this build is mainly to take out single champions as quick as possible and get you out ahead both exp. and money wise to be op and run the game. by the end of mpst games i was taking out half of an enemies health with an empower and leap strike combo...its ridiculous.

in order to play this build successfully you absolutely must have some kind of common sense. i cant stress that enough. that means dont get greedy, dont be a hero when one of ur teammates are being ganked by the entire opposite team, and if u notice that the entire other team is mia then get to a safe zone. there will be plenty of time later in the game when ur op to take chances cause just about noone will be able to defeat u 1v1.

Jax is already an extremely powerful character, is strictly offensive, and if u feed his passive ability he really is op as hell by the end of the game. When you look at it this build is based on his passive and feeds just about every aspect of his offensive abilities. this build has not yet been perfected yet though because i cannot get a game to last long enough for me to actually get to a 6th and final item. it really has never happened for me yet.

questions, comments, reviews, basically any kind of feed back is welcome.
also credit must be given to BigDowny because i started this build from his guide (which is currently the 2nd highest ranked guide for jax) and there are still some similarities.

anyway i hope you enjoy this and hope you love using jax as much as i do because of this build

I tried to cover jax's main flaws in this guide by making up for them with the runes. and still the best set of runes i have come across for him so far are the ones that i originally started with from BigDowny's guide and that is dodge and attack speed runes.

early in the game jax is extremely slow when it comes to attack speed. until u get him to lvl 6, farming/laning is pretty much useless and its even difficult to last hit minions especially when ur with a greedy lane partner. hence the attack speed runes

through out the entire game jax is kinda on the squishy side. other than the ninja tabi boots there really is no armor for him (the thornmail i just threw in there as a 6th item, ive never actually got/have been able to get it yet) so in order to counter this we have dodge runes. these runes work with jax's (E) ability or counter strike which is crucial to jax's gameplay.

my masteries are also based off of BigDowny's guide. i personally dont really notice the subtle differences that the masteries give off. of course they do help but its just not that to me. so since i still use BigDowny's runes i have entrusted him with my masteries as well. i tweaked it just the tiniest bit for my summoner spells and thats it.

the masteries are set to 18/11/1.

the offensive masteries consist ur basic damage dealing stats. critical strike (both damage and chance), physical damage, ability power, armor piercing, and attack speed

the defensive masteries are to make up for the lack of armor and protection that jax has. armor, magic resistance, dodge chance, and nimbleness which increases ur movement speed after dodging an attack.

the only utility mastery is for the ghost summoner spell.

First off start by getting the boots of speed, 2x health potions, and 1x mana potion (this should be enough to last until you can upgrade boots to ninja tabi) most players that use jax buy the cloth armor first instead of the boots. the reason why i dont is because i use a serious of hit and run tactics with the empower&leap strike combo until i reach level 6. harassing enemies like this pushes them back greatly and will even frustrate them to the point of chasing u when they have less health allowing for an easy kill.

Buy health and mana potions as needed (shouldnt really need anymore other than the ones in the initial purchase) until you can get bridgewater cutlass. if u dont have the money to buy it all at once then i suggest getting the pickaxe first. because of jax's low attack speed this early in the game the vampiric scepter is useless.

from here, every time u go back to heal buy as much as you can for the hextech gunblade until completed. Hextech gunblade is the most important item you can buy for jax. it adds ability power and attack damage (and because of jax's passive health too) and has life steal to keep you laning and in fights longer, and the active ability is great for either chasing down enemies or for getting away from them.
^^^Jax's empower and third hit passive on relentless assault rely on ability power^^^
*and so does your ability to become OP early on*

after the hextech gunblade i like to get phantom dancer next, by this point because of ur op empower and leap strike combo, enemies will run once they see u or once they see the power of this combo. with phantom dancer u have that extra speed boost to chase them down and finish them off. also because of phantom dancer you can get to that third hit from relentless strike quicker dealing much more damage in fights.

the next item you buy should either be Rabadon's DeathCap or Infinity Edge(or the blood thirster, either one for attack damage is good)

to help you decide which to get heres a few things to keep in mind. jax does more attack damage through out the game then he does ability power. even if you get the death cap first.

another thing to keep in mind is how well the enemies tank is doing. a decent tank will not run in fear from u right away because they general have the armor and magic resistance to put up a decent fight. however if u get the deathcap you will be taking out about half of any non-tank's health in the empower/leapstrike combo. i have actually almost completely killed a level 18 teemo in one hit from this combo with death cap. so if the tank sees the kind of damage output u have he will probably think twice before trying to engage u 1v1 even if he is a higher level. also if enemies typically are running away sooner then the empower/leap strike combo is great for catching up and finishing of fleeing champions.

normally after this decision is made the game soon comes to an end allowing for only 4 item purchases. there are some who understand that once jax passes level 16 he has to be the first to die in order to win the game so be careful in initiating team fights. you dont want to be the first to die if the team is relying on all of your power.

if the game has not ended. i would suggest purchasing which ever of the above (either deathcap or one of the two attack damage swords) that you did not purchase yet. then if by some chance you do get to the point where you can buy a 6th item then i leave it completely up to you depending on what your aiming for and how the game is going at this point.

Lets start with Jax's passive

Equipment Mastery-Jax receives 3 health points from every attack damage point and 2 health points from every ability power point that he gets from items.

meaning when u buy ability power and attack damage items ur buying health points for jax too. his passive alone is what makes him so op. as you build him into an offensive beast of a character your actually turning him into a bit of an hp tank too.

Leap Strike-Jax jumps to ANY targets (including friends) location (great for retreating). if it is an enemy he attacks them for 50/75/100/125/150 dmg + 70% of his ability power as magic damage.

This ability is great for ganking, retreating, harassing, and more. this is always the first skill to get when playing because it does more damage than empower or counter strike does right at the start of the game.

Empower-Jax's next attack does 75/110/145/180/215 + 40% of ability power and 40% of attack damage

stacking this skill when leveling is the key to easy ganking and as to why jax appears to be more powerful then he really is early on, causing the enemy in ur lane to be scared to attack you early on.

Counter Strike-passive:increases jax's dodge chance by 10/12/14/16/18%
Active: jax deals 80/100/120/140/160 + 60% of ability power to nearby enemies and also stuns them for 1 second. you can only use the active ability within 7 seconds of dodging an attack.

this ability really is the most crucial ability in even fights. it has saved me countless times from ganks and from those moments when both you and an enemy champion are about to die and u need that split second hit to win the fight. which is why i believe it is more important to level it up than leap strike.