When I first started playing League of Legends I was a huge Marksman fan, but for some reason, I couldn’t seem to vibe with Jhin. For players like me who love the rapid pace of champions like Xayah, Jhin takes a lot of getting used to, especially due to his passive Whisper.
Jhin only has 4 bullets in his gun and must reload after all four have been shot, making him vulnerable for 2 seconds, though gaining some movement speed to flee from battle. It will take some getting used to if you’re not used to champions who have off periods, but Jhin players can take the reloading period as an opportunity to launch a series of abilities.
QUICK RUNDOWN:
SUMMONER SPELLS: Flash & Heal
RUNES: Fleet Footwork, Triumph, Alacrity/Bloodline, Coup de Grace // Celerity & Gathering Storm
ABILITY POWER UP: Q, E, W
FIRST BUY: B.F. Sword
BUILD ORDER: Infinity Edge, Beserker’s Greaves, Essence Reaver, Rapid Firecannon, Stormrazor, and Bloodthirster
COMBOS: Jhin players are able to root enemies with W if they are marked. Enemy champions are marked when Jhin or allies attack them with any ability or auto-attack. Ensure that you only use your W when enemies are near in hopes of securing a kill, as rooting a faraway enemy will simply waste mana.
SUMMONER SPELL RECOMMENDATIONS
FLASH – Flash comes in overly useful when playing Jhin in ARAM since Jhin is unable to increase his attack speed. Allow yourself the freedom to flash away in tricky situations, especially if you weren’t able to get off your fourth shot before needing to retreat.
Due to Jhin’s high damage, especially on his fourth shot, players can also use Flash to zoom in and secure a kill. I would recommend this tactic especially for First Blood or when trying to kill a champion who can heal themselves, like Sona or Nunu & Willump.
HEAL – Heal is an important Summoner Spell to take when playing Jhin as you’re going to want to avoid purchasing any Life Steal gear.
RUNE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR JHIN
Jhin can choose runes that are very similar to fellow Marksmen like Vayne, Miss Fortune, Kindred, Caitlyn, Tristana, Sivir, Ashe, or Xayah, though some players will choose to use bursty Domination runes as they would on Mages like Karthus, Brand, Anivia, Teemo, Soraka, Zyra, Ziggs, or Malzahar.
There are two common ways to play Jhin in ARAM, though in reality players will probably want to stick to the Precision Rune tree as their primary Jhin build. The reason being? It provides a lot more sustainability than choosing Domination like you would with Ziggs.
In my experience, choosing Domination as your main tree for Jhin tends to be a lot riskier, especially for newer players, which is why I strongly recommend against it.
The following are the two Rune Builds I do recommend with Jhin.
PRECISION – PRIMARY TREE
FLEET FOOTWORK
Fleet Footwork is arguably the only keystone Rune that Jhin users should use in ARAM. Since Jhin has a set attack speed and is unable to rapidly attack enemies with his auto attacks, Runes like Press the Attack tend to fall off quickly.
Fleet Footwork heals players 3-60 health based on level + 30% bonus AD and also provides 20% bonus movement speed for 1 second. Players will only receive a 20% bonus when attacking minions, so try to land your attacks on enemy champions, especially on your fourth shot.
Fleet Footwork should provide enough health sustainability to Jhin in the early game and works in tandem with his passive, providing Jhin players with a massive movement speed buff once Fleet Footwork is triggered.
TRIUMPH
Players will receive 6% of missing health as well as 10 Gold every time they participate in a champion takedown. Players will experience a 1-second delay before they get their health from securing a takedown.
Similar to Fleet Footwork, Triumph is arguably the only Rune players will want to take when playing Jhin as the alternatives, Overheal and Presence of Mind, do not provide as crucial perks to Jhin players.
ALACRITY or BLOODLINE
Alacrity provides players with 3% (+ 1.5% per Legend stack) bonus Attack Speed, up to 18% when players have 10 stacks. Choosing Alacrity will provide Jhin players with more damage (instead of Attack Speed), but can definitely be substituted for Bloodline is players need more sustain.
Bloodline provides players with 0.6% Life Steal per Legend stack with a maximum of 12% Life Steal once players have gained 20 stacks.
I personally prefer Alacrity since Fleet Footwork and Triumph provide me with enough health, though players who are newer to Jhin or have a tendency to take too much damage will benefit more from Bloodline.
COUP DE GRACE
Coup de Grace is a very helpful rune to take while playing Jhin, especially when paired up with Jhin’s fourth shot. Enjoy a generic 8% increased damage to champions below 40% maximum health.
SORCERY – SECONDARY TREE (DAMAGE & MOVEMENT SPEED)
Although Sorcery is the most common secondary rune tree players use when playing Jhin, I’m not always the biggest fan of using it.
If I suspect my teammates are going to be tanky enough for me to avoid taking damage, I will use the Sorcery tree, however, if I need more sustain or I’m nervous that my teammates will be burst down easily I will take the alternative.
CELERITY – I’m not usually a fan of Celerity on my champions, but since Jhin gains movement speed when he crits, shoots his 4th bullet and when he roots with Deadly Flourish it comes in extra handy.
Celerity helps raise the chances of escaping or catching enemies, so get to running!
GATHERING STORM – It can be hard to say whether or not Gathering Storm is going to be useful while playing a game of ARAM as players will only receive its perks every 6 minutes in ARAM.
Players receive an exponential amount of AD being 0, 4.8, 14.4, 28.8 and 48. Is it worth it? Yes, especially in the endgame, but you’re going to have to wait for quite some time for it to be worth it!
DOMINATION – SECONDARY TREE (SUSTAIN ALTERNATIVE)
I would say that I use this build about 80% of the time when playing Jhin. I only put it second because it is less damage oriented.
TASTE OF BLOOD – If players have difficulty with sustain think about using Taste of Blood as ever 15 seconds players can heal for 18-35 (+20% bonus AD). Taste of Blood is always a great rune to use on AD carries, though the one downfall is that it requires players to hit enemy champions.
Taste of Blood is much more useful than Ravenous Hunter when playing Jhin.
EYEBALL COLLECTION – Looking for some extra damage? Grab the Eyeball Collection to get a maximum of 18 AD once you have participated in 10 enemy takedowns.
SKILL LEVEL UP RECOMMENDATIONS
When playing Jhin, players are always going to want to start off by maxing out their Q, Dancing Grenade, as it is useful for clearing minion waves as well as damaging enemy champions that are too far out of reach. Much like Miss Fortune, Jhin’s Dancing Grenades should be placed on minions that are closest to enemy champions to maximize the probability of them landing on enemies.
Dancing Grenade is especially useful when under turret as Jhin players can quickly apply the ability and run away to safety, still causing damage to champions.
As a second ability, I prefer to max out my E, Captive Audience, my reason for this is mainly because the Captivate Audience ability receives a cooldown for each upgrade.
Captivate Audience allows Jhin players to place Lotus Traps on the floor which lasts for 3 minutes, dealing damage to champions who step and remain on them. Enemy champions who step on Lotus Traps will also be marked, allowing them to be stunned by Jhin’s W, Deadly Flourish.
Lotus Traps can be placed all over the map, similar to Teemo’s mushrooms, in hopes of damaging enemy champions who are low on health. Since Lotus Traps are invisible, enemy players can be tricked or lured into stepping on them, allowing Jhin players to root enemies quickly. In reality, most players will not buy Oracles Extract to avoid stepping on Lotus Traps because unlike Teemo’s mushrooms, players will not take immediate damage, however, if Jhin players immediately root champions who have stepped on his Lotus Trap, they can often secure a kill.
Players can choose to upgrade Deadly Flourish second to receive a maximum root time of 2 seconds, though upgrading Deadly Flourish will not reduce its cooldown.
The biggest factor to whether you are going to max out your W or your E first is whether or not you are good at landing trick shots. Since Deadly Flourish has a mini delay, it can be avoided by enemy champions, especially if players don’t land the shot directly into the center of enemy champions.
GEAR BUILDS FOR JHIN IN ARAM
Jhin benefits the most from building Critical Strike as his passive and the majority of his abilities have damage multipliers based on crit. The following is my favourite build for Jhin.
First Buy: B.F. Sword (Potions depending on player’s comfort)
Boots: Beserker’s Greaves (Build at any time, but try to build a full item before)
Infinity Edge // High damage and high crit, however, does not provide any other sub stats. Not great for players who need extra mana.
Essence Reaver // 25% Critical Strike, 20% Cooldown Reduction and refunds mana. If you’re struggling with mana, build this as your first weapon instead of Infinity Edge.
Rapid Firecannon // Increased range when energized, 25% Critical Strike, 5% Movement Speed. Rapid Firecannon should be the second item players build while playing Jhin as it will make landing his 4th shot easier, especially if timed correctly.
Stormrazor // Although Stormrazor does not provide the most stats, it does help boost Jhin’s Crit and provides him with a bit of magic damage on energized attacks. It will also help slow down enemy champions.
Bloodthirster // If ever you are struggling with health in a game, build Bloodthirster. Bloodthirster provides players with 20% Life Steal and can overheal you, however, it does not provide Jhin players with too much damage since it does not give you any Critical Strike.
FINAL THOUGHTS ON JHIN IN ARAM
Jhin takes some getting used to, especially due to his reload times, but he is a top pick for me in ARAM. Jhin makes it easier to shred tanks and doesn’t require many items to become extremely powerful, as long as he is built properly.
If you have the opportunity to play Jhin in ARAM take it, you won’t regret it!
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