Today you will be reading a guide thats a little different from most standard tank builds for Jarvan IV. In this guide we will be taking a look at the rare Midlane Assassin J4 build.

J4 is generally played as a tank/Off-tank in most games because of his lower damage Ratios and survivability compared to other assasins. While this is true he is somewhat outclassed in the raw burst and manuverability of some assasins *cough* overloadedkits *cough* he does bring to the table something no other assasins do. Utility. Jarvans kit is loaded with tons of bonuses over just his high burst combo when built damage, he has an AOE ranged knockup, Double Gapclosers, AOE Shield and Slow, Teamwide AS And ARMOR Steroids, and one of only 3 champions in the game who can create terrain on the battlefield Cataclysm. This makes jarvan IV a threat at all points of the game, even if he has nobody to assassinate he stil provides tons of help and damage to his team.

Pros + Strong Burst + Good Crowd Control + Innate Tankiness + Escape with Demacian Standard Dragon Strike + Team wide Steroids on Demacian Standard

Cons - Needs Items To assassinate - no innate sustain - Hard to master when to ult - Melee Range - No escape after assassinating target

Flash Pretty much necessary on almost all champions.

Ignite Adds extra damage to your burst combo incase they get away or just for securing kills. Also helps against high sustain targets like Vladimir or Dr. Mundo

Standard AD caster page with flat AD marks, Armor Seals, magic resist glyphs and AD quintessences.

If you are against a magic damage mid and jungle you can swap out the Flat armor runes for scaling armor if needed.

CDR for more Demacian Standard Dragon Strike combos in less time.

We are prioritizing Magic Resist in the 9 defense masteries because you will be against primarily magic damage champions in the midlane for most matchups. If your opponent is going an AD mid feel free to swap them for armor instead.

Martial Cadence
// Deals Bonus Damage Based on a percent of the targets current health
// This Passive is very strong in trades and poking in lane. In All in engages your first auto attack will deal insane damage at full build with Base AD, Trinity Force Proc and Martial Cadence all in one hit.

Dragon strike
// Deals Damage to enemies in a short line, as well as reduces Armor.
// This ability can also be used in conjunction with Demacian Standard to pull Jarvan IV to the flags location while knocking up enemies in his path. It can be used to harass opponents in lane and to clear waves extremely fast. This ability has high base damage and is your primary initiation tool for assassinating targets thus it is maxed first. You must hit the target with this for the armor shred and Damage otherwise you will not burst them instantly.

Golden aegis
// Shields Jarvan For a flat amount and slows enemies.
// This skill is for the most part a mana sink until team fights roll around. its shield amount increases by a flat amount for every enemy champion you slow. The base shielding is not very high so it is only strong when you can slow 3+ people. This normally does not happen until Mid-Lategame teamfights. For this reason it is maxed last.

Demacian Standard
// Throws a flag to target location, dealing damage and giving a buff to all allies.
// The utility side of Jarvan IV. Provides a hefty Armor and Attack speed Aura around the flag for all allies. If Jarvan IV also connects Dragon Strike onto Demacian Standard He will pull himself to the flag, knocking up enemies in his path.

Cataclysm
// Jarvan IV Leaps into battle, Dealing damage to single target and creating an impassable arena around them.
// Unfortunately the arena of impassable terrain is sometimes passable, simply by walking some champs can go right through its walls. This does not mean it is a bad ultimate, not at all it still has a high AD ratio and deals considerable base damage. it also serves as a gapcloser if needed.

Early Game and laning Phase

Jarvan IVs early game kill potential is extremely high against low-No mobility Midlaners such as Orianna, Ryze, Etc. With his Demacian Standard and Dragon Strike combo at level 2 you can easily kill and/or force flash from the enemy midlaner if they have no build in escape. Since you are an AD based Mid laner against an AP midlaner (most of the time) it gives you an edge when abilities are on cool down.




The 2 main item starts are for whichever type of lane you are going to run.

Spoiler: Click to view Elixir of Fortitude start gives you a huge kill potential buff when going for an all in at level 2/3 but lacks large sustain in the event of your all in going wrong or enemy jungler presence. also since you are melee it can be hard to last hit in a heavy harrassment lane matchup.

Spoiler: Click to view Crystalline Flask start gives you everything you would want for early lane sustain and safety. If your lane opponent has a built in escape or some advantage you should always start this. It also allows you to use the "Flag and Drag"combo of Demacian Standard followed by Dragon Strike several times without going out of mana or health and can turn a painful lane for you, into a zoning stand off for them because of your sustain.

Spoiler: Click to view The next item you want to build is a Tiamat. This item gives you a hefty AD bonus and some HP Regen for sustain. Where this item really shines though is the unique passive cleave and the active crescent. This makes your auto attacks do damage in an Area around your main target for a percentage of your total Attack damage. The active is a stronger version of the passive around yourself. With the active you get essentially another auto attack added to your burst combo in an AOE around you. You can also use the active to quickly clear jungle camps and creep waves.

Claiming Mid game objectives

once you hit level 6 and have Cataclysm you should either go for a kill on your lane opponent if possible. If not Roam botlane for a gank to score a kill or two for your team. if you try and co-ordinate with your Jungler you can 4 man towerdive their botlane for an easy double and objective such as Bottom outer turret or Dragon.

Once AD Carries start getting stronger you need to start killing them. When you have your ultimate up and you aren't behind in CS you can kill them. Ward their jungle. You see them clearing wraiths? you Dragon Strike Demacian Standard Them and Cataclysm if needed. These guys cant compete with your damage at this point so whenever you have an opportunity to catch them out, you execute. This will set them behind and put you ahead.

"easier said than done". While that is true it is easier said that done your Full combo burst is nearly impossible for any mid game carry to survive alone for more than 2 seconds. if your allies are besieging a tower and their ADC tries to grab some CS too close to you guys, punish him for it. You can easily burst him down under tower and be out before they can even flash.




ravenous hydra Ravenous Hydra is your first Legendary Tier item. The 1400 Gold combine cost grants you 35 AD and an extra 12% Life Steal. This is extremely Gold efficient and should be rushed ASAP.
last whisper Last Whisper is your Second Legendary Tier item that grants you a whopping 35% armor Penetration and 40 AD . This combined with your Q Armor shred and masteries totals to 69% armor penetration. This greatly increases your burst and overall damage to armored targets which will be more and more abundant as the game progresses to survival itemization.
warmog's armor Warmog's Armor with Jarvan's higher than average base armor from his Demacian Standard he can afford to build Health with out being punished too badly for it. This will increase your durability and keep you alive longer in fights.