Hello dear summoners, I am about to share you a guide starring Jax.

Jax have been my main since I reached lvl 10. I have had about 500 games with, tried all kinds of build.

The main point is, He is very rewarding, if you know when to go in and when to go out in a teamfight. He deals ton of damage during laning, of couse if handled right.

This is my first build, so bear over with me!

He is super strong during all phases (Shines most midgame)
He is a good top sololaner
He has a lamppost *******it
Enough Mres from ulti
One of the best gankers!
Has a awesome scaling with his abilities
His abilities are spammable
Can easily escape with Leap Strike, if teammates position right
Can easily take an entire burst from LeBlanc and survive with Relentless Assault on
He is the best 1v1 Char, even against fed enemies



Unreliable CC
Dependant on gold lategame
Very teamdependant
Can easily be destroyed versus a good team composition

Equipment Mastery - 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.

This is one of the best passives in the game. As the description states, it gives you hp for every AP and AD you have. This enable you to build a very squishy build, while still gaining a lot of hp.



Leap Strike - Jax leaps toward a target. If it's an enemy, he smacks it in the face with his weapon, dealing bonus damage.
Jax leaps towards a target. If it's an enemy, he hits the enemy for 50/75/100/125/150 (+) (+0.7) magic damage.

Cost
65/65/65/65/65 Mana
Range
700


This is the "icing on the cake" ability. Basically, it's a terrific gap closer, great damage dealer through all phases, and a great escaping tool.
I will explain the usage of the abilities later on.



Empower - Jax's charges his weapon with energy, causing his next attack to deal massive additional magic damage.
Jax charges his weapon with energy, causing his next attack to deal an additional 75/110/145/180/215 (+) (+0.4) magic damage.

Cost
20/20/20/20/20 Mana
Range
300

Wait... WHAT? A squishy lost 3 healthbars from a Q+W burst? Wait min... You can spam it every 8 seconds this early?! W-W-WHAT!
This is a great early game harassing tool, I usually don't try to harass my enemies lvl 1, cause Leap Strike is so mana costy. As soon as I hit lvl 2, I do a quick burst with Empower so they retreat, basically it's a free harassing tool, cause people dunno whether you will go for the kill or not. The scalings are meh, but the basedamage is awesome. After the remake of Jax, you are actually able to use it while you also use leap strike. I am telling you mate, this is one great ability.



Counter Strike - Jax's prowess allows him to dodge enemy attacks frequently. After avoiding an attack Jax can quickly stun surrounding enemies.
Passive: Increases Jax's Dodge chance by 10/12/14/16/18%.

Active: Jax stuns surrounding enemies for 1/1/1/1/1 second and deals 80/110/140/170/200 (+0.6) magic damage to them.

Usable only within 7/7/7/7/7 seconds of dodging an attack.

Cost
60/60/60/60/60 Mana
Range
400

This is one unreliable ability, it makes or breaks your game, since you depend on dodge chance. I have taken minion fire in over 10 seconds, while Xin with 2.0 AS attacked me, and I didn't dodge once, while other times, I have 4/6 attacks (He died after that) from a fed Tryndamere.
For this ability to work, you have to make sure, that the minions attack you, this makes you able to get some dodge, to stun your opponent. But once you learn to deal with this ability, you will truly love it!




Relentless Assault - Jax's greatest talent lies in his ability to grow stronger with every attack. Each successive attack increases his Attack Speed temporarily, and every third blow will devastate his target. Jax can activate this ability to gain temporary Magic Resist based on his Dodge chance.
Passive: Jax's basic attacks increase his Attack Speed by 6/10/14% for 2.5/2.5/2.5 seconds (max 10 stacks). Every third consecutive attack deals 140/170/210 (+0.7) bonus magic damage.

Active: Jax's speed allows him to reduce incoming magic damage. For 5/6.5/8 seconds his Magic Resist is increased by 20/35/50 plus his Dodge percent totalling Magic Resist.

Cost
80/80/80 Mana
Range
100

Well, I have told how leap strike is your icing on the cake ability, this one is aswell. Relentless Assault hits so hard, that squishies starts to whine, how OP you are, with my item setup, you will get that slow proc from Phage, after that, there is no escape. I have talked about the offensive abilities from this skill, what about the defensive? Basically, you get approx 90 more Mres, with this lvl 3 Relentless Strike. You take no damage from AP nukers with this on, but keep in mind, it's only a couple of seconds.

Recommended

Flash works on every character, not much to say there!



The reason exhaust is a must on Jax is: He needs them slowed down to be able to beat them off, since you won't have Phage in the beginning, this is an easy way to get first blood. Later on, you will primarily need it, to reduce the damage you are taking.



Ghost also works on every character, can be used as an escape mechanism, but also as a chase mechanism.



I usually take ignite/exhaust on Jax, but only on Twisted Treeline,on Summoners Rift, I would recommend you to have either ghost or flash, whatever suits you the best.

Alternatives

If you feel like. you need heal, you are compromising some of your offensives capabilities for a defensive. It is useful, but I think this is up to the individual summoner to decide whether it's useful.



This is also a useful spell in all situations, there is not much to say about it.


This summoner spell will only be useful early game, because your late game mana pool is much greater.

Useless

The rest of the summoner spells.

9-21-0

The reason I have my masteries set up this way is, Jax benefits greatly from the Nimbleness proc, when he chases and minions are attacking him.


Okay, Now I have switched entirely over to defensive masteries, since I find that you benefit more from some defense during laning, while your kit offers you lots of offensive stuff.

Core

Doran's shield is great for the health regen, makes you much tougher to take down, while you still deal undeniable lots of damage. Tabi's are the only boots that gives dodge at the moment, so they are selfexplanatory. Trinity Force is the best item for Jax in the entire game, Jax benefits from all the stats, and the movement speed is so nice to have, easier to chase targets down and kill them, as people say: Trinity Force is the master of no stats, but the Jack of all.

Luxury Items

These are your lategame items. Rylai's Crystal scepter is a very needed item on Jax, it gives you a reliable slow, unlike the one from phage, it synergizes well with your passive and gives you lots of AP and HP.
Guinsoo's Rageblade is the only item that goes with your ulti, once you get a slow on your opponent; you can actually farm your ulti and rageblade stacks up, if they are alive till then.
Banshee's Veil is necessary on every single champion, it gives you health, Mres and a fantastic passive.
Anyways, it's completely up to yourself, whether or not you want Rageblade or Hextech Gunblade before Rylai's. I prefer Rylai's because of the more reliable slow.

Endgame item

Endgame this item shines, there is no real reason to explain, why you need it.
It's up to you to decide, whether you want this before Rylai's Scepter and Rageblade.
THey are all good choices, but Trinity First in my opinion.

This item synergizes very well with your passive, but this is a situational item. This is the reason Jax is great, if people are stacking Mres, you just build for AD vice versa. All in all a great item.

You get AS, AP and a passive that tears Mres apart? What is there not to like?

This item became less useful on Jax after they removed dodge from it :( But it is still great, just not an item you should rush instantly. Great for Backdooring and getting your stacks up against melee characters.

This item is fantastic to counter Jax, but what do you do, when people blind you? You activate the passive and get ArPen and undodgeable attacks.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration Gives your magic penetration, good during all phases. And all your abilities deal magic damage.

Alt: Greater mark of desolation This gives your armorpen, but it depends on what enemies you meet, both are great choices.

Greater Seal of Evasion NOTHING TO ARGUE!

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction Reduces your earlygame high cooldowns, this isn't a needed glyph, many other glyphs are great for Jax too.

Greater Quintessence of Evasion NOTHING TO ARGUE HERE SON!

Fighting
Leap Strike + Empower --> Counter Strike --> Relentless Assault if you are fighting AP opponents --> Leap srike + Empower --> Counter Strike --> Leap Strike + Empower-->

Laning Phase
Leap Strike + Empower --> Counter Strike RUN AWAY!
Rinse and repeat.

I have seen a lot of builds rush Hextech Gunblade, but I think that it is a terrible choice. Yes, it does give you some sustainability, and more staying power during laning, if you actually manage to finish it by then. But you can't take advantage of it, in 1v1 battles, if you meet enemies know how to get your ulti stacks off.
It is a good lategame choice, cause it gives you some AP and AD, and you can farm your health all the way up from jungles, instead of recalling. But I would absolutely not go for it early on.

Fellow Jax players, we all hate this particular item... Sword of the Divine.

AD Carries and AD "nukers" will buy this item only for you, they are eliminating one of your abilities, Counter Strike

How I deal with this item is: Make them waste the active, once they activate it, make sure there is a minion wave near you, or there is someone else autoattacking you without it. You will encounter 2v1 situations, you can easily win.

If you are in a jungle and meet Master Yi with it, run away, he will tear your health apart.

You have to be the one dominating in this lane, don't take chances you are insecure about. I usually end up with over half my HP left after FB. The reason you have to dominate your lane is, you can't get lasthits unless they are scared of you, whether it is solo- or Duolaning. You know that you have to go for the kill, when you have more health than your opponnent, and all the enemies are visible on the map.
Don't think you are invincible, cause you aren't. Play smart, play safe.

Teamfights are Jax biggest weakness, he will get focused. In teamfights you have to think like an Assassin, you are squishy, you are gonna get focused, In Jax case; He is gonna get heavily focused. I usually hide in a brush, make the tank initiate, wait a couple of seconds (Evaluate the chances yourself) Then I go in and make some random fellows cry.

During laning, you have to take the focus from that squishy, you are tanky enough to do this. You can turn a 3v1 into a 3v2 and easily win that fight.

Last thing, GANK GANK GANK GANK GANK GANK! This is one of Jax' strongest attributes!

Earlygame: Lasthit only, while you dominate your lane.

Midgame: Auto attack the minions, you have approx. 15 secs to alt+tab on an entire wave.

Lategame: Only 5 secs with alt+tabbing, BE FAST!

This is my latest match history, played some ranked with Jax, the scores aren't too amazing, but that is what I could pull off in 2 days.

If you want to submit a picture of your match history with this build, send me PM.

Anyways, for the lulz :D

Nothing yet, still waiting for season 2!
Jax leap strike got nerfed by 0.3, Shurelia said they are changing it back (?)

22/05/2011: I have added some extra information regarding my item choice and Vampiric scepter to the build.
03/07/2011: I am updating some text, Entirely new masteries and the scaling changes have been updated too.