Jax Build Guide by bluediablo31

Pros / Cons

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Pros + Strong in 1v1 fights and with Gunblade will win nearly every fight + Good crowd control + Beats Gankplank top lane after level 5 (finally a champion that does!) + Lots of damage ouput

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Jax size=60

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Cons - very few cons to Jax - one can make the mistake of overextending (i.e. leap strike at enemy only to get surrounded and killed) -is susceptible to ranged and sometimes AP heavy characters

Introduction

Welcome to my Jax build!

First things, first. This is a short guide because Jax can be rather self-explanatory. He is a great laner and pusher, and people often underestimate his Leap Strike. With Jax, it is key that you max out his Q to do the most damage possible. If played correctly, one doesn't need armor, for you will be doing more damage than your opponents can actually take.

Farming minions is key, but so are kills. Jax is a great top laner, and can also go bot to, and be fairly successful. In terms of lane partners, Morgana and Teemo can be ideal, since they have great harass; Teemo can poison them and drain a lot of health and Morgana can snare your opponents. Jax is also great at ganking since his Q can be used to deal large amounts of damage on unwary opponents. All in all, he is an extremely viable champion, and I hope that this build helps you farm your way through champions and minions on the road to victory.

Runes

Jax's runes are fairly self-explanatory. Jax tends to be weak offensively early game so AD boosting runes are good because they give him the edge needed to get him to late game.
To ensure that Jax isn't squishy, get defense boosting runes, so he can survive. Magic resist quints are crucical especially if up against an AP heavy lane. If the lane isn't too focused with AP, then go for higher armor or defense.

Masteries

Same thing as the runes, be as viable as possible. Attack and Defense are key to success with Jax since that is where he can be a little weak. If you are fed however, you can 1v2 or even 1v3 enemies without dying. By fed, I mean you are carrying your team and have a decent amount of kills, 10 or so is good enough, although I often get a lot more. This build has the capability to get you 20+ kills, or even 30 or so. So like I said, be viable, you can confuse your opponents and beat them.

Items

The most key part of the build! This build is an AD/AP hybrid. While sometimes risky, Jax is one of the best hybrids out there. Early game, you want Mercury's Treads and Guinsoo's Rageblade. Then you want to build the Hextech Gunblade, by starting with the Hextech Revolver. The Gunblade is key to the build because it boosts his AP while providing AD and a sweet active that is great for 1v1. After the Gunblade, you want to build The Black Cleaver. It reduces your opponents armor so that your AP can really kick in!

Once you get The Black Cleaver, you want to really concentrate on farming.The combination of AP and AD allows your E Counter Strike to take out large groups of minions for lots of gold. As always, last hitting is key. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, know this. Don't try to tank damage, wait until the minions are almost dead before striking.

Late game, that doesn't really matter because you tend to kill them all very easily without taking much damage.

Once you've farmed, buy Zeal or if you have enough, Phantom Dancer. Once you have Phantom Dancer, you'll be pretty much unstoppable since you'll be doing tons of damage at top speed. Finally, you need to buy Trinity Force. Assuming you get this far in the build you should have really good CS (minion kills) and a bunch of kills.

You can buy Sheen as a recipe item, although usually if you stay in lane and get more gold, you can buy Trinity Force at full price. After getting Trinity Force, you'll be extremely hard to kill, though I'm not talking about 1v5's. Also, many people will make the mistake of trying to chase you. That's where Leap Strike is handy, since you can Q to a nearby champion (allied or enemy, although at low health ally unless going in for kill) and escape.

When you buy Trinity Force, you'll sell your Doran's Blade, provided that you haven't sold it earlier. Now if the game drags on for a while and you've gotten Trinity Force, you can ditch the Mercury's Treads for some heavy AD stuff like Infinity Edge or The Bloodthirster, though keeping the boots works too. Though Jax is a very powerful hybrid carry, he also functions well as tank, for which I will release a tankier Jax build.

If they tower dive you, stun them so they take turret damage, then go get them.

BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO OVEREXTEND YOUSELF. It is easy to do, and you can get stuck in enemy territory with few ways out.

Skill Sequence

For starters, you want to max out Jax's Q, Leap Strike. His W Empower adds extra damage to Leap Strike making a W+Q combo very effective.

His E, Counter Strike can also be used with his Q. You can stun someone and then Q to escape. With the AP from this build, late game stunning can do a lot of damage.

Finally, for his ultimate, Grandmaster's Might. The AP boosts should cause you to wreck most other champions, especially if they are stunned.

Together, his skills combine to form a highly viable fighting machine.

Summoner Spells

Depending on the situation, Heal and Flash are great.

If in Draft and you see highly squishy champions, like Veigar or Heimerdinger, then maybe you want to use Ignite instead.

Using Flash with his E Counter Strike is a great combo because you can move to them and stun them, then mutilate them with the rest of your abilities. Heal is great for many situations, particularly against 1v1's and even more so against tanks. Jax vs. Rammus or Alistar can prove tricky if they have lots of armor. However, popping a Heal can solve many of the problems.

Different Matchups

Though Jax is certainly viable, there are several different champions one needs to watch out for.

Jax is meant to be an off-tanky champion. His position is usually top lane.

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Counters to Jax:
- [Malphite
- Vladimir
- Kennen



I would say in terms of Summoner Spells, Heal and Flash would be my first choice, but Heal and Ignite or even Ignite Flash work as well. Also, if you want to split push lanes late game, Teleport and Flash are the way to go. Split pushing can be VERY effective, if done correctly.

Recent updates

Welcome everyone.

Since the Draven update, the only thing that was done to Jax, was that his the damage done by his W Empower was reduced at later ranks to 40/75/110/145/180 from 40/85/130/175/220. As to what the next patches hold, I am uncertain. But one thing will remain. Jax will always be an extremely powerful champion.

As of the Elise update, he remains a very playable champion, as demonstrated during the World Championships.

Hall of Fame

If you have games that you have done with my guide, or variations of it, please send screenshots and they will appear here. I will make sure that privacy is respected.

Screenshots to come:

Summary

I've pretty much summarized Jax throughout this guide, but let me review a few things.

- Farm
- Kill
- Play smart
- Gank

With these things in mind, you should be good to go!

Thank you for looking at my build and good luck!

One more thing, comments and likes are welcomed and appreciated.

May the odds be ever in your favor.