[14.11] Complete Xayah Guide to Dominate Your Games (2024)

Here we will be going in-depth on how to optimize Xayah's damage through her abilities. Xayah’s kit is simple to understand, but it’s also deceptively easy to misuse. To play her well you need to pay attention to how you use your abilities and always be aware of your cooldowns and positioning.

Do keep in mind that sometimes the optimal is not always feasible - meaning that to score kills or outplay your opponent you may need to go against what is “optimal” for her Passive usage for example.

And especially players new to Xayah or who are not very advanced in their mechanics will struggle to use her abilities well all the time. This is FINE - take your time, practice, and have fun first and foremost. You don't need to play perfectly in order to have fun.

Each time you use an ability, you will get 3 out of 5 feathers ready to be set up, which means that for optimal usage you want to be auto attacking between abilities.

If you use Double Daggers, auto attack before using Deadly Plumage or Bladecaller. You will then get 5 feathers stacked, which means that to get as many feathers on the ground as you can, you will have to auto 3 times before using an ability again.

If you instead Q+W+aa, because you did not auto between abilities, you will have lost 1 feather. Likewise, if you already have 5 feathers stacked and use an ability, you will lose 3 extra feathers.

This is not optimal for every situation, but in teamfights you want to have as many feathers on the ground as possible.

Picking Xayah into cc heavy teams will further enable you as you will not need to root for cc chain, using it instead to deal more burst damage.

This ability can be used in a multitude of ways.

1. Its range is longer than your autos, so you can Q to farm minions safely and to poke the enemy ADC, especially if they have about the same range as you. If you want to poke low HP enemies use Q+E to chunk them harder. You can even score a few kills like that.

2. Your Double Daggers feathers will deal more damage to the first enemy they hit, or in other words, if it doesn't go through the minion wave.

3. In 1x1, especially against mobile champions, you will want to hold on to your Q until you see a good opportunity to root - usually after they have used their dash.

4. Double Daggers immediately sets up feathers for you, which means that it can be used to catch enemies off guard when you start your trades with Deadly Plumage.

5. You can Q to set up feathers on the ground, and when the enemy approaches you can catch them off guard by using aa+E on them. You can also use your Q and autos to zone the enemy off your wave and make them lose cs.

This is her most reliable form of DPS if you build crit, so avoid using it on the minion wave unless you want to hard shove and recall or take towers. It has a long cooldown and costs a lot of mana at level 1. Hold this ability to take favorable trades and all-ins.

1. You can use it to more quickly take objectives (turrets, drake, baron), but avoid fights while it's on cooldown.

2. Start trades with W to out-DPS the enemy ADC. You can take this ability level 1 if you have Rakan or another strong level 1 support to force early trades and gain level 2 priority, but in most cases you will want to take this at level 3.

3. Use Deadly Plumage to kite away from bruisers and tanks looking to get on top of you.

4. You can also use this ability to chase, and use it to close the gap between you and long range champions when paired with Rapid Firecannon, as it gives movement speed.

Having more attack speed makes this ability more efficient, as you will be able to auto more times and more quickly set up feathers. It is really strong in the early game so use it sparingly.

This is the ability that will require the most patience of you and one of the biggest things separating a good Xayah from a bad Xayah. Her entire kit is based around this ability, so using it optimally is crucial to having success with this champion.

When using Bladecaller for damage, ideally you want to have as many feathers on the ground as possible and position accordingly. You should start trades with Deadly Plumage and autos, use Double Daggers, auto a few more times if possible and E to root/kill them.

To use E effectively you should only use it if more than 2 feathers hit the enemy. Q+E is only worth it for poking or killing low HP targets.

In situations where you need to lock down your enemy, you can use Q+aa+E to hold them and then burst them with Deadly Plumage. In most situations you will be tempted to do this, but always make sure to see if you really need the root or if you will need the Bladecaller damage to finish them off later.

TIPS TO MASTER THIS ABILITY

1. Always be very patient in teamfights with your E. Most of the time you will not need a 3 feathers root, and will end up missing having your E if you have to use your Featherstorm defensively or when you have a lot of feathers on the ground.

2. In early laning phase, be mindful of using your E to farm. You will have more lane pressure by using your feathers to zone the enemy, using E to catch them off guard or follow up your support's engage. In the late game, when your E is on a lower cooldown, you can freely use it to shove waves and group with your team.

3. When your Bladecaller is down, it is often best to play more careful because you will not have part of your damage and your peel.

4. E requires you to position well, but even then enemies can dash away or Flash. You can E+ Flash to quickly reposition in such cases.

5. Also keep in mind that the closer you are to your enemies, the easier it is for you to root them and deal more damage.

This is the ability most people use wrong after her E.

On its own, Featherstorm is okay. It deals decent damage, but the real reason why it is a threatening Ultimate is because of your E. When paired with Bladecaller, it has the potential to deal tons of damage, if all your feathers hit. In most cases though, you will want to use it as a defensive tool because you get untargetability while casting it.

To make full use of your ultimate you need to have your E up. Both when using it offensively and defensively, you ideally want to not have used your E just before R. This is where many new Xayah players fail to turn the fight around for their team.

Another common mistake many new Xayah players make is using your Featherstorm aggressively at the wrong times. Say, for example, the enemy is trying to run away and you ult to try to quickly catch them. Then either you don't hit your 3 feathers because they were too far from you, or they Flash away, turn on you, or you just don't do enough damage to kill them.

TIPS FOR THIS ABILITY

1. Keep in mind that every time you lose your ult, you are very vulnerable. It is ideal to play safe until your R is up at all stages of the game. Taking Ultimate Hunter will significantly help you lower the cooldown of your R.

2. If you get caught in a tight space, such as the jungle, you can R to try to avoid the enemy engage, and zone them from following you.

3. You can use Featherstorm to finish off low HP enemies in lane, if they have already used their Flash or dash.

4. You can also use your R aggressively in lane if you have a support that can lock down enemies for a long time, such as a Leona, Rell, Rakan or Galio.

In a teamfight, look to use your Featherstorm to dodge important damage or the enemy engage. Examples of this could be Malphite R, Miss Fortune R, Lux R, Katarina R, Maokai R, Fizz R, Yone R, Rell W+R. After dodging the damage/engage, use your autos and abilities to set up more feathers, and use E to deal a huge chunk of damage.

You can also use R when your team is first to engage, or when the enemy uses their dangerous abilities on a teammate instead of you. You can either kill them while they try to kill your teammates, or peel for your teammates by using E to give them time to run away.