Greetings! My IGN is VictoriousGogi and I am Jax top main in NA who hit Platinum last season. This guide is both for those who picked Jax for no reason and need a quick 5 minute rune set up or those who want to learn Jax in-depth to climb out of lower elo.

Please note, that the builds and paths given in this guide aren't the only way to build Jax. Jax is a champion who has an unbelievably broad item path. These "can't go wrong" builds are sufficient for climbing out of low elo.

If you have any questions, feel free to add me in-game and I can try to answer your questions 1 on 1.

Jax has been in the game for a long time and has been pretty relevant during his life span. He has a monstrous late game, great split-push power, and an insane 1v1. He can definitely solo carry games especially in lower elo either through demolishing the laner or split-pushing to victory.

Jax is ideal for climbing out of lower elo because, let's face it, if you're in bronze 2, you don't have sound mechanical skill. Jax is a simple, powerful, and fun champion who can help you climb without having to make insane mechanical outplays.
In addition, Jax is able to provide team balance from many angles. Players in lower elo seldom consider team composition while choosing their champions. You'll often end up with un-balanced comps (such as full ap, full ad, no tank, low cc, etc.) Jax can utilize both AP and AD while also being able to soak damage and provide CC. Due to this, he has one of the widest viable item paths in the game and thus, is perfect to fit many team comps.

Pros:
- Late game insurance
- God of split-pushing
- Insane 1v1 potential
- Hard counters auto-based champions
- Very simple kit

Cons:
- Pretty weak early game
- Struggles against spell-based champs
- Difficult to come back quickly if behind
- Heavily reliant on his E
- No ranged abilities
- No built-in sustain (makes him weak to poke)

Before we get in-depth into Jax, here are a few tips you should use in order to climb:
1. Never blame your teammates.
This rule is very important particularly because many people don't stick to it. Now, this isn't to say that you won't lose games because your teammates played poorly. Of course you will. This is a team game after all. Your junlger might miss smite on the elder dragon. Your mid laner might feed the Yasuo and have him one shot your whole team. However, if you keep the goal of climbing in mind, you cannot blame your teammates simply because you can never control what they do. Instead, focus on what YOU could've done better. Could YOU have managed the lane better? Could YOU have won lane even harder? Could YOU have ganked bot using Teleport? Asking yourself these questions will go a long way in actually improving your gameplay and allowing you to climb. Ultimately, your rank is your responsibility and is in your control.

2. Don't underestimate your lane opponent.
This applies particularly to top lane because it's such an isolated 1v1 lane. If your opponent is suddenly being aggressive, there is probably a good reason behind it(jungle gank/mid roam/item powerspike/level advantage/cooldowns/etc)pay attention to your situation before deciding how to respond to your opponent's moves. This idea is even more important for Jax because if you just don't lose the lane, you will outscale everyone.

3. Learn the macro game
One of the main reasons as to why Jax is a good champion to climb with is because he is mechanically simple. That being said, his win rate consistently rises as you go up in tiers. The reason is because people in higher elo understand how to abuse his strengths as a split pusher and knows how to read the map. Learn how to manage waves, watch the map, and to play around objectives. These skills will help you even if you transition to a different champion later on.

Teleport is the ideal spell for Jax. Jax is a champion who wants to get through the laning phase while being even with your opponent because not many champions in the game hold a candle to jax in terms of scaling. Teleport lets to get back to lane faster to farm, and allows for better macro-based split-push tactics late game.


Flash is a no-brainer. I would argue that Flash is the single most broken thing in League of Legends and the only reason why it can be in the game is because everybody can take it.

In this section, I will be discussing a couple "Rune Paths" Jax can take. As a side note, Runes SHOULD vary by enemy team comp and lane opponent. There is no fixed set of runes that is ideal for every game. The explanations below are an outline of a general path.

1. Conqueror & Inspiration/Resolve

- Keystone: Conqueror
Conqueror is just an overall insane rune right now because of the healing it gives you. The rune gets you greater and greater returns as the game goes on, which is great because Jax is a scaling champion.

-Triumph is the only option for Jax in this rune line.


- Legend: Alacrity vs. Legend: Tenacity
This is a pretty hot topic among Jax mains. I prefer the CC resistance Tenacity gives you late game, and if the enemy team has a Leona/Nautilus/Ornn or other heavy CC champions, Tenacity will beat out Alacrity in damage output. However, if the enemy team doesn't have too much CC or only has the weaker CCs, (i.e. roots,slows,etc.)Feel free to go Alacrity.


-Last Stand
Jax is a champion who is practically guaranteed to take damage during trades while laning. Last Stand gives Jax the best overall damage boost.

Important note: The mentality involved in this rune is useful while playing Jax. If you've got some items, and it's coming down to splitting hairs in the mid-late game, don't run from close fights. You'll be surprised how many of those close fights you win.


Side Runes: Inspiration
vs
-Magical Footwear vs Biscuit delivery
This rune is great because it gives Jax 300+ gold worth of value, which is amazing for a champion who has such an expensive first item. Biscuit delivery is for going against those hard-core poke champions (like teemo) who you really just want to get through the early levels against. The sustain this rune provides with Time Warp Tonic is absolutely insane.

Important note: Do NOT take this rune against champions like Aatrox who you need boots in the early game to go against. Take the biscuit delivery rune instead.

- Time Warp Tonic
This rune is absolutely insane for Jax because it makes Corrupting Potion so much better. In the early game, just popping the potion will give you a noticable amount of health and mana back. This is great for trading or making it through the lane.

Important note: This rune actually gives back so much health early on that you might end up wasting some of the resources it gives back. Try to make full use of the rune's bonus by paying attention to your resource bars.


Side Runes: Resolve

-Bone Plating
This rune will help you withstand the really tough lane opponents. The damage reduction it gives is absolutely insane for laning.

Important note: As you won't be taking this rune most of the time, *pay attention* to if your opponent has it up. You can tell if the rune is on CD by left-clicking on your opponent. Remove this rune's damage reduction during early trades.


- Demolish
Obviously a great rune for split-pushing. The only reason why it isn't my go-to is because being able to proc demolish in the laning phase is a pretty inconsistent thing. You really take Resolve for bone plating not for demolish.

Important note: There is a turret shield for the first 5 minutes that reduces the damage they take MASSIVELY don't bother trying to proc demolish before 5 minutes. It really doesn't do much, and there are risks to being so up front in the lane.


2. Resolve & Inspiration

-Keystone: Grasp of the Undying
-Grasp is actually a far superior rune for the laning phase than conqueror for Jax. The rune will give your poke a significant improvement in terms of damage and the bit of health it gives back is great too. The only reasons why I don't recommend this path most of the time is because the effectiveness of Grasp goes down as the game goes on, which is something that a scaling champion such as Jax doesn't want.

I gave these an explanation above
vs
This line is a choice between these two runes. If the enemy team is VERY heavy on CC, then go for Unflinching. If not, take Overgrowth instead.

Stat Runes:
- These runes are often overlooked by newer players, but do not underestimate their influence on the early game. How many times have you seen someone live by 20 hp from an ignite? Those kinds of close-survivals are made possible by the slight boost in stats these runes can give.
Pay Attention to who your lane opponent is. If you are going against mordekaiser or vladimir, take the Magic Resist rune. If you're against Darius, take the armor rune. If you're not sure(like if the enemy team has an akali and irelia chosen) go for the scaling health rune.

Understanding Jax's passive is key higher performance. Always try to have higher stacks when going in for trades especially post-level 6 as your ult's passive damage can be very high in the laning phase.

This is Jax's mobility spell and it's actually a pretty insane one. This ability can target opponents, allies, minions, monsters, wards, and any traps you can see on the screen. Using this ability well can save your life or secure a kill that would've gotten away otherwise.

Jax's main damage source. Use this as an auto-attack reset during trades. You can also use it to activate sheen/triforce while split-pushing

THIS IS JAX'S MOST IMPORTANT ABILITY. How you use your E makes a world of a difference in your performance. It can block more things than you might imagine and it gives Jax a 1v2 potential in the early game if ahead.

SO, what CAN Jax's E Dodge? Here's a big fat list:


Using Jax's ult passive well in laning phase is key to getting efficient trades out. Build the two stacks up by auto-attacking the minions twice and drop the passive damage with your W and you will be impressed by the damage.

The active part of Jax's ultimate is almost as broken as the passive. You might notice that my core build features a lot of health. This is because at level 16, Jax's ult gives as much Armor as Randuin's Omen (and actually more because your items have AD) and as much Magic Resistance as Spirit Visage (and can be more if you choose to build items with Gunblade). This allows you to be unbelievably tanky while dealing tons of damage.

Early game:
Jax is at his weakest during the early game. He really needs some items before he can make plays. That being said, Jax can very effectively withstand many opponents and can beat some if the opponent slips up. Effectively utilizing your E and Q's mobility will allow you to get through the laning phase. Don't be too concerned if you have to give up cs to stay alive. You outscale a lot of top laners, and not giving up kills is a very important part of scaling.
Mid game:

In this section I will discuss specific lane match-ups (section will be in alphabetical order later on)

Aatrox
Runes: Take the "90% of the time" runes but take biscuits instead of the boots.
Items: Save up for executioner's culling first item. Build phage into ninja tabis if even, and ninja tabis into phage if behind.
Laning: Aatrox is pretty tough so calling for a gank with executioners is your best bet in the early game since aatrox doesn't have any long-range escapes.

Maokai
Runes: Take 90% of the time runes, with magic resist.
Items: Build Blade of the Ruined King first. Take the vampiric scepter early on for the sustain in lane and bulid into the blade.
Laning: Maokai has become very popular in recent patches due to the sunfire buff and some other champion factors. You will have quite a difficult time actually killing him in lane so your best bet is to try and farm up and ask for junlger ganks since Maokai doesn't have any built-in escape mechanisms.
Mordekaiser
Runes: Take 90% of the time runes,but take the attack speed runes and magic resist.
Items: build phage into stinger into sheen. Null magic mantel for merc treads if behind
Laning: Mordekaiser is quite dominant, but you will start beating him after phage + stinger if you're even in items. Don't look for a all-in fight when you are both even on health because he will heal more and use his W for a large shield. Poke him down with your W and third auto before going in. Make sure you use your ult after he uses his ult because his ult will steal your stats.


Runes: Take 90% of the Time runes
Items: Build phage into stinger into sheen.
Laning: Sett is one of the most powerful top laner in the game right now, and in order to lane against him well, we should consider what makes him such a powerful laner.
To begin, Sett has built-in health regen. Which is something Jax completely lacks. He has a good gap closer with his Q, a massive shield and damage potential with his W, good CC with his E and a constant tower-range threat with his ultimate. Placed in the context of the early lanes, these traits make him extremely powerful. Essentially, Sett makes it so that the opponent has to consider a lot of factors at once while having a very simple kit for himself.
Jax can take the level 1 advantage with his E, as Sett is an auto-based champion at level 1. Taking the level 2 first can actually give you kill potential. After that, however, you're going to need to wait until Triforce to beat him 1 on 1.


Runes: vs Ranged runes
item: build corrupting potion into cull/doran's shield.
Laning: Quinn's laning phase is really oppressive and annoying for pretty much all melee top laners. This is a quite difficult matchup. In the early game, take E first and use it to dodge her attacks when she tries to poke you. This lane is all about withstanding the lane until you can get 450g. Once you get that gold you can go back to grab a cull or doran's shield depending on how you feel about your opponent. Since you have tp advantage most of the time, tp back and farm. It's nearly impossible to kill a good quinn as a Jax. Wait for ganks and be sure to punish her if she misuses her gap-maker.


Runes: take vs Fiora runes
Items: Phage -- Sheen
Laning: Fiora vs Jax is a skill matchup where the winner is decided by who can use their CC spells more effectively. The key against Fiora is to move to the side or behind her with your E so you don't get stunned by her W. If you get stunned, you will definitely lose the trade and you can die. If you can use your E effectively in the pre-6 phase and use it well to stop her from procing ult vitals post-6, you will demolish her in lane because your E is so effective against her kit.

Jax has one of the widest viable build paths in the game. As such, it is important to be able to tell how to itemize properly according to your current in-game state, your team comp, and the opponent's team comp. This section will go over the basic ideas, but you will have to learn to judge your build paths game-by-game.

STANDARD ITEMS- these are items you can't go wrong with building.

Trinity Force
Hands down, best item for Jax in the game. Jax can use every single stat and effect given by this item and thus it is extremely gold efficient.

Titanic Hydra
This item is Jax's hard-core splitpush item and if used properly, it can place the entire game in Jax's hands. While giving great waveclear (which is something Jax naturally lacks because he only has 1 aoe ability), this item provides health, armor, and an auto-attack reset that makes this 1v1s more powerful too. Overall, a great item that competes with Sterak's Gauge in the second item slot.

Black Cleaver
This item has recently gained popularity from TF Blade (player who hit rank 1 on 4 servers) and I can definitely see the merit of it. I think this item is great if you can build triforce into tiamat (TF Blade prefers to build Tiamat first item, but using tiamat properly can be tricky), sit on it, build cleaver, and then complete titanic hydra.


This item received a massive buff recently and has become a core part of Jax's build. Take the vamp scepter early on to try and sustain in the laning phase (which is likely quite tough).


Sterak's Gage
This item is the 1v5 item. Once again, it gives health and AD which are great for Jax, and it gives a pretty sizeable shield into the late game(which is also great for Jax). The biggest part however, is the tenacity passive. When you have the tenacity runes, merc boots, and this item's passive proc, You will brush off most low-tier cc like they're nothing. It's like a worse Olaf ult on Jax. Which is just broken. Excellent item for Jax overall, and should be in your build most games.

Death's Dance
After the removal of the "Spear of Shojin" (may it Rest In Peace), Jax players sought out an item to effectively replace it. Death's Dance seems to be the generally agreed suitable replacement. The cooldown reduction is really helpful and the lifesteal has great synergy with your W and ult passive. Overall, if you're ahead and your team can use some more damage, then this item is a great choice.


TECH CHOICES - items that can have high effectiveness based on allied or enemy comps.
Frozen Mallet
I don't think this item is a core item for any champion in the game right now, and it isn't for Jax either. However, if the enemy team has a lot of low-mobility champions, then this item is absolutely insane. You see, low-mobility champions are usually compensated for their lack of gap closers by a more powerful 1v1 (think juggernauts like Darius, Mordekaiser, Sett, etc.). By providing more health(a great stat for Jax as mentioned before) and bonus AD (giving more armor to your ult active) this item is excellent for chasing down those low-mobility champions.


These two items are really interesting for Jax and I've seen some higher-tier Jax mains rush either based on the situation. However, I prefer to think of these as second-items after Triforce if you can afford another full damage item. Build BotRK if you're against a high-health comp (Like Sett top Zac jg) and go Gunblade if the enemy team has a lot of one-shot able squishies. Seriously, the burst Gunblade offers is actually insane.