Jax Build Guide by Sinthe

Introduction

Jax is basically a bulky off-tank who is built to deal significant sustained damage. Therefore, he has the potential to work as an anti-carry and take out the enemy carries as long as he doesn't initiate a teamfight.

Your role with Jax, is mainly to follow your tank and destroy anything in your path. Someone over extending in a teamfight? Empower > Counter Strike > Leap Strike. Make sure to use your Blade of the Ruined King passive on them aswell.

What exactly do you do with a Jax? Damage. Whatever you do, do not stop attacking. If you cant get to the ADC or APC, then just wail on whoever is closest doing large amount of damage every 3rd hit.

One other things to note are that I include several situational items in this guide, but I will be focusing on the build I use the most often, which is my AD Jax build, as I have played it since I started and it is very effective for fighting most solo tops that you will encounter.

**Note* This is my first legit League of Legends build that I have written out and shared*

What is a... jax?

Jax is an extremely strong top lane pick. He is able to outscale many bruisers due to his kit giving out tons of free stats as well as amplifying every full item he completes. Jax has very few counters in top lane, can go even in most top lane matchups, or because of his strong duelist kit shut down many of the traditional top laners who are considered top tier.

Jax has a somewhat fragile early game where he is the most vulnerable, but if you can overcome his weaknesses in that early phase(levels 1-3) he'll come back mid and late game and completely dominate the flow of the game. If you can dominate early, then you basically win the game because of how well Jax amplifies with items and how strongly he scales.

Pros / Cons

Pros :

- He doesn't appear to have mana problems.

- He can't be kited because of his Stun + Jump Combo. (unless I'm mistaken.)

- He can severely reduce damage done to him without effecting his own attack power via

Grandmaster's Might and Counter Strike.

- His jump has an "okay" cooldown and can be used as an escape, even to wards, minions, or players.

- He cannot be left alone in lane due to the sheer damage he can do to your tower with his passive (and I assume his ultimate as well).

- Short cooldown on

Empower.

- 100% dodge

- Aoe stun at any time

- Is able to jungle, counter jungle, gank with ease, and push a minion wave extremely well.

- Capable of extremely high damage

- One of the League's best duelists

- Quite easy and fast in the jungle

- Great gap closer and escape mechanism

Cons:

- If killed pre-6 you will fall off hard late game.

- If they have

Warden's Mail, you have no poke.

- Passive has been remade, forcing him to become a little squishy.

- No more AD ratio's on

Empower.

- Dodge cool down is a little too high.

- New passive is worse then old ultimate passive. (Old passive=140% Attack speed, new passive 60%).

- Does not proc spell vamp from

Grandmaster's Might.

- Not as tanky as he was before update

- Power drops if he loses stacks

- Hard to master

- Item reliant (who isn't?)

LoL Jax Lore

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 summonew leader of the League (following Reginald Ashram's disappearance), High Councilor Heywardners 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 Relivash, created special restrictions for Jax to fight under. This was something the League had never done before, and something that 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.

Skill Overview

Passive

- Relentless Assault
- Jax's consecutive basic attacks continuously increase his Attack Speed.

Q

- Leap Strike

- Jax leaps toward a unit. If they are an enemy, he strikes them with his weapon.

Jax leaps to a target unit, dealing 70/110/150/190/230 (+1.0) (+0.6) physical damage if it is an enemy.

Cost

65 Mana

Range : 700

W

- Empower

- Jax's charges his weapon with energy, causing his next attack to deal additional damage.

Jax charges his weapon with energy, causing his next basic attack or Leap Strike to deal an additional 40/75/110/145/180 (+0.6) magic damage.

Cost

30 Mana

Range : 0

E

- Counter Strike

- Jax's combat prowess allows him to dodge all incoming attacks for a short duration and then quickly counterattack stunning all surrounding enemies.

Jax enters a defensive stance for up to 2 seconds, dodging all incoming basic attacks and taking 25% less damage from area effect abilities.

After 2 seconds or if activated again, Jax stuns surrounding enemies for 1 second and deals 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.5) physical damage to them.

Counter Strike deals 20% more damage for each attack Jax dodged (max: 100% increased damage).

Cost

70/75/80/85/90 Mana

Range : 0

R

- Grandmaster's Might

- Every third consecutive attack deals additional magic damage. Additionally, Jax can activate this ability to strengthen his resolve, increasing his Armor and Magic Resist for a short duration.

Passive: Every third consecutive strike Jax deals 100/160/220 (+0.7) additional magic damage.

Active: Jax strengthens his resolve, granting him 0.3 Armor and 0.2 Magic Resist for 8 seconds.

Armor bonus is equal to 25/35/45 + 30% bonus Attack Damage.

Magic Resist bonus is equal to 25/35/45 + 20% Ability Power.

Cost

100 Mana

Range : 0

Base Stats

At level 1 he will have the follow stats:

Health: 621

Hp Regen Per 5: 8

Attack Damage: 67

Armor Penetration: 8%

Lifesteal: 0%

Attack Speed: 0.75

Crit Chance: 0%

Range: 125

Movement Speed: 350

Mana: 265

Manga Regen per 5: 7

Ability Power: 0

Magic Penetration: 0%

Spell Vamp: 0%

Cooldown Reduction: 0%

Armor: 40

Magic Resist: 38

Tenacity: 0%

And at level 18 Jax will ahve these stats:

Health: 2460

Hp Regen Per 5: 17

Attack Damage: 136

Armor Penetration: 8%

Lifesteal: 0%

Attack Speed: 1.12

Crit Chance: 0%

Range: 125

Movement Speed: 350

Mana: 860

Manga Regen per 5: 19

Ability Power: 0

Magic Penetration: 0%

Spell Vamp: 0%

Cooldown Reduction: 0%

Armor: 100

Magic Resist: 83

Tenacity: 0%

Tips

1. Jax can Leap Strike to friendly units, including wards. You can use them to plan your escape.

2. Jax benefits greatly from items that have both Ability Power and Attack Damage such as Guinsoo's Rageblade and Hextech Gunblade.

Item Explanation

Standard core build:

Blade of the Ruined King >> Guinsoo's Rageblade >> Hextech Gunblade >> Trinity Force >> Berserker's Greaves >> Enchantment: Furor >> Warmog's Armor

A Bilgewater Cutlass is a amazing first buy for jax. The fact that your able to always stick to a champion allows you to always be in range to use your bilgewater, allowing you to stick to them even more. And with Jax's passive, it allows him to just wail on someone, using the full effect of a Zeal and Pickaxe combo.

Rushing a Blade of the Ruined King is always a good first buy. You can always just attack something, which means you will always be healing. Getting that Guinsoo's Rageblade allows you to get even more damage, and even more attack speed.

Hextech Gunblade is a amazing item. Not only does it give Attack Damage && Ability Power, it gives Lifesteal, and Spellvamp. Ontop of a awesome passive that will be able to be used right enxt to a Blade of the Ruined King, you can just wipe the floor with the pesky ADC.

Trinity Force gives literally every stat a jax needs(every stat in the game). If you are chasing someone but there getting away, just Leap Strike to a minion, and kill it, getting bonus speed. By doing so allows you to use a Hextech Gunblade or Blade of the Ruined King active to catch up. Ontop of Trinity Force's passive that slows, it allows you to do double damage after your skill, so say you Leap Strike then Empower, if you passive from Jax's Grandmaster's Might is up, you will deal massive damage between a Sheen, Empower, Autoattack, and Grandmaster's Might passive.

Berserker's Greaves are just a nice item to give movement speed and some extra attack speed. Boots of Mobility could also be viable if you are having to snowball hard.

Warmog's Armor... You are not going to die today.. or tomorrow for that matter.

Now for Situationals.

Guinsoo's Rageblade >> Spirit Visage or Mercurial Scimitar

You should only buy a Spirit Visage is if your AP Mid gets huge, or if your top lane is a AP and you have fed. Mercurial Scimitar is a great buy if your having to be a frontliner without a choice, and they have several stuns, slows, and suspressions.

Guinsoo's Rageblade >> Randuin's Omen or Frozen Heart

Randuin's Omen is a great item if a ADC is huge. Frozen Heart is a great item if the enemy team is full of bruisers. Such as a Warwick jungle, Tryndamere top, who are extremely high auto-attack dependent, then Frozen Heart would be a good item to buy.

Guinsoo's Rageblade >> Guardian Angel

Guardian Angel is a highly situational buy. If you have all your items and on your last buy, but are getting focused in team fights instantly, then Guardian Angel would be a great buy to face roll them.

Farming

Jax farming is extremely easy as his Empower can be used as a attack reset, leading to three extremely fast attacks. And with his Counter Strike, you can even take out an entire minion wave with it at level 7 without taking a single loss of health, between your proc with your Grandmaster's Might passive, your Empower, and your Guinsoo's Rageblade stacks and Jax's normal stacks, you can clear a minion wave extremely fast, with little to no work.

Early Laning Phases

Harass

Abuse Enemy Misplays



Counter Engage



Receiving Ganks



Show Dominance



Lane Control



Trade Properly



Jax's Power Curves



Hint: Early on, Jax's 'peaks' are at level 3, 6/7, 9, and 11. After that, he progressively gets stronger and stronger.

Early Gameplay (Levels 1-6)

Jax is a weak laner, be careful and concentrate on getting as many last hits as possible while staying healthy.

Combine Empower and Leap Strike to harass your opponents.
Jax is a character that can't afford to fall behind, if the enemy harassment is too much either ask for a a jungler to gank or play super passive, with Empower you can easily last hit under a tower.

Mid Game (Levels 7-12)

Jax is a very powerful mid-game champion as he packs alot of burst harassment.

Once you build your Blade of the Ruined King you can start clearing the jungle minions for extra farm without it impacting on your health too much.

Your main priority during this stage of the game should be to gank enemies that are out of position, jungle when appropriate and help your team. This is vital to transition Jax into late game.

Late Game (Levels 13-18)

Choose carefully when to initiate, Jax is best used to flank the enemy and using Leap Strike to take out the enemies damage dealers and support champions (either killing or disabling with stun).

Be aware of your position in team fights, when your stun is available position yourself to stun multiple enemies.

Using Leap Strike will help you chase down any fleeing champions.

Be sure to carefully time the activation of your ultimate before entering a team fight, the bonus resistances are often vital to survival.

Creeping / Jungling

**NOTE* IF YOUR JUNGLER IS A WEAK LEVEL 1 JUNGLE, YOU CAN GET E FIRST SO YOU CAN TANK THE FIRST 3 HITS ON BLUE OR RED WITHOUT TAKING ANY DAMAGE, ENDING IN A STUN BLOCKING THE NEXT 2 HITS FROM RED OR BLUE.*

If you push the minion wave up to the turret and you can no longer stay and receive exp safely, back off and if you can SAFELY counter jungle, then steal there Wolves/wraiths/golems, if you can not SAFELY counter jungle, then merely go back and get a few of the jungle creeps while you wait for the minion wave to be pushed back to safe distance in your lane.

Who counters jax / Who jax counters / Who works well with jax

Jax is easily countered by :
Gangplank
Wukong
Renekton
Poppy
Cho'Gath

Jax can counter the following :
Warwick
Rumble
Lee Sin
Darius
Malphite

And some champions that work extremely well with jax:
Ahri
Lulu
Orianna
Ryze
Zilean

Summoner Spells

Flash is good for a lot of reasons. It lets you Flash > Empower > Leap Strike for the killing blow, lets you escape, lets you Flash > Stun , etc. Some people say Flash isn't necessary because you can always Leap Strike to a ward, but you won't always have wards, mana, etc. Flash is generally more reliable in clutch situations.

Ignite is generally used to secure early kills or cut down the healing potential of some champions. Not much to explain.

Why not take...

Ghost?
Ghost lets you stick onto someone like super glue. While that is nice and Jax sometimes has trouble sticking to targets, that is totally unnecessary. Mid game Jax already has a Phage, a stun, and a Bilgewater Cutlass, and sometimes maybe Enchantment: Furor. Those items alone are already enough to stick to targets, and if you get CCed far away, you will have Flash up to instantly get back into that carry's face. Ghost does not give you that luxury, and sometimes that's all it will take to bring you down.

Exhaust?
You're already a great duelist, and you don't need another slow.

Cleanse?
Quicksilver Sash/ Mercurial Scimitar does its job a lot better. You cannot Cleanse suppressions, but you can QSS/MS it.

Teleport?
Actually, you can, but that means giving up on Flash or Ignite. IMO this is better on champions who can actually split push effectively. Jax is not a split pusher, he is a tanky DPS assassin.

Teamfights

Teamfighting as Jax is simple, you just have to follow two rules:
1) Never initiate fights. You are not a tank, you are a tanky, sustained DPS assassin.
2) See AD Carry, kill AD Carry.

Jax, no matter how farmed and fed you are, should never, EVER initiate a fight.

EVER.

Even if you're full build 30 minutes in.

EVER.

Because that means every single CC the other team possesses will be piled onto you. EVERY. LAST. SKILL. And that means you will be unable to do your job of killing the enemy AD Carry, which means you will lose the teamfight.

Instead, wait for some of it to be used, then jump in :D Preferably after your tank initiates while everything is a mess.

When the fight starts, activate Grandmaster's Might jump STRAIGHT onto the AD Carry. It doesn't matter what ADC it is, just jump onto it (if they're ever close enough and stupid for you to just walk up to them, save Leap Strike for after their escapes). Afterwards, activate Counter Strike when they target you to dodge all their damage, and keep pounding away at them, using Blade of the Ruined King to keep them close to you. DO NOT let them have any breathing space, stay on them until they are dead. That is your one and only job in teamfights.

If you can't find the AD Carry? Save Leap Strike for when you do. I admit, finding a tiny AD Carry in the middle of teamfights is hard at first, but focus and you'll be able to do it.

If you didn't succeed, then you have probably died, and hopefully the chaos you have caused for the other team was enough for your own team to cleanup the fight.

If you did end up killing the AD Carry, target the squishiest members of the other team afterwards, taking them down one by one until you go down. This is usually in the order of AP Carry > Support > Bruiser > Tank. Alternatively, you can peel for your own AD Carry, because they deal more damage than you, but Jax doesn't have the best peels (situational long cooldown stun, damage, and Phage procs only...)