Ahri can be an annoying lane early because it's difficult to melee Q onto her if she holds charm, and she can bully you from behind the creep wave. Focus on neutralizing pre 6 and start to trade aggressively when you get dirk. If you have phase rush, sometimes you can QE her from range then immediately proc phase rush by melee Qing a creep next to her, and use this to dodge charm to run her down the lane.
Akali
While it's hard to push Akali out of lane, you can just take first strike and go eclipse and she will never be able to beat you in a 1v1. You should focus on crashing the first 2 or 3 waves and then trying to keep the wave on your side as much as possible. This will limit her opportunities to chase you down the wave. Whenever she uses her E or W, respect until they are gone and then you can play more aggressively during the long cooldown window.
Akshan
Akshan is stronger than you before your first base but once you have your dirk you should be in a good spot. Try keep the wave closer to your side but keep the lane warded so he can't roam for free. If he tries to E onto you, swap to melee and E him away.
Anivia
Anivia is weak pre 6 so you should be able to get through this phase with a small CS lead. If she uses Q aggressively, try and punish her by Qing on to her while it's down. Post 6 it can be harder to punish Anivia because of her safety and waveclear, but in teamfights you heavily outrange her as long as you don't go melee too early.
Annie
nnie can depend a lot on what rune page she takes. If she takes a scaling page like dark harvest or first strike, you will normally win pretty hard pre 6 and can try take advantage of her early game. If she has a strong laning page like aery resolve, she’ll be quite strong in lane so you will have to trade more carefully. Post 6 she has a lot of threat and will probably just drop her bear for a lot of poke. Once this bear is gone though she’s weak again. Merc treads and refillable can be quite useful to pick up early in this matchup, or if you don’t want the full mercs at least buy a null magic mantle. If Annie wastes stun you may be able to force a trade onto her.
Aurelion Sol
Against Asol you need phase rush in order to disengage from his extended trades. Be very careful fighting him at level 1 as his Q poke is too strong. Once you're level 3, you should be able to win by poking down with QE and then engaging on him in melee. Make sure to E him to cancel his Q then phase rush away.
Azir
Azir is difficult for Jayce in the early game but you counter him in teamfights and the mid game. Pre 6 you are expected to fall slightly behind but do your best to remain even. Once you pick up your dirk you will start to win trades, but you have to be very careful of his gank setup and his ability to throw you into tower. In mid game and teamfights you win the 1v1 on sidelane as well as heavily outrange him so look to poke him out before teamfights begin.
Cassiopeia
Cassio is pretty good against Jayce in lane, it's very hard to engage onto her without taking huge punishment and she can harass you easily from inside the creep wave. Don't ever go melee onto her unless she is missing all cooldowns (Q, W, R). In mid game look to poke her out before fights and she will find teamfighting very difficult.
Corki
Corki is extremely weak in the early lane and skirmishes. You can opt to go for electrocute and ignite in this matchup if you like, otherwise you can go first strike for more scaling or phase rush if you want to try chase him down the lane. Corki doesn't have a good way to trade back if you get on him. Just be careful trading levels 1-2 as this is the only stage of the game you might lose (if you have electrocute you should win here anyway).
Diana
Diana is a champion you should look to take Conqueror against. There isn't much Diana can do to win trades against you and you should find it very easily to Q onto her after level 3. Just make sure to avoid getting hit by every Q and you should have no trouble. You can consider buying a null magic mantle if you feel like you need extra MR, but it shouldn't be required.
Ekko
Punishing cooldowns is very important against Ekko in the early game. His only trading tool is also his only waveclear tool so you should make him choose between clearing the wave or trading with you by positioning correctly. If you are playing against hail of blades Ekko, be careful of his level 1 cheese with e start. He will have a stronger lane but won’t scale as well overall. Against Ekko you can bring either Conqueror or First Strike depending on how aggressive you want to be in the early game. You can also consider Phase Rush if he has a strong ganking jungle or support.
Fizz
Fizz has very defined moments of strength and weakness and playing around these are key. Level 1 and 2 Fizz can be punished very hard but level 3 and level 6 he is very strong. Try and crash either 2 or 3 waves into his tower and then let it bounce back to you. You do not want to be pushed up in the lane level 3 onwards. His main trading tool, his E, is also his main waveclear tool so make sure to keep track of this cooldown and it’s by far the most important. Against Fizz you should pretty much always win trades, but you do need to be very careful of dying to a level 6 gank. If he goes on you, make sure to swap melee form for the extra resistances.
Galio
Against Galio your main goals are to keep him in lane, punish his Q cooldown when he uses it to clear the wave and try to keep track of the enemy jungler. You win this lane and heavily outscale so unless you die to ganks this should be free. I take First Strike in this matchup normally, but you may need Phase Rush if they have very threating support and jungle.
Hwei
Hwei is an extremely strong laner but you will outscale him. Try position behind creeps so that you can’t get hit by random QQ poke, but far enough away that you have time to dodge the QE + EE combo if he decides to try nuke the wave instead. Be very careful trying to go aggro onto him with melee unless he has already used Q.
Irelia
Irelia is extremely strong in the laning phase and the sidelane, but she needs to snowball in order to perform well in teamfights. For the most part you will be looking to keep the wave on your side and try to setup ganks or just avoid having Irelia chase you down the lane. Be extremely careful of her level 2 and level 6 all in especially. Above all else your goal is not to die, even if you go down CS to Irelia it should be fine unless you give over some kills. If you take Conqueror and trade on your side of the lane (so she doesn't have room to run you down) you can sometimes win this lane against bad Irelias.
Karma
Karma is pretty strong in lane but you outscale her pretty hard. Try avoid trades pre dirk, after you get dirk you can look for more QE poke and eventually go melee if she wastes cooldowns.
Kassadin
Kassadin is a super free matchup. Try and make sure that he is forced to use his Q to last hit. If he decides to Q you instead, he should be punished when he walks up and tries to last hit a creep. With good trading and wave control you should be able to build a significant lead over Kassadin pre 6. Post 6 with your item lead, especially if you bought dirk, you should have no trouble trading onto him.
Katarina
Katarina is a weak laner outside of a couple key moments. Make sure you don’t stand on any daggers and respect her level 2 and level 6 all in. For the most part Katarina will just look to spam roam and cheese kills from other lanes so placing good wards and pinging missing or retreat pings on lanes to keep her from getting kills is really important. If you can ever lock her in lane or kill her you will be massively ahead. Make sure you save melee E in order to cancel her ultimate. This is a matchup you can consider running electrocute ignite in as well.
LeBlanc
LeBlanc can be difficult 1v1 since you can't ever go melee onto her as long as she holds chain. She also has very good gank setup which makes playing aggressively even harder. Your main window to punish is when her W is on CD since it's a very long cooldown in the early game. Try keep the wave on your side for added safety. Merc treads or some other form of MR can be very helpful for avoiding her one shotting you in the mid game.
Lissandra
Lissandra loses the 1v1 to you and gets outscaled, but she has exceptional gank setup. Do your best to match her push, and if she uses her Q on the wave look to punish by forcing a trade. Outside of Q her other cooldowns are also quite long, so if she wastes them try and take advantage of them. Merc treads are also very useful against this champion for avoiding ganks and surviving engages in teamfights. If you can ever get damage dealt with your QE poke before a teamfight you should be in a great spot.
Lux
Lux is a pretty strong laner with her heavy E poke. Do your best to dodge as many of these as possible and make sure not to get hit by a stray Q. Her cooldowns are quite long and her main trading tool, her E, is also her main form of waveclear before level 6. Try not to group up with the wave and if she does use E on the wave look to trade aggressively while still avoiding her Q. Merc treads can also be helpful for the movement speed, MR and tenacity. If she wastes Q, you may be able to trade on her aggressively if she overextends.
Malzahar
Malzahar is one of the weakest early game champions in the game, he has essentially no form of trading power and his waveclear is easily dealt with as long as you kill his voidlings as soon as they spawn. Try and build a significant lead in lane as he scales extremely well so he needs to be put behind. You also heavily outrange him in the mid game so just be careful about going melee in fights too early. You can take electrocute ignite in this matchup if you prefer.
Neeko
Neeko is one of the strongest laning champs in the game and also has immense teamfight and skirmishing power. In the lane phase it will all be about how many Qs and Es you can dodge so try and keep your movement very active. Merc treads rush can help a lot in this matchup too. If you can take phase rush, you can look to trade when her E is down but make sure to E her away and disengage before her ult goes off.
Naafiri
Naafiri is a relatively weak laner but she snowballs extremely well so do your best to bully her in the 1v1 and prevent her from getting any roam opportunities. All her damage in lane comes from getting hit by 2 Qs in a row, so if you can dodge one you will normally win the trade. She can look to W directly onto you if you waste your cooldowns (especially melee cooldowns) so make sure you play a bit safer when these are down.
Orianna
The Orianna matchup can depend a lot on what keystone she takes. If she takes comet she will put 3 points in W and be extremely strong in lane. Your goal against comet Orianna is just to do your best to stay even and look to beat her in teamfights or the sidelane. If you’re playing against phase rush Orianna, she will scale a lot better but you will have more windows to do stuff in lane. Orianna's biggest weaknesses are she doesn't have a way to stop you from melee Qing onto her or a creep next to her, and she's also very gankable so try keep the wave in a gankable position.
Pantheon
Pantheon has strong gank setup and trading but he lacks waveclear and gets heavily outscaled. Try and neutralize the early game vs Pantheon and consider taking cleanse if you are scared of getting ganked. Make sure to keep eyes on him post 6 and if he ults to another lane you will most likely just want to punish by pushing the wave and hitting the mid tower, unless you think you can roam to the play in time. I like to take Conqueror in this matchup and just look to trade back if he ever Ws onto me, otherwise I stay range and poke him down.
Qiyana
Qiyana is pretty weak level 1 and 2 but spikes hard at level 3 and level 6. Make sure to avoid the level 3 all in by having the wave bounce back to you, but other than that you will want to build up a lead before she hits 6. At level 6 make sure to avoid standing too close to walls or the river as this will mean she can kill you with ultimate easily. Qiyana needs to snowball to be relevant so making sure you don’t die and try limit her windows to roam will go a long way. Eclipse works well in this matchup and you can look for either Electrocute ignite or first strike and TP.
Ryze
Ryze has very good push and gank setup, but he doesn't deal that well with being traded on. You should be able to win trades pretty hard especially once you get dirk. Be careful of letting him roam post 6 but also hug your vision closely so you don't die to ganks.
Seraphine
Seraphine scales and teamfights very well but she is weak in lane and lacks waveclear after the changes. She has long cooldowns so if she uses Q or E to farm or harass look to punish by forcing a trade on her or zoning her off the wave. She also can’t really side lane so normally in the mid game you can build up a big CS lead over her. You can take pretty much any keystone you want vs Seraphine, First Strike is good for matching scaling so that's normally my go to.
Swain
wain can depend a lot on the rune page he is running and what he builds. If Swain goes for an aery/scorch/chapter build he will be a lot stronger in lane than normal, but he will lack the scaling he normally has. Against this page you should expect to go even or slightly ahead until you pick up your dirk. If you’re against any other setup you should be able to build a pretty big lead in lane by abusing his long cooldowns and dodging his E. I like to take phase rush in this matchup so that you can run away from his ulti post 6, and the slow resistance can be nice against Rylais too.
Sylas
Sylas lane is all about dodging his E2. If you get hit by his chain you will almost certainly lose the trade, but if he misses it you can punish him heavily. Stay close enough to the creeps that he can’t easily E you, but far enough away that he can’t just hit both you and the creeps with his Q. Sylas snowballs extremely hard but if he doesn’t find a lead he won’t be too hard to deal with, and you can usually build a small lead in lane as long as you don’t die solo or to his gank setup. Try keep the wave on your side after the initial couple of waves for extra safety. Conqueror is also very good for this matchup and should allow you to trade back.
Syndra
Syndra is a very strong laner and if she holds her E defensively you won't have any windows to trade onto her. If she wastes E, you can sometimes look to melee Q a creep next to her and chase her down with phase rush. erc treads are especially OP because the movement speed, tenacity and MR are all crucial to going even or winning lane against this champion.
Taliyah
Taliyah is relatively weak in the laning phase but scales very well. In the laning phase her main harass tools also function as her waveclear so try and make her choose between pushing the wave and harassing you, as well as looking to be aggressive if she wastes Q and/or E. It can be hard to ever kill Taliyah in lane but if you can come out with a CS lead you should outrange her heavily in teamfights.
Talon
Talon in the laning phase is all about his W. W is both Talon’s main trading tool as well as his farming tool so you mustn’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or hitting the CS. It’s also extremely important that you do not get hit by both sides of W as that will make it very easy for him to jump on you and proc his passive which almost guarantees a hard losing trade or a death. If he casts W on you immediately move to the side rather than back as that makes it a lot easier to dodge W on the return. Be very careful of his level 2 and level 6 all ins with ignite and make sure you swap to melee for the extra resists when he trades on you.
Tristana
Tristana beats Jayce through a war of attrition, before first base it costs too much mana for you to trade with her so try only trade defensively and save your melee E to knock her away. After first base you can start to win as long as she hasn't snowballed by this point.
Twisted Fate
If you’re playing against AD TF, he is fairly strong in extended trades but is very vulnerable to poke and most likely will have ghost instead of TP, which means you can push him out of lane easily. If you’re playing against AP TF, you will want to play around his W cooldown and keep track of the enemy jungler. Try and keep TF locked in lane as much as you can either through trading or pushing the wave so that you are in a position to either stop him from roaming or punish the mid tower if he does. Overall this is a very easy matchup and he should never win trades against you outside of level 1 and 2.
Veigar
Veigar is extremely abusable in lane and in early skirmishes. He has to use his Q to farm which means he won’t be able to trade, and even with Q up he doesn’t do much damage. When this is down you can look to get aggressive onto him. The only thing you really need to be careful of is not lining yourself up with the creeps so he can easily hit the creep and you. He does have some gank setup so you may want to build merc treads if they have a ganking jungler. In teamfights you outrange him and you should also easily outfarm him on the sidelane.
Vel'Koz
Vel’Koz has a lot of poke and waveclear but if he uses these cooldowns aggressively he will be vulnerable to being traded on. Trying to keep the wave in a gankable position or looking to press forward onto him if he wastes his cooldowns is very important. Positioning in the creep wave can make dodging Qs easier and make sure to not get hit by Es as that’s Vel’Koz’s best way of trading. After level 6 if you get by an E it’s possible Vel’Koz can kill you with ulti so keeping your movement active is key. If he ever wastes E you can look to force a kill by running him down with phase rush.
Viktor
Viktor is a difficult lane because of all his poke, but once you get dirk you should be able to match his poke and easily all in him. You need phase rush in this matchup for the slow resistance, allowing you to run through his W if he drops it on himself. At level 6, on your first engage try bait out his ult, and on your second engage you can look for a kill.
Vladimir
Vladimir is a very unique champion to play against. In the early laning phase Vlad is quite weak, he has fairly long cooldowns and his sustain is not particularly great so try and build a lead in the first 5 levels. After 6 and first base Vlad becomes quite strong, try and trade efficiently and abuse his lack of waveclear. If you get the chance, try look to punish him whenever his Q is down, especially immediately after he uses his empowered Q. Electrocute ignite can be very useful in this matchup as Vladimir really struggles with being traded on early game.
Xerath
Xerath is a fairly strong 1v1 laner but is vulnerable to getting ganked or all-ined. His cooldowns are fairly long and can definitely be dodged so try keep your movement active and punish when they are down. Make sure you don’t stack with the wave so he has to choose between hitting you or pushing the wave. If he wastes E that can be your window to force a trade onto him.
Yasuo
Yasuo has a very strong 1v1 laning phase but is extremely gankable and isn’t very good at using his priority. This means you will want to keep the wave on your side for the most part which will keep you safe from his extended trades and put him in a gankable position. Despite his laning strength, you should be able to win short trades with electrocute ignite or scale a bit harder by taking Conqueror.
Yone
Yone can be bullied hard in levels 1 and 2, but level 3 onwards you will want to keep the wave in the middle or on your side to prevent him from chasing down the lane. Try respect when he has his Q3 and E up, and then punish their long cooldowns after he uses them. Post 6 be very careful of his strong gank setup and ability to chase you down the lane with T2 boots. You can look to take any of Phase Rush, Conqueror or Electrocute in this matchup depending on how aggressive you want to be in the early game + if you're scared of their jungler/support or not.
Zed
Zed can be abused levels 1 and 2, try and make him choose between getting a CS with Q or using it on you. Once Zed hits level 3 you can still be aggressive but make sure you don’t get hit by both shurikens from his WEQ combo otherwise you will take a lot of extra damage. Even after level 6 you don't have to be that scared of his all in because of all your melee form resists. Take phase rush in this matchup to help dodge his shurikens when trading. If you're behind you can look to buy a cloth armor to negate some of his lethality.
Ziggs
Ziggs can be fairly strong in lane if you can’t dodge his skillshots. If you can avoid the poke though you should have no problems. If he’s using his abilities on you, he won’t have any control of the wave as long as you are standing far enough away to not be splashed by it. If he ever uses his W aggressively you can force an all in or setup a gank. I would recommend phase rush in this matchup, but you can take first strike if you just want to scale.
Zilean
Zilean is very abusable in lane. He has long cooldowns and his only way to farm from long range is also his only trading tool AND it’s a dodgeable skillshot. Make sure Zilean has to choose between hitting you with Q or farming with Q and when his Q is on cooldown move very aggressively into him. While you can’t normally kill Zilean in lane, you should be able to build a fairly big CS lead. You hard outscale Zilean and outrange him in fights so it should be an easy matchup all game long. You can consider phase rush + swifties to deal with his E slow.
Zoe
Zoe is a lot about positioning and punishing cooldowns. Try and avoid taking damage from Q or her bubble by keeping the creeps in between you and her. Don't look to go melee form unless she wastes E OR you think you can dodge it with phase rush. Make sure to respect the windows when she picks up summs or items off the ground. Merc treads can also be a good pick up if you need them.
Kai'Sa
Jayce works very well with other poke champions like Nidalee, Kai'sa or Ziggs.
Ziggs
Nidalee
Evelynn
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Elise
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Karthus
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Sejuani
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Zac
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Jarvan IV
Jayce is still pretty good with AD ganking champions such as Jarvan, Xin or Volibear.
Xin Zhao
Jayce is still pretty good with AD ganking champions such as Jarvan, Xin or Volibear.
Volibear
Jayce is still pretty good with AD ganking champions such as Jarvan, Xin or Volibear.
Kayn
The only champions you really want to avoid playing Jayce with are AD junglers that don't pressure the map at all, such as Kayn.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Kai'Sa
Jayce works very well with other poke champions like Nidalee, Kai'sa or Ziggs.
Ziggs
Nidalee
Evelynn
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Elise
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Karthus
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Sejuani
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Zac
Jayce also works really well with pretty much any AP jungler, even some of the tankier ones like Sej or Zac.
Jarvan IV
Jayce is still pretty good with AD ganking champions such as Jarvan, Xin or Volibear.
Xin Zhao
Jayce is still pretty good with AD ganking champions such as Jarvan, Xin or Volibear.
Volibear
Jayce is still pretty good with AD ganking champions such as Jarvan, Xin or Volibear.
Kayn
The only champions you really want to avoid playing Jayce with are AD junglers that don't pressure the map at all, such as Kayn.
Hey guys I'm Shok, multi Rank 1 Challenger mid laner and content creator! I played league professionally from 2017-2021 and have been rank 1 in multiple seasons, as well as rank 13 on the NA ladder in season 9.
I upload regularly on YouTube, and stream everyday on Twitch so feel free to follow me on either of those platforms :)
Season 10Season 9
Season 9 NA
Laning Phase
Jayce can look to pressure the lane phase heavily, especially after first base. Normally levels 1 and 2 you will just be looking to push the wave with autos and try look for a little bit of Q poke. Once you hit level 3 and you have 2 points in Q, it can be worth trying to splash your opponent with QEs if they stand too close to the creep wave. If your opponent uses cooldowns, you can also swap to melee form and try Q and creep close to them for the slow and then to chase them own in ranged form.
On first base if you have enough gold for dirk you can start to look to play very aggressively and you should outtrade your opponent fairly hard at this point. If you bought tear long sword, you may be weaker than your opponent when they hit 6. At this point you will still be looking for the same trades, poke with QE, then press W before going melee form and try to melee Q a creep next to them, chase them down with autos and then disengage with E and phase rush.
The main things that will differentiate a good and great Jayce in the laning phase is how well they can find QE poke and how good they are at identifying windows to melee form onto their opponent. Most matchups have a key cooldown that can be punished if it gets wasted. For example, Ahri charm, Syndra E, Lux Q etc.
Jayce laning is a little different to other champions so you might find it useful to watch my laning section in the Jayce guide or to watch one of my Jayce gameplay videos in the road to rank 1 playlist on my youtube channel.
Mid Game
In the mid game as Jayce you will want to do your best to continue to keep up your gold/xp while also being at all the major objective fights. The best way to do this is try shove the side wave as far as you can without dying. If you don't have TP up, it can be a good idea to group with your team instead and just catch sidewaves when they are going to crash on your tower until your TP comes back up. If your sidelane matchup is really easy + your team is winning and you have vision then sidelaning should be very easy, if the opposite of these things are true then you will need to be a lot safer on side.
For objective fights, it's a good rule to try and base around 1 minute before dragon spawns, that way you can spend all your gold and get all your hp and mana back to full. This will give you the best possible chance of grouping up and winning a dragon fight. If you get to an objective before the enemy team on Jayce you will be in a good spot to poke them as they come in, which oftentimes can result in a teamfight win before the fight even begins.
Jayce is also very good at taking jungle camps or hitting towers if the enemy team doesn't respond to your sidelane pressure. Try and take away as many enemy jungle camps as you can, and even farm your junglers camps if they are on the opposite side of the map in mid game. If your opponent doesn't answer you on side you can normally take a tower in only 1 or 2 waves with your W, especially if you have any void grubs.
Teamfighting and Skirmishing
For teamfighting and skirmishing as Jayce it's all about choosing the right moment to swap into melee form. Normally you will want to poke with ranged QEs until the enemy team is low enough HP for you to engage, or for key cooldowns to have been used so that there isn't any threat onto you anymore. If you go in too early you will probably die, but if you go in too late you will be missing out on a significant amount of damage.
You can also look to flank or play over a wall as Jayce which may allow you to hit your poke more freely as well as get better access to the enemy backline. Think about the various threats to you (specific abilities + champions) as well as which targets are the highest priority for you to kill (generally the enemy mid and adc).
More Jayce Content
That's all for this guide, but if you want to see more of my Jayce content there is a video guide and several gameplay videos on my YouTube channel, and if you want to ask me questions about Jayce feel free to drop by my Twitch or send me a message on discord (shokoce)
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