The goal of this guide is to introduce the game to new players through the character Jax. While Jax is not always free, Jax is one of the most fun players to use in my opinion. He is also versatile enough to cover all basic concepts. He is situational once you get into high level play, but as this is an introductory guide, it is assuming you are not playing ranked, not level 30, etc.

The runes and masteries are not required to play Jax (I still haven't finished my rune book). So I will not explain them besides introducing what they are.

If you want a guide to runes, this isn't for you. Look here: Searz's guide to runes. This is a very good rune guide.

Masteries are extra stats in one of three categories: Offense, Defense, and Utility. Offense focuses on extra ability power, extra armor and magic penetration, attack speed, and more. As Jax, you don't need the attack speed. What does help if you have at least 9 points is the magic penetration mastery called Archaic Knowledge. If you just have 9, you should definitely get this. It helps with yourEmpower.

If you do not have at least 9, you should put it into Utility. It gives the best starting bonuses. If your new to the game, the reduced time spent dead can help relieve frustration. Otherwise, get the health and mana regen. If you just have a few, and are using heal, teleport, or exhaust, definitely get the associated mastery.

Laning starts at the beginning of the match. A standard newbie match will have 2 players go to the top lane, 2 to the bottom, and 1 to the middle. Normally the champion that goes to the middle is either a carry champion, a range champion, or both. As Jax, you want to go to either bottom or top. This phase is marked by most players staying in their lanes and only leaving for ganks (see Basic Strategy for definition of ganks).

General Laning (skip if your not new to LoL or have played HoH or DoTA before):

A few laning rules (one for noobs :] Rule 1 can be broken later :]):

1. Don't tower dive!
Do not allow yourself to be sucked into trying to kill a low hit point champion who is near their tower. I see people do this ALL the time. 95% of the time, it's a trap. Wait until you have more knowledge of all the champions and what they can do to you before risking a tower dive in the laning stage. Tower diving tends to lead to the breaking of rule 2.

2. Don't die!
Dying in this early stage can lead to feeding. Feeding is where an enemy champion gains gold from your death. It also leads to you being less experienced, thus, more vulnerable to dying again and continuing the cycle of you giving him or her 400 gold. DON'T FEED!

3. Try to not leave the lane:
The longer you can stay alive and in the lane, the more experience you receive. Leaving the lane allows the enemy champions to gain more experience than you, allowing them to level up faster. It also allows them to push to your tower and attempt to destroy it (losing towers=pretty bad).

Basic Strategy:

The most agreed on strategy for laning is called Last Hitting. Minions give gold upon their deaths, but only if you (or another champion) are the one to actually deliver the final blow. You get gold for landing the last hit on the minion, so, you should try to do so whenever possible. This does not mean dive between both enemy champions to kill a minion. It means to play it smart and try to do it whenever it is safe.

While your trying to last hit, the enemy will also be trying to last hit. They will attack you if you aren't smart, as you should attack them if they aren't. The trick is to be able to harass the enemy enough that they don't all out attack you. If you manage to land a kill, or manage to make them retreat, great. But don't make that your focus in the laning stage. Make getting experience and gold your focus, which means staying alive and in the lane. Be careful about using your leap empower combo. If you jump in between two champions that can stun you, you can get killed fairly quickly. Know what the enemy champion can do before risking it!


Ganking:
Ganking is a term that refers to leaving one's lane to attack an enemy champion elsewhere. Ganking is very effective. Try to keep track of where the enemy is on your minimap. If they are missing (not dead), then keep an eye out for a gank. Retreat if you are too far forward, because it makes it easier to follow rule 2. It's helpful to call out when the enemy in your lane leaves, but ultimately, it is your teammate who is responsible for his own map awareness, as you are for yours. So DON"T RAGE when your team doesn't call MIA. It's your own damn responsibility to gain map awareness. If you have trouble doing this, BUY WARDS. If your in bottom

An alternative to fighting in the lane for experience is jungling. Jungling refers to fighting the neutral monsters outside the lanes for gold and experience. This is a more complex strategy as compared to the standard 2-1-2 seteup, but can be very effective. It has become the standard for professional matches. Normally, when someone on your team is jungling, there is a second solo lane. If there is no enemy jungler, this lane becomes a 1v2. If you find yourself in the 1v2 situation (AVOID it if YOU ARE JAX), just stay in lane. Last hit when you can, but don't harass. You should stay very close to your tower (referred to as