League of Legends Champion Profile: Jinx, the Loose Cannon
Ability Description
"Passive – Get Excited! Whenever an enemy champion, turret or inhibitor dies within 3 seconds of being damaged by Jinx, she gains bonus movement speed which decays over 6 seconds. Additionally, she gains bonus attack speed and removes the attack speed cap for the same duration."
This is the tool that separates Jinx from similar AD Carries. While the likes of Kog’Maw and Tristana may share Jinx’s massive basic attack range, they don’t have the ability to close gaps on the back of a single takedown. Losing a member in a teamfight against Jinx could spell disaster for your team as she’ll instantly chase down carries and blow them up in an instant.
While it’s a very situational passive, and may only be utilised a few times per game, Get Excited! is extremely valuable for Jinx to manoeuvre within a teamfight or escape upon picking up a kill. The bonus movement speed is vital to dodging key enemy skillshots or crowd control, and the bonus attack speed will see her DPS skyrocket.
"Q – Switcheroo! POW-POW – PASSIVE: Jinx’s basic attacks make her Rev’d up for 2.5 seconds, granting bonus attack speed, stacking up to 3 times. FISHBONES – TOGGLE: Jinx loses 25% of her bonus attack speed and her basic attacks cost mana. They gain bonus range, deal bonus physical damage, and hit all enemies near the main target. The bonus damage from Fishbones can critically strike for bonus physical damage."
Switcheroo! is the key to Jinx’s kit, providing attack speed in close-quarters exchanges, as well as range when chasing down enemy targets or taking over teamfights.
In lane, Fishbones allows Jinx to win trades against low range opponents while remaining in safe distance from enemy supports. Pow-Pow, on the other hand, is just her standard auto-attacks for farming and fighting with bonus attack speed.
Later in the game, Jinx should basically always have Fishbones toggled, sneaking out the odd auto-attack against enemy champions and using the splash damage in teamfights. That being said, when faced with a tank or assassin trying to close her down, kiting with Pow-Pow is almost definitely the better option.
"W – Zap! After 0.6 − 0.4 (based on bonus attack speed) seconds, Jinx fires a shock blast that deals physical damage to the first enemy it hits, revealing and slowing them for 2 seconds."
Not only can Jinx close gaps with her Passive – Get Excited!, but she can also use her W – Zap! to slow enemies and chase them down. It’s an ability that can be used in all stages of the game and can often be the reason a fight breaks out in the late game, as Jinx catches out a mispositioned enemy champion.
"E – Flame Chompers! Jinx tosses out 3 Chompers that arm after 0.7 seconds and explode after 5 seconds, dealing magic damage over 1.5 seconds to all enemies within a small area. Chompers prematurely explode on enemy champion contact, knocking down and rooting them for the same duration. A champion can set off only a single Chomper and be damaged by one."
You could argue that without her E – Flame Chompers! Jinx would be a useless champion. Due to her lack of escapes, she’s extremely vulnerable to enemy assassins or long range crowd control, however a well placed E will halt any sort of engage in its tracks.
Flame Chompers basically create an area of terrain that enemy assassins/bruisers/tanks need to avoid in order to reach Jinx. Imagine the likes of Irelia or Renekton trying to dash to Jinx in a late game teamfight, but she places her E between herself and the enemy champion – their advances are instantly stopped, and Jinx remains safe, able to pump out damage for the rest of the teamfight.
"R – Super Mega Death Rocket! Jinx fires a rocket in the target direction that explodes upon enemy champion contact, dealing physical damage to them and 80% of the amount to nearby enemies. The rocket deals 10% − 100% (based on distance travelled) of its damage based on distance travelled, though the missing health component is unaffected."
Jinx’s ultimate ability is one of the few global ults in the game accompanied by only Ashe and Ezreal in the ADC role. Super Mega Death Rocket! is best utilised when the enemy is at least one screen away from Jinx, in fact, the damage hits its maximum point when it reaches the max range of her W – Zap!
Therefore, unless you’re looking for the highlight cross-map execute play, Jinx’s ult is ideal for finishing off low health enemies after a 2v2 fight in the bottom lane. In teamfights, the splash damage on the ultimate could make a huge difference, and Jinx would be best served firing into a large group of enemy champions to chunk them out mid-fight.
Types of Scaling
Passive – None.
Q – Attack Damage and Attack Speed.
W – Attack Damage and Attack Speed.
E – Ability Power.
R – Attack Damage.
Crowd Control
Slow on W – Zap!
Root on E – Flame Chompers!