Xin Zhao Counters Classic 26.22

Malphite's Ground Slam only damages enemies who are already within a step of him, while Seismic Shard opens from much further out. Throw the shard while Xin Zhao is still walking in, and the four seconds of stolen speed run in Malphite's favor. Hold the slam until he arrives.

Xin Zhao thins Malphite's armor for three seconds at a time, and Challenge lands that cut from a basic attack or from Audacious Charge. Brutal Strikes puts back more than the cut at every rank, and holds it twice as long. Malphite comes out of the exchange harder to hurt than he went in.

Expect Crescent Sweep to knock you back out of your own slam range, so spend Ground Slam while Xin Zhao is still standing next to you. The knockback closes that trade, and the fight restarts with both of you walking.

That stun at the end of Counter Strike carries a short reach, so it needs Xin Zhao still close to Jax when the stance expires. Audacious Charge covers that distance in one move and leaves a slow on Jax when it lands.

Jax turns standard attacks away for the two seconds Counter Strike runs. Three Talon Strike is three of them, thrown one after another. Xin Zhao pulls his other cooldowns forward with those hits, and a run swallowed by the stance pulls nothing. The trade ends with his clocks untouched. The run has to begin again.

Spend Counter Strike while Xin Zhao is still swinging, so the stance closes with him standing close enough to catch the stun. Then leave on that one second, walking out under the slow Audacious Charge already put on you.