Hi, this is Phoinex. I present you with my revamped Jax guide: Laughing Straight to the Bank (3.14 Patch)

Before we start, I would like you to know:

1. My first language is NOT english, so please do give me some slack on grammar, etc.
2. Use this guide as a reference, and you can do whatever you want with it.
3. My skills are definitely not the best, and I am not saying so either
4. Please read through the content before deciding whether or not to vote.

Season 2 Jax Wins/Stats:

Season 3 Jax Wins/Stats:

Season 3 ELO:

Season 4 Ranked Division:

I want to share my experiences on certain champions in hopes of helping other players getting better at LoL. Please, I do not expect everyone to like this guide, but please leave constructive criticism, and at least try to see the effort I put into this guide.

Thank you and I hope you enjoy my guide!

Who is Jax?

Jax was one of the first characters that I enjoyed since the start of me playing league of legends. Since season three, I have started to use him more and more. With a gap closer, ridiculous burst, being able to scale extremely well into late game, and the ability to jungle and lane, he was an easy pick for me. Jax is one of the most powerful AD characters in the game. Early game, quick bursts will take care of your enemies, while late game, you carry your way to victory. With a flexible way of building and playing I have included four different builds, each to fit your situation and playstyle, as well as a (soon coming) mini-dominion guide.

Although this video is quite old, I believe the champion spotlight does give a little foretaste of this great champion:

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Like all champions in League of Legends, Jax is not flawless and has pros and cons. Here below are Jax's key weaknesses and great advantages.

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Pros + Scales well into late game + Great deulist + Great escape/gap closer + Flexible itemization + Excellent splitpusher

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Cons - Early game might get buillied by ranged enemies - Early mana issues - Cannot play well when deprived of farm - No natural sustain - Jungle clear speed not that fast

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Flash is a good summoner spell for almost any champion. It can be used over walls, save your life, or even an ally's life. I would take flash on most cases, though sometimes it is a lot better to get ghost to chase down you priorities. I would still consider flash though, if the enemy has a champion like Jarvan who can ult you at any time, or if you are up against a jungler like amumu.

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Ghost is an absolutely amazing summoner spell. It has a longer duration than Flash, more distance covered, as well as a lower cooldown than Flash. Because Jax has only one CC ability, and that has quite a long cooldown, having ghost makes chasing a breeze, and really procs your Phage slow as well has giving you the distance to spam your empower

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Ignite is one of my personal favorite summoner spells. It is great at early levels to get first blood. It also deals true damage, and with the Summoner's Wrath buff, it is pretty OP. It is also good for getting rid of health regaining ultimates like Dr.Mundo's and Swain's . If the enemy gets away with little to no health, tag them with Ignite and then they die! I use this against AP champions in top lane because exhaust would be sort of a waste as Ap champions dont deal much damage through their autoattacks.

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-Securing of buffs/dragon/baron -Much harder for you to be counter jungled -Faster (in some cases, by a huge amount) jungle times -More ganks, due to needing less time in the jungle for XP -Ability to counter jungle a LOT easier, you can steal their buffs with Smite -You only need a lower level to kill Dragon -More/faster gold, for items

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While most of the time you wouldn't consider taking TP on Jax, I feel it's a pretty solid spell either way. If you are up against a very difficult lane like Cho'Gath or a very fast lane pusher like Mordekaiser/ Riven, you might want to take teleport. It will help you sustain much better, and help you roam when your lane is pushed.

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Jax's skill set is one of the best in the game. Jax has an escape/gap closer, the only dodge left in the game, aoe stun, great passive, and reset attack timer. I couldn't ask for anything better. So here is my explanation for the skills.

Basic attacks increase Jax's attack speed by 4% / 6% / 8% / 10% / 12% / 14%. Relentless Assault lasts for 2.5 seconds and stacks up to 6 times.

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-Use Empower to proc it faster->Faster Attack Speed->Faster Ultimate
-Good for killing towers, farming (in jungle also), and dueling.






Jax leaps to target unit, dealing damage if the target is an enemy.

Leap strike is Jax’s main escape/chasing tool. It can also be used early game as a harass tool by doing Q->E->aa->W->aa->E->W->aa->Q. Remember, however, not to go overly aggressive on an enemy because it is your only escape tool and the cooldown is quite long. I max it second because I feel that the higher levels of counter strike is not as benefitting as the extra cooldown reduction and damage from leap strike which is your only escape/chasing. Remember that you can jump to enemies, allies, minions, and wards; so don’t forget to buy a few wards to jump to!

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-Leap Strike is Jax’s main escape/chasing tool
-Use wisely as the cooldown is quite long.
-Max second
-Jump to wards






Jax's next basic attack or Leap Strike within the next 10 seconds deals additional damage. Empower resets the autoattack timer.



Empower is Jax’s main damage tool and what you should be maxing first. It provides a good attack timer reset, and is the main reason why you get a sheen-type item, like trinity force. It deals magic and physical damage, so your lane opponent will have to get BOTH in order to counter you, or get health, which you can easily counter with blade of the ruined king. Additionally, this skill has a very low cooldown so you can spam it very often.

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-Main damage tool
-Mana and cooldown are low
-Max first
-Reset your attack timer







For up to 2 seconds, Jax dodges all basic attacks and takes 25% less damage from area of effect abilities. At the end of the duration or if Counter Strike is activated again, Jax deals damage and stuns nearby enemies for 1 second. This spell deals 20% additional damage for each attack dodged to a maximum of 100% increased damage.



Counter strike is your only cc tool, but it sure is a good one. You get an on demand area of effect stun, and you dodge all the basic attacks, making your dueling power very strong. Along with your spammable empower and great chasing throw leap strike, you will be a fearsome opponent. I max this last because increasing levels of this isn’t really that useful. Also, this is a great skill for jungling as you dodge all the monster’s attacks and stun then afterwards[/center]

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-Only CC tool
-Makes you good duelist
-Max last
-Take first when jungling

IM AWARE THAT I SWAPPED ACTIVE AND PASSIVE IN THE PICTURE. I AM VERY SORRY.

PASSIVE: Jax deals additional damage on every third basic attack. The counter will reset if he does not attack for 2.5 seconds.
ACTIVE: Jax gains bonus armor and magic resist for 8 seconds.PASSIVE


Every third following autoattack deals bonus magic damage. It makes satisfying THUD sound. If this effect is ready to use you will see small icon above your HUD (fist with eye). You HAVE TO land this attack pretty soon (2 seconds) after previous autoattack or it is lost! If you manage to land AA + Empower + Sheen damage proc + PFTHH, you deal ridiculous amount of damage.

This active part of ultimate is the resistances stuff. So if you activate it, you receive bonus armor and MR. The received value is base value (25/35/45) plus % of your current bonus AD and total AP! The bonus lasts 8 seconds. This is actually REALLY strong. This means the more AD you build, the stronger (tankier) you get!

One last note: If you read previous paragraph once again and then remember the stuff I was talking about Hybrid Jax, you will realize one awesome thing. As Hybrid you are hard to counter, BUT you can pretty easily counter AD and even AP champ, just by buying AD/AP items.

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-Makes you very tanky
-Needs to be charged
-Bonus magic damage every third autoattack

Getting attack damage is key to winning a lane early. You will see almost all guides on AD champions having armor pen runes, but because Jax utilizes both magic and physical damage, there is no point in getting them. Last hitting will also be easier with this, so it is a good choice overall. You can try using marks of attack speed, but I dont suggest that.



Getting attack damage is key to winning a lane early. You will see almost all guides on AD champions having armor pen runes, but because Jax utilizes both magic and physical damage, there is no point in getting them. Last hitting will also be easier with this, so it is a good choice overall. You can try using marks of attack speed, but I dont suggest that.


If you are against an AP in lane, the magic resist would definitely mitigate some the that damage, so take the glyphs of magic resist. Otherwise, if you are against an AD champion top, take the scaling ones since you won't be needing them early game.


Greater Seals of Armor are a guaranteed must. It reduces minion aggro, and as most junglers are attack damage based, this will be very useful to get out of ganks. Even better if your opponent is AD, you will mitigate much of his damage. ALWAYS take these, no matter what, especially if you are jungling.



On some occasions, you may want to consider bringing 4% - 6% lifesteal in runes. If you know you will be dueling very early in the game, buying a doran's blade start in conjunction with the lifesteal can give you a tremendous advantage against your opponent. If you are going to start doran's blade in the jungle, it is, again, a good idea to bring lifesteal, as the health regained per hit and 1 potion will not be sufficient to sustain through the entire jungle path.



I usually bring these for my jungle Jax, though under some circumstances you could bring it in laning. These quints help you run through the jungle much faster, help with ganking, and help a lot with map control. If you feel you don't need these in the jungle, you could consider bringing damage, lifesteal, or attack speed quints. In laning, these are more of a niche pick, but you could bring them if you are up against champions who you do not want to get combo'ed, like Renekton or Lee Sin.



These marks help a lot with jungle clear, and also synergize well with your passive. I really would not bring these into laning, however, because early game, you won't get much use out of them just Cs'ing. You can consider bringing attack damage marks if you don't feel the need for attack speed in the jungle.

There are a few ways to use masteries on Jax, which often varies on your team's needs as well as the composition of the enemy team. You will first find the pages themselves, then afterwards, an explanation of every point taken.

(note - I gathered a lot of this information from this link: Season 4 Offensive Masteries Part 1 and Season 4 Offensive Masteries Part 2)






This mastery point is mostly focusing on two types of champions: lane bullies, and assassins. Although Jax could be considered both of them, and it seems only logical to pick this skill, this mastery isn't worth much in actual gold (about 100 gold before level 6). As a result, unless you are positively sure that you will be abusing the enemy laner or assassinating people, I would not take this. This is why I only take this on assassin Jax and not for others, as Even though this stat itself isn't worth much, I'd take this over expose weakness anyday. I would take this For a melee assassin like Zed or Fizz, this is worth taking over Expose Weakness if you’re confident in your playstyle.






Fury offers 1.25% attack speed per point. Based on dagger's gold value, Fury is worth 41.6/83.3/124.9/166.5 gold depending on how many points you put into it. In my opinion, any champion who uses attack speed should get this, as it has excellent gold value.





Even though the gold value on this is a little bit less than Fury, (40.3/80.5/120.8/161 gold) I still think this is a very good mastery point. Since Jax utilizes attack speed better and also since Fury is worth more gold, I would still get 4 points on fury and 1 point only on this. However, on Utility Junglers, I would take all points in sorcery to give 10% cdr at level 1, giving a lot of ganking potential early.

There aren't many champions who start boots anymore, besides the occasional TF boot start. Still, I feel this is a worthy mention. If you are up against a champion who relies heavily on landing their skillshots, like Gragas, Karthus, or Lux, you may want to invest in this boot choice. Be wary though, because starting boots makes you a very weak early duelist.



This is the route taken by many Jax players. It gives health, damage, and a little bit of lifesteal. Taken with lifesteal quints, it can prove a very effective early dueling item choice. However, it's somewhat of a risky pick, because if you are not given a chance to lifesteal off a minion, you may be losing more health than you regain.



This is another nice route if you are going solo top for a quick Warden's Mail or Ninja Tabi. If you are facing a high harass AD CASTER character like Riven or Talon, the armor and five Health Potion are going to be very useful. Now the reason you would pick this against a high harass AD Caster, not any AD character, is because Doran's Shield's auto attack reduction passive will be more effective than pure armor. On the other hand, as AD casters won't be relying on auto attacks as much, the cloth armor alternative will be much better.


This is probably the safest route you can take on Jax. The stats it give are quite nice, and against anyone who harasses/duels with auto attacks, like Nidalee or Renekton, it will greatly reduce their damage. The only downside is that it only gives one potion, so you may find yourself recalling to base quite early in the game.


This is the most common route, and I think it's pretty good for Jax. The idea for this is to be able to sustain in lane forever, get enough gold, and outright buy your core items. You will not gain any combat stats from this, so I suggest you to buy this only if you are planning to lose lane and farm it out, or if you know you will not be denied of cs in any way.

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The Mercury's Treads is my personal preference for boots on Jax. If you are against champions who deal magic damage, these boots provide quite a good amount of it for a cheap price, and you get a great passive. Late game, your goal is to dive into the carry and kill him, and you will need tenacity to survive the CC on your way out, so these boots are great.

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An alternative to Mercury's Treads is the Ninja Tabi. If you are up against a heavy AD team, or against a very difficult AD lane at top, these boots are a good choice. They are EXTREMELY cheap, and if you started off with Cloth Armor, you could use these.

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This is a great item on Jax. It gives almost every stat Jax could need. The % damage helps a lot against tanky opponents, the attack speed helps with proc-ing empower and scaling with Jax's passive. The lifesteal helps Jax sustain in duels, regen health, while the active helps tremendously in chasing.

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While before you might have gotten the Iceborn Gauntlet, it has been nerfed quite significantly, and after the buff to Tri Force, I honestly think it is better. Phage gives both stats that Jax needs, health and damage, as well as giving a good passive for chasing. Sheen procs the empower passive, and as it is on low cooldown, Sheen is very effective on Jax. Zeal gives some attack speed, though the crit isn't that great. Overall though, Tri Force is definitely a worthy buy on Jax

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Jax is surprisingly flexible in the lanes he can choose. He is mostly seen top, occasionally in the jungle, and I’ve seen a few mid Jaxs in competitive play before (namely xPeke midlaner for Fnatic)

Jax is normally found in the top lane. Why? He has a great disengage through leap strike so he can easily get away from incoming ganks. Additionally, many top laners are AD bruisers, and if they rely heavily on their auto attacks, his dodge completely shuts them down. He is also great at farming because of his passive and W. Overall, Jax’s top lane viability is the highest because he can dominate the lane easily through his mobility, scaling, at flexible itemization.


Jax jungle is also viable, though I only see it occasionally in low elo or normal games. This is mainly because Jax needs the farm in top lane, and the jungle provides very little gold. Jax needs a lot of farm to reach his late game power spike, and playing jungle really won't make him a threat at all. The only realistic way to play Jax jungle would to go for a utility tank build. As Jax's base damage is quite strong, he can play a very tanky disable who can dive the back line, disrupting their carries with his dodge, and make an escape with his leap strike. What makes Jax have the ability to jungle is his dodge, which makes him take zero damage from the monsters for some time. His AA->W combo and his passive also makes him clear camps quickly. His Q and E also help him gank well. Overall, Jax’s jungling is good, but he needs the farm of top lane.


I first saw Jax mid lane which watching xPeke playing Jax mid against CLG EU at Dreamhack Winter. It worked amazingly well, so I decided to take a look at why it worked. First of all, I realized that Jax mid is in fact non viable. However, what you can do with Jax is counter pick that specific mid laner that has no AP counter (or very little) and dominate that lane. For example, xPeke played Jax mid against Karthus. He countered Karthus perfectly by Abusing Jax’s mobility. Karthus could not pin Jax down, and Jax just kept free farming. Overall, you shouldn't play Jax mid under normal circumstances; wait until the enemy picks someone mid you counter to pick him.

Keep in mind that you can also start red buff. This is just a brief jungling path for a blue start. I will be working on a red buff start path soon.




1. Start with counter strike and purchase



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Start attacking the golem first, initiating with a basic attack and following quickly with dodge to get longer time on dodge.

-Pick empower as your second skill.





Go to wolves. Again, engage with AA-> Empower for auto attack reset, then start counterstrike as the wolf almost starts to attack you.





Now that you are level three and have double buff, it's time to decide who to gank. (refer to above section).

When laning as Jax, focus on farming at the start. Like all other top laners, you want to get enough gold to deal damage. Start off by picking your starting item, depending on your team and the enemy’s team. You only want to harass if they come to get a minion but not attack you. In this case, use a basic attack and immediately use Empower afterwards to deal a nice amount of damage. Be sure to fall back when your mana bar goes low -- Jax relies on his spells for escape and damage. Continue to farm passively (unless you are winning the lane convincingly, in which case you should play more aggressively) until you reach level six, and you will get a major damage spike through your ultimate.

This is when you want to start being a bit more aggressive on the enemy champion, harassing them whenever you get the opportunity. To do so, attack the minions once or twice, then immediately engage on the enemy, using grandmaster’s might’s proc and immediately following up with an empower. Try to use your leap strike sparingly as that is your only escape. This will start to bring down their health bar very quickly, making them play much more passively and giving you a better opportunity to zone them out.

If you farmed well and even got a kill or two, you will enter the mid game with a lot of damage and be a force to be reckoned with.

In order to pinpoint Jax's role in a teamfight, let us answer a few questions.

1. Who should be Jax's target?
2. What is Jax's build at this point?
3. What kind of enemies are Jax facing?
4. What team comp does Jax have?
5. What is the current situation in a game?

Many people simply state the role of a character, like "You should be trying to stay in the backline and focusing down their ad/ap carry." While this may be true, it is often difficult to do so, and so you must assess the situation in order to properly understand what you are to do.

Most people, as you should probably already know, suggest Jax to dive the enemy AP/AD carry, kill them, and get away. While this is true, if Jax does not have enough tankiness or damage, he might have to do other things. For example, if Jax is lacking damage, he should be building tanky, so it is instead a better idea to DISTRACT the enemy AD/AP carry, depending on whether you have MR or Armor, and jumping away at the right time, serving as a tank. If Jax is lacking tankiness, it is a better idea to perhaps take an indirect route, assassinate their carry, and attempt to leave unscathed. Now another problem emerges. What type of enemy are you facing? Do they have a lot of CC? If so, then perhaps you should be wiser than jumping into the middle of five enemies, and trying to take out their carry. Another alternative is to let your tank soak up the damage before you engage. Another question would be what is Jax's team comp. For example, if you have an Urgot on your team, there would be no need to jump into five people, and instead you should let him ultimate, then you kill their carry. Or, if they have two, kill the one who is still safe (on the enemy team) then to kill the one swapped, etc. Lastly, the situation of the game dictates what to do. If you are 3 inhibitors behind, 30 kills down, DO NOT attempt to kill their carry--you will die trying.

Yup, and that's the end to my guide!

I hope you have enjoyed your stay here, and I wish you luck in your next game as Jax. Before I go, I would like to thank:

1. Jhoijhoi, whose "making a guide" and awesome line separators helped me significantly. Thank you!

2. My freinds, who reviewed and helped me with my guide, offering support at all times.

3. Commenters who made my guide better

4. And finally, all those other great guides i've read on Mobafire to give me the inspiration to do this 5 month project.

3/3/13 - Guide released.
3/19/13 - Changed a few items (regarding the BOTRK)
3/25/13 - Added flash, and changed pros/cons section
3/27/13 - Added the Jax's enemies section
1/2/13 - Re-released for S4