"Har!! Names Jarvan IV. I am not a Tank!"

I see alot of people writing guides... So gonna give this a go. Mainly because I see people writing weird setups for Jarvan. Yes, hes a new champ, but he is also a very versatile champ.

Can he tank? Yes, but very poorly. Can he support, yes very well. He is mainly a melee DPS, non carry and non Ganker.

Jarvan is a great all around character. And heres why.

ArP Marks, pretty much self explanatory. These are the best bang for a buck mark for all melee champs. I am going to try strict AD runes, with Q lowering armor, AD becomes that much more powerful with Jarvan... ArP will still remain top, but AD may be a better bet.

I love Evasion Seals. The extra dodge coupled with the Defense tree is just a great survivability toolset.

You can substitute MP5 or CDR here if you are in a team game when you know your teammates. But evasion for Pugs is the best.

Same goes with Glyphs. CDR, MP5 and MR are all good, and depend on playstyle and team. I prefer MR because of the sheer number of AP/Magic damage abilities. Gives you the most survivability.

Quints... Here is where I differ from most folks. ATTACK DAMAGE! The flat or AD/level are great. Q and R both scale with AD, Q gets 1.1 per AD, which at level 1, Q gets an additional 7.45 damage... Can't go wrong.

I don't like Deep Offense for Jarvan because he becomes way too squishy for being a melee. I actually played a few games as 21 Def and 9 Utility and I played well, didn't get as many kills, but had many more assists and the TEAM did better... So im still wavering.

Regardless, Jarvan needs the health from Defense tree because he is Melee and very susceptible to CC, and CC is the name of the game currently.

Jarvan can do well with any build, I just prefer a mix, survival and offense. Though, as I said before. I am leaning towards full defense and 9 Utility.

Just like Masteries, Jarvan can live with any items.

I always start with Doran Shield because well... Its the best early game item. Some start with Doran Sword, but you need to be attacking to get the life... and shield still gives life when you need to back off because your mana drops to 0.

After Shield, I go for boots. I prefer the CDR boots because Q is such an awesome skill, and its cooldown is already quick, so the more Qs you can get off, the better. But the CC reduction boots are just as good, all depends on the team you are facing, more CC, go with those boots.

I see alot of people building Tank items (Force of Natures, Thornmail, etc)... Stop, put down the panic button, and realize you are not a tank. The best item you can get is Banshee. Health, Mana, MR, and 1 Spell Block per 30 sec.

So your Core build is...
Doran Shield, then Boots, then Brutalizer (Personal choice if you evolve that to Ghost) and finally Manamune. That's your core. (You can begin to 1 shot minions at this point if you went AD Quints; though its harder now with the Minion buff).

After that, you build Banshee, and your big guns. Madred, BC, BT...

The one thing I am debating on is how early to get Life Steal, before or after Banshee. We do a ton of burst damage, but can be killed fairly quick. So we need Life Steal... but what do we sacrifice for it?

Item builds are very important, you don't hybrid build Jarvan, he has 1 AP skill, and that skill is never meant to be a damage skill, its used for its passive and its aura when deployed.

Q, R, E, W.

W is a good "oh ****" button, but by the time you hit it in the middle of the champs... nothing is going to save you. Pretty **** shield compared to the other shield skills out there.

E is a very interesting skill. The hard part is, its base cooldown is 12 seconds. Thats an eternity. This skill is AWESOME for attacking towers, as it buffs all champs attack speed when activated. It is also used for the EQ combo. But like I said... the 12 second cooldown is way too long to make this skill a must have.

Q is our bread and butter. It does a solid amount of damage. Its cooldown is insanely quick. 5 seconds at rank 5. You can possibly get off 2 Q's with 1 flag placement.

Now for the Ult... This skill is extremely hard to use. Most people charge in with it... and then die from getting focused. Have to be smart when using the Ult. It does great damage and surrounds the target by a wall of dirt. Sounds awesome right? Nope. It also traps you, and Ranged just focus' and kills you. Hardest skill to use.

In summary... Jarvan is awesome. But it is going to take a smart player to play him well, hes no Malphite, Yi or Jax.

You aren't a tank, so don't initiate. You will die, Javran has low health for a melee, and even lower armor. His Magic resist isn't terrible, but its hardly good.

You are a good support character, your E skill is great for team fights and tower attacking. W is a good slow, but by the time you get close enough to a champ to use it, your health is at 30%.

You should never be the initiator. That's a tanks job. Never Ult in the middle of a Fight. It KILLS mobility. You Ult to stop their support/healer/carry from running.

Jarvan is a great character... a very well rounded character. An easily killed champ, but also a champ that can be very very good.

Play Smart, and remember, You are not a tank!

Lemme know what you all think of this... More detail, less?