Xin Zhao is one of the oldest champions in the game. He has been a playable character since 2010, and we have seen him played in multiple roles in many different seasons. Xin Zhao is a dominant Jungler in the current Season of LoL, and he has been dominating players from all ELOs due to his strong duelling power and how well he can solo carry.
As Xin is currently an S-Tier pick in the current meta, you must know how to play against him. If you understand what his strengths are and what he wants to do or achieve, you will severely increase your chances of winning against him. We recommend that you at least understand the how to play him, which you can find in this how to play Xin Zhao guide. We will not be covering his abilities in this guide, so we recommend you read that if you want to learn more about Xin Zhao.
Don’t Fight for Scuttle
Every Jungler takes the Scuttle Crab whenever they can, and for most Junglers they will take it at levels 3/4. Xin Zhao is no different to this and will look to take it early. But due to Xin Zhao being really good in those 1v1 skirmishes, for the most part, it’s best to not try and fight him for the first Scuttle Crab.
If you fight him and he kills you, you’ll fall behind, give him the advantage and lose access to both Crabs. My advice would be to either take it before he can, leave it and take the other one, or just try to steal it with Smite. Don’t fight him though, and be prepared to disengage if he tries to fight you for it.
Beware of Counter-Ganks
Xin Zhao excels in those 2v2 or 3v3 fights. Keep this in mind when ganking your allies. Try to gank your allies when you know he is not nearby as it can make every gank a lot more risky. You should try to track him by placing vision around his Jungle so you know where he is at any given time.
Counter ganking Xin Zhao can be quite difficult as well, so unless you’re for certain that you can win the 2v2, it might be better to try and gank a different lane, take a nearby objective, or go and steal his camps instead so you’re getting something out of it.
Become Ungankable
Becoming ungankable is really important versus Xin Zhao, as he excels at taking down enemies that are overextended. As a laner, you need to always have the minion wave closer to your side of the map, as it makes it harder for him to gank you early on. Keeping the wave here is really important and will increase your safety in the lane and also make it hard for him to gank you.
You can push, but only when you have the lane warded and vision nearby, so you can disengage if you see him coming. If you see him coming, make sure you retreat quickly so he cannot kill you. It is really important that you do not keep overextending and pushing; otherwise, you’ll die over and over again.
I recommend this minion wave guide to learn how to freeze and manipulate minion waves effectively.
Play Around His Ultimate
In team fights, Xin Zhao’s Ultimate makes him immune to damage from outside the AoE (circle). You should kite for as long as possible while this ability is active, as it can make you miss out on a lot of damage. Champions with strong team fighting Ultimates, such as Syndra, Orianna, Vex, etc, will miss out on tons of damage if they activate their Ultimate when it is live.
Delay teamfights, reposition and then re-engage or use these abilities after his Ultimate has ended, as that is when he is most vulnerable.
Counter Jungle Him
Xin will be looking for ganks very frequently as he excels in skirmishes. If you have fast clears and good invade potential, you can punish his ganks by invading the opposite side of the map and steal away his camps. This will deny him stacks, reduce his income and delay his power spikes.
Place vision inside his jungle to spot him when he moves around his jungle and when he leaves his jungle.
Delay Team Fights and Ward The Flanks
Xin Zhao wants to commit to team fights, and he wants to go in quickly with his allies. He doesn’t have any poke tools, so he just wants to fight! You should use this to your advantage by delaying team fights as much as possible while you bully and harass him with your long-range abilities.
Hitting him over and over again will slowly drain away his HP, which makes it quite difficult for him to all-in or team fight. If he is low, it is really risky for him to fight, and he’ll be forced to recall or go somewhere else.
I suggest delaying team fights for as long as you can and bully him down. When he is low, commit to a fight as it will be much easier for your team to kill him.
To counter this, he might not show himself but instead hide nearby, so it is easier for him to get on your team and as a result, you will not be poking him down as much. Whenever you’re sieging, make sure you ward your flanks so you can spot him and reposition accordingly. If he can’t get the jump on you, then your chances of winning are higher.
Counter Picks
Now, let’s move on to some champions that can counter or are good picks against Xin Zhao. Usually, your best bet is to pick champions who have a lot of mobility as they can disengage, are mobile so they can get out of sticky situations, or have tools that can counter his all-in/skirmishing power.
If your team comp has some of these things, then it will make Xin Zhao’s life a bit harder in team fights, which will give you a huge advantage.
Poppy
Poppy has things built into her kit that make Xin Zhao’s life a full-on nightmare. She has her W that can interrupt his engage, her Ultimate to knock him away from her allies, and her E to turn around fights and pin him against walls. She is an excellent pick in the Top, Jungle and even Support role vs Xin Zhao.
Janna
Janna has a lot of utility and tools to keep her allies alive. Her Q and Ultimate can be used to interrupt his engage, with her Ultimate also providing healing as well. She has multiple utility tools in her kit, which makes it hard for him to fight and gank the bottom lane.
Ezreal
Ezreal has mobility built into his kit with his E, which allows him to reposition and escape the Xin Zhao, making it hard for him to get onto the Ezreal. Ezreal also has a lot of poke with his Q and W, so he can keep bullying the Xin Zhao down and harass him, making it hard for him to engage.
Kai’Sa
Kai’Sa is another good pick as she also has mobility tools and can be a real pain to play against in team fights. Kai’Sa also has the added benefit of an adaptive build, so Xin Zhao may need to adjust his build path if he wants to counter or make killing her easier.
Lulu
Lulu is another fantastic Support to pick vs Xin Zhao as she has a lot of utility spells that can mitigate his engage and all-in. She can basically make it impossible for him to engage or lock down her carry as she can just empower them and keep them alive.
In Conclusion
And that is about it for this article on how to counter Xin Zhao. As you can tell, there are a few different things you can do to prevent him from getting ahead and dominating the game. If he gets ahead by killing your allies over and over again, make sure you do everything you’re possibly capable of to prevent him from snowballing harder.