Xayah Build & Rune Guide

Xayah, part of the lover’s duo, is quite a unique and mechanically-demanding champion due to her passive and E. Sprinkling the lane with her feathers, it can often be difficult to even get near her if she knows what she’s doing. 

Like most ADCs, Xayah has a high carry potential, meaning if she’s fed, it could be game over. Her kit has been rounded out pretty well with attack speed boosts, CC abilities, and even an evasive ability. Let’s get into how these abilities combine together to make the champion so devastating.

How To Play Xayah In League Of Legends

Xayah requires an in-depth understanding of her abilities, especially about when to use them. This is mainly because of her passive which we will talk about ahead, but also because the feathers she uses also deal damage on the way back as well as root enemies.

Positioning is key with Xayah, as you must know where your feathers will land and which way the enemy will engage from. But once you get the hang of coordinating her abilities, she is very swift in executing her enemies.

What Do Xayah’s Abilities Do?

The biggest use of her abilities might be linked to her passive as she gains retractable feathers each time she uses any ability of hers. Aside from that, Xayah has the staple marksmen abilities like one poke ability, one stat buff ability, one crowd control ability, and an evasive ultimate that can also do damage at the same time.

All of these combine to make her the deadly champion in the lane that can make even supports hesitant to engage. Now we’re going to take a deeper look into said abilities.

Clean Cuts (Passive)

We have consistently talked about the power of Xayah’s passive, so what exactly does it do? Xayah’s passive, Clean Cuts, generates 3 stacks each time she uses an ability. These stacks last for 8 seconds and can stack up to 5 max. Each time Xayah basic attacks, she consumes a stack to send out a feather that pierces enemies in a straight line and lingers on the field for a few seconds.

Normal AD is dealt to the primary target, while all other enemies hit receive 30/40/50% AD physical damage. Another part of Xayah’s passive is Lover’s Leap, a very innovative aspect relating to her lore. If both Xayah and Rakan are on the same team and one is recalling, the other may move nearby and start their recall as well. Both champions will finish recalling at the same time regardless of when the latter started their recall.

Double Daggers (Q)

An extension of her passive in a way, Double Daggers allow Xayah to send out 2 feathers in the targeted direction. The feathers pierce through all enemies, but only the first enemy hit takes full damage, while all others receive 50% reduced damage.

This ability is especially useful for last-hitting minions from afar when you can’t get close enough. It also adds an element of danger for the enemy as you can always recall the feathers to damage plus root them.

Deadly Plummage (W)

Deadly Plummage is Xayah’s self-buffing ability which should be activated at every engagement. While active for 4 seconds, Xayah gains bonus attack speed and empowers her basic attack to deal reduced damage to a second target as well. On top of the attack speed boost, she also gains a 30% movement speed buff each time she hits an enemy champion while this ability is active.

This ability is great for dishing out an immense amount of damage in a short duration and recalling the feathers later to stop any counter engages. If Rakan is nearby while this ability is activated, he will also gain the same attack speed and movement speed boosts.

Bladecaller (E)

Bladecaller is one of Xayah’s most important abilities as it is used after her full combo. When activated, Xayah recalls all the feathers she had recently planted, dealing physical damage, and rooting enemies in their path for 1.25 seconds if they are hit by 3 feathers or more. The damage is increased by 0-75% based on critical strike chance but does 50% damage to minions.

This ability can not only stop counter engages but also root enemies trying to escape in their tracks. Depending on how many feathers you laid down, it is a deadly ability to get hit by.

Featherstorm (R)

Featherstorm is Xayah’s “get out of jail free card” in the sense that by using this ability, she leaps into the air, becoming untargetable for 1.5 seconds. After a 1 second delay, she shoots 5 feathers in a cone-shaped radius, dealing physical damage to all enemies hit. This ability can help her dodge any engagement in the game, especially if she has E to follow up with.

Xayah’s Build Path (Items + Runes)

While Xayah definitely has a one-of-a-kind champion kit, her build is pretty stapled like most ADCs. However, she does prioritize movement speed and ability haste more than other ADCs to proc her passive more often. Let’s see what you need to buy to unlock her true potential.

Items

Starting Item: Your starting item will always be Doran’s Blade for the extra minion damage and lifesteal for sustain.

Core Build: Xayah’s core build consists of Galeforce into Navori Quickblades. The Galeforce gives her a lot of movement speed that helps her dodge skill shots and kite the enemy ADC. Navori Quickblades, on the other hand, give you additional damage and cooldown reduction based on Critical Strike Chance.

Situational Items: Bloodthirster and Phantom Dancer are great optional pickups for Xayah. Since Xayah does not use Immortal Shieldbow, Bloodthirster provides her lifesteal while Phantom Dancer helps her position herself while basic attacking.

Boots: For boots, you always go Berserker’s Greaves like all ADCs.

Runes

Primary: Xayah’s primary runes are Lethal Tempo into Presence of Mind, Legend: Bloodline, and Coup de Grace. Lethal Tempo allows you to exceed the attack speed limit meaning you can keep stacking attack speed. Legend: Bloodline is great for sustain during the early game before Bloodthirster, while Coup de Grace is just a damage amp to execute low-health enemies. Presence of Mind keeps her mana pool near full.

Secondary: Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery are optimal secondary pickups. Biscuit Delivery gives you a small dose of health and mana through the lane, while Magical Footwear gives you boots as the game progresses.

Parting Thoughts

While Xayah’s abilities aren’t too different from most ADCs, some aspects of her damage-dealing kit might seem confusing to newer players. She also requires great positioning and ability timing to excel in the lane, so make sure you know what you’re doing. After that, it's just up to you and your skill expression