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Jax Build Guide by

Jax The Grand Master at Lamps

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11 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author RAKMANSTER

Jax Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (11) More Jax Guides

Choose Champion Build:

Spells:

Flash

Teleport

Items

Starting Items # 1

Starting Items # 2

Starting Items # 3

Starting Items # 4

Boots Options

Core

Now, get Tanky

Other Damage Options

Other Defense Options

Example Full Build Against Standard Team

Example Full Build Against AD > AP comp

Example Full Build Against AP > AD

Ability Order

Jax Passive Ability

More Jax Counters

Introduction

What's up guys I am here for my second guide here on mobafire,I am still learning on the designs and what not so uh yeah.
Before you read this is not a guide that is short and could be read right in champ select so if you're that guy who does that well look at the cheat sheets instead.
Before you start voting I want you guys to tell me what's good or bad,what have you learned,what are the results of a couple games after trying it,also please don't use everything exactly in here,that's the reason I put the situational Items,Runes and Masteries,so if you please pick a set of runes and masteries of your own liking and adapt to the enemies in game,I don't want to see some people copying the whole build all the time,though it might work but remember that not all games are the same.

Runes

Marks

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration
Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration

Greater Mark of Attack Damage - Grants you from what I believe to be the greatest bonus early game.Helps you in Last-Hitting,Trading and Beating up monsters in the jungle even though they didn't do anything to you.

Greater Mark of Armor Penetration - This is also Beneficial,This would Improve your overall damage output due to Jax being an Auto-Attack reliant Champion and it also benefits your bonus damage on and .

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration size - This is just amazing,you maybe relying to Auto-Attacks but your W and R does magic damage making every single hit be more effective and makes sense since Jax would be classified as an Hybrid Champion too due to his kit.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed - In all honesty I don't really use this on Jax but it would seem pretty useful in the Jungle cause You attack them faster,thus having more DPS. and Post-6 It would let your Ult's Passive proc more often leading to more damage.I now only use this in Quints when jungling.

Seals

Greater Seal of Armor - This is present on almost all of my rune pages the reason being is it reduces the harass of all champions,be it AP or AD cause they all do Auto-Attacks,Minion damage,Monster damage and the best of all is tower damage.

Greater Seal of Health - This is pretty viable since Riot nerfed 1.41 armor per Armor seals to 1 Armor and gave all champions +4 base,I would recommend mixing the two if possible.

Greater Seal of Scaling Armor - I have actually took a liking in these,recently they got buffed and you get the +4 base armor as stated above,they would reach the armor given by the flat ones by the time you reach *looks at calculator* lvl 6

Glyphs

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - I would usually Pick this up because usually people would play in blind picks with or without their friends ( my experiences ) and don't know who your about to lane against,but if you decide on Draft Picks,or Ranked you would usually know who your up against then that's a different story.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist - These would work better if you're against an AD in lane or you're jungling, and later on they would surpass the flat MRs by the time you reach *looks at calculator again* lvl 8 or 9 I'm sorry guys I saw so much decimal numbers.

Greater Glyph of Ability Power - I don't really pick this up very often on Jax,bacause I believe that when Jax stays Alive and deals less DPS but survives long he could put out more damage than he would when he's built glass cannon,But then again he has his ult which gets MR based on AP so You're free to choose whatever you like.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power - Like the flat AP Glyphs I don't take it,similar to it as well you can get it and get MR from your Ult,it would surpass the flat versions by the time you reach lvl 7

Quintessences

Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration
Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage - This is taken the exact same reason as the .

Greater Quintessence of Armor Penetration - This is taken the exact same reasons as the Greater Mark of Armor Penetration But unlike Attack Damage,you must only have just the Marks or just the Quints to be Armor Penetration,because if you don't you would be much much weaker than your lane mate early game and also you would be beaten up by the monsters in the jungle harder than you would expect.I would highly recommend not taking Quints of Armor Penetration,just have 6 or 9 Armor Penetration Marks.

Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration - This is taken the exact same reason as the Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration,as such I would tell you a whole rune page consisting of just the seals being defensive. AD Marks,Armor/Health Seals,AP Glyphs and these Quints..

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power - This is taken the exact same reason as the .

Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power - This is taken the exact same reason as the .

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed - This could be accepted because you would be able to be faster than your enemy to jump in or Jump away,This could also be used to apply constant Auto-Attacks with Red Buff or Making your ganks deal more damage and increase the chances of a successful gank. ( assuming that you're jungling and if not don't take these )

Greater Quintessence of Life Steal & Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp - Kind of meh,but the Lifesteal and the Spell Vamp could be good in sustaining,I won't really recommend Spell Vamp Though but feel free to take it if you really want to be healthy,you would get life steal and maybe spell vamp at around your 1st 2nd or 3rd back assuming you did rush some sustain before Triforce.

The rest of the runes are not that good but if you find something I missed that would be useful please inform me in the comments,thank you.

Masteries

Offense Tree

Tier 1

- Improves your overall damage and since you're melee you get 2% increase on all damage dealt and 1% increase in all damage taken.
- You gain Attack speed which is to me more important than CDR on Jax IMO.

Tier 2

- It gives you a bit of scaling AD but for the most part I take this so that I could get .

Tier 3

- Gives you flat 4 AD which would help your damage on anything,it also makes last hitting easier.

Defense Tree

Tier 1

- This is too good to pass up because usually your lane opponent would auto you a lot especially the ranged ones,this could help you,when Jungling I recommend putting points into instead to mitigate monster damage.
- The extra defense would affect you Ult as well,you could also put points into instead,up to you though.

Tier 2

or - would be taken here,because you put 2 points into / and only has 3 points at max so that you would be able access the next tier.
- Flat 36 health is equal to slightly more than 4 health seals,and you'd want anyway.

Tier 3

- Jax is a beast late game and you want to be have this because your Ult provides so much resistances and you would usually want around 3k health to be really spooky o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0. ( like a ghost )
and - These 2 would compliment 's bonus health with more effective health,each point in armor or magic resist increases your effective health against physical ( armor ) or magic ( magic resist ) by 1%.

Tier 4

- what I believe to be so useful as Jax,you would want to constantly duel in sustained battles but their crits are just painful,this will make you really really strong against them,it is also reduced by both armor and this because critical strikes deal physical damage.

Tier 5

- This is really useful in skirmishes and teamfights alike,but remember,just because you have this doesn't mean you should make the most of it by diving the enemy carries right away,try to ensure your carry is safe before you do so.

Tier 6

- This is so Good,it gives you 44.75% Tenacity with any Tenacity Item,with this you won't need to rush tenacity items anymore.

Non-Viable Masteries

Everything else is viable and self explanatory but the exception of ,it could be useful to your stun and slows from ,,, and ,If you find some masteries that could be useless not present above please inform me in the comments.

Items

Starting Items

has recently been nerfed but I still recommend taking it if you expect a lot of Auto-Attack Harass to reduce it and have some sustain,comes with just enough money to buy 1 potion too.

Can be taken either when Laning or Jungling,adds some damage for early cheese or just sustaining with it's passive,again you can buy 1 potion with this.

I would occasionally use this if I feel like I can win without the benefits that Doran Items,I would buy this if I want to get a faster or without wasting an Item slot,weaker than Doran items but gets you 3 potions at the start.

I would take this if I really need the early armor and 5 potions,it would really help against champions you're kinda afraid of,but I won't take this unless it's really necessary I mean,you could also start with a point in your E to stop those early game cheeses but it could help.

You could get this against annoying AP tops like and ,but since Jax ain't played as mid anymore you wouldn't take this often.

Jax is somewhat resource dependent early so I can see this working,it also provides you some money to buy a lot of potions early and/or buy wards.It also helps you once you back cause you won't need to buy potions anymore cause this has 3 stacks of it at the start and refreshes every time you go back to buy,helps you stay n lane longer as well.

Core

These 2 are just amazing on Jax,buy the early for sustain and damage,get your boots and rush into ,though sometimes its better to get first If your enemy is stacking health cause Jax deals Hybrid Damage and thus building this can counter others building Health against you,After this usually it's a good idea to Upgrade boots,always get defensive boots depending on who your lane mate is or just their team overall,If their team is CC heavy pick regardless.

Offensive Items

These can replace your for your core,it is really viable to do it as well because it would heavily strengthen the damage of your skills,I just prefer because of the stronger active and Auto-Attack reset on your which would proc it twice in quick succession leading to massive damage and sustain,it is up to you though cause buying would also strengthen your 's magic damage.

This works wonders with your passive,and this item will have great visual effects when it's passive activates,the one that only activates when you get low,all those stats benefit Jax's damage output and sustain by a lot.

I recently found this item really good,since 's damage cannot be increased further when reaching level 18 in a game,this would be really strong cause it would amplify the damage,also it would work wonders with cause not only the active deals more damage with this but you really can't control the damage deals,it would only increase if your enemy gets more health but buying this would mean it would deal more damage without depending on the enemy getting health for more damage.

Defensive Items

This is by far the strongest Defensive Item for Jax,When he's is down,Jax can kinda be kited when his is down but more importantly It let's you duel any ADC,they hit you they get slowed,they run away you Jump to them and bash their face.

This in my opinions is one of the best if not the best MR items for Jax,has the highest amount of MR in one item,it's on par with but the main selling point is it's amazing bubble that block spells every 25 seconds,the reason to buy this is because you would want to dive the enemy carries and beat em up while your carry is safe,it also helps against poke.

This is my favorite defensive items on hard carries and anti-carries alike,the armor and MR is amazing but the passive is just so good it gives you a revive every 5 minutes,and no you can't sell this and buy another,it will reset the cooldown,trust me I tried it.

This can actually work with now, woooo,it can also promote the effects of a certain mastery called ,and can massively help your survivality and chasing potential just put your cursor on the picture and see the effects.( derp )

This is not as good as in my opinion,but it could work better than it if your enemy team doesn't have their team focusing you or none of them have sieging and poking spells in the teamfight cause it will help your sustain MASSIVELY.

This is really really situational,cause it's stats are really weak compared to other items,and plus if your support knows how to support he/she will have bought this before you finish your core items,The only reason I see this working is when you splitpush all game to ward jump really far to your safety but you already have you trinket.

This would be really good,since it adds good amount of damage with Jax's high health,some good armor and even a tad bit of crit that can actually be reliable,the crit isn't really the reason a Jax would buy it but the AD based on health is,it's really good,you would usually be getting like 50 AD on this item and guess what,it also adds a decent amount of armor,really strong when coupled with ,though I'm not really sure if it's a Offensive item or Defensive Item,I don't care I'll just put it in Defensive.

This is really good actually,since Jax gains so much resistances on his ult,this items would make you really really tanky,1000 extra health would make you have more than 3000 health guaranteed when you reach a certain level,even with other items since Jax has a lot of base and scaling health.

Trinkets

This is actually the best for Jax in my opinion,cause you can save the ward when the teamfighting starts,where all your team does is teamfight and if anyone survives after one either they will push or farm and back,cause you would be able to ward baron or dragon and ward jump,The sweeper can also be a very good option when it's late in the game cause you can sweep it at the baron pit to clear wards to to get vision cause once you upgrade this with 475 gold it provides a mini oracle's elixir which was removed so it can detect more bushes with wards or counter stealth champions such as , and .

Never Forget these

Consumables are really great boosts to early game and late game,your health and mana potions help you sustain so never forget to buy this unless you have enough lifesteal and a legitimately large mana pool for usage of skills,Elixirs are bought after you finish your build granting extra stats to help you in the long run.

These are key to win games,once you get used to buy a lot of these and use them properly ( ex.Ward jumping,safety in lanes,secure objectives ),you would find yourself to sometimes have this 1 legendary ward called the ward that will win you the game,sometimes though if you're not used to it,a ward may be the ward that you'll carry all game so practice.

Skill Sequence

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This is an amazing passive when it comes to dueling,this would really help you if you fight in sustained duels,further increasing your already strong dueling potential,remember to use to reset your Auto-Attack after your first or second swing to get 2 stacks of your passive in quick succession,this also has great synergy with items that has on-hit effects,such as ,and .

This is your only way to close the gap or to escape without your summoner's spells,this also procs your making it really painful,but I believe that using this,Auto-Attack then is still better if you're going to all in somebody expecting a long duel,but for instances like your enemy is under tower and REALLY low and you can jump in for the kill,it's safer to activate before jumping in to ensure them being killed.You should max this second.

This is what I believe to be the strongest skill in Jax's kit,but you'll need the other two to pull a really good off the enemy,like Jumping to them the go for the Auto-Attack reset with this,using then to close the gap,then Auto-Attack,reset with W then stun them walk past them a little bit until the stun wears off then beat em up with Autos and this,I would always max this first.

This ability makes dueling much much easier,it dodges Auto-Attacks,lessens the AoE damage of spells and even stuns people,I like getting a point in this early then max it last,take it at level 1 in the jungle or when you are going for the really early kills.A quick tip,in case of a mirror match-up when you see an enemy Jax using this,immediately use and hit him once,the full damage applies then you should move outta his way to not get stunned,in case he jumps on you before that just use this.Always max this last.

This is one of the strongest Ults to provide benefits in dueling,it increases your defenses based on AD and AP built,making it very strong,it also enhances every 3rd Auto-Attack,although the it's passive can be lost upon exiting combat so keep this in mind,in teamfights I would recommend jumping in with E then after your E stuns people use this,to negate a lot of damage in a longer fight,like any ult take a point in this whenever possible.

Spells

This summoner's spell is the most used one,simply because it provides so much utility,but it's also on a long cooldown.This can be used to make epic plays or it also serves as an escape after diving in the teamfight,it has the same escape properties as the ward jump,they differ in range but ward jumping takes 1 ward and mana,if this has saved you or got you a kill even just once,it's definitely worth it.

An amazing summoner's spell,it deal true damage over time,it will really make your enemy sad when you duel him and got him really low and he would a escaped but seeing this ticking him slowly then he dies,it's just really entertaining to see,it may fail you sometimes but your killing potential is greatly increased when you take this.

Must have for Junglers,you use it to take less damage from a camp and clear it faster,it can also be used to secure buffs and counter-jungle faster,it is taken because you also want to secure objectives such as dragon and baron,and possibly even get a smite steal if you're lucky,remember that being a jungler means you really want to provide as much global gold you can to your teammates,ganking with this can help if you have just smite a minions and kill it to get a burst of speed for 2 seconds.

This grants so much map presence as Jax cause he is an amazing split-pusher,get back to lane faster and the best part is it's cooldown gets reduced when using it on a tower,You can be anywhere where a minion,ward or even allied pets and traps like 's and 's turrets.

I think flash would be better but this just helps sticking to opponents much better,but if you do have this make sure you get wards cause you'll want to be out of danger and/or ward jump away since this can't help you if you're cornered,you'll most likely dead if you see this situation and if nobody is coming your way don't bother to use summoner's and try your best to ward jump.

This is the strongest spell IMO for dueling but if provides no secure kills cause they could heal or flash away,unlike ignite,but this can also help in escaping since it slows people down,I can see this working really well to shut down the enemy ADC or AD assassins and fighters who depends on Auto-Attacking to deal most of their damage.

I don't see anything else viable but you can tell me if something ca be useful in the comments so that I can reason to this or even add it.

Pros / Cons

+ Really Strong in dueling
+ Gap Closing Ability
+ Offtank
+ Anti-Carry
+ Strong Split-Pusher

- Needs to keep track of ult for trades
- Relies on extended trades
- Item Dependent
- Often Leads to overestimating yourself
- Kinda resource dependent

Match ups

Aatrox The Darkin Blade

Ahri The 9 Tails Fox

Akali The Fist Of Shadow

Alistar The Minotaur

Amumu The Sad Mummy

Anivia The Cryophoenix

Annie The Dark Child

Ashe The Frost Archer

Blitzcrank The Great Steam Golem

Brand The Burning Vengeance

Braum The Heart Of Freljord

Caitlyn The Sheriff of Pitlover

Cassiopeia THe Serpent's Embrace

Cho'Gath The Terror Of The Void

Corki The Daring Bombardier

Darius The Hand Of Noxus

Diana The Scorn The Moon

Dr. Mundo The Madman of Zaun

Draven The Glorious Executioner

Elise The Spider Queen

Evelynn The Widowmaker

Ezreal The Prodigal Explorer

Fiddlesticks The Harbinger Of Doom

Fiora The Grand Duelist

Fizz The Tidal Trickster

Galio The Sentinel's Sorrow

Gangplank The Saltwater Scourge

Garen The Might Of Demacia

Gragas The Rabble Rouser

Graves The Outlaw

Hecarim The Shadow Of War

Heimerdinger the Revered Inventor

Irelia The Will Of The Blades

Janna The Storm's Fury

Jarvan The Exemplar of Demacia

Jax The Grandmaster At Arms

Jayce tHe Defender Of Tomorrow

Jinx The Loose Cannon

Karma The Enlightened One

Karthus The Deathsinger

Kassadin The Void Walker

Katarina The Sinister Blade

Kayle The Judicator

Kennen The Heart Of The Tempest

Kha'Zix The Voidreaver

Kog'Maw The Mouth Of The Abyss

Leblanc The Deceiver

Lee Sin The Blind Monk

Leona The Radiant Dawn

Lissandra The Ice Witch

Lucian The Purifier

Lulu The Fae Sorceress

Lux The Lady Of Luminosity

Malphite The Shard Of Monolith

Malzahar The Prophet Of The Void

Maokai The Twisted Treant

Master Yi The Wuju Bladesman

Miss Fortune The Bounty Hunter

Mordekaiser The Master Of Metal

Moragana The Fallen Angel

Nami The Tidecaller

Nasus The Curator Of The Sands

Nautilus The Titan Of The Depths

Nidalee The Bestial Huntress

Nocturne The Eternal Nightmare

Nunu The Yeti Rider

Olaf The Berserker

Orianna The Lady Of Clockwork

Pantheon The Artisan Of War

Poppy The Iron Ambassador

Quinn,Demacia's Wings

Rammus The Armordillo

Renekton Butcher Of The Sands

Rengar the Pridestalker

Riven The Exile

Rumble The Mechanized Menace

Ryze The Rogue Mage

Sejuai The Winter's Wrath

Shaco The Demon Jester

Shen The Eye Of Twilight

Shyvana The Half Dragon

Singed The Mad Chemist

Sion The Undead Champion

Sivir the Battle Mistress

Skarner The Crystal Vanguard

Sona The Maven Of The Strings

Soraka The StarChild

Swain The Master Tactician

Syndra The Dark Sovereign

Talon The Blades Shadow

Taric The Gem Knight

Rat The F*cking Piece Of Sh*t

Thresh The Chain Warden

Trsitana Te Megling Gunner

Trundle The Cursed Troll

Tryndamere The Barbarian King

Twisted Fate The Card Master

Twitch The Plague Rat

Udyr The Spirit Walker

Urgot The HeadMan's Pride

Varus The Arrow Of Retribution

Vayne The Night Hunter

Veigar The Tiny Master Of Evil

Vel'Koz The Eye of The Void

Vi The Pitlover Enforcer

Viktor The Machine Herald

Vladimir The Crimson Reaper

Volibear The Thunder's roar

Warwick The Blood Hunter

Wukong The Monkey King

Xerath The Magus Descendant

Xin Zhao The Seneschal Of Demacia

Yasuo The Unforgiven

Yorick The Gravedigger

Zac The Secret Weapon

Zed The Master Of Shadows

Ziggs The Hexplosives Expert

Zilean The Chronokeeper

Zyra The Rise of the Thorns

Stages of the Game

Laning Phase

As Jax laning is simply trying to get farm until level 6,or maybe even being aggressive,harrassing often and trying to force fights because you are really strong once you reach level 3 you'd be able to duel pretty much anybody without an advantage in items or levels.Post-6 you should try to kill you lanemate and get damage to their outer turret until you destroy it,don't do this to or Though as they can farm all day while freezing the lane near their Inner turret and be a monster later,after you take the tower try to roam a bit but usually you'd want pressure on the enemy team so you'd want to get their second turret too.

Mid Game

This is when you should occasionally group up with your teammates to get Mid tower and dragons,you can provide so much damage and some CC to the enemy team at this phase of the game,if you're not losing to your lanemate then you should be at the point where you could pretty much kill anyone in a fair 1v1,at this phase of the game try to group up and take towers and dragons.

Late Game

So you might have shut down your Lanemate or they might have shut you down,if you shut them down try to force fights because if your team is doing at least equally good as your enemies besides top or jungle you can pretty much win most of the fights,in the fight try to see if their anti-carry or tanks will try to dive your carries,if they do then protect them as you can shred them with and if you think your other teammates can handle it dives their carries with --> combo to mitigate damage with ult to kill them,usually you'd be able to kill their Tanks and Off-Tanks after this if you are alive and have around 50% health cause your teammates softened them up or best case scenario killed them.If you got owned by their top laners or didn't do so well in the jungle joining fights is still a good idea even if you have just and one Defensive Item,cause these are actually enough to protect your carries but don't dive cause your behind.

Summary

I think Jax excels at dueling and can take advantage of this in all stages of the game,he is also a really fast split-pusher and really strong at killing dragon and baron,He will out-duel almost anyone,with the exception of unlimited scaling champions such as , and ( maybe even ) or insane kiting and dueling such as 's ,'s ,'s Eternal Slows, Mechanics and such.

Changelog

Month First,Day Second and Year Last

05/31/2014 : Guide Archived.
04/29/2014 : Added and and change positions of defensive and offensive items in the Items chapter also changed the icon on the left in the trinkets section of the Items Chapter,changed setup for jungling runes in the cheat sheets.
04/26/2014 : Fixed a few misspells also as of patch 4.6 I fixed up the just a tad bit.
04/21/2014 : 1st Added a short chapter about jungling,Also inverted the dates in the Changelog,
added and in the Cheat Sheets and Items sections,and also fixed some misspells.
04/17/2014 : Lane Match ups and added something in the Thank you section.
04/07/2014 : Guide Released.

Thank You

Thank you guys for taking the time to read my guide,I hope that this has helped you in some way,if you can find any errors please comment,if you want to vote please tell me why you upvoted/downvoted,constructive criticisms are encouraged so that I can fix it ASAP.,again thanks for reading and I hope you guys have a wonderful day.

I would try to update this guides once every patch or more often than that hopefully.

More Jax Counters

RAKMANSTER Jax Guide

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Jax The Grand Master at Lamps

Introduction

Runes

Masteries

Items

Skill Sequence

Spells

Pros / Cons

Match ups

Stages of the Game

Summary

Changelog

Thank You

Jax The Grand Master at Lamps

Jax The Grand Master at Lamps

Choose Champion Build:

Recommended Items

Spells:

Flash

Teleport

Items

Ability Order

Relentless Assault (PASSIVE)

Leap Strike (Q)

Empower (W)

Counter Strike (E)

Grandmaster-At-Arms (R)

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order

Relentless Assault (PASSIVE)

Leap Strike (Q)

Empower (W)

Counter Strike (E)

Grandmaster-At-Arms (R)

Spells:

Flash

Smite

Items

Ability Order

Relentless Assault (PASSIVE)

Leap Strike (Q)

Empower (W)

Counter Strike (E)

Grandmaster-At-Arms (R)

Introduction

Runes

Marks

Seals

Glyphs

Quintessences

Masteries

Offense Tree

Defense Tree

Non-Viable Masteries

Items

Starting Items

Core

Offensive Items

Defensive Items

Trinkets

Never Forget these

Skill Sequence

Spells

Pros / Cons

Match ups

Stages of the Game

Laning Phase

Mid Game

Late Game

Summary

Changelog

Thank You

League of Legends Champions: