Hello. Im VooDooFruit , a Diamond jungle main and an avid Jax player. For me this season it all started with me dropping from platinum 2 to platinum 5, and getting my account banned for 2 weeks due to flaming. In those 2 weeks i played on my smurf account. I decided to try lots of different junglers and developing different strategies for when my main account gets unlocked again. In those 2 weeks i played lots of champions but one stood up from the rest: Jax. I had HUGE success with him and i really really enjoyed him. So when my account got unlocked it was time to start my own legend: the legend of Jax. In just 3 weeks i went from platinum 5 to diamond thanks to my boy Jax. In this guide I will teach you how to start your own legend and carry yourself 1 pentakill at a time. Lets get started!

Jax is a farming jungler who excels at pushing and fighting. He is really tanky champion with lots of mixed damage and huge flexibility in his items. He is strong and adaptable, having decent early to mid and godlike late game.

Pros:

+ Monster late game

+ Really tanky

+ Great splitpusher

+ Decent ganks

+ Great dragon controll

Cons:

- Low early pressure

- Enemy invades

- Need lots of gold

- Can get kited

Runes are something a lot of people get wrong when playing The legend of Jax. The most important thing to do is to take attack speed reds and quints.The attack speed you get gives you the fastest clears and also scales well with your kit. DO NOT take ad runes if you have attack speed ones. For yellows take armor. Its the best you can get. IF you have a lot of experience like me get armor per level seals At lvl 7 they become better than flat armor but do it only if you are very experienced. For blues take scaling magic resist. There are not other good options.

For masteries for the most part you can get whatever you want. The only rule is to ALWAYS take fervor of battle. It gives you really high damage. Thunderlords gives you a good burst damage but leaves your dos lower than it should be so not worth it. Strenght of the ages is your third option but again Jax gets really tanky so you don't really need the extra hp, better go for fervor of battle.

Leap StrikeLeapstrike - you jump on a target and deal damage. This is your gapcloser spell that helps you chase people. When you have blue buff use it in the jungle to get to camps faster. You can also use it to jump on wards and allies as an escapse.

EmpowerEmpower - empowers(heh) your next basic attack to deal bonus magic damage. This is your main spell for farming and dueling. You should always use it right after basic attack to reset your AA timer and get 2 hits off instead of one.

Counter StrikeCounterstike - for a few seconds you dodge all basic attacks and take reduced damage from aoe spells. After that you stun everything in a small aoe. This is your utility spell. In the jungle use it in every camp to take almost no damage and to kill the monsters faster. In teamfights use it, then jump on a target and reactivate it for instant stun. Let your damage do the rest.

Master-At-ArmsGrandmaster's might - passively every 3 hits you deal extra magic damage. When activated you get bonus armor and mr for 8 sec. These bonus resists stack with ad and ap. This is the spell that makes Jax the legendary raidboss he is. The scaling defences provided by this spell make you into a super tank who can outdamage everyone else in the game.

This chapter is really important so pay close attention.
First off you want to start with hunter's machete and 1 health potion. Detailed explanation why in the next chapter. You want to finish Trinity force as soon as possible. After that get upgraded boots. Chose between mercury treads and ninja tabi. Then always get titanic hydra as your 3rd item. Explanation why below. With boots, trinity and titanic hydra you have your core itmes complete. Ill give a list of situational items and when to get them. But first lets explain the hydra.

Titanic HydraTitanic hydra is a really strong and underrated buy on Jax. and here is why: First of all titanic hydra gives you great stats. It grants you ad, hp, hp regen, waveclear and on-hit effect. This items gives you everything you need. HP helps you stay alive, the on-hit gets stronger and stronger as you stack hp. The aoe helps you a lot when pushing lanes and in teamfights. And the cherry on the top is the active. It is 250-450 damage nuke that also resets your basic attack. you know what that means? With basic attack, w and hydra active you can get 3 hits and ult proc off in less than a second. Thats usually enough to instakill a squishy target through the entire game. Onto the list if situational items. Always buy it after trinity force.

Frozen MalletFrozen mallet - This is a really good item, i buy it almost every game after my hydra. It gives you a lot of hp and ad, and it gives you a great slow.

Trinity ForceTrinity force - Really strong item. Gives you good mobility and a lot of damage. Get it always as your first item. I prefer upgrading smite then rushing triforce and upgrading my jungle item later to either bloodrazor if i need more damage or cinderhulk if i need tankiness. .

Dead Man's PlateDeadman's plate and Randuin - Get omen if they have crits. Deadmans if they don't. Both serve almost the same purpose, armor and hp.

Spirit VisageSpirit visage - IF they have a lot of ap damage spirit visage is the only option you have anyway.


Warmog's Armor - This is one of the best defense items on Jax. It grants a lot of hp which works great with the resists you get from your ultimate. Also the cdr and hp regen are really good.

Guinsoo's Rageblade - I dont really like this item to be honest. It's too expensive, takes too long to stack and even when stacked is still weaker than the old rageblade. If you are really far ahead and want unstoppable splitpushing power then get it as 4th item or something.

Hextech Gunblade - Good item if all you need is damage and sustain. Good stats and effects. Don't buy early before you have some defense tho.
As for jungle item I either buy buy bloodrazor if they have tanks at some point or get cinderhulk as 6th item. The choice is yours.

ITEMS NOT TO BUY AND WHY

Due to the way Jax, s ult works you want to avoid items that give only resists and no hp. The best way to make jax tanky is to buy health. Thats why items like maw, frozen heart and iceborn are poor options.

Now that we got the basics out of the way lets get to the details. Im gonna start with the jungle clear path. Now here is my 2 sacred rules when playing The Legend.

Rule #1 - ALWAYS start krugs. No matter what side are you on, always start krugs. Their stun buff combined with your attack speed and your counterstrike means you take no damage in the jungle. After krugs ALWAYS take raptors then red buff. By the time you almost kill red you will have smite up again so you can smite red and be at near full hp. After that you can either gank or continue clearing the jungle.

Rule #2 - always buy 1 potion at start and don't use it. Since you lose no hp in the jungle as i said in the upper paragraph you don't need any potions at all. You save yourself 100 gold. The reason i always get 1 potion is if something goes terribly wrong like a lee sin invade or some other unplanned shenanigans. Since 9/10 times that doesn't happen, i use the potion when soloing dragon. Since i need it to solo drake anyway better buy it early just to be safe.

One of the harder things to do as a jungler is to find a balance between farming and ganking. I tend to farm a lot and try to gank only in a few situations. and they are the following:
-If im near a gankable lane. For example if im taking raptors and the enemy midlaner is at half hp im gonna gank. Not going to gank half hp toplaner if im around botlane as i will lose time and gold.
-if immobile enemy has no flash i will camp that lane hard because its free kill every time.
Ganking is not my priority. Farming is. Ganks are a bonus.

Another thing you should do is sneak dragons. If you have lvl 6 and a bloodrazor you can solo every dragon. Go there, activate ult and whack away. Also try to take herald around minute 12-18 to secure your toplaner easy win. Jax is really good at taking herald. Also if you have a tank toplaner like malphite, nautilus or trundle you can 2 man baron at 20 minutes. HAve him tanking while you kill the baron. If your buddy gets low its your turn to tank.

When this time of the game comes you can do 2 things. You can splitpush or teamfigt. I prefer teamfighting rather than splitpushin but ill explain when and why to do each of them.

-Teamfights: Jax's role in teamfights is to dive the backline and kill it. Plain and simple. You dive the ad or ap carry and wreck them. I join teamfights most of the time unless they have means to stop me. If their support is janna and their adc is ezreal for example there is no way in hell im going to get my hands on Ezreal. If thats the case and they can kite me I go to option 2.

-Splitpushing: Jax is one of the best duelists in the game, and that makes him a god tier splitpusher. You can fight anyone and come on top. Also with your passive attack speed you take towers really fast. The only people who can stop your splitpush are chanpions who can kill the minions quickly.

Jax is a champion who gets stronger and stronger with every item. As such, his early presence is not impressive. The only champions I am afraid of are the really strong early game junglers who can snowball the game before you become factor. This includes Nidalee, Kindred, gragas, Lee sin and Shaco. These champions can invade you, steal your jungle and objectives, and most of all they can win all lanes before you get your items, resulting in 25 minute defeat. However all these champions are on a timer. If they dont have HUGE lead by 25 minutes you will start to massively outscale them.

As for the other farming junglers im not afraid of them and I will never be. Jax can outduel them at any point in the game and scales best among them so you should be fine.

Now you know what you need to know about Jax. You should know how to itemise, build and play him to a moderate success. Experience will lead you to great things, nothing happens in a day. So go ahead, pick Jax, and start your own LEGEND! If someone is interested in finding a coach here is my link https://www.lol-coaching.com/coach.php?id=75738