Guide · Jungle

Xin Zhao Guide

the Seneschal of Demacia

Fighter

Tank

Tier C Jungle

Xin Zhao, the Seneschal of Demacia, is a fighter and tank champion that is easy to pick up. Across our 348 analysed ranked games, Xin Zhao is mostly played in the Jungle (100% of its games), with a 44.5% win rate in that role: tier C among Jungle champions (#33 of 48, ranked by win rate). Xin Zhao's damage is mostly physical (87%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 47.6% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min, 189 games) versus 32.4% in long games (over 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Average KDA

6.0 / 6.0 / 8.2

ratio 2.4

Damage / min

700

CS / min

6.7

Gold / min

434

Kill participation

51%

Vision / min

1.02

Averages measured over 348 Jungle games played with Xin Zhao, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Xin Zhao is a duel jungler: every 3 attacks he deals bonus damage and heals. Three Talon Strike knocks up on the 3rd attack, Wind Becomes Lightning slows and marks as challenged, Audacious Charge has more range against challenged enemies, and Crescent Guard protects him from champions outside the circle.

The trade

Q AA AA AA AA AA AA

When: An enemy is within charge range.

Wind Becomes Lightning marks as challenged while slowing, Audacious Charge charges with more range, Three Talon Strike: the 3rd attack knocks up.

The duel

Q AA AA AA AA AA AA

When: You are fighting a single champion.

Crescent Guard deals damage based on the current health of nearby enemies, pushes back the non-challenged and makes you immune to damage from champions outside the circle.

See all 3 Xin Zhao combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Chain attacks in threes to benefit from your passive and Three Talon Strike. A challenged enemy is easier to reach with Audacious Charge.

Common mistakes

Using the ultimate in the middle of a team brawl: its defensive effects are against champions outside the circle.
Not counting your attacks: your passive triggers every 3 hits.
Charging without having marked with Wind Becomes Lightning.

Riot's official tips for playing Xin Zhao

Xin Zhao is a great initiator to combat. Lead the front to start a fight and use your ultimate to do the most damage possible.
Try to position yourself so your ultimate's knockback is most effective.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Black Cleaver, Death's Dance, and Sundered Sky (42 games, 47.6% win rate).

42 games · 47.6%

38 games · 57.9%

27 games · 59.3%

Skill order

Max order : W > E > Q43.2% · 37 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q			●											●	●
W		●		●	●		●		●
E	●							●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 58 games).

Starting items

Gustwalker Hatchling

Health Potion27.3% · 22 games

First completed items, in order

Sundered Sky

Black Cleaver

15 games · 33.3%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3956 gold, 67 CS, 3839 XP. At 15 min: 6196 gold, 104 CS, 6539 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Smite44.7% · 347 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Inspiration

44.8% · 306 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity96%

Coup de Grace63%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Magical Footwear92%

Cosmic Insight90%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force99%

Health scaling74%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Xin Zhao's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team50.5% · 95 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Black Cleaver 50.0%

Titanic Hydra 39.5% ▼

Sundered Sky 57.5% ▲

Death's Dance 48.3%

Sterak's Gage 61.5%

Guardian Angel 70.0%

The item that stands out most is Sundered Sky: 57.5% win rate, +6 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team44.9% · 107 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Titanic Hydra 47.3% ▲

Black Cleaver 55.6% ▲

Sundered Sky 45.0% ▼

Death's Dance 59.5% ▲

Dusk and Dawn 31.6%

Guardian Angel 50.0%

The item that stands out most is Death's Dance: 59.5% win rate, +13 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team40.4% · 146 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Black Cleaver 47.8%

Titanic Hydra 41.5%

Sundered Sky 52.3%

Death's Dance 37.7% ▼

Guardian Angel 61.1%

Dusk and Dawn 26.7%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Xin Zhao in the Jungle

Lee Sin Xin Zhao: 47.1%17 games

Lee Sin has the edge in 53% of the 17 Jungle duels against Xin Zhao. See the Lee Sin guide.

Who Xin Zhao is strong against

Lee Sin47.1% · 17 games

How to play against Xin Zhao

Xin Zhao is a powerful initiator with both his charge and ultimate dealing damage to all units around him. Try having your team stay spread out until he's used his ultimate.
Xin Zhao relies heavily on his Three Talon Strikes for damage and cooldown resets, so preventing him from finishing his combo will have a dramatic effect.

Riot's official tips.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Xin Zhao's matchups.

Xin Zhao Jungle: what our games say

Laning phase against the Jungle average

Measure	Xin Zhao	Jungle average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3956	4023	−67
CS at 10 min	67	69	−1
XP at 10 min	3839	3898	−59
Gold at 15 min	6196	6322	−126
CS at 15 min	104	106	−1
XP at 15 min	6539	6602	−63

Measured over 58 Xin Zhao games with a timeline; the average covers 69 champions played Jungle in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min43.4 %122 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min47.6 %189 games

long over 35 min32.4 %37 games

Best result: medium-length (25 to 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveDetermination

Every third attack deals bonus damage and heals Xin Zhao.

QThree Talon Strike

Xin Zhao's next 3 standard attacks deal increased damage with the third attack knocking an opponent into the air.

WWind Becomes Lightning

Xin Zhao slashes in front of himself with his spear, then thrusts it forward, slowing affected enemies and marking them as Challenged.

EAudacious Charge

Xin Zhao charges to an enemy, gaining increased Attack Speed and dealing damage to all enemies in the area, slowing them briefly. This Ability gains increased range against Challenged targets.

RCrescent Guard

Xin Zhao passively challenges an enemy he damaged recently. When activated, Xin Zhao deals damage to nearby enemies based on their current Health and knocks non-challenged targets back, becoming impervious to damage dealt by champions outside of the circle created.