Jax Build Guide by Vilgot

Introduction

In this guide, I will discuss the usage of Jax, how to play him, where to use him, how not to screw up and how to pwn.

Note that I will mainly talk about the "TOTAL DESTRUCTION" build.

Before we get into it I would like to thank Jhoijhoi for creating an awsome guide on how to make a guide :P
Her guide can be found right here.

And please don't be a **** and trollvote. Before you do, read this gudie.

*NOTE*

BEFORE YOU READ THIS GUIDE YOU SHOULD BE AWARE OF THAT I HAVE COLLECTED ALL INFORMATION BY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. IF ONE OF MY BUIDLS ARE SIMILAR TO SOMEONE ELSES, THEY ARE TRULY A MAN OF GREAT TASTE AND HAVE A GREAT SENSE OF KNOWLEDGE WHEN IT COMES TO BUILDING A CHAMPION.

My history with Jax

When I first took a look at Jax, I thought he looked stupid and even though I had never played him, he ended up on my "Champions Not To Buy List". I never saw someone use him so I figured he had to be pretty bad. This was before his remake.

When the remake finally was made, he became free of the week and just like that, he was used in every game I played.
I didn't really notice it until some dude tore **** up! We lost that game and that was the turning point for me.
Well, I didn't try him out right after that.

But one day when I was bored, I wanted a new champion and instanly thought of Jax. He was still 1350 RP at the time.
I bought him and instantly fell in love.

Ever since, I've been rockin' Jax pwn style and I'm here to teach you how you can do the same!

Pros / Cons

Pros +High damage throught the entire game +Easy to farm with +His ult has an awsome passive as well as a great active +Fun to play +Easy to learn +He can jump to stuff whether it be an ally or enemy

Cons -Pretty vulnerable to CC -Easily focused -No real sustain -You have to buy a skin for him in order to look cool -Hard to master . .

Masteries

TOTAL DESTRUCTION

Since Jax is a hybrid champion he benefits from both the AD and the AP masteries, that's why I pick up both in the offense tree. Not much to talk about there.

I take both Magic Resist and Armor in the defense tree (you must be ready for any type of situation, therefor the MR and Armor) as well as some health. Pretty standard.

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Tanky DPS

In the Tanky DPS build I focus more on AD and as than AP. That's why I use the standard 21/9/0 setup.

You wanna go solotop with this build so picking up that extra health and armor will benefit you since most solotop champions scales of AD.

Runes

I use the same runes for every Jax build. I use these for pretty much every single melee DPS I have.That's probably because they work.

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greater mark of desolation The marks for extra damage against champions.
This one helps me against those minions.
This one alos helps me against those caster minions.
Makes it easier to kill the minions.

Summoner Spells

Many people don't run Flash on Jax because of his Leap Strike and that makes total sense to me. But the thing is...
I'M ADICTED TO !!!

So if you decide to be smart and not run Flash, pick Ghost instead since that works as a great escape or catching up to someone mechanism.

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Here's a list of spells you want and dont wanna pick up.

The good ones

This is a decent spell. Works better for supports in my opinion since you should focus more on damage and staying alive than to impair the opponent.

If you'er having trouble staying alive this could be a viable choice.

JUNGLE SPELL ONLY, RESTRICED AREA FOR NON-JUNGLERS!

This one is great since Jax doesn't have any real sustain compared to those really good solotop champions ( Irelia, Olaf, Yorick) so you might have to go back to base a bit to often. With this, you come back to the lane faster and gain more XP. ME LIKE.

If you tend to get CC'd alot, this is a viable option. A better option would be to buy Quicksilver Sash.

This spell is awsome in so many ways. You can use it for so many things. For instance;
kill stealing or as I like to call it "securing kills" ;)
Negating Dr. Mundo's Sadism and overall just doing damage.

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The not so good ones

NO COMMENTS.

When you see surge you instantly think "NO" but it can be pretty decent for Jax since he's a hybrid. But you don't wanna waste a spell slot for that. There are alot better ones.

Unless you'er some professional ultra skill spammer mana should not be a problem.

If someone uses this, please dont get offended but you'er a ****ing ******.

You'er not a support.

Skill Sequence And Usage

Jax charges his weapon with energy, causing his next attack to deal 40 / 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 (+60% of ability power) additional magic damage.



When you see that I'm maxing my Empower first you'er probably thinking "Y U MAX W FIRST?! Q DOES MOAR DAMAGE!"

Well let me explain why I do that.

Since Empower resets your attack timer you can get off two attacks in rapid succesion and combined with your ults passive, you have a dead minion.

And with Empower maxed out early on in the game makes it really easy to farm minions and get rich. $$$

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Jax leaps towards a target. If it's an enemy, he attacks, dealing 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+60% of ability power) (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage.



And when you get an easier time farming minions, you should hit lvl 13 faster which means your Leap Strike is maxed out and you've probably finished your Hextech Gunblade.

That means your Leap Strike will do tons of damage since it mainly stacks with AD.

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Jax dodges all incoming basic attacks for 2 seconds and reduces AoE damage by 25% while he is dodging. At the end of the duration, Jax deals 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.5 bonus attack damage) physical damage to nearby enemies and stuns them for 1 second. This spell deals 20% (up to a maximum of 100%) increased damage for each attack dodged. Jax has the option to activate the ability again after 1 second to end the effect early.


You max Counter Strike last because you only want that dodge and stun. Its damage is pathetic anyway.

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Passive: Hitting 3 consecutive times enhances Jax's next attack for 100 / 160 / 220 (+70% of ability power) bonus magic damage.

Active: Jax gains 25/35/45 (+30% of his bonus attack damage) armor and 25/35/45 (+20% of his ability power) magic resist for 8 seconds.



I love this ultimate.
You don't even have to activate it. The only time you have to activate it is in teamfights because you need to survive.

If you do a basic attack followed with empower leaves the minion at 1/3 health and then Grandmaster's Might strikes. BAM. Dead minion.

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Now to the usage of your abilities

Early Game

Early game you just wanna farm and I've already been through that so let's get going to mid and late game.

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Mid Game

In this portion of the game, you should have won your lane and you wanna gank other lanes.
You'er an awsome ganker so activate your Counter Strike and then Leap Strike to their face and stun them.
After that, basic attack then Empower and then your ult acitvates and by now the should be dead.

I love catching escaping enemies. When you see that Ezreal escaping from a gank with almost no health, just jump onto him and he's dead. You are also an awsome kill stealer with that Leap Strike.

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Late Game

This is the funniest part of the game. This is when the teamfights start! Remember to stick with your team, or you will die.
When a teamfight start, you don't wanna draw any attantion to yourself otherwise you will get killed pretty quickly.
Just wait for your tank to engage and then activate your Grandmaster's Might, jump into the fight and kill their carry. That should be easy. If no one focuses you by now, switch focus to their AP carry or support whoever's doing most for their team. You are obviously not the only one on your team doing damage so killing 2-3 people should be a piece of cake.

Core Items

The items listed above are the items I concider "core items" since the synergise so well togheter. Guinsoo's Rageblade and Hextech Gunblade gives some nice AD and AP and togheter with the Lich Bane (which is probably my favorite item right now) your basic attacks deals MASSIVE damage.
These items (and some boots) is all you need to literally rape someone.

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80 Ability Power, 30 Magic Resistance, 350 Mana, 7 Movement Speed Multiplier. UNIQUE Passive: When you use an ability, your next physical attack will deal an additional 100% of your Ability Power in damage. This effect has a 2 second cooldown.

What is there more to say than this this item is AWSOME?

80 Ability Power. Great for that damage you'er gonna put out.
30 Magic Resist. Helps you to survive in teamfights.
350 Mana. You dont really need mana but it's nice to have it just to have it.
7 Movement Speed Multiplier. I'm a huge fan of movement speed so that's an awsome feature.


Let's do some math!

With the TOTAL DESTRUCTION build you get around 540 Ability Power and 199 Attack Damage.

Let's say you Leap Strike on someone. That does 540 x 0.6+199+230=753 physical damage not counting armor.

That activates Lich Bane's PASSIVE.

Now use Empower 180 x 0.6 + 540+199= 648 magic damage and 199. For those who didn't know, Lich Bane's passive gets converted into magic damage when you use empower.
The total damageoutput is 847!

And now your grandmaster's might. 220+199+540 x 0.7=797 total damage. 598 of that damage is magic damage, the rest 199 is physical.

Your total damageoutput with this combo is 2397!

Keep in mind that I didn't calculate with the Guinsoo's Rageblade fully stacked.

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45 Ability Power, 35 Attack Damage. UNIQUE Passive: On attack or spell cast, increases your Attack Speed by 4% and Ability Power by 6. Lasts 5 seconds (stacks up to 8 times).

45 Ability Power. AP is always nice on Jax.
35 Attack Damage. AD is just as nice as AP.


This passive stacks SO GREAT with Jax passive Relentless Assault, that's why I buy it so early. You get 32 extra Attack Speed and 48 Ability Power when fully stacked. There is no reason why we shouldn't buy this.

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70 Ability Power, 40 Attack Damage, 15 Life Steal. UNIQUE Passive: +20% spell vamp UNIQUE Active: Deals 300 magic damage and slows the target champion by 50% for 3 seconds (700 range). 60 second cooldown.

This item also has Attack Damage and Ability Power and we already know that's great for Jax. It also has some spell vamp and life steal .
But we wanna look at it's Active ability.


Deals 300 magic damage and slows the target champion by 50% for 3 seconds (700 range). 60 second cooldown.

THAT IS AWSOME!! Why you may ask well I'm gonna tell you! IT'S LIKE A MINI Ignite THAT SLOWS!
Awsome, just awsome. Ecspecially for chasing.

Damage Items

What is an AP champion without Rabadon's Deathcap? That's right, nothing. Without this item, your Ability Power will be stuck at 275...
MUST BUY LATE GAME ITEM


Probably the best item if you want straight Attack Damage. Not recommended on this build. Although your Leap Strike will do more damage but all your other abilities will do less damage.



NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL! You already have enough attack speed!




This item is great but you wanna focus more on Ability Power than Attack Damage. The magic Resist can come in handy but you should let your tank stack Magic Resist.



This is probably my favorite item after Lich Bane, for obvious reasons. IT GIVES EVERYTHING! And with two awsome passives.

The slow is nice since you are a basic attacker.

The other passive is AWSOME! But because you'er focusing on Ability Power, therefor, Lich Bane is a better purchase.


Great early game item. Great throughout the entire game since it gives you a free ward and Jax loves wards. But I, for some weird reason, don't like it. :S

Defensive Items

If you'er having trouble staying alive in teamfights, buy this item. It works better for the Tanky DPS build though combined with Atma's Impaler.



If those AD carries annoy you, buy this.




This item is soo good. 500 HP and 80 Ability Power. And on top of that an awsome passive. Slows the by 35% target when using an ability on them meaning, for instance, your Leap Strike will slow your enemies. Must buy item.


This item is really nice but you shouldn't switch out something for it unless you hate Rylai's Crystal Scepter.



If we would be building more hp this would be great but we'er not and as I've said several times, we'er building Ability Power.

Jungle Section

Gameplay

FARM AS ****! You want to get rich so you can win your lane and maybe get a kill or two on the way. Remember that farming minions is the number one priority. Killing champions comes second.

Harrasing on the other side is just as important as farming but you don't wanna try to hard at it. I mean, don't run after your opponent just to take some of his health denying you some minions.

Make sure you don't push your lane so your jungler can go for a level 3 gank. You should never push your lane because if you do, the enemy jungler can gank you very easily.

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In this portion of the game, your lane should be won and you wanna start ganking, pushing midlane, take dragon and farm minions. You want that MONEY!

Place out wards and watch out for enemy ganks, those are DEADLY.

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This is the BEST part of the game. The teamfights are starting!

REMEMBER TO STICK WITH YOUR TEAM AT ALL TIMES

This is a picture of a teamfight

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This is the order you wannna destroy them in. You can jump onto their AP carry first, that depends on who's doing most damage.

You will drop botht the AP and AD carry in a matter of seconds if your teammates focuses them.

And if they now would have, for instance Fiora solotop, she will do a **** ton of damage and then, you should focus her first. She will drop very quickly.

ALWAYS activate your Grandmaster's Might before you jump into a teamfight, you will not die as easily.

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When not in a teamfight, keep pushing and lay pressure on the enemies.
And when you win a teamfight,

TAKE BARON!

That will most likely result in a win.

Summary

Thanks to Jhoijhoi for that picture. ^^


If you've come this far, I am a very happy man and I thank you for reading my Jax guide.
I hope this guide has helped you become a better Jax player.
Keep practicing with him and one day, you will get great with him.
Leave a comment about what you think. A vote would be appreciated!
Thanks alot! <3

Also... Jax has a lamppost as his weapon because when he first joined the league, he was to overpowered so they had to give him something less powerfull.

Change Log

6.16.2012: The making of this guide began.
6.20.2012: Finally finished!