Guide · ADC

Jinx Guide

the Loose Cannon

Marksman

Tier A ADC

Jinx, the Loose Cannon, is a marksman champion of medium difficulty. Across our 1528 analysed ranked games, Jinx is mostly played as ADC (100% of its games), with a 51.0% win rate in that role: tier A among ADC champions (#10 of 36, ranked by win rate). Jinx's damage is mostly physical (96%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate stays steady whatever the game length (50.3% to 52.4%): a reliable pick in every phase of the game.

Averages measured over 1528 ADC games played with Jinx, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

Combos and how to play

Jinx is a marksman who becomes dominant as soon as she is well protected. Her passive gives her a huge movement and attack speed bonus on every takedown, letting her chain kills in a fight that is already well engaged. She alternates between the minigun, which ramps up attack speed, and the rocket launcher, which hits in an area at longer range but costs mana. Her weakness is a lack of defense: if her chompers miss, she is vulnerable.

The fringe of the team fight

W › AA AA › AA AA

When: A fight breaks out and your team is protecting you.

Stay on the edge of the fight, use Zap! then your rockets, and only pull out the minigun when it is safe. Each takedown triggers your passive: the speed you gain lets you chain onto the next target.

Defending against a diver

E › W › Q › AA AA

When: An enemy jumps on you.

Place Flame Chompers on their path: they root the enemy when stepped on. Slow them with Zap!, then swap back to the minigun with Switcheroo! to finish them at close range.

The ultimate to finish a target

R

When: A weakened enemy is fleeing or standing far from you.

Super Mega Death Rocket crosses the map and its damage grows during its flight, based on the target's missing health: the farther you are from the target, the harder the ultimate hits. Fire it from afar to secure a kill or a chase.

Laning phase

Use rockets on minions to hit nearby enemy champions without drawing their attention, and switch to the minigun as soon as an enemy gets too close. Keep your Flame Chompers to defend yourself: their long cooldown makes them your main protection. Zap! slows and reveals the target at very long range, ideal to set up a trade.

Common mistakes

• Spamming rockets when an enemy is next to you: the minigun takes time to ramp up its attack speed.
• Wasting your chompers at the start of a fight: without them, you have no defense.
• Using the ultimate up close: the closer the target, the less damage it deals.

Riot's official tips for playing Jinx

• Rockets aren't always the best choice! Jinx's minigun is incredibly powerful when fully ramped up. Switch to it whenever an enemy champion gets too close.
• Jinx's rockets deal full damage to all enemies in the explosion. Use them on minions in lane to hit nearby enemy champions without drawing minion aggro.
• When a fight starts try to stay on the edge of fray by poking with rockets and Zap!. Do not run in and unload with the minigun until you feel it is safe.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Hexoptics C44, Infinity Edge, and Runaan's Hurricane (553 games, 58.1% win rate).

Hexoptics C44+Infinity Edge+Runaan's Hurricane

553 games · 58.1%

Infinity Edge+Lord Dominik's Regards+Runaan's Hurricane

300 games · 59.7%

Hexoptics C44+Infinity Edge+Lord Dominik's Regards

295 games · 60.3%

Summoner spells

Flash + Barrier52.3% · 1151 games

Flash + Ghost48.1% · 183 games

Cleanse + Flash48.8% · 123 games

Exhaust + Flash46.6% · 58 games

Most-played runes

Lethal Tempo + Inspiration

54.6% · 879 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind97%

Legend: Bloodline90%

Cut Down91%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cash Back93%

Triple Tonic66%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Adaptive force100%

Health91%

Lethal Tempo + Sorcery

47.1% · 607 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind96%

Legend: Bloodline92%

Coup de Grace55%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Gathering Storm98%

Absolute Focus94%

Shards

Attack speed89%

Adaptive force99%

Health scaling60%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Jinx's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team54.4% · 465 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Hexoptics C44 57.7% ▲

Infinity Edge 60.2%

Runaan's Hurricane 57.6% ▲

Lord Dominik's Regards 62.0% ▲

Phantom Dancer 53.5%

Yun Tal Wildarrows 49.4%

The item that stands out most is Hexoptics C44: 57.7% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team50.9% · 383 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Hexoptics C44 53.5%

Infinity Edge 57.9%

Runaan's Hurricane 53.6%

Lord Dominik's Regards 56.0%

Phantom Dancer 55.6%

Yun Tal Wildarrows 57.4% ▲

The item that stands out most is Yun Tal Wildarrows: 57.4% win rate, +6 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team48.8% · 680 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Hexoptics C44 49.6% ▼

Runaan's Hurricane 50.8%

Infinity Edge 55.6%

Lord Dominik's Regards 56.9%

Phantom Dancer 55.4%

Yun Tal Wildarrows 49.1%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Jinx as ADC

Xayah Jinx: 35.0%20 games

Xayah has the edge in 65% of the 20 ADC duels against Jinx. See the Xayah guide.

Miss Fortune Jinx: 42.9%28 games

Miss Fortune has the edge in 57% of the 28 ADC duels against Jinx. See the Miss Fortune guide.

Caitlyn Jinx: 45.1%71 games

Caitlyn has the edge in 55% of the 71 ADC duels against Jinx. See the Caitlyn guide.

Ashe Jinx: 46.9%49 games

Ashe has the edge in 53% of the 49 ADC duels against Jinx. See the Ashe guide.

Tristana Jinx: 48.9%45 games

Tristana has the edge in 51% of the 45 ADC duels against Jinx. See the Tristana guide.

Who Jinx is strong against

Aphelios65.4% · 26 games

Twitch62.5% · 24 games

Vayne61.9% · 21 games

Zeri60.0% · 30 games

Ezreal55.6% · 63 games

How to play against Jinx

• Jinx's minigun takes time to ramp up. If you see her poking with rockets try to jump on her and burst her down.
• Jinx's ultimate does less damage the closer you are to her.
• Jinx's snare grenades have a long cooldown and are her primary means of protecting herself. If she misses with them she will have a hard time escaping if engaged upon.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Jinx's matchups.

Abilities

PassiveGet Excited!

Jinx receives massively increased Move Speed and Attack Speed whenever she helps kill or destroy an enemy champions epic jungle monster, or structure.

QSwitcheroo!

Jinx modifies her basic attacks by swapping between Pow-Pow, her minigun and Fishbones, her rocket launcher. Attacks with Pow-Pow grant Attack Speed, while attacks with Fishbones deal area of effect damage, gain increased range, but drain Mana and attack slower.

WZap!

Jinx uses Zapper, her shock pistol, to fire a blast that deals damage to the first enemy hit, slowing and revealing it.

EFlame Chompers!

Jinx throws out a line of snare grenades that explode after 5 seconds, lighting enemies on fire. Flame Chompers will bite enemy champions who walk over them, rooting them in place.

RSuper Mega Death Rocket!

Jinx fires a super rocket across the map that gains damage as it travels. The rocket will explode upon colliding with an enemy champion, dealing damage to it and surrounding enemies based on their missing Health.

Frequently asked questions

Full Jinx page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides