I started playing League 3 weeks after Jarvan came out, and from the very beginning he was my favorite character, bought him as soon as I got 4800 IP, and played a co-op game with him. The first thing I did was die, but I was excited because I even liked his death animation, but since then I have the majority of the time gone positive with numerous builds.

Jarvan is fun to build in many, many ways. This is just the build I use when I am the designated tank in 5s. He has a wealth of crowd controls: a knock up, a slow, and a "snare" arena, and is all around a super fun champ to play as.

A lot of people don't see him as a true tank, but in all reality you can build any champ as anything. I like Jarvan as a tank because he's hard to ignore. I used to main Alistar as my tank but I either did super well or pretty bad, seeing as you run into a battle and pop his Q to knock everyone up, and then you are stuck waiting for cooldowns. Jarvan has a lot more utility in the things he can accomplish in team fights, has a team buff, and isn't a half bad pusher when it comes down to it.


However, I will note, that this build as only been used in Normal Games, so take that for what you will, and now we begin:

Armor Pen Reds and Quints

MR per level Blues

Health per level Yellows

All around adds to his survivability, and especially his early game farming with the armor pen.

Starting off with a Regrowth Pendant and Mana Pot helps out a lot a lot, seeing as Jarvan is EXTREMELY mana deficient until you get your Glacial Shroud.

As with any game, if the enemy team is extremely AP or AD you rush either the MR or Armor items first. But since most teams remain pretty balanced, I usually go with the order I posted. Nabbing Atma's before Banshee's simply because it gives him a pretty good amount of AD.

If you can finish the build (need to be a really good farmer, have someone be getting Dragon often, and sometimes the game has to be on the longer side) You are almost invincible.

70% reduced damage from AP and AD, huge health pool, barely sub-200 AD, with all your armor pen, you'll be doing fine.

Another option: Swapping the Warmog's for a Frozen Mallet is a great idea, ends up with a little less health, a little more AD, and best of all super slows on everyone you hit. Great for cleaning up after fights.


NOTE: This build doesn't show the extra AD you'll get from Atma's, you'll actualy end up with around 190.

Not much to explain here:

Max Demacian Standard as son as possible, super amazing, great harass, great buffs.

Have all your main skills by level 4 so you can combo and stuff, just watch out for running otu of mana.

Max Golden Aegis as soon as your done with Demacian, great slow, great shield, helps you kick some ***.

Finish out with Dragon Strike, also amazing with the huge armor pen and knock up combo with Demacian Standard.

I usually go with Flash and Exhaust.

Flash is an amazing get away, combined with his E -> Q combo, I almost never die when I need to escape.

Exhaust can help ensure an early kill if you're laning with someone who can help DPS an enemy that gets a little cocky.

Ignite can be taken to ensure kills on a low opponent.

Ghost can be taken for escaping/chasing, I just prefer Flash to get over walls.

Other than that I really never consider taking anything else.

Fortify is okay, mainly for its passive, but other than that any good pusher can wait 6 seconds and then finish your turret.

Early game you are super mana deficient, so you have to be smart with how you use your skills.

Don't be afraid to use Demacian Standard to check brush, or if 2 low health minions are together, to nab 2 last hits.

Try and hit champs whenever you drop your E, proc your passive often, and back off to let your Regrowth Pendant do its job if you are getting hit pretty hard.

Once you hit 6 you can be a pretty awesome ganker, a few things to watch out for with his Ult though.

Check to see it the Champ you're hitting has flash! If they do you practically wasted your ult.

BE EXTREMELY wary of ulting Poppy and Vayne, Poppy's Heroic Charge and Vayne's Condemn can be used against you in your own ult, causing you to take huge damage. Character's like Singed with Fling or Alistar with Headbutt can throw you out of your own ult also, so its a hard skill to master.

But on a champ with no natural terrain clearing ability, and with no flash or recently used flash, wait for them to get a little greedy, make sure an ally will be in there with you, and HOP ON IT! Drop your E OUTSIDE the terrain for the buff, when the terrain ends, Q to armor pen AND KNOCK UP, then W for the slow, if they are still clinging on to live, Exhaust to finish them off, no one should be able to survive this if they were already a little low on health.

Once the game becomes mostly team fights, you just have to initiate, you can initiate with E -> Q, or your Ult, you can also use your ult to clean up, there are just so many ways to go about it, you have to try for yourself.

Let me know how you like it if you try it out. Open for suggestions on any way to improve the build or the guide, this is my first guide so I am mostly just messing around, and trying to show people a build I have found very nice on him.

Thanks!