So this all began because I hated tanking. I was tired of the usual tanks (shen, amumu, malphite, etc.) so I started playin' around with fighter champions, and of all tested fighter champions, Jarvan is my number one choice. Rarely is there a team composition that Jarvan cannot work well with.

My First task to accomplish is to find a way to make money quickly as tanks are less capable farmers than the DPS champions that I'd be laning with/against.

Second Task was to ensure the champion could achieve a level of survivability above the average "fighter" and thus perform as a tank should. I crunched the numbers on the champs I enjoyed testing: Jarvan's starting Armor and MR scaling allows comforts me early game when my first purchased item is a Ruby Crystal. Also, seeing as this build generally doesn't allow the summoner to purchase an Armor based item till at least 20 minutes, it's nice to have the armor bonus from our E ability early game.

My third task, which I only ever concerned myself with in games where my team was doing well, was to bring out the beast inside this now all but indestructible Jarvan. Doing so took more attention with good ol' Jarv than it has with nearly any other champion I've played, and damn did I enjoy it.

Tank, DPS, Utility or some blend?

I feel, in Jarvan's case, that he is quite capable of surviving early and mid game without full defensive Runes. With nearly any melee champion however, I put Dodge Seals. As for Glyphs, with Jarvan, I saw no use for almost any of them. The only two Glyphs I would even consider were Cooldown Reduction or M/5's. The M/5's sucked, and here's why: at first I noticed that the added mana regeneration made little to no impact how long I stayed in lane during the start of the game. When looking for an alternative to the runes I found an item that added decent mana regen AS WELL AS health regen and most importantly gold/10s. Thus I found a solution to my lane time as well as farming handicap. So I picked CD Reduction and it's been wonderful.

So now for Marks and Quints. Early game I'm not stacking much for damage, but I see that Jarvan already starts with a fairly good AD. BOOM! Armor Penetration. This ensures that the damage I do to my enemies early game better matches my AD. End game I'll still be thrashing casters with 25+ Armor Pen.

Exhaust: So many reasons for the spell itself. As for the mastery I choose this to add to my potential early game damage from the Armor Pen runes I'm running, and this works just as well for my lane partner. First Blood is much more viable thus.

Defensive tree is almost all obvious. A few deliberate decisions were made though, for instance: Strength of Spirit. This along with Frozen Heart will give pretty decent HP regeneration. The 4th item that we buy in game, the first item besides boots and gold generating items, is the Catylist -> Banshee's, followed by Trinity Force. Those + Frozen = a lot of mana = decent HP regen that grows relatively evenly all game.

Lastly I snagged the 8 in Utility to gain regeneration and experience.

"Your goal is to get you and your ally to the bushes asap and kill at least one of your opponents so that you can go back and grab your Heart of Gold before the minions spawn. If successful then I wait until I can buy my Philosopher's Stone and Boots of Speed together. That means I wait till I have 1150 gold AND am level 6 before I go back. If I don't get enough gold to buy the Heart of Gold early game then I wait until I have enough money to finish the Heart of Gold and get Boots of Speed even if I have to go buy them before I hit level 6."

The boots of speed will suffice for a while early game if you learn to use your E Q combo wisely as well as use the lane bushes or if needed the tower. IE you should be playing very smart early game only attacking when sure of a kill. More important that upgrading the boots is getting something to give you even more income as well as increase the time I can spend in the field. Tanks that level faster than their opponents win games. Thus we purchase our Philosopher's Stone as soon as possible after the Boots of Speed. We are now getting an extra 1g/second. As a result I will take 7 minutes less time to get my Mercury Tread's if I don't get a single kill/assist/minions kill. Obviously it'll take less time than that as long as you continue to play smart, only initiating when an enemy is absolutely kill-able and you aren't tower diving. Wait until you have all your cool downs too to ensure success, no point half ***ing as it risks dying which loses u a fk ton of gold and experience. So don't die damnit! <<< Iniciate with E ensure that you place it in a position that will allow you to combo with Q and knock up an oponent, that's more important that hurting the oponent with the spear as CC beats the measly (<100) damage you'd inflict with the spear. Exhaust an oponent. If ur lane is against a tank dps pair toss the dps, wait until it lands to exhaust and begin to walk away and attempt the bait them into retaliating. Most likely the DPS will either be dead or fleeing for his life. Once you get your W use it slightly after placing exhaust. The point here is to A.) Toss the higher damage output enemy obviously to disable (allowing time for your Damage ally to join the fight, or possibly ending a channeled spell or just giving a short bit of time to get a head start on killing the other. Then exhaust. Now when the poor bastard does finally land and gets all flustered and prepared to retaliate he does little to no damage AND is taking slightly increased damage. IE this guy is toast. If they start running away from you hit your W to slow them up, if they fight through the exhaust hit the W anyways and step away if possible taunting them into continued attacking, usually one or two hits then they die. Ur W should greatly reduce the first blow. Don't feel you have to kill both opponents every time. It's much better to get one and back off alive, than to get both and die doing so. Your Philosopher's Stone and a little defensive gameplay give you the option to return back right away or regenerate and continue leeching xp off the minions. All things to think about.

So it's time to get up to speed, upgrade those Boots of Speed into Mercury Treads. Of course if their entire team is DPS then get Ninka Tabi. The CC reduction + the boost to MR from Merc Treads is imperative as we usually only get one additional MR item. (Usually).

Lets get a catalyst now. You should be between level 7-9 after you finish up your boots. Your increased gold generation + the MR from boots, HP, Armor from E, CC, and damage shield from W, AND the increase in health and mana regeneration give you the sturdiness as a tank to stay out and harrass and last hit as many minions as ur bastard lane partner fails to steal from you. Go back get the catalyst and prolong the ability to lane even more so. Whenever possible finish the Banshee's Veil. Good chance you're the only person with a completed Banshee's so far :D

From lvl 7 to around when you finish your Trinity Force you will take your throne as the best team player in the match. Y? Because while you can take a beating, you deliver very little in return and as such you'll train yourself to play like a tank and wait for a DPS or ganker to come help you out. During this time don't bother chasing down a fleeing opponent, chances are ur damage won't kill em unless they are at <10% HP in most cases. It'll be a short time but be patient, the chance to go out alone and smash those fools together like a fkn beast is coming fastest when you stay alive all the effin time if possible. (no pressure)


OK BE BRUTALLY HONEST! Are you surviving as long as your team needs you to in team fights? If you are taking damage too quickly for your comfort then get a Guardian Angel. If not then it's time for start kill **********ers, get a Black Cleaver. Attk speed and even MORE armor reduction. What more could you ask for? You will be throwing away your Philosophers Stone for whatever your now getting so choose wisely. If in doubt get the damned guardian.
If you got the Cleaver finish Randuin's Omen, yet another way to fully disable an enemy. If you had to get the GA first then for your last Item it's all you. You can add to damage or attack speed to push, pick something with more MR or Armor (like Randuin's Omen or Force of Nature).

Q first, E second. We wanna grab our toss as soon as we can so we can begin harassing, or if they have established dominance as harassers we can use this to take the title back.

(NOTE) Jarvan's EQ combo allows him to traverse terrain that nearly no other champion can cross.

W Now we're starting in on the shield. Nicely enough this also slows nearby enemies. As we level it we quickly become essential for team fights, tower diving, gank saves, etc.

After a while you'll have to start in on your E and Q again. By that time I can decide which would better benefit my team.

You're a tank. Fight with a friend at all times. You don't do much damage. So lets do what we can to take their high dmger and make him do as little or less damage than us; Exhaust his ***. Flash was chosen for the times when you decide you just wanna trap someone with your ult and not have to use ur EQ Combo to get out of there, or those times u really need to get the fk out of a bad situation.

Early Game: Our damage output is bleak. Enough to be a good assistant at best. We spend the first 15 minutes on purchasing items that'll get us rich quickly and keep us in the lane longer. With the early toss ability we can harass well enough to make up for our lack of damage. This puts our brains into strategy mode right off the bat. For me at least I'm thinking of how I can throw off their attacks or escapes and get myself as well as teammates out alive.

Toss in the shield/slow combo from our W in the next levels and we start noticing that the enemy is having a hard time doing much if any damage to us. IE the game is already starting to be fun for us.

Mid Game: Cool, we have enough Health, Mana and Magic Resist to worry a bit less about those friggen nuke casters that seem to shine in the mid game. Banshee's spell block is makin us a tough target + reduced CC effects against us with Merc Treads. The gold is starting to pile up now too as it's been a while since we completed our Heart of Gold and Phil. Stone. Take advantage of it and up ur damage potential with Trinity Force. With our E we'll be able to toss up enough armor until the Trinity Force is complete.

Late game: Assess. How're we doing? If we're stomping, get rid of that Phil Stone and get yourself a sleek new Black Cleaver. TBC