Both. Jarvan IV is a champ that can both kill and avoid being killed, so you should do both of those things.

After toying with the many items that were recommended by other players I narrowed it down to the six I found worked together most efficiently.

Flash and Ghost


Flash is a great escape move, but on Jarvan it also combos with his ulti and is a great way to get the carry into ulti range.

Ghost is just a really good spell, good to chase, good to escape. Just good lol.

Other Good Spells

Great early game, good late game, depends who they have.

Shuts down hard carries, I pick it against certain team comps.

Masteries I go 0/15/15

I don't go 21 in Defense because the extra mana regen and movement speed I get from the Utility tree is much needed when playing Jarvan. He blocks enough damage on his own.

Runes I go:

Greater Mark of Desolation Armor Pen. Marks

Dodge % Seals

CD per level Glyphs

Health Quints

Armor Pen. because in spite of his tankiness he is still a DPS, Dodge because it's pro, CD per level because spamming Q is good harassment and because his ultimate is NUTS, and Health because it makes his early game THAT MUCH better.

x5

Cloth Armor and 5 Health Pots

The Doran economy is over, more defense and better health regen trumps Doran Shield without pots any day. Also Cloth Armor builds into Heart of Gold, which is a crucial item in this build.

Sight Ward

Get Boots and Brutalizer with another Pot and a Ward

Brutalizer is, well, brutal on Jarvan as he will get a lot out of it early because of the passive on Demacian Standard.

Finish Merc Treads (or whatever boots are appropriate) and Heart of Gold

Merc Treads reduces all CC by a significant amount and boost magic resist; Heart of Gold increases your gold production, health, and armor. Also builds into Randuin's later on.

Finish Youmuu's, Frozen Mallet, Phantom Dancer, Sunfire, and Randuin's in whatever order is appropriate for the game state

Youmuu's is a bigger and better Brutalizer with an active that gives him a Nunu buff, which is awesome. Frozen Mallet makes you tanky and gives you a strong slow. Phantom Dancer makes you move/attack faster, and increases your Critical Strike rate. Sunfire makes you tanky and gives you the 40/second DPS that everybody loves and is annoyed by. Randuin's makes you tanky and has an activatable AoE slow; good times.

Other Good Items to be Considered

Black Cleaver is a fantastic item on Jarvan if you need to be more DPS than Tank, I get it in some games but often times I need to be the Tank so I prioritize other items.


Atma's Impaler is a great item as well, it rewards high HP tanky builds with a great damage bonus, adds 45 armor to enhance tankiness, and adds crit. chance to enhance DPS. I build this if they have 2+ ranged carries (Ashe, Miss Fortune, Twisted Fate, etc.).


Last Whisper is another great DPS item, which I always build if the Tank role is sufficiently filled.


Thornmail/Force of Nature are great against unbalanced teams.


Banshee's Veil is great against teams with lots of hard CC (stuns, taunts, knock ups, roots, etc.)

Jarvan is much more simple than people give him credit for. His moves serve very simple and productive/efficient purposes, here's a few examples.

Dragon Strike

(Q)- Jarvan IV extends his lance through his opponent, dealing 70 / 120 / 170 / 220 / 270 (+1.10 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and lowering their armor by 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26% for 3 seconds. If its lance contacts his standard it will pull Jarvan IV to its location, knocking up all enemies in his path.

This ability serves different purposes throughout the game. When laning it most often should be used in combination with Demacian Standard to set up a gank with your jungler, but in some circumstances it can be used to last hit minions that are out of a safe distance (if you've been zoned out or if you've pushed the lane to their tower, also can vary based on your matchup in lane), also can be used to harass champions and make them misplay the lane. When combined with Demacian Standard, you can use Dragon Strike to bypass the Tank and start attacking their Carries and Support. I max this second.

Golden Aegis

(W) - Jarvan IV forges a shield protecting him 50 / 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 (+20/25/30/35/40 per nearby enemy champion) damage for 5 seconds and applying a 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% slow to surrounding enemies upon activation. The shield adds more mitigation for every enemy champion nearby when activating.

This ability is great for when you aggro somebody, slowing them down as they try to escape can ensure a +1 to your KDR. It also works well when you're the defender, as it slows down an attacker and blocks a lot of damage. Even if you're neither the aggressor or the defender, you can slow down an enemy that your ally is targeting or save an ally that's being chased down. I max this last, but put in 2 points before maxing Dragon Strike.

Demacian Standard

(E) - Passive): Grants Jarvan 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26% bonus attack speed and 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 armor.

(Active): Jarvan IV throws a Demacian flag to a nearby area, dealing 60 / 110 / 160 / 210 / 260 (+0.80 per ability power) magic damage to enemies in the area and granting his passive benefits to nearby allies and again to himself for 8 seconds.

The skill you max first, the passive attack speed and armor bonuses are too good to pass up. The flag itself serves many fuctions: It can be used as a ward, its great for pushing towers because it grants the bonus to all allies (and doubles his own buff), can be used to last hit minions that are out of a safe range (like Q), sets up ganks in conjunction with Q, turns Q into an AoE stun (knock up, same thing really), and allows Jarvan to cross through terrain with Q. I max this first.

Cataclysm

(R) - Jarvan IV heroically leaps to an enemy champion, dealing 200 / 350 / 500 (+1.50 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and creating a circle of impassable terrain around them for a 3.5 second duration. Jarvan IV can destroy the area by activating it again. Champions can still leave or enter the area by using teleport abilities.

This is a delicate ultimate, because when timed incorrectly it can actually cause you to lose the team fight. It is best used on their carry in such a way that you set up a 1v1 in the arena, or to trap the enemy team and flash out if you know you'd otherwise die. Just remember that trapping your carry is a very bad idea and should be avoided at all times.

NEW: Bad Targets
There are a number of champs that can get out of the arena with the press of a button (and I don't mean the Flash button lol). Here's a list of them.

Akali (needs enemy target)
Alistar (needs enemy target)
Amumu (needs enemy target)
Caitlyn
Corki
Evelynn (doesn't actually escape, but becomes untargetable)
Ezreal
Gragas
Irelia (needs enemy target)
Jax (needs target)
Kassadin
Katarina (needs target)
LeBlanc
Maokai (needs enemy target)
Malphite (unless Ulti is on cooldown, then it's all good)
Pantheon (needs enemy target)
Poppy (needs enemy target)
Renekton
Shaco
Shen
Tristana
Tryndamere
Twisted Fate (kind of a stretch, his ultimate gets him out but not really quick enough to matter)
Twitch (doesn't actually escape, but becomes untargetable)
Warwick (high cooldown, needs enemy target)
Xin Zhao (needs enemy target)

(Will test Vladimir's Sanguine Pool and Cat Form Nidalee's Pounce as soon as possible)

Very. It took me longer to get used to him than I'd like to admit, but I must say that after becoming familiar with Jarvan I definitely want to play more games with him. He's a solid champion that can adapt to any team composition and deserves to see ranked play.