How to win the jungle race as Xin Zhao against Ekko · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Xin Zhao's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Ekko.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Xin Zhao Dominant | Three Talon Strike's knock-up plus passive healing wins the first buff-pit duel, while Timewinder poke chips contests, but the early all-in isn't there yet. Only one of those wins at the first buff, so press it: take the level-1 crossing, then leave with a camp and a chunk of their health bar. |
| Level 2 Skirmish | Xin Zhao Dominant | Wind Becomes Lightning (W) challenge poke starts trades you finish for free. Phase Dive hit-and-run trades are decent, and with one camp still up on both sides that is not an answer. Take the level-2 skirmish and make Ekko path away from the camps you want. |
| Level 3 Route | Xin Zhao Dominant | The full knock-up combo with W slow is among the top three level-3 duels. There is no version of this Ekko wins right now — Parallel Convergence stun setups give them their first real pick threat, and that folds at the opening scuttle. Show on their side of the river and take the first scuttle and the gank window behind it. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Xin Zhao Dominant — Keep Fighting | Nothing about 4-5 helps Ekko here: he uses 4-5 to plant Parallel Convergence in a lane bush; the stun is the gank and the clear is filler, while you can take any duel you can reach. Invade on the clear-timer, not on a whim. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Crescent Guard Favoured | Crescent Guard makes the 1v1 literal — outside help is deleted from your duel. Chronobreak undoes your best trade and slams you with the rewind nuke — respect that one window, but the six-spike comparison favors you: take the post-6 duel whenever HP bars start even. |
| First Item Spike | Sundered Sky / Eclipse | Sundered Sky or Eclipse both reward closing distance on a squishy assassin fast: your Q knock-up feeds Sundered Sky's proc, while Eclipse's two-hit punishes Ekko for standing in range with Phase Dive (E) instead of resetting to safety. Either spike helps you finish the trade before Ekko's Chronobreak (R) is off cooldown to rewind out of it. Priority still lets you contest neutral objectives before Ekko's Parallel Convergence (W) zone can lock down the pit. Ekko's first item is the point where his dive stops being a trade and becomes a kill, with the rewind as insurance. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Danger — Ekko Outscales | The clock is your enemy. He dives, deletes and rewinds, so your punish window is only ever after Chronobreak, so close the game on the first two objectives you actually win. |
Start your clear at the Red Buff camp utilizing your Q resets and passive to maximize early clear speed and health. Ekko clears at a fair pace with Timewinder and passive procs, but he takes real damage doing it before level four.
Ranked by the race windows in Xin Zhao's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Xin Zhao vs Ekko 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's race plan controls 5 of the 7 windows — Xin Zhao holds the tempo advantage in this jungle matchup.
Not exactly — Xin Zhao's race plan controls 5 of the 7 windows, so Ekko is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Ekko vs Xin Zhao guide →
All Xin Zhao jungle matchups →
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