As the royal family of Demacia for centuries, members of the Lightshield line have spent their lives waging war against any who opposed Demacian ethics. It is said that every Lightshield is born with anti-Noxian sentiment in his blood. Jarvan IV is no exception, even though he is the first Lightshield born to the age of the League of Legends. As his forefathers had before him, he led Demacian troops into bloody engagements with Noxian forces, and on many occasions he has bled alongside wounded allies and fallen comrades. In his most crushing defeat, he was outmaneuvered and captured by a Noxian battalion under the command of Jericho Swain. This mistake nearly cost him his life at the hands of Urgot, but he was rescued by the Dauntless Vanguard, an elite Demacian strike force led by Jarvan's childhood companion, Garen.

Those close to him believed that his capture changed him. Xin Zhao was quoted as saying: ''His eyes never seemed to look at you, only through you to something he could not look away from.'' One day, without warning, Jarvan IV handpicked a squad of Demacian soldiers and left Demacia, vowing to find ''atonement''. He began by tracking and hunting the most dangerous beasts and bandits he could find in northern Valoran, but he soon tired of such prey. Seeking something that only he understood, he ventured south of the Great Barrier. He wasn't heard from again for nearly two years. After many had assumed the worst, he returned to glorious fanfare on the streets of Demacia. His Demacian plates were adorned with the bones and scales of creatures unknown. His eyes bore the wisdom of someone twice his age. Of the twelve soldiers who had departed with him, only two returned. In a tone as cold and steady as steel, he swore to bring the enemies of Demacia to their knees.


Welcome to my first guide with Jarvan IV.
This guide contains three builds to him and I hope you will find them helpful and guiding. Let's get started!

If you like a challenge, then try out Jarvan IV. His stats gives him good potential to be a tanky character, but I've tried to make some varied builds to the Prince. But after all it's up to you how to play him. Anyways, here's my opinion on the pros/cons of Jarvan IV.

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Pros + Tough and tanky + Hard-hitting from early levels + Counterattacking abilities + Can counter chasing enemies + Can be a protector of the team

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Cons - Can be countered when counterattacking - Needs to farm a lot - Needs good amount of kills - Easily wasting mana - Might get beat up by revengeful enemies

Build 1: Balanced The meaning with the balanced build is to give Jarvan IV overall power. This build is ideal for many situations, because it contains tanky items as well as a decent amount of atk. damage. If you like to play as an all-round character, like me, this guide is the one for you. Build 2: Offensive The offensive build can become handy if your team already have a heavy tank or other tanky characters. With a higher amount of atk. damage, you'll for instance be able to play a carry-like role on your team. But this build might require a tougher playstyle. Build 3: Defensive If you want the role as the tank of the team, this build will give you the required amount of defense power needed. Hopefully you'll receive thumbs up from your teammates, when you build Jarvan IV like this and protects your teammates.

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• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: To give Jarvan IV an offensive advantage.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Gives good basic magic resist.
  
• greater seal of defense: Gives good basic armor.
  
• greater mark of desolation: Provides armor penetration = easier kills.

Ignite: Tired of enemies with low health getting away?

Ghost: Time to do a runner? Try this one!

Heal: Everyone needs to be patched up sometimes, right?

These spells is my recommendations to Jarvan IV.

Personally I would select Ignite. Why? Because I know nothing worse than enemies with low health getting away, returning with backup and kicking my butt.
Therefore I would rather use Ignite on and enemy with low health, get the kill and then meet the backup.
For the other spell I would select Ghost for only one reason: To be the annoying guy, that gets away with low health and return with back-up. As an alternative you can try out Flash.
I also use Heal a lot, because it's suitable for every champion. In dangerous fights a smart cast of Heal can make you the winner.

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First add one point to Demacian Standard and then try to max out Dragon Strike as soon as possible. No need for giving many points to Golden Aegis, because you easily can waste your mana by using it too much.
Just think like this: Max the Q ability first, then just focus on the E. The Rmust be obtain as fast as possible.


As tank you need to focus on getting more points to Golden Aegis earlier than in the skill sequence above. But use your skills wisely, no need for wasting mana by spamming the shielding ability.
Jarvan IV as a tank needs to get his W maxed and the Q to strike back. But then again get the R as soon as possible.

• : Gives a decent amount of magic resist.
  
• : This will solve mana issues with Jarvan IV.
  
• : A awesome passive, plus some armor. Good choice (for jungling also).
  
• : Add in health and attacks with slowness, makes it easier for you to catch and kill.
  
• : True balance comes with a Guardian Angel.
  
• : Getting the Avarice Blade as soon as possible helps you get money faster. But this blade is useful, 'cause it gives armor penetration.

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• : As a tanky offense type, you'll need a bit protection.
  
• : No need for explanation.
  
• : Gives a bit of all the goods.
  
• : Gain high atk. damage and magic resist (plus the nifty passive).
  
• : Giving you decent amount of all atk. related abilities.
  
• : It's cheap and makes you even more dangerous.

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• : Basic item for magic resist.
  
• : A tank needs health, right?
  
• : To defend yourself!
  
• : Improving your regenerations.
  
• : IMPORTANT to get the Heart of Gold early to get gold bonus and later this handy item.
  
• : The best offense is a great defense, that's why you need this.

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Also Jarvan IV can be more than a decent jungler. So here I've tried to put some general tips for jungling and fighting in a lane.

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Tips and tricks Place Sight Ward or Wriggle's Lantern to detect enemies in jungling areas or between the lanes, can prevent your team from being ganked. Use Cataclysm for enclosing enemies to make them waste abilities like Flash and afterwards chase them down. Use your abilities wisely to avoid mana wasting (for instance do not spam Demacian Standard against minions). Smarter cast and combination of abilities is way better than just spamming abilities. If you don't want to worry too much about using mana, blue buff can be recommended. The combo Demacian Standard + Dragon Strike is the best way to damage multiple targets.

Thanks for reading my guide!

Hopefully this guide helped you out, just a tiny bit. Feel free to leave a comment to me. Constructive criticism and cheerful comments are very much appreciated.
If this guide helped you out, please vote it and tell other people about it, so they hopefully can enjoy this guide as well. ^^

- RTA

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Thanks to jhoijhoi for the inspiring guide about making a guide, which you can find here.
This Jarvan IV guide is dedicated to my younger brother.

2012

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• 29. september - The guide's layout and content was changed.
• 23. september - The guide was published.