Xin Zhao vs Graves - Matchup Guide | Patch 26.7

YouXin Zhao

EnemyGraves

Win Condition

You win by snowballing the early game through superior 2v2s. Track his jungle path, counter-gank him, and use to disrupt his positioning in teamfights while blocking his high-damage projectiles.

Overview

This is a high-octane jungle duel where positioning relative to terrain is everything. Xin Zhao wins the early stat-check if he can stick to Graves, but Graves wins if he successfully kites you or baits you into walls. Your goal is to force his before you commit your own dash.

Difficulty

Medium

Xin Zhao has the raw damage to win, but and armor stacks make him deceptively tanky and hard to lock down.

You (Xin Zhao)

•Fast gap-close with
•Sustained healing through
•Projectile protection from
•Reliable CC with knockup

Them (Graves)

•Kiting and armor stacking with
•High burst damage with and
•Full projectile-based kit (, , )
•Vision denial and slow with

Graves's Abilities

Ability	Threat	What It Means For You
	Med	pellets are blocked by units. Stand behind jungle monsters or minions to reduce the damage you take.
	High	detonates instantly if it hits a wall. Stay in the middle of the river or lanes to avoid the burst.
	High	removes your vision. If you are caught in it, immediately use on him to exit the cloud.
	Med	gives him armor stacks. The longer the fight, the harder he is to kill. Burst him fast with .
	High	is a massive execute. Use to block it if he fires it from outside your circle.

Lane Phase

Lvl 1-5

→Level 3 is your biggest window to kill him at Scuttle or during an invade.
→Do not start the fight with ; walk up, use , and save for after he uses .
→Use to mark him as Challenged, allowing you to follow his dash with an increased range .
→Fight him away from walls so his takes the full second to explode, giving you time to sidestep.

Lvl 6+Power spike

→ is your best friend; it completely negates if he tries to snipe you from distance.
→If he has max stacks of , do not take the 1v1 unless you have a significant health lead.
→In skirmishes, use to knock his teammates away so you can isolate and kill him with .

Trading Patterns

Safe Poke

Land from range to slow him and proc damage, then walk away if he hasn't wasted .

Punish

Wait for Graves to use on a jungle camp or minion wave, then immediately use into while his main burst is on cooldown.

All-in

Walk up or flank -> (hit) -> Auto-attack until he uses -> to follow -> for the knockup -> to execute or block his escape.

Respect

•
Terrain/Walls — Hitting a wall makes explode instantly, dealing massive damage you can't react to.
•
True Grit Stacks — Each gives him armor. At 8 stacks, your physical damage with does almost nothing.
•
Smoke — It breaks your auto-attack chain and stacks because you cannot target what you cannot see.
•
Point-blank — The closer you are, the more pellets hit you. He deals significantly more damage if he's touching you.

Punish

•
Reloading — Graves only has 2 shots. When he is reloading , he cannot fight back. Go aggressive.
•
used aggressively — If he dashes forward, he has no escape. Immediately hit and go for the knockup.
•
Missed — Without his smoke screen, he has no way to stop your + combo. Hard engage.
•
Low Stacks — Catch him while he's moving between camps before he can build up armor stacks.

Wave Management

Early

As a jungler, focus on clearing towards the lane he is likely to gank. Xin Zhao's counter-gank is stronger than Graves' gank if you can block .

Post-6

Help your laners shove after a successful gank so you can safely invade Graves. Use to clear small raptors/krugs quickly to deny his farm.

AI analysis • Patch 16.7.1 • CachedView Graves vs Xin Zhao

YouXin Zhao

EnemyGraves

Generating matchup guide for Xin Zhao vs Graves...

Analyzing champion abilities and cooldowns...

Ability

Threat

What It Means For You

Med

pellets are blocked by units. Stand behind jungle monsters or minions to reduce the damage you take.

High

detonates instantly if it hits a wall. Stay in the middle of the river or lanes to avoid the burst.

High

removes your vision. If you are caught in it, immediately use on him to exit the cloud.

Med

gives him armor stacks. The longer the fight, the harder he is to kill. Burst him fast with .

High

is a massive execute. Use to block it if he fires it from outside your circle.