League of Legends Designer Discusses Upcoming Xin Zhao Update, Full Patch Notes Detailed

There are quite a few changes lined up for the League of Legends jungler Xin Zhao and the designer behind the overhaul took to the boards to discuss what’s coming. The update is on schedule and should be releasing to 7.19 PBE cycle on September 12th.

Designer Xenogenic talked about the goals for the impending update, as well as an in-depth look at the improvements being made. He started about by assuring players that the team understands that many love playing as this champion and because of that, “it was important for us to identify and preserve the mechanics that his current players love.” Because of this careful maneuvering, Xin Zhao’s Q and E abilities are will largely be left untouched.

A big push towards more “meaningful and interesting decisions” was present throughout the progress of the new updates. By widening the scope of decision making outside of simple melee responses, the player’s control over this champion increase exponentially while also increasing the overall team’s chances of winning. With a stress on the importance of “skill expression,” the goal, with this in mind, was to expand his projection of mastery which will only increase his presence within a match.

The team also felt that a large part of Xin Zhao’s story was superficially done and could have been fleshed out a bit more regarding in-game mechanics. In an effort to make him “stand out” more as a champion, a new ability has been added to increase his spear range, while enhancing Zhao’s ultimate.

Full patch notes

Overall, the adjustments made – including his in-game flexibility – are meant to make this particular champion more memorable and more valuable as an individual character and as part of a team. For the full list of the summary of changes, you can see the patch notes below as per the official League of Legends website:  

New Passive – Determination

• The passive portion of Battlecry (every third hit deals bonus damage and heals Xin) was transferred to the overall passive for his kit.

New W – “Wind Becomes Lightning”

• This is a 2 part flowing attack with his spear that includes a sweeping slash in front of Xin, followed by a long-range thrust.
• Slash – deals damage in a cone in front of Xin.
• Thrust – deals higher damage at long range and slows targets hit for 1.5 seconds.

E modified

• The attack speed steroid that Battlecry provided is now rewarded after dashing to targets with E (Audacious Charge)

R modified- now called “Crescent Guard”

• Xin Zhao’s ultimate is still an instant cast sweeping circle that knocks enemies back and deals damage. The knockback still excludes the last target he dashed to or attacked.
• NEW: For 3 seconds after casting Crescent Guard, Xin Zhao creates a zone around himself and will block damage dealt to him from champions outside of his guard area. The duration of this stance is extended slightly every time Xin Zhao attacks an enemy champion.

The League of Legends patch contains overall visual and audio improvements, as well as a massive amount of attention to his 1v1 style. The update is expected to hit PBE on September 12th.