BeryL’s Jhin support is terrorizing League of Legends solo queue

BeryL, the player who brought us Heimerdinger support at Worlds 2022 along with some other off meta picks, has been practicing Jhin support in his ranked games following his World Championship win.

Most champions in League of Legends are designed with a role in mind. While some characters like Gragas and Sejuani can be flexed into many different roles, they’re the exception and not the norm.

That said, players can sometimes be rewarded for thinking outside the box and trying new things. Cho ‘BeryL’ Geon-hee’s Heimerdinger support changed the way teams had to think about playing against DRX at Worlds 2022, and he made himself a massive threat on the otherwise unpopular champion. A big enough threat to have a massive contribution to their World Championship win.

Now, BeryL’s cooking up a new strategy on Jhin, a champion that wasn’t intended for any role other than ADC. He’s still testing the pick, but so far, BeryL has seen some success on the champion in Korean solo queue.

Can BeryL’s Jhin support actually work?

What makes a champion viable in the support role? That’s a question that’s pretty much impossible to answer given just how much variation there is in the role, but there’s a metric that’s great for judging whether or not a champion can be played in support: How useful is this champion without gold?

Support champions’ usefulness can most often be measured based on three metrics. They either 1) have high base damage and can be a relevant damage dealer without items, 2) provide healing and shielding to their allies, or 3) can peel for their allies via crowd control or by tanking damage for their carries.

Champs like Taric have overlap with all three of these characteristics, and any relevant support champion fulfills at least one of those criteria. While Jhin doesn’t have much in the way of healing and shielding, he does have strength in the role with his ability to deal high base damage and peel for allies. And, though support isn’t typically viewed as a carry role, it is possible to carry from support as detailed in our solo carry guide.

Jhin technically has three forms of CC, with his E and ultimate both having some pretty heavy slows attached to them, and his W rooting targets from very long range. Jhin also has high base damage due to the fact that he doesn’t rely too heavily on crit to make his abilities hit hard, and the % health damage shred on his fourth shot naturally has high burst damage.

So, if we’re looking at Jhin’s potential in the role, he can certainly be viable when compared to other champions in the role. But how does BeryL play him?

BeryL’s Jhin support build and runes

While BeryL switches up his runes from game to game depending on his opponent, this page encapsulates what he goes for most of the time. Dark Harvest allows him to stack up damage through poking down low targets, giving him more and more execute potential as the game goes on. Zombie Ward pairs well with the item Umbral Glaive to give Jhin a big damage boost for killing wards.

Meanwhile, Taste of Blood provides some healing and Treasure Hunter makes it a bit easier to get the snowball rolling for this very aggressive support champion.

Inspiration is BeryL’s go-to secondary choice, with Magical Footwear and Biscuit Delivery being taken almost every game. Footwear gives some bonus movement speed and provides gold efficiency by granting boots, an item Jhin needs to buy at some point anyways. Biscuit Delivery provides some sustain in lane for both mana and health.

The build is where things get a little strange. Here are his items in the order of which he normally buys them:

BeryL starts with his support item and some potions and immediately rushes into Umbral Glaive. It’s got great bang-for-your-buck gold value with the amount of damage it deals for the price, a relatively cheap build path, and a very helpful passive for support champions. The start of his Jhin build looks incredibly similar to that of Senna.

Things go off the rails a bit from there. BeryL opts into Dead Man’s Plate for the bonus movespeed, making an already speedy champion even harder to catch up to. Iceborne Gauntlet is his go-to Mythic item in games that go long enough for him to purchase the item, and it grants some survivability and bonus CC. Seeing as this build doesn’t have crit in it, the typical ADC crit Mythic items don’t grant much value on support Jhin.

For the last item, going Watchful Wardstone or a Magic Resist item is recommended.

BeryL’s max path is also a bit strange. He gets 3 points in his Q before maxing W and then E, getting points in ult wherever possible. His Q is valuable for pressure in lane, but it seems that BeryL opts for more long-range and trap damage as he exits the laning phase.

Should you try BeryL’s Jhin support?

Ultimately, Jhin support might end up being a real pick in the near future. BeryL hasn’t been the only one playing it, either. Kim ‘Kellin’ Hyeong-gyu, DWG KIA’s support player, has also been experimenting with the pick in his ranked games.

Should you first-time Jhin support in your ranked games? Probably not. But he’s worth trying, and seems to have some real merit as a support champion.

Check out more of our League of Legends guides below:

How to solo carry in League of Legends | Best ADCs in League of Legends | Best Junglers in League of Legends