Similar to League of Legends, the players of Korean Teamfight Tactics are incredibly creative in building and “pivoting” their strategies to adapt to the game situation. One of these is the “Korean Jhin” composition, a style that is highly favored by high-level players. This composition has a very unique build style that allows you to flip the game extremely quickly.
Generally, regardless of your playstyle, the composition is usually defined and built from the early game with indicators such as items and champions upgrading to stars early on. However, this building method can make your composition too predictable, and opponents can easily counter it from the beginning, leading to frequent losses even before your composition is fully formed.
With the “Korean Jhin” composition, it’s different; the team you have at the start of the game is almost unrelated to the final team comp. Simply because the final composition contains no champions that cost 1 or 2 gold, instead, most are expensive 4-5 gold champions to take advantage of the strength of the champions. This means you can play anything that feels strong to maintain health in the early game. Typically, starting with Caitlyn and Lucian are the two most common ways to play.
With the Caitlyn starting playstyle, you will need a solid frontline for her to use her ability, preferably Malphite and Blitzcrank, as they provide both the Brawler trait and the Timekeeper buff. Meanwhile, for the Lucian playstyle, it’s very simple: 3 Innovators + Graves to start the match.
Moving to the mid-game phase, if you go with Caitlyn, adding Ashe to activate the Sharpshooter trait is essential; then, you should supplement sturdy units that are versatile in the frontline, like Jayce or Poppy, which are the best. If you go with Lucian, then it’s best to sell Fiora, add Vi and Blitzcrank for extra defense, plus Ezreal for increased attack speed.
By the late game, regardless of which style you play, you should gradually sell off cheaper champions and add stronger units. With the Caitlyn start, you need to add Kassadin at level 7; if you have Jhin at this point, that’s even better. Then, when you reach level 8, sell Malphite, Blitzcrank, and Caitlyn to replace them with Gangplank, Thresh, and Wukong.
With the Lucian start, it’s best to sell this champion when you find Jhin, then gradually replace other champions like Kassadin, Ashe, Gangplank… in the final composition. The operation of this composition always relies on Gangplank dealing a lot of damage with his abilities, and Jhin is the one cleaning up the battlefield; lacking any key element makes it unstable.
In terms of items, the two most important items for Jhin and Gangplank are prioritized in the shared selection phase as follows: B.F. Sword > Wooden Bow/Fighting Gloves > Chain Vest > the remaining items. Jhin primarily needs the Death’s Blade, Runaan’s Hurricane, and a defensive item, usually the Thief’s Claw or Quicksilver. Gangplank is simpler, just needing the Guardian Angel; anything else is fine.
Of course, you can’t have those key units too early and need a unit to hold items, and Caitlyn and Lucian, the two styles mentioned above, are the best champions to hold items for the carries. When that happens, your composition will be strong immediately and maintain a winning streak; however, you should stay alert in the late game, don’t let the fear of losing a champion holding an item cause you to overlook your main carry.
In summary, the Korean Jhin composition is an upgrade from the previous Sharpshooter Vanguard team by adding many beneficial effects such as lifesteal from the Cosmic trait, attack speed from the Timekeeper trait, or countering enemies with the Sorcerer trait. Perhaps, in a time when everyone is hyper-rolling, opting for a late-game composition like this is quite a wise choice.