League of Legend’s newest champion, Jhin, is a new and fabulous take on the marksman. The virtuoso has already been out for a few weeks, wreaking his unique style of havoc on Summoners Rift. His gadgets and guns would make even Jinx blush with envy.
Tahm Kench and Bard took months to appear on the LCS stage after release, while Jhin got played the first week he was available. Sneaky, on Cloud 9, brought him out against Immortals for what had to be the most entertaining match of the day.
Similar to Graves after his last rework, Jhin has an ammo system. After every fourth shot he has to reload, with his last one critically striking. He also gains a brief movement speed and attack damage buff after a critical strike, though that critical strike only does 150 percent damage instead of 200 percent. This passive makes him a high damage champion while also helping his lack of mobility.
Jhin’s first ability is called Dancing Grenade. He throws a grenade at a target, bouncing up to three additional times. If it kills on a bounce, it does 35 percent more damage on the next one. This is his wave clear tool. Against a Tristana in lane who keeps you pinned under tower? Just throw down some grenades to clear the wave. This is the ability you max first, no matter what.
Like all of the new abilities added to this game, Jhin’s have a lot of passives. If an enemy gets hit by one of his basic attacks or any allied damage, the enemy is marked for a few seconds. If hit with Deadly Flourish, his second ability, they are then rooted for up to two seconds. This ability is like a longer range Jinx Zap! that can travel through minions. It’s extremely thin and has a delay after casting, which takes some practice to get used to. It can be used to single out a target for your team to pick off, or to escape danger.
If you’ve seen Jhin in a game, chances are you’ve seen flower traps littered across the map. Those are from his third ability, Captive Audience. Each trap is invisible to the enemy team, until stepped on. Then a small AOE slowing field appears, blowing up after 2 seconds. This is what can separate a good Jhin from a great Jhin. A trap reveals an area for two minutes, giving vision to your team. With the removal of green wards, extra vision can be a great asset. The most fun I’ve had playing this week is going mid lane Jhin, with a Caitlyn bottom lane. We just layered our traps all over mid lane, waiting for the enemy to misstep.
Since Jhin is a performer, his ultimate had to be a show stopper. For Curtain Call, Jhin sets up 4 extremely long range shots that slow, with the last one doing extra damage. When you activate Curtain Call, the camera zooms out, rooting him and disabling his other abilities. It has the longest range of any non-global ability in the game and the damage is serious business. Like Miss Fortune’s Bullet Time, it isn’t a smart idea to use Curtain Call around enemies with crowd control. It’s very easily interruptible, and wasting a long cool down is never a good idea.
Making music in the bot lane with Jhin is not an easy task. His lack of attack speed and mobility makes champions like Braum, difficult to synergize with. On-hit passives don’t work well when he has to reload. Supports with strong peel and engage make Jhin’s laning phase easier to handle. Morgana has her binding to combo with Deadly Flourish, and Black Shield helps her teammate escape an unwinnable skirmish. Other champions with strong peel, like Janna or Nautlius can combo well.
The lack of mobility and early game damage makes Jhin a bit lackluster at this point. With a few bug fixes and buffs, there isn’t a doubt that everyone will be bowing at his feet, demanding an encore.
