Jhin 2 Win
A Comprehensive Guide to Jhin
U7
January 1st, 1 ⸱ 26 min read
Jhin in the Meta
"Our performance begins."
Jhin has been one of the most consistent, reliable, and popular bot-lane picks for the past two seasons. He has a unique play-style unlike any other ADC; Jhin is an interesting hybrid marksman with elements of both AD burst assassin and catcher mage. There are only upsides to picking this champion in solo queue: Jhin is very safe in lane and a good choice if picking blind or picking first; he has excellent scaling throughout all stages of the game and can play from behind using all the utility in his kit; most of his match-ups are favourable, with only a few counter-picks; and his Fourth shot gives him great objective control on dragons and baron.
His simple kit is intuitive - it makes him a wise choice for bot-lane fills - but it also leaves open a lot of room for creativity and mastery by more seasoned players.
Jhin is a thematically compelling champion; each of his spells and abilities have a distinctive flair and drama that are a joy to watch unfold on your screen.
This is how I like to play him.
Abilities
"Yes, the gun is ironic."
Passive
There are some important details to note with regards to Jhin's basic attacks. The most obvious of these is that Jhin only has four total shots he can make before having to reload. Additionally, his basic attacks have a fixed attack speed that cannot be improved though attack speed (except through growth). His final shot is an uncancelable windup that always crits, and does bonus execute damage to low health targets. Your win condition as Jhin is always the Fourth shot! A good Jhin will hold their Fourth shot during fights and aim to use it when an enemy target has low HP.
Jhin's basic attacks also have some interesting interactions with crit. Crits only do 150% of AD, but they have a slightly increased missile speed. This makes his Fourth shot harder to Flash as it will always move faster than normal autos! His regular crits and fourth shot also give Jhin bonus movement speed (increased by attack speed) for two seconds. This is an extremely important part of his kit. Given Jhin only has the four shots, he relies on the movement speed from these crits to reposition and kite during fights. He can get riskier autos off in a fight provided he has enough crit to escape. During laning, you are always aiming to trade with Fourth shot, as the bonus movement speed will allow you to quickly reposition away from further damage.
Q
This ability is very straightforward. Aim to use
Dancing Grenade in lane on three low HP minions to rapidly clear waves. If you can, try and use it when the enemy laner is standing next to these minions, as they will take 35% increased damage from the bounce. In fights, this ability his most useful to augment Jhin's fourth shot damage, auto - Q - Fourth shot is a particularly lethal combo. As in lane, if it lands on a enemy champion during a fight and kills them, the bounce will deal bonus damage to all others in the fight that it bounces to! E
This spell is very versatile. Its primary use is to cause enemies to become marked for
Deadly Flourish roots. Always aim to root people on-top of the lotus traps, or place them behind a rooted target during all-ins. The topic of where to place them during lane is a little more complicated. Some chose to put them in the bushes towards river to prevent ganks. Wards, in this regard, are slightly more effective and cost no mana. The other drawback to using traps in place of proper vision is that they only provide the vision when they are triggered. If an enemy jungler is ganking from tri-bush and you are pushing their turret, it may already be too late by the time you've seen them. You can also place traps in the bushes towards the alcove to remove support pressure in lane. Most enemy supports, however, will intentionally run these over to deny any use. An alternative to this is to place them between the bushes towards alcove. Enemy supports will be less likely to have considered this, will trigger them when they step out of the bushes, and will stay revealed for a few seconds. Completely your call, and depends on the behaviour of the enemy support. I personally use traps in lane to help with wave management. In general, the traps are good for wave clear - one of Jhin's major weaknesses in the early game. If the enemy bot lane is aggressively trying to crash the wave, two traps will stop the push in its tracks. On the flip side, if you are trying to crash the wave, slowing and damaging the minion wave is great. Just be careful to not place them too close to enemy turrets as they will be revealed, and can be killed for 10 gold before activating! During fights, they are useful in bushes that have no vision, or to choke off access points to objectives. The slow puts the enemy team at a disadvantage when trying to contest. The traps also act as pseudo-wards that can be used on. During drake fights, they can provide a free and unexpected play from the top-laner. They are also helpful if you're farming past tier 1 turret in the mid-game - a few well placed traps can alert you to flanks. R
The ultimate skill-shot! Impress yours and the enemy team with your sick aim. Used to clean up team-fights or for engage because of the enhanced slow and reveal. Each shot does bonus execute damage, so the first three don't do much more than normal autos if the target is full hp. The Fourth shot always crits, as per usual, but deals bonus crit damage. You have to be careful during the channel, however, as most players will attempt to engage and interrupt or kill Jhin during the ult. Try and use it in the cover of bush, or far away from the enemy team. Make sure to watch for flanks! A neat trick you can do with the ult during late game: get all your shots off in a fight, then clean up a kill you didn't quite get with
Deadly Flourish . Most players will successfully dodge a few of your shots, but will be caught completely off-guard by a sneaky
Deadly Flourish snipe. Prepare for your finale!Rune Trees
"The composition needs something."
Dark Harvest
There are two primary keystones builds Jhin can take advantage of. The high-risk high-reward keystone is
, and is taken generally to punish enemy mistakes in early laning phase. In lower elos, people will not respect Jhin's early game damage, and will freely trade with you when your Fourth shot is active. Additionally, given the popularity of some mage supports such as
Lux ,
Zyra or
Xerath , this rune gains a lot of value if taken. However, there are some cases where this rune will get no value in lane - sometimes your support just cannot do the damage, the enemy support is a sustain enchanter, or you are repeatedly ganked or roamed on by mid. In the event you do not get many stacks in the early/mid-game, Dark Harvest is essentially a dead rune. So pick it wisely, and only take if you have confidence you can snowball the lane from an early stage.
Dark harvest is pretty straightforward, it has strong interactions with the execute in Jhin's kit -
,
Whisper ,
Curtain Call ,
Dancing Grenade etc. The bonus damage from the rune scales from the total souls you have collected, so you must be aggressive to ensure you're getting soul stacks early on (by damaging champions below 50% hp). It does 20-60 bonus damage based on level and + 5 damage per soul. Essentially a 25% bonus AD ratio. With crit and AD stacking, it can add a lot of damage mid-late game (when properly stacked). Unfortunately, the rest of the Domination tree is mediocre for Jhin.
gives decent sustain. It scales with level, and has a 20 second cd. The only valid option in the first row. (in the second row) grants bonus AD from champion take-downs. Its useful for snowballing, and grants a lot of bonus AD at full stacks. The final row should be which is a mediocre scaling rune for healing. It is not a great option for early sustain unless you are getting kills. This rune is also less effective with Area of Effect abilities such as Jhin's
Dancing Grenade . Dark Harvest - Secondary Trees
There are two secondaries you can choose to take when playing Dark Harvest. The first, and probably default, will be Precision.
offers great sustain, and scales off minion kills. It is much safer and a more reliable form of sustain that scales off more than just champion take-downs. should be your other rune for additional mana, but can be taken instead for additional execute damage. The other secondary that can be taken is Sorcery, with
and . is extremely useful for Jhin, as it shores up his major weakness - immobility. It grants 35% bonus movement speed for and 25% bonus movement speed from . Always take this rune from Sorcery. is more bonus AD, and is better with the Dark Harvest tree. Fleet Footwork
In higher elo, you will want to take
. Its the better overall rune for Jhin, and interacts strongly with the movement speed from
Whisper passive. Fleet Footwork is better for laning (it provides additional sustain) and is stronger for team-fighting with the bonus movement speed. This rune makes Jhin's early-laning safer, and allows you to scale better in games where you will not necessarily be snowballing. It also allows you to take Precision tree runes, which are by far the best on Jhin.
and are standard. is preferable, but can be taken if the enemy team has 3 or more tanks/bruisers who build health or a mid-laner that builds health items. Fleet Footwork - Secondary Trees
Again, there are two secondaries that can be taken with Fleet Footwork. The superior option is Sorcery, as it gives you access to
and . Celerity is completely broken on Jhin; it enhances the movement speed on his passive
Whisper , it boosts the movement speed from , it works with the bonus movement speed on passive, it interacts with . It even works during river-walking! This rune opens up a lot of opportunities for kiting and outplaying with Jhin's movement, a mandatory rune! See if they can catch you now!There are some instances, however, where the sustain from Fleet Footwork is not enough for laning. In heavy poke lanes consider taking Inspiration secondary, with
for sustain and bonus mana, and for additional movement speed and instant health. Summoner Spells
"Smiles, everyone, smiles!"
- Standard.
- Also, standard, but can be replaced situation-ally.
- This summoner is very useful when the enemy team's win condition on bot roams is heavy cc (think
Sejuani jungle with
Zyra /
Morgana /
Lux support, or
Amumu Jungle with
Ashe +
Leona bot-lane). Also good into control mages mid. Drawback of Cleanse (and Exhaust for that matter) is that most players will try and burst you down levels 1-2 to punish you for not taking heal. Consider Inspiration secondary in this instance.
- Great into 'counter' picks. I personally believe that Jhin is one of the most solid bot-lane picks to choose blind, but there are some players that will try and counter with
Tristana or
Twitch . Exhaust is also good into
Samira , a
Vayne with good set-up (something like
Thresh ) or
Draven . Also great to take if the enemy team is very engage heavy, and you suspect that you will lack peel against back-line/tower dives. Skill Path
"I shall choreograph this affair."

Jhin

Jhin
Most people choose to go Q-W-Q for better poke and harass early game. However, Q-W-E allows you to control the wave better early game, so it is my default order.
Max
Dancing Grenade first, as it does the most amount of damage.
Deadly Flourish can be maxed afterwards, but is only taken early for the root, and not the damage scaling.
Captive Audience is lowest priority. Take
Curtain Call when it is available at levels 6, 11, and 16.Item Builds
"Rapid fire? Huh. Where's the drama in that?"
Starting Items
Very safe start. Pick if the enemy team has strong engage you'd wish to avoid, or if they have strong poke. Combos very nicely with the Inspiration Secondary build. The down-side of boots start is the missing AD. However, it allows you to recall and buy completed
.
+ is a standard start for all-in comps. Notes on Long Sword Start
I personally start
in every game where I feel start is not necessary (most games). Many Pro players - across every region - are also starting + 3 as opposed to + health pot as ADC. The reasons are as follows:1.
gives 2 more AD, comes with 2 extra pots, and will build into your first item! As Jhin this will be or . , on the other hand, gives 2 less AD, 80 more HP and 2.5% omnivamp but it builds into nothing. It is also sold at a gold loss later in the game. Therefore, buying puts you permanently ahead in gold (vs. the other ADC) by 350 gold! 2. This is important because the Mythic ADC items are one of the most important power spikes in the game currently. In particular,
gives Jhin great escape utility for team fights, and insane kill pressure with execute + Fourth Shot. 3. Being 350 gold ahead towards that Mythic item spike means that, assuming both ADCS are farming equally, you can base before the enemy and return to lane with a massive advantage to snowball off of. It allows you to spike before they do, given equal laning conditions. Furthermore, this lead stays with you the entire game! Even after one item, you are still 350 gold ahead of them for your second, third and fourth item.
4. The extra
form start also allow you to stabilize the lane in the event that you mess up a trade or make other mistakes. They allow you to recover better from jungle ganks too. Also, if you have priority in lane but are taking extra damage shoving the wave, healing up with the extra pots allows you to maintain this lead (and can potentially make you very healthy for a tower dive).5. Consider choosing the
rune when starting . When the enemy team has tanks & bruisers (that build health items) this rune should be taken anyways. If, however, the enemy adc has high base HP when buying , you could be doing anywhere from 5-10% extra damage to them at level 1! For example, Jhin's base HP when starting long-sword is 585. A
Jinx starting has 690 health. The calculation for is [x - 0.1] x 1/9 + 0.05, where x is the additional maximum health that the target has in relation to you. In this scenario, Jinx has 18% more max HP than you -> [0.18 - 0.1] x 1/9 + 0.05 = 0.059 or 5.9% bonus damage.First Back
Regardless of what item you chose to start,
should be your first back. If you've been reading so far, you know that Jhin's entire kit is enabled through bonus movement speed on
Whisper crits. This item makes Jhin very hard to catch, and increases his kill pressure early on. Jhin has enough initial damage to delay an AD buy. A Jhin with and a or two is much more of a threat than a boots-less Jhin with . Generally, try to avoid buying and , but if you back with low gold consider picking them up.Early Items
These items are in order of priority.
gives a lot of AD, and is required for the build-path. is also an important buy early. This item is completely broken - its the most gold efficient item in the game. The lethality passive also gives Jhin great burst early game. With and you have 60 AD (almost as much as given from ) and can basically never lose trades. Damage Items
has been covered, but it is Jhin's main mythic. synergizes
well with the execute in Jhin's kit, and makes your Fourth shots that much more deadly.
Whisper scales very well with AD and crit, so always be looking to buy items that maximize these stats. is very broken on Jhin, even into squishes (who have some armour from growth). can be taken for additional slow utility. is very situational, and can be a gratuitous buy, but it is the only other item with 55 AD. is commonly bought on Jhin, but I personally do not believe it is necessary. The extra energized attack is only effective for one auto, and the lack of AD on this item can make you feel weak mid-game. In high elo you may be punished for skipping this item, but for maximum damage it doesn't quite fit. The attack speed is converted into some AD and a slight increase to movement speed on
Whisper crits, but these ratios are not enough to compensate for the lost AD from other items. Totally your call. Situational Items
is great if the enemy team has a fed AD assassin one-shoting you. is not a great buy for Jhin, and should be avoided at all costs. The stacking passive from this item takes forever to stack given Jhin's fixed attack speed. Only buy this if your teammates refuse to buy anti-heal. is great into champions with point and click cc such as
Malzahar , or if you forgot during champ select. Common ADC Match-ups
"My critics are... usually short-lived."
Lulu diff. In the event that she is paired with a non-enchanter support, Zeri is about as much of a threat to you in lane as a caster minion is. Her early game laning is very underwhelming - you win trades, you out-range her, and her only escape from all-ins,
Spark Surge , is on a long cool-down. She also has a hard time damaging you back;
Ultrashock Laser is blocked by minions. If she has a
Lulu ,
Karma ,
Nami or any other champion that frequently shields, she is a little more dangerous because they active her passive
Living Battery . Furthermore, try to avoid 2v2s and 3v3s when she gets
Lightning Crash , because her burst, kiting, and all-in are much more potent. At three items, Zeri will do more damage than you. She is difficult to stick to due to
Spark Surge ; she can jump walls and easily dodge
Deadly Flourish and
Curtain Call . Frequently warding can help against her flanks. Consider taking into Zeri because she usually builds and , both of which give a lot of HP. Try not to chase Zeri, and always rely on your
Dancing Grenade - - Fourth shot combo to kill her when she gets too close. She will never be able to match your burst.Vayne-lite. In the early levels, Kai'Sa's damage is loaded into her passive
Second Skin and
Icathian Rain . Her trading pattern is relatively simple - auto followed by
Icathian Rain . Try to trade with her after she has used this ability to farm the wave, or at the very least, when you are near the wave. Try not to engage in extended trades with Kai'Sa as she, like Vayne, will win these. As of patch 12.3, most Kai'Sa players are building hybrid AP. Watch out for
Void Seeker as it does considerable damage with AP builds. Once she has two items and upgraded
Icathian Rain , Kai'Sa has very strong burst. She will be looking to get passive procs on you through stun/cc/
Void Seeker , so she can jump on you with
Killer Instinct and use
Icathian Rain . This ability does increased damage to targets who are isolated, so be near teammates during fights! During late-game, you can never 1v1 her. Once all of her abilities are upgraded, she will bully you out of the game if she manages to get on-top of you with
Killer Instinct . However, as long as you are dodging enemy CC and
Void Seeker , you out-range her. Use this to your advantage and Kai'Sa will never win the game. Lastly, consider against Kai'Sa; commonly built items on her are Crown of the Shattered Queen
and , both of which gives her a lot of HP. If she gets ahead, consider buying to counter her AP damage. The better marksman wins. This is a relatively even match-up, but you need to always keep the pressure on him to deny a lead. If you are letting him
Mystic Shot you in the face during lane you will lose. If he is blowing
Arcane Shift too aggressively and getting caught by your
Deadly Flourish then you win. In team fights, if you can pick him off with
Curtain Call then you win. If he catches you with
Trueshot Barrage then you lose. Jhin is stronger in the early game (especially if Ezreal starts or buys on the first back), but Ezreal scales into mid-game much better than Jhin. If you play too passively in lane you will be punished for it later. As of patch 12.3, a lot of Ezreals use as their primary keystone. Its even more crucial than before that you not get poked out by his
Mystic Shot in the early game, as his
Essence Flux -
Arcane Shift -
Mystic Shot combo gives him a lot of gold. Make sure you are always standing behind minions! If he goes in to trade aggressively with this combo, all-in him as he will be vulnerable without
Arcane Shift up. Remember to not push his turret with low HP, as he will use
Trueshot Barrage from the fountain to catch the wave and cheese a kill. Take with as a secondary, start and four , and he will never successfully poke you out of lane. Also consider build if he builds tank items (, , Crown of the Shattered Queen
) so he can't counter your burst. Welcome to the League of Draven! This guy is a clown, seriously. If he's playing aggressively with an engage support, take
and never give him a kill. If he's playing too passively, Jhin inevitably out-scales. Jhin is great into Draven because he can match his early-game damage output. Draven's movement is also super predictable thanks to his
Spinning Axe tosses, which make
Deadly Flourish easy to hit. He'll be vulnerable to ganks from your jungler if he's pushed up too far hitting turret. If he buys and buys life-steal items, get and burst him down in CC. He shouldn't be a problem. Common Support Synergies
"This stage is beneath my talent, but I shall elevate it."
Win-rates are taken from Platinum+
Closing Remarks
"The end is important in all things."
Thank you OnlyGuides for the opportunity to publish this! The formatting tools were a breeze to use and allowed me to make my guide look just the way I wanted it to. There is a bug in my Soraka drop-down that I can't seem to fix though 😭. I hope everyone has as much fun reading the guide as I had writing it. I wish everyone the best of luck with their guides too, and see you on the rift! Maybe I've inspired you to try Jhin 🙂.