Worldwalker Impressions: Jhin

Worldwalker LoR Spoilers Day 2: Jhin

Hey everyone, Kuvira here for another awesome reveal season called Worldwalker.

The first revealed champion in this set is none other than Jhin the virtuoso! And he comes with a completely new mechanic, “Runeterra Champions”.

Runeterra champions completely alter the way you build decks. Adding one to your deck counts as one of your 2 regions and comes with specific deck-building rules and effects outlined in a new keyword, Origin.

These unique champions have a ton of unique potential for deckbuilding and rulebreaking that were never possible before.

Jhin

Now, let’s take a look at the showman himself, Jhin. Jhin is the first Runeterran champion we’ve seen so far and has the Origin: “The Virtuoso”. This Origin allows Jhin to put cards with skills from all other regions in his deck, but it also comes with additional effects.

For every 3 fast spells, slow spells, and skills you play while you Behold Jhin, play Lotus Trap. Lotus Trap is a skill that deals 1 to the enemy Nexus and, if you have Jhin in play, stuns the weakest enemy.

Using Jhin’s attack skill (Deadly Flourish) as the third skill for activating Lotus Traps deals 2 damage to the weakest enemy on attack in addition to stunning it, allowing Jhin to be more consistent removal if you time your skills right and giving him a higher skillcap than it might seem at first glance.

Looking at the pool of cards he gives you access to and the speed Jhin wants to play, stunning enemies to push more damage on attacks and dealing direct nexus damage, having a strong set of cheaper, early game followers with skills to begin activating Lotus traps and push early damage has potential to be the best way to play Jhin.

Some of the best existing followers with skills for Jhin include Crackshot Corsair, Solari Sunhawk, Arachnoid Sentry, Tusk Speaker, Doombeast, and Imperial Demolitionist. Jhin is best paired with regions that enable tempo oriented gameplans and can help him end games with over the top burn.

Using the early game discard package from Piltover and Zaun with Chompers and Boom Baboon to pull away blockers, ending games with Mystic Shots and Get Excited! seems like a really good option. Also, Bilgewater’s pings and early game using the Plunder package combined with Jhin’s Lotus Traps seems like a recipe for success, enabling Plunder and ending games with GP or The Dreadway.

Compared to Yasuo for example, Jhin levels up in the deck which offers a lot more deckbuilding flexibility since you don’t need to keep him alive on the board. On top of that Jhin’s cards work even when he’s not on the board compared to Yasuo decks where you need him to be on the board for his cards to actually impact the game.

Jhin’s level 2 attack effect deals 4 instead of 2 to all stunned enemy units AND the enemy nexus which makes him a great tool to finish the game.

Dancing Grenade

Dancing Grenade is a two part combo slow speed spell that has a powerful effect on the next turn you play it.

Jhin’s champion spell seems fairly weak, 4 mana slow deal 1 to unit is really underwhelming, You do however get the second bounce on next round start that is a 0 mana slow speed deal 4 to a unit.

It does payback for the tempo loss on the first turn you’re playing it but being forced to play Second Bounce because it’s fleeting can be quite intricate and easy to avoid for the opponent.

Dancing Grenade + Stress Testing is a really cute combo that can allow you to remove fleeting from the Second Bounce 0 mana deal 4 to a unit and keep it in your hand. This can be a pain for the opponent to play around and can even be copied with cards like counterfeit copies.

We don’t know yet if champion spells from Runeterra Champions can be main decked without their champion so that still needs to be confirmed.

Gruesome Theatre

Gruesome Theatre is a really cool card, it’s a 2 mana fast speed Ionia spell that recalls a unit that has 3 or less health from yours or your opponent’s board. This is comparable to quicken in Bandle City that has the same effect but for 3 or less attack units.

This works really well with Ionia’s recall flavour and can be used to protect an allied unit or recall an enemy unit to slow down the enemy’s aggression.

I can see Gruesome Theatre fit in archetypes like Kennen/Ahri where you benefit from the recall and the flexibility of slowing down aggro decks.

However, I don’t think that Gruesome Theatre will fit in any type of Jhin decks. It doesn’t synergize with him in any way apart from being a fast speed spell that counts for his level up.

Even if this card helps Yasuo level up in Yasuo/Jhin midrange archetypes, I don’t think it’ll see play. Stunning an enemy is an effect that is way more valuable in this type of deck.

Feel free to DM me on Twitter if you have any questions or just want to talk about LoR stuff!