Xin Zhao/Strategy

Skill usage

 * passive heals every three attacks, allowing him to sustain himself in lane for a while by autoattacking creeps in the waves. However doing so will push your lane, so do take care.
 * 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 atleast one point in early for the health restoration and attack speed.
 * does magic damage and slows enemies 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.
 * 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, attack a nearby minion, 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 excellent ambusher. Use your to reach an opponent and activate  and  to quickly damage them and knock them into the air.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.

Jungling

 * Starting items:, x5 OR
 * Skill progression: &rarr;  &rarr;  &rarr;
 * Jungling order: Wolves → Ancient Golem (Smite) → Wraiths → Double Golems → Lizard Elder (Smite) → Wraiths → Gank
 * OR Wraiths → Lizard Elder (Smite) → Double Golems → Wraiths → Wolves → Ancient Golem (Smite) → Gank
 * Level 2 gank: Wraiths → Lizard Elder (Smite) → Gank (level up and  in this case)

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.
 * allows to be more tanky and gives him a little more cooldown reduction. Using  at the start of a fight will increase your armor and magic resistance, which can increase the duration of 's active.
 * is an excellent health item for Xin Zhao, 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 Xin Zhao's naturally high attack speed.
 * passive armor reduction along with can grant  massive armor shredding power against squishy targets. Potentially, he can reduce their armor below zero, granting all attackers of the target bonus damage.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * is an effective item for because the attack damage and attack speed greatly increase his damage per second output, and the ability power allows him to heal greatly off of the high AP ratio of the passive of . Full stacks of  gives  an impressive 65 bonus healing every third hit, allowing him to stay alive extremely well as long as he continues to autoattack. The item is also extremely cheap and is extremely cost efficient for its stats.

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 or take damage 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 max health.

Champion spotlight
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1lj_9Xg-E