Imperial Xin Zhao

Been spamming Imperial Xin Zhao for about 40 games now after getting it from a mystery chest, and honestly this skin hits different than I expected. The whole warring kingdoms vibe looked kinda basic in the splash art but in game it's actually clean. What really surprised me is how the Q animation feels way smoother compared to base Xin, like the three strikes flow together better and you can actually cancel the last hit into E more reliably.

The E dash feels more responsive too, probably because the visual matches the actual hitbox better than something like Cosmic Defender where the particle effects make it hard to judge distance. During a dragon fight yesterday, I managed to pop off and steal it because I could clearly see when my ult would knock people back versus when they'd be safe inside the circle. That golden circle effect is way easier to track in teamfights compared to other skins where it gets lost in all the ability spam. And the W sweep has this satisfying weight to it that makes CSing feel better, though maybe that's just me being weird about it.

Compared to other Xin Zhao skins like Dragonslayer which I used to main, Imperial feels purely cosmetic but in the best way. No pay to win advantages but also no disadvantages from clunky animations or unclear visuals. The recall animation where he plants the banner is pretty sick too. Is Imperial Xin Zhao worth it if you're thinking about buying? For 520 RP I'd say grab it on sale, but as someone who got lucky with a chest, I'm definitely keeping it in my rotation. It's become my go to when I need to carry without getting tilted by janky animations.