How to win the jungle race as Xin Zhao against Talon · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
Read from Xin Zhao's seat: the race windows this plan plays for against Talon.
| 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 Talon wins right now — the Noxian Diplomacy bleed wins short trades at shared entrances, 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 the Q-W bleed burst plus wall-hop angles start fights you never saw coming. But with one camp still up on both sides none of it is online, so take the level-2 skirmish and tax every camp Talon concedes. |
| Level 3 Route | Xin Zhao Dominant | The full knock-up combo with W slow is among the top three level-3 duels, while wall-hop pathing means they only pick fights when the numbers favor them. 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 | You are the stronger side all through 4-5. Talon knows it — he wall-hops through 4-5 into lanes that have pushed, and the Rake slow closes every remaining gap — so shadow that side of the map and make them fight you anyway. |
| Level 6 Breakpoint | Crescent Guard Favoured | Crescent Guard makes the 1v1 literal — outside help is deleted from your duel. Shadow Assault stealth plus converging blades burst anyone they touch, so the margin is real but narrow: fight when your ultimate is up and Shadow Assault is the one on cooldown. |
| First Item Spike | Sundered Sky / Eclipse Spike | Completing Sundered Sky or Eclipse triggers a massive damage, health, and sustain multiplier that lets you flatly outbrawl an assassin once you're on top of him. Talon's real spike here is Profane Hydra, whose active cleave fixes his slow clear and whose lethality makes his Rake (W) into Noxian Diplomacy (Q) burst a near-instant kill on an isolated target — so your job is to never let him get that first pick off before your own item comes online. Your clear becomes fast enough that you can contest his jungle rather than farm around him. Talon's first item is the point where the bleed rotation goes from a heavy chunk to a full kill on a squishy. |
| 2+ Items Scaling | Respect Talon Late — End Early | The full-build comparison goes to Talon: he removes an isolated carry and leaves over a wall before anyone reacts. Play for picks and objectives, and end before the fight has to be fair. |
Start your clear at the Red Buff camp utilizing your Q resets and passive to maximize early clear speed and health. Talon clears fast with Rake and Noxian Diplomacy bleeds, and the wall-hops mean his path is shorter than yours.
Ranked by the race windows in Xin Zhao's plans — the jungle race carries no win-rate sample.
The full Xin Zhao vs Talon 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 Talon is playing catch-up and has to lean on the map.
Playing the other side? Talon vs Xin Zhao guide →
All Xin Zhao jungle matchups →
More Xin Zhao jungle matchups: vs Shyvana · vs Skarner · vs Taliyah · vs Trundle · vs Udyr · vs Vi