In follow up to the video teased earlier this week, League of Legends just announced their latest addition to the champion roster, Jhin, The Virtuoso, a rather… interesting new face on the rift.
In a surprise to pretty much no one given how he was teased, Jhin is an AD carry (…Marksman, sorry!) with an extreme flair for the dramatic. Now, it should be prefaced that at the time of writing, we still don’t know about the character’s back story or voice of Jhin, but already we’re seeing a theme of “Beauty” and “Death”. He’s already seemingly killed 4 champions (Why Sona? Why?!) because they were, in the words of Riot cursed, wicked, misguided and violent, who’s to say what he considers true beauty to be or how far he’ll go to achieve it. All I know is I look forward to finding out as much as I dread the thought of losing more of my favorite champions to his onslaught.
In terms of playstyle, Jhin is actually quite interesting. He’s established to be quite slow, but powerful, pretty much exactly what you’d expect of a sniper (take notes, Caitlyn!). What’s more than that, trying to fix his speed with items is nullified, as his attack speed stat doesn’t actually affect his attack speed. This is interesting seeing as how for the past few seasons, marksman builds have tended to favor an attack speed build. Everyone and their mothers was trying to get as close to that holy grail 2.5 as possible, and yet here’s someone who’s forcing you to wait while he reloads, as well as wait again while he assembles his gun for his ult. It’s going to be interesting to see will people adjust to his sluggish pace or simply jog on ahead with our current selection of gun toting nutjobs. Either way, I doubt it’ll shake things up enough to stop you rushing that infinity edge every game, but still!
Auto attacks aside, there’s also his kit to be considered, and it looks like we’ve just landed the AD version of Xerath in our midst. Jhin seems entirely poke based with his kit (specifically Deadly Flourish and Captive Audience) combo-ing beautifully to give him a skillful escape when his final bullet is fired. Of course, players will have to be more aware of if they’ve fired 4 shots or 3, but if you manage to keep track amongst the chaos of a team fight, you can pretty much guarantee a big payload of damage with minimal casualties, assuming you position correctly. Dancing Grenade seems interesting, sort of like they combined Double Up from Miss Fortune and Tristana’s Explosive shot to make a bouncing explosive that could help you poke and farm from a safe distance. My absolute favourite part of his kit is Curtain Call though. Not only is it what Caitlyn’s ult should be if you’re trying to show off the worlds greatest sniper, the drama of having what is essentially a spotlight on your target when you hit them is just too irresistible given Jhin’s character. I’m hoping to get as many headshots as possible in with that one, only praying my team knows how to peel while I do! 
Finally, lets talk character. As I said, we still don’t know Jhin’s backstory but given the teasers, the fanart, his ability names and even the poses he does in the above picture, I’d say we’re dealing with a tragic actor type. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find out his face was disfigured by plastic surgery or even a theatre fire, Phantom of the Opera style. There has to be an explanation for that mysterious mask he wears, and I for one can’t wait to find out.
Update: Jhin’s voice clips were just released, and yes, we were correct. He’s the most insane director of death I’ve ever heard.
So that’s my interpretation of Jhin, what about you guys? Do you think this champion design is inspired or painfully drab? Let us know in the comments below!
