Jhin
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Excellent (9/10)
Low Investment
Rare Relics OK
Jhin is widely regarded as an S-tier champion with a highly effective, albeit sometimes repetitive, playstyle. He excels at board control and burst damage, performing exceptionally well even at low star levels.
Cease and Desist OTK
Provides a free attack and stun when Jhin reaches 10 power, enabling massive burst damage.
Fills the stack with skills, rapidly leveling Jhin and boosting his stats.
Offers a reliable Plunder trigger, +1/+1 stats, and additional stuns to synergize with Jhin's kit.
Strategy
This build is optimized for 6-star Jhin to achieve Turn 1 or Turn 2 One-Turn Kills. Deck of Destiny provides a consistent Plunder trigger and the necessary stats to help Jhin reach the 10-power threshold for Cease and Desist. Riptide Battery generates a massive number of skills, clearing the board and buffing Jhin. The combination of free attacks, stuns, and quadruple damage from his 6-star power makes this setup incredibly lethal.
Classic Gatebreaker Barrage
Strikes the Nexus on play, activating Plunder for Riptide Battery.- Fires Cannon Barrages equal to Jhin's cost, filling the stack with skills.
- A second copy maximizes the number of skills generated on play.
Strategy
This is Jhin's most iconic and accessible build, relying entirely on Rare relics. The strategy is straightforward: play Jhin. The Curator's Gatebreaker strikes the enemy Nexus, triggering Plunder. This activates both Riptide Batteries, filling the spell stack with Cannon Barrages. This sequence instantly levels Jhin, clears the enemy board, and deals massive direct damage. It is crucial to place Gatebreaker in the top relic slot so it resolves before the Riptide Batteries.
Jhinfinite Control
Doubles all spells played once you reach 6 mana gems.
Creates a copy of Jhin, allowing multiple champions on the board.
Revives Jhin if he is slain, ensuring the combo pieces remain in play.
Strategy
This control-oriented build focuses on creating an infinite loop of spells. The goal is to stall the game until you reach 6 mana gems and have at least two copies of Jhin on the board (facilitated by Frozen Tomb and Guardian Angel). Once Chemtech Duplicator is active, playing a single 0-cost Captive Audience will generate enough duplicated skills to continuously refund Captive Audiences. This allows you to permanently stun the enemy board and slowly burn down their Nexus.
Other Relic Options
Jhin's signature relic is widely considered a trap. It only buffs skills (not spells), and the conditional damage is often unnecessary or anti-synergistic if the stunned unit dies before the skill resolves.
An excellent alternative to a second Riptide Battery. It provides Overwhelm, which synergizes perfectly with his 6-star power, allowing excess quadruple damage to strike the Nexus.
A solid option for boosting the damage of all his skills and generated spells, especially in builds lacking Epic relics.
Useful in 'Jhinfinite' builds to ensure you have the spell mana required to initiate and sustain your combos.
Constellation
Jhin is an exceptionally strong champion who performs at a high level even at 3 stars. His constellation upgrades primarily serve to accelerate his win condition and provide consistency against Nightmare-level threats, rather than fundamentally changing his playstyle.
Beauty in Death
For every 4th Fast spell, Slow spell, or Skill you play, create a Captive Audience in hand.
Setting the Stage
+1 Starting Mana. When an ally plays a skill, grant them +1|+1.
Beauty in Death II
For every 4th Fast spell, Slow spell, or Skill you play, create a 0 cost Captive Audience in hand.
Explosive Finale
When an enemy dies outside of combat, deal 4 Damage to the enemy Nexus.Review
Explosive Finale is a massive power spike. It provides excellent board clear and direct Nexus damage, significantly speeding up encounters and synergizing perfectly with his skill-heavy game plan.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
The extra starting mana is crucial for consistency. It allows Jhin to be played on Turn 2, which is vital for establishing early tempo and surviving aggressive encounters, particularly those with discard mechanics like the Twisted Fate adventure.
Death in 4 Acts
Your Skills and Spells deal 2 extra damage. Stunned enemies take quadruple damage.Review
Perfection enables quadruple damage against stunned enemies. This turns Jhin into a devastating finisher, capable of one-shotting the enemy Nexus when combined with Overwhelm or free attacks from relics like Cease and Desist.
Gameplay Tips
- Relic Equip Order
When using The Curator's Gatebreaker and Riptide Battery, always equip Gatebreaker in a higher slot. This ensures the Nexus strike resolves first, activating Plunder for Riptide Battery.
- Beware of Plunder Bugs
Be cautious when selecting adventure powers that grant Plunder (such as the Jagged Butcher's power). These can interfere with the Gatebreaker and Riptide Battery interaction, preventing your Cannon Barrages from firing.
- Vex Anti-Synergy
Avoid pairing Jhin with Vex as a support champion if you have his 6-star power. Vex's 'Psychological Warfare' power replaces damage with Gloom, completely nullifying Jhin's quadruple damage multiplier against stunned units.
- The Stack Limit
Legends of Runeterra has a hard limit of 9 spells or skills on the stack at one time. Running more than two Riptide Batteries is inefficient, as any excess skills generated will simply be obliterated.
- Drafting Strategy
Jhin's origin restricts his deckbuilding to cards with skills. Prioritize drafting cheap Fast or Slow spells, as well as units with skills, to consistently trigger his Lotus Traps. Avoid Burst and Focus speed spells, as they do not advance his origin counter.