Welcome to my Guide on playing Jax. I'm Uber_Tastical. Jax is a versatile champion that is very effective in both 3v3 and 5v5. This Guide will tell you almost everything about playing Jax, so please enjoy.

Feel free to refer to this if you get confused.

It is seldom the case where a champion is defined by his actions after joining the League of Legends rather than before. Such is the case with Jax, for whom the argument could be made that he is the most prolific tournament fighter currently at the Institute of War. Before joining the League, Jax was an unremarkable soldier-for-hire. For reasons known only to the former leader of the League, High Councilor Reginald Ashram, Jax was put on the top of the list of candidates to receive a League Judgment - the interview process that either accepts or rejects a prospective champion. His Judgment was the quickest in League history, where the Doors of Acceptance glowed and slowly swung open as soon as it began. Jax faced no recorded Observation or Reflection during his Judgment.

Jax proved himself to be an immediate terror in the Fields of Justice. The self-proclaimed ''Armsmaster of the League'' rattled off a streak of consecutive wins that to this day has not been matched. A number of summoners in the League grew concerned that the perceived objectivity of the League of Legends would be questioned by the presence of an unknown fighter who was unbeatable. For this reason, the new leader of the League (following Reginald Ashram's disappearance), High Councilor Heyward Relivash, created special restrictions for Jax to fight under. This was something the League had never done before, and something which has never been done since. The burly fighter responded by imposing his own special conditions; as a means of protest, he permitted himself to fight using only a brass lamppost. Neither the League's sanctions nor his own has affected his winning ways. The League has since rescinded its sanctions, but Jax has not; he fights and fights well with his trusty brass lamppost.

''Be advised - there has been an outbreak of lamppost-shaped bruises in the League of Legends.'' - Gragas

http://www.leagueoflegends.com/champions/24/jax_grandmaster_at_arms

These are the pros and cons of Jax. Although there are many many pros to Jax, as with all champions there are a few weaknesses that also need to be addressed.

Pros:
-Has a stun
-Has massive DPS
-Can 1v1 very well
-Can 1v2 if necessary
-Can 1v3 if extremely skilled
-Good Farmer
-Good mid game jungler
-Very good against Squishys



Cons:
-Squishy
-Usually focused in team fights
-Becomes mediocre during 3v3 if not soloing
-Can be countered fairly easily

Flash is very useful for Jax because you can either catch up to an enemy running away from you, or escape from an enemy. It has many uses and is almost a must take for Jax. It is best when used to go through a wall so it can save you even more time.


Ghost is also a viable option seeing as it is also very useful for chasing or when escaping from a gank. Although it is less effective for 3v3 because it is a smaller map and ganks also tend to be less effective since there is less room in between towers. If you still want to bring it, go ahead but I would prefer Ignite.


So instead of taking ghost on 3v3, you should take Ignite because it gives that little extra damage and can counter their early game health pots. It is also quite good at getting the last hit on a running champion to get the kill. It also help in 1v1 fight to, to have that
little bit of extra damage output, especially if they have a healing spell or ability.


Cleanse, the summoner spell that removes all debuffs and reduces the duration of new debuffs by 50%. Extremely useful for escaping from ganks or removing that exhaust that the enemy put on you while your chasing them. Just be sure that you use it with proper timing and in places where you really need it.


Any of the other summoner spells that you wish to take, I would not recommend. But of course it is personal preference, s if you think that a different summoner spell would potentially work, you should try it out and let me know.

Equipment Mastery
(Innate): Jax's prowess with weapons and armor increase his fortitude as he gains equipment:
Jax gains 3 health per point of Attack Damage received from items.
Jax gains 2 health per point of Ability Power received from items.

Very effective for gaining health and it also encourages going hybrid. It is a very good choice to instead of taking items that give you strait up health, to take items that give you AD or AP and then benefit from your passive and still gain bonus health.

Leap Strike
(Active): Jax leaps towards a target. If it's an enemy, he attacks it and deals magic damage.
Cost: 65 mana.
Range: 700.

This is not a very damaging ability and should be maxed last but is definitely worth 1 point early because of it's jumping ability. It is very useful for escaping from a gank as well as jumping to an enemy. But make sure to Empower before you jump to an enemy for lots of damage. That combo is also very effective at harassing.

Empower
(Active): Jax charges his weapon with energy, causing his next attack to deal bonus magic damage.
Cost: 20 mana.

This ability does massive damage and has a very small mana cost so it can be use for last hitting minions and dealing high amounts of damage to opponents. This ability should be maxed 2nd.

Counter Strike
(Passive): Jax's prowess allows him to dodge enemy attacks frequently.
(Active): Jax stuns surrounding enemies for 1 second and deals magic damage to them. Usable only within 7 seconds of dodging an attack.
Cost: 60 mana.
Cooldown: 4.5 seconds.
Area of Effect: 400.

This is by far Jax's best ability because it passively increases your dodge chance which allows you to stun more and that is essential for 1v1 or 1v2. This ability should be maxed first.

Relentless Assault (Ult)
Passive): Jax's attacks buff his attack speed for a short duration, stacking up to 10 times. While having one or more stacks, every 3rd attack will deal bonus magic damage.
(Active): Grants 20/35/50 + Jax's dodge percent in bonus magic resistance for a short time upon activation.
Cost: 80 mana.
Cooldown: 60 seconds.

This his ultimate and his strongest ability. Always get this whenever you can. It is exceptional at last hitting minions and dealing extra damage that could turn the fight around. The active is also good for team fight so you can prevent more damage and stay alive longer to finish them off.

Put 21 points in offence to get the most out of damage, but more importantly you should put the 9 other in defense to get the dodge bonus and that is essential to a good build. To expand on the offensive tree, the ability power is always good but since this is not a crit build, the crit masteries are not entirely useful. Continuing on there is Cripple, which helps the most useful summoner spell to Jax. Attack speed and CDR are both quite good, and same with the armor pen and the magic pen. The bonus minion damage is that little extra to get you some more necessary last hits. The attack damage and the overall damage boost are both helpful to your DPS. As for defense, i put 3 in magic resist and only 1 in armor because most game you end up taking more magic damage than physical damage.

Dodge Seals and Quints are no-brainers because they increase your chance of dodging and that is probably the most useful stat for Jax, but for the others I used armor pen Marks and CDR Glyhs for added damage and less time between the massive bursts of damage and by have more frequent massive bursts of damage, you will get more kills and have to chase less, which could possibly lead to less over-extension.

Core Items

The core items of either build consist ofNinja Tabi which also increases the skill that is most vital to you, dodge,Hextech Gunblade and aGuinsoo's Rageblade. Both the dodge and lifesteal are very important, while the Hextech Gunblade is, in my opinion, the best item for Jax in the game,
just make sure to use the active ability for the best result...(even I forget to do that sometimes).

Complimenting Items

I would only reccomend asnowballer item only in 3v3 because it is hard to keep your stacks in 5v5. I would also only Trinity Force for 5v5 because in 3v3 it is a shorter game and if you get such a big item, then there won't be much time to get the rest of the items that you want.

Last-hitting, as you probably know, is essential to getting items at a quick rate, and by doing that, you will be able to out muscle your opponents and almost kill them every time (no guarantees). The more last-hits thats you have, the more money that you will get, and when you have pushed a lane but you do not feel like over extending and dying, try going into the jungle to farm some neutral monsters and get the buffs that will be very helpful during team, or any kind of fights. Farming is also one of the few ways to gain exp and exp is a necessary thing if you wish to gain levels.

When duo-laning, Jax is an excellent zoner when in the brush, because his Leap Strike enables heavy harrassment with a lot of pressure. This can push even two champions away from experience range while letting a team-mate farm.

Jax can use Leap Strike to leap into the fray of a fight or make a quick escape when necessary.

Requesting allies to purchase wards in key locations or using Wriggle's Lantern can open up escape paths via Leap Strike, especially if you stick to one lane while farming.

The best strategy concerning Empower is to melee strike, then activate the buff immediately after. Empower resets the attack timer, so activating after an autoattack will initiate three quick strikes, one autoattack, empower's attack, then another attack rapid fire. This, properly done, will vastly increase damage output over time.

You can use Empower to maximize your damage output when using Leap Strike.
The defensive mastery talent Nimbleness complements Jax's Counter Strike ability. The burst of speed can help you place your stun quicker.

Be patient with Jax . Often the opposing team will focus you down due to your high DPS output. If you are having a bad game, just focus on gaining gold through minion kills, assists, and jungling. Once you get the items you need, you will be much harder to kill.

Enemy players will try to counter you buy purchasing a Sword of the Divine.

- Never initiate. You will die if you initiate a team fight. You are an assassin, to fly out of bushes and the mists to 2 hit their casters, not someone to take the brunt of the damage. The only time you should every initiate is perhaps for a gank, or if it's 1v1 and you know where the other 4 team members are.

- Don't think you're invincible. I have this problem. All too often I do crazy things like running at fights my head knows I can't win, or chasing people way to far. Try to be cautious. Don't do stupid things. Yes you have a stun but you can't stun constantly, and if they slow you chances are their team will jump on you and you will die.

- Play Smart. Don't be stupid. Don't start fights you can't win. This advice should hold through with any other champion as well.

Thats it for this build but remember, the number 1 cause of death in League of Legends players is over-extension, so if you enjoy becoming fed, then make sure not to over-extend. I hope to bring you more, so try it out and tell me about it. Thanks to DEWO for the build template.