Jhin: League of Legends Champion Spotlight
Can murder ever be thought of as art? Once held as a lone prisoner at the mercy of his captors, Jhin's perspective of life and death has had plenty of time to warp. To him, murder is art and his gun is a paintbrush.
Riot released Jhin into the world of League of Legends back in 2016 and since then, the marksman has taken more than his fair share of kills in the bot lane. In today's blog, Team Norse Thunder's League of Legends player Emily Dixon takes a look at Jhin from an ADCs' perspective.
Introduction to Jhin
Jhin ‘The Virtuoso’ is a master of many arts, from "smithing, poetry, and dance", as stated in his official biography, to the beautiful art of murder... or so he says.
His lore is an enigmatic tale full of seemingly unwarranted murder inflicted on the masses. Spreading the vast provinces of Zhyun all the way to Shon Xan and Galrin, Jhin released a wave of fear that engulfed the land. He became known as the Golden Demon - a name he richly deserves.
Hordes of militia were sent to search for him, but Jhin's reign of terror continued. That was until he was found and captured by the brother duo of Shen and Zed, with the help of their father. Not much is known about Jhin's escape from captivity after he spent years in a holding cell, but it is imagined he found an opportunity to slip away during the Noxian war.
Jhin's Character Design
Jhin's character design is stylised to fit his dramatic personality, from swinging his gun around before the fated fourth shot to the body spins during his auto-attacks. He creates perfect art as he rips through the rift, killing champions left and right.
He wears a Phantom of the Opera style mask but dons a full-face version, reminiscent of a simplified V For Vendetta mask. This is said to hide his full identity and works to stop anyone from getting any insight into his personality besides the creative flair that he imposes upon every deadly meeting.
The Marksman's Abilities
His passive ability, also known as Whisper, is what makes this champion so different to others. Jhin has one, two, three... four bullets in his chamber and as Jhin’s lucky number is four, the fourth shot deals deadly critical damage with added execute damage too. It also gives Jhin a boost of movement speed, perfect for engaging in a fight or prancing swiftly away to safety.
Jhin's first active ability is his Q, Dancing Grenade. As the name suggests, Jhin's Q throws out a grenade that bounces… you guessed it… four times. It can bounce from enemy to minion and even to some other champions too.
His second active ability, Deadly Flourish, is his W and is one of the most controversial in his set. The idea is to first get a hit, be it an auto-attack or an ability that places a marker on a champion, then Jhin will successfully land his W which will root the opposition champion for a few seconds. The controversy stems from an issue in the coding: the ability won't root the enemy champion 80% of the time, even if they are marked. That leads to losing lots of assists and more importantly... kills.
His third ability is his E, Captive Audience. The ability places a deadly lotus flower trap that blooms when walked over by an enemy champion or a minion. These traps slow the enemy and deal a burst of damage. These can also be combo’ed with his W to create a long-distance root which is perfect for catching up to the enemy with the fourth hit from his Q. Are we seeing his combo form now?
Jhin's ultimate, or R, is what he is really known for. Curtain Call transforms his gun into a rifle that handles long distances shots with ease. The shot cripples enemies after a bout of execute damage. It follows the formula of his passive as his fourth shot also deals a burst of critical damage too.
Jhin's ultimate is a big issue in team fights. Picture this: you’ve just engaged in a team fight and an enemy Jhin is in the mix. You flash to escape as you don't have much health left and then suddenly you see Jhin lounge back and pull out his sniper rifle. One click and BAM. You’re dead. Maybe murder is art after all. Beautiful.
Rune Choices
Popular runes on Jhin focus on his damage output and K/D/A capability. Selecting Dark Harvest allows Jhin to increase damage when the enemy is below 50% health. That gives you more chances to get kills which also increases his damage! With the recent update increasing his damage output as well, Jhin is a very popular ADC right now and even more so when you choose Dark Harvest.
Due to the nature of his Q ability, Fleet Footwork is a less popular, but still very playable, rune path for Jhin. When hitting enemies, energy stacks build up and when that reaches 100, a 20% movement speed buff is applied which can lead to stronger and faster engages on the bot side.
Wrapping Up
A popular champion for ADC players, Jhin brings beauty to the gory lives that many of the champions live on the Summoners Rift.
Between his admiration for drama and his artistic movement, his playstyle is that of a wistful artist who is proud of his work and the perfection that he strives for... it's just that perfection is murder. Jhin shows that there is more than one way to skin a cat... and his way? Totally superior.