New Champion Q&A: Jhin, the Virtuoso [COMPLETED]

RiotA Small Man·2/2/2016, 6:34:55 PM·57 votes·268,054 views

Hey everyone!

We've gathered a bunch of Rioters from the Jhin team for some Q&A about the Virtuoso himself! Whether you're interested in Jhin's gameplay, story, or art, ask away and we'll be happy to answer!

Check out these links if you need to get up to speed:

Mind of the Virtuoso: I will make you beautiful. I will make you perfect.

Champion Reveal: Jhin, the Virtuoso: Check out Jhin's reveal.

Champion Bio: Jhin, the Virtuoso: Art requires a certain...cruelty.

Champion Insights: Jhin, the Virtuoso: The story behind Jhin's creation.

Jhin Champion Spotlight: Check out Jhin's gameplay.

1,142 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo2/2/2016, 8:39:46 PM47 votes

This keeps coming up so I'll make a separate post here.

His arm isn't robotic. He's got a black body sleeve on. Iinna creepy gimp way). The gold armor on his sleeve is to protect him from the weapons magical recoil.

The shoulder is part of his weapon, It carries huge containers of magical energy shells.

TerribleTyphon2/2/2016, 7:10:43 PM43 votes

Back in the 1920's, a Finnish sniper by the name of Simo Häyhä fought for Finland against the soviet union. During that time we was credited with 505 sniper kills over the course of about 100 days. He was nicknamed "White Death" for his white parka that he wore on missions during the snow filled winter. His military carrier was ended when he face tanked an explosive bullet. He face was disfigured until his death in 2002.

Link to Simo Häyhä Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_H%C3%A4yh%C3%A4

When making Jhin was any inspiration taken from this real life sniper's history? If not, then could we see a White Death skin in the future for him?

7Artemis72/2/2016, 6:40:38 PM28 votes

What's Karma's relationship to Jhin and the faction of the council that freed him?

Alpha Skarner2/2/2016, 6:45:29 PM25 votes

First I would like to say I LOVE Jhin! When I saw the promotional video and his kit, I knew he would fit my play style (besides Skarner of course :P). And god that voice is BEAUTIFUL!

But enough about my blabbering, here are a couple of my questions...

(1.) Is Jhin possessed by a demon or some unknown entity?

The reason I bring this up is because of two interesting things I've noticed about him. The first is that is his death animation; Jhin's mask levitates up the air off his face for a moment before falling back on top his face when he dies. This caught my attention because when I studied his death animation more, I noticed that it looks like he is reaching out in the air towards his floating mask, only for it to ram itself back onto his face (rather violently). Is some correlation between his mask flying and his desperate attempt to reach for it?

The second thing is his quote,"You've awoken something deep inside me." Now this quote can be interpreted different ways, like he is referring to his obsession, but I suspect there is something darker about our virtuous killer. Is there some unknown force that drives Jhin to this level of insanity, to the point where he views his work as art?

(2.) What is his reaction to Kindred? Does he show any appreciation towards them?

We know that before Jhin was caught, he worked as part of a Ionian theater. So, with that in mind, we know that Kindred has had some sort of theatrical representation with their backstory in "The Good Death". Is it possible that, because of his theatrical experience, that he has seen/heard of Kindred's myth? If so, does he have any respect for their work now that he gets to go up against the Eternal Hunters since both associate themselves with death; the only difference being that Kindred is the actual personification of death whereas Jhin enjoys inflicting death through his work of art?

(3.) Why does Jhin despise Illaoi so much?

This baffles me because from Illaoi's perspective, Jhin is "in motion". He is doing what he wants, which to her is what Nagakabouras wants. So why is it that our masked assassin hates her so much?

(4.) My final question, what exactly causes Jhin's victims to explode into lotus flowers?

Natsu Swagneel2/2/2016, 8:08:30 PM25 votes

What's Jhin's sexuality (if he has one)? His VO and animations are on a Taric level of fabulousness.

taochi2/2/2016, 6:54:41 PM16 votes

What is jhins favorite food?

Nagoh Shan2/2/2016, 6:44:09 PM9 votes

Are you guys going to be comfortable if Jhin finds himself in more than one lane, or will you try to enforce specific positions for him?

SG Lan Layer2/2/2016, 6:41:25 PM8 votes

What Jhin thinks about other murderers like Shaco, Nocturne or Fiddlesticks?

And why looks like everyone knows Garen and Katarina have feelings of each other? :/

The Ruined King2/2/2016, 7:24:32 PM8 votes

Was pretty bummed out he didn't actually have any lines for VI, even though she was in the teaser. Can you at least let us know why he wants/would want to kill her, or what his opinion of her is?

Sharjo2/2/2016, 7:23:27 PM6 votes

Alright time for some narrative focused questions!

Jhin got his gear from the Kashuri armories, but how did they get there? Are said armories filled with Ionian made weapons and armour or was Jhin's stuff in particular imported from somewhere like Zaun or Piltover?
So I know that of course the only champion from the promos that Jhin has any direct relationship with is Zed, but I'm curious about Sona in particular. While a proper meeting between the two hasn't happened was Sona still in Ionia when Jhin was out and about? Hell would Sona even have been old enough to have access to news of a serial killer at the time?
Jhin of course has his opinions of Ionia in general, but does he have any specific opinions about some of the more well known faces of Ionia? Karma, Irelia, Syndra and Lee Sin come to mind personally, but are there any stand out Ionian figures that hold Jhin's interest beyond Shen and Zed?
Jhin's mask is clearly magical and there's something very odd about it. While the details probably aren't up for discussion at the moment do you have any hints to drop about it?

Jhin's a really interesting character for me and he's a ton of fun to play, so thank you guys for making him as awesome as he is!

Moral Support2/2/2016, 7:01:17 PM6 votes

So, smooth or crunchy peanut butter?

Solash2/2/2016, 7:39:29 PM5 votes

While we know that High Noon Jhin was a homage to his original concept, what other skin ideas were thrown around for him?

Oleandervine2/2/2016, 7:04:18 PM4 votes

Why was the idea to make him a cyborg cowboy scrapped? Why was there a need to bind him to Ionian lore? That concept would have fit very nicely in Noxus or in an outpost along the Shurima desert. I know you guys wanted to keep him that way, judging by the fact that there are unique voice lines tied to his High Noon skin only. Plus, compared to his current look, I think the green and black cowboy you posted in the making-of article looked very awesome.

DamnItChristian2/2/2016, 7:55:00 PM3 votes

You've mentioned that Jhin came around because Caitlyn didn't fit the sniper archetype as well as you'd like. Are there other examples where a champion currently fits into a role you think can be done differently or better?

Khimera2/2/2016, 7:02:59 PM3 votes

Hey there! Really excited for Jhin. Love his overall theme and design. A few questions I have: -What is his specific relation to Garen, Zed, Sona, and Vi? -Why were these four chosen for the promo videos? -What led to the huge thing on his shoulder? Thanks for your time and have a great one!

Major Stormz2/2/2016, 7:28:43 PM2 votes

I have only one question... WHY?! He's a cool champion and all, but WHY KILL Sona ? She's so harmless, yet she was killed...