Counters

There a few major counters to Jax you need to be aware of: these will give you hell in lane and it is advisable to not pick Jax or understand you cannot fight one on one against these champs.

Renekton: A lane bully. Renekton may not win in a one vs one duel, but he has enough sustain and can use his ultimate both offensively and defensively, to make sure he does not die or make sure he gets the kill on Jax.
Malphite: Malphite's kit really makes Jax powerless. His Q slows Jax's movement speed and his passive gives him more armour, allowing him to fight one on one and win the battle against Jax. However, Malphite does not scale as well as Jax and is not great in the late game.
Pantheon: Pantheon is one of the most powerful early game top laners. This is hard for Jax, as Pantheon has hard poke with his Q, W to stun and E to farm waves and hurt Jax. Not to mention Jax's Q will be blocked by Pantheon's passive, a protective shield.
Olaf: In the early game, Olaf has more sustain due to his W and can deal tons of damage to Jax, due to his E. Since Olaf is not massively auto-attack based and can use his Q for poke, it makes it a hard, but not impossible lane for Jax to fight.
Nasus: Even if you manage to push Nasus to the turret, he can just sit and farm his Q, gaining enough stacks to kill you later on in the game. Jax is a huge scaling monster, but Nasus can match the power and is hard to shut down, especially if he gets a few early kills.

Jax should always be weary of his mana, in the early game (levels 1 to 8) Jax will lose a lot of mana if he uses E, W and Q in one combo. If this fails, it could leave him vulnerable to attacks, especially if the other champion is not mana based.

E and Q can be used as defensive manoeuvres. If you are thinking about going in on the enemy champion in lane, be sure to place a ward(s) in the bushes the enemy jungler could come from, you may need those two spells to make an escape.

Your ultimate gives you a passive, every third attack, you deal extra magic damage. Make sure to focus on when your passive auto-attack is coming, especially when fighting enemies and last hitting minions.

Empower (W) can be used with Leap Strike (Q) for a more effective hit. Make sure to press W before jumping. E can also be activated before jumping, to ensure you stun on hit. Timing is important when trying this combo.

Jax is a good lane pusher and can move some champions into their own turret. Be careful and patient, do not dive a champion like Nasus, Renekton, Singed or any other tanky champion on their turret, even if they are low, without the assistance on your team.

Choose your summoner spells.Each spell has it's own benefits and are down to your play style. Some recommended summoner spells include:

Flash - You should always use flash because it can be used offensively to get to an enemy and defensively to escape the enemy.
Teleport - The go-to summoner spell for top lane. It allows you to backport more frequently because it makes getting to lane easier and can be used to join your team when you push a side lane and a teamfight breaks out.
Ignite - An agressive option for the toplane. While it can help you get easy kills early it is a very risky choice and is definitely worse in the late game than teleport.
Smite - If you are playing Jax in the jungle you have to take this summoner spell to help you clear the jungle, secure neutral objectives like drakes or the baron and to buy the important jungle items.


You can cancel the animation of your auto attacks with your W or the Tiamat / Titanic Hydra Item Active.
You can activate your E and jump into the enemy with Q. You will be able to stun them easily reactivating your E.
If you want to trade in the lane post 6 make sure you attacked the enemy minions 2 times, so the passive of your R will empower the first auto attack on the enemy champion.

Play the early game. If your jungle needs a leash help them. if not guard the entrance of your side of the jungle instead of just waiting under your tower.

You are very strong in fights at level 1 with your E. Often you can walk to the enemy with your E active and then stun them and auto attack them to delete a great chunk of their health early on.
When minions come focus on last hitting. If the enemy overextends to much for a minion try to punish them but be aware of the damage coming from the enemy minions. Especially early on they can hit hard.
Keep split pushing but be ready to help your team.

In the midgame and late game you can keep on pushing side lanes because you are a big threat to the enemy towers with your Trinity Force Passive. The pushing power from Tiamat / Titanic Hydra can help, too. #*While you are great in the sidelines you can still help your team if a fight breaks out or if you can ambush a lone enemy. You can act as a first or second engage and peel for your carries (Often the Midlaner and the ADC) in teamfights.
If you want to split push watch out for your teleport cooldown so you can easily join your team in important fights.
In the midgame you have to watch out before buying your tank items, because you are still rather squishy and can be burst down in teamfights.

As a jungler stay with your team more often.

Don't splitpush often, because you have no teleport and are needed to secure objectives with smite.
Buy more tanky so you can help more in teamfights.
Clear your jungle camps if possible because your items are expensive and you can rely on your scaling but remember to help your teammates if possible.