Hello,

My name is Cheostian and this is the first champion guide i've produced. I am not a high level ranked player, however I have been enjoying Jayce since his release and thought it would be interesting to speak up about what I felt works best on him. This guide doesn't have the bells and whistles of some other guides. Just the information needed to do well with Jayce.

I hope you enjoy!

Armed with wit, charm, and his signature transforming hammer, Jayce lives to protect his native Piltover. Long before his nation called him a hero, however, he was a promising young inventor. When Piltover commissioned him to study a rare arcane crystal, Jayce discovered it could be used as a vast energy source. Eager to make a name for himself, he began developing a device to harness its power. Word of the crystal’s potential reached beyond the borders of Piltover. Viktor, the machine-augmented scientist from Zaun, brought Jayce an offer - together, they could use the crystal to advance his “glorious evolution,” a vision of humanity fused with technology. Jayce refused, but the Zaunite had no intention of leaving empty handed. He effortlessly blasted Jayce aside and seized the crystal, incinerating the lab's meager security force as he left for Zaun. Jayce implored the Piltover government to respond, but the officials refused to support an act of aggression. He decided to act alone, realizing that if no one struck back, Piltover would never be safe.

Jayce returned to the lab to prepare for his attack. After intense research, development, and hands-on testing, he emerged with his crowning achievement - the Mercury Hammer. Weapon in hand, Jayce marched to Zaun and began his one-man assault. Viktor's acolytes rushed to stop him, but Jayce smashed them aside, fighting his way into the heart of the lab. Inside, Jayce saw the horrifying brilliance of Viktor’s creations, all powered by the energy of the arcane crystal. He realized that his only option was to destroy the power source, but Viktor stood in his way. Though their clash left both scientists heavily wounded, Jayce managed a desperate strike at the crystal. He shattered it and escaped as Viktor’s machines erupted in flames. When he returned home, exhausted but victorious, the citizens of Piltover hailed Jayce as a hero. He reveled in the adoration, but knew that his actions had drawn the attention of dangerous enemies. Now devoted to the defense of his people, Jayce is Piltover's best hope for a bright future.

"Trust me: if we're smart, Piltover can stand strong against any threat. Hey, I'm living proof." - Jayce
*Taken from League of Legends lore produced by Riot, all rights are theirs*

While considering runes, it's important to remember that part of Jayce's combo requires him to get in tight with the opponents, due to this it's important to bring along both defense and damage runes.

The three damage quints provide a big punch early game, however the extra damage may become less noticable over the later game. You may also want to consider 1 damage quint and 2 movement quints, especially if your finding enemies are getting away from you before you can initiate the melee part of the combo.

Masteries are attack damage geared choices with a secondary tree being defense. Focus on armor defense before magic resistance in the secondary tree as most often in ad carry bot lane you'll require the armor over magic resistance.

You may notice 1 point in Summoners Wraith, this is to boost your damage when you use ignite. Start the ranged combo as normal and once you switch to melee and Q (To the Skies) the opponent, also hit them with the ignite. You will be toe to toe with trying to out-damage an enemy and that extra little bit could mean you have the 30 odd life left and he's dead, rather then vice versa.

Alternatively, between your high damage combo and the ignite on them, they will be seeing their health bar melt away, they often at that point will have the urge to back off and an opponent who is running from you is not damaging you. With all the chase capabilities of Jayce, they likely won't live, so that's just fine!

I suggest Ignite and Flash.




Where as most ad carries would go with heal or exhaust over the ignite, this is because ignite though good is typically on a shorter range then the typical ad carries basic attacks are, this requires them to move closer to use ignite, something they don't want to do. However, Jayce's combo often entails him closing up to melee range with the enemy and so removes one of the big problems with ignite for other ad carries.

As for exhaust, most ad carries use exhaust to either escape with, or to slow enemies while they gun them down. Jayce has a built in slow effect on one of his moves which I find is a fair replacement for this role. As for escaping, if in ranged mode, drop a E and then R to run away. If in melee mode, use E to knock them away from you and then R to run away.

Finally, with Jayce, you often end up so deep in the thick of things near the end of the fight that heal doesn't really save you the same way it would for a typical ad carry always skirting the edge of combat. Heal does benefit the team but if your going to get in deep with an opponent it's better just to put that opponent down as fast as possible.

*** NOTE, JAYCE REQUIRES SOME FAST CYCLING OF ABILITIES TO BE EFFECTIVE. I FIND USING SMART CASTING THE MOST EFFECTIVE WAY TO PLAY HIM. IF YOU WANT TO PLAY JAYCE, YOU SHOULD GET COMFORTABLE WITH SMARTCASTING ***

Start with boots and 3 pots,

you need that mobility to keep at range with the enemy ad carries, escape the ganks and be in position for the last hits on time. You start with very respectable damage in your ranged shot so last hitting should be fairly simple without the need for a Doran's Blade.

Focus on last hitting as a priority, I often let my support worry about harrassing the enemy. If either of the enemy get to close to you, and you won't lose a creep kill(cs) because of it, then pop a few basic attacks into them. Feel free to harass them with the odd Q but keep your mana at about 3/4's or more full encase a full engagement happens.

Your going to want to stay in your ranged mode and play like a typical ranged ad during most of the time, if an enemy gets out of position or your support gets in trouble (you won't be the one getting in trouble because your going to be playing smart enough to not put yourself out of position... right....RIGHT!) then you want to pull out the damage. Here are the sequences depending on what time of the laneing phase it happens in.

Level 1:
Stay in ranged and hit them with your Q (Shock Blast) and just auto attack. Try and focus the enemy ad as they will likely be the easiest to kill (lowest hp) and they do the damage. If you kill them without dying yourself the engagement is much more likely to go in your favor. However!, don't put yourself to far out of position to do that. If the enemy ad carry pulls back enough that they are no longer contributing damage then focus on the other enemy in the fight. IF you see an enemy really low, or one is far enough out that they can't quickly be supported then you can hit R to change to melee mode and Q (To the skies) them, this will give you extra damage and slow them to delay their retreat which may be enough to finish them off. If they pull away and are almost dead but into tower safety, switch back to ranged and Q one more time. It should be enough hopefully to finish them off at a range.

Level 3:
(so you won't have your E ability yet) to engage:
(start in ranged) Q > W > R (to melee) Q + W as soon as you land. > R (once it's up) > W > Q to finish.

Full sequence Level 4 or higher:

(Start in ranged) E > Q > W > R (to melee) Q + W as soon as you land > run slightly past them as they are slowed > E them back to your allies away from their tower etc. > R (to ranged) E > Q > W.

It is important to note that the ranged abilities are on a separate timer from the melee abilities so if all your abilities are on cooldown then switching modes gives you all new options. Due to all your ability cycling it's important to keep your mana 3/4 full as much as possible to allow the full sequences. This cycling is also why sheen ability is so nice on him as early as possible.

So, Back to laneing. You want to stay in lane till you have 1300 gold so you can buy a phage first trip back, (Phage is 1315 but by the time you "B" to pool you'll have the extra 15) if possible also upgrade to berserker greaves, these cost 570 to upgrade to so if you can hold off till you have 1885 you can do both on one trip.


Many ad carries would buy 2 doran's blades and a boots upgrade and that is of course very strong, however Jayce's ability to dominate in the game i've found significantly changes when he complete's a Trinity Force. I've tried both ways, and if your wondering I suggest you also test both ways out for yourself. From my own experience I've found due to Jayce's unique kit of abilities getting that Triforce as soon as possible is worth having to play a bit more defensively perhaps for a few minutes in laneing.

When your done your shopping you want to get back to lane to continue farming as fast as possible, if you've hit level 4 you should have your E (Acceleration Gate) Use this while leaving the pool and the mana cost will be recovered as you exit, also watch and switch modes using R each time it's available. It provides a small movement boost each time to speed you up. About half way back your E for acceleration gate will be available again, at this point it's your call, if the tower is under threat I would hold on to it as waiting until your closer and shooting a Q through the gate (E) can clear the minions off the tower and damage enemy champions threatening it. They may even find themselves suddenly under a tower, more damaged then they expected, and without the creep wave they just had beside them.

If you find the enemy creeps are being pushed to your tower during laneing, don't waste the cs by letting the tower get them. Two options you can employ are: 1: Early game the tower will often hit a creep about 2 times and leave it with very little health left (perfect for you to last hit), if you time it right you can last hit creeps that way, however if the creep is hurt by you or your friendly creeps before the second hit from the tower than the tower will likely kill them and you won't get the gold, so timing is critical.

2: If you know you are not going to get all the cs due to wave size, I suggest pulling back as close to tower as you can, let the wave advance then switch to melee and Q the middle of the wave followed with W. Then it's "wack-a-mole" try and hit as many as you can :) Don't do this to far from your tower as a good opponent will take this opportunity to put some damage into you if they are smart.

If find yourself very low on mana dry during laneing you don't need to rush back to pool, just convert to melee mode, your W's passive will regen mana with each hit. But play carefully as your going to be in range of their ad carry likely.

Additionally, if your in a situation and need to escape, use the creeps to your advantage, run close to the creep fight in middle of lane and then use R to switch modes, for a short time you ignore unit collisions and so you can cut through the wave while they will need to go around it.

Other escape options are:
- In melee mode, knock the enemy back away from you with E. Can also be used to save an ally.
- In melee mode, use Q to "jump" to an enemy creep or champion in the direction you want to go (like towards the tower) to put distance between you and other enemy champs that might be killing you. The slow will also make it hard for enemy champs near were you land to pursue.
- In Ranged mode, use E to drop an acceleration gate to speed your and your allies exit from the situation.

After laneing phase, run around taking as much cs as possible without offending your allies. You have some decent movement if you spam your R and you don't really want to be starting off big team fights so when your allies are "dancing" around mid or conducting other time wasting activities, you should be skirting the nearby jungles for more money. If a fight starts you can always use your mode switching and ranged E to get in to the fight fast.

Jayce is excellent at clearing minion waves and jungle camps:
In ranged as you approach the camp (even from behind a wall) use E > Q this will hit the group with high damage and reveal the camp, you can then R to melee and Q over a wall doing more group damage followed with a W and the camp is dead. Switch to ranged with R again getting another speed boost and run on to the next camp, rinse and repeat. If your gate is on cooldown, just use the Q, it will still suffice.

Throughout the whole game if approaching a potentially dangerous bush (a bush you have that gut feeling might contain enemies in ambush) use your ranged Q to shoot into it. If an enemy is in there they will be momentarily revealed. This is an AMAZING utility of Jayce and should not be overlooked. It can also be used to scout if dragon, baron, or other camps are missing and will remove the icon from the map if shot correctly.


In summary:
Jayce has an extremely capable and varied kit of tools to use. You provide your team options for both engaging and diss-engaging fights. High damage potential with rather surprising amounts of resilience for an ad carry role. You can 1v1 a surprising number of other champs.

What Jayce is not however is a equivalent for a hyper late game AD Carry. He is very strong most of the game and doesn't really fall off late game but he can't almost solo an entire team on his own at the end of a 1 hour game like maybe Vayne or Ashe might. That being said, as he is a stronger presence I find through the mid game then them, usually the game will end earlier then the supper late game. However, realize it's in your best interest to try and make sure it ends earlier rather then later, otherwise you may lose the advantage, you had been enjoying, at the very end.

Good Luck All and tell me what you thought of this guide!

Cheostian