How to win the jungle race as Xin Zhao against Karthus · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Xin Zhao's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Karthus.
| Stage | Read | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 Clear | Xin Zhao Dominant | Three Talon Strike's knock-up plus passive healing wins the first buff-pit duel. There is no version of this Karthus wins right now — Lay Waste melts camps at record pace, and that folds at the first buff. Show on their side of the river and take 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. Later in the game this bites, because isolated Lay Waste double-damage adds up fast if you stand in his Defile zone. But with one camp still up on both sides none of it is online, so take the level-2 skirmish and tax every camp Karthus concedes. |
| Level 3 Route | Xin Zhao Dominant | The full knock-up combo with W slow is among the top three level-3 duels, while Lay Waste melts camps at record pace. Only one of those wins at the opening scuttle, so press it: take the level-3 river fight, then leave with the first scuttle and the gank window behind it. |
| Levels 4-5 Macro | Xin Zhao Dominant — Keep Fighting | Nothing about 4-5 helps Karthus here: he out-farms the map through 4-5 — Defile clears at a rate nobody matches and Requiem is coming, 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. Requiem cashes their farm lead into cross-map kills, so the margin is real but narrow: fight when your ultimate is up and Requiem is the one on cooldown. |
| First Item Spike | Sundered Sky / Eclipse Spike | Completing your core item triggers a massive damage, health, and sustain multiplier that completely overpowers traditional brawlers or isolated targets. Karthus' first item is where Lay Waste stops chipping and starts taking a third of a health bar per cast. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Danger — Karthus Outscales | The clock is your enemy. He deals damage from anywhere and keeps dealing it dead — Death Defied buys the fight, 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. Karthus has the fastest clear in the game with Lay Waste and Defile, and he will always be a level ahead if left alone.
Ranked by the race windows in Xin Zhao's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Xin Zhao vs Karthus 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 6 of the 7 windows — Xin Zhao holds the tempo advantage in this jungle matchup.
Not exactly — Xin Zhao's race plan controls 6 of the 7 windows, so Karthus is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Karthus vs Xin Zhao guide →
All Xin Zhao jungle matchups →
More Xin Zhao jungle matchups: vs Ivern · vs Jarvan IV · vs Jax · vs Kayn · vs Kha'Zix · vs Kindred