Jax is basically the perfect hybrid champion. He deals both types of damage and he can be build to be tanky or he can be built for damage. Finding balance between the two can make Jax a very difficult person to deal with in team fights. Jax is a very strong late game champion, he functions very well at top since he needs a good deal of farm but his kit allows for good ganks and good sustain in jungle which means he can also be a highly competent jungler. His clear speed isn't exceptional until you get a couple items. I usually try to gank early and often (keeping encounters as brief as possible) because early kills on Jax can make him snowball super hard. Late game he is an exceptional duelist which makes him a very good split pusher. In this guide I am going to go in depth on how I jungle as Jax, the mindset behind each item built, the match ups, and how you should play him in order to help make your team successful. Jax is a very versatile champion and can succeed in a multitude of ways.

PROS
-Great late game damage
-Very good at countering AD Carries
-Kit is deceptively versatile
-Gets monster dueling damage from kit
-Actually very easy to play
-Above average ganking and jungle pressure
-Early power spike

CONS
-Slow early jungle
-Relatively vulnerable early jungle
-Can be kited relatively easily if only front liner
-Gold reliant

Jax can succeed with a variety of runes. His moves scale with ability power and attack damage and he's a melee fighter so he wants tankiness. His ult Master-At-Arms gives him tank stats upon activation so if you decide to build full damage you can still somewhat survive. I prefer to build Jax tanky so he can't be CCed and destroyed or kited down too efficiently.

greater mark of hybrid penetration x5

Jax deals physical damage with autos and with his Leap Strike but magic damage on his third auto with Master-At-Arms or if he uses Empower. I just like to use some of the hybrid pen to give him a bit more damage throughout the game.



Jax's passive Relentless Assault increases his attack speed, but it does not get super effective until he starts building attack speed. The faster his original attack speed is, the quicker he will reach max stacks of [relentless assault]] and the buff to attack speed is that much more powerful the more attack speed Jax has. Attack speed on Jax is a staple and a must have.



Jax will need magic resist late game, unless facing an all attack damage team (which is rare so I wouldn't suggest having an extra rune page for that situation. If you have that kind of money to blow through, buy glyphs to help with CDR or armor). You're in the jungle through most of early game so you won't need much magic resist then anyway so just take the scaling so you can have more late game.



Armor will give Jax the boost of tankiness he needs to survive the early jungle (and it helps later too!). Get flat armor to maximize it at level one so you can tank jungle camps better.



Again, attack speed on Jax is GREAT. If you haven't played him you'll see. With these quintessences and your Greater Mark of Attack Speed you should have plenty of damage late game even if you build tanky items.

Hoo boy, the masteries on Jax, where to begin. Honestly I usually have a tough time deciding if I want to build towards Warlord's Bloodlust Grasp of the Undying Fervor of Battle or Thunderlord's Decree . I'll explain the mindset behind each briefly.


This is good as Jax will now stack attack speed with Relentless Assault and damage with Fervor of Battle as he continues to auto attack. Building this tree makes Jax a tad more squishy with a little more damage, and it's not as effective unless he can get consistent auto attacks in. This means if he will be kited, or even if you think you will be killing squishies and not attacking tanks or enemy junglers over and over then this is not the skill for you. Not a bad idea to go Frozen Mallet if you go this path.


This gives Jax more life steal in fights. I like this skill because you can use Counter Strike when low health and negate most damage coming your way while you lifesteal with this skill (plus whatever items you have). With this skill you may feel as though you don't need a Hextech Gunblade or Blade of the Ruined King but it does go well with a Maw of Malmortius. This skill will help Jax more in late game but gets best value again if Jax can actually hit things and is not getting kited.

If you find yourself squaring off against other carry champions (ie Master Yi or Tryndamere) basically any champion that will want the fight with you, picking these spells for a bit of an edge in those fights is not a bad idea.


This is typically my go to when jungling. With Jax's gank combo it will always land if you get close enough to Leap Strike and it will provide you with a little extra burst. It does not scale as well into late game as the previous two in my opinion but any help with the early kills is highly valuable to a jax.


This to me is kind of a mix between the above spells. It does extra damage every 4 seconds in combat (so a lot like Thunderlord's Decree except there is no cooldown asoociated with it). It will grant you a little health back as well, but I typically only take this if I see myself building very tanky in game.

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I've gone through and labelled the threat level of all possible junglers to Jax. It's best to look at that as though each of those could be 1 ranks of the Mobafire threat meter more dangerous or less (each) to Jax, depending on how you play. A lot of these are skill matchups and you can actually use Jax's kit to win the encounters but if used incorrectly, Jax will lose. I will now go through and give an overview of how you should play against each enemy jungler. I'll give threat levels on a scale of 1-5 with five being the most dangerous to Jax and 1 being the least.


His clear is much faster than yours and your Counter Strike does not negate his damage in the slightest, and the stun does not either. Don't try counter jungling him in the slightest, you will just lose (unless of course you catch him low from some ward near you or after ganking). Simply out gank him, put more pressure on your lanes than he does his. Ward his jungle and try to mirror his movements. You are more valuable in a lane fight than he is as he can't really put out as much burst as you and his stun isn't aoe.


You don't typically see him as a jungler, but I just wanted to throw him in because if he is in game you will never be able to land a stun on his ADC while he is around. Either try to wait for his Headbutt to be on CD or focus on zoning him and the carry off of the fight. If you gank him in lane make sure you stay behind him so if he does headbutt it's just to keep you more in the path of his carry (unless you are low and will get picked off).


Aatrox has a gap closer so he can get away from your stun, you do not want this. Try to make him use it early and save your Leap Strike to follow. However Aatrox also has a passive that makes every third attack deal extra damage, if he has this on (pay attention to if he does or not) using your Counter Strike to dodge that damage is key. Try to get the timing down on when it will time out and be ready to follow him if he tries to jump away. You should win this fight, but if you find yourself being outdamaged, stun and walk away.


Watch out for this one. If she decides to counter jungle it could be devastating. For one thing she has twice as many moves as you (if you aren't familiar with her kit, look it up in order to understand this bio). So she has a ranged ability that damages based on your current health (in human form) and an ability that executes you, as in it does damage scaling with how much health you are missing (in spider form only). If she's good she will lead with the human form current health poke and throw a Volatile Spiderling your way as well as a Cocoon. You NEED to dodge the cocoon or it's curtains for you. You will want to avoid the spiderling as it's just free damage you don't want to take. She will then go into spiderform, she may Rappel to you to close the distance. This is good for you if you've dodged her human form damage and have relatively the same health as her, if she does this she has made a mistake coming into your dojo. She has a move called Skittering Frenzy which buffs her attack speed and life steal, if you don't know what it looks like when she activates this you should look it up. Do not use Counter Strike until she uses this ability, negating her big source of sustained combat damage. If she hasn't used Rappel she will do so to dodge your stun, this again is fine if you have dodged her human form poke. You should be able to out damage her but pay attention to how low you get as her execute ability can chunk you down at the end of the skirmish. I would not recommend invading her simply because she will turn human, stun and deal good damage, then turn spider and outtrade you. Her kit has too many tools to get around your Counter Strike


Just like with Amumu your Counter Strike will neither dodge the damage of his Heart Zapper nor will it turn it off. In fact his Heart Zapper should limit the stun time. He can empower his attack damage. Your best shot is to zig zag your walking to dodge cleavers. He will hurt himself in throwing them so wait for him to chip himself down then jump in. As he gets tankier his moves won't hurt him as much anymore but at early levels he is fairly squishy. Make sure you Counter Strike when he takes his attack damage steroid. Your best bet is to ward his jungle before he even starts (around 1:30) and try to get a level 2 or 3 kill on him as jungle camps get him low early. You won't see too much Mundo jungle for a little while though I expect.


Whether he is jungling or laning, dodge his Rupture by juking backwards as you run to him. It takes a second to actually pop up so if your reflexes arent good then just run erratically or Leap Strike out of it. If he's smart he will wait for you to be on him then use it near himself. He has a silence but silencing jax doesn't do much. His autos will damage you throw Counter Strike as he will be throwing spikes, and his ult is a huge nuke so if he has 6 do not be low near him or you will die. His jungle sustain is pretty good so counter jungle him before 6 and if you can hide in a bush and catch him at a camp you can probably get the kill on him. As jax you never want to wait in any bush for too long though.


Her early game is not any better than yours really, she gets much of her advantage from perpetual stealth. Have wards at some of her jungle camps so you can keep tabs on where she is (she will have to reveal herself to fight camps). You should be able to 1v1 her in the early game but you won't be that much more powerful than she so if you want to just out farm and out gank you will scale better into late game. Buy a Vision Ward to have out ALL GAME so that you can reveal her as much as possible.


You beat little fiddle. If you fight him he will more than likely be full health. His combo is he will silence you (no biggie) and fear you most likely (obnoxious) and as you run around he will drain your health and give it to himself. If you are low then you should probably back away as his chase potential is not great. If you are healthy then run away from him to break his drain chain and once you've done that Leap Strike back in to him. Auto attack then Empower and fight him. Wait for him to begin draining again to use your Counter Strike as if you can't interrupt his drain he will probably turn the tide of your fight and end up beating you. If you can catch him in his jungle, wait until he drains a minion then start fighting him. Wait on your Leap Strike in case he uses Flash and only use Counter Strike when he starts his drain on you. Buy wards to help your team keep visoon on him as he will always try for the ambush ult from over a wall which will more than likely win a teamfight.


Odds are he will out gank you, out clear you and beat you in jungle. You don't want to fight him in the jungle. Try to get counter ganks if you can (look at your jungle path and realize he is probably a step ahead of you and try to decide where he will be ganking. wards help). I typically ban him in draft pick.


I'll be honest, I've never been able to jungle gragas very well, but in my experience you cannot duel him in early levels, though you will outscale him. His ganks will be unreal at level 6 whereas yours don't get any better (your clear does though). He has a move which reduces the damage he takes which makes him a scary duelist. His clear will probably be faster than yours unless you're getting some kills. If you can sneak a ward to wolves early and go there after red to gank him you might be able to net a kill (only if you are healthier than he, though I wouldn't recommend doing this). If he comes to counter jungle you, zig zag to dodge his body slam, and as soon as you see barrel rolling animation turn to fight him. If your trade seems to go well you can try to 1v1 but if not just Counter Strike while laying damage on him then run away during the stun.


Graves has a faster clear than you do but if you gank him in the jungle early you can catch him off guard. Try to smite camp away from him before going in so he cant get the gold or health. I am pretty sure your Counter Strike will NOT dodge his autos since they are a shotgun blast, but make sure to move between your autos to dodge his End of the Line. His smokescreen, which blinds your vision shouldn't affect you much as long as you continue to attack him, try to jump out of it. Advanced tactics would be try to land your stun after he uses Quickdraw so that he can't auto to reduce it's cooldown. What I like to do against graves is pay attention to where he is and where he will prob go and counter gank his lanes as he is fairly squishy early and you and the laners can burn him down.


His jungle clear is slower than yours early and he has less sustain. His ganks are a little more potent than yours but you're the overall better jungler. He will probably try to farm the jungle for early levels (some might even until they get his ult Cataclysm). Counter jungle him, use your counterstrike when he has Demacian Standard down to avoid his empowered attack speed. You should win trades, and it should be easy to clear his big jungle minions.


Pay attention to where her passive is over jungle camps and note that she will probably head there asap. Also pay attention to when that goes away as that will give you a hint as to where she is. Don't bother counter jungling too much, as you will more than likely have to then fight her on her Wolf's Frenzy. If she is in your jungle she would not be able to stay and hold that real estate as your team would collapse, but in her jungle she will more than likely stay in that area so she has advantage. In encounters you should counterstrike her Mounting Dread and if she ults, try to save a third strike and an Empower for when it fades for the burst.


Typically you don't want to fight Kha'Zix since he has an advantage when you are isolated. You can counter him and fight near jungle camps so that he can't get that bonus from Taste Their Fear. However he does have a way to heal himself, he can sneak out of sight so that he gets more damage. Overall jax's kit doesnt beat his enough to where you should want to counter him. Again, try to counter gank as he will be squishy and you can help your laners not be isolated (just stand near them).


Depends on how good the Lee Sin player is, but he can jump away from your Counter Strike with his Safeguard. If you do have to fight him, try to dodge his Sonic Wave as that will probably be what he has invested his points into and that will do a good deal of damage to you. Bear in mind that he gets attack speed for 2 attacks after casting spells so if he isn't chaining his spells well (aka he casts a bunch at once) punish him by using counter strike (this will also not allow him to regain energy). Otherwise just do your thing, farm your jungle and gank and know that you scale better into late than he does.


Malphite is a great counter to Jax, his Brutal Strikes gives him early armor and his Ground Slam lowers your attack speed (OH NO). You don't really want to fight him early, but after your first completed item you'd be able to beat him (though the 1v1 time at this point in the game is rare). Let him have his jungle and just farm yours.


His clear speed early isn't anything amazing but it is a bit faster than yours. Playing against tank junglers you should have free reign on scuttle crab, but its not exactly worth it to go counter jungle as it is pretty hard to kill maokai. If you do fight him try to cast minimal spells, using only Empower and then Counter Strike if you know that will lock down the kill or if you need to negate damage (I'm pretty sure this will also stop his passive Sap Magic so if you pay attention to how many stacks he has, by looking at his champion window when you have him targetted). He shouldn't be able to get in the way of your jungle farming too much but his CC and team fight late game will be very annoying.


This is the kind of matchup where you would want to use the Ferocity mastery tree from earlier. Master yi will probably want to duel. Your kits counter each other in a way. Basically you want to use your Counter Strike once he uses his Wuju Style to dodge all damage from that (should look up what it looks like when activated). He will probably use his Alpha Strike to go untargettable as your stun goes off. If he mistimes it this is great and you get to stun him. He will probably also use Meditate then so you cannot interrupt it. May as well stay and attack him unless you think he will be able to burn you (pay attention to when his passive will proc, giving him a second auto attack). Feel free to Leap Strike away to a ward and await your Counter Strike cooldown as this gives you a big advantage in fights. These fights are very even early on and if either of you has a lead then they will probably win, yi will eventually outscale you at full build. This would be a great game to get the red jungle item which helps with duels.


Nunu is a jungle bully, as he can come over and nuke any of your big camps and then just leave. You can't really chase him since he has a speed boost and a super slow. Try to keep wards in your jungle this game to pick him off if he comes in, and if he counters you a lot then just take his camps. He isn't that good to take everything. You'll outdamage him by quite a bit later but he'll make it very hard to stick to his adc.


She's squishy but also powerful. If you can dodge her spears and not step on a trap then you should have the upper hand. Save Counter Strike for her in cougar form and you should be able to burn her down as you do have decent burst early. Careful though she is slippery so I typically find looking for jungle ganks early not to be worth it. Try to counter gank when she does to blast her down.


This is another matchup where your kits are fairly even. He will lead with Duskbringer and then probably use Unspeakable Horror on you. If you can, throw a ward and Leap Strike into a nearby bush, or just throw on counter strike so that you can dodge even while feared. He will more than likely use Shroud of Darkness to block the stun. This is what makes his kit counter yours, at this point you will want to leap strike away because he will have his attack speed buff. Don't ever Leap Strike onto the nocturne because his kit beats yours when you guys are locked in hand to hand combat. It is hard to counter gank him when he's level 6 because Paranoia blocks your vision and he can come from far away. You don't want to fight him on his shadow ground and for the most part you don't want to duel him early.


Bear in mind that he becomes more and more dangerous the lower he is (so he might seem like a juicy target but he also gets a lot of buffed stats). This is still ok because all these stats apply to him auto attacking so you can simply Counter Strike to take that power from him. Leave it up for the entire duration so that he can't auto you and duel it out. If it's early levels, make sure the stun lands and use Empower for burst. If you fight and you're both healthy, save Counter Strike for when he begins to get low as that is when he starts to out damage you. Try to move between auto attacks to dodge his Undertow. Once he is level 6 he will have Ragnarok and you don't have to worry about the stun landing, but the dodge capability is still good. Just don't count on the stun to give you an edge anymore. Your ult will not give resistances to his Reckless Swing as it is true damage. He will probably not counter jungle you, and if you counter gank try not to focus him as this just makes him more powerful. You can counter jungle him early as his clear isn't that great and your Counter Strike is a good counter to his kit.


You don't see many Nautilus jungles but he isn't a very good duelist. Use your Counter Strike when he activates Titan's Wrath as he actually gets good damage from that and save your Empower to burn through that shield. Snares don't stop you from auto attacking and you want to be on top of him so don't be afraid to take a Dredge Line to the face. It will be hard to stick to him so try to make sure to only Leap Strike to him after his slow fades (try to position yourself ahead of him after stunning so he can't pull himself anywhere).


Your Counter Strike doesn't really block damage from his kit, but you should use it as you get low so he can't crit you with basic attacks. His kit counters you in a way because he can block basic attacks with his passive, just try to make sure you use a regular auto attack to get rid of that before Empower auto. He would beat you in a 1v1 in top lane, but this is jungle and his is not much faster than yours and he takes more damage. Go ahead and try to catch him in his jungle, use wards, and fight him at his camps. Go on the aggressive and you will more than likely get the upper hand. Don't run at him with Counter Strike on as he has no way to really avoid it so try to maximize how much you dodge.


Another counter to you, as he is to most auto attacking carries. Really if he counter jungles you just try to run from him until his Defensive Ball Curl wears off. At this point you can beat him (except he'll make you attack him while it's on so it's pretty hard to run from him). If you start to turn the tides of battle, save your leap strike to hit him as he rolls away to stop him from getting away. He will more than likely have the upper hand on you though. Your clear is as fast if not faster than his so just try to get better quality ganks than he, and if you counter gank when he ganks then this is great. You will force his laner away, and he has no inherent form of damage in ganks he just holds laners in place and supports the overall fight but if you bully his teammate off it reduces his effectiveness. Don't bother killing him in a 2v2, just kill the 1 and then run away unless it is clear you can finish him.


Rek'sai has a pretty strong jungle right now. Her sustain early beats yours, her mobility beats yours, and her clear time beats yours. Her ganks are as powerful as yours are. Not much sense in trying to jungle gank her as a good rek'sai player will see you with tremor sense that she gets with Burrow. Though if they aren't experienced they may be more aquainted with being the aggressor and you can get the jump on them, but they will probably be healthier than you. If you catch her at a camp, wait for her to use Queen's Wrath on you before using your Counter Strike. If she tries to Tunnel away from the stun then Leap Strike to follow. Your early game isn't that high in damage, but you should be able to out damage her. If you can get a kill early on her then her pressure will go down a lot but don't give her a kill so play it by ear.


He's going to take scuttle crabs very early and he's good at doing so. Feel free to contest if he isn't near 5 stacks (if you aren't familiar with rengar, at five stacks under his health bar his next ability is empowered. check him out). Don't follow him into bushes, he has advantage there and it just isn't worth it. If he uses his empowered ability on Savagery you need to use Counter Strike and you will have an advantage. His sustain in jungle early isn't good and his clear isn't really any better than yours. Try to steal camps early and get wards down to get aggressive picks on him.


She gets a huge boost to armor when fighting you but her damage early is lacking. She will be tanky though and you can't really negate her damage. It's not worth it to engage her in jungle early as it would take too long to get whatever kill you might get. Better off just farming and ganking and just know that your jungle isn't all that threatened unless you're ganking while she clears your camps (which is fine because quality ganks are more valuable than one jungle camp).


After he pulls his sword to him you should use Counter Strike to dodge his empowered autos. Do not use Empower in his block zone. Try not to get between him and his sword so that he can't get extra damage on you (though if this happens you can always dodge). His jungle is slow and you won't typically see him there. If you do play against one, just gank a lot as he will not be able to. Even if you don't always get the kill it's always good to pressure the lanes.


You're better off not battling shaco if you're lower ranked and haven't played as him and understand how he works. If he starts to lead you, it's probably towards a Jack In The Box so he can fear you and get better damage. If he disappears in a puff of smoke, start Counter Strike soon as he will be critically hitting you soon. If he used it to run away so be it, you can't catch him anyway. Try not to let him stand behind you (keep moving) as he will get bonus damage from that vantage point. You'll want to ward your jungle a lot because he likes to steal things, try to steal his quality camps (he loves to have krugs) if he ganks a lane (or counter gank or gank elsewhere). Don't worry about jungle ganking him, just try to put as much pressure as he does on lanes.


This matchup is all about how well you play it. Dodge his Decimating Smash by moving directly towards the side (if you follow him into a bush he will probably turn to land it on you). Roar of the Slayer will lower your armor so use Counter Strike at this point to negate the extra damage you would take. Try to burn his shield with your Empower so that he can't pop it for a nuke on you. Also beware of his passive as he will come back to life and kill you, so Leap Strike away from that. Ward your buffs at 1:30 as he might cheese you and come steal one with his passive.


You Counter Strike doesn't negate his kit and he has really good dueling capabilities. Try to control objectives and his crystals on the map. To do this you will need to get your lanes the lead so try to gank more in these games and farm less.


Her clear is lightyears ahead of yours. She will probably try to clear your jungle for you. Ward your jungle so you and your team can collapse and kill. Good game to get a Tracker's Knife. If you find yourself in a duel, she will probably fight you with Burnout on (ouch, this is probably her skill with points in it) and she will Flame Breath you. You should Counter Strike if you have the Flame Breath debuff on so you don't take that extra damage. Overall though she will out duel you early so wait until you have items or a team behind you. She is a powerful champion whose power spike can carry pretty far into game if she is pushing her lead. Just ask your team to help ward and listen to your pings of assistance.


His clear is a little faster and a little healthier than yours. If you can manage to counter gank trundle you will probably win the 2v2 or 3v3, as your Leap Strike can overcome his Pillar of Filth. Use your Counter Strike after he uses Chomp and Frozen Domain as he will have boosted attack damage and attack speed and you can dodge all of that. This is another good game to go Ferocity tree as he will probably think he can duel you and will actually stay and fight. Keep a ward handy in case he starts to beat you and don't duel him if he has Subjugate.


Udyr's clear is better than yours and he keeps fairly healthy. However you beat him in duels, so feel free to jungle gank him if you can. He's a slippery one so save Leap Strike for when he tries to run away. Use Counter Strike after he's used a couple stance changes so that you're avoiding his enhanced attack speed.


I wouldn't fight tryndamere. He's usually critting out his *** and it's annoying. Your counter strike doesn't counter enough. If he comes into your jungle you should stun and run. Don't go into his because he'll just spin over a wall. It's quite annoying. Try to counter gank him so that his ganks aren't as potent, take his camps whenever possible and gank as frequently as you can. If you take his camps only take the big minion so that they don't respawn by the time he gets to them.


Vi is another annoying one for Jax. If she comes into your jungle, Counter Strike before she hits her third auto attack to proc Denting Blows. This will be quick as she will most likely auto, and then immediately use Relentless Force to reset her attack animation. She is fairly weak in the beginning but depending on who gets the jump on who, it is a fairly even battle. Either have your jungle warded and farm up so you know if she's countering, or ward her jungle and go on the aggressive.


He is super tanky and his passive makes it damn near impossible to duel him early (and even hard to duel him late if he's gotten kills). He can't really come bully you much, if he does just ping your laners and converge on him, try to bait him deeper into jungle as team converges. Don't gank him in jungle as you will lsoe that duel. Just gank a lot so your laners get fed and he won't be an issue late game.


Warwick more than likely won't even try to gank before level 6. You should try to gank a LOT before then. If you get a couple quality ganks in then you will get your lanes a good lead and they will more than likely snowball, and the enemy may even tilt. I recommend camping one of the lanes more than others. His duel is decent early because he has innate life steal with Eternal Thirst, but just use Counter Strike after he activates Hunters Call and you should be able to win the exchange early as he is fairly weak at early levels. He will start blue side and clear about as fast as you do so feel free to take him down at his red (he probably won't have to back before doing both buffs).


His clear is a little faster than yours but he takes a little more damage during it. You all will probably be as healthy as each other, if you duel him use your Counter Strike after he uses Nimbus Strike and Crushing Blow. If he is dumb he will use both at once on you (typically a good call for wu's but that will be stacking all of his damage on you which you can just dodge). This gives you a huge advantage. When he stops moving, this is PROBABLY a Warrior Trickster (some wu's are good and will just stand still to trick you, not a great way to tell when they are doing this. If you have a pink then just drop it nearby and you will see him stealthed, then you just Leap Strike to him. If not, start to run towards his base to cut him off. If he comes in your jungle you will beat him, and you can probably catch him out in his but be careful of his laners.


I've beaten jax as xin and I've beaten xin as jax. It's all about skill in the fight, but the tide is a little in favor of xin pre 6, but it is VERY close. If he uses his Battle Cry AND Three Talon Strike then you should Counter Strike immediately. This basically beats his kit and you will get the stun on him or he will Flash. Basically you want to save your Counter Strike for when he activates Three Talon Strike because thats where his power comes from. If he's smart he will Battle Cry seperately so he has empowered attack speed through the fight, simply duel him out and you will probably start to get lower than him. When you're a couple bars from dead, activate Counter Strike and leave it full it's full active. Dodge as many attacks as you can and if you aren't catching up as much as you would like, you may need to run away. Get the stun on him then Leap Strike into a bush so he can't charge you.


He probably won't come to counter you early because he knows you will beat him. His clear is faster than yours and his ganks stronger as his range on Elastic Slingshot is huge. Feel free to counter jungle and jungle gank, try to stun him as he powers up for Elastic Slingshot.

Jax can buy a LOT of different items and still be more than effective. I will first describe the items I typically build and then I will talk about other effective items Jax can use.


This will give you the most sustain in early jungle, take this and once you upgrade it you should be able to clear jungle camps without losing any health.


This makes your ganks and your early stickiness very good. It's a huge help to your ganks so if you haven't gotten yourself a lead or think you are in danger of falling behind this might help with that. If you are already getting quality ganks then this is not the most effecive tool for Jax.


This item is a must buy if you're going up against people that will want to stand and fight you (in my experience, Master Yi). This is also a good purchase with a Frozen Mallet or Iceborn Gauntlet as you will be super sticky already, but it loses effectiveness if you can't get a couple auto attacks in. This is just better if you plan to do a lot of dueling or even a lot of split pushing. It gives Jax a bit of a power spike early.


This is the item I typically buy. There is no buff to Smite but in my opinion the more wards your team has, the better. Also it is always good to have a ward or two handy on Jax as a ward + a Leap Strike is almost like a free Flash. I typically will buy this if my farm is keeping up, I'm not up against a jungler that requires dueling and if I'm having no problem with ganking so far.


You want to finish your jungle item ASAP, and your jungle item should always be the Bloodrazor one. Enchantment: Bloodrazor gives attack speed which is what you want, this will give Jax a LOT of damage that scales pretty far into the game. He will get a big power spike from this item.


This item will give Jax some really good burst when he uses Empower. I like to build this quick if I have a lead. It keeps him more or less squishy though so be aware of that danger. When you have this, try to spread your moves out so that each time you use one you get an Sheen buffed auto afterwards. If you use Empower and Counter Strike as you Leap Strike in you will have a good bit of burst early but that will not maximize your damage, which is always what you want to do. Try to leap in before Counter Strike if you can, and use empower once you start fighting them. Save Counter Strike for if they fight back, and if they don't you should save it for your next Leap Strike anyway (or just zone them away from a fight).


This gives Jax a little bit of health, which when paired with his Master-At-Arms can provide an early burst of tankiness in early skirmishes. If you have a bit of a lead you can build this since it will later build into arguably the most important Jax item:


This item is so freaking good, it just provides so many stats and effects across the board. But it is HIGHLY effective in the hands of a Jax. He can benefit from every aspect of this item. It is pricey, so if you haven't either been farming the jungle hard or getting kills, I wouldn't rush this item. Just make sure you get it third at least. (or second after your jungle item).


I really like this item on Jax. This item is why I don't feeling compelled to purchase the Stalker's Blade every game, because I can get that effect from this item. You can upgrade this into either of the two life steal items that work best on Jax. I typically will buy this and Sheen early to get an early offensive power boost (unless my team is pretty behind in kills and I need to be tanky) and then after having this, Sheen, and my Enchantment: Bloodrazor item I will have quite a good bit of damage for a little while and can start building meat shield.

or
I typically will go with the Hextech Gunblade because it provides more attack damage and some good ability power to go along with my Empower. It also heals me more for my empowered strikes whereas Blade of the Ruined King just has life steal. The Blade of the Ruined King gives more attack speed which I've been preaching this whole guide, but having good overall balance on Jax makes him incredibly potent. We get attack speed from Trinity Force and our Enchantment: Bloodrazor and what good is 3 attack speed items if we don't have any damage behind them. Some games you will buy neither of these items because you will want a third tanky item, this is typically when your team has a lack of front liners. You also need to pay attention to the actives on these two items, the Blade of the Ruined King will speed you and slow them whereas the Hextech Gunblade only slows them and does so for shorter. I believe the gunblade has a longer range (doesn't matter if you can Leap Strike to someone, but it does help to have essentially 2 gap closers with the Blade of the Ruined King. I prefer to go with gunblade because I feel I have plenty of attack speed already and I will be fighting squishy targets so the percentage health on hit does less, it's a matter of preference as either item works.


I prefer the Hextech Gunblade because it makes Jax a stickier champion, however if you need some health and can do without the life steal, this item works better for sticking purposes than gunblade ever would.


This item is interesting, you will probably not want to buy this item AND Trinity Force in the same game as the Spellblade passive does not stack. This item is good though still if you want to be a super tank in the game, it provides stickiness and instead of the immense damage you would get from Trinity Force it provides armor. I wouldn't recommend buying this against enemy carries who have an escape ability as they can move themselves easily off of the slow zone, but this item can be helpful. Buy this if your team is incredibly squishy.


This is part of my standard build because it's just a good tank item. The spell shield can come in handy, plus it provides a good amount of health and a great amount of magic resist. The health regen aspect is also a nice touch as it can provide a little more sustain.


This item provides health and armor which are two stats that I need in a final item of my standard build to balance Jax out. It gives him more movement speed before the fight starts making his flanks more powerful, plus it makes him a bit stickier as his first auto will slow (and do extra damage).


This item provides basically the same stats as Dead Man's Plate and the slow it provides is AoE rather than single target. The slow from this is weaker but lasts 4 times as long. The speed Dead Man's Plate provides is very good for Jax's flanks, but if you're having trouble sticking to people maybe try going for the randuin's.


Buy this if you're getting blasted down before you can put out damage and it will keep you offensively relevant as well.


Buy this if you're being blasted down by magical damage before you can put out good damage and it will keep you offensively relevant.


I like to purchase this with the 2 listed above this as well as an item that will help me to stick to enemies so that I become huge after being in combat for a while, and when the shields proc I will be at maximum damage from this and from my passive.


I only typically buy this if I'm up against nearly all magic damage and it will just be a further boost to your magic resist. Realistically though you should just buy Banshee's Veil Spirit Visage and Maw of Malmortius plus Mercury's Treads. This item can be fun and if you pair it with Guinsoo's Rageblade the on hits will stack and you will put out good damage. You aren't Kayle though so this isn't the most effective build in the world.


Buy this if you're up against a lot of physical damage champs and it will provide good armor. The CDR isn't super helpful nor the mana, but the effect and the armor are. Try to pair it with a health item....


This can be very good on jax, as it provides another auto attack reset (helping him stack his passive more) and provides good damage and health while also allowing him to essentially attack multiple targets at one time. Good item to buy if you would like to balance your build with a little extra health and damage.


Don't buy this if you don't have a lifesteal item. If you've gone the Warlord's Bloodlust mastery tree and are carrying a life steal item, this is good, I would buy this before Banshee's Veil. If you're up against heavy magic damage, buy this and Maw of Malmortius before buying Banshee's Veil as the passives on the two items help each other out. Don't buy this item until you have life steal to enhance though as this buy will be ineffective and that waste of money will actually hurt your power spike.




Overall in Jax's build you want a good balance of attack speed, attack damage, maybe a little ability power (if it comes on and item it doesn't hurt but don't aim for it), armor, magic resist, health and movement speed/stickiness. He needs a little of everything ad your build will probably change with each game, depending on matchups, team comp and how fed you get early.

A staple for almost every champ in league. This can get you in range to Leap Strike someone, close the gap after they've knocked you away, run away, the list goes on. Take this spell. Won't even entertain the thought of another spell and waste my breath explaining how Teleport MIGHT be useful when in reality this spell will come in handy so much more and there is never a time that this spell isn't the one you should take.


Seeing as this is a jungle guide, you will need smite.

Starting with the dodge/stun first means you can finish your first camps with a leash and still be near full health. Jax's Empower has a lower CD and resets his auto attack so he will do more damage in the jungle with this as the second spell. Take Leap Strike third so you can start ganking then, or at least close the gap to jungle camps. I then max Empower first for the lower CD on the move and more burst potential. You will have your stun up for every gank with the spell still at level 1 and the same with Leap Strike. I typically max Leap Strike second because it does more damage than Counter Strike and I view Counter Strike as a utility spell. However, the stun CD goes down as you level it so I could understand a desire to max that second if up against more auto attacking champions.

There isn't much to really say on this, you just get stronger the longer you battle.


First, notice how this spell scales with both ability power and attack damage, so building either will help this spell. This is your gap closer, and also your escape. You don't want to waste this too soon unless you have to to get into range. Try coming up behind enemy laners and walking up to cut them off, if they use an escape tool or a Flash you will then be able to follow them with this move. This move can also jump to friendly units or even wards. Use it when running away down a lane to jump to a friendly minion, or drop a ward over a wall or in a bush and leap to it for a quick escape. If you find yourself in a skirmish with someone and you know you will not be able to leap strike away, sometimes you just have to use it for a little extra damage. Some champions you want to Leap Strike and run from and wait on other cooldowns.


This spell is deceptively good, especially on a champ like Jax. First of all though, it scales from ability power, basically meaning that every couple of auto attacks Jax will deal an ability power burst. This is why it is good to balance his build. Using it resets his auto attack, and you need to get good at doing that with your eyes closed. Basically what this means if you're unfamiliar is that each champion has an attack speed and they will fire off attacks at a constant rate. Using this ability not only empowers jax's next basic attack but it also makes him basic attack immediately after using it. So if you activate Empower immediately after jax has basic attack he will land a second attack right away (makes for a very quick burst). This helps him stack his Relentless Assault even faster. You can also activate this before you use Leap Strike and leap strike will do additional damage upon landing. I advise not using this combo unless the target is low and that landing damage will kill them. The best way to utilize this ability is by reseting Jax's auto.


This move is good because it essentially has two uses. First, Jax dodges all basic attacks, so if you find yourself fighting someone who damages only through basic attacks that gives you a good advantage (especially if they have a move that empowers their basic attack capabilities). You can leave this move on for 2.5 seconds and take no damage from ADCs. It also provides hard CC, and it's AoE, that's huge. You can interrupt people's channels with this, and you can feasibly stun an entire team (very rare). This also brings even more potency to Jax's dueling potential. If you are ganking, odds are the laners will not be focused on attacking you down (assuming your lane mates are going in with you), so you should focus on getting the stun off rather than soaking damage with the dodge. You may need to work on the timing, but activate the Counter Strike before you even Leap Strike in, that way once you land you can reactivate if necessary to get the stun off. Try to position yourself between enemy champions so that you might be able to stun both.


Pay attention to the fact that his armor buff scales from attack damage and his magic resistance scales based off of his ability power (yet another reason to balance his build). The active on this gives Jax a lot of tankiness early at level 6, which is why I like to start with some of my offensive items in game (because I'm already getting a decent amount of my tankiness from my kit). Try to time your activation of it as the fight is starting so you aren't buffed up while not taking damage, that way you can maximize it's effectiveness. Also, if you note the passive, every third attack will essentially be as though you activated Empower. Once you have a Sheen, if you activate Empower on the third attack it will deal a massive burst of damage. I typically try to use Empower to reset after the first auto attack that way I can get two empowered attacks in right away and get myself rolling towards maximum stats of Relentless Assault. From then on I try to time my Empower with my third attack, while always reseting the auto attack animation. Try to get good at just knowing what attack Jax is on as this is key to his damage output and it always helps to know.

Let's talk gameplay now. Analyze your matchup, take a look at the notes for different matchups above. Typically when I play Jax I don't roam into enemy jungle until I start to get a lead. He doesn't have that powerful of early levels so typically roaming into enemy territory gets you killed (I know a lot of those notes mention invading at early levels but realistically that will typically make you stand in a bush for extended periods of time which is something you don't want to do as jax. The only time an invade early might be worth it is if you know when they will be at their red and you sneak around to gank them there. Usually doesn't pay off). Another aspect of roaming that makes it ineffective at lower ranks is that you will notice your teammates typically have very little map awareness. If you do decide to invade, say something in chat to make sure they have an eye on you and use assist pings over their lane so that they will likely see you.

Otherwise, this is the jungle path I take almost every game. I start krugs because the stun every couple of auto attacks is very good. You should get a leash for this, try to see if they will tank a hit or two, tell them you will be ganking at level 3 after you clear first three camps (as you tell them this, try to ask them to have it so the enemy is pushing). You should smite big krug as soon as the big fella rolls out to give yourself that immediate buff. Start whacking him, once you are tanking the hits activate Counter Strike so that you take no damage. You should burn through this camp and take minimal damage. Once it's finished level Empower and move on to the birds (yes the birds). Start by attacking the little birds, pay attention to what hit you are on for the krug buff proc. You always want to use the stun from this on the big jungle creep. Try to time it so you aren't stunning with this at the same time the Counter Strike stun goes off (basically start Counter Strike as soon as the creep comes up from being stunned and you should be able to maximize effectiveness). Kill all small birds first then burn through the biggest. Use a Health Potion and move on to red. Drop a ward in the bush behind the red pit on your way. Again, take on the little guys first, while making sure the stun lands on ol' brambley back. Bear in mind that your counterstrike will do some damage to the little guys so you don't have to auto attack them all the way down, you can let the stun damage finish them. Use Smite to finish the red buff creep and this will restore a good portion of health. If you are still down a couple bars, activate a potion. This clear is fairly slow but it lets you end pretty healthy. Alternate route would be krugs-->red-->birds-->scuttle where you have smite for both krugs and birds and you get health back on the scuttle. This route leaves you just as healthy typically, it takes a little bit longer, but you get more xp and gold from killing scuttle and it poises you to gank whichever lane you're closest too.

After this first clear, you will between two lanes, call a gank on one that isn't pushing to turret, and make your way there. If you gank bot or top, more often than not they will have a ward in river so typically you just run in, use your Counter Strike as you approach to Leap Strike and land the stun. Then auto, use Empower immediately to reset your auto and with laners help you will either get the kill or the flash. Do not dive at this level. Unless they flash and have VERY low health (aka 1 bar or so) I would not recommend flashing after them. Here is why: leave lane, go take scuttle (unless you already did) or another nearby camp, OR simply loop around and come right back. They will probably assume you have left and come back. This time they have no flash and all your CDs are up so you can just re gank and get the kill, no summoner spells used. NOW if your laner has flashed and wants the kill, and together you guys can CC and/or burst down, do so. Just don't dive a turret. If you do, at such a low level the turret will probably kill everyone involved, netting the double kill to an enemy. Not worth. As you jungle Jax more you may know your limitations better, but for those beginning just know that there will be better opportunities later. A quality gank will: 1) force the enemy to recall 2) get a kill (ideally) 3)force the enemy to burn at least 1 summoner spell 4) lay good damage onto enemy to prepare for a re gank. Don't force anything, just take little victories. Beware of staying near a lane for an extended period of time, the enemy jungler or mid laner may roam to you. Keep in mind the enemy jungler's position as best you can and pay attention to who is MIA (not showing up on minimap in their lane).

After the original gank at level 3, analyze the situation. If you ganked bot and everyone died (both supports and both ADCs) try to push the wave into the enemy turret. This gives you extra gold and xp and will also deny it from the enemy ADC. Odds are the enemy jungler will show up to soak the xp under turret but will not get last hits. You can then go pressure mid lane since you know where the other jungler is. If your team lives and they both die, tell team to push, hit a couple minions and leave so your ADC can continue farming. You want your lanes to get a lead so you don't have to babysit them too much. If you are healthy enough, go back into your jungle and take a camp that's respawned. If the enemy mid laner is pushing, make your way up there (analyze the situation, if they are full health and you and your mid are very low, just offer to cover and have them recall. A gank here could get you both killed). If you are both relatively healthy then go in on the mid laner. This is two ganks in the first 6min or so, your team will love you.

I typically don't gank top lane very much (sorry top laners). I like to control bottom side during early game, it makes for early dragons. If I'm top half team they will get their gank at level 3, make sure you leave the kill for them. You want them to win lane so this will give them a lead. You don't want to have to babysit them, it is their job to scale themselves into late game without your guidance. You need to focus on getting your APC amd ADC fed asap so that they can win team fights.

After ganking mid lane I will typically go back to base, or clear one more jungle camp so that I have enough gold to buy my first jungle item, plus maybe Boots or Recurve Bow. Make sure to buy a Vision Ward to start controlling vision early. You can place this in river brush to detect early roams.

From here I typically go towards blue buff side. I clear out gromp and give blue buff to mid laner. If you are bottom half of the map team, this will mean you are near top. This is when top laner gets their gank, as before, leave the kill for them. After this you will probably not be up this way much unless your mid laner is a roamer.

From here on out you will be staying on the bottom half of the map, getting reds when you can. If you can get wards in the enemy jungle you can steal their red if you are the top side team. You want to hit bottom lane with ganks from river, from tri brush (very powerful if you are top side team) and lane ganks. Between ganks, clear one camp (or two depending on how your clear speed is) and then rotate to gank mid. You should be on a gank-jungle camp-gank grind. You want kills, you want your team to have kills, you want the enemy to tilt.

If you mess a gank up early and get behind, farm more jungle camps and gank only if the laners are low. You will need more farm to catch up so also try to get into lanes when your laners recall to last hit lane minions.

As I said earlier, you will probably not be invading much. If you get a couple kills from your early ganks then the power is in your hands this game. Get wards down in the enemy jungle, it's up to you to win (as always).

From the get go you should be thinking about the enemy jungler. Where do they start? Where do they go next? Do they stay in jungle or do they gank? If I've cleared two camps then where does that put them? You need to think like them, play their champion as well as your own. It sounds hard because it is. Early game you will not be invading them much so you don't need to worry about cutting them off, but you do want to pay attention to where they may be ganking. Do you think they will clear red buff side and head straight for mid? Then you should too, the early counter gank is huge.

Realistically if you play your game of ganking and jungle farming and do it well you will just naturally out play the enemy jungler if they are farming more. You win as a team so if you can get your team ahead in their lanes (which ganks will do) you will likely win the game. But if you can get vision on the enemy jungler and know where they are and where they will be going you can also gank them.

If you are doing wolves on your side, you see them pull off a gank and take some damage then head back to their own red buff jungle, you should sneak over and attack them. This will stop them from getting that farm and maybe even burn a flash.

If you see them gank a lane and you are farming a jungle camp close by (you should always have an eye on the map, especially as jungler) you need to STOP DOING THAT CAMP and go counter gank. Don't go after the camp, it will be too late. If you are low, don't worry about it. If not you need to assist your team and do it as soon as you see the danger.

If your river wards catch a roam, position yourself to cut the roam off, or to be there in hiding for when they try to gank. Ping which target you want to focus (typically either the mid laner or the adc, whoever is in range of everyone) and 3 man burn that person down.

If you get a good gank off and it's time to rotate back to camps but you've cleared the ones near you, go into enemy jungle to take one of their camps. This is also a huge move as this is basically an objective early. You get gold and you deny it from getting into the enemy junglers hands. You will need to know the position of the enemy jungler in order to do this (sometimes theyre ganking, other times they have gone back, typically you can figure out their general whereabouts if you pay very good attention.) Feel free to use a smite if available to take ONLY the biggest monster of the camp and then leave. If you can counter jungle wolves this will basically let you know whenever the enemy jungler is in that part of their jungle, which further helps you.

Try to ward as much as possible and counter jungling will become increasingly easier. You also want to make sure YOU don't get counter ganked so it helps to know where the enemy jungler is for this reason as well.

Above is a map on good places to try to have wards throughout the game.

Blue Stars
These represent aggressive ward placements if you are jungler for the bottom side team. Keep 1 or more of these warded and they will give good information about the movements of enemy junglers. These locations are also good defensive ward placements for people on the top side team.

Purple Stars
These are the opposite of the blue. They are aggressive ward placements for people jungling for the top team, or good defensive ward placements for people on the bottom side team.

Green Dots
These represent good wards to have to detect when an enemy jungler is entering your jungle. They also work doubly to reveal any lane roamers or if the enemy jungler is doing scuttle crab. These are good spots to have a Vision Ward down at.

Some people split push as Jax, I'm not opposed to this, but there is a time and place. Typically in lower ranks, the split push will get your team killed as they will probably engage or not play safe enough without you and lose a 4v5 team fight. Then blame you. It's always the jungler's fault anyway so they'd be right. If they are asking you to group then you probably should. Also as jungle jax you never want to be in the lane furthest from whichever big jungle objective (baron or dragon) is up and/or valuable at the time. That being said, split pushing can help you get much needed gold as long as your team has a good ability to disengage. You will need to make sure you have good wards around the lane you want to split push so you can't be pincered off.

I typically don't split as jungle Jax unless the team comp calls for it or if some people have backed and I see I can get a quick tower because I know the enemy will not be able to stop me in time.

Your job as Jax in late game team fights is to bully and kill the enemy carries. Try to get whichever carry is fed more. A good positioning in a team fight for Jax is between the carries and the front liners, and if you can stick to the carries and kill them (mid game is when this is easiest, if you have kept up) then you will be valuable. If you are having trouble sticking to them and can't get autos, don't chase and be kited, turn back and start fighting the front liners that are attacking your team, don't use Counter Strike or Leap Strike on anyone except carries unless they are not there or dead. Your job is to take the carries out of the fight by killing or zoning them. So if their ADC has a mid laner and a support peeling for them, then your best bet is probably to feint like you're going after them so they all focus you. This leaves the four teammates not with you open to take out the jungler and top laner for the enemy team. It's tough work and I've found that people tend to focus the Jax because he is very threatening. Make sure you use your Counter Strike to help soak as much damage as possible because in team fights you will need all the help you can get with this.

Flanking is an excellent way to make sure you get to where you need to be in a team fight. It is often hard to simply run straight at the enemy carries as they will see you coming and back away or a front liner/peeler will obstruct your path somehow. If you flank (aka just coming in from the side of a fight, not from the bulk of your team who will probably be more or less grouped) you will come in from fog of war and get a good jump on a carry. This way you can also pay attention to if they or their teammates have used key cooldowns and you can wait them out before going in (don't wait too long and let your team die). Warding is very helpful in flanking as well (it is helpful in everything, if you haven't figured that out) as you will be able to see where everyone is and the best avenue for you to enter a fight.

This guide is long, I'm sorry about that. Hopefully you can just sort through and pick up necessary information you need. There is so much to say about Jax, how he can be built, runed, and how he can be played. Feel free to comment to let me know what was helpful, where I am wrong, request additional information, call me names, or just private message me and I'd love to talk Jax more in depth if you have questions or arguments. Love hearing from you guys, hope you enjoyed the guide. I've been b00tywarrior aka Coonmeat, thanks for reading.