Powers and Limitations: A Study of Jhin's Kit
This is a study of Jhin's kit, and how, in my opinion, it could be used as a template for future ADC kits. Now that doesn't mean that these hypothetical future ADC's have to copy his kit right down to the nitty-gritty parts of it. I'm just going to say that certain aspects of it, used in moderation, could make future ADC's just as much fun as he can be and have a roughly equal sense of things that the ADC and their opponents can play around, that his, for the most part, does.
Let's start with his passive.
WHISPER
(Shamelessly copied and pasted from the LOL Wiki) DEATH IN 4 ACTS: Jhin's basic attacks consume ammunition and his gun holds 4 rounds. Jhin will reload over 2.5 seconds after firing his 4th attack, or after 10 seconds without attacking or using an ability.
Jhin's fourth attack will critically strike and deal 15 / 20 / 25% (based on level) of the target's missing health as bonus physical damage. Against structures, Jhin's fourth attack will instead critically strike for 20% AD bonus physical damage.
PERFECTION!: Jhin's critical strikes grant him 10% (+ 0.4% per 1% bonus attack speed) bonus movement speed for 2 seconds.
EVERY MOMENT MATTERS: Jhin's attack speed cannot be improved except through growth and his critical strikes deal 50% AD bonus damage, but he gains 4% − 44% (based on level)「 (+ 40% of his critical strike chance) (+ 25% of his bonus attack speed) 」 bonus attack damage.
So, what information can we glean from this?
Before we start, a term I'm going to try and use here is that Jhin's passive here has both POWERS to it, (The Execute/Bonus damage, Bonus AD and Movement Speed) and LIMITATIONS to it (Restricted to a fixed attack speed, has to reload his weapon for 2.5 seconds, limited to 4 shots at max before he must reload).
POWERS and LIMITATIONS. Try to remember that as we go through the rest of this post, it's a term I'm going to try to use as a theme throughout it.
Well, first we can surmise that Jhin's basic attacks (The usual main method of an ADC doing their damage) is limited to certain "windows of power", i.e. when he has his gun loaded. During that 2.5 reloading period, he can only use abilities so long as he has the MP for them and they are off CD, and his main damage output is unavailable.
Next, we can see that the real clincher of his AA's, the hard-hitter, is that fourth shot. Granted, if I'm not mistaken, his other shots when registered as critical strikes in accordance with his Critical Hit percentage also have the execute/bonus AD effect (If I AM mistaken about this, feel free to correct me), but that is RNG (And that's a whole different matter in and of itself), so the only one he can RELY on to hit hard with, is that fourth shot.
Lastly, he gets that bonus movement speed when he critically strikes, whether that be his fourth shot or another critical strike as a result of his Crit Chance, or in one other instance. (Yes, I'm talking about when he Roots with his W, but I hoped I could explore that more when we reach that point in the post and not worry about it right here.)
So, how can you apply these POWERS and LIMITATIONS, just within his passive (I'm looking at one aspect/ability of his kit at a time for the sake of simplicity and to TRY and keep this post from becoming TOO much of a wall of text), to prospective ADC kits?
APPLICATIONS
Well to start, you could obviously copy the "Ammunition" aspect of the passive; Graves already does that in a sense with his Shotgun. The "Amount/Count" of ammunition in that aspect is negligible, you could have it as high or as low as you want, as long as there are reasonable levels of both POWERS and LIMITATIONS to that ammunition count.
Heck, you don't even have to think of a "hypothetical" ADC to do that with: You could apply it to Jinx's chain-gun/minigun as an example.
Hear me out here: You could change her chain-gun to where, rather than "revving up" with attacks that gain speed with each additional one, she already HAS a fixed, high attack speed, and the chain-gun/mini-gun has a large, but limited drum of ammunition, comparable to that of a Tommy-Gun, or Mini-Guns seen in various First-Person-Shooter games (So long as said game has a reloading mechanic to its guns, as some FPS's that have Mini-Guns, like Unreal Tournament, DOOM and others don't). Let's say that similar to Jhin, she would replace/reload that drum of ammunition after not attacking for a certain period of time.
To off-set that, however, the damage dealt by those bullets are greatly reduced, let's say, due to the smaller size of the bullets when comparing them to the Hand-Cannon-esque style that Jhin's gun is supposed to have. She would deliver her payload at a much higher, faster rate than Jhin, but she wouldn't hit as hard.
Let's say that the power of this hypothetical new version of Jinx's gun would be equal to that of a starter pistol in most FPS games, while Jhin's is obviously a Desert Eagle or better.
So, going back to that POWERS and LIMITATIONS thing with our hypothetical change here...
POWERS: Large Ammunition Count, High Attack Speed.
LIMITATIONS: Overall Damage Output is lower on average, Weapon must be reloaded.
I hope you see what I'm TRYING to get at here. This is just a completely hypothetical idea, applied to an existing ADC within the game for the sake of clarity/comparison, rather than having to come up with a completely original ADC kit. There are obviously more things we could go into, with the Execute-Effect of his Fourth shot, or the movement speed bonus that he is granted for Critical Hits, but I decided to focus on one aspect in hopes of keeping things simple.
Alright, you still with me? Let's try moving on to Jhin's Q.
DANCING GRENADE
(Once again, copied and pasted from the LOL Wiki)
ACTIVE: Jhin launches a canister at the target enemy, dealing physical damage. Dancing Grenade bounces to up to three additional enemies beyond the first, with each kill it performs increasing its total damage by 35%.
So, what are the POWERS and LIMITATIONS of Jhin's Q?
POWERS: Deals Physical Damage, Deals 35% Additional Damage to the next target with each kill.
LIMITATIONS: Bounces to a max of 4 targets, MUST kill the previous target to deal additional damage to the next.
Simple and easy to follow, right? Although, you could also say another limitation is the fact that the targets to which the grenade bounces are for the most part randomized based on positioning, but that's on a case-by-case basis, as positioning can be different one moment of the game to the next.
Next, how can we apply this to future hypothetical ADC kits?
APPLICATIONS
If we were to do a 1-for-1 match, this ability could be used to fill the down-time between the reloads, should another ADC have the same "Reloading" aspect used as Jhin does with Whisper.
Overall, it could just be a simple ability that does what it says it does like with Dancing Grenade; It hits 4 targets, deals bonus damage to the next if the previous target was killed by it. I'm not saying the hypothetical skill would do the exact same thing as Dancing Grenade; just the idea of it just doing what it says it does!
The POWERS and LIMITATIONS of the ability would be simple and easy to follow.
DEADLY FLOURISH
(As before, taken from the LOL Wiki)
PASSIVE - Caught Out: Enemy champions damaged by Jhin, his allies, or inside a blooming Lotus Trap are marked for 4 seconds.
ACTIVE: After 0.75 seconds, Jhin fires a shot in the target direction that deals physical damage to all enemies hit until colliding with an enemy champion. Deals 75% damage against non-champions.
Damaging a Caught Out champion roots them and grants Jhin Every Moment Matters' bonus movement speed.
So now looking at Jhin's W, what are the POWERS and LIMITATIONS of this ability?
POWERS: Extremely long range, Has the ability to apply a CC (Root) and grants the bonus movement speed from his passive if the Root is applied.
LIMITATIONS: The effect stops once it hits a champion, can only root 1 champion at a time, long range is off-set by a rather thin hit-box.
What are some applications we can make with these POWERS and LIMITATIONS?
APPLICATIONS
Looking first at the POWERS aspect, we could obviously say that another hypothetical ADC could have another long-ranged skillshot like this, or that they had a skillshot that could apply some kind of CC (What kind doesn't really matter; it's just that the skill would apply a CC) or that hitting the skillshot grants some kind of passive bonus, whether from that ADC's actual main passive, or some passive on this, or another, skill. Any one of those, along with new or existing ideas seen in Jhin's, or other ADC kits, could work.
Then, on the other side of things, the LIMITATIONS, we can say that the skillshot stops on hitting its first target, the CC it would apply isn't exactly the strongest, or that it would have a thin hit-box or be otherwise easily dodged. These, or other limitations from other ADC kits, or entirely new ones, are feasible options.
LOTUS TRAP
(I think you know the drill by now.)
PASSIVE - BEAUTY IN DEATH: Jhin summons a blooming Lotus Trap under every enemy champion he kills.
Additionally, Jhin periodically stores a Lotus Trap, up to a maximum of 2 stored at once, which are unaffected by Beauty in Death.
ACTIVE: Jhin places a Lotus Trap at the target location which stealths and arms after a brief delay and lasts for up to 2 minutes. The Lotus Trap blooms if an enemy walks over it, revealing all enemies caught inside for 4 seconds.
Blooming Lotus Traps slow all enemies inside for 35% for 2 seconds before detonating, dealing magic damage to all enemies caught in the explosion. Lotus Traps deal 65% damage against non-champions and champions recently hit by one.
Now with his E, what are it's POWERS and LIMITATIONS?
POWERS: A stealthed trap, it can be placed wherever the player wishes, it creates a slowing effect, deals damage.
LIMITATIONS: The slow is not the strongest; allowing quick-footed champs to escape, deals reduced damage beyond the first if the target trips another, damage is delayed rather than instantaneous.
How can we apply these POWERS and LIMITATIONS?
APPLICATIONS
Well, some of the ideas in this skill requiring an arm time, in a way, already exists in other champion kits. Just as an example, the reworked Ezreal has his new Essence Flux, which does nothing on its own. It requires an additional basic attack or ability to proc it to deal the bonus magic damage, as well as a potential refunding of mana, if what procced it was an ability rather than a basic attack. I'm sure that there are more beyond these two, I'm just listing Ezreal as an example.
Then of course, there's Teemo with his Mushroom traps. They stealth like Jhin's do, but their damage is instantaneous, rather than delayed and avoidable when tripped. What is meant is the fact that as soon as you trip one, you suffer damage, I know fully well that they do a DoT (Damage over Time) in actual application.
So in a way, this part of his Kit doesn't really need an "Applications" portion; it's already being done in other champion kits.
So I guess we'll move on.
CURTAIN CALL
(You know where, the LOL Wiki.)
FIRST CAST: After a brief delay, Jhin begins channeling for up to 10 seconds, during which he has the ability to cancel or recast Curtain Call up to four times.
SUCCESSIVE CASTS: After 0.25 seconds, Jhin fires a round in the target direction that deals physical damage to all enemies hit, increased by 0% − 250% (based on target's missing health), until colliding with an enemy champion, revealing the traveled area for 0.5 seconds and all enemies hit for 2 seconds while also slowing them by 80% for 0.5 seconds.
The final shot will critically strike for 100% increased total damage.
At last, the POWERS and LIMITATIONS of Jhin's R.
POWERS: Incredibly long range, gives Sight as the projectile travels, applies a CC (Slow), deals Execute-Damage, Final Shot Critically Strikes.
LIMITATIONS: Jhin cannot change his aiming direction once begun, Jhin must stand still while using this ability, It is a Skillshot, requiring good aim on the part of the player.
In what other ways can these POWERS and LIMITATIONS be applied?
APPLICATIONS
Well, first with the powers, you could make a hypothetical ADC have a similar, extremely long ranged ult. We actually already do, in the form of the Global Ultimates that both Ezreal and Ashe have, as examples (Draven and Jinx have one too). Then Caitlyn has her Ace in the Hole. So this aspect, the Long-Range, already exists in ADC kits.
The CC portion already exists as well, as Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow applies a Stun to whomever it hits.
What about the Critical Strike? Nope. It already exists too, in Miss Fortune's Ult. Her bullet waves CAN critically strike.
Even the Execute part already existed, in Jinx's Ult. It deals (+ 25 / 30 / 35% of target's missing health) at minimum with the main target, and (+ 20 / 24 / 28% of target's missing health) at minimum for the secondary targets.
You can obviously apply any of these to new, hypothetical ADC ults, but in a way, it's not really adding anything new, is it?
But what about the LIMITATIONS?
"But Ebony!" I already hear you saying, "It's not fair to just apply the limitations to hypothetical ults!"
I never said I was going to. Just like the POWERS already exist, so do the LIMITATIONS in other kits.
Each one of those Global Ults I mentioned above, for example, are Skillshots, same as Jhin's. If a player can see it coming, they CAN theoretically dodge it. Most of the users don't stay still as long as Jhin does for his though, so they can't be afforded all the same powers too, but at the same time, the limitations of staying still are also greatly reduced. And, like with Jhin's, once they fire it off, they can't change the direction, with the exception of Draven, whose axes change trajectory based on his movement.
So, in a way, I can't really apply the LIMITATIONS any more than I can the POWERS in new ways, as they already exist in existing Champion Kits.
CONCLUSION
Well, I know it probably started sounding like a repeat with the latter parts of it, but I hope this post has opened your eyes to the idea of POWERS and LIMITATIONS, and the ways they can be applied when coming up with Champion Kits.
GL and HF in your games! [slayer-pantheon-thumbs]