Jarvan IV Build Guide by Ooiboy

The Exemplar of Demacia

I play JarvanIV as a solo top offtank. My build utilizes Jarvan's tankiness, and uses it to dish out loads of damage and kick lots of ***. In the end, you should be able to initiate on 5 of your enemies...by yourself. and emerge victorious.

I got Jarvan the day he came out. I immediately fell with his splash and his in game art. I also loved the idea of his moves that interacted with each other, which was a new concept at the time of his release.

I remember when I first got him, I would build pure AD, and die foolishly because i wouldn't be able to do any damage. I've tested many builds on this champion, including Tank builds, pure AD builds, AD Dominated Tank builds, but I find the best build i've used so far is this balanced one.

I'm good with Jarvan, OK

Proof
More Proof

PROS & CONS

PROS

Tanky Champion that does a lot of damage.
Can save entire teams.
Fun to play
Fast Attack Animation
Good Passive




CONS

Difficult to use
Mana Starved Early Game
Hard to last hit

Items

Just a word of advice for any tank. A tank's build should NEVER be the same. As a tank you build what your team needs. For example, if the enemy team is AD heavy, then you build armor, if they're ap heavy, then you build MR.

MAIN CORE BUILD

Boots

For boots, you have two choices. You can either get Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi. ONLY GET Ninja Tabi IF THE ENEMY TEAM HAS A LOT OF AUTO ATTACKING AD CHAMPIONS. If not you should ALWAYS pick Mercury's Treads over Ninja Tabi. The tenacity is beautiful.

Situational Items

This item usually makes its way to my build by the end of the game. The passive and the mana/health boost is useful on any champion, and worth the 20 MR you would lose with picking Banshee's Veil rather than Force of Nature.

Force of nature, though not as good as Banshee's Veil on Jarvan, still can find use. If needed, you can get both of these items. Doesn't give any HP though, which makes it a worse choice then another item.

is another item I always end up getting. Just remember to use the unique active. This item, though it may not seem as much, gives a lot of health, and makes you harder to hit. Not only does it make you tankier, but it makes everyone hitting you a lot less threatening.

I don't usually pick this item up, because it doesn't benefit the Atma's Impaler in anyway, but it is a big way to counter almost any AD champion in the book. Only get this item if the enemy team's AD champions are really bothering you.

I get this item sometimes on Jarvan. Jarvan has long cooldowns, and sometimes gets mana starved early on. Same problem as thornmail, however as it doesn't give any HP.

This always finds it's way to my end game build. After the buff gets destroyed though, you can sell it and get a different item, if you have enough money. Gives good stats for the money, and one of my favorite items in game.

I don't use this item. It's not worth it. You have enough health with the items already, Warmogs doesn't give enough of anything else. No armor, no mr. Not an item i pick.

This item is good, useful, but I prefer other items over it. It doesn't have as much sync on Jarvan IVas it would on someone like Garen

I don't like this item. Trinity force = Frozen mallet. You don't need to waste another 3k. 30% is enough. You don't need 100% slow.

I used to get this item on my Jarvan, but I realized that what you're doing by buying this item is reducing the amount of survivability for a stat that Jarvan doesn't even need. Also, this item is impossible to spell... ("Youmuu's" not "yoomoo's" or "Youmoo's"...

Summoner Spells

TELEPORT
I love this spell on Jarvan. It always wins me early teamfights, when your team needs help at bot, and top is pushed, you just teleport to a ward and win. Teleport is a very versatile spell.
This video is a teleport baron steal I did. Ok, Teleport is good. Did I prove my point yet?
GHOST
Ghost. Good escape spell. Good chase spell. Helps everything you need. You can replace this with Flash though.

EXHAUST
This helps win in your lane early game, but it becomes slightly obsolete late game, when there are 5 people and it's difficult to target a single person with exhaust. But if the person you're laning against are either
A) Tryndamere or
B) Tryndamere.

FLASH
I don't take flash. E>Q is a flash. No need for two. you shouldn't actually need flash on Jarvan.

IGNITE
I don't see a need for this. I really don't... It doesn't have as much Sync as other spells would.

SMITE
I don't jungle Jarvan. I like him better in lane.

Masteries

For masteries, I get standard tank runes. Jarvan Is a tank first, carry second. Then i get utility to help me stay in lane and sustain longer. I get the Teemo Warding mastery also, because the little range, though little does help me see farther. Wards are beautiful. Okay.

Skills

MARTIAL CADENCE
This passive is one of the reasons Jarvan can do so much damage. The first hit is always going to be extremely strong vs both minions and champions. This passive does not really aid your quest in last hitting however, and is a lot better late game when your first hit on an enemy is doing half of their health.

DRAGON STRIKE
Jarvan's Q. Used in sync with his E. I usually max this out second, but if you want that early harass for a low mana cost, feel free to max this out first. It's also a way to last hit minions without losing too much mana.

GOLDEN AEGIS
I max out this shield last. I put one point in it by level 3 however, for the slow. So I can E > Q > W. and slow the enemy getting away. Good spell at level 5, it's just not as good as the other ones.

DEMACIAN STANDARD
I get this out first because of the armor and attack speed buffs. It helps the entire team, instead of just you. Also, it does quite a bit of damage. This could be maxed out once at level 1 and then maxed out second however. All on preference
1. E.
2. Q
3. ????
4. Profit.

CATACLYSM
DEMACIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Okay. This spell is beautiful. It's just beautiful. Trap your enemies. All of them. Just needa be careful that you don't accidentally trap your team mates in it. It's quite difficult to coordinate but it's a great spell. You can also use it to escape and leave them trapped in the Cataclysm.
1. R
2. E
3. Q
4. ????
5. Profit.

Farming

To farm with Jarvan, you just want to stand around. Last hit with your auto attack, or your Q. Once you hit level 9, with your Demacian Standard] maxed out, and 2 points in your [[Dragon Strike you should be able to take out minion waves easily. Throw a Demacian Standard onto the casters, and Dragon Strike to it. If you want to farm without taking too much damage, then use Dragon Strike first. By the time, you should also have a Sheen and be able to one hit minions anyways. You should have at least 200 farm, but farm on jarvan isn't as important. This is why we get the two gold per 10 items first.

Laning Against...

Irelia: Irelia is difficult to lane against. She does a lot of damage, quickly and her true damage is painful. Early game, she should only be doing about 30 damage per hit, so poke and harass her early then. Make sure not to turret dive though, as she has a scary stun and can lifesteal insanely. Make sure to get early ganks before she gets too tanky.

Early Game Laning

Early Game, when you're laning, you need to make sure not to take that much damage. Harass with your Q and E if the enemy doesn't have lifesteal, or a strong skill that regenerates health like Garen. Poke at them, but make sure to last hit. Last hitting is a good way to get money, but don't risk it if you're gonna get too hurt. With your Regrowth Pendant you shoudl be able to take some blows and heal it back pretty quickly. Make sure not to overextend. The minions should be stuck at your side of the field. I wouldn't recommend you letting them get to the turret however, because once they're at the turret, it gets difficult to last hit them. Once you get 2k, go back. Grab your Philosopher's Stone, Boots of Speed, and Heart of Gold. Don't forget to always get wards. ALWAYS GET WARDS.

When getting a gank, most of the time, you're the one initiating. You knock them up with yoru ability. Then your jungler can run in for the stun or slow or attacking. You won't need many ganks at top lane however because chances are, you're going to be in lane with someone tanky and they WON'T DIE.

Runes

I get Greater Mark of Desolation, Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, Greater Seal of Armor and Quint of Resilience. This all aids the whole idea of "being a tank that no one can do damage to or kill at top lane" and evolves into the whole "being a tank that no one can do damage to or kill in the entire game." I use Armor Pen, however for that damage. Remember, Jarvan is a offtank. which means he does DAMAGE.

Jungling

My knowledge on jungling Jarvan is limited.
Get Smite and Flash.
Begin with a Cloth and 5 health pots
1) Start at mini wolves. Kill before 1:55 and blue golem spawns.
2) kill blue, level 2 gank.
3) wraiths
4) red
5) mini golems
6) go back to base/ gank.

When jungling, begin with your E to Q combo and knock up. Try to gank a lane that is pushed and with a lot of CC. REMEMBER TO PING AND TELL THE LANER. YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THEY KNOW YOU'RE COMING.

Summary

And thus concludes my Jarvan IV build.
I hope it helped
Make sure to upvote if you liked it! :)
Good luck on the summoner's rift guys!