Demacian spear-wielder Xin Zhao is expected to be having a makeover.
League of Legends gameplay design director Mark “Scruffy” Yetter today outlines the underwhelming jungler’s tentative changes, stating that game designer Tim “TheTruexy” has a “nice little upgrade” for Xin Zhao. However there is no set release date yet, the changes look to highlight Xin Zhao’s ranged gameplay and open up further off-builds.
The majority of the update appears to focus on Xin Zhao’s (W) Wind Becomes Lightning. It appears that Riot aims to bring The Seneschal of Demacia a return by outlining many upgrades including hitbox adjustments, a mana cost increase, extra bonus damage based on critical strike chance, increased range, decreased cooldown at higher ranks, and further support for an AP build.
Xin Zhao AP build is expected to be “weird” and relatively good with the ability to heal, skill damage are strongly interact with AP bonus stat. In addition, crit build can also be another choice as his W’s damage increases based on this stat, and Kraken Slayer or Phantom Dance is likely to be his core item.
Most notably, the upcoming W modification will Challenge targets and provide vision for three seconds. Challenged monsters or champions will be decreased the armor stat for three seconds.
It can not be denied that Xin Zhao has been struggling in the current meta with a lower 50% win rate in Platinum ranks and above this patch, according to Champion.gg. While the AP build will certainly shift him in a new direction, Riot seems to be moving toward burst damage and fast healing. This could also free up potential hybrid build that is not seen as frequently on the Rift.
These Xin Zhao changes are still being in the early stages of development as the devs are “still looking for feedback.”