THANK YOU, CREATORS OF KHADA JHIN!! (End Of Season Jhin Appreciation)

To begin with, I want to state that I have played League of Legends since was released, whenever that was. It was a long time ago.

From then until 2016, ADC was the one role that I abolutely HATED. To me, it was mind-numbingly dull. ADCs, as far as I'm concerned, weren't very diverse. Some ADCs had dashes or blinks, some had mid / long range spells, some had fairly strong wave-clear... but ultimately, all ADCs felt the same. Auto-attack. Again. And again. Landed a spell? That's nice. Auto-attacking does more damage, so auto-attack more.

As a prior Starcraft player, utilizing ranged autoattacks and kiting was nothing new. In the context of Starcraft, it's even exciting. However, given League's diversity, when I can be playing characters like , (both new and old), , , , , , , etc... ADC's were anything but interesting. I was always more than happy to let someone else be the "carry" that right-clicks or attack-moves. I'd rather be the playmaker, spellcaster, and / or frontline.

Somewhere along the way, was reworked. Two shots per reload, tiny range, but heavy hits. I always felt this was the right direction for diversity between ADCs, but to me, it was lacking. Graves had a lot of stat-checking involved in my experience with his passive armor/mr boosts, dashes, and sheer damage output. It wasn't as much about out-playing the opponent as it was about getting in range then blowing their heads off with less care than I thought appropriate. Even the reloading quirk became moot with enough attack speed since it shortened his reload time! Simply put, I considered Graves more interesting than other ADCs, but only slightly more so.

... THEN the fire nation attacked KHADA JHIN WAS RELEASED

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This is everything I like (really like) and enjoy about playing as .

First, his aesthetics and personality. Jhin strongly distinguishes himself through his stubborn personality and motifs.

"It's verrry simple. I shoot, they dance." "They will dance, they will sing, they will DIE." "Start the music. I will make them dance." "One. Two. Three. Four!"

's constant reference to and obsession with song, poetry, dance, stage performances, and other forms of art set him apart from the get-go as someone whose goal isn't to simply kill other folk, but to do it in a creative way with foresight, planning, and practiced execution. The kind of aspect I'd always craved for and found lacking in all other ADCs of League of Legends. A character that won't necessarily win through brute force and relentless, repeated, monotonous attacks, but through planning and out-witting the opponent, hitting them where it hurts, when they least expect it-- like a drama with constant ups and downs and one helluva ending.

Here's the thing though.. a good background and lore is always nice to have, but absolutely meaningless if the character in-game doesn't really embody it. For example, the Kindred. They're called the Kindred... but let's be real. Wolf is a minor character, when he could have been much more if they were shapeshifters like Nidalee, Elise, or Jayce. Coming back to , the best part about him is that both his appearance and respective gameplay do him justice. In my opinion, the connection between 's lore, personality, appearance, and gameplay is THE BEST I have ever seen in League of Legends, even to the end of Season 7.

Now, I have Jhin's BloodMoon and SKT T1 skins, and I have seen his upcoming Project Skin. I'm also more familiar with the high HighNoon skin than I care to be. I must say, Jhin's BASE Skin is the best in both appearance and feel.

The real beauty about 's base skin is that it's actually quite plain if you just take a glance at it. It's when you look more closely that you start seeing the intricacies on his mask, the white drape, on Whisper and other weapon components, and the outfit underneath the drape; Jhin's outfit DOES NOT attract attention to himself, despite being a work of art itself! This is key, because Jhin isn't interested in showing himself off. He's an artist. He still wants to look the part and appear elegant, but it's the ART that needs to be seen.

This notion is further established as his base skin's ability effects are seen.

"Death is inevitable, but killing doesn't have to be ugly."

While 's own outfit is quite plain, the colors of his gunfire are an almost white mix of blue and purple, being more blue upon firing and closer to pink / purple on impact. His Q starts from a bright lavender color and as it bounces around and powers up, picks up more and more red while leaving behind flower petal-like effects on impact. His W is white with streaks of red and has a flash of purple on impact, leaving a white-purple effect when rooting a target. His lotus traps follow the same white / blue / purple color scheme while turning dark red on explosion, leaving behind a rose-like impression on the ground with rose petal-like effects in the air. His ultimate follows the same color scheme as his shots from Whisper until the fourth shot which is a dark red. All his effects added together in a fight leads to beautiful effects with flower petals everywhere and bright mixtures of white, blue, purple, and red. It really cements the notion that his act of killing is an art. Aesthetics matching his obsession with art? Check!

Next is 's gameplay. Let me just note and list the obvious first. has an obsession with the number "4" and it is a recurring theme throughout his kit. As someone that originates from Ionia, which seems to follow some cultural aspects of the Orient, it makes sense as the number "4" is considered a death number. He has only 4 bullets per reload, his Q can hit up to 4 targets, and he gets 4 shots of his ultimate per use. He has no mobility aside from his passive speed boost on crits (scaling with attack speed), has a fixed Reload time and Attack Speed that CANNOT be adjusted by any means, and a boost to damage per shot scaling off of crit chance, attack speed, and attack damage. On the other hand, his 4th shot on both Whisper and his Ultimate are incredibly dangerous and his Q also has the potential to be if it kills multiple targets leading to the 4th hit. His E has an AoE slow and huge scaling damage, but can be walked out of even at level 1 without boots or boosts. His W and R have incredible range and his W, despite a long cast delay, can root targets marked by teammate damage, Lotus Traps, or Jhin's auto attacks.

Going over how this all fits together:

• Jhin only gets 4 shots so unless he can kill a target in 4 or less + spells, he may have to run for his life, especially against ADC's like Draven, Twitch, or Vayne that will simply chase him down and likely kill him during the reload time.

• Aside from his first cast of Q and shots of Whisper, Jhin has no guaranteed damage. This means he has no guaranteed damage outside of 550 range, so from outside, enemies can always dodge his attacks or have tanks body-block for them.

• W has a long cast delay (for which he is immobile), R leaves him immobile, and E has an arming time, after which it can be walked out of even if triggered. This means enemies that enter close range combat with Jhin will often be able to run circles around him with little hindrance.

• Jhin has a butt-ton of non-guaranteed damage on his E and it also slows and marks targets. If Jhin accurately lands W to root enemies while they stand on a trap, squishies will often lose over half their health in the late-game. It makes planning where to place traps and choosing where to shoot from all the more important (avoid the tank, nail the squishy on the trap, try not to die in the process).

• There's no limit to how many E traps Jhin can place, except based on his recharge time for traps. If an enemy team can be lured into a region where traps are scattered, entire fights can be turned around as squishies chasing behind the frontline are often the ones blown up by the traps.

• Jhin's W and R are both dodgeable and can be body-blocked, but W roots while R does heavy damage. Playing around teammates makes all the difference as they help determine who can be shot easily, who can be rooted, and who can't. It really supports team play, but also falls apart with uncooperative teammates.

All in all, Jhin is most successful when his actions are planned out and executed well in concert with teammates. Not only do his abilities make for more interesting gameplay than the standard ADC might have, it opens up options both when fighting as Jhin or against Jhin. Jhin has methods of contributing to the team even while behind, and his kit's limitations make it possible to deal with him when he's ahead, especially if his team isn't working well together.

Ultimately, the thematic of Jhin being hellbent on thoughtful and carefully performed killings ties in very well to his gameplay. He isn't like some other ADCs that will simply steamroll with autoattacks if they're ahead.

I think the most memorable line when playing as Jhin is "Start the music. I will make them dance." It suits the feeling I have when I watch opponents scatter and jitter about to evade E traps, dodge Ws, avoid Q bounces, and block or evade R shots.

I'm running out of time, but lastly, I want to give props to the sounds team. Base Jhin's sound effects and voice acting are very pleasing to hear. From loud crisp "BANG"s to the whirring of triggered traps or the auditory warning of a focused W shot greatly add to the experience of being a character that talks about orchestras and song and music. The explosions and various noises added together in a fight make playing as Jhin all the more pleasurable.

"Each bullet is a song."

Thank you to those that made the character that I have played as my main for the past two seasons. Khada Jhin