Jinx Guide – The Path of Champions 2.0
DragonGuy is here, bringing you an in-depth guide on how to beat the Path of Champions PvE mode with Jinx.
Hello everyone, DragonGuy here today with a guide for Jinx in The Path Of Champions 2.0. The overhaul brought about a lot of sweeping changes, bringing new champions to the fold while revitalizing older ones.
For this article, I’ll be focusing on Jinx and tips for playing her. If you’re looking for more information about some of the systems behind The Path of Champions, you can follow this link here. Now, let’s dive in and start by breaking down Jinx’s star level powers!
1. Star Levels
Starting off, we’ll take a look at Jinx’s star level power, which she’ll have during each of her runs.
Level 1: What’s the Worst that Could Happen?
When you play or discard a card, deal 1 to enemy Nexus.
Jinx’s level 1 star power is a buff on her power from Path 1.0, and it is nuts. I’m even willing to go on record saying it’s the strongest level 1 power that is currently in the game. Having every single card you play deal 1 damage to the enemy Nexus stacks up quickly, allowing you to quickly burn through the enemy Nexus.
This also works with discards, so if you play a card like Zaunite Urchin, you now deal 2 damage to the enemy Nexus. In later sections we’ll go over how to play to abuse this power to its full potential, as it can easily carry you through every opponent.
Level 2: Wreck Havoc
While Jinx’s level 1 star power is insanely powerful, her level 2 star power is just ok, maybe even a bit weak. It is solid synergy with Jinx, as the Super Mega Death Rocket! will give you a card to play in hand to get another rocket if your hand is empty. Additionally, even if you can’t play the rocket, you’ll still deal 1 thanks to the level 1 power. However, the level 2 star power is more of a bonus than something to build around. The mana gem is the more important part of this, as it gives you much stronger starts and gets you to your power plays a turn early.
Level 3: What’s the Worst that Could Happen? 2
When you play or discard a card, deal 1 to enemy Nexus and 1 to a random enemy.
Now, on top of burning the opponents Nexus, her star power can also just start picking off opposing units. While you won’t be able to damage tough enemies with it, there aren’t many, especially after they changed Nautilus’s power. This just makes an already amazing power even better, and makes many runs much easier to complete.
2. Starter Deck
Here we have Jinx’s starter deck, which has a very aggressive, low curve. Jury-Rig gives you free discard fodder for Zaunite Urchin and Sump Dredgers. These 2 followers are imperative to this deck, as they allow you trigger the passive power twice, once for play and once for their discard, especially Zaunite Urchin. She is the real star of the deck, letting you quickly wrack up damage for a cheap cost and keep churning through your deck.
3. Champion Level Breakpoints
In Path 2.0, by playing often with a champion, you can earn Champion XP for them, which gives you champion levels. Each champion has 30 levels, and will slowly make your champion more powerful as you progress. Here, I wanted to highlight some of the important breakpoints as you progress Jinx. For the full list, check it out here:
Level 7: +1 Revive
Begin every adventure with +1 Revive Token for a second chance on a lost combat.
This is an incredibly important breakpoint, as it gives you a second chance should you fall. This gives you another chance if your start is slow, or the opponent burns you down. Importantly, revives have been nerfed from Path of Champions 1.0, as you only revive with half your starting HP. Still, having a second chance at a fight will greatly increase your ability to complete a run, and let you be a bit more risky with your HP.
Level 8: Rare Relic Slot 1 + Epic Chance
You can equip a Rare Relic to your relic slot.
+2.5% to find Epic items and powers.
Jinx can use quite a few rare relic slots, so getting access to them is a pretty big breakpoint. Additionally, at this level you get access to epic items and powers, which lets you pull off some pretty cool combos.
Level 10: Stamina + Legendary Chance
Game Start: Heal your Nexus 2.
1% chance to find Legendary power.
This power will give you a small amount of healing at the start of each combat, and unlocks the incredibly powerful legendary powers to use.
Level 13: Common Relic Slot 2
You can equip an additional common relic to your champion.
This breakpoint lets you finally assemble double relic items. This is incredibly powerful, and makes Jinx a much more powerful draw for the deck.
Level 20: Heroes’ Welcome
Game Start: Draw a champion.
Champions often provide powerful win conditions in Path of Champions, and games can be won or lost depending on if you are able to draw them. Guaranteeing a champion draw will greatly increase your consistency, and really let you lean into champions.
4. Nuances
Here, I want to go over some interactions with Jinx that can improve your play with the deck before going over her synergies.
Fleeting Cards
This interaction is quite simple. Fleeting cards will automatically discard at the end of turn if you don’t play them. Quite a few powers in the game let you put a fleeting card into your hand, and if you don’t play them, at round end they will discard and trigger Jinx’s power. This means you can still get value from putting a fleeting card in your hand even if you don’t play it.
Plunder Interaction
Throughout your adventures, you may be able to add plunder cards to your deck, or find a spell with
For example, if you play a Jagged Butcher, Jinx’s ability will damage the enemy Nexus before the check for Plunder occurs. Because the enemy Nexus was damaged, Plunder will trigger, and Jagged Butcher will spawn in as a 3|3. Please note, however, you will not get the cost reduction from Forbidden Idol if that is the first card you play. While not the most common interaction, it definitely has it’s uses, and has implications with a certain relic item…
5. Relic Items
For relic items, I believe the best route to go is utility items. While Jinx’s level 2 is strong, the deck is already powerful and you don’t need protection items for her. Instead, opting for utility powers gives you some much needed defense in this largely aggressive deck.
Here are some great items to equip, separated by rarity. Please note, while I think these are strong items, that doesn’t mean they are the only items you can use. She can certainly be played with some of the other relics and be justified to do so, but these are the relics I feel she has strong synergy with. If you don’t own the relics listed here, however, there are certainly other alternatives.
Common
Quick Attack units use the challenger keyword incredibly well. This lets Jinx kill units on the opposing side on attack without dying herself.
This item lets Jinx clear away weaker units when summoned, and is especially good with her level 3 power.
Jinx can sometimes have trouble banking mana, as you want to be playing your units early to push for damage. This lets you get back the spell mana you might be missing.
Rare
Hey, remember that plunder interaction Jinx has that lets the first card you play trigger Plunder? Well, that means you can play Jinx on curve and she will then play Cannon Barrage on the enemy board. Since Jinx comes down early, you can often kill off the opponents current board and even deal some Nexus damage. Due to the board control this offers you, this item is a great choice.
This power will let you drop Jinx and instantly level her, as you discard your hand first. If Jinx has star level 2, this will also give you a Super Mega Death Rocket! This power can be quite good, as
6. Reinforcements
Jinx pairs nicely with a lot of the available reinforcement champions that are available. Generally speaking, you want champions that are less expensive (5 mana and under), with support cards that are also cheap. You want to be able to play cards early to trigger her star power.
1 cost champions like Fizz and Kennen are good with Jinx, as they come down early, and their cards are pretty cheap as well. The best pairing with Jinx, however, is Zoe. Not only does Zoe come down on 1, she generates a Supercool Starchart on Nexus Strike that you can play, that gives you another card, which triggers her power multiple times. Additionally, you get Spacey Sketcher, which also triggers your discard synergies. Zoe is absolutely nuts with Jinx, and if you see her you should absolutely take her.
Overall, most champions can work pretty well with Jinx, so long as they can contribute some early plays to go along with your gameplan.
7. Powers
Next up, I wanted to go over powers that synergize with Jinx, as well as some generally good powers that work well with the deck.
Fleeting Card in hand powers
| Fast Deal | Common | Round Start: Draw 1 and give it Fleeting. When you discard a card, shuffle a copy of it into your deck. |
| Bouncing Blades | Common | Round Start: Create a Fleeting Blade’s Edge in hand. |
| Counterfeit Production | Common | Round Start: Creating a Fleeting 0 cost Counterfeit Copies in hand. |
| Feral Senses | Epic | Round Start: Creating a Fleeting Feral Prescience in hand. |
There are quite a few cards that will create a fleeting card in your hand every round start, and these all have great synergy with Jinx. For one, they give you an extra card in hand that you can play, which will deal a damage to the opposing Nexus.
You can also not play the card, and still deal 1 damage to the opposing Nexus. Finally, you can discard them with your discard cards so you don’t have to lose any of the other cards in your hand.
Enfeebling Strike
When you damage an enemy, reduce it’s Power by the damage dealt.
Note: this power only really gets synergy with 3 star Jinx. If you have Jinx at 3 stars, this power is incredible, as it weakens your opponents units even if they survive the pings. This is great for establishing board control and preserving Nexus HP. Before you 3 star Jinx, however, this power is not something you should pick on its own, unless it’s from a shop.
Raiding Party
When you damage the enemy nexus, grant the top ally in your deck +1|+1.
Raiding Party also has great synergy with Jinx, as you have a lot of 1 damage ping effects from her power. This will quickly grow your units in deck, and make it so every unit you play will have a ton of stats.
Hold It!
Round Start: Stun the strongest enemy.
The final power I wanted to highlight was hold it. Now, unlike the other powers, this one does not have a specific synergy with Jinx. However, this ability is so powerful that it’s easy to justify on its own. Stunning the strongest enemy gives the opponent one less blocker, and one less unit for you to worry about blocking.
This power also gets much better against higher star opponents, as they often play very powerful units that Jinx has a hard time answering. So, if you see this power, it’s often fine to just take it, as it will save you quite a bit of HP.
8. General Tips
Jinx is a powerful champion for Path 2.0, with a strong deck and incredibly powerful power. With so many different adventures to choose from, you’re going to want to go in with a strategy. Here are some general tips that will help you in all of your runs with Jinx.
Take discard cards from rewards
Jinx’s level 1 star power heavily benefits from cards that let you discard other cards, as it procs her power multiple times. Because of this, your deck will get a lot more use from cards with discard effects.
Rummage is one of the best cards to add, as it will deal 3 damage from its discard effect, and draws you cards to replace the ones you discard.
Play multiple cards per turn vs. playing on curve
Playing cards on curve is when you try to play the most expensive cards in your hand, as they will often have the highest impact. For example, playing a 3 drop when you have 3 mana vs. playing a 1 drop and a 2 drop. Because of the level 1 star power, however, you are incentivized to try to play multiple cards per turn instead. You want to go wide, trigger the power multiple times per turn to push damage quickly, threatening to end the game in a few turns.
Unless the high cost card has a high impact when played, it is usually better to focus on going wide with multiple units in the first few turns, as that will often push enough damage for you to burn the opponent out with your power.
Leveling Jinx should not be your primary plan
Jinx has a pretty strong level 2 effect, with her rocket and extra draw. Once you hit Star level 2, you get even more incentive since it gives you a free rocket whenever you level any champion. However, leveling her up should not be your primary game plan for fights. You can win most encounters before she would level.
Even when you do manage to level her, you often end the game the same turn. The focus should instead be on getting strong opening to push damage early, with Jinx acting as a finisher if the game stalls out a bit.
Get more copies of Zaunite Urchin in your deck
Zaunite Urchin is the strongest card in the starting deck, double triggering your power and digging through your deck. She gets especially strong if you have a fleeting card power or Jury-Rig in hand, as then you won’t need to discard other cards.
Still, it is often better to play her early, discarding some of your other cards in hand than wait to draw discard fodder, as games go by quite quickly. Speaking of discarding cards though…
Don’t be afraid to discard cards
If you really want to get the most from Jinx, you need to be willing to discard cards from your hand early. Whether it be to Zaunite Urchin, Sump Dredger, or something else you picked up along the way, this deck thrives too much from you discarding cards to not do so. For choosing what to discard, here are some points to consider.
- Is this card my primary win condition/ can I still win if I don’t have this card?
The first thing to consider is just how strong the card is you are discarding. If you have a champion suited up with a lot of powers that can just end the game once in play, it’s probably better to keep it in hand if it’s only a few turns away.
However, if you think you can win the game before it comes into play, then there is definitely a consideration to discard it. Jinx’s deck can push absurd amounts of damage early game, so you often don’t need to wait for later for your big plays.
- Which of these cards in hand is the least impactful if I play it?
When choosing what to discard, another thing to consider is what would be the worst card for you to play in your hand. From Jinx’s base deck, I often find myself discarding Amateur Aeronaut the most, as at 3 mana it can be awkward to play, and it’s often better to play more cards in a turn then try to drop that.
- Can you get lethal by discarding?
With a strong early start and your star power, you get to push a lot of damage early. Since discarding when you play a card deals 2 damage, you can use this to finish out a game after early damage.
9. Closing
Jinx has been a blast to play in the new Path of Champions 2.0, and has been working well for me. Jinx is one of the, if not the, strongest champions for current Path. I’ve personally been able to take down Galio with her first try at Star level 2. I have yet to unlock her 3rd star level for her full potential, but her level 1 is so strong you can complete adventures of a higher star level with decent odds.
I like the revitalization for Path of Champions, and think the new adventures are interesting, with a lot of the frustrations removed from Path 1.0. Thank you all for reading, and I hope this helps with your future runs on Jinx.
