Hello fellow ADCs!

Even though Jinx is among the most played marksmen champion and surely needs no introduction, I decided to write this little guide here for two reasons.

1.) Jinx is a champion that is picked by non ADC players, when they play ADC as their second role in Solo Q, because their main role is filled with somebody else. For those occasional, once in 30 games Jinx players, my information could be useful.

2.) I played enough games against Jinx players, who cleary were not mains and made some easy mistakes that cost them the games. No, I am not talking about the usual Low Elo problems like bad CS or bad damage trades. I am talking about a misconception of Jinx' champion and game design.

So, without further ado, some tips:

Main Runes:

The standard rune is always Lethal Tempo. Your gameplan builds around the concept of getting to minute 35 and having Yun Tal/ The Collector+Infinity Edge+Lord Dominik's Regards. Then you can take over and hyper carry the game. But please keep in mind that most games are decided way earlier with the 3 Voidgrubs, 2 or 3 dragons and who gets Atakhan. This leads to the question: Is it worth it to build the expensive and late scaling Jinx every single game, because that is the meta build you will find everywhere online? Answer: Only do this in games, where you face tough champions like Sion, Cho'Gath, Pantheon, Sett, Tahm Kench etc. who can ignore items like The Collector or Youmuu'S Ghostblade and use their 5000HP bars to be immortal. In those games you will need the classic Lethal Tempo hyper carry to kill a champion with a small sample of 30 auto attacks and 4 ultimates from your team.

If you only face 1 tank or maybe 0 tanks, you should try something different. Use Press the Attack+Cut Down and build Essence Reaver+The Collector+Phantom Dancer as fast as possible. Most players think of Jinx as a non champion in Laning Phase or Early Midgame, because she is slow and lacks her 3 or 4 item power spike. But with Press The Attack and Essence Reaver you can spam those rockets in short trades and make tons of damage. Most players will not expect this damage. Same is true with PTA Zeri and W max first, or Caitlyn/ Smolder with PTA and an early Infinity Edge. In some games, you can surprise teams with this pre minute 20 big damage.

If you are unsure, look at draft: Would you rather play Ezreal or Vayne, looking at the enemy draft? If you think of Vayne use the Lethal Tempo and Yun Tal meta build. If you think of Ezreal, you can try Press the Attack with Essence Reaver perma rocket spam and The Collector+Phantom Dancer to execute the enemy fast.

Secondary Runes:

Standard video game runes for long games: Absolute Focus+ Gathering Storm. Just make sure to get some cheese recalls to buy Refillable Potion. Or maybe use Vampiric Scepter to heal back up and stay in lane longer to farm more CS.

Standard runes for a game that feels more like competitive sport and will be done in 30 min: Magical Footwear+Biscuits. If all 10 players are good at the game, the game will be fast and little details are everything. Getting free boots means, you can safe the 300 gold for a more important item. For example B.F. Sword. But only do this, if you look at the draft and you see champions like Gwen, Viego, Olaf, Miss Fortune etc. who will make sure that there will be no 40+min slow game.

Tips for Laning Phase:

- do not spam the W, safe your mana
- do not spam the Rockets, safe mana (only exception is when you play vs full squishy team and you use Press The Attack+ Essence Reaver for short trades)
- try to slow push the first waves until you are at least Level 4; or - do not attack the minions, just wait for your last hits
- make sure the wave is in the neutral zone in the middle of the lane, or slighty positioned toward your own turret
-spam rockets if the wave is near your turret to prevent early turret damage vs Lane Bully champs and their mage supports (for example Miss Fortune+ Mel)
- spam rockets to hard push waves during the 30 seconds before the dragon spawns, this way your Jungler gets prio in bot lane, your support may place some wards, and, in addition, sometimes you can do a cheese recall to get an important item just in time before dragons. Although this rule is true for all ADCs, keep in mind, that Jinx is immobile and has no dashes or Ezreal W or Xayah/ Kalista E to outplay with mechanics. All you can do is stat check with damage items, after you slowed the enemy with your W
- just like Aphelios, Zeri, Sivir, Twitch - Jinx is a hyper carry that wants to enjoy a calm and farming pre Level 6 lane, just play safe, no high risk trades, because you will lose hp and mana
- if you play Press The Attack vs no tank teams, then you can trade like crazy even pre Level 6 (also works with PTA Sivir, Xayah, who can be monsters in the first 20 min of the game with this strategy)
- use quick cast and then the symbol of your mouse cursor to place the mouse slightly behind enemy champions - just like Ezreal Q - to hit Jinx W more consistently. But only if you want to slow or poke somebody. Otherwise safe your mana bar.

Tips for Mid Game:

- try and get to Runaan's or Phantom Dancer or maybe even Wit's End, if there are lot of mages or AP builds in the game. This way you can fast push waves and help your Jungler and Support with prio to enter the enemy jungle more safely
- use camera shortcuts like: Y toplaner pov, X Jungler pov, C Midlaner pov etc. you want to know where everybody is, what they are trying to do, and what their HP bars look like. This information will help a lot with your pathing decisions when you are in base and ready to re-enter the map
- always watch the dragon timers, and be around midlane or push botlane, so that you can move to the dragons team fight always on time
- when walking from bot lane to midlane always go through jungle and place a vision ward on your way. This way you do not get killed by an enemy Assassin and your team has vision for safe retreat pathing options after the dragon fight
- never walk through the river alone as ADC. Only do this if you have Aphelios Crescendum, Samira Ult, Zeri Ult etc. ready to actually fight the enemy Jungler in a 1 v 1
- keep in mind, that Jinx has a second win condition beside the well known "gets exited" and kills everyone: Take down turrets with your mini gun!
- if you start a game 0/5 take down turrets and dragons until you are back in the game
- if you start the game 5/0 make sure to be in every random fight around midlane or in river, and actually snowball the game, then take down turrets after team fights are won (this is the standard play for most ADCs, but since Jinx is so fast with Turrets and needs to scale with more items, this becomes a secondary strategy.
- when in midlane: place a ward in the left or in the right brush, then stay near that side of the midlane to avoid surprise ganks; look at the mini map to see where your jungler and toplaner are. It will help to place wards on their side of the map. You also build up safe retreat areas for them this way, or can easily move towards them and help in a skirmish fight
- push mid waves with your rocket and look at the mini map, while you are shooting your rockets. Sometimes you can roame to bot or top wave and help create a winning fight out of the blue. But stay in mid if you have no vision and have some doubts. Better safe than grey screen and giving gold and tempo to the other team

Tips for Late game:

- push bot wave 30 seconds before dragon
- push top wave 30 seconds before Baron Nashor (unless Top/ Mid are already doing this, then push mid waves)
- never be alone, always prefer a spot on the map, where your Support, Jungler, Toplaner etc. are nearby and could easily move toward you. Or you could run to your team mates and play bait for the enemy
- when in doubt stay in midlane, even if you loose some CS; you have no teleport and Jinx also has no fancy dash, so moving towards dragons or baron is way easier when you are in the middle of the map; a toplaner for example can fix his terrible position and HP bar, with a quick recall+Teleport back into action. As Jinx, you do not have that luxury. You must have 80% hp and be at the team fight, when it starts
- never split push in late game as ADC. The one exception is: You have baron power play and your team just killed the enemy Jungler or champions with Teleport. Maybe you were on the other side of the map for whatever reason - most likely, they all teleported or dashed around - so it is more effecitve for Jinx to aggro push the other lanes and ping the turret you want to take down
- stay behind your frontline or strong Jungler, to deal damage, while the enemy can not get near you
- in a pure chaos game with not frontline buy Plated Steelcaps and maybe even Thornmail and an early Bloodthirster. Once the enemy Jungler or Toplaner wants to catch you, just slow them with W, then flash to a random position, and start attacking with the mini gun (not the rockets, because they are too slow for a 1 v 1 duel). The steelcaps reduce the enemy damage and your Thornmail deals some extra damage while they are confused which direction you flashed. A high attack speed item like Wit's End or Phantom Dancer also helps with your mini gun in those narrow fights. If done correctly, you can outplay champions like Master Yi, Nocturne, Ambessa, who are so used to instant kill ADCs that they actually make mechanical missplays, when you flash around them and counter attack

Tips for the Super Mega Death Rocket Ultimate:

- there are two ways:
1. Super obvious in your face. Like, walking to Baron pit. 5 enemy champions are in it. Press R. Your team can clean up. Only works against players, who underestimate Jinx for some reason or forget that the R is up. This method also works in skirmish fights in the river. Free vision, you can use the clear border lines between river and jungle as orientation. Then shoot the rocket to win that small 2 v 2 or 3 v 2 fight. The rocket will be so obvious that a lot of players will not dodge it.

2. Surprise rocket in a situation, where the enemy players do not expect it. This requires playing hundreds of Jinx games, to read mini map and see those little windows. For example Junglers love to continue clear camps while low on HP. Knowing, that they stand still on their camps for a few seconds allows for a perfect target. Exsample: Rengar on low HP in midlane, walking to his blue buff. No vision. Just shoot the rocket, based on the psychological factor, that this is a human being who greeds for more on low HP instead of doing the robot move to stand still in a weird corner and just recall to base.

You can also abuse all the clear lines on the map. The three lanes, the river, terrain edges, turrets etc. to calibrate the line for your Jinx Ultimate and get higher precision. (This also works with Ashe Ult and Ezreal Ult). Most obvious calibrating point would be the enemy Nexus when midlane inhib is gone. Of course somebody will be there and clear the incoming wave. But there are more spots: Banana brush near the dragon pit. You see nobody? Of course they are hiding in this brush.

If you play lots of Jinx games, you just know the pathing and positioning options for most champions. (Exceptions would be rather unpredictable champions like Zac, Quinn, Akshan, Zeri, who can use the map in unique ways). Use terrain edges and brushes to your advantage and get out of vision. Sometimes, standing still in a not so obvious brush 10 seconds before dragon spawns, can win you the following team fight.

PS: The most difficult thing on JInx is the kiting part. Auto attack, W, auto attack, auto attack, maybe another W. Making a rational decision when to weave in a rocket or when to use mini gun instead can make all the difference, who will die and who will get out on 10 HP. There is no clear rule here. But in a chase, the rocket has more range. And in an open fight, where everybody is near you, a single W followed by the excited mini gun can be a game changer. Especially, if you want to kill Turret and champion at the same time, which happens a lot during Baron Power Plays. Junglers, Supports and Mid Mages often tunnel vision on killing an enemy champion, because their Turrret damage is weak or it takes too much time. Jinx can easily fix that Turret problem, in case you have no hullbreaker Top Laner in your team.