Jhin/Development

Champion Reveal: Jhin, the Virtuoso


''' assembling his and orchestrating his grand entrance onto the Rift. He's meticulous and calculating - League's slowest marksman yet. But when the murderous artist gets you in his sights, when he you off-guard, there's not much that'll save you from an inevitable, perfect death.'''


 * Abilities

I= Jhin's gun - Whisper - chambers four shots, the last of which always and applies extra damage based on a portion of. After firing all four shots, Jhin takes a moment to.
 * Whisper

Jhin's deal less damage than normal, and his  doesn't actually scale with. Instead, Jhin gains from any  and  he earns through itemization and runes, while  give him a burst of movement based on his.

Jhin throws a canister at a nearby targeted enemy. After landing, the canister bounces up to four times on other nearby enemies. Killing an enemy with Dancing Grenade causes the following bounces to deal extra damage.
 * -|Q=
 * Dancing Grenade


 * -|W=
 * Deadly Flourish
 * Enemy champions that have been struck by Jhin's basic attacks,, or any allied damage are for a few seconds.
 * Jhin fires a massively long range shot that damages all enemy minions and the first enemy champion in a target direction. If the enemy champion he strikes has already been, they're briefly , while Jhin himself gains a burst of movement speed.

Jhin places a trap on the ground that turns invisible after arming. Enemy champions that walk over the trap trigger it, and  them with  and creating a large  zone. After a brief pause, the trap detonates, damaging all enemies inside its explosion.
 * -|E=
 * Captive Audience

Jhin fully assembles his weapon before taking aim in a target direction, all  targets in a huge area. He can then fire four that stop at the first enemy champion struck,  them and dealing damage based on. Jhin's fourth and final with Curtain Call deals massively increased damage and is guaranteed to.
 * -|R=
 * Curtain Call



Jhin's a different kind of marksman. While most look to whittle their opponents down with a constant barrage of sapping attacks, Jhin's fastidious to the extreme, and thrives when he handpicks his opportunities to strike. In lane, he's best off saving his valuable for last-hitting, keeping track of his ammo count and looking for moments when he can expend his  bullet - his deadliest - on his lane opponent. Jhin's basic attack range is distinctly average at best, making him relatively easy to harass in lane. That's where the Virtuoso can turn to, using the bouncing canister to secure last hits from relative safety, and even apply effective harassment if his opponents stick too close to their minion waves.
 * Laning

Still, Jhin's low attack speed will often see him pushed under tower, and having to fire off his shots to last hit instead of harass. Here's the thing, though: when Jhin correctly plans for this, when he places a few of his traps as he falls back, he'll be perfectly placed to call on his jungler and slowly close the noose around his hapless opponents' necks. As the gank starts, Jhin and his allies work best initiating the attack and corralling their targets towards their pre-set traps. Once they trigger, Jhin can follow up immediately with, damaging his target and them inside the trap's  as it ticks down toward zero. The explosion, which they're now guaranteed to be caught inside, chunks them down further, setting the stage for Jhin's and final bullet. They'll die, one way or another.

being traps, they also make perfect defensive cover for Jhin when he decides to aim his iron sights at his enemies and get aggressive. While these opportunities are rare, a fortuitous against a weakened enemy doesn't just give Jhin the chance to kill his target, but also the means to chase. Jhin excels here, following up on enemy with  to root his target as he blows them away with basic attacks. Overextending generally attracts enemy junglers, of course, but if Jhin manages to pull the trigger on his and final shot, the guaranteed crit (and therefore guaranteed speed boost) should help him speed away as his would-be killer slogs through the Virtuoso's traps.



Once he's set up, Jhin's great at objective control, thanks in part to his traps. By placing traps on the enemy team's easiest path to, Jhin earns his team advance notice of any impending arrivals, and can temporarily root  enemy junglers with. Even if they continue their advance, Jhin can throw in a to apply damage to grouped enemies before carefully picking off his targets with basic attacks. He's poor at securing objectives himself - his slow attack speed alone sees to that - but he gives his team a huge boost toward securing objectives when he plans out and prepares for the fight in the areas around them.
 * Skirmishing

Then there's Jhin's. gives Jhin and his team huge leverage over objectives when the Virtuoso is able to set up and prepare his sniper nest. The ability has huge range, but only within a set angle, giving Jhin a few key considerations to think about as he searches for his grassy knoll. Set up too close and he'll make an easy target for enemy assassins; too far and he'll render himself irrelevant after he's spent his ; set up poorly and he'll risk losing sight of the battle as it shifts around. Get his position just right and Jhin will wreak havoc from afar before moving in to finish the fight up close.



Jhin has two viable strategies in teamfights: either appear at the start of the battle, or at the end. If he chooses to stick with his team, he takes up a traditional backline position, setting up to protect his fellow squishes while aiming  at  targets. only adds to the carnage, and when the enemy team starts to flee, Jhin's perfectly positioned to fully assemble and cut the remaining enemies down with.
 * Teamfights

Alternatively, Jhin can choose to set the stage early by firing off his first. This makes him an unusual character in a teamfight because he won't actually be seen, at least initially. And while enemy teams might first revel in the apparently lopsided fight, they'll quickly realize that the Virtuoso's absence is deliberate. Jhin's presence may not be felt, but his absolutely will. deals less damage to high health enemies, but the ability's slow will hinder enemy frontliners from getting to where they want to be, and stop vulnerable enemies from squirming away from Jhin's damage dealing allies. More importantly, will start to pin Jhin's enemies down, forcing them to hide behind their tankier allies or run for cover. And even when his spent, Jhin can contribute to fights, locking down  targets with  so his allies can clean up the fight and push on toward victory.


 * Synergy





Champion Insights: Jhin
By Conor 'fizzNchips' Sheehy



We started with a blank page, and ended with a killer.

Here are the steps in between.

Design notes by August Browning aka Riot Gypsy

Art notes by Larry Ray aka The Bravo Ray

Narrative notes by Odin Shafer aka WAAARGHbobo

Our initial goal was pretty clear: we wanted to deliver on a sniping fantasy that was notably different from long range gunning. If anything, her fast rate of fire and unlimited ammo aligns her closer to a semiautomatic rifle-wielding gunner, whereas we wanted to really explore what it felt like to use an old fashioned, bolt-action sniper rifle. We aimed for a champion who had slow and impactful shots, who could express skill through their long-range, and who'd apply with their shots even if they missed. One way or another, every shot would count.


 * Early Inspiration



Early sketches focused on a mysterious robot cowboy bounty hunting sniper - not the easiest elevator pitch - but the concept quickly hit the proverbial icebox as we focused on other further developed concepts. A couple of champs progressed from concept into production, in fact, while our sniper chilled out in his icebox, including a certain duo. After we figured out theme, we felt that a  system was a better fit for them, so pulled the mechanic from the sniper. Without the bounty hunting, we were still left with a mysterious robot cowboy sniper - still a cool idea, and still something we wanted to explore. So we came back, set on executing this long-range sniping fantasy. Initially, we just gave him a sniper rifle, but the range and speed still felt too close to, so we started thinking of ways to differentiate him. We eventually settled on the concept of a weapon, something that looked like a short-range  for basic attacks, but that could be assembled for long-range sniping with his abilities. The idea stuck, so August started looking at ways to necessitate planning and execution, emphasizing carefully timed and placed shots as opposed to your average marksman's attack speed-fueled barrage of withering basic attacks. As we started discussing the concept internally, we quickly realized that the term 'sniper' felt wrong - there was just too much overlap with, and the term implied that everything he did would be at supreme range - so we started thinking about a better development term for the character.




 * The Deadeye



The term 'Deadeye' fit perfectly, encompassing aspects of a long range killer without the excess baggage that came with the sniper term. August started diving into this idea, and implemented an ammo system for his basic attacks. Meanwhile, quickly turned into the longest range basic ability in the game, but would be most effective when his allies had already  his target. This was our attempt to bring the feeling of spotting - where others call out targets for their sniper to shoot - to League! What's more,, along with , tied into the sniping fantasy much better, because they cover huge range, but most importantly, can miss. This added a ton of skill into the abilities, of course, and would mentally affect Deadeye's target even if he didn't land his shot. You've seen movies where soldiers run for cover after a sniper takes his first shot, and that was a heavy inspiration for the feel we wanted to convey with Deadeye.

Massive range meant that Deadeye needed to set up his sniping nest too, which became a really important part of his gameplay as we started testing his kit. Deadeye had to think about where he could be most effective, and while enemy teams would start piling in thinking they were on the better end of a 4v5, they quickly learned their lesson and started asking themselves that single, fear-laced question: "Where's the sniper?"

August fixed Deadeye's ammo count to - the low number meant that every shot count, and meant we could ramp up the damage so that, well, every shot hurt, too - and we liked the idea of the  shot being the deadliest from a mechanics perspective. But why would Deadeye save his most powerful shot for last? We started looking at his character, and actively turned the number four into a common repeating motif for him. Deadeye doesn't want to just kill you - he wants to kill you perfectly by slowly building up to a sublime death. Odin started thinking of Deadeye as an artist, and built in references to music - specifically opera - in his voice lines and personality. We doubled down and repeated four as a key number in his kit, with four bounces on his, and four shots. We found that this actually echoes well with our own world, where the word 'four' sounds like the word 'death' in Chinese, and is, because of that, a deeply feared and unlucky number in many parts of Asia. It was perfect for Deadeye.
 * Four is the magic number



His theme and mechanics were taking shape, so we started experimenting with Deadeye's visuals. We were still trying ideas around this robot cowboy look, but wanted to see how different factions around Runeterra would shape Deadeye's appearance. We tried out some Zaun designs, gave Deadeye a mask and made his gender ambiguous. Next we wanted to try adding some unsettling asymmetry to his shape. Larry drew up a few silhouettes, and one really grabbed the team:
 * It's all in the eyes



Why the hump? What was that thing? It formed a strong point of curiosity for us that we loved, alongside the constructible gun. Next Larry drew up some animation studies, and we saw what the hump actually was - part of his weapon - and how he moved. Stakeholders were instantly on board, so we iterated further, turning Deadeye into a Darkin, then a woman. Next we tried Ionia, and immediately found traction with their ornate architecture and form over function design ethos. Settling there, we elongated his body and turned his mask into a real intricate work of art. We steered away from robotics because it lacked the elegance that Deadeye's character was fast developing, and didn't click with his burgeoning feel. In fact, we knew the character was turning into a pretty nasty killer, but in order for him to be truly terrifying, we wanted him to look approachable. Deadeye needed to appear human, appear normal, only to realize as you drew closer that something was off. Really off. We came to call this 'The Lie'.


 * The Lie



Odin continued refining Deadeye - now named - into a monster. But not the -style rip-your-head-off-and-eat-your-heart kind of monster. We wanted Jhin to be a real psychopathic killer, someone who you could interact with, but who wasn't all there. He seems to be smiling, but he's not: that's just his mask. Jhin searches for a justification for doing what he does, and similar to, Deadeye might appear normal, but is a true monster inside, hellbent on his art and giving his victims the perfect death.

We were on the home stretch. We took a look at Jhin's weapons, and aimed specifically at creating magical guns rather than strictly ballistic weapons. Hammering home his artistic aspirations, we looked at Jhin's, and added a fountain pen-like nib to its barrel. Finally, we applied a color pass to him, and decided to give him bright, lively shades that emphasized his peacocking. His main three shades - purple, white, and gold - directly reference Roman emperors, so while Jhin's very much equipped to kill, he's also dressed to impress.
 * Butterflies and Roses

Finally, and this isn't normally something we reference in these articles, but that original robot cowboy concept did actually make its way onto the Rift. It's his launch skin - - a nice little hat-tip to the original concept that created the Virtuoso.







Jhin


This week, we sit down with Champion Designer August 'gypsylord' Browning - join us as we chat with him about his board game habit, champ design at Riot, and developing.

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 * Related Music