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Xayah
Patch 16.2.1
BotDifficulty
Hard
Strength
Early
Mid
Late
Win Condition
Survive the laning phase and force teamfights in narrow corridors (jungle paths or objective pits). Use to fill the ground with feathers, and wait for the enemy to commit their dash or engage before using a massive to root their entire team.
Playstyle
Xayah is a reactive, counter-engage marksman who excels at kiting back and punishing anyone who tries to dive her. Unlike other ADCs who look for picks, you want the enemy to run at you so you can shred them with feather recalls.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
- +Unmatched self-peel for a marksman via and
- +Extreme AOE damage in clumped teamfights thanks to
- +Top-tier zone control; enemies cannot safely stand between you and your feathers
- +Strongest synergy in the game when paired with Rakan
Weaknesses
- -Short basic attack range (525) makes her vulnerable to long-range poke
- -Extremely mana-hungry in the early laning phase
- -Damage is highly directional—if enemies dodge the path, your DPS drops significantly
- -Reliant on to survive hard engage; without it, you are an immobile target
Abilities
After casting an ability, your next 3 autos pierce through targets and leave feathers on the ground. Use these to clear waves and poke the enemy ADC simultaneously while they try to last hit.
Throws two daggers in a line. This is your primary tool for setting up a fast root. It drops 2 feathers instantly, meaning you only need one more auto to trigger .
Massive attack speed and damage buff. It also gives you a burst of move speed if you hit a champion. Use this to kite away or chase down targets once they are rooted.
Recalls all feathers to you. If a target is hit by at least 3 feathers, they are rooted. This is your most important ability—the damage scales with your Crit Chance.
You leap up and become untargetable, then fire a fan of feathers. This is your 'get out of jail free' card. Use it to dodge ultimate abilities like Malphite R or Zed R, then follow up with for a massive counter-burst.
Teamfight Role
Backline Counter-Engage Carry
Position behind your frontline and use to shred the closest target. Do not hunt the enemy backline; let them come to you. Keep your feathers between you and the enemy threats at all times.
If you have Flash and up, you can occasionally play more forward to bait out enemy cooldowns, knowing you can go untargetable to escape.
Combos
Fast Root
→ Auto →
The fastest way to root a target. Q drops two feathers, the auto drops the third, and E pulls them all back instantly. Great for catching people off guard in lane.
The All-In
→ Auto → → Auto →
Pop W first for the attack speed to get your feathers out faster. Use Q mid-auto to stack feathers quickly behind the target before snapping them back.
Ultimate Self-Peel
→ →
When dove, use R to dodge the initial CC. While in the air, you can move to line up the feathers. Press E immediately upon landing to root the divers, then use the W move speed to reposition.
Flash Snip
→ Auto → + Flash
Start the E recall, then Flash to a side angle. The feathers will change their return path to follow you, allowing you to root enemies who thought they were safe.
Power Spikes
| Spike | Why |
|---|---|
| Level 2 | Access to and gives you a surprise root and high burst damage that most ADCs can't match early. |
| Level 6 | makes you almost impossible to dive. You can now bait the enemy jungler into a bad gank and turn the fight. |
| Level 9 | With maxed out, your recall damage becomes a threat to even the tankiest supports. |
| Level 13 | Second ability maxed (usually ). Your DPS during the storm of blades is now at its peak for mid-game teamfights. |
| Level 16 | Max rank has a significantly lower cooldown, allowing you to play more aggressively in late-game sieges. |
Tips & Tricks
- • increases your tower taking speed significantly. Use it if you have a safe opening to take plates.
- •Feathers from last 6 seconds on the ground. Keep track of them; you can often root people with old feathers they forgot about.
- •You can use during the startup of to add even more feathers to the fan.
- •The damage of increases based on how many feathers hit the target, but the root duration is always the same. Don't feel forced to wait for 10 feathers if you just need the root to escape.
- • has no cast time—you can use it while moving or during the move speed buff without stopping.
- •Your piercing bolts deal reduced damage to secondary targets, but they apply life steal and on-hit effects to the primary target.
Common Mistakes
- ✕Using with fewer than 3 feathers out→You lose your only form of CC and a huge portion of your damage, leaving you defenseless.
- ✕Using for damage instead of utility→You are left without your only defensive tool and will likely be killed by the next engage or assassin.
- ✕Fighting in an open field where enemies can flank→If enemies attack from multiple sides, you can't line up feathers on all of them, making your peel ineffective.
- ✕Spamming to poke in lane→You will quickly run out of mana and lose the ability to use when a real fight breaks out.
- ✕Forgetting to auto-attack after using abilities→You waste the stacks, resulting in fewer feathers on the ground and lower total damage output.
AI-generated guide • Patch 16.2.1 • Cached