Okay people lets clear some things up about this "Jhin's theme" issue

Punished Veigar·1/13/2016, 6:12:09 AM·13 votes·1,745 views
Champion Reveal: Jhin, the Virtuoso

LONG POST INCOMING, TL;DR PROVIDED AT THE BOTTOM

So as a lot of you are probably aware of by now, there's quite a bit of back and forth about Jhin and on how his kit doesn't fit with this whole, "Virtuoso theme" he has going on, and that the previous champions released (save for Kindred ) all have great solid kits that work with their themes (subjective really). I've seen people say that Jhin could just be replaced with any old other kind of gunslinger archetype and that'd be able to replace him because he's all, 'bells, whistles, and pretty pictures' and granted there is a point to be made there but...that's all any champion really is, a bunch of particles and models meshed together into a coherent and (hopefully) pleasant design.

Take Illaoi for example, almost everything about her could be replaced with a plant monster motif, or even a necromancer (replace the tentacles with vines or fleshy/boney limbs and boom you're done...well except for her E, that one's really unique to her whole spiritual side so mad props to that ability). Even someone like Tahm Kench whom I adore, could be re-purposed into a grappler/luchador/strongman style champion all things considered. Hell given enough time I could replace every champion in League with something completely different yet retain the same abilities (That's not indicative of bad kit design, the same could be done for stuff like Dota, Smite, Awesomenauts, Dawngate etc). People who've created fanmade champions could most definitely attest that the visual and personal component of their champion can change drastically as they work on it yet still retain the same kit.

Funnily enough people seem to think his kit lacks the 'artistic flair' that his teasers gave us. But what people aren't thinking is that art is an incredibly subjective sort of deal and that it's highly unlikely that it would be possible to pass something off as artistic as those people thought with four abilities and some passive component to a video game character. Just because he doesn't lob globs of paint, summon statues out of the ground, or send out musical attacks doesn't mean he can't be a Virtuoso.

Speaking of which another thing people don't seem to be getting is that the whole, "Virtuoso" bit seems to be all in Jhin's own mind. Sure once the lore rolls out we'll (hopefully) get more details about his past but as of now he's a deranged maniac with a twisted view of death. When he kills people he doesn't see the gore or any of the other gritty details. He sees all those visual 'metaphors' we saw in the trailers.

So what we end up getting from Riot isn't some sort of 'artist' or 'virtuoso' as everyone likes to call him, we get a deranged madman who appears to be infatuated with killing people because he thinks he's making something beautiful while in reality he's just blowing holes in things. So people REALLY should stop seeing him and his kit as someone who's an artist, but see it as someone who's a proficient killer which, based off of having traps, explosives, easy access to crits, attack damage pumps, incredible range, pinpoint accuracy, and % missing health damage tells me he knows how to make a few corpses.

Now, at the time of making this his VO isn't released, but to me, Jhin is the kind of guy who will narrate everything that's going as if he's reciting Shakespear to an audience who doesn't exist, doling out compliments to the other champions as they try to kill him and insulting them if they fail to do so, but he could also be the more, quiet and calculating type who's attention to detail mean that each shot WILL find its proper place in his subject's body, or even a mix of the both, who knows? (Well we will in the near future). Maybe at some point in his life he was a magnificent artist/virtuoso but if that's the case then something either:

  1. Took a turn for the worse (like getting shamed or disgraced, oh those artsy types and angst).
  2. Some sort of accident caused him to go mad and hide his face.
  3. He was always a lunatic.
  4. Something else that will be in his lore and not here.

Well whatever happened to him, Jhin is clearly not right in the head and all those pretty flowers and trees we saw would in reality be blood, bones, organs, and other lovely giblets.

TL:DR Jhin isn't supposed to be a "Virtuoso" (as that appears to be a self given title), but a delusional madman who's good a shooting things, maybe he WAS an actual Virtuoso in his past but now he's just a proficient killer, and his kit reflects that so quit yer' belly aching.

11 Comments

Starfish H1/13/2016, 7:06:30 AM7 votes

Honestly his kit is very artistic just not obviously visually like turning people into trees. His movements when he uses his abilities are graceful and theatrical. Nothing like a Garen Q or a Darius Q. The way the explosions left behind when his traps detonate leaving a Rose mark on the ground. The way how he elegantly uses his W and how smooth and theatrical his Ult is it shows a lot. However his kit has a sinister tone to it. Serial Killers typically expend a lot of effort onto one person to kill them and wait till they can do it again which is what Jhin is basically doing. He sets up traps for them to fall in, he lures them there and picks them off with surprise and elegance. A careless mistakes cost you your life. His ammo system reflects the effort part. You blow all your load onto a person and wait to recover to do the same thing to another. His kit is very fun and I for one am going to actually start playing ADC once he gets released.

Beldair1/13/2016, 7:54:08 AM3 votes

The way I see Jhin, he seems like killer that sees art in what he does. Perhaps, in his mind the killing is a performance.

I actually am interested in seeing him in action before i decide if he is just another champ that makes no sense or one that is gonna be my #1 ban XD

HigeR1/13/2016, 7:27:53 AM2 votes

Thank you for shedding some light into this issue, seeing it like that, he doesn't seem that bad, this could be the reason why he uses a mask, to hide from his own self, pretty cool to be honest, I even deleted one of my posts in another thread where I talked about how he didn't look much cohesive, but that's the thing, he isn't supposed to.

There are still elements about him that I dislike, for instance the fact that he has a full mask makes him look a bit like Viktor, his prosthetic arm is odd and seems a bit tacked on and that thing on his shoulder is also pretty weird, I'm guessing we'll get to know about it on his lore. I dislike the bouncing bullet as well and the mechanical flower trap.

His gun is definitely weird, it kinda looks like a cut down shotgun, which would explain his passive, I guess it's ok though some magnum revolver could have had the same impact and mechanic.

I love his boots though, like with a passion and his poncho as well! and most of his mechanics too, even though I feel a bit bad for cait since she's no longer league's sniper apparently... maybe Jhin's ult has a very short range on early levels, who knows.

Edit: Just realized that he has 2 guns and when ulting he actually assembles both of them and apparently it does something with that bulky thing on his shoulder, pretty nice.

SirHeavyScrotum1/13/2016, 8:54:44 AM2 votes

Yeah the guy that made that popular post didn't really understand most of the kits he was complaining about, lol

Namazu Ebisu1/13/2016, 6:42:42 PM1 votes

As seen on screenshots, he obviously has the behavior related to the teasers and theme (the way he's moving and talking) I really love the champion as it is and i can't wait to get my hand on him and see what he's up to.