Jinx Build Guide by Koditytyphlo

Introduction

Hello, I'm Kodi, and I've decided to start making actual guides on here, instead of constantly using the guide maker to check stats on my custom builds.

So, for my first ACTUAL guide, I'm going to explain how I, personally, play Jinx.

Feedback is appreciated, and I would enjoy hearing your opinion, but please refrain from being rude.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

High base damage
AoE Crits
High AD scaling
Eats Towers
Bullies most lanes
Has great cc for kiting
Can snowball due to her strong early game
Really easy time farming
Really nice poke
Infinite laugh

Cons:

No actual escape
Can fall off a little if she has a bad early game
Early mana problems
Snare has an arm time
ZAP! is single target
Low base movespeed

Runes

Quints:
2 Lifesteal: I get the lifesteal quints for a bit of lane sustain. It really helps, especially if you don't grab a doran's blade, because it makes you deceptively sustainable.
1 AD: For obvious reasons.

Seals:
9 Armour: It helps you in the early game and a little in the late. I get them because the extra armour helps sustainability, and helps the enemy carry hurt me less. you CAN go with offensive, but they give so much less than offensive reds.

Marks:
9 AD: This one is really variable. You can mix and match, like maybe get 5 AD and 4 Crit chance. Who knows. I just go AD because it's the most reliable. if not AD, i go armour pen. (armour pen works if you know you're going to be against a tanky team, with people like Leona or Rammus.)

Glyphs:
9 Scaling MR: Again, you can get offensive blues if you WANT, I just prefer these because it helps me survive a bit more, and it's more effective for the cost.

Masteries

This is actually really obvious and doesn't need much explanation, except for maybe the defensive tree.
I pick Unyielding and Block because they reduce damage from early game harass a little. Like. It's near minimal, but it helps. You can also get two points in Enchanted Armor and one in Block , but I've used both and haven't noticed much of a difference. Just pick whatever suits your preference.

Items

I already went in-depth about why and when I get the items I do, but I'll add a bit more here.

My first full item is an Infinity Edge, which is considered strange due to the high scaling on her Zap!, but I prefer Infinity Edge. The splash damage from Fishpones applies critical strikes, and it makes Infinity Edge a really strong item on Jinx. The AoE critting potential of Jinx makes her stronger against multiple targets than the usual AD Carry.

Next I build into my Berserker's Greaves, for the bonus attack speed and movespeed.

After that, I build into Phantom Dancer. I prefer Phantom Dancer over Statikk Shiv just because of the Ghost effect, which allows me to kite enemies through minions easily. It also has a bit more crit chance and attack speed than the Statikk Shiv, but it takes out a little magic damage from your burst.

My next offensive item is usually a Blade of the Ruined King, which is another item that's considered strange on Jinx, but I prefer it on her, because it makes her take towers a LOT quicker than she normally would. The passive of the Blade of the Ruined King is also good for taking dragon and baron. The active works really well for kiting, because you can use it to slow your pursuer, and, if you're lucky, get a kill and increase your movement speed (from Get Excited!) even FURTHER, making you impossible to catch. (even more impossible to the person you used the active on!)
You can also get The Bloodthirster, because it increases your DPS by a lot, but I prefer the map pressure.

I usually get a Guardian Angel around this point, either before my lifesteal item or after, because I usually start getting focused down at points like this.

My final offensive item is usually Last Whisper, but it can be replaced for another item if the enemies aren't building armour. Two good replacements are Mercurial Scimitar or Maw of Malmortius, both of which give you a bit more defense, but the enemies will PROBABLY be building armor. Unless they're REALLY bad.

If the game gets on to this point, I do the normal thing, and sell my boots for a Zephyr, because the bonus attack speed, movespeed, damage, and tenacity really help.

Supports

Like most AD Carries, most of the supports are good with her, but she has some that work really well. I have created a list of my favourite supports for her.

1. : Leona is possibly my FAVOURITE support over all, but she is AMAZING with Jinx. Leona's kit contains a large amount of hard CC, and if you are coordinated enough, you can create a CC lockdown, causing the enemy to be unable to escape for quite a long time.

Leona is a good support for an extremely aggressive lane, but she lacks the ability to sustain you, she's at #1 due to my personal playstyle, but Taric could pass her in certain situations.

2. : Taric is my second favourite support for Jinx. His defensive boost and heal make Jinx able to stay in lane for a lot longer than she would without the sustain. His stun is also amazing for helping you land your abilities.

Taric is more of a hybrid sustain/aggression lane. His stun is amazing for helping in kills, and the bonus damage you get from his ult is awesome, but you also get sustain from his heal and armour aura. So, Taric sits at a solid #2.

3. : Soraka is an amazing sustain support, and her healing and mana giving ability make her really good for Jinx, and makes a really safe lane. Her recent buff/nerf has made her base heals a little weaker, but her passive is now more useful for the bot lane, because you rarely take a lot of magic damage in the bot lane, so the magic resist was not needed. But, her new passive makes her sustain abilities stronger the lower the target's health/mana is, making her a LOT stronger.

Soraka is great for passive lanes, and is really strong in unfavourable matchups, (the enemy outranges you) which allows you to potentially out-farm them, just by out-sustaining them.


4. : Fiddlesticks is just one of my favourite supports in general, although he does lack quite a bit of ability when played in that role, his fear and silence make him amazing for saving lives, and if used properly, his fear can help line up Jinx's snare, locking that person down long enough to get massive amounts of damage on them.

Fiddlesticks lanes provide a lot of peel, and is a rather aggressive lane. This lane is like a Taric lane, but lacks the added sustain, and is really squishy, although the peel is amazing.

5. : Blitzcrank is a really strong support in general, due to his amazing pull, and the fact that that pull can land them directly on top of your snare, you can lock down the enemy almost as effectively as you could with Leona.

Blitzcrank makes for a more aggressive lane, but he is nearly useless when his pull is down. The only reason why he's so high on the list is his amazing potential to feed the carry. (e.g. you! :D)

NOTE: These supports aren't the only supports that work with Jinx, they are just the ones I've had the best experience with.

ANOTHER NOTE: Please refrain from being rude to the supports, even if they're feeding. It's best to focus on the good they've done, as compliments really improve performance. (Seriously. When I get complimented, I play better just because it makes me happy that someone is noticing the good I did.)

Laning

Harassing/Zoning:
Jinx has a really good time in lane with short range carries. While it DOES use a bit of mana, if you're against a carry with short range, like Vayne, a really good way to zone them from gold/experience (you don't REALLY zone them from that much exp. this way, but it does keep them from last hitting as much) is to throw Flame Chompers! behind their line of minions, so when they step up to last hit, they get snared, and you can harass them a bit.

When harassing, it's really great to just poke at them with Zap! a bit, because it does a lot of damage, and has massive range. You can also use the splash damage from Fishbones when they stand close to their minions, and last hit a minion near them, and the splash damage will hurt them a little. (this uses a lot of mana, and can lose you cs if you do it when a lot of minions are low.)

Fighting:
Jinx is actually decent at initiating fights in lane, because, if she can land a Flame Chompers! on the enemy, they will take a lot of damage. If she follows up with Zap!, or her support cc's them again, Jinx can actually help keep them locked down long enough to kill them.
Usually, when I fight in lane, I switch to Fishbones, so I can do a bit more damage, and stay further away from the enemies than I would be if I were using Pow-Pow, but this does decrease your single-target dps a bit. If I'm against one enemy, I use Pow-Pow, because it has more single-target dps than Fishbones. The only time I use Fishbones in a 1v1 situation is if they outrange me when I'm using Pow-Pow.

Your Ult:
People save her ult a lot, which is really a bad idea. While using it at bad times is also bad, it's not as bad as saving it for cross-map snipes and such. Her ult has a really low cooldown, (60 seconds at rank 3!) so, while missing it isn't good, it's not as bad as not putting out that extra damage.
Some good times to use your ult include:

1. When your snare, or your support's snare, is active on someone. (It can be better to use it when they try to escape.)

2. When someone is staying in lane at low health. (Your ult does more damage the lower their health is. If they're around 1/4 health, maybe even a LITTLE higher, you can fire it to punish them for thinking they can stay at low health)

3. When your team initiates a fight/is initiated on when you're not there. (The splash damage can EASILY turn 4v5 fights in your favour, due to the fact that the rocket has massive scaling, (if the rocket travels for more than one second, the base damage doubles, and the AD scaling goes up to 100%) and the fact that it does more damage the lower the enemy's health is make it great for situations like this. It's good to watch the health of your teammates, and if someone's health gets uncomfortably low, it means an enemy PROBABLY also has uncomfortably low health, and you can use the rocket to finish them off, which will give you the movespeed to get into the fight.)

4. To snipe an enemy in another lane, who's recalling under tower. (This is a great way to secure kills. If your laner backs off because they don't want to towerdive, and you know where the enemy laner is recalling, (or even if you don't. It's better to try, the cooldown is so short.) you can help your laner out (assist gold) and help yourself out, (kill gold) making you able to snowball your other lanes without ever leaving your own lane.)

5. To check objectives. (If the enemy team is trying to rush baron, or take dragon, you can fire your ult into the pit, potentially killing anyone that may be low, or even stealing the monster (the splash damage DOES affect monsters, the rocket just doesn't explode on contact with them.))

DO NOT INITIATE FIGHTS WITH YOUR ULT. Your ult does more damage the lower the targets health is, and lacks CC. It's an execute, not an initiate. You aren't Ashe.

Teamfighting

When teamfighting, it's best to use Fishbones as your primary source of damage. Because the splash damage crits, you do a lot more multi-target damage this way. The extra range from using Fishbones also makes you a lot safer than if you were using Pow-Pow.

When fighting, I usually start by throwing my Flame Chompers! behind (or in, if behind is too dangerous) the enemy team. The snare can actually change the course of a fight, and should not be doubted. Then I target the squishiest enemy I can safely hit (my splash damage helps this, because, if they're out of my range, I can target a person next to them, and the splash damage will hurt them as well. If the enemy team is grouped up really close, I just target the enemy nearest to the center of the group, to get my splash damage on as many of them as possible. I rarely use Zap! when fighting, due to its ability to be blocked, and due to the fact that it has a long cast animation, which eliminates my ability to do multi-target damage for that short while. Zap! is better used when enemies try to run away, because it has a rather large slow. When the enemy team gets low, (around 1/4 health or lower) or my team gets low, (around 1/4 health or lower) I fire my ult, either to put out massive amounts of damage and kill one or two people, or to either turn the fight in our favour, or kill someone to proc my passive, so I can run if that fight is a definite loss.

When running, from anyone at all, it's best to throw your Flame Chompers! under yourself, or in front of yourself, and to continue running away, because they have a long arm time. Using Zap! to slow them down is only advisable if they are snared, so they can't catch you, or if there is only one of them, due to its long cast time. It's actually good to run through the jungle, due to the fact that your Flame Chompers! cover entire paths in the jungle, meaning the only way they can catch you is to jump over your Flame Chompers!, or over a wall.

Bonus: Fun Build Explanation

This build isn't for use in ranked queues or in competitive play (I mean, it's not like it's against the rules, it's just it's really risky.)

This build takes advantage of Jinx's AoE critting ability, and uses a Runaan's Hurricane to throw out more splash damage.

How to use:
At the start of a teamfight, switch to Fishbones. Because of the fact that Runaan's Hurricane applies on-hit effects, the splash damage from Fishbones will be applied on the passive. You also have to remember to turn on your Sword of the Divine, because the three free crits that affect their ENTIRE TEAM are AMAZING and the entire POINT of this build without them it's rather weak. The Statikk Shiv increases burst, due to the fact that Runaan's Hurricane bolts proc the on-hit effect that charges the passive, making it charge three times faster! Your Infinity Edge is just to increase the burst from your Sword of the Divine, and your The Bloodthirster increased your damage by a large amount, and makes you sustain better, due to the fact that Runaan's Hurricane bolts DO apply lifesteal, and crits increase the amount healed, which doubles your healing. (Due to the Runaan's Hurricane bolts dealing 50% reduced damage.)

In Closing

I hope you learned a bit about playing Jinx after reading my guide. If you like the guide, feel free to upvote, and if you don't, feel free to downvote and explain why, just try to refrain from being rude. I would really enjoy USEFUL feedback, and if you convince me, I may add it into the guide.

Thanks for reading! :D