Why wasn't Jax picked in LCS?

[quote=darthdeus]I'm about half way through watching videos from the LCS, and it seems that the champion picks are very limited to just a few. I'm going to focus on jungler/top. Almost always picked: Shen, Nasus, Malphite, Vladimir, Elise (kinda, she wasn't really played as solo iirc) Situational picks: Kha'zix, Tryndamere, Irelia I understand that Shen is basically 100% pick/ban, because of his ult, same as Malphite. With Nasus I can only assume that his ult makes taking objectives and generally teamfights [i]easier[/i], but not necessarily gamechanging. On the other hand if you look at Tryndamere, Irelia and Kha'zix, those don't really have that [i]I can change the game[/i] mechanic. And now comes my noob question, [b]why wasn't Jax picked even once?[/b] From reading the guides, and generally from my gameplay I can see that he's really pain in the ass 1v1 both in the lane and when he gets going, his dmg and utility is probably the same as Irelia, since he has AoE stun and leap to escape, and he just puts out mad amounts of dmg when he jumps on someone. I understand that some champions are easily countered in very coordinated environment, and that raw dmg output isn't better than high utility most of the time, but Jax can have good teamfight utility with his leap stun combo, right? He is definitely strong at taking objectives, because of his passive, and he isn't so easy to gank since he can just Counter Strike and jump on a minion to escape. Am I completely wrong here? Is Jax played in top level games, or is he just that faceroll noob champ that people don't know how to counter in low ELO?[/quote]

[quote=Arkharan]Jax isn't a pick or ban. That doesn't mean he's terrible but he's not at the top that's for sure.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]Shen: Great splitpush/map presence with ulti Malphite: Great ulti, good vs AS reliant people with his E Nasus: good vs AS reliant with his [[Wither]] Elise: Her Q is really strong, damage based on max health and current health Kha'Zix: Good poke with W and resets on E is strong Tryndamere: Rarely picked Irelia: Rarely picked Vladimir: Rarely picked To explain your answer - You often see a lane swap in tournament games, so top laners are required to have either a strong early game, high mobility or range. They need versatility. [[Jax]] is a champion that has a REALLY weak early game, and he can't farm for shit against 2 people. He has no ranged ability to farm from a distance, and in early game he is just not tanky enough to be able to farm without dying. Nonetheless, he's a late game beast, if you can get there. In low ELO games laneswaps rarely occur, and [[Jax]] is a much stronger pick because of his excellent 1v1 duelling power.[/quote]

[quote=GrandmasterD]What Icecreamy said makes a lot of sense, he does really poorly against laneswaps. But I think his main issue is that he peaks too late. His mid-game is par with other bruisers or weaker than theirs, he offers little cc and is only best as a duelist. Additionally, his early-game is very weak which can easily be abused by junglers and strong top laners. Last but not least, there are just way better options atm.[/quote]

[quote=IceCreamy]Sorta goes the same with [[Fiora]], there's just no place for them in the current meta.[/quote]

[quote=Satella]Remember when [[Jax]] instalock was a thing for Asian teams in S2? Yeah...[/quote]

[quote=Mooninites][quote=IceCreamy] Sorta goes the same with [[Fiora]], there's just no place for them in the current meta. [/quote] No, [[fiora]]'s a bad champion by design, [[jax]] is not. There are a number of reasons [[Jax]] is not favorable. 1. His 2v1 sucks 2. His early game is pretty subpar 3. Attack Speed costs significantly more in Season 3 4. Randuin's is broken 5. His ult scales off MR and Armor, while health has proven to be more efficient 6. he can't push well 7. Armor Pen and Magic Pen are far more effective stats, while [[Jax]] deals a large amount of mixed damage and doesn't benefit as much from either There ya go[/quote]

[quote=GrandmasterD][quote=Mooninites] [quote=IceCreamy] Sorta goes the same with [[Fiora]], there's just no place for them in the current meta. [/quote] No, [[fiora]]'s a bad champion by design, [[jax]] is not. There are a number of reasons [[Jax]] is not favorable. 1. His 2v1 sucks 2. His early game is pretty subpar 3. Attack Speed costs significantly more in Season 3 4. Randuin's is broken 5. His ult scales off MR and Armor, while health has proven to be more efficient 6. he can't push well 7. Armor Pen and Magic Pen are far more effective stats, while [[Jax]] deals a large amount of mixed damage and doesn't benefit as much from either There ya go [/quote] 8. Isn't a ninja turtle.[/quote]

[quote=rudyards]Didn't Hotshot play him at some point recently? Or was that not in LCS? The main issue with Jax is (as mentioned) he does poorly in 2v1 lanes, which are so common right now. In general, he's still a strong pick in pub games, but not really in professional games because there are people who do what he does with less weaknesses. In professional games, a champion with two good points and no bad points is way better than one with five good points and three bad points, simply because pro players can abuse champion weaknesses.[/quote]

[quote=darthdeus]Thanks guys, this makes a lot of sense :) Does anyone have a link to that game where they played Jax?[/quote]