Best Jhin build in League of Legends: Runes, Counters, Items and more

This is one of the most effective builds for the Virtuoso.
Image via Riot Games

Jhin, the Virtuoso, is one of the strongest ADCs in League of Legends. The critical damage dealt by Jhin makes him extremely dangerous to his opponents. At full build, the champion can quickly eliminate opponents without problems.

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As with all champions in League, different items will work better for Jhin’s kit than others, and these items will change depending on the situation he finds himself in during the match. There are still core items that will benefit Jhin and help him secure victories.

Best runes for Jhin

Screengrab via Riot Games

Precision

Fleet Footwork: With a critical strike-based champion like Jhin, having Fleet Footwork just further enhances the damage he can deal with just one blow. With this rune attacking and moving will generates energy stacks that will provide bonuses to his next attack once the stacks reach 100. These bonuses include healing (based on level), 30-percent bonus attack damage, and extra movement speed for one second.

Presence of Mind: As an ability-based ADC, Jhin will rapidly use mana. To counter this, taking Presence of Mind will restore 20 percent of your maximum mana after a takedown while increasing your mana pool by 100.

Legend Bloodline: This rune is a fantastic rune for most ADC champions. Taking enemy units, champions, and monster camps will provide legend stacks that, after accumulating enough, will grant bonus life steal to Jhin. This is going to be extremely valuable not only in winning duels but also in remaining in the lane after taking damage.

Coupe de Grace: The final precision rune for Jhin, Coupe de Grace, will help the champion secure kills, granting him eight percent more damage to enemies below 40 percent health.

Sorcery

Celerity: Jhin is rewarded with a boost of movement speed each time he gets a critical strike on an enemy. Bringing Celerity, a rune in the Sorcery tree, makes this and all movement speed bonuses on Jhin seven percent more effective. It also grants Jhin an extra one percent to his base movement speed to ensure he can hunt his targets effectively.

Gathering Storm: The Virtuoso deals large amounts of damage as soon as he steps into lane, but this can be hindered by how quickly enemies can retaliate before him. Bringing Gathering Storm provides Jhin with bonus AD as the game continues to empower his already-powerful attacks to make quick work of those attempting to bring him down. The AD bonuses will be most notable when players reach the late game, where Jhin thrives.

Bonuses: +9 adaptive force, +9 adaptive force, +6 armor

What champions counter Jhin?

Outside of a small burst of movement speed associated with landing critical strikes on enemies, Jhin is rather immobile early and suffers immensely if his summoner spells are not ready to be used. Champions like Leona, Nautlius, Pyke, and Blitzcrank, each with various crowd control methods that can lock Jhin in place, make it difficult for the Virtuoso to lane effectively.

Similarly, non-traditional ADCs like Veigar, Swain, and Seraphine often force Jhin to position himself in odd ways around waves of minions, making players miss what could be valuable gold income to change the scope of the matchup. Jhin’s fixed attack speed also makes him vulnerable to onslaughts of damage from ADCs like Sivir and Tristana, who can free-fire on the Virtuoso with relative ease.

Therefore players should consider pairing Jhin with a support that can either mitigate these all-ins or equally scare the opposing laner, such as with the very supports Jhin struggles against. Enchanters like Janna and Renata Glasc can also keep Jhin alive in important situations, though support players should be aware that items that grant Jhin additional attack speed will not be as effective as they would be on another ADC.

Best starting items for Jhin

Screengrab via Riot Games

Doran’s Blade/Boots: Jhin’s popularity in the bot lane since his release has centered around his ability to deal massive nearly-unparalleled damage to enemies at early levels. Yet what modern Jhin players notice is that, because of this innate damage, sometimes a standard Doran’s Blade start isn’t always the preferred option. Instead, casual and professional Jhin players are building Boots as their first item to take advantage of Jhin’s passive, letting him go in and out of fights with relative ease should they land a critical strike. However, this strategy does take away from some of Jhins early damage and lifesteal capability, so players should weigh their options depending on the matchup.

Health Potions: Depending on your starting item, Jhin can bring one or four health potions immediately to lane. Though he gains some healing through activating Fleet Footwork, having these extra potions is key to staying in lane as much as possible—especially if you start Boots.

Stealth Ward: ADC players typically work with their supports to determine where to use their wards, oftentimes keeping an eye on brush in and around the river to watch for the enemy jungler. Since Jhin has no dashes or movement abilities in his kit outside of summoner spells, this important item will help to protect himself from incoming danger.

Best core items for Jhin 

Screengrab via Riot Games

Galeforce: This Mythic item breathed new life into many champions in the bot lane. With newer ADCs having access to dashes and jumps in their kits, champions like Jhin had fallen out of place without the help of specific support pairings. Luckily, Galeforce was released, giving champions access to a small dash (that also damages opponents) that gives mobility to those that may have relied entirely on Flash, Ghost, or Heal. The item also grants Jhin a lot of crit chance, which will synergize with the items he builds later.

Rapid Firecannon/The Collector: ADCs with additional effects tied to their basic attacks enjoy the range, movement speed, and attack speed that Rapid Firecannon provides. For Jhin, since he already has a decent amount of damage with just Galeforce, players can opt to build this item second and outrange nearly every other ADC in the game. However, it can be built third in place of The Collector, which gives a large amount of flat AD and can execute champions under a certain threshold. These items are central to ensuring Jhin can scale even more into the late game.

Boots of Swiftness: Jhin thrives with movement speed, as seen already with the importance of his passive. Boots of Swiftness give the Virtuoso the most movement speed that boots can provide and reduce the effectiveness of slows that impact him. This way, players can get one step closer to fulfilling the fantasy of Jhin racing around the Rift with ease.

Best late-game items for Jhin

Screengrab via Riot Games

Infinity Edge: Having Galeforce, Rapid Firecannon, and The Collector brings Jhin’s total crit chance to 60 percent. Reaching this number activates Infinity Edge’s passive, greatly increasing the damage he does with critical strikes. It also brings his crit chance to 80 percent, meaning all of his autos have a high chance of landing a critical strike, though do not have the extra damage that his fourth shot will always have.

Lord Dominik’s Regards: Like most ADCs, Jhin struggles to deal with tanks that actively try to negate the damage he does to enemies. Combined with Jhin’s low attack speed and reload mechanic, there is very little he can do when a tanky enemy is in his face but run away. Fortunately, a powerful item known as Lord Dominik’s Regards helps to pierce through the armor of these enemies and give Jhin a way to fight back. Players may want to build this item’s component, Last Whisper, at an earlier point of the game if they encounter issues with tanky enemies, as it provides similar yet lesser effects.


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