Welcome to the club. But you don’t want to just be another base skin wearing Jinx main, now do you? Oh no, you want a real nice skin. The best skin! A skin that I, a random dude on the Internet, find worthy enough. OK jokes aside, Jinx has quite a number of good skins – and this is my ranking of every skin in her library, going from good to great.
10. Arcane Jinx
Released: November 24th, 2021 Price: Mission Reward This is a weird one, so I’m going to start with it at the bottom of the ranking. Arcane Jinx is not really a skin, as much as it is an unofficial visual update to the base model. Does it look better than the base skin? Absolutely. Does she have updated particles and effects? Indeed she does. Am I deeply saddened that her backing animation did not feature the flare from the show, but rather just has her stepping on a picture? You have no idea. But it’s just the base model. Plus, I don’t even know how much it’ll cost, as it’s currently just a mission reward. I have no doubt that everyone who picked up this skin will use it instead of the base skin – but give it a year and I doubt a lot of people will opt for this if they have “real” skins at their disposal.
9. PROJECT: Jinx
Released: August 1st, 2019 Price: 1350 RP Here’s a skin that caused quite a bit of drama among players, as it was one of those situations where Riot just did not want to listen to the fanbase. PROJECT: Jinx simply does not feel like a PROJECT skin at all – as there’s very little cyborg/hologram themes present, even though they’re the defining features of the skin line. The character model looks fine in my opinion. And most of the particles used are okay. But I personally could not get behind some of the sound cues. Farming felt a bit janky, and dealing damage in general felt a bit less impactful than usual. I can’t say that the skin is absolutely terrible, though. In fact it’s mostly just smaller nitpicks that I have with it. But considering the skin’s history background, its price, and the fact that other Jinx skins don’t come with this much baggage, I’m going to leave it down here for now.
8. Odyssey Jinx
Released: September 12th, 2018 Price: 1350 RP Can we just take a second to appreciate how good Odyssey was? My love for that game mode made me immediately love this skin as well. Even the splash art just oozes that space battle energy. It also helps that this skin has a few direct references, with Odyssey Malphite showing up in both the recall animation, and as the model for the E. You could probably even count her ult as a cameo since she fires a giant meteor. But overall, I do love the theme with this skin. The stylized weapons, the robotic arm, the goofy friendship with Malphite, etc. That being said, her auto-attack is not quite the smoothest of the bunch, which is kind of a big deal. And her face looks a bit too intense even by Jinx standards. Plus, if you didn’t play Odyssey, you won’t have the same type of excitement that I do – and I can’t be too subjective here.
7. Heartseeker Jinx
Released: February 4th, 2020 Price: 1350 RP I have a lot of conflicting feelings when it comes to Heartseeker Jinx. On the one hand, I feel like the theme makes absolutely no sense for the champion. Before Arcane, she was just a crazy chick who wanted to shoot things. And after Arcane she was just a broken girl trying to figure stuff out. No romance in either situation. But on the other hand, I’ll admit this skin is very well made. The particles are clean as all hell, the auto-attacks are smooth, the ult is rather fun to fire around, and the chompers are kind of brilliant. Plus, to give credit where credit is due, this skin does have some amazing chromas that even change your rocket color. And if you pick up the unofficial Harley Quin chroma (here called Ruby) then I guess the love thematic makes a lick of sense. I don’t like the idea here, but I can’t knock the craftsmanship.
6. Crime City Jinx
Released: October 9th, 2013 Price: 975 RP As the original skin that launched with the champion herself, this skin is rather iconic. Besides just being an equivalent to a veteran’s badge, Crime City Jinx also held up pretty well over the years. The splash art is chaotic, the character model is on point, and you even get some new animations and particles for only 975 RP. The champagne cork W and backing animation will always have a place in my heart. And the gramophone dance emote hits a bit different after Arcane. So overall, the skin is just really good. I can’t really complain about any particular part – except maybe the theme not being incredibly original, but that’s about it. If you don’t feel like spending 1350 RP+ for a Jinx skin, get this one.
5. Zombie Slayer Jinx
Released: November 5th, 2015 Price: 1350 RP Let’s be honest: Jinx was basically born to be in the zombie apocalypse. Being psychotic and owning guns of all shapes and sizes is a must for that scenario. And this skin really hammers that point home. Everything is really steam punk-y in this design, with lots of old machinery, bright colors, graffiti, and even actual zombies in your backing animation. The explosion from your ult feels incredibly satisfying too. And your E is really hard to spot when outside the river. Plus your auto-attacks are rather decent in both forms. I’d say this skin is just really well-made – and it makes perfect sense for the character. The only thing holding it back is the lack of a certain “wow” factor, which you’ll find in the following skins.
4. Ambitious Elf Jinx
Released: December 12th, 2017 Price: 1350 RP When you mention Jinx, Christmas is definitely not a theme I would think of. But the two mixed together way better than anyone could have expected. First off, this skin really has the best homeguard animation of the bunch. She gets into a little train and has a blast in her own psychotic way, just like in the splash art. Also the design on her weapons is also pretty top-notch with this skin, as her Fishbones looks absolutely hilarious with those googly eyes, and her Pow-Pow actually gets a really recognizable and nice audio cue when you switch to it with Q. It’s a little choo-choo, in case you were wondering. I will add that the ult is nothing special compared to some of the others. But hey, one skin can’t have it all.
3. Battle Cat Jinx
Released: March 31st, 2022 Price: 1350 RP This skin line initially seemed random as all hell. But I have to give credit where credit is due – Battle Cat Jinx is pretty amazing. This is mostly because of the phenomenal new animations and particles. I especially like the rocket form auto attacks as the blue-yellow swirl really adds some oomph. I’m also glad that they went a bit creative with your new E and had it resemble a little cat paw snapping at you. They could’ve made it be a cat head, but I think it’s way better this way. And the new backing animation just fits Jinx perfectly. We see her get giddy with excitement as she shoots and runs around. Overall, the skin is pretty great. Even the character model (although it doesn’t visually resemble a cat at all) is really well made. But to round out the pros section – let’s talk variety. Not only does this skin have some amazing chromas (with the Obsidian one even making notable design chances), but it even has a cool Prestige edition. The only gripe that I do have is that thematically it feels similar to a few skins we’ve seen before. Not in terms of cats, but more so high-tech beep boop sound effects.
2. Star Guardian Jinx
Released: October 5th, 2016 Price: 1820 RP As Jinx’s most expensive skin, it’s only logical that a lot of people think this is Jinx’s best. And if you’re just looking at the amount of new features, that is technically true. I mean, Star Guardian Jinx gets you a new VO, new homeguard, new emotes, animations, particles… Hell, it fundamentally changes her weapons into being two little dudes you hang with that happen to be able to transform. They also talk a lot, which is a rather interesting approach to the whole “voices in her head” trope. But what stands out here is how the skin just changes a lot of things and has more animations and particles than Ornn’s entire skin line. But I can’t say this one is my favorite. And that’s because she doesn’t look or play as the original crazy chick that we all fell in love with.
1. Firecracker Jinx
Released: February 10th, 2015 Price: 1350 RP For a reason that I can’t even fully understand, this just feels like the “most Jinx” skin. It still has that feeling of absolute insanity, while also bringing a lot of polish and color to the champion. The firework particles are not only beautiful and satisfying, but they also make for some easier CSing, which is always a plus. And the character model design is rather detailed here – but never crosses into the “too crazy to actually be a person” territory, like most Jinx skins do. Firecracker Jinx is the same old gun nut. Just with smoother auto-attacks, better particles, better animations, and an appreciation for the Chinese New Year. I see this as an absolute win.
