How to win the jungle race as Rammus against Xin Zhao · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Rammus's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Xin Zhao.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Respect Xin Zhao | Three Talon Strike's knock-up plus passive healing wins the first buff-pit duel, and Rammus has no clean answer to it at the first buff — 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, and give up your opening camps rather than the kill. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Respect Xin Zhao | The window on the second camp belongs to Xin Zhao: Wind Becomes Lightning (W) challenge poke starts trades they finish for free. Your own line is real — Powerball engage plus the thornmail passive wins fights AD kits start — but it arrives second here. Respect the river bushes and disengage before the third Q hit lands, then refuse the level-2 skirmish. |
| Level 3 Route | Respect Xin Zhao | At level 3 this window belongs to Xin Zhao: 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. Respect the river bushes and disengage before the third Q hit lands. Give up the level-3 river fight and bank tempo on the opposite side of the map. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Even — Farm & Track | Neither of you owns 4-5. Since he dives lanes through 4-5, since Audacious Charge into the knock-up needs no setup at all, decide this window on vision and objective timers rather than on a duel. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Soaring Slam Favoured | Soaring Slam adds engage range to the taunt-and-thornmail kit autos still cannot solve. Xin Zhao's six is not empty — Crescent Guard isolates you from your team and wins the resulting 1v1. Take the duel from even health rather than from behind, and fight him with numbers before the R cast or poke the duel down from range. |
| First Item Spike | Thornmail / Sunfire Aegis Spike | Completing Thornmail or Sunfire Aegis stacks damage reflection or a constant area burn on top of Defensive Ball Curl (W), which completely overpowers traditional physical brawlers in extended fights. 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 | Rammus Favoured at Full Build | Two items on, the edge is yours. The one thing to plan around is that he isolates one target with Crescent Guard and wins the 1v1 he just created — take that away and the fight is a formality. |
Start your clear at the Raptors or Wolves camp, rolling Powerball (Q) through the pack to hit multiple monsters at once while Defensive Ball Curl (W) reflects their damage back for sustain. 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 Rammus's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Rammus 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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No clear favourite — Rammus holds 3 windows, Xin Zhao 3, the rest are even.
Yes — Rammus vs Xin Zhao plays as a skill matchup: the jungle race swings window to window, and the better first clear usually sets the tone.
Playing the other side? Xin Zhao vs Rammus guide →
All Rammus jungle matchups →
More Rammus jungle matchups: vs Volibear · vs Warwick · vs Wukong · vs Zac · vs Zyra · vs Amumu