Right of the bet. Is Jinx a good ADC for beginners? YES she is, when you want to learn the Fundamentals as an ADC. You don't need to be crazily skilled to have fun playing her. Also she gets more efficient when you get better as an ADC or just as a League Player overall. To me this is very rewarding. But a small warning, don't get frustrated if you die a lot as new player, this is normal and has nothing to do with the champion, Jinx actually helps you with avoiding deaths, so just keep playing.
Why you should play Jinx
Fundamentals
If you are new to the game and you really want to learn the fundamentals as an ADC this is a good champion for you. You will learn how to farm properly and when you can trade and when not. Jinx profits from the fact that you can find openings to trade.
For example: When the enemy tries to last-hit his minion use your rockets to hit him once.
She also wants from you to kite properly, that applies to a lot of ADCs, but she makes very easy due to her movement and attack speed.
In Teamfights you want to shoot your rockets and cut off enemies path with
Flame Chompers!
. So positioning and map awareness are rounding this champion up.
You don't have to able to do all these things now, but you will learn them if you keep playing this champ and really want to improve as an ADC.
If you just want to play ADC to try out this role or for fun play
Miss Fortune
. The only thing you need to do is pressing buttons.
Destroyer in the late-game
If you made it to late-game without falling far behind - Congratulations you are free to destroy your enemies now. This is the point where you deal tons of damage and are hard to kill, when you keep your dinstance. This is a lot of fun and feels very good 😁
To me this a great and fun champion and I would recommend playing her.
Abilities
Jinx's Passive
Get Excited!
One thing to keep in mind when you’re playing Jinx and kiting the enemy is to always keep this passive in mind so as soon as you get a takedown you know whether to use that extra movement speed and attack speed to continue chasing the next target
before they escape OR you’ll have to use that boost to escape yourself and kite away from the enemy. If you don’t think about it in advance then you might be too hesitant to make use of the boost once you get the takedown.
Jinx's Q
Switcheroo!
Jinx switches between Pow-Pow, her minigun, and Fishbones, her rocket launcher. The minigun is good for starting a trade or a fight. Try to hit 3 auto attacks before switching to the rocket launcher, because it gives more attack speed for 2.5 seconds per stack, in total 7.5 seconds.
Use your Fishbones-Rocket launcher for poking in lane and for far away enemies. Basic attacks with Fishbones cost mana on-attack to deal 110% AD modified physical damage to the primary target as well as all secondary targets in an area around them. The damage is affected by critical strike modifiers. While using Fishbones, Jinx gains bonus range but loses 10% of her bonus attack speed.
When to use what?
The key to using this ability is understanding which scenarios you want to use pow-pow (the minigun) and fishbones (the rocket launcher). The easiest way to learn is that the
minigun is a very fast auto attacking weapon that focuses on single target damage while the rocket launcher focuses on long range AoE slow auto-attacking. If the enemy is far from you then use the rocket launcher even if you’re low on attack speed or if the enemy is grouped up then that’s the perfect situation to sneak in some AoE attacks.
Minigun should be used if your target is alone and/or in very close range for you. Through experience with Jinx you’ll pick up on this fast so don’t feel too overwhelmed!
Jinx's W
Zap!
The ability shoots pretty slow early so if you want to get the best shot at actually landing it then use it when the enemy is cornered with little room to dodge, slowed, stunned, or you can use it from the fog of war when they’ll least expect it. It also has a faster cast time the more attack speed you have!
Jinx's E
Flame Chompers!
These traps have an offensive and defensive way to use them as well as utility. The offensive is when you slow people down with your W or if a teammate lands a form of CC you’ll drop down your Flame Chompers! And they’ll get rooted than they most likely die. The defensive way is when you’re running away from danger you want to walk into corridors or narrow spots so when you drop Flame Chompers! behind you it’ll block the entire entrance forcing them to use flashes or dashes otherwise you get away easy!
Jinx's R
Super Mega Death Rocket!
The ultimate does maximum damage after being in the air for 1 second because the description of the ultimate can make it sound as if it only does a lot of damage if you shoot it from far far away. This means it’s perfect as a finisher when people get around 33-15% hp in lane if it’s a 2v2. Also if you want a better chance of this landing when the enemy is running or you think they’ll dodge it then quickly hide in the fog of war and use the rocket to catch them by surprise!
Abilities Guide
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Item Builds
Starter Items
Breakdown
Doran's blade is great versus lanes where they just want to all in and have 0 poke. It allows you to have good survivability alongside good damage values.
Long sword paired alongside three
Health Potion
is good versus full poke lanes such as ashe karma, jhin, karma etc... And it is the most picked starting item on Jinx.
First Back
Breakdown
This is a great first back option if you are not losing lane already. The boots provide you with more attack and movement speed and Jinx benefits from both.
Provides more damage and lets you spike harder in the mid-game. Always a good choice.
Two Long Swords plus
Boots
are also a good option for your first base
Mythics
Breakdown
Currently the best option for Jinx, because of the
Galeforce
nerf. With this item, you are able to shred people and deal tons of damage.
The second-best option. You might feel you already have enough damage for the enemy team, but you are too immobile and the enemy has many gap closers to catch you with then Galeforce is the perfect item to save you!
Not a good option and I would try to avoid building this item. If you need survivability build
Galeforce
instead. For more sustain, you can always build
Bloodthirster
.
Legendary Items
2nd Item
3rd Item
Situational
This is the most used attack speed item currently for Jinx. It gives you AD, Attack speed, Crit, and movement speed! Its passive gives you even more movement speed, attack speed, and grants you ghost which means you will ignore unit collision. The best way to look at this is it is the highest damage attack speed item and it's best for single target shredding. My personal favorite
The Hurricane used to be Jinx's #1 attack speed item but has fallen out of favor over the years especially with the item re-work from last year. You generally want to buy it if the enemy has a lot of melee champions who clump up/group up often so you can utilize the passive.
Another good option, if you want to play safe. When you combine it with your max range rocket Switcheroo! you end up with 875 range and that will allow you to poke a target then you recharge it by walking around and doing it again. However, this is the least damaging item to choose from so pick this if you really value range, safety, and poking
In combination with
Legend: Alacrity
this is your must go to second item and then you build one of the three mentioned above. This item provides you the missing survivability in fights and compensates the missing lifesteal from
Legend: Bloodline
This is the final part of the 3 item core build. Infinity Edge packs a punch with its 70 AD and 20% Crit chance but also will grant you 35% bonus critical strike damage since once you complete this you will have a total of 60% Crit Chance and you need at least 60% Crit Chance to activate Infinity Edge's passive! Not much more to say other than BIG DAMAGE!
This is the only armor pen item in the game for a Crit ADC so you will almost always buy this at some point in your game. This is usually bought as your 5th or 6th item if the enemy buys armor that late. Sometimes if the enemy is buying lots of armor very early then you can buy the first part of it “Last Whisper” for the simple armor pen then finish it into Lord Dominik's Regards after Infinity Edge is finished!
This item is designed for one thing and one thing alone and that is healing reduction! The combat stats of this item are very underwhelming so the only times you want to actually buy Mortal Reminder is if no one else on your team is buying some form of anti-heal reduction. ADC is the worst role in the game to buy anti-healing reduction on so, again. Only buy this if absolutely no one else on your team will buy anti-healing.
This item will bring you back to life with 50% HP and 30% mana after 4 seconds. It gives you 40 AD and 40 Armor. This means it's ideal against AD assassins and teams. This should only be bought if no matter what you do the enemy has too many ways to kill you. This should be bought as a 5th or 6th item. Keep in mind this is a last resort item if you're dying a lot to assassins in general then that's a positioning error and buying this item will not only not fix the problem, but set you behind even more because now you lack damage. Also, be sure to buy an early stopwatch beforehand so you're able to make a play with it.
For when you need crit, magic resist, and a way to get yourself out of CC. Also, it gives a nice 50% movement speed buff for 1 second. You won't be able to outplay every CC ability in the game by dodging. Sometimes, it's going to hit you no matter what OR you want to run straight into them and need to remove the CC to kill them fast. Buy Quicksilver Sash first as it'll provide the most utility. You don't have to finish Mercurial Scimitar first if you still need other more important items. You can also keep
Quicksilver Sash
the way it is and upgrade it later .As a side note: You can cancel
Mordekaiser
's Ultimate
Realm of Death
with the
Quicksilver Sash
.
If you end up needing neither Mercurial Scimitar or Guardian Angel then Bloodthirster is the item you want to fill in the slot. It's a high damage item with a whopping 55 AD, 20% Crit, and 20% lifesteal with an overheal shield absorbing up to 50-350 damage (based on level). Since you get this around the late game when you're hitting hard and super often the lifesteal stacks up quickly to make you unkillable even if they do a lot of damage to you; you'll end up healing a lot of it right back through doing basic damage.
Boots
Breakdown
This is the primary choice of boots for Jinx! It gives you 35% attack speed and 45 movement speed. It's great to get this early because not only does it allow you to kite, dodge, and position better but the attack speed will allow you to do more damage and make a difference in getting some kills or not!
It provides 20 Armor and reduces damage from auto attacks by 12% making it the perfect item to build if you're playing against a full AD team or a few AD assassins and you feel they might kill you very easily. Defensive option.
It gives 25 Magic Resistance with 30 Tenacity and it has the same goal as Plated Steelcaps except instead of Full AD Comps or assassins this will be towards Full Magic comps or multiple AP assassins! Defensive option.
Skill Path
Skill Path
Jinx
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Runes
Primary
Secondary
Experimental
Explanation
After the
Conqueror
and lifesteal nerf Jinx only has 1 optimal Keystone
Lethal Tempo
. In addition to that, the Sorcery Tree is the best option for beginners. It grants you more damage in the late game and it kind of forces you to play slower in the laning phase. Jinx is not the best champion in the early game and you should focus on farming and staying alive.
Keystones
Precision Tree
Domination Tree
Sorcery Tree
The best Rune for Jinx after Conquerer nerf. She benefits from the attack and movement speed. This Rune is good in late-game which fits perfect on Jinx
A good second option, because it provides more movement speed and durability in laning phase. But I think the trade-off to more damage is just not worth it.
A solid option for late game, because it gives you survivability. But it is not the best option because you don't know how the game turns out and
Presence of Mind
is the better option in my opinion.
The best option out of this row, because it allows you to trade efficiently and it increases your mana, which allows you to trade more often and it gives you the option for extended trades.
The most picked and solid one. It gives you 9% lifesteal and therefore a lot of durability in laning phase. If you are expecting heavy poke from the enemy, pick this rune.
This is more of an experimental pick and I wouldn't recommend it to beginners, because her movement and attack speed are already hard to handle and this rune makes it even harder. Also, it requires you to build
Bloodthirster
second due to the missing lifesteal.
Add New Item
The only option in this tree, because it gives you sustain in the early game.
After the removal of Ravenous Hunter, it is the best option. It grands you gold for unique kills and lets you hit your power spikes faster.
Another solid option if the enemy has a lot of engage. Then this Rune provides survivability because your cooldowns get reduced and you can use your
Flame Chompers!
and
Zap!
more often.
Provides more damage and mana in laning phase and is the best option in this row.
This rune scales your AP or AD based on your stats. Great Rune for late game and the best option in this row.
Summoner Spells
Main
Situational
It will be mandatory. It is valuable as a tool to make plays, chase
down, kite away, escape, ruin a gank, etc.... + Heal: You should be
taking heal as it'll be great for 2v2s, movement speed for clutch plays
or escaping, as well as being able to save allies..
You’ll be taking heal most of the time as it'll be great for 2v2s,
movement speed for clutch plays or escaping, as well as being able to
save allies..
This is a valuable tool under the right circumstances. It removes all
disables except Suppression or Knockups. It also gives you 65% tenacity
for the next 3 seconds. Cleanse is a hard counter for champions like
Leona, Cassiopeia, Veigar, etc. People are playing Mages more often in
the botlane
This will reduce the target’s damage dealt by 40% and movement speed by
30% for 3 seconds. If you’re playing against a team full of assassins
then this is a great summoner spell to take and use to save yourself
when the laning phase is over which is when assassins become more of a
problem when the map starts to open up!
Laning Phase
So the laning phase for Jinx is pretty straightforward because Jinx is a scaling late game hyper carry which means it's not expected of you to do too much in the laning phase. You kinda just want to chill out, farm and scale so you can start blowing people up and killing everyone! Your general focus for laning should be to at the very least go even in lane and safety scale. You don't need to play overly aggressive and risk getting you or your support killed because if you're playing against a snowballing enemy bot lane and they get a small lead then they will make your life hell on earth.
With that being said, it doesn't mean you HAVE to play safe all the time. Your trading pattern in lane will mostly consist of sneaking in long-range rocket autos with Fishbones, the Rocket Launcher. When the enemy walks up to farm you can quickly switch to your rocket and shoot a few autos then go back to farming safely at a distance and just repeat
this over and over again as you poke them and eventually get them low enough to engage and kill!
Video
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Mid Game + Teamfighting
When the laning phase ends and the mid game begins you'll need to understand a few things to transition into it properly. First off, the lane you want to farm and be safe is now the middle lane since the side lanes (bot/top) will be very long and isolated so you will most likely get killed for farming them alone. The reason this happens is that in the mid-game, when a lot of the towers begin to die and the strong mid and top laners begin to split push. Leaving mid lane and walking around alone, results in a short and quick death.
The next thing to keep in mind is to be paying attention to the map and vision because you'll want to start thinking where the enemy can flank you from so you don't get caught since ADCs are the easiest type of people to murder and dive! You're also encouraged to buy pink wards to get vision for yourself and the team. Objectives are fought for alot
during the mid game too so be sure you're not too far away from your teammates because action can break out at any given moment and you want üto be there to provide backup and assistance!
Generally in teamfights you'll be wanting to maximize the distance between you and the enemy when kiting, but at the same time always being within range to do damage. Play teamfights front to back as Jinx and be sure to place traps to stop the enemy in their tracks so it's even easier for you to mow them all down.
Match-Ups
Breakdown
You both scale very well, but your advantage is in the your longer range. So you try to take advantage of it throughout the whole game and you should come out on top.
Take
Cleanse
to counter her ultimate hard. Avoid getting poked for free from her
Volley
.DPS-wise you outscale her hard and your all-in is way better than hers in 2v2s so you can go for that once you get a few levels and items
Caitlyn's DPS falls off hard if she doesn't have a snowbally early game so as long as you make sure to push waves back and stay even in farm then you'll be on your way to winning and outscaling her very hard.
JUST DONT DIE. DONT DIE. If he gets no kills then the game is over for him and he will tilt off the face of the earth. You will outscale him extremely hard.
Even if you lose CS that is fine as long as you don't let him get kills.
Avoid his poke from
Mystic Shot
and trade aggressively. If he oversteps then engage on him and mow him down. Ezreal's laning phase is extremely weak, weaker than yours!
Play it safe and scale up. Avoid poke and fighting. Once you get a few items if the Jhin isn't snowballed then he will have an extremely hard time keeping
up with your DPS and out DPS'ing you in teamfights!
Poke her heavily with rockets in the laning phase and try to win it. Don't 1v1 or
fight her post-6 if you're isolated. She's easy to all-in if you have help from your team.
Avoid extended trades and all-ing Kalista due to the nature of her Kit. Abuse the
range you have on her, but generally focus on farming safely because if she doesn't snowball she tends to be extremely useless mid-late game. You outscale her hard.
Abuse Kog'Maw when you find the right moments. He's very immobile and easy to catch so let your teammates know you're ready to setup ganks with ease. Poking him and trying to cath him off-guard with
Zap!
and/or
Flame Chompers!
is winning.
Don't let Lucian snowball. Play aggressively with your range advantage via
Switcheroo!
. Keep that distance between you and him and you'll not only find him easy to deal with in lane, but outscale him very fast in the late-game.
Don't play aggressively towards Miss Fortune. Stay healthy and scale up. You will
outscale her big time once the mid game - late game comes by!
Play safe and play towards your range. Make sure to take control of the lane with
level 1. You outscale her extremely hard so farm up and don't let her snowball.
Bully her short range in lane as you win the laning phase hard because of that.
You outscale her technically because of the fact that in teamfights you'll be zoning or killing her very quickly with your range.
You outscale Tristana EXTREMELY hard. Tristana's entire gameplan relies on her
snowballing in lane. If you don't let her snowball then she's as good as dead!
Farm and scaleup. Take short long range pokes and look to engage on him if he's
caught or CC. He's very easy for you to kill if he's locked down, but if he's invis and on the loose you better watch out!
Stay healthy in lane and focus on scaling. Take
Cleanse
to counter his ultimate for the rest of the game. Don't give him early leads and he will become useless.
Play to your strength which is your range. Do not engage until she's poked down. You both are hyper scalers, but Jinx will be able to zone or kill Vayne way easier in a teamfight compared to 1v1 or 2v2's in the laning phase. Avoid duels at all cost.
Use your long range to bully her and beat her in lane. Be constantly aware of the
feathers so she doesn't catch you. You win this lane match-up and also outscale her so be confident!
Keep track of
Wind Wall
's cooldowns as that is the most important ability in his entire kit when he's playing vs ranged champions since it will block all of your auto attacks + abilities.
Do your best to not get poked early. You want to farm up till you can get
Noonquiver
in your first recall since after that you'll have enough damage to permanently push the waves back into
Ziggs
and keep him away from taking your tower!!!
Play the lane from a distance. Focus on poking with
Switcheroo!
, the rocket launcher and constantly abuse the range difference you have on him. Stay healthy and don't underestimate his all-in.
Support Synergies
Recommended
Honorable mentions
Thresh is an overall good support. Just farm and if he finds an engange with
Flay
or
Death Sentence
than you can follow-up
Helps you with getting through lane safely. At Level 6 he provides a good threat due to his Ult
Glacial Fissure
.
Currently one of the best supports. He comes with tankiness and a lot of threat due to his
Dredge Line
and
Depth Charge
.If he lands a hook try to trade, if the enemy is at half HP and he lands it all-in them. When he ults place
Flame Chompers!
below the enemy.
Builds a good synergie because of her Tornado and your
Flame Chompers!
.
A lot of damage with 200 years of cc. Just place your
Flame Chompers!
when her Q
Dark Binding
hits.
Falls into the same category as
Nautilus
. Wait for hook to land and then trade with Rockets as long as they are in Range.
Overall good support, comes with a lot of tankiness and heavy cc. Follow up whenever her E
Zenith Blade
hits.
Great for late-game, but very weak in laning phase, due to the fact that Jinx is a scaling champion. When you made in late game, you are hard to beat with her at your side.
Good for bying annoying to the enemy and dealing damage with her E
Lucent Singularity
. Do short trades with rockets when she lands her
Light Binding
.
Helps with surviving the lane. Just farm and scale and look for teamfights in mid to lade game.
Recommended Video
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Conclusion
If you made it this far congrats! I hope this guide was able to help you out! I had always planned on making a Jinx guide for a while, but it felt overwhelming and I was super busy with all sorts of things. I'm glad I was finally able to find time to work on this project and I'll domy best to try to keep updating the guide.
Flame Chompers!
Miss Fortune
Get Excited!
Switcheroo!
Zap!
Super Mega Death Rocket! 
