User blog comment:AlistarBull/What is the Best Xin Zhao Build?/@comment-24792363-20140624174613

tanky xin is fairly strong early-mid game but lacks serious ganking/clearing power and falls off a bit in the late game, with nothing but his ult and a knockup, which is little more than a nuisance. this is fine if you have strong carrries, but when is that not true? in this build he's more like a tanky renekton, better as a supportive melee with a bit of damage and good survivability but not much to fear

damage oriented xin will always need one or two items to beef up his defenses, but is generally much better at securing kills early game which will put him where he's comfortable in the late game, easily picking up the bruiser/tank items he needs to survive some trades/duels

imo his relative early game tankiness gives him a good edge which is all a decent bruiser/assassin needs to get farmed or fed enough to be a serious threat

tho with a heavy cc oriented enemy team more tank items are required, of course. no melee can provide their output if they can't be mobile

all in all if played right with a good team, dps xin is a monster