Jinx is a high-risk, high-reward pick because she has incredible late-game damage, but you become pretty useless if you fall off in the early game. That is why the most significant counter to Jinx is stopping her from farming effectively in the early game, and there are lots of champions who can zone her away from the minion range.
Poke champions and CC-based supports dampen her farming capabilities. You also might want to avoid teamfights with her during the late game and if she has her core items. She deals increased damage during teamfights because of her rockets combined with Runaan’s Hurricane, each rocket deals AOE damage. With all that in mind, let us take a look at 5 of the best Support champions you can use to counter her.
5. Leona
Leona is one of the best counters to Jinx because of her sheer amount of CC. She has a root, and several stuns she can use to immobilize Jinx for more than 5 seconds. She can even slow her movement speed and attack speed down after those stuns. You can build many items on Leona to counter Jinx on different occasions. Let’s look at different playstyles you can use to counter Jinx throughout the game.
Early Game Playstyle
Leona can be aggressive support with this one, especially Jinx has nothing to offer in damage in the early game. Once Leona learns all 3 of her spells, she can immediately engage Jinx and fight with her. It will also be accessible for Leona’s ADC to follow up because, at level 3 alone, Leona can stun Jinx for more or less than 3 seconds.
This is enough time and damage to kill Jinx. Once you gain the upper hand or first blood on Jinx, never let her back in the game by zoning her away from the minions. Extend your lead by controlling the wave under your tower, giving no exp or gold to Jinx. This will lead to Jinx stealing her jungler’s camps and eventually their team’s downfall.
Mid Game Playstyle and Build
Try to buy simple enchant items you can use on your ADC, like a Zeke’s or a Knight’s vow. These items could go a long way when fighting with Jinx. Also, try to build either a Randuin’s Omen or a Frozen heart when facing Jinx in the mid-game as these items significantly dampen her damage, and Frozen’s heart also slows her attack speed down. Randuin’s is also a great item you can use after doing your CC combo on Jinx to slow her movement speed down and stop her from running away.
Late Game Playstyle
With all of your late game items, Jinx won’t damage you anymore, so engaging her would be easy. You can also build a Stoneplate as your last item so you can pick her off even when she is in the middle of her team. Immediately engage Jinx even on teamfights because if she’s left alone to hit your allies free, she can be a massive problem for your team. Once she scores a takedown (kill/assist), she gets incredibly empowered, so try to pin her down every time a teamfight erupts.
Questions:
Q. What if Jinx decides to rotate to the top and avoid me whenever I try to match her lane?
A. Stop following her and focus on helping your ADC push your lane and farm faster. You will be able to counter her whenever there are teamfights because your ultimate range is very long.
Q. What should I do if Jinx win’s the early game and gains a lead on me and my ADC?
A. Break, late-game her lane freeze by letting the wave crash on her tower, have your jungler help you, and keep it under the tower. Have your Mid and Jungler gank your lane often to stop Jinx’s snowball. If left alone, she can demolish your entire team.
Also read: How to Play Against Jayce?
4. Senna
A hybrid support/ADC that can out damage most ADC champions during the late game thanks to her passive. Senna has a long-range to poke Jinx in the early game. She can also pick the glacial augment rune or the Grasp of the undying rune to empower her pokes against Jinx.
She can also deal tons of damage once she builds her first lethality item with her pokes. Senna’s heal/damage Q is also great when fighting Jinx along with Senna’s ADC. Her ultimate can also be a tremendous initiating spell when fighting against Jinx.
Early Game Playstyle
During the early game, you can abuse your range and Q poke on Jinx to gain a hp advantage on her. Grasp of the undying is also a great rune to extend the damage you can deal on Jinx. Once you learn your Q and W, laning will be much easier for you and your ADC as you can poke and zone Jinx simultaneously. Once you zone her away from minions, keep it that way so you can stop her from farming.
However, once you caught her with your W, you can use this opportunity to have your ADC follow up on this. It will be a free trade because you can use your Q and line it up to your ADC and Jinx. The heal would be a great way for trade because Jinx will have no value in return. Just make sure you have a mana flow band or a presence of mind so you don’t easily run out of mana.
Mid Game Playstyle and Build
You might want to build as much damage as you can on Senna because when the late game comes, you will also be an ADC/assassin that will be able to one-shot Jinx. items like Duskblade or Divine sunderer are great items that escalate in value as the game progresses. Extend your lead on Jinx by playing aggressively, always lead a fight with your W and only start a fight with her when you root her. Be careful, though as Jinx can retaliate if she has another ally on her side besides her support.
Late Game Playstyle
You can act as an assassin in the late game and hide in the shadows to do a three-shot combo on Jinx. This will be enough to one-shot her in the late game with all of your passive stats and items. You can leave your ADC now and focus on dewarding the enemy’s jungle so you can get the jump on Jinx whenever you see her.
Questions:
Q. Can Senna 1v1 Jinx in the early game?
A. No, she can’t, so what you want to do is continue farming with your ADC. You will gain free stats by using your passive that frequently comes if your ADC is the one killing the minions. You will be able to 1v1 her during the late game so play patiently first.
Also read: Most Annoying Top Laners
3. Xerath
With the rising popularity of Mage support champions, Xerath is great Poke support you can use against Jinx. He counters Jinx so hard that Jinx becomes useless for her team as Xerath’s Q alone can bring Jinx’s HP down to a half bar. How much more if he does his full combo on Jinx. If Xerath manages to land a stun on Jinx, he can surely score a takedown on her.
If Jinx manages to get away using flash and heal, Xerath can still finish her off with his ult. Also, you won’t have to worry about peeling your ADC when playing Xerath, so you can focus on poking Jinx. However, let us take a look at the different playstyles on different phases of the game you can do to counter Jinx.
Early Game Playstyle
It is amusing to play Xerath against ADC champions with no dashes simply because you can easily hit all of your skills with relative ease. With Xerath in the laning phase, you don’t even have to worry about peeling your support because all you have to do is continuously use your spells on Jinx whenever she is near the minion’s range.
You can easily tilt her off by annoying her with your Q damage. You won’t lose mana as well because your passive lets you refund a portion of it every time it’s off cooldown. Just have the best time of your life and pester Jinx with your Q, and you’re good to go.
Mid Game Playstyle and Build
Easily, Luden’s tempest is the best item you can buy on Xerath as support to counter Jinx. The bonus damage could quickly keep Jinx’s hp extremely low on one hit. This item also gives you an increased mana pool so that you can go crazy on your spell casting.
Play aggressively even if you are behind because you easily outrange Jinx with every skill you have. If Jinx doesn’t build MR, just build items that boost your AP damage. However, if she builds MR, look to buy items that have magic penetration like a Void staff.
Late Game Playstyle
With Jinx being extremely behind, and you being an overpowered mage, you can easily cast your ult and kill Jinx with that alone. There is not much to be said here except that I pity Jinx players that faced Xerath support.
2. Vel’Koz
Like Xerath, Velkoz is an excellent mage support that can poke Jinx out of the lane. He also can one-shot Jinx with his combo once he reaches level 6. But unlike Xerath, Velkoz has no way of refunding his mana, so look to pick both mana flow band and presence of mind on him.
Early Game Playstyle
Velkoz has a unique Q: a skillshot splits in two when he reactivates it or reaches its destination. You can use this to your advantage by casting it on the side and using its recast to hit Jinx. It will be harder for her to predict where the projectile will be coming from so you can easily abuse this tactic, just make sure that you master it first before using it as you might cast it and not hit anything at all.
Mid Game Playstyle and Build
Luden’s Tempest and Seraph’s embrace should be your top priority item as it enables you to spam your spells more because it provides you with a huge mana pool. These items also provide you bonus AP to extend your burst damage on Jinx. It is funny when Jinx is faced with insane mages with burst damage.
All she can do is die again and again until she gets tilted or quit the game. Play aggressively and kill Jinx with your combo whenever you see her. Reaching her with your spells won’t be a problem because your spells have extremely long cast ranges.
Late Game Playstyle
Much like what you did in the mid-game, just focus your skills on her during teamfights and burst her down even when she is at her team’s backline.
Also read: How to Get Into eSports?
1. Lux
Lux was played as a support because of greedy picks, but now she is viable support which is excellent at poking immobile ADC champions. She has extraordinarily long-range and low cooldowns, making her a grand champion to counter Jinx. She is also a mage that doesn’t fall off in value even in the late game, so you can never go wrong with Lux as support when facing Jinx.
Early Game Playstyle
Always try to poke Jinx whenever you are at the suitable range to gain an early game hp advantage. Once you hit 3 of your E passive combo, her health would drop to half with all pots used. Once this happens, take this opportunity to zone her out of the lane and delay her farming.
Mid Game Playstyle
A Luden’s Tempest would be a great item on Lux, followed by Horizon Focus. You will have all of your spells during mid-game, and catching Jinx with your Q would spell doom for her as your combo is enough to finish her in one shot. Play very aggressively with your pokes and long-range skills. Abuse. Just significantly your ultimate as it has a very low cooldown.
Late Game Playstyle
It is pretty much basic. You will be the monster that everybody avoids during team fights. This is because once you catch them with your Q or two of them, you can quickly one-shot them with your combo along with Jinx.
Final Thoughts
Jinx is a squishy champion with no mobility, so poke champions work great on her and support with gap closers.
