Hi :3 I am a Jinx main, but I don't think that I can play her properly yet. I still have trouble switching my guns, ulting, and throwing down my chompers at the right time. Does anyone have any suggestions to these situations?
One thing that I see inexperienced players struggle with, on any champion, is that they feel obligated to use their cool downs when they really should be saving it.
Q switching you will just have to get used to. Fish bones for range obviously, and gattling for CQB and also used to quickly take down a target that's within kill range.
You just have to put in a little thought about how to properly use these skills during situations tbh.. I'm surprised at how much people who play this game, don't even take the time to think about how to play it. When they play it 4 6 8 10 hours a day.
Fish bones = Range obviously and AoE. Also provides a 10% bonus AD, which is nice for your AoE crit. Gattling gun provides attack speed at a shorter range, so it's to melt targets nearby.
W = Slow / long range poke. Rarely used in team fights and only to catch targets out of range of Fish Bones.
If you're good enough to spot it, you can immediately use it after a kill to slow a pursuing target and use your remaining passive movement speed bonus to distance yourself.
But it's hard to judge, since it leaves a window where you're rooted in place to cast the skill. You will have to remind yourself if the pursuing champion has Flash or a gap closer to catch you during the channeling.
E = Usually you save this for yourself in case anyone decides to jump on your nuts. Could be used to catch running targets or zoning the enemies from reaching you in a team fight.
It's quite a hefty cool down, so your decision is either one of those 3 and if you're unsure, just save it for yourself in case of danger. Survive at all costs as an ADC.
R = The lower their HP, the higher the damage. High burst finisher. I would say it's situational, most of the time you want to be using E and just Q in fights.
IMO W and R are situational and I can leave the thinking to you on when to use them. The more you play, the more you will feel out what situations are great to use W and R and which situations weren't really necessary to call for them.
Jinx is not so bad right now, I would say you could definitely use her to climb to D5 or above depending on how good you are.
I'll address the three points you mentioned in your post: "switching my guns, ulting, and throwing down my chompers at the right time." I have a ridiculous amount of time on Jinx, so I think I know enough to help others as long as I can word it in a way people can understand. Without further ado...
Switching your guns: Jinx's Q, Switcheroo!, allows her to switch between her two primary weapons: Pow-pow and Fishbones (or Shiro and Kuro if you're a magical Jinx main). Here's some technical stuff you might want to read:
Fishbones, the Rocket Launcher: Basic attacks deal 110% Damage to the target and nearby enemies, gain 75/100/125/150/175 range, drain Mana, and scale 25% less with bonus Attack Speed.
Pow-Pow, the Minigun: Basic attacks grant bonus Attack Speed for 2.5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 3 times for a total bonus of [0]% (bonus scales with spell rank and Jinx's level). Stacks fall off one at a time and only benefit Jinx's first attack after switching to Rocket Launcher.
Essentially what this means is that Fishbones is great for long range, short duration poke, while having a splash effect. You can use it for last-hitting low health enemies that are far away, and you can even use it to soften up enemies AND farm, because of the splash. However, Pow-pow is generally best for farming when possible, so you can conserve mana for your other spells. Additionally, if an enemy tries to fight within Pow-pow's range, Pow-pow is best for that short range single target damage. However, fighting with Pow-pow isn't always the best option against something like a Vi or Kha'zix. That takes me to our next point:
Throwing down chompers at the right time: Sometimes you have to turn tail and get out of a bad situation. One of the things as Jinx that comes with experience is timing knowledge: How fast is the enemy moving? How fast will my chompers activate? By figuring these out quickly, you can determine where to place your chompers to buy yourself some time from your pursuer. Just remember that they can flash over your chompers if they're good enough, and so never assume that chompers=safe. Also, if someone towerdives you, you can place chompers if you know you're going to die, and take them down with you. It's great for when Vi ults you under your tower, kills you, and then tries to walk away, instead hitting a deadly trap that leads to you trading their ult for... nothing. It's great.
However, the chompers' purpose isn't just for deterring an angry Vi. If you have an aggressive support (which are usually better for Jinx), you can place chompers behind the enemy as your support stuns/hooks them. This cuts off their escape and can usually net you a kill. For an example, I'll use Thresh as your support. A good combo is for Thresh to hook, and as soon as you hear the sound of the hook connect, put chompers directly behind the victim, between them and their turret. You should then get in Pow'pow range and start firing, while attack moving towards them to close the gap. Once Thresh's CC is done, the enemy will either run into your traps or be forced to go around them (or flash). This means that they should still be in Pow-pow range, so you can continue shooting them down. Continue chasing them with Pow-pow until you reach their tower range or the 'danger zone' of their own support, at which point you'll want to fire a Fishbones rocket, Zap, and an ult if they aren't dead yet. Sometimes if the enemy support isn't there, you can flash and heal to stay in Pow-pow's range while under turret and taking fire. This is a risky play, but if you have confidence in it, the tower dive can sometimes be worthwhile.
Finally, ulting: As Jinx, you should be looking constantly at other lanes, trying to spot out low health enemies. This can be difficult to do while farming, but doing this can lead to kills you wouldn't have gotten before. However, don't look at a low health enemy and immediately ult; using Jinx's ult can often be a waiting game. The best way to hit the ult is to predict where an enemy is recalling, as it is during the recall channel that they least expect to be hit by a giant rocket of death (also they aren't moving). As soon as you see a low-health enemy enter the fog of war past their turret, it's a guessing game. And you have about one second to guess and shoot, or you'll be too late on hitting the enemies across the map.
This isn't always the way Jinx's ult is used. Sometimes, especially if you're not confident in your sniper skills, you should just hold onto it for finishing off your own laner. If you have a blue ward (which you should once you hit level 9) you can ward behind their tower, watch them panic, and then watch as your rocket of death hits them in the face.
I hope this was helpful and I didn't forget anything important.
Jinx is my best champ but I'm not super good. I'll give the best advice I can.
Switch the guns when you either need short range shred (shiro) or long range poke (kuro) (I only play sg jinx). Once you buy runaans, the rocket launcher will become an amazing tool for wave clearing.
Use the ult at fairly short range and use it to finish a fight. Follow your instincts with it. More than once I've taken down a fleeing enemy or stopped an enemy who flashed to the bush and offscreen with my ult despite them being out of vision.
I typically use my chompers one of two ways. The first is zoning. Need some space from an enemy leblanc? Slap that shit on the ground, watch her weep salty tears. The other way is to buy me some time during an escape. It's saved my life from garens and yasuo's multiple times.
Hope I could help![slayer-jinx-catface]
Watch higher up jinx mains, go to youtube, and just keep playing her.
Poke with rockets every time they try to last hit a minion. Immediately start e after they get cc'd by something. Kite with machine gun, w them when they try to escape, and keep minimum out until they're out ranage. Watch the map for potential kills with r.
Like every other champion in this game, you just gotta play her more.
That reminds me. Use e and w on bushes when you don't have/don't want to ward.
