Welcome to my Jayce Guide! I've been playing Jayce for over 3 months now, and I've figured out a build that compliments his style and weaknesses. This is only a guide for my friends to view the way I build the champion I play most often, so I'm not too worried about anyone down voting it. If you give me a thumbs up though, thank you! I'm glad this guide helped you.

Basically, there's 3 ways I build Jayce in top lane: Basic, Tanky, and DAMAGE HELL. My usual build is the Basic build, I run a Tanky every so often (usually on games where I have troll teammates and I need to be able to survive), and finally DAMAGE HELL, where I throw all insecurities out the window and go NUTS on throwing Shock Blasts at people. I have never had to build it. Hopefully if I ever do, you're not facing me, and you are not on a bad team.

Does the guide fit all maps?
This guide was made with the strategies and meta used in Summoner's Rift in mind. I may make a second guide for Twisted Treeline some day, since I run that once every 2 weeks or so... but probably never Dominion. Never been a king of the hill gameplay fan.

But Max! You have NO Elo ranking!
I know I have no Elo. I've literally only played ONE game in ranked (as Ahri Mid, no less). This doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. I've faced gold ranked summoners 1v1 top lane before in normal matches, and blind pick gods willing I get a good team to help win us the match, and managed to do just fine. I may not have won the lane the fastest, but I sure as hell kept my tower safe.

Will you play ranked as Jayce some day?
Maybe. Honestly: I have work almost every day of the week, and since the schedule for it bounces around the clock (sometimes I only have a 10 hour turnaround before I need to go back), I sometimes have very little time to do even more than 1 - 3 games a day. So to me, trying to do ranked style play with very little time on my hands is like betting on a horse AFTER the race has started. You THINK you know it'll win, but you're disappointed you didn't have more time to attempt again when you know you've lost.

So, a quick head's up:
If you see QWER, I'm talking about a skill in HAMMER FORM.
If you see QWER, I'm talking about a skill in CANNON FORM.

Commence edjumacation!

Pros:

• Jayce is a powerful bruiser. His Shock Blast does tremendous damage when shot through his Acceleration Gate, causing him to be on par with Nidalee's and Brand's skill shots, if not more.
• Since his hammer switches between ranged and melee, Jayce is a VERY viable champion to have on the field. He fits several rolls if built right: ADC, Bruiser, Off Tank, and even does a decent job of pushing and backdooring if you find a setup that works for you.
• Great escape/initiation ability, Acceleration Gate. Almost makes it so you don't need boots until after 3 items into your build...
• His Full Metal skin makes him look like friggen IRON MAN. Except blue. Which is unique.

Cons:

• Jayce has no ult. This means he needs to carefully plan how he uses his skills to land kills.
• Jayce burns mana like someone set a fire in his mana pool, and Jayce opens up ventilation grates and lets more oxygen in when he attempts to follow through with combos, such as:
  Q > E,
  E > Q, or even
  E > Q > W > R > W > Q > E.
  (That last one burns so much mana that it looks like someone broke a floodgate in your mana pool)
• Jayce only has 2 skins. C'mon Riot! Show some love to the Superhero!

Recently, I've been asked more often by other Jayce players and my friends, who ask for pointers on dealing with Jayce, if I had any recordings of my Jayce games. Well, here's a momentary fix for that. I downloaded LoLReplay and have created an account. If you have LoLReplay as well, you can search my name in the database and watch some of my matches. I'll leave an update here when I upload new ones.

Replay Videos (Click the Date link to go to the URL with the video)
Date | Length | Outcome | My Build | My Score

2/11/13 | 24 min | Victory | Well Rnd | 5/0/8

Since I don't know of a FREE program to take the videos recorded by LoLReplay, and I can't find one that records the match in a format YouTube compatible , there will be no videos yet. If anyone knows how I can record YouTube compatible videos for FREE, please point the way!

Well, I'm going to start off by giving a notice: I used to bring Clarity into the fight due to Jayce's mana retention issues. After experimenting and extra practice, I found a play style that enables me to stay in lane w/o needing Clarity.

This doesn't mean I think Clarity is bad. That thing saves you from time to time, so if your play style burns more mana than you need to, grab it.
After dropping Clarity, I experimented with Teleport and Heal, but since I bring pots into the fray Heal becomes mildly redundant and Jayce's movement skills allow for a more broad option of running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. So, that leaves Ignite, with it's last second kill confirmed capacity as well as the function of reducing a sustain champ from healing.

---

The classic, the pro, the GET ME THE HELL TOWARD (AWAY FROM) THEM!!! Seriously, why anything else?
Ghost isn't needed since Jayce has built in move speed increase AND unit collision ignore;
Teleport, which you see in the Tanky build, should only be taken FOR the Tanky build. Why? Read below...

---

When I go Tanky Jayce, that is the only time I'd run Jayce without Flash. Why? Because as a tank, your job is to be there to take damage and let your carries and jungler get the kills. If you die in the process, so be it. But teleporting to pushed lanes to defend or to a lane that needs a tower dive makes you a DAMN worthwhile tank. You may not be the best, but troll games happen, and trying to somehow make it work falls upon SOMEONE. Might as well be LoL's undisputed superhero, Jayce.

greater mark of armor penetration

Great way to increase damage done to champions. Most people who play tops run with Greater Mark of Attack Damage, and granted almost all of Jayce's skills scale of AD. But after running 10 matches in a row with a full set of ArmPen and then another 10 with a full set of AtkDmg... I noticed that ArmPen literally gives more of a punch.

Now, I suck at math. I really do. I can do it if I try, but attempting to try makes my head hurt. So if anyone can show me PROOF that AD beats ArmPen in damage output for the same setup on a champion who has NOT built armor... please do. I'd like to know.

Greater Seal of Armor

You're running top lane. Solo, usually. Get these, and survive. Helps mid game too, but don't rely on them late game.

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist

You won't fight much magic users in top lane until roaming phase, in mid game. Usually these kick in at level 9 anyways, so they're a better option that flat MagRes.

greater quintessence of armor penetration

Same deal as the Marks.

For Well Rounded and DAMAGE HELL builds:

A decent offensive build for dealing damage at both long and close range, as well as some defensive capacity so you're not getting killed yourself.

Sorcery: Sadly, these 2 points are spill points. Nothing else had more interesting draw for me.
Sunder and Weapon Expertise : Extra armor pen for extra pain.
Resistance : there's only 1 point here because you're more than likely going to face AD using champs in top lane, so Hardiness deserves the extra point.

For the Tanky Build:

When you plan to run in as full tank Jayce, I honestly would suggest ditching the Offense tree. Jayce wasn't made to be a tank to start with, more of an off tank bruiser. Simply put, build Jayce's early and late HP with these 3:
Durability
Veteran's Scars
Juggernaut

Finding a way to reduce incoming damage to make you last longer helps, so go with the 7:
Hardiness
Resistance
Unyielding
Block
Reinforced Armor
Defender
Honor Guard

Finally, tower diving will occur as you attempt to catch and knock back fleeing opponents with a Q > E combo, so Safeguard (reduces damage from towers by 5%) will help you last longer in that attempt.

Throw some points into Offense so you do some damage to enemies as well.

The big reason why I build Jayce's Q first is because of his Cannon Form's Shock Blast. It is your nuke, your skill shot and poke, your final strike against fleeing enemies. When you get your The Brutalizer, and this skill up to at least level 4, you will do some serious damage in early game. If you play it right and build some higher ArmPen and AD, you will be on par with Nidalee's Javelin Toss, but w/o the need for the target to be at max range for it to do serious damage.

What follows next is simply my reasoning when fighting in mid game: build the points at champion levels 9 and 10 into your W. Again, your Cannon Form's ability is the one that needs it. Hyper Charge has reduced power at ability levels 1 and 2, so getting it up to level 3 before bulding your E (which only servers as function at early levels), brings your damage output with that skill WORTH the mana spent in activating it.

I've had a lot of different suggestions from even random people in-game about which items I should bring to the field as Jayce. Basically, I use these items in my usual build simply because it fits my play style. That's not to say that I NEVER deviate and build other things. This build is by far NOT the strongest Top/Bruiser/Jayce build, I have no doubt. But with this build I win 75% of the games I run with a good team, typically with a score ratio of 4/1/3.

Let's start with your CORE ITEMS, which are in every build: These 3 items make you
1) Mercury's Treads: Mobile and hard to slow, so its good for escaping ganks;
2) Phage: Slightly tankier with that bonus cc that Jayce lacks;
3) The Brutalizer: Overwhelmingly powerful when slamming together combos and poking in early game.

I build Jayce with a healthy portion of health and resistance gear so that he more fits the roll of bruiser. The fact there's so many items that ALLOW you to have bonus AD while getting tanky makes it all the better.
Maw of Malmortius+ Mercury's Treads makes you survive through team fights and soloing AP carries;
Infinity Edge+ Bloodthirster drive your damage output so high in late game that people start focusing YOU over the carries;
Frozen Mallet+ Black Cleaver grant you the extra health needed to look intimidating, as well as granting you additional CC and ArmPen.

Some items I MIGHT use if situations require it:
Frozen Heart: The passive makes use of the fact your usually in the thick of fights, as well as granting you bonus mana and armor. I typically would trade this out with the Infinity Edge, simply if you are getting focused hard mid game, and expect to be focused more late game.

Iceborn Gauntlet: With the fact Jayce has SIX skills, getting a Sheen sounds like a god send... which might be a decent replacement for the Frozen Heart mentioned above if your worried about your damage output dropping TOO low.

Sunfire Aegis: I typically wouldn't build this, seeing as how its MAIN attraction is it's passive, which to me makes it less worthwhile that ALL the items... but if team fights happen often and you're getting swamped by AD, build it and dive in, don't let it go to waste.

---

Since I rarely use this build except in emergencies when I get hit with a troll game and am forced to play the roll of tank, it doesn't get much concentration on refining.
Warmog's Armor+ Randuin's Omen grant you HUGE health gains, as well as offering decent health regen and a powerful CC on Randuin's active.


Pretty much, slamming in a Trinity Force and a Berserker's Greaves makes Jayce have the ultimate damage build. A Phantom Dancer might make him more viable, but i find that the bonus from tri-force, even from just Zeal before upgrade, grants you all the attack speed you need.

Getting last hits is fun and all, but there's a problem: Jayce needs to restore mana, and a way to do that is built into his Hammer Form's W, Lightning Field. This means that if Clarity (If you brought it) is on cooldown, and you don't plan on making a trip back to base just yet, you'll need to smack some creeps around.

Trying to time which creeps to hit with your hammer is like trying to watch 6-7 balls spin around in a funnel. They're slowly going down, but trying to hit them w/ you being the one to hit them into the hole, is very hard.

Sometimes it's best to just concentrate on 3 of them at once, or if you've zoned your enemy well, smack the ranged creeps before your minions get to 'em; spinning around every so often to last hit a melee creep.

Always make sure with your jungler that, if you've pushed too far, he won't mind you taking golems (when on purple team) or wolves (when on blue team).

Jayce is all about teamwork. His E, in either Hammer or Cannon Forms, is made to get either your allies or an enemy into position for a kill. To The Skies! also helps with this, but the slow doesn't last long, so don't count on it to save the day too often.

Always be aware of your jungler. Jayce is good in the right hands, but even I have trouble against a tank doing top lane who's jungler comes to visit more often than your mother-in-law does during a holiday feast prep. Buy a ward every so often, if your jungler is either not warding or is warding elsewhere, so you can watch your back as you do the dance of death.
*inhale*

You're main job is a bruiser, and building tanky on the side ( Frozen Mallet, Black Cleaver) helps to stay in the middle of team fights longer. Avoid running around, trying to position yourself for E > Q combos, when you need to be in the thick of it auto-attacking. Save the combos for enemies fleeing, or when you are attempting to burn a tank down before he CCs your entire team.

Typically, when you've finally taken your first tower in your lane, you should immediately run for mid and help push that. First tower down or not, they are headed top lane to gank you, and running mid to push the outer or inner turret with your mid will save you + net you another quick 150 gold if your lucky. If not, see what needs to be done next:
Does bot lane need help? GO.
Is the jungler attempting dragon? HELP or be a lookout.
Is the enemy Shaco missing? RUN FOR YOUR LIIIIIIIIIIFE!!!

Welp, that about wraps it up. Thank you for reading my guide, hope you find it helpful, and have fun on the Fields of Justice!

---

---

Updates:
1/24/13 - Fixed Masteries chapter to properly show mastery builds (I forgot to putinto the code, lol)

2/11/13 - Changed my playstyle, removed Clarity from my typical build, and edited the appropriate chapters. Also added a chapter for LoLReplay updates.

Started a Frozen Heart at the start of the match since I was doing a 1v2 against a Soraka and a Sion, but then started steam rolling them all, so I built a Trinity Force instead of my usual Frozen Mallet.