Hello and welcome to Jax Love Lamp!; a Jax build guide of a different color!
I'm Gramps Tewks, and I'll be your curator as we explore the possibilities of playing with the Grandmaster of Arms!



Here's Banana's Fan-Made Champion Spotlight, in which he highlights Jax's abilities, playstyle, and possible item builds:



Please comment and rate in the comments section below; share your experiences playing with or against Jax and/or put in your criticism about the guide itself.

As always, endless kudos upon kudos to the incomparable JhoiJhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Onward, then!

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Pros + The toughest fighter around. + Jump everywhere with Leap Strike! + Hextech Gunblade nerf? No problem. + Do well even if your team is terribad! + When else can you hit people with a lamp?

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Cons - Can 1v1 like a boss, but 1v2+ requires caution. - Crowd Control is a real pain! - Cooldown-dependent; thus, The Brutalizer

Cripple, Alacrity , and Sunder are all extremely powerful masteries, so we grab them in the offensive tree!

Some might hate on the defensive tree, but survivability is more important than ever in the current metagame; 48 health points from Veteran's Scars will have you surviving a lot of ganks alongside Greater Quintessence of Health.

The Attack Speed from Ardor and Alacrity brings you to +8% base! Jax loves Evasion as well.

• greater mark of desolation: Cranks your damage way up and synergizes with The Brutalizer!
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Make those pesky mages cry!
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: Say, "no" to the melee dorks!
  
• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Jax translates these directly into 21 Health.

Exhaust: A potent anti-DPS spell that remains strong through end-game. This will net you many kills and a few surprising escapes as Jax!

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Flash: There's a really good reason that pro tournament matches always feature 10 Flash. Try it, master it, love it. It'll save your life.

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• Equipment Mastery: This is why stacking Bloodthirster works so well on Jax!
  Your Attack Damage is tripled and translated directly into Health.
  
  
• Leap Strike (Q): Jax's bread and butter skill, which is often accompanied by the words, "You have slain an enemy!" Also an amazing escape mechanism when jumping to minions ahead of you.
  
  
• Empower (W): Gives a nice burst of damage with Leap Strike!
  
  
• Counter Strike (E): I work on this this early because Jax just wants to farm out 4,000 gold before doing much. The dodge chance helps you narrowly escape fights and avoid minion aggro!
  
  
• relentless Assault (R): Honestly better for the Passive than the Active! Jax speeds up his strikes with every hit. Use the Active if you're getting focused in a fight!
  

• + x5: This is an amazingly powerful opening spread for Jax! The Armor and Health keep him in lane for a long time, which he needs for the farm.
  
  
• : These bad boys give Jax 130 Health, Damage, and stack Life steal with Vampiric Scepter and each other!
  
  
• : Jax is picky about his footwear! Get these.
  If you're wishing for the Tenacity of Mercury's Treads, pick up Cloak and Dagger instead of Zeal later.
  
  
• : Provides exceptional lanestay and fighting ability when paired with Doran's Blades for a total of 18% Life steal!
  
  
• : The Brutalizer is awesome tech! Cooldown Reduction will up your kills SO HARD! The Armor Penetration piles on with greater mark of desolation. Did I mention that Jax gets 75 Health from it?
  He does.
  
  
  
  
  This is your core build. It costs just over 4,000 Gold, and many games will end before you can go further!
  If they do:
  
  
  
• : 180 Health to start and massive Life steal is NASTY. Stack 'em!
  
  
• : Just the right amount of Movement and Attack Speed.
  Generally, upgrading to Phantom Dancer is unneccesary.
  
  
• : Trollface.jpg

Early-Game

Jax can do well solo or duo-lane, with most any partner. However, he sure loves a good harasser! Teemo and Leona in particular are fun to lane with. With Leap Strike and a good partner, First Blood is not only possible, but likely! See if you can nab it without dying, then settle down and grind out some minion waves.

Don't push the tower; just sit there and last-hit with your lamp.

Mid-Game

Mid-game begins for Jax once he's farmed 4,000 Gold! With his completed core build, take people out left and right, win teamfights, push turrets, and induce despair on your opponents!

Late-Game

Once you've got Bloodthirster (or two) and maybe a Guardian Angel, you're a monster. Let your teammates initiate fights, then systematically pick off the foes from least-squishy to most.
Push to the Nexus and leave rubble in your wake!


In reference to my comment in the Pros section, here are final scores from two random-select games i that queued up, both of which were feedfests in the other team's favor:



You can do well even if your team is being obliterated!

Of course, when you're playing with friends, good things tend to happen:

Personally, I thrive when playing ranged champions like Teemo, Kayle, or Fiddlesticks. However, there's something I find something irresistible about Jax; it's difficult to define. When fighting from afar, there's a sense of detachment.
With Jax, you're up in people's faces, beating 'em down with your lamp!

He's a visceral yet chill dude, and I like that.

~Gramps Tewks