Hey guys welcome to my Jarvan IV guide. This is a guide to build a tanky/dps Jarvan, which in my opinion is the best way to build him. Now before anyone say anything, let me explain. Almost all of Jarvan's abilities require him to be in the heat of battle trading blood and sweat with everyone on the opposing team. If you build him as a pure dps, although you will get insane damage off, you will be raped in seconds if you or your teammates make a mistake. Flag/Dragon Strike combo will get you killed very fast if you miss the enemies and they focus you, Golden Aegis is pretty much useless if you don't get a bunch of them together (which requires you to be close and personal), and your ult won't do you much good as their ranged carries will nuke the hell out of you and block your teammates from getting to the person you trapped if you die. A complete tank Jarvan is also not an optimal build as he won't be doing much damage. This is how I look at Jarvan, I had played him as a DPS, a tank and a tanky dps and from my experiences and records, tanky dps is the way to go. I don't have screenshots yet but from my recollections of good games with Jarvan as a tanky dps, i have gone 18/2/16, 9/6/30, etc.

Pros
- Very good initiation and CC abilities
- Strong game in all stages
- Very OP if used correctly
- Good damage output in teamfights due to passive
- mini Randuin's Omen as one of his abilites
- Probably one of the easiest champions to last hit minions with
- Big and badass

Cons
- Needs god farm early game (you need to get both Heart of Golds and boots by 15 min)
- Needs to know when you need to cancel your ult
- flag/Dragon Strike combo needs to be done fast or else you will most likely miss

Ghost - This is good for Jarvan as you can chase down enemies to use your ult or finish him off with the tip of you Dragon Strike.

Exhaust - Very useful for him since he is a melee champion. Also useful when your ult is about to expire and the enemy needs a few more hits to die.

Greater Mark of Desolation - The reason for this rune is that all of Jarvan's damage are melee, therefore this will boost his damage output without spending too much on Arpen items.

Greater Seal of Armor - Since this is a tanky dps build, you will be needing some early game defense. This rune along with the cloth armor will give you around 51 armor, which can significantly reduce the dmg you will take and give you lane control and allow effective farming and harrassing.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - Same idea as before, just meant for AP users.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation - Same reason as the Mark.

I go with a 9/21/0 mastery is because this is a tanky dps build. Jarvan already has good dmg with his passive among other things so he needs defense masteries more. Being in the heat of combat and taking a lot of dmg, any help is good. Since most of his abilites puts him in the middle of enemy territory, its usefull to have high dmg mitigation.

Rejuvenation Bead - Yes. Rejuvenation Bead. And 4 health pots and 2 mana pots. You will never need to recall unless you need to buy. I know to some of you this is a weird item to start of as but I also know that those of you who think that has never watched livestreams of high elo players like bigfatjiji, who almost always use this to start.

Heart of Gold - Probably one of the best early game items to get on a tank/tanky dps champion, but now its been nerfed to hell. The only reason for getting this item is it will be changed into a Randuin's.

Mercury Treads - CC reduction, MR. What else is better for a tanky dps?

Last Whisper - This is first damage item and its probably the most useful one for Jarvan. It gives you good amount of damage by mid game and most importantly, its ArPen and your rune set combined can boost this item's damage output to that of a Bloodthirster fully charged.

Banshee's Veil - Banshee's is always a good choice, good MR, health and mana and a good passive.

Randuin's Omen - A must for any tank. Great passive and active. This item, however, is especially good on Jarvan because of Golden Aegis. With both activated at the same time, the enemy team can stop thinking about running away or try to use AS to burst down someone. I have used this combo to solo shutdown the opposing team from doing any dps after I initiate and allow my team to freely kill. Yes it's been slightly nerfed but you are not getting this for the 27 more armor it used to have, you are getting this for the passive, active and synergy with Jarvan.

Frozen Mallet - A lot more health, more damage and a soft CC. Mmmmm tastyyyyy.

Atma's Implaler - Armor, a lot of bonus damage since you will have around 3.1k health, and some crit. Mmmmmm yummyyyyy.

Jarvan is a solid champion with some very synthesis with certain items. Build him too tanky and you will do no damage, build him too AD and you will still do no damage when your dead 1 second after you ult in. Tanky dps is the way to go. If you need any pro tips and advice, just go to Youtube and check out HotshotGG play Jarvan. In my opinion, the way he plays Jarvan is almost as good as the way he plays Nidalee.