How to win the jungle race as Brand against Xin Zhao · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Brand's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Xin Zhao.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Danger — Avoid Xin Zhao | Hard no-contest for Brand at level 1: Three Talon Strike's knock-up plus passive healing wins the first buff-pit duel, and the W challenge into Three Talon Strike knock-up chains you down before you can answer. Respect the river bushes and disengage before the third Q hit lands. Path opposite, ward your entrances, and let the clock carry you to your own spike. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Danger — Avoid Xin Zhao | The W challenge into Three Talon Strike knock-up chains you down before you can answer. Wind Becomes Lightning (W) challenge poke starts trades they finish for free on top of that, so level 2 is a straight stat check Brand loses — respect the river bushes and disengage before the third Q hit lands, and give the river vision-line respect. |
| Level 3 Route | Danger — Avoid Xin Zhao | Xin Zhao out-classes you at the opening scuttle — the full knock-up combo with W slow is among the top three level-3 duels, and the W challenge into Three Talon Strike knock-up chains you down before you can answer. Give up the level-3 river fight, full-clear away from them, and trade map pressure instead of health. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Danger — Avoid Xin Zhao | Xin Zhao owns 4-5 outright. He dives lanes through 4-5, since Audacious Charge into the knock-up needs no setup at all, so treat every crossing as theirs and take the camps they are furthest from. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Respect Xin's R | Crescent Guard isolates you from your team and wins the resulting 1v1 — Brand loses the straight post-6 duel. Fight him with numbers before the R cast or poke the duel down from range, and shift your pressure to the side of the map Crescent Guard is not on. |
| First Item Spike | Liandry's Spike | Liandry's converts your Blaze uptime into percent-health melt that makes tanks regret existing. Your camp clear becomes one rotation per camp and your poke chunks become kill threats. Force Xin Zhao to contest pits where your full rotation reaches the whole team. Xin Zhao's first item is a sharp jump — the knock-up combo goes from a strong trade to a kill on most junglers. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Brand Favoured — Wins Late | The late game is yours. Remember what Xin Zhao still is at full build — he isolates one target with Crescent Guard and wins the 1v1 he just created — and take the fights that do not let it matter. |
Start the buff that chains into raptors — your E-W AoE wants the multi-camps early. Track Xin Zhao's start through leashes and path away from their level-3 power window; your burn needs two more levels to argue back. Xin Zhao clears fast and heals off Determination, so he reaches three healthy and looking for the first fight.
Ranked by the race windows in Brand's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Brand vs Xin Zhao report continues with scuttle & dragon rules, invade windows and safety boundaries, the top-side objective fight, macro rotations and the win condition — plus the live enemy-jungle tracker that shows their start, clear and gank timers in game.
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Xin Zhao pressures 5 of the 7 windows in this race — survive the early game and scale into your windows.
Not exactly — Xin Zhao pressures 5 of the 7 windows, so Brand is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Xin Zhao vs Brand guide →
All Brand jungle matchups →
More Brand jungle matchups: vs Volibear · vs Warwick · vs Wukong · vs Zac · vs Zyra · vs Amumu