Dark Harvest Jhin – The Ultimate Build Guide

Jhin has been one of the most popular ADC picks in the last couple of years in League of Legends. And even though his playstyle is different than any other marksman champion in the game, it allows players to carry games up to Challenger. Jhin has amazing damage and can often one-shot enemy if properly fed. And recently, many professional and high elo players have been forcing the Dark Harvest Jhin build.

Why Do People Play Jhin with Dark Harvest?

In season 12, Dark Harvest is the most broken keystone, right beside Conqueror. Dark Harvest can scale infinitely. And the longer the game goes on, the more damage you do with Dark Harvest. 

And so, there are two primary reasons why Jhin goes perfectly well with Dark Harvest. 

For starters, Jhin can easily collect Dark Harvest souls from his enemies without even getting near them. His W, Deadly Flourish, has a pretty long range, allowing Jhin to snipe enemies from afar. The same can be for his ultimate, Curtain Call, which also allows him to damage enemies from afar and collect their Dark Harvest stacks.

And second, because Dark Harvest does so much damage in the late game, Jhin can safely score kills much easier than before. Instead of auto-attacking and kiting the enemy tanks, Jhin can activate his ultimate and use all 4 shots on an opponent. With Dark Harvest, it’s very likely that you’ll slay the enemy with only Jhin’s ultimate. So, it’s a win-win build for Jhin!

That said, let’s jump onto the runes and items guide for playing Dark Harvest Jhin!

Also read: Manamune Jhin – A Complete Guide

The Best Dark Harvest Jhin Runes

Dark Harvest

Of course, Dark Harvest is the main rune in this build. This entire playstyle is based around Dark Harvest and using as few attacks as possible, but as powerful as possible as well. Jhin already fits in this category, so it’s another reason why he and Dark Harvest are a great match.

Dark Harvest allows you to collect stacks when you damage enemies below 50% HP. You can do this every 45 seconds or every 1.5 seconds if you score a kill/assist in the meantime. These stacks grant you permanent damage against targets on low HP for the rest of the game.

And so, when you have more than 10 or 15 stacks, your 4th shot is likely to slay an enemy below 40-50% HP. It depends on how fed you are and the champion you’re hitting, but that’s the goal – one shot!

Taste of Blood

The next rune you need to take is Taste of Blood. This is generally the most recommended pick in the second row of the Domination tree, simply because it gives the most value out of all. It allows you to heal yourself for a small portion when you damage an enemy champion, which is quite handy in the laning phase. Taste of Bloof has only 20 seconds cooldown.

Cheap Shot is another great rune to use on Dark Harvest Jhin. You can sometimes swap it for Taste of Blood, especially in games where you won’t need to heal as much (if you play with protective supports such as Soraka, Lulu, etc.). Cheap Shot allows you to do more damage to enemies while they’re in crowd control, which also includes your slows and snares.

Eyeball Collection

Eyeball collection is a simple rune that increases your attack damage when you slay enemy champions. Each kill rewards you with 1.2 bonus AD. And after 10 kills, it permanently grants you 6 bonus attack damage.

If you’re more comfortable playing with Zombie Ward or Ghost Poro runes, then definitely go for them. Eyeball Collection is the easiest one to utilize in that row, so that’s why it’s always recommended. But all 3 runes give nearly the same value.

Ravenous Hunter

Ravenous Hunter is the last rune you should take from Domination, and it’s probably the most important one after Dark Harvest. Ravenous Hunter works on stacks that are gained by scoring kills or assist from 5 different enemy champions. These stacks grant you a permanent Omnivamp which allows you to heal yourself while dealing damage with abilities.

Jhin is already a champion that uses his abilities more often than your average ADC pick, so the rune gives him a lot of value. Being able to heal while using your ultimate or Q is a great way to stay alive in team fights.

Presence of Mind

Next, we have Presence of Mind. Presence of Mind got a little rework in season 12, and it now grants mana regeneration for up to 80% when you damage an enemy champion. This means that if you poke your lane opponent with your W, you’ll quickly regenerate your mana spent (the effect lasts for 4 seconds).

Additionally, Presence of Mind instantly restores 15% of your total mana when you score a kill or an assist. This is a great way to keep your mana at 100% throughout the team fight, so you spam your bombs and roots on your enemy.

Coup de Grace

And the last rune you need to have is Coup de Grace. This is another simple rune that allows you to deal 8% more damage to targets below 40% HP. This synergizes well with Dark Harvest and makes your 4th shots much scarier.

But in some games, you’ll want to swap Coup de Grace for something else. Legend: Tenacity is a great rune for combating crowd control, so you should always pick it up against Morgana. And Legend: Bloodline is pretty helpful for healing yourself throughout the match.

Also read: Why is Pyke Broken?

The Best Dark Harvest Jhin Item Build

Galeforce

The mythic item that goes perfectly with the Dark Harvest Jhin playstyle is Galeforce. And there are a few reasons why that is so.

First of all, if you take a look at the two other marksman mythics in the game – Immortal Shieldbow and Kraken Slayer, you’ll see that they don’t synergize with Jhin’s playstyle at all. For example, Immortal Shieldbow grants attack speed, which Jhin doesn’t really need that much. And Kraken Slayer grants true damage on every 3rd basic attack, but Jhin’s strongest attack is the 4th one.

On the other hand, Galeforce solves one big problem that Jhin has as a champion – mobility. It allows him to dash away from his enemies and dodge abilities that would normally hurt him. Galeforce also deals bonus damage, which is increased against targets below 30% HP. Again, this all synergizes well together.

The Collector

The second item you need in the Dark Harvest Jhin build is The Collector. The Collector grants everything that Jhin needs, from Lethality to critical strike. But the primary reason why you want The Collector in your inventory is for its passive effect.

The Collector executes enemies when you damage them below 5% HP. It doesn’t really matter how much that 5% is. This increases the chances that you’ll one-shot an enemy champion when they’re low on Health, so definitely purchase it.

Rapid Firecannon

Next, we have Rapid Firecannon. This is a go-to item for Jhin regardless of whether you’re playing the Dark Harvest build or not. It extends the range of his auto-attack every 5-6 seconds, making it easy for him to mark enemies for his W. 

Rapid Firecannon also grants movement speed and critical strike, so it’s a useful item for Jhin overall.

Infinity Edge

Infinity Edge is the largest damage boost that Jhin can get from an item in League. Not only does it grant a 20% critical strike, but it also gives Jhin an additional 35% crit chance if he has at least 60% crit chance. 

With the 3 items purchased above, Galeforce, The Collector, and Rapid Firecannon, Jhin’s crit chance is already 60%, so Infinity Edge ramps it up to 100%. This means that every auto-attack will be a critical strike for Jhin, which is ultimately what you want on this champion.

Keep in mind that Jhin’s ultimate can also crit.

Lord Dominik’s Regard

And the last legendary item you should consider on Jhin is Lord Dominik’s Regard. This is your late game power spike, and you mostly buy it for the armor penetration. Lord Dominik’s Regard grants 35% flat armor penetration, but its passive is also useful to Jhin.

This item allows you to deal up to 15% bonus damage based on how much more max HP your target has over you. In other words, if you’re fighting Cho’Gath with Jhin, you’ll do way more damage to him than Nami, for example.

So, always buy Lord Dominik’s Regard in the late game.

Boots of Swiftness

Boots of Swiftness are easily the best boots for Jhin. They grant 60 flat movement speed, but they also reduce the power of all slowing effects. This way, Jhin can move more freely around the map and remain safe, even in the late game.

Summoner’s Spells

For Summoner’s Spells, the choice for Jhin is pretty obvious.

Flash is a mandatory spell for Jhin, and it’s almost impossible to play without it. Jhin lacks mobility, and besides Galeforce, he doesn’t have anything else to escape his opponents. So, Flash is the best spell to have.

Heal is generally recommended for playing Jhin too. It’s useful for 2v2 fights in the bot lane because you can also heal. 

However, Exhaust can also be very valuable, especially against assassins. It allows you to survive your opponent’s burst in a fight, so definitely consider taking it.

Conclusion

Those are the essentials you need for playing Jhin with Dark Harvest. Like I mentioned above, the playstyle allows you to deal incredible damage with your abilities. You can literally one-shot an enemy once they get near 50% HP, which is pretty good for carrying games in solo queue.

So, definitely try this build!