Introduction
Hello & welcome to my J4 guide! I'm
Jnewbringspain. I'm a Platinum tier mid/top laner. Mid lane is my best role, with top lane a close 2nd. My account has fluctuated between
Plat 1 & Plat 3.
Jarvan IV is typically picked as a jungle champion. I plan to show you how strong he can be as a top laner. This is a mostly damage build with a small amount of tankiness.
*I am now streaming
here*
Pros & Cons
Summoner Spells
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Flash
Use this Summoner Spell without question. Works fantastic with Cataclysm and his E+Q knockup.
Exhaust
A very underrated spell. I would actually highly consider using this against a high damage champion like Pantheon, Riven, or Fiora.
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Ignite
A solid spell to take. You already deal immense damage, but with this you will be even tougher to stop in lane.
Teleport
Another spell worth consideration depending on your play style. I typically won't take teleport because I focus more on dominating my lane when I play Jarvan IV, so I usually take Ignite or Exhaust.
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Jarvan IV absolutely needs flash. The other spell you take depends entirely on your opponent and your play style. I usually go for
Ignite or
Exhaust.
Runes
Greater Mark of Attack Damage - Essential for any AD Top Laner.
Greater Seal of Armor - More often than not, you will be facing another AD champion so I run armor seals.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - I take magic resist glyphs because they are one of the best runes you can buy. Helps a lot whether you are in lane against an AP champion, and also will help you to not get demolished in teamfights.
greater quintessence of armor penetration - I get two armor penetration quints mostly for
Jarvan IV's passive. It deals % damage so armor penetration goes great with him.
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - More damage!
Masteries
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Block
- Great mastery versus AD champions
Recovery
- A little bit of extra HP sustain
Unyielding
- Awesome mastery reducing damage from anyone
Veteran Scars
- Extra HP is always nice
Juggernaut
- More health!
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Double-Edged Sword
- Deals extra damage
Fury
- Helps a little bit with attack speed
Butcher
- Helps a bit with farming, but mostly get this so you can get
Feast
Brute Force
- Additional AD per level
Feast
- Will help you sustain longer as long as you are farming well
Martial Mastery
- More AD!
Executioner
- Helps you finish off wounded enemies
Warlord
- More AD!
Devastating Strikes
- Extra armor penetration helps with your passive
Havoc
- Yet again more damage
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Abilities
- This is an awesome passive. It deals 10% of the enemy's current health as physical damage. Your first hit on an enemy is extremely powerful, especially if you land
Dragon Strike first because of the armor reduction.
- Your best skill. Decent damage, nice effect, low mana cost. If it hits, it deals good damage and also reduces the enemy's armor. Combine this with your passive and your dealing a ton of damage with 1 skill and 1 basic attack.
- Your weakest skill in lane. This skill becomes better the more enemies you are around. Because this is a top lane guide, you will mostly be by yourself in lane. Soft cc slow, relatively minor shield at early levels. This skill is quite useful if you get ganked however. If possible, land it on both enemies and E+Q to safety.
- Passively grants armor and attack speed. Use this skill followed by
Dragon Strike to pull yourself to the flag. It will knock up any enemies in your path. This skill has fantastic AoE crowd control potential and has decent distance. The damage it does by itself is minimal however. Throw this skill down when you are attacking turrets for extra attack speed.
- Here's your awesome ground rumbling, earth shattering, demacia yelling, yordle dunking ultimate! One of the most unique ultimates in the game, this bad boy erects earth around a targetted enemy and deals nice damage. I will explain a few tricks you can pull off with this ability later in the guide.
Items
Starting Items
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Doran's Blade is always my starting item when I go top J4. Grab x2
Health Potion of course along with a warding trinket. Damage, health, lifesteal, and cost-efficient. There's nothing to dislike about this item.
First back/Boots
- I buy boots when it's convenient. I never upgrade to tier 2 before finishing
Ravenous Hydra. I like to build this item as it helps against AD champions, which is more common among top laners. Substitute
Mercury's Treads agaist AP,
Boots of Swiftness if your enemies are very mobile, or
Berserker's Greaves if you want to have fun.
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- It might be a bit of a stretch to get this item on your first back considering it costs 1900. This is your goal though. if you can't purchase this on your first back, get a
Vampiric Scepter or
Pickaxe instead. You want to rush
Ravenous Hydra though.
Mid Game/Core Items
- This is your most important item. If your able to build this item early, you may be able to snowball. It's important to be able to use its active ability though. If you land your E+Q knockup, you can basic attack, hydra active, and another basic attack before they can even start to run. The damage you produce from that quick combo will have your enemy fleeing desperately.
- Additional armor penetration makes this item a must. You're going to want to eventually upgrade to
Black Cleaver, but it may take a little while considering how expensive it is.
- BOTRK's passive deal 8% of the targets current health as physical damage on basic attacks. Combine this with your passive and your taking 18% of an enemies' health + basic attack damage in 1 hit. The damage is crazy, plus the attack speed and additional life steal will allow you to duel almost anyone 1 on 1.
Late Game/Final Build
- Now it's time to get tanky.
Frozen Mallet gives a ton of HP with a little damage and an awesome passive. Fleeing enemies will have a much tougher time running away from you after you get this item.
- At this point in the game you don't want to get blown up by the enemies' mage before you can do anything, so I build this or
Banshee's Veil depending on the situation. If your worried about a specific enemies' CC ability like
Malzahar's
Nether Grasp, then get this item. I'd go banshee if the enemy has a lot of CC in general. You could also get both.
Situational Items
- If the enemy team is really AD heavy, this is probably a better choice over
Sunfire Aegis given the extra armor and health.
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- I pick this item up if I'm having issues against an AD lane opponent and still need more damage.
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- If the enemy has a lot of crowd control, you might consider picking up this item along the way. Every stat it gives will be helpful to you. Obviously you don't want to build this if you already picked up
Mercury's Treads.
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- I barely build this item because I feel other items go better with the build, but if you just need to get tankier in general this is another option.
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- Another option for an AP/CC heavy team. The extra health is also a big plus.
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- Here's another magic resist option. Grab this item if you need magic resist, but still want more damage.
Matchups
Difficulty scale 1-5
These matchups are based on my experiences against these champions. I did not listen to what the general population thinks is a counter or a difficult matchup. If a champion was not listed, I did not play against them enough to make a decent judgement.
(1 being an easy matchup that you should always win, 5 being the opposite)
5/5 DIFFICULT MATCHUPS
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Irelia will make your life difficult. She has great sustain with Hiten Style and Transcendent Blades. She is difficult to harass because whenever you have more HP than her, Equilibrium Strike stuns you and she will return more damage than you put out. It doesn't help that Hiten Style deal true damage either.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Pantheon is hard for almost any top laner. He's really difficult for Jarvan IV because he deals equal or more damage, while benefiting from Aegis Protection. His passive particularly hurts Jarvan IV because you normally do most of your damage from your first basic attack. His Spear Shot basically deals the same amount of damage as your Dragon Strike, but with less than half the cooldown.
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Riven is another extremely tough matchup for Jarvan IV. I hate playing against her because of her mobility. A good Riven will anticipate your E+Q and use Valor to avoid it. After you miss, you won't be able to escape her and she crushes you with her overall damage.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Teemo shouldn't require much explaining as to why he's a pain. He has extra built-in mobility with Move Quick so it's hard to land your E+Q. Even if you are able to get in melee ranged of him he will just use Blinding Dart and out trade you.
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4/5 HARD MATCHUPS
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Gragas is a difficult, but winnable lane. He has a lot of sustain with his passive Happy Hour. He has decent harass with Barrel Roll. He can use Drunken Rage + Body Slam to get in close to you and deal a lot of damage. If he does, make sure you at least get a Dragon Strike + basic attack off on him. He also counters you in teamfights. His ultimate, Explosive Cask can push you right out of a teamfight.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Heimerdinger is very difficult to kill with all of his turrets. He arguably has the strongest lane pushing ability in the game. DO NOT E+Q to him early, you will almost always take more damage than he does. I would recommend getting his HP as low as possible with Dragon Strike and waiting till level 6. If he is low, you may be able to Cataclysm, kill him, and E+Q to safety before his turrets kill you. Your biggest advantage is how squishy he is.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Jax can be hard. Similar to Teemo's Blinding Dart, his Counter Strike will make it difficult to engage on him. You do have an early advantage on him, try to kill him before he hits level 6 because he will completely outdamage you once he gets Master-At-Arms.
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Similar to Pantheon, Kennen has amazing harass. You will have a hard time farming against a good Kennen. Avoid farming when you see his Electrical Surge powered up. Wait for him to use it on a minion. I also wouldn't recommend trying to E+Q to him. His Lightning Rush will make him impossible to catch pre-6. If you are too close he will use it to back up, then turn around and harass you while you aren't in range to do anything.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Lee Sin stops you from doing what you want to do. Use Cataclysm on him, he will use Safeguard to escape. Jump on a different enemy, he uses Safeguard to protect them, then uses Dragon's Rage to kick you out of the fight. He also has good sustain in lane with safeguard/iron will and does not have to worry about mana. He will do good damage as well.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Singed is difficult for any melee champion because if you attack him, he will just activate Poison Trail. Once he gets a few items and hits level 6, you can forget about killing him at all because his Insanity Potion gives him a huge buff in many stats.
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3/5 AVERAGE MATCHUPS
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Akali is not hard in lane for Jarvan IV assuming she is not fed. You have a huge advantage pre-6. I recommend buying a Vision Ward so you can attack her while she is in her Twilight Shroud. If you use Cataclysm on her, she can often use Shadow Dance to escape. If she gets kills early, whether its on you or teamates, she will become a big problem.
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Gnar is an interesting matchup. In his ranged squishy form, he's not that bad as long as you avoid his Boomerang Throw. If you can land your E+Q on him, you can deal a ton of damage before he escapes with Hop. Most people who play Gnar are too aggressive when they transform. As long as you are able to avoid a couple of his abilities, especially GNAR!, you will actually be able to trade with him quite well.
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2/5 EASY MATCHUPS
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Fiora is easy if you are careful. At level 1, be careful how you attack because many Fiora players will take Riposte first and deflect your first basic attack. You want to avoid extended battles with her. Dragon Strike + basic attack her and back off. She has a ton of built in attack speed with Burst of Speed, so you are at a disadvantage if you fight her for long.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Gangplank is easy in lane. Your biggest advantage is that he cannot use Remove Scurvy when you knock him up. Remove Scurvy can typically get him out of almost any situation, but Jarvan IV's knock up and Cataclysm are not affected by it. Late in the game if he gets a full build he will probably be able to kill you 1 on 1, but for the majority of the game, you have the advantage.
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Lane Maokai has become a fairly trendy pick as of late. Jarvan IV has a good matchup here because Maokai doesn't do a ton of damage and relies on tankiness to beat most opponents. He lacks mobility so its easy to land your E+Q. Martial Cadence helps a lot with his tankiness. You should be able to freely poke with Dragon Strike and basic attack him often.
 Spoiler: Click to view
Ryze is difficult at level 1 because of Overload's low cooldown. After level 1, you can jump on him with E+Q and outdamage him easily. His Rune Prison has little effect on you because you can actually E+Q while you are rooted.
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1/5 POOR VLAD...
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 Spoiler: Click to view
Vladimir has arguably the worst level 1 in the game. He is also terrible against gap-closers. As a Vladimir player myself, I can tell you that this matchup sucks. Jarvan IV does a lot of damage early so Vladimir really shouldn't have a chance in this matchup. You should be 2-0 without a gank before he even reaches level 6.
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Goes Well With...
With the exception of
Katarina,
Malphite, and
Yasuo, all of these champions go good with
Jarvan IV for the same reason. Once you use
Cataclysm, the above champions can very easily take advantage. The champions above all have AoE skills that fit nicely inside
Cataclysm.
Katarina is listed because she can move in for the kill easily whether you use
Cataclysm or your E+Q knockup. Her
Shunpo allows her to get though
Cataclysm if needed.
Yasuo is listed simply because
Jarvan IV has great AoE knockup potential. If your able to knockup anyone,
Yasuo can use
Last Breath without having to land his
Steel Tempest.
Malphite and
Jarvan IV just simply have a great 1-2 punch. It goes either way, whether
Malphite engages, or you do, its simply easy to follow up. His ultimate,
Unstoppable Force goes great with your knockup, or
Cataclysm. If he engages with
Unstoppable Force, its easy to land your E+Q. This is just a great combination in general.
Farming
This section is short because farming with
Jarvan IV is so easy. He has a very fluent basic attack. If you are getting harassed too much and can't walk up to a minion to last hit it,
Dragon Strike can be a good alternative. Once you get
Ravenous Hydra, farming takes no skill at all. You can clear entire waves in seconds.
Solo Lane Phase
How you solo lane with
Jarvan IV depends a lot on whether or not your enemy is ranged or melee.
Jarvan IV doesn't have a big disadvantage against ranged champions like you'd think because he has such a long range gap-closer. Still, melee champions are usually preferred.
Against melee champions you want to focus on landing your
Dragon Strike followed by a basic attack. Wait for your enemy to go in for a minion kill and punish him for it. I try not to use E+Q unless I'm confident I will get a kill, or at least force the enemy to return to base. The reason is because if you E+Q too often, you will find yourself out of mana rather quickly. Poke with
Dragon Strike if your opponent is being passive.
Against ranged champions, your playstyle will differ a little bit. You won't often be able to get in to basic attack. You will have to be very accurate with your
Dragon Strike. Choose carefully when to use it. Farming becomes a little bit more difficult against ranged. If you can't poke the enemy, just use
Dragon Strike to farm instead. Wait for a gank, and take advantage when the opportunity presents itself. Just remember that ranged champions are almost always more squishy, so if you are certain you can hit them with your E+Q combo, go for it.
If you are winning your lane hard and have kills and top turret down, feel free to roam a lot.
Jarvan IV is more of a pure jungler and has excellent ganking potential.
Team Fights
Your role in teamfights is to jump on the enemies' most fed carry and mess them up as much as possible. If you can, use
Cataclysm before using your E+Q combo. There are two reasons for this.
1) - If the enemy flashes out of your
Cataclysm, you can E+Q out of your own
Cataclysm to follow them. Using E+Q will be faster than clicking R and waiting for your wall to come down.
2) - If you jump on the enemy with
Cataclysm and are about to die, you can either E+Q away, or flash out of your
Cataclysm while you leave your enemy trapped to be cleaned up by a teamate.
Keep in mind that since this is mostly a damage build, you
do not want to be the one to engage the enemies first. You will get blown up and die before you are useful.
If you are late to a fight and there are a few enemies low on health,
Jarvan IV is great at cleaning this up. As said before, you cover a ton of range between E+Q,
Flash, and
Cataclysm, so you should be able to catch 1-2 left over enemies.
Make sure you use
Golden Aegis when you are surrounded by enemies. The shield is more effective based on how many opponents are around you, so you want to get the most out of it.
When killing turrets/dragon/baron, make sure you throw down
Demacian Standard for the extra attack speed. It buffs you and any teamates around it.
General Tips & Tricks
One thing I cannot stress enough, do not use your E+Q combo too much. If you miss it, you leave yourself very vulnerable to your opponent. One reason I don't use it unless I'm pretty sure I get a kill is because junglers will often wait for you to use it before moving in. If you use it and don't get the kill and the jungler comes, you are either dead, or have to waste a flash. Use it only when the opportunity is there!!!
As I mentioned in the team fights, you want to jump into fights with
Cataclysm first if possible. You can E+Q out of your wall while knocking up the enemies inside on your way out. I will post videos on various ways this is used.
Conclusion
Even though
Jarvan IV is typically used as a jungler, he can do just as well top lane. He can ruin team fights for the enemy if played correctly and dominate an opponent in lane. I trust you found this guide useful, thank you for taking the time to read through it!
Other Possible Upcoming Guides
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+Top Lane Shen
+Mid/Top Vladimir
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+Mid Veigar
+AP Mid Ezreal
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Also check out my
Malzahar guide
here
Update List

Spoiler: Click to view
11/12/14
-Changed recommended boots
-Added
Randuin's Omen to situational items.
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