I’m usually not this aggressive when it comes to post patch impressions, but the Xin Zhao threads on the forums are downright dumb. Xin was long overdue for a nerf. Sorry folks (sorry specifically Aaron – I promise this isn’t targeted at you <3), but he needed it, and frankly I don't think it's all that bad. There's only one concession I'll make to all the Xin players out there - the nerf messed up his feel. The Battle Cry nerf is awkward. The skill now feels almost like a DPS loss if you use it too early, but I don't think it has totally broken him. Xin's problem prior to the nerf was that he had too many inherent abilities, much like Nocturne. I used to roll with a flat out armor pen rune page on Xin, which is utterly ridiculous for how durable he was. He has a limited duration damage buff on Q, a DPS steroid on W (both active and passive), a nuke/slow, and a massive AoE nuke that also includes a damage resistance buff. The funniest part about all the crying right now is that he still has all of those things, just one of them isn’t crazy OP (Battle Cry).

Battle Cry was an absolutely ridiculous skill. A huge attack speed buff that also reduced cooldowns? Oh, it was also usable often enough that his ult would be up any time he wanted it. Unfortunately, the change makes it feel extremely awkward, which is probably why so many people are crying. On the whole, though, I think the nerf is a good thing. I’ve played a couple games with him since the nerf and the only real change I noticed is that I have to think more. It’s no longer Charge, Ult, 3 Talon, Battle Cry, at least not one after another. I still Charge first, but try to use 3 Talon as close to Battle Cry as possible so I can get another knockup. Sure, he’s not in the middle of the fight wrecking face quite like he used to, but he’s still strong, especially if you change up your build.

This is another problem with a lot of the complaints. They seem to be focused on the fact that Xin can’t play like he used to. Simple solution: adapt. No, you can’t just build damage anymore. No you can’t just roll your face on your keys anymore. You have to think, and that’s exactly how it should be with the durable melee DPS characters.