% of your base damage and 75% of your slow (moved into W) and retain just 0.5 sec so you can land your W.

- R: This one gets an interesting change. You get shielded from long range damage (so a Lux can´t ult you while you are dueling a Yi) but you loose the armor/MR bonus, meaning that the champion you are facing gets to deal you more damage. It would be interesting to know the leght of the knockback because it determines how fast the enemies will be back in range to attack you (the protective buble has a 650 radius). The real buff here is the CD reduction at early levels.

What I do not see in this change is the objective being achieved. Despite the new W and R can look more attractive, I see the champion even more binary and less decision making than before. For example, with current Xin I would choose what situation requires to engage with E and when to take a long walk and gank walking from behind (not from the side), saving E to follow the enemy´s escape. Now you have to E in order to secure W and get the AS bonus, if you just walk up to him you risk missing W and only have a very weak Q. Perhaps actually playing him will show me different, but this is how it looks on paper. What he does look is a little more assasin oriented than before, when he was pure fighter, but perhaps it´s just an impression.