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Jarvan IV - The Ultimate Bruiser

Jarvan IV - The Ultimate Bruiser

Updated on May 20, 2011
7.1
19
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League of Legends Build Guide Author MrMoo Build Guide By MrMoo 19 9 43,603 Views 33 Comments
19 9 43,603 Views 33 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author MrMoo Build Guide By MrMoo Updated on May 20, 2011
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Introduction



Hello, and welcome to my Jarvan IV guide, Jarvan is an amazing harasser and is able to dish out great damage while also being able to take it too. With Jarvan you really have to get use to using his standard/lance combo, this is the best thing about him for it is amazing for engaging a fight by A) Damaging all opponents hit by it B) giving your teammates a buff C) knocking up and damaging enemies. Now with further a due lets get started.
(This is my first guide, feedback is appreciated)
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Runes

The runes I use for Jarvan are first Marks of Desolation, and Greater Quintessence of Desolation, I get these runes for the armor pen to boost Jarvan's damage output with not only his normal attacks but also with his abilities. As for the seals I get a Seals of Resilencefor that little boost of armor which is great ontop of his standard and dorans shield early game to be really tough to kill in the early game phase. As for the rest of my seals I get Greater Seals Of Evasionto compliment my dodge masteries which can be a life saver not just if you dodge the attack that might just kill you, but that speed boost can easily help you get away from a bad situation. Lastly I get Glyphs of Shieldingto give that little boost of magic resist for early game but mainly for late game when they get maxed out, this helps tonnes with those nasty mages since the standard only gives armor and not magic resist.
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Masteries

The masteries I use for Jarvan are 8 to offense and 22 to defense, I like this set up because it compliments his tanky skills quite well, plus Jarvan is meant to be an engager into fights and with offensive you might aswell have a target on your back when you jump in because you wont have the durability you need to stay in teamfights long enough to be much of a help. Now down to the details, these masteries increase Jarvan's survivability substantially, which some people may be a bit down on, but time and time again i've seen some pretty squishy Jarvan's out there who easily fall to my will on the battlefield. For what is the point of damage if you can't stay in the fight long enough to do any.
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Items

Now for the items, the first item I get at the start is my Doran's Shield, this gives you some great hp + hp regen not to mention 10 armor ontop of the 10 you get from the standard and the bit you get from your masteries, which makes you pretty hard to kill off from level 1.
After you get your doran's you may think about getting something for mana by getting something like Tear of The Goddess(THIS IS ONLY IF YOU FIND YOU ARE RUNNING OUT OF MANA TOO QUICKLY, IF YOU DON'T FIND YOU DO, DO NOT BUY THIS)
The second item I try to get are the Mercury Treadswhich gives you some magic resist which is a good bonus, but also the fact that is lessens slows and disables is an amazing perk late and even early game. The third item I choose to get is the Phagefor this is good for defense/offense because it gives both a health and damage boost and not to mention it's passive which can easily stop someone from escaping your lance.

As for the fourth in the list I get is Zeal, this will boost your speed greatly, which is much needed for Jarvan because his speed isn't that great to begin with which can lead to many people escaping you. Next item you should be getting is Atma's Impaler, this item benefits jarvan greatly with it's armor boost and especially it's passive, this item will boost your attack substantially especially with the health boost you are getting from the phage and soon to be frost mallet you are a force to be reckoned with.

Once you have your Frost Malletyou should be one of the toughest people on the field, being able to keep your enemies within range with your abilities and not being able to be taken down easily.
Next Item you should get is the Phantom Dancer, this item will give you that little bit of extra speed and not to mention the attack speed and crits, which makes it even harder for them to get away from you (if that wasn't hard enough already)

The last two items i get are the Infinity Edgeto turn up the damage of your crits and the BloodThirsterto keep your survivability up with some lifesteal. Now these last two items should be changed depending on the situation, you could just as easily turn these into something like a Force Of Natureand Guardian Angeldepending on how the game is turning out, if you are getting rocked by mages i'd highly suggest you get Force Of Nature and lastly Guardian Angel, but if you are getting destroyed by dps i'd get Thornmailand Guardian Angel. Also if you dont have a tank in the game you could also get these to become the main tank instead of turning into a tanky dps.
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Summoner Skills

As for my Summoner Spells I prefer to choose:
Exhaust This in my mind is the best summoner spell out there no matter who you play, because it can be used offensively and defensively. It can be used to slow down your enemies to catch up and kill them or just to keep them within your kill range. And it can be used defensively to lower you enemies attack output and/or escape from them.
Flash Flash is a great summoner spell no matter how you look at it, it can be used to close the gap between you and your enemies, escape your enemies, escape through walls, follow other enemies who flashed. But more specifically to Jarvan I use it mainly to get out of my ultimate to leave my enemies in there while I escape.
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Good Choices For Laning Partners

Xin Zhao is probably my favorite laning partner to have for the fact that they each compliment eachother very well because they both have good disables to keep their enemy in range of their attacks for a long time with Jarvan's Demacian Standard Dragon Strike combo and Xin Zhao's Three Talon strike. Then for slows Jarvan has his Golden Aegis and Xin has hisAudacious Charge. Not the mention the fact that if Jarvan uses Cataclysm Xin can use his charge to engage the arena and fight. And lastly having Jarvan use his Demacian Standard benefits Xin substantially.

Jax Is another great laning partner for Jarvan for he also benefits greatly from Jarvan's Demacian Standard and Jax's Counter Strike is great for holding the enemy in place for Jarvan to throw a Demacian Standard and knock them up with a Dragon strike and lastly because he can jump into the arena and back up Jarvan.

These two should explain that other bruiser types that have some kind of jump's or disables are great partners for Jarvan. The next two however should be self explanitory by their ultimates, but i'll explain them anyway.
FiddleSticks Fiddlesticks is a great champion to lane with Jarvan due to his fear and for the fact that Jarvan can keep the enemy champion within range of Fiddlesticks drain for longer with his Demacian Standard / Dragon Strike combo, and the last part should be obvious, with the fact that Jarvan can surround an enemy inside of fiddlesticks Crowstorm with his Cataclysm or Fiddlesticks can jump into Jarvan's Cataclysm with his Crowstorm
Nunu is another great laning partner because he has a crazy slow that will keep the enemy within range of Jarvan's Demacian Standard Dragon Strike combo. Also because you can stack Nunu's Blood Boil with Jarvan's Demacian Standard to get some crazy attack speed,armor, and movement speed for both champions. And lastly if Nunu uses his Absolute Zero Jarvan can hold them inside the range of it with his Cataclysm

But of course there are still quite a few good champions to lane with Jarvan but these are my top 4.
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Early Game

Jarvan is great early game for harrasing, I use a Doran's Shieldas my first item to give me that extra hp and armor bonus which is good for survivability in the lane and also for staying power. At level 1 you cant really do much rather than just try and abuse the enemy champs with that passive of yoursevery 6 seconds. But by level 2 is when the fun begins, by level 2 you should have your Demacian Standardand your Dragon Strikewhich gives you the ability to knock up enemies, now you may be able to get the first kill by throwing yourself into your enemy(ies) and then exhausting them then just start to tear them a new one with your physical. But also by level 2 if you are getting trashed by the other team you can easily throw your Demacian Standard behind you and use it as an escape technique, this will also knock up your enemies if they are close enough to you, which helps with your escape. By level 4 you should have your Golden Aegisand possibly Mercury Treads. Mercury Treads are good for the magic resist boost and for the fact that slows and stuns wont effect you as much which helps with kills and escaping also. Now the combo you should use for engaging at this level is, Demacian Standard,Dragon Strike, Golden Aegis (remember that the standard also does some nice damage, so if you can hit the enemy with it for maximum effect).

By level 6 you have your ultimate Cataclysmand possibly a Phagewhich is great for the slow ontop of the rest of your disable abilities. Now with your ultimate you must remember it is not just a bad thing for your enemies but it can also mess up your teammates and/or yourself if not used properly. Now with your ultimate you can really dish out some kills, to get the most out of your abilities, I would start out with your knock up combo then your Golden Aegis and keep harassing the enemy with your normal hits and just before they get away from you, use Cataclysm to keep them where they are and finish them off with another Demacian Standard / Dragon Strike knock up if they survive through the 3.5 second wall arena. (Note you must remember if you are getting beaten in your arena you can turn it off by pressing R again, or alternatively you can use your Demacian Standard / Dragon Strike combo to get out of it and leave your enemy still in there. (Remember to buy wards when you go back if you can, especially if there is a jungler)

Around level 8 you should have your Zealwhich gives a nice movement speed buff and attack speed not to mention the crits which is overall great for Jarvan's damage out put not to mention being able to catch up to champs (no body likes to be slow). You should also be trying to get the Lizard Elder Buff (if you can) for the damage it gives you and the slow (even though you may have a Phage it is still good to get) this is good if you just go back to get gear, just grab the buff then come in for a gank in your lane with the Demacian Standard / Dragon Strikeknock up combo along with Golden Aegis and the enemy champ should just get destroyed by the slows and damage you are dishing out.
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Middle game

Alright here we go for the middle game, you have made it this far, now it's time to show where Jarvan really shines. Now by middle game you should have your Atma's Impaleror at least be close to it, this will improve your survivability while also increasing your damage output substantially. Now we will most likely have a tower down or so and we will start into some small team fights, which Jarvan is an amazing champ for that. If you see a team fight coming along make sure to throw out your Demacian Standard out into the group of enemies and throw yourself into the middle of that fight with your Dragon Strike by doing this you have thrown the enemy team into the air and messed them up quite a bit, now you must quickly throw on your Golden Aegis which will slow all the enemies and give you a big boost with your shield, especially if they are all there (for the shield is more powerfull with the more enemies that are present. After you do so begin fighting and if you see someone about to escape the fight make sure to stop them with Cataclysm and give them the old 1 2. Now this can go one of two ways you can be winning and the enemy team is fleeing in which your Demacian Standard and Dragon Strike are most likely done the cooldown, if so you should use this to stop the enemy in their tracks with a good old fashioned knock up and a Golden Aegis Slow. Now if it goes the other way and you are low hp and are about to die make sure to pop your Golden Aegis and if needed use your Demacian Standard and Dragon Strike to get the hell out of their and safely make it away to fight another day. Also if you thought all that the Demacian Standard / Dragon Strike combo is good for is disrupting enemies and escaping, here comes another use for it, by middle game you should have enough mana to spam your abilities with out having to worry, (which is why I don't include any mana items in my build list because by mid game they are pointless) now when you are faced with a minion wave Large / Small (preferably large) you use the Demacian Standard into the group of the minions to cause quite a bit of damage then Dragon Strike to jump into them and damage them, this is a very good farming technique for middle / late game.

Now that I am done explaining the part about teamfights i'll get back to the rest of the middle game. Alright now you should have a few kills or maybe a hell load of assists, I know I get alot when I play him but that is quite alright with me. Now you should have your Atma's Impaler and soon have your Frost MalletOnce you have your Frost Mallet you wont really need to get the Lizard Elder Buff as much (but remember it is still good for the damage buff it gives) and with your new frost mallet you can easily pick off stragglers trying to push lanes, which this is a very good strategy to do, is to find someone off alone who is most likely over extended and to jump through a wall at them with your Demacian Standard / Dragon Strike combo (you can use the Golden Aegis too if you wish but I like to keep it for emergencies or if they get just out of my range so I can slow them. And if they get too far away you can always use Demacian Standard / Dragon Strike again to get within range of them to use Cataclysm and finish your enemy off.
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Late Game

Here we are in late game, that is if your enemy team hasn't surrendered yet ;) now in late game you are really meant for the tanking and disrupting and some damage output. You should have your Phantom Dancerand be close to finishing your build with a Infinity Edgeand Bloodthirsteror two last tank items if you are going for more of a tank build than damage build such as a Force of Nature, Guardian Angeland/or Thornmaildepending on the situation. Now as for towers, you can tank the towers pretty easily with this build if you have another damage dealer there to help you take it down, now remember to use your Demacian Standard somewhere close to you and your teammate to give you the attack speed buff to take down the tower quicker. Now as for things like baron and such, your Demacian Standard can be used to check things such as bushes and or Baron/Dragon.
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Summary

In summary, I find that Jarvan is a very flexible champion that can be swayed from either damage dealing to full out tank and even placed in between. I hope this guide helps you on the fields of justice and leads you and your team to victory. Please vote up my Guide and give me feedback on things I could do better with my build or just comments about the scores you got with my build.
Thank you
MrMoo (MrL1ama)In this match I was actually solo-ing against a Jax and Mundo and got a double kill at the start of the game.
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