The Ultimate League of Legends Jhin Guide

The Virtuoso always displays an excellent performance on the rift, combining skill and elegance in his moves to destroy his opponents masterfully with just 4 bullets. Jhin is one of the best-designed champions in the game with a unique kit and balanced stats all around. This champion has always stayed relevant in the metagame and can be deadly at the hands of someone who knows how to use him. This Jhin guide aims to introduce you to the inner mechanics of playing this champion.

The Mind of the Virtuoso

Legends involving Shen and Zed mention their hunt of the Golden Demon, a beast known to kill people in the most gruesome way imaginable. Their investigations led them to not to a demonic being but a man – Jhin. This person had an obsession with putting in a show as much as he was obsessed with the number 4. He outsmarted everyone that tried to pursue him and he did so while breaking their wills and making them question their humanity.

Jhin has long been considered one of the best-designed champions in the game. In esports, Jhin is a popular pick among AD Carries because he provides a lot of damage whether he’s in the teamfight or safely positioned at the back of the fight. He’s an incredibly strong laner whose weaknesses can be negated if the player knows what they’re doing. This Jhin guide will try to explain why this champion has only grown in popularity ever since its release and why high ELO players like to choose him.

Jhin General Gameplay

Jhin is incredibly obsessed with the number 4 so keep that in mind when playing this champion. Some of his abilities spike when he hits the number 4 so you’ll need to count your abilities when using this champion. He likes to play from a safe distance because he has some weaknesses that can leave him really vulnerable in fights. However, if he’s able to maintain his safe distance, he’ll be able to deal massive amount of damage. We’ll explain further in this Jhin guide.

Jhin Guide – Skills and Abilities

Jhin uses a combination of using auto-attacks to deal the huge bulk of his damage and using abilities in-between autos so that he doesn’t have any dead air while he reloads his weapon. We’ve already mentioned that this champion gets a boost when he lands the 4th shot of his abilities which means you’ll need to constantly keep that in mind. This Jhin guide will help you find the balance on how to use these abilities.

Passive: Whisper

Innate: Death in 4 Acts – Jhin has 4 rounds of ammunition. Jhin will be forced to reload his gun when he either consumes all of his bullets or if he hasn’t consumed any leftover bullets over 10 seconds out of combat and not being affected by any crowd control. The latter reload can be interrupted by using an attack or an ability.

Jhin’s 4th shot in his round becomes has an uncancelable windup versus champions, always critically strikes its target, including structures, dealing a percent of his opponent’s missing health as bonus physical damage to non-structure enemies.

Every Moment Matters – Jhin gains AD as bonus damage based on level, attack speed, and critical strike.

Additionally, Jhin’s critical strikes grants him 10% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds.

The most important thing to know about in this ability is the 4th shot. The 4th shot deals bonus damage and you should always try to use it on an enemy champion whenever applicable. If you’re laning, use your first 3 bullets to farm minions and use the 4th shot to harass the enemy. The bonus movement speed from the 2nd part of this ability is extremely useful in giving Jhin the space he needs to maintain distance so always stay on the move trying to run to and away from the enemy.

Q: Dancing Grenades

Active – Jhin launches a grenade at a target enemy, dealing physical damage, and bouncing up to 3 additional nearby enemies, dealing the same amount of damage to each enemy.

The damage is increased by 35% of the base damage if the grenade kills the previous enemy hit from this ability.

Dancing Grenades is a great poking ability that can also be used for wave clear. A great strategy that veteran Jhin players do is dropping at least 3 minion’s health low (but don’t kill them) and using the Dancing Grenade so that they bounce off of those minions and hopefully, on an enemy champion. Since the damage of the grenades increase when a unit is killed by the bounce, it’s a good idea to use it on a minion or low health enemy first.

W: Deadly Flourish

Passive – Enemies who cross over a Lotus Trap or are damaged by Jhin or an allied champion, are marked for 4 seconds.

Active – Jhin fires a shot in a direction, dealing physical damage to all enemies in a line until it collides with an enemy champion, reduced by 25% to non-champions.

Hitting a marked champion roots them for a duration and grants Jhin his passive ability’s bonus movement speed.

Deadly Flourish is a good buffer ability that Jhin can cast when reloading his bullets. It’s also a good ability to use when dealing damage from long-range. Use this ability on enemies that you’ve damaged or have hit your Lotus Trap so that you can root them in place, giving you time to close the gap between them or create space between you and the enemy. It can also be a really good ability to farm minions but it’s better to have this ability available to get you out of sticky situations.

E: Captive Audience

Passive – Jhin periodically stocks a charge of Lotus Trap, up to a maximum of 2.

Passive – Beauty in Death – Scoring a takedown on an enemy champion summons a free Blooming Lotus Trap from under them.

Active – Jhin places a Lotus Trap at a target location, arming for 1 second and becoming stealthed for up to 180 seconds and granting sight within its radius. The Lotus Trap blooms upon contact with an enemy unit, with enemies in the area at the time of its trigger becoming revealed for 4 seconds.

Blooming Lotus Tap slow enemies within the area by 35% for 2 seconds before detonating, dealing magic damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Lotus Traps deal 65% of the damage they deal to non-champion units and champions who have been affected by Lotus Trap in the last 1 second.

Placing Lotus Traps depends on the situation. Players can place Lotus Traps for farming when facing an enemy but is usually placed in a spot where minions don’t pass through so that it doesn’t get triggered accidentally. Placing it in areas that the enemy usually passes through is a great way to catch them and instantly follow up with Deadly Flourish. Players can also place a Lotus Trap a short distance in front of them to deter enemies from coming close to you.

R: Curtain Call

Active – Jhin channels for up to 10 seconds, transforming his gun into a powerful cannon, gaining the ability to cast curtain call up to 4 times within its duration.

Recast – After 0.25 seconds, Jhin fires a round in the target direction that grants sight around its trajectory for 0.5 seconds and deals physical damage, which is increased by the opponent’s missing health, to all enemy in a line until it collides with an enemy champion, slowing them by 80% for 0.5 seconds, and revealing them fro 2 seconds. Each cast has a static cooldown fo 1 second.

The 4th shot critically strikes for the amount of 100% critical strike damage + 35% bonus physical damage.

Curtain Call is a good damage source but is only usable if Jhin is in a safe position. Ideally, Jhin wants to be a safe distance away from the fight or is in a position where the enemy can’t reach him. Using this ability under the tower or behind a wall is the best application. Also, if you’re playing against assassins, you should be careful when using this ability because you may end up isolating yourself and becoming an easy target to get rid of in the backline.

Jhin Guide – Items and Builds

Next up on our Jhin guide, we’ll be talking about this champion’s best items. As an ADC, he likes to build a lot of Critical and Attack Damage. However, because of his reload mechanic, he doesn’t benefit too much from using attack speed. Movement speed is another great stat that he utilizes since it helps him survive.

Starting Items

Boots of Speed – A unique starting item for Jhin that allows him to purchase an upgrade a lot quicker. Since Jhin plays from a safe distance and doesn’t get poked out a lot, he doesn’t need the omnivamp to survive in lane.

Core Items

Boots of Swiftness – We usually don’t include boots but Jhin players need to understand that this item is one his lifelines. The mobility and slow resist will go a long way in keeping him alive.

Galeforce – An item that provides movement speed and mobility. This item will help Jhin deal an extra amount of damage and keep himself alive during high-pressure situations.

The Collector – A great item for Jhin since it allows him to execute enemies when they fall below 5% HP. Since he has reload times, this can be crucial when trying to get the last enemy. This also empowers your Curtain Call ability, making sure that the low-health enemies die when they are hit.

Recommended Items

Infinity Edge – This item should be purchased when Jhin has at least two other crit items. This will increase the damage output of your champion significantly to make it a significant threat. Since most of his abilities are modified by crit, he’ll be hitting like a truck.

Rapid Firecannon – This item provides another huge boost to movement speed and will help in making Jhin annoying because it’ll increase his attack range on one of his attacks, which is huge if he uses it on the 4th shot.

Guardian Angel – This item gives Jhin a second chance to deal damage in fights. It will also waste a lot of time when assassins are trying to take you down in the backline.

Jhin Guide – Runes

Primary: Precision

Keystone: Fleet Footwork – This is an incredible item for Jhin because it helps him kite a lot easier and heal you up. Since Jhin doesn’t build lifesteal, this rune will provide enough for sustainability for him to survive.

Presence of Mind – A rune that helps Jhin spam his abilities more. He is very dependent on the use of his skills so having this rune will allow him to use them more often without running out of mana.

Legend: Bloodline – Unlike other marksmen that choose Legend: Alacrity, Jhin doesn’t need attack speed so lifesteal will make it easier for him in the laning phase.

Coup de Grace – This rune will make his missing HP-based abilities hurt a lot more. This should make it so that enemies who fall below 40% are ensured to die.

Secondary: Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery – An item that will help Jhin regenerate some mana while in lane and help survive the lane even though he doesn’t build Doran’s Blade.

Time Warp Tonic – This item will help Jhin survive a lot better in high-pressure situations. It allows him to use abilities at consecutively even if he runs out of mana when he uses his Biscuits to heal up.

Jhin General Overview

Jhin is a champion that can be quite daunting for beginners to pick up. He has a unique ability kit where the damage comes from the unique weaving of auto-attacks and abilities. Players will need to take some time to practice the use of this champion if they want to become decent at it. Luckily, this Jhin guide has covered most of the basic knowledge that players need to use this champion so all they need is to go to the Practice Tool to apply it.