Path of Champions 2.0 In - Depth Guide: Jinx vs Darius Level
Masters Player Conansson and Path of Champions expert YouuXun come together to help you defeat Darius!
Hello and welcome to another Path of Champions guide! In this one, we will take a look at the Jinx adventure that unlocks once you get Jinx to two stars.
We are Conansson — a Master constructed player who is finishing up collecting decklists from every single Path of Champions encounter, and I’ve created all the images/decklists in this article — and YouuXun — a Path expert who completed the first Path of Champions to 100% with all S Badges and has defeat Galio plenty of times in the new mode and wrote all the text in the article except this Introduction.
Let’s get started!
Jinx - Deck upgrades
Jinx is a very powerful champion in the Path of Champions 2.0. She has an incredibly explosive, aggressive playstyle and can run through many encounters very quickly.
However, if you don’t have the best grasp of the basics of unit trading, you may have some trouble taking down The Hand of Noxus waiting at the end of the trail.
Almost all of Jinx’s decklist early upgrades are very powerful.
Urchin gaining +1/+1 gives you a strong early game unit (sometimes even up to 4 units [2 Urchin, 2 Jury Rig]) while being able to defend or attack against other early units.
The Sump Dredger upgrade is also significant, allowing you to push insane damage with a unit that sometimes can’t always comfortably attack, or baiting in your enemy to take a bad block before making it weak enough to die by either damaging using the 3-Star power, Pow-Pow, or any other similar damaging (pinging) spell.
Cut Aeronaut out of the deck if possible though. It’s bad, even with the deck upgrade.
For the sake of consistency, we’re going to assume the reader has a level 20 Jinx, although it’s possible to beat the adventure at a lower level.
Jinx - Powers
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? is the key to Jinx’s speedy clears. The damage quickly adds up and can be accelerated when discarding, or by ending the round with fleeting cards in your hand.
Wreak Havoc is also important, as having increased starting mana is incredibly significant, allowing you to do many things a turn earlier than you normally would. A Super Mega Death Rocket from leveling up a champion is also very nice, as combined with the previous power, it’s 1 mana to deal 5 damage to the enemy nexus.
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? II is incredibly powerful, as it allows you to take board control at sometimes burst speed without the enemy being able to react.
For the sake of consistency, we’re going to be assuming the reader has a 2 star Jinx. The adventure is much easier once you get access to the 3-star power, of course.
Enemy Mutator
Keep in mind that the enemy with the most POWER will get the buff, if power is tied, it’ll check for which has more health, then cost.
Remember this power, or you might end up putting yourself in a situation where what used to be a good trade now becomes an even one.
First fight: Noxkraya Arena
Mulligan for Zaunite Urchins in your opening hand — the enemy will always play Noxkraya Arena on turn 1 and will have no way to defend against an oncoming attack either that turn or the next (if your first action on turn 2 is an attack). They also double up as being able to always trade with the enemy’s 1 or 2 cost units.
Their health is very low, at 15. So playing as aggressive early as possible should be able to net an early win, or set their health low enough later to destroy the nexus by playing or discarding enough cards.
Choice - Shieldbreaker vs Stargazer
Stargazer is much less punishing and usually has low-power units that are easy to trade into.
Shieldbreaker isn’t terribly punishing, but with fearsome and high power units, it’s more likely that you’ll be taking a lot of damage from units you just can’t block.
Avoid leaving enemies units at low health.
If you need to block an enemy unit, make sure your blocker has enough power to kill it and not leave it with remaining health.
Be mindful if they have 4 mana floating, because any unit of theirs could suddenly have 4 more health than you were expecting.
Save Pow-Pow for any units that do end up damaged, use it in response to the enemy using Spring Gifts if Pow-Pow will kill the targeted unit.
All of the enemy units are quite beefy in the attack category, but not health. All of the two-mana enemy units can be killed with Pow-Pow. You can use this before an attack to push more nexus damage.
Make sure to have 3-power (or higher) units ready to block fearsome attackers if you can’t destroy the nexus fast enough.
Try to take even trades when you can, because if their board ever gets too overwhelming later in the game, Shunpo or Decisive Maneuver can give the enemy a sudden lethal attack.
Choice - The Messenger vs Marauders
Both have the potential to snowball out of control.
The Messenger has a lower chance to roll you, as long as you put those doggos on a leash. The AI also likes to block with them a lot, which can help you keep the Starbones out of their hand while you take advantage of their average low-statted units.
If Marauders get their attacks off, it will snowball much faster than The Messenger. Sometimes they will drop Marauder on their attack turn and you won’t have a way to remove it, meaning you might not be able to stop their potential onslaught.
As long as you’re able to kill as many The Messenger as possible (not allowing your opponent to ever get three or more at the end of the round), their units deck will almost always be worse than yours. Take positive trades when you can and maintain board control!
Once they’re able to get two or three Legion Marauder buffs off, the board will likely be taken over by them.
Save Pow-Pow and any removal (also challenger units) for Legion Marauders. Get on the board as fast as possible, as the enemy deck is much slower aside from Thrashing Snapper.
Kill them before they get to their late game, or burn their nexus after you’ve chipped it enough, as their deck has no healing.
Zoe Miniboss
Kill Zoe and Zeebles when you can, elusives can be annoying.
Be aware of Paddle Star after you attack, since it deals 5 damage for just 3 mana
If the fleeting celestial card the foe has is:
Moonglow (and you have Pow-Pow in hand): Wait until the Foe casts their Moonglow on a unit, then use Pow-Pow while Moonglow is on the spell stack.
Crescent Strike: Open attack if you have 2 or more units.
Moonsilver: Hit pass.
Any unit while they have enough mana to play it: Pass.
Equinox: Attack if you have a buffed unit.
Be mindful of Battle Bonds, the foe likes to play it when they have two or more units on the board. You can often take advantage of the spell’s slow speed by using Pow-Pow on one of the targeted units while Battle Bonds is on the spell stack.
Choice - Arbiter vs Reckless Trifarian
Arbiter has overstated early units, hard removal for big units, multiple kill conditions, and the chance to highroll.
Reckless Trifarian teaches you how to effectively attack and block. Go there to learn, it’s much easier and the game is in your hands most of the time.
Arbiter has the chance to high roll you, or vice versa. It’s luck in some cases. But for the most part, you want to play as early as possible. Early units, establish a board as soon as you can.
Be wary of attacking or blocking with too many units (death lotus), as well as having too many units on board when the opponent is able to play Chempunk Shredder.
If you choose to take a trade, make sure to get as much value out of it as possible. Attack with that unit if it survives afterwards no matter what now that it can’t block.
Choice - Zeebles vs Gloryseeker
Zeebles keyword sharing is largely irrelevant until mid-late rounds.
Gloryseeker’s power has the potential to snowball if you’re sloppy with your trades, or if they drop a Trifarian Gloryseeker early on in the match.
I would suggest fighting Zeebles.
If the Foe has 5 unit mana, and you have the attack token: If your units have 2 power or less, ATTACK NOW, or they will play Zeebles and you won’t be able to strike.
You don’t need to kill every single unit, the keywords will only transfer to the LAST unit that was played by the Foe. Any previous from then will not get the keywords transferred from the next summoned unit.
If you have a big unit on the board and have the attack token, be aware that it can be stunned if you take an action from a Sleepy Trouble Bubble.
Don’t block Thrashing Snapper unless you can trade with it.
Killing a 5+ power unit as it strikes will prevent it from gaining +2|+2, so go for good or even trades. If your trade won’t kill the enemy unit, just take the nexus hit. It will save you health down the road.
Save Pow-Pow for Trifarian Gloryseekers.
Final Boss: Darius
Stay above half your starting health, or kill Darius every time he comes down. Focus on killing every unit, even if you lose one of yours in the process.
The Darius fight is all about board control, so once you get control of the board, be sure to only attack with units that won’t give enemies good trades.
Closing Words
Overall a lot of the fights teach the fundamentals of trading, when to attack, when to block. If you can learn the basics of those interactions, you’ll be able to fight your way all the way to Darius and take him down to earn your well deserved rewards.
Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more Path of Champions guides in the future!
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