Hello and welcome to my Jarvan IV build. I have been playing Jarvan IV since his release, and I have to say he is an amazing champion. His knock-up is almost as powerful as Malphite's , but on a much much lower cooldown. Since Jarvan's release I have been working out a build that balanced out tankyness and damage, and I think this tops what I can think of. The damage you do will be almost on par with Ashe or Caitlyn, but you will be melee and be able to take a lot of punishment. Your early game farmimg with Gold/5 Items will help out greatly, and you should be able to solo against anyone (Except people with massive healing IE: Warwick or Vladimir). The name of the guide comes from what me and my friends say when either of us play Jarvan. Al-in-all i hope you enjoy the guide, and I hope you will find some use for it.

Runes are extremely important for Jarvan. If you don't have any Runes, then you will have A LOT of mana problems with him, and have sub-optimal health for Jarvan. Runes play a giant role for help in his early game, where this build is not the key focus of.

Marks:

This is an Attack Speed rune. It will help you early game for farming minions. You may say "But armor penetration is superior for Jarvan!" I say that Attack Speed is the best for him because it will do two big things for him later on.
1. Save money on Attack speed items( Which is something Bruiser Jarvans should NEVER get)
2. A whopping 1.4 Attack Speed at level 18 with E active! Amazing for a tank!

Seals:

Mana regeneration runes. This helps Jarvan with his mana problems early game. If you overuse your abilies early game, you will have problems. You have to know when to go in, when to harass and when to not harass. Manage your mana, and you will have success in your lane.

Glyphs:

Attack speed runes that help Jarvan IV's late game. With Marks and Glyphs on Attack Speed, you will start of with 21% (25% with Mastery) which is great, and equals to about 0.8 with ONE point in your E.

Quintessences:

This health rune will also help with your early game. Armor pen may be more effective here, but again, the Last Whisper later on will take care of any armor penetration problems you may have.

This concludes the Rune Explanation portion of my Jarvan IV build.

I go 4 points into offense to grab 3 points in and 1 in . The armor reduction from the exhaust mastery helps catch up, and disable enemies in team fights. This adds even more utility to your kit.

I go 18 points into Defense to grab the , which helps Jarvan IV's early game. the and help his resists.

I also grab 8 points into Utility for the mana % increase, which slightly helps Jarvan IV later on with mana problems. I grab the point in to make ghost better. helps if you die, and need to respawn fast to defend the base. I find that doesn't really help Jarvan due to having no HP regen abilities.

Jarvan IV's abilities have great base damage, and great ratios for when you get your Atma's and Last Whisper/Black Cleaver. However, you will have to change the skill leveling sequence to help you out during laning.

Against:

Heavy AD: Max out your flag, as it gives armor and attackspeed.
Heavy AP: Shield or Q. If you think you can regen the damage, go with the Q. If you cannot, then go with the shield.
Tanky DPS: Go with Q. You will need the harass over them, and do your combo often
1v1 Top: Follow the skill sequence above. Use your E when not harassing to check the river bush for ganks if you dont have a ward (WHICH YOU SHOULD)
squishy: lol, combo them twice and you win

This is the items portion of my guide. Items play a giant role in helping Jarvan IV succeed as he does late game. These items I find are the most effective for Bruiser Jarvan.

First Items:
and

These two items should hold you over for the laning phase, and if you get harassed, all you need to do is sit back and relax, harassing with Q and E combo when needed.

First time back:
Philosopher's Stone and Mercury Treads

These two items will help you greatly for the rest of the laning phase. The philostone offers some gold per 5, and HP and Mana regen which will keep you up until your next item.

Second time back:
Catalyst the Protector
This will be your last laning phase item as by now it should be 15~ minutes in. This should be the time where small team fights happen.

Finish your and grab a for some beefiness. By now you should be a ok tank. You will have the HP to take some punishment, but if they have Vayne you might be in trouble.

Farm up and get a
You may think this item is bad, but it honestly is really good for Atma's and tanking with Jarvan's high base reists. You should have around 3k hp. Farm up the rest of the Warmog's and you should be golden for now.

Buy an
This item takes your HP, and turns it into damage. I usually get 70+ damage from this item once I buy it, and the Armor and Critical Strike just help you tank and do damage. In my opinion, this is the ultimate tanky DPS item.

Not enough damage? OR
If the enemy team is STACKING ARMOR (This does NOT include the tank. This means the squishies/carries/AP), then a would be better to get. If just the tank is stacking armor, then will be a better buy because you will get more AD, ASPD and of course the all-so-great passive of lowering armor ON-TOP of your !

Second last item? It could be a if you want to do more damage, but if you seem to be taking more damage, change this to a if you are going against more AD damage, or a if you want to handle some mages.

Final item (after selling Philosopher's Stone can be anything you want. I have never made it this far into the build, but this could be a to reduce even more armor, or another situation tank item (get a if you got a as your second last item, or vice-versa.).

This is the end of my Jarvan "guide". I don't want to give out all of my secrets to Jarvan (Even though he is so easy to play that there really aren't any). I hope my build helps you out and you do well in your League of Legends gameplay. Good luck on the Fields of Justice!

El Adrea and murtaghking brought up a good point that is more efficient than a if the enemy is not stacking armor(This does not include the tank). I completely agree with this, and next game that I play with Jarvan i will situationally incorporate that into the build. Thanks for the great tips guys!

Added 'Introduction' and 'Skill Sequence'