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Jax Build Guide by

Jax, Master of Deception!

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2 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Snorlaxe

Jax Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (2) More Jax Guides

Spells:

Exhaust

Ignite

Ability Order

Jax Passive Ability

Why you need to read this guide!

This guide is focused on creating the best possible early game in order to reach his godlike late game as quickly as possible. Most people find that tends to be quite the squishy hero early game, which is their downfall. Feeling squishy means a harder time farming creeps, laning in general, and a harder time getting to his late game greatness.

can be an extremely strong early game hero if he is given the right to work with. (That would have been a good pun if 'Mastery' wasn't there in his passive.) This is why can be called the master of deception, as he can be one of the strongest early game heroes and no one ever expects it!

General Jax

Contrary to the title, this is not about his time spent in the military...
A without runes, masteries and items is a pretty sad sight. with the right runes and almost even without masteries can be made insanely stronger if you take into account his weaknesses and his strengths when setting him up pregame.

Weaknesses

Strengths

= Large late game health pool.
Larger health pool means staying alive longer to do more damage.
It also means you can stay alive longer to get more stuns off.

Basically, this is all saying early game=bad and late game=good. This is a problem, because you need to do well early game in order to do well later. If you counteract his weaknesses early game, you will find great success later! To do this your main three things you need are damage, survivability, and a way to farm. Following this guide will cover all three.

Marks

or

Before I explain why these are the only feasible runes, I will first explain why the others are bad.

DO NOT USE

Greater Mark of Desolation

Jax is a hybrid hero. Magic and armor penetration only affect half his damage. Why would you get armor penetration when half your damage is coming from magic and vice versa? You wouldn't do that. This makes those runes useless virtually half of the game. Instead, you could be getting something with more synergy. Ability power per level does not help his early game near enough for this build.

Now on to the good part!

Yes, I know this only affects his physical damage just like armor penetration would, but there is a reason why these are chosen. All that damage converts into extra health! You gain around 9 extra damage and almost 30 health. That's already an extreme boost to his early game. It gives him extra sustainability, ability to harass more efficiently and makes last hitting creeps extremely easy.

A viable choice as attack speed adds to overall physical damage dealt as well as magic damage with . Also attack speed allows Jax to build up the attack speed buff quicker than normal. These are what I used to use before switching to .

Overall, both are great choices but helps his early game tremendously more, so it is the preferred rune for this guide.

Seals

The only reason to not use these is due to the fact that they are expensive and out of your current price range. If that is the case then , , or should be used.

Glyphs

Why? Even though it does not help his early as much as other runes could, I still feel like the extra MR is needed. His ult's activatable only lasts so long and I find the extra MR is needed given a lack of in this build.

or would be the next best alternatives as you are getting both AP and HP.

Quints

or

I prefer the AP as it gives you more HP, but the difference is marginal. It is just a matter of preference.

These can be used but are not quite as good in my opinion as you are basically choosing between 15 AP and 30 health (Greater Quintessence of Potentcy) or 72 health.
I find the dodge to almost be overkill. Could be useful to have these in certain games where you need as much dodge as possible.
You already have MR blues so these aren't needed too badly unless against a very heavy AP team.

I have explained in the Marks section as to why armor pen. or magic pen. would be a bad choice so scroll up if needed.

Masteries

I choose 9/21/0 over 21/9/0 for multiple reasons and it is very important to not be tempted by the alternative.

-The added health from the defensive tree is nice early game.
-Increased attack speed and ability power from farther down the defensive tree is very convenient as they are both important stats to
-The armor pen. and critical damage from the offensive tree is not as useful as the survivability from the defensive tree to
-One of the most important reasons is the fact that late game becomes a tank so he shall be taking a lot of damage or you are playing him wrong. Taking 4% less damage as a tank is essential.

Items

This is in no means a set item build. Every game is different and you should never get the same items each game. Instead you get items in order to counter what the other team has and items to complement your own team. Regardless of that, some items are very important for [Jax] and you will get them most games.

Starting Items

100 health + 30 more from the attack damage so a total of 130 HP, 10 AD and a small bit of lifesteal. With AD runes this makes your base attack do 78 damage...
Same amount of HP and gives AP instead. doesn't need mana regen as his spells cost very little mana. You will find yourself low on mana not very often if you conserve. This can be taken as a starter item as the 3% lifesteal isn't that great either.
+ 5 health pots If you wish to jungle, which isn't reccomended, you shall need this.[/color]

First time back

Great item for Jax, needs to be gotten asap.
Some games I get one, some games I have gotten 4, it is all based on preference and how the game is going. Keep in mind that each you get will only make you stronger if you are struggling early but will also delay your late game build.

Afterwards

Go for the as quickly as possible most games, otherwise get a . will a lot of times be your next item bought after choosing between those two. It is very important for any AP or CC heavy teams. is insanely good on him late game as u watch your damage, health and mitigation greatly increase after equiping. Some games getting a early game and later turning into a can be very effective. can be a good item also given how the game is going.

DO NOT GET
Rylai's Crystal Sceptor Almost a complete waste of gold. Why would u ever need a slow from this item when you have a slow from your , a stun from and a slow from . Not only that but it only gives you AP and ZERO AD which is very important for your damage and to bring up your HP pool. Oh, Rylai's gives you health? By the time you make a Rylai's that HP gives you a worthless almost of mitigation compared to armor or MR.

Armor and Magic Resistance are much more important than Health on items. Late game you are going to have a lot of HP no matter what so it is better to get mitigation for that HP.

Under Construction*

Summoner Spells

or can replace either. It is all based on preference. but remember you basically have a flash with your . If you need to get away you can leap to an ally within range a lot of the time.

Under Construction*

Laning Phase (Where the Deception comes in)

After buying your head to your lane. Don't hesitate to take a solo lane as you will dominate most heroes in a 1 on 1. If you do take a lane partner you have a lot to work with either way.

Laning with partner-

A great laning partner to have is one with a stun. This is because no matter when your lane partner initiates you can right to them. This makes Jax very hard to lane against as he can drop right on you at any point. Early game you will do a lot of damage and your should be used as often as possible. A good strategy to do is try and let some minions hit you generating a dodge. Once you have the stun it is a perfect time to leap in and try to stun both heros. Given that you are pubbing, hopefully your lane partner comes at this point. Him leading to another stun is almost guaranteed a kill. In between harassing last hitting should be a breeze with all that extra attack damage. They should be scared of you at this point making them less likely to harass you as you last hit.

Solo Lane

Similar to duo laning and even easier to harass as you only have to worry about a single target. Also you don't have to worry about having a bad lane partner that refuses to harass. Start off by using and immediately clicking back towards your tower. His leap goes off so quickly that you should already be back behind your creeps by the time he even realizes what happened. This ensures that you aren't hit by any skillshots. Eventually you will easily be able to kill most ranged heroes by making use of your stun and maxing out ' damage. (Combat Jax will be explained next section)

How to use Jax and his Lamppost

Using Leap Strike to harass is nice and easy, but what do you do when you are ready for the kill? There is more to than just spamming his spells, this is what can separate a good from a bad one.

Ok, so after the initial you will notice him swing his post. If you cast immediately afterwards you will reset his autoattack! This means that he will get another attack off that he normally wouldn't if you just right clicked. The same thing works for his . This makes his burst damage extremely high if timed right. This is the main reason an early on him can be very viable. It is advised that unless you are worried about your health dropping too quickly that you wait to stun though. It is much better to stun a target when they attempt to run than to use it beforehand and potentially lose the kill. In most cases they will attempt to run immediately, so using fairly quickly may be needed.