Here are what Xin Zhao’s new abilities do

Game designer Riot Xenogenic popped onto the League of Legends’ forum to reveal Xin Zhao’s new kit, which is hitting the Public Beta Environment today.

Xenogenic noted in the opening to the article that they are aware that plenty of players enjoy Xin (which is news to me) and that they will be keeping his Q and E largely in tact. For those who don’t play Xin, his Q is Three Talon Strike, which increases his attack speed and knocks you up on his third hit, while his E is Audacious Charge, where he charges at his target and pokes them.

However, Xin is seeing big changes to his passive and his W, with minor changes to his E and ult.

New Passive - Determination

His old W passive is essentially just moving over to his passive as a whole. Basically, every third hit Xin makes with his spear will deal extra damage and heal him a little.

New W - “Wind Becomes Lightning”

When Xin activates his W, he will make a crescent slash and then stab his spear out in front of him. The crescent slash does damage in a cone while the stab does damage in a line and slows any targets hit. If this sounds familiar, it is almost identical to Sejuani’s new Q.

Modified E - Audacious Charge

When Xin charges to his target, he gets an attack speed buff.

Modified R - Crescent Guard

Xin sweeps his spear around him, knocking back all targets except the one that he previously dashed to or attacked. (Here is the new part) Xin will then create a zone around himself for three seconds, blocking all damage dealt by champions outside of that zone. As Xin Zhao attacks, he extends the duration.

If all of that sounds cool to you (which it does), you will be happy to know that Xin has also received a few visual upgrades to his ability icons, animations and sound effects.

Finally, for those curious, Xenogenic laid out a few key goals that the Xin team had when re-creating this champion: Give Xin Zhao players more meaningful and interesting decisions, give Xin Zhao a unique identity within League of Legends, Make Xin Zhao flexible and give Xin Zhao a more meaningful place in teamfights.

Stay tune for a Xin Zhao guide from us as soon as this update hits live servers, presumably in Patch 7.19.