Anyone who has played 'League of Legends' knows that whenever a new champion is reveiled, gamers start analyzing how effective the new character will be. We'll be reviewing here some of the challenges gamers will face both using and facing Jhin, the Virtuoso.
Let's start off with a quick look at Jhin's abilities. His passive, Whisper, is truly unique to League. Jhin's weapon has four shots, the last of which always crits and does additional damage based on the target's missing health. After the fourth shot, Jhin reloads and is unable to attack for a short time (a couple of seconds). A key thing to keep in mind with Jhin is that his abilities are wonky. "Jhin's crits deal less damage than normal, and his attack speed doesn't actually scale with attack speed. Instead, Jhin gains attack damage from any attack speed and crit chance he earns through itemization and runes, while crits give him a burst of movement based on his attack speed."
Jhin's Q is Dancing Grenade. Jhin throws a grenade that bounces up to four times from target to target, and if it kills a target, the following bounces (if any are left) deal additional damage. The release does not specify if the damage increases if each bounce kills a target.
The W ability is Deadly Flourish, and no doubt will be one of the most dangerous of Jhin's abilities with both a passive and active component. Enemies hit by Jihn's basic attacks, allied damage (of any sort) or Jhin's E (Captive Audience) will be marked by the passive. The when Deadly Flourish is activated, Jhin fires a long-range shot that damages enemies it passes through, stopping on a champion hit. If the champion is marked, they are rooted for a short time.
Captive Audience, Jhin's E, is a trap that turns invisible after arming. Enemies passing over it are slowed, marked with Deadly Flourish, and will take damage if they don't get out of the slow zone when it explodes.
Jhin's Ultimate isn't too special, but will be a pain. According to the official League of Legends site, "Jhin fully assembles his weapon before taking aim in a target direction, revealing all marked targets in a huge area. He can then fire four rounds that stop at the first enemy champion struck, slowing them and dealing damage based on their missing health. Jhin's fourth and final shot with Curtain Call deals massively increased damage and is guaranteed to crit."
Kotaku describes the new champ rather accurately as "Jhin is not an aggressive marksman, with few opportunities to harass, but will suit players with the ability to think ahead."
While the fourth shot auto-crit does sound like a perfect harassment opportunity, don't forget, last hitting minions is the focus of the early game lane phase, and during Jhin's reload time, it's likely that one or two minions will be lost if the player isn't careful. On the other hand, if Jhin's support is someone like Leona or Morgana, they'll be able to make excellent use of Deadly Flourish's ability to root, potentially trapping an enemy for several seconds in sequence.
Jhin uses mana, so continuous use of Dancing Grenade will be limited, but it might help last hit a minion when you are reloading. It isn't clear if Jhin will be able to use abilities while reloading or not.
Jhin looks to be an interesting champion, though only time will tell if he is too potent. The Dancing Flourish sounds like a powered-up version of Jinx's Zap! with the potential to be even more dangerous. His ult also looks a lot like a somewhat better version of Caitlyn's, albeit as a four-shot skill-shot instead. In fact, Jhin has a lot in common with Caitlyn, and will likely replace her as the quintessential sniper in LoL.
His weaknesses come from a lack of attack speed and low crit damage. While he may be a bit more consistent in his damage output, building crit chance may not work out effectively for him. He also may have too little mobility, even with the crit bonus, for players to effectively position him for best effect. No doubt the laning phase will be a beautiful thing for Jhin, but mid and late game may find him struggling to contribute more than roots and slows to a team fight.
So what do you think about Jhin, the Virtuoso? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below!
