So I got my grubby little hands on Jinx — the newest champion that Riot revealed — via the League of Legends public test realm, and my first impression is "wow." Jinx has a unique style, especially for a marksman. 95 percent of the time I play AP mid, as I find the marksman position to have the least amount of diversity in it. That said, while playing Jinx, I had a lot more fun than I usually have in the bot lane.
First off, the Loose Cannon is absolutely batsh*t crazy. Her jokes, taunts, laugh, ventriloquist act with a rocket launcher, and my personal favorite — when she sings the Vi theme song with altered lyrics – show her true inner madness. I don’t think I’ve been this entertained with a champion's voice acting since Lulu’s release. Instead of things tasting purple, they now taste like bullets.
Here’s the thing, Jinx really likes guns. She loves them so much that she named her rocket launcher Fishbones and her minigun Pow-Pow. On top of that, she wants even MORE guns! Riot has done an exquisite job in making her personality show though her skill set. Her Q, Switcheroo!, switches between her two named guns, offering different effects for each. If you need slow AoE damage that drains your mana, pull out Fishbones. If you need fast auto attacks, whip out Pow-Pow. This feature uses a toggle to switch between the two.
I am a huge fan of her W, Zap! This ability is a ridiculously long skill shot nuke that will slow your opponent. If you are trading with an opponent, land this, then follow up with auto attacks and you will out-harass most foes. Zap! is great for chasing down opponents and securing kills. If you land a close Zap! and then throw your E, Flame Chompers!, for the easy stun, while auto attacking the entire time, you're going to pick up an easy kill. Her passive, Get Excited!, is triggered whenever she gets an assist, kill, or destroys a tower. This makes Jinx stupid fast and in lane she can get easy double-kills with it, reposition herself in team fights, and hunt jerks down for ganks.
The moral of the story is that her kit synergizes ridiculously well. Full combos will keep her foes slowed (and dead) while keeping her movement incredibly fast. Her Q makes last hitting easy. When not threatened, her minigun is fast with decent range. If she's being harassed, the rockets are slow but do splash damage on every hit — similar to last hitting with Tristana. The combination of these aspects should give Jinx a ton of gold and an early lead.
Last but not least is her ultimate — Super Mega Death Rocket! The name, well, says it all. She fires a Super Mega Death Rocket similar to Ashe's or Ezreal's ults. This bad boy is a global skill shot that does AoE damage to the first champion it hits; it does more damage the further it travels, making the impact that much sweeter. I found myself using it to finish off fleeing enemies that disengage with little health left. It gets the job done.
Jinx is pretty rad. It’s early for her public test realm existence, so it’s a safe bet to say she’ll be changed before her final release. As with any League of Legends champion, she’s flashy at first, so we need to see her settle and get balanced. I strongly recommend trying her out now. She should be a day-one purchase for any marksman player.
Be a loose cannon.
Historian, teacher, writer, gamer, cheat master, and tech guru: follow on Twitter @AndrewC_GZ
