This came as a request over on YouTube, but I did want to get around to this character eventually. There are definitely a few stretches, but I think overall it makes for a very fun build that has a lot of options available to it. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
I'm going on vacation starting this weekend, but will be back July 22nd. Until then, have a good one!
Naturally, you can check out a video on the character over here on YouTube.
Let's get into the build for Jhin, the Virtuoso from League of Legends!
JHIN, THE VIRTUOSO
CHARACTER Khada Jhin
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Predominantly a marksman who mostly deals damage with attacks, Jhin is also classified as a catcher who specializes in locking down foes and creating zones of threat
o He is armed with Whisper, a handgun with four rounds that always critically hits with the last shot. He converts attack speed into damage and gains a speed boost whenever he critically strikes
o He carries a number of other weapons including a Dancing Grenade, a grenade that bounces between four enemies
o Deadly Flourish fires a long-range shot in a direction that deals damage to all enemies and will root marked enemies while also speeding up Jhin
o In addition to his grenades, Jhin has lotus traps that he can place with Captive Audience. Enemies that step on the traps are slowed as they activate and explode after a short delay
o His ultimate, Curtain Call, causes him to transform Whisper into a rifle that fires rounds that shoot through everybody and deal increased damage based on missing health. The fourth and final shot is always a crit
o Jhin was an Ionian serial killer known for using knives who was caught by the Kinkou only to be released by Ionian officials and armed with new weapons that he has taken to
Summary of Goals: Jhin is a gunman with a focus on slow but powerful shots who includes snares and grenades in his arsenal. He is able to lock down enemies before transforming his handgun into a sniper rifle that fires shots powerful enough to rip through all enemies in the way. Despite being a ruthless murderer, he claims his work is art and is obsessed with aesthetics – as well as the number four.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Skilled Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Charisma
o Ancestry Feat: Courteous Comeback
o Skill Increase: Performance (trained)
Background: Artist
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Crafting (trained), Art Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Specialty Crafting (Alchemy)
Class & Subclass: Way of the Sniper Gunslinger
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Deception (trained), Intimidation (trained), Medicine (trained), Society (trained), Stealth (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Class Feat: Munitions Crafter
o Skill Feat: Alchemical Crafting
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +1, Dex +4, Con +0, Int +2, Wis +0, Cha +2)
Jhin is a very weird guy who should maybe use an ancestry to represent that, but I have no idea which he would actually use, and so I settled on the human ancestry. This does come with the skilled heritage, which will make him trained in Performance to reference the cover he used as Khada Jhin. Even while killing people, Jhin maintains a charming veneer, which comes in the form of Courteous Comeback though this is a little bit of filling in the blanks. Given his obsession with artistry, an obsession that drives Jhin to kill, I settled on the artist background though give his use of bombs and firearms, a Specialty Crafting in alchemy for it made the most sense. He can even make use of it right off the bat because delving into the gunslinger class, based off of how he presently appears in game, will let him grab the Munitions Crafter feat and gain Alchemical Crafting. It is far from perfect, but Jhin will actually be relying on the bombs from this feat to represent his Dancing Grenade. These bombs obviously don’t bounce between enemies, but they do instead hit multiple enemies all at once, which might have to stand-in for this effect. Of particular note are the star grenades, which explode in four branches rather than just a regular burst. Additionally, Jhin is noted to create his own magic-infused bullets, which this can aid with. As for Jhin’s gunslinger way, I could see an argument for pistolero since his Whisper is typically a handgun, but the sniper aspect feels more important to the character or at least serves to distinguish him from other gunmen. It’s One Shot, One Kill almost serves as a reversal of his passive where the first shot deals extra damage instead of the final shot being a guaranteed crit.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Inventor Dedication – Weapon Innovation
o Skill Feat: Snare Crafting
o Skill Increase: Nature (trained)
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Crafting (expert)
o Gear: +1 slide pistol, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Basic Breakthrough – Tamper
o Skill Feat: Magical Crafting
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 slide pistol, necklace of knives, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4.5, Con +0, Int +3, Wis +0, Cha +3)
o Ancestry Feat: Clever Improviser
o Skill Increase: Arcana (trained), Deception (expert), Performance (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking slide pistol, bracelet of dashing, crafter’s eyepiece, necklace of knives, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
While Jhin wasn’t the creator of his current weapon, he influenced its design and has assembled his other assortment of weapons, which is the flavor justification for taking an Inventor Dedication that does have some more functional reasons for taking it that will be explored down the line. With the work he’s done on Whisper, that will obviously be his weapon innovation. He needs some later level feats from the inventor and to get to them, he needs to take Basic Breakthrough, but there aren’t great options for him. Tamper is a melee ability, but at least it inflicts enemies with a slow or otherwise inhibits them, playing into his role as a catcher. He takes Snare Crafting and now that I write about this, I think there’s supposed to be more stuff for it in Player Core 2. But while this doesn’t give him snares everyday, it will allow him to make his lotus traps that he makes as part of his Captive Audience. Regrettably, there aren’t a lot of snares that slow and deal damage – biting snare might be the best for that, but if you want to focus on simply slowing enemies, the hobbling snare works best. Since it mentions that Jhin machines his own magic-infused bullets, he also takes up Magical Crafting. Fleet speeds Jhin up, based on the movement speed increase of his critical hits. Clever Improviser as his final feat in the block is a little more flavorful, but is based on his role as a performer, stagehand, and murderer – roles that require a wide variety of skills to pull off successfully for as long as he did.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Munitions Machinist
o Skill Feat: Charming Liar
o Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking slide pistol, alchemist goggles, bracelet of dashing, masquerade scarf, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Crafting (master)
o Gear: greater goz mask, +1 leather, quick runner’s shirt, +1 striking slide pistol, bracelet of dashing, crafter’s eyepiece
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Advanced Breakthrough – Dual-Form Weapon
o Skill Feat: Impeccable Crafting
o Gear: boots of bounding, stag’s helm, greater goz mask, +1 leather, +1 striking slide pistol, +1 striking arquebus
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Incredible Improvisation
o Skill Increase: Deception (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, deathdrinking weapon rune, greater goz mask, +1 striking arquebus, +1 striking slide pistol
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +5, Con +1, Int +3, Wis +1, Cha +4)
o Class Feat: Advanced Breakthrough – Megaton Strike
o Skill Feat: Vicious Critique
o Gear: greater magnifying scope, +1 resilient leather, frost weapon rune, boots of bounding, +1 striking arquebus, +1 striking slide pistol
Munitions Machinist builds out of Munitions Crafter solely to increase its effectiveness and then Jhin picks up Advanced Breakthrough to make Whisper into a sniper rifle as seen during his Curtain Call. In the lore, this is done by combining it with the mass accelerator that he carries but in this case, he can fold his slide pistol out into an arquebus. The only issue I have with this is that for some reason, runes aren’t shared between these two weapons forms. This is dumb and if you have this feat in my game, I would never do something like that to you. It’s honestly obnoxious. Anyway, he can also take Megaton Strike from his archetype, which will give him a way to blast enemies, creating that sort of guaranteed crit of his Whisper. With his focus on Deception, which is inspired by his ability to operate for as long as he did, he’ll use Charming Liar to ingratiate himself to others. His other skill feats have at least some sort of focus on Crafting with Impeccable Crafting increasing his ability to make alchemical items while Vicious Critique is based on his perfectionist attitude, sinister presence, and his habit of critiquing the artistic values of others. Based on his speed, he takes Feather Step to quickly extricate himself from sticky situations. Rounding out his feat options for this round is Incredible Improvisation, building out of his Clever Improviser, to simply increase his effectiveness.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Performance (master)
o Gear: +2 striking slide pistol, cape of grand entrances, greater magnifying scope, +1 resilient leather, boots of bounding, +1 striking arquebus
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Penetrating Fire
o Skill Feat: Triumphant Boast
o Gear: +2 resilient leather, +2 striking slide pistol, +2 striking arquebus, greater magnifying scope, frost weapon rune, smokey hag eye
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Hardy Traveler
o Skill Increase: Stealth (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking slide pistol, +2 resilient leather, ring of maniacal devices, +2 striking arquebus, cape of grand entrances, greater magnifying scope
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Running Reload
o Skill Feat: Tweak Appearances
o Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking slide pistol, +2 greater striking arquebus, +2 resilient leather, charlatan’s cape, impactful weapon rune
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +5.5, Con +1, Int +4, Wis +2, Cha +4.5)
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Deception (legendary), Occultism (trained)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, eye of fortune, +2 greater striking slide pistol, ring of maniacal devices, +2 striking arquebus
The shot from Deadly Flourish passes through all enemies and Curtain Call shoots through minions, which will be represented through Penetrating Fire during this block. Running Reload is a more generally useful class feat that is further inspired by his enhanced speed coming off of a crit, represented by the compression of actions rather than the increase of speed. Triumphant Boast lets him put on a show before intimidating someone while Tweak Appearances lets him make somebody more presentable, which is something that may have happened while he was a stagehand. Across the lands of League, Jhin is actually a highly accomplished traveler who has been to a number of nations, which calls to mind the Hardy Traveler ancestry feat. While Jhin isn’t particularly durable, no marksmen really are, Toughness is gonna increase his survivability within the world of Pathfinder.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Called Shot
o Skill Feat: Reveal Machinations
o Gear: greater astral weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, fortune’s coin (platinum), propulsive boots, +2 greater striking slide pistol, +2 greater striking arquebus
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Stubborn Persistence
o Skill Increase: Crafting (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking slide pistol, greater astral weapon rune, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking arquebus
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Final Shot
o Skill Feat: Craft Anything
o Gear: cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking slide pistol, +3 greater striking arquebus, greater astral weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: True Perception
o Skill Increase: Performance (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather, cloak of swiftness, +3 greater striking arquebus, +3 greater striking slide pistol, greater astral weapon rune, greater frost weapon rune
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +6, Con +2, Int +4, Wis +3, Cha +5)
o Class Feat: Perfect Readiness
o Skill Feat: Confabulator
o Gear: +3 major striking slide pistol, +3 greater resilient leather, mercurial mantle, major magnifying scope, greater ashen weapon rune, +3 greater striking arquebus
In addition to being a marksman, Jhin is meant to fill the role of a catcher and Called Shot helps with that, allowing him to inflict various conditions but most valuable, in regards to representing Jhin, may be his ability to slow targets, like his lotus traps or inspired slightly by the root of his Deadly Flourish. Every fourth shot from Whisper is a guaranteed crit and Final Shot at eighteenth level gives a guaranteed crit as long as the Strike hits. This then leaves him off-guard and stunned 1, which could even represent his reloading. Then he takes Perfect Readiness as his capstone feat. This isn’t representative of anything in particular, but its better than the other capstone feat and quickened is always great. Reveal Machinations feels right for Jhin, particularly some of the shenanigans he pulled with Shen and Zed following his release though I guess that’s less him deceiving and more him being an overblown villain. Since he has legendary Crafting, it felt right to take Craft Anything. Finally, last block granted Jhin Ghost Shot, which lets him add the extra damage from One Shot, One Kill as a single action with the flourish trait. His Stealth isn’t the best, but he can use his Deception to Create a Diversion to become hidden for it and taking Confabulator as his final skill feat helps him reuse that tactic. Jhin is driven by his compulsions and designs to his own detriment, lending to Stubborn Persistent. Finally, True Perception simply feels like the right fit for a sniper.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: In a free archetype game, Jhin can pick up options from the Inventor Dedication such as Brilliant Crafter to free up some skill increases as well as other inventor feats like Clockwork Celerity to go faster or Megavolt to create the line of his Deadly Flourish. I can’t in good conscience suggest Sniper Duo since he is something of a loner, but he could focus on Whisper in its one-handed state with a Pistol Phenom Dedication. This does have the added benefit of utilizing his Performance skill for feats such as Gunpowder Gauntlet, Dazzling Bullet, and even as part of his Pistol Twirl.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Jhin, the Virtuoso is a skilled human gunslinger who follows the way of the sniper and has a background as an artist, reflecting both his work as a stagehand and his philosophy regarding his killings. His iconic weapon, Whisper, is initially represented by your choice of a single-handed firearm with capacity trait, none of which, unfortunately, have four rounds. Final Shot allows him to turn a successful hit into a critical hit based on the guaranteed crit of his fourth shot while his speed boost following a crit comes from the likes of Fleet and Running Reload. Alternatively, he can use Megaton Strike to create a high damage Strike with greater ease than the gunslinger is otherwise able to. He is regrettably reliant upon bombs to recreate his Dancing Grenade, gained from Munitions Crafter and then Machinist, but none of them bounce. However, they do hit in an area, which stands in for the single target bounces. For his foe-piercing Deadly Flourish, Jhin can use Penetrating Fire while relying on the slowing effect of Called Shot to bring to mind the way it is able to lock enemies down. To create his lotus traps as part of Captive Audience, he will have to rely on Crafting once more with the Snare Crafting feat and likely using snares such as biting or hobbling snares. He uses Dual-Form Weapon to convert Whisper into its rifle form for Curtain Call, arquebus seems to be the best option for it, and then using options such as Penetrating Fire and Final Shot to create its effects. Jhin is also a capable liar through his investment in Deception, allowing him to carry out his crimes without anybody the wiser. Bringing it altogether, Jhin is a sniper who takes methodical but powerful shots with his Final Shot and Megaton Strike while adding to his arsenal with bombs from Munitions Machinist and traps from Snare Crafting. The stun effects of firearms as well as Called Shot help him pin down enemies and Dual-Form Weapon lets him switch his weapon from a pistol to a rifle.
This sinister sniper seeks a sublime showing of suffering, sending cessations of survival through certain shots while swiftly celebrating the sensations with sadistic satisfaction.
Let me know what you think and what other builds you would like to see.
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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