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Jayce Build Guide by Zylozs

Jayce, The Hammer of Justice [In-Depth]

Jayce, The Hammer of Justice [In-Depth]

Updated on July 17, 2012
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Zylozs Build Guide By Zylozs 25 18 56,978 Views 43 Comments
25 18 56,978 Views 43 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Zylozs Jayce Build Guide By Zylozs Updated on July 17, 2012
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Jayce
  • LoL Champion: Jayce

Intro


Hello and welcome to your enemies destruction. In this guide i'm hoping to show you the power of Jayce. You will learn his killing potential and see why he is a true force to reckon with.


Like watching videos by Ciderhelm? Well check you the combo section for Ciderhelm's Don't Feed Jayce video!





I grew up learning that if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't. I don't mind constructive criticism but when you purposely insult something about my guide, i don't appreciate it. Keep your comments clean and helpful, not dirty and hurtful. That counts for votes too. Troll voting is very disrespectful and I don't appreciate it people.



THIS GUIDE IS STILL IN PROGRESS. PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND BEFORE MAKING ANY JUDGEMENTS. I WILL BE UPDATING THIS WHEN I SEE FIT ACCORDING TO RECENT PATCHES AND UPDATES TO JAYCE AND HIS PLAYSTYLE OR BUILD

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Background


Armed with wit, charm, and his signature transforming hammer, Jayce lives to protect his native Piltover. He rose to prominence as an inventor, one whose magnetic personality and innovative creations brightened the lives of his nation's people. However, his technological marvels also attracted the attention of Piltover's enemies. Viktor, the machine-augmented scientist from Zaun, staged a deadly raid on Jayce's laboratory, barely impeded by the lab's meager security force. Viktor stole designs for an arcane power converter. Jayce feared that Viktor would create weapons of devastating power with the stolen technology. He implored the Piltover government to respond, but the officials were unwilling to support an act of aggression. Refusing to allow his own inventions to threaten the people of Piltover, Jayce decided to strike back against Viktor himself.

Jayce returned to his laboratory and began making preparations for his one-man attack. After an intense period of research, development, and hands-on testing, he emerged. He had created an array of powerful armaments, including his crowning achievement – the versatile, transforming Mercury Hammer. Armed and ready, Jayce began his assault, easily smashing aside Viktor's acolytes as they rushed to stop him. Jayce fought his way into the heart of the lab and confronted Viktor, forcing the Zaunite to flee. After destroying Viktor's prototype weapon, Jayce returned to Piltover where he was hailed as a hero. He reveled in the adoration, but he knew that his actions had provoked the nation's 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
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Pros / Cons

Pros:


+ Hits hard with Q
+ His E is does percent dmg
+ Uncatchable!
+ Huge Killing Potential
+ Ranged and Melee!
Cons:


- Tricky Combos
- Focused
- New (prone to nerfs)
- Hard skill shot with Q & E
- Only 2 skins
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Summoner Spells


Since Jayce is new, there is still plenty of time to fiddle with summoner spells. However, as with any other champion, he has a default set that works great!



This spell is great to have on any champion simply because of the ability to maneuver through walls or to get closer to your target. Since Jayce has no real escape methods (through walls), it makes a very viable escape tool! (Don't get me wrong, he is hard as **** to catch when running!)



This spell is very nice to have on Jayce because it allows him finishing power when they try to escape or if they have a heal that you want to reduce. I would recommend always having ignite on him.



This spell is a great alternative to Flash because it gives you a slow to keep them at you while you pummel their face in. I would not replace Ignite with this.



I realize the list is very short but Jayce is very new and there is still much to try out with him. Feel free to try out what you enjoy!
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Runes


I've heard the argument many times and this is why i'll clarify this straight away. You can build your champion the way YOU want to. This is a guide and is meant to help newer players to the champion and give tips to current players to improve their game.

Greater Mark of Strength

This will give you a very nice amount of damage early game. Why would you do this? The answer is simple. You'll hit harder. You will need it.

Greater Seal of Resilience

This gives you a nice bit of armor on your champion to prevent the problem that armor penetration runes give! (go figure). It is also a personal preference. I prefer flat armor seals over armor per level seals because the initial armor is more important (because of early game laning).

Greater Glyph of Shielding

This gives you a good foot in the door for those AP casters out there. Since they don't really hurt until late game, you wont need the flat glyphs as much as the magic resist per level glyphs. This is also preference.

Greater Quintessence of Strength

These quintessences continue with the marks, giving you a ton of damage at level 1.

Off Tank:

Greater Quintessence of Fortitude

This gives you the survivability you need when soloing top (over the damage quints). The extra added health will definitely come in handy!

REPLACES:
GREATER QUINTESSENCE OF STRENGTH
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Masteries


I use standard AD masteries. They work well on Jayce and I see no reason to change them. I invest 21 points in the offense tree and 9 points in the defense tree.

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Skills


Jayce is interesting. He gets his ultimate at level 1 and is able to rank it up to 4. He is the third champion to have access of all his abilities at level 1 (behind Karma and Udyr). Below I have text from the wiki page (link here) with annotations by me in orange.



Hextech Capacitor (Passive) : Jayce gains 40 movement speed for 1.25 seconds and ignores unit collision each time Transform is cast.

This passive is very useful when it comes to switching forms in combat or when you are trying to run to/from an enemy. Use this to your advantage!



To the Skies! / Shock Blast (Q) : MAX FIRST

To the Skies (Hammer) -- (Active): Jayce leaps to an enemy, dealing physical damage to his target and to enemies in the area, slowing them for 2 seconds.
  • Cost: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 mana
  • Cooldown: 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 / 8 seconds
  • Physical Damage: 20 / 65 / 110 / 155 / 200 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage)
  • Slow: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 %



Shock Blast (Cannon) -- (Active): Fires an orb of electricity that detonates upon hitting an enemy or reaching the end of its path, dealing magic damage to all enemies in the area of the explosion.
  • Cost: 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 mana
  • Cooldown: 8 seconds
  • Physical Damage: 60 / 115 / 170 / 225 / 280 (+1.2 per bonus attack damage)
  • Accelerated Physical Damage: 84 / 161 / 238 / 315 / 392 (+1.68 per bonus attack damage)

This i believe is a large part of who Jayce is. It is his harassment and his gap closer all in one. It makes for a good farming tool (regardless of which form he is in) and he can use this to really put the hurting on the enemy.



Lightning Field / Hyper Charge (W) : GRAB A POINT AT 4, MAX LAST

Lightning Field (Hammer) --
(Passive): Jayce regenerates mana each time he strikes an enemy while in Hammer Stance.
(Active): Creates an electric aura, dealing magic damage over 4 seconds to nearby enemies.
  • Cost: 40 mana
  • Cooldown: 10 seconds
  • Mana per hit: 6 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 14
  • Magic Damage: 100 / 170 / 240 / 310 / 380 (+1.0 per ability power)



Hyper Charge (Cannon) -- (Active): Jayce gains a burst of energy, increasing his attack speed to maximum for 3 attacks. These attacks deal varied damage depending on rank.
  • Cost: 40 mana
  • Cooldown: 14 / 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 seconds
  • Damage: 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 %

This is probably his most useless move early game and one of his best moves late game. You hardly ever get much out of his lightning field because you don't build AP and its just there to help you out (in small amounts). As for his hyper charge, you get a lot of this late game but early game it wont be of much use because you don't invest points in it. Make sure to use this whenever you can in combat (and you can switch back to hammer after activating it to attack super fast with a hammer!).



Thundering Blow / Acceleration Gate (E) : GRAB A POINT AT 2, MAX SECOND

Thundering Blow (Hammer) -- (Active): Deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's maximum health, knocking the target back a short distance. This damage is capped against monsters.
  • Cost: 40 mana
  • Cooldown: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds
  • Magic Damage: 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage)
  • Max Health to Damage Ratio: 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20 %
  • Max Damage to Monsters: 200 / 300 / 400 / 500 / 600



Acceleration Gate (Cannon) -- (Active): Deploys an Acceleration Gate for 4 seconds, increasing the movement speed of all allies who pass through it for 3 seconds. This bonus fades over the duration.
If Shock Blast is fired through the gate, the missile speed and range will be increased, and its damage will increase by 40%.
  • Cost: 30 mana
  • Cooldown: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 seconds
  • Bonus Movement Speed: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 %

This is the bread and butter of Jayce. Its his enormous burst damage, his combo move, and his escape/catching mechanism all in one. In hammer form, he can deal massive damage with his attack. It knocks them back and does damage plus a percent of their maximum health (this gets up to 20%!!). In cannon form, he gets his acceleration gate which speeds up him and his team mates (when stepping through it) and it opens up the combo with his Q (just fire the Q through his gate to speed it up, increase its distance, and damage). His E is probably the best thing about him!



Transform: Mercury Cannon / Transform: Mercury Hammer (Ultimate) : GRAB A POINT AT 6, 11, AND 16

Transform: Mercury Cannon -- (Active): Transforms the Mercury Hammer into the Mercury Cannon, gaining new abilities and ranged attacks.
The next attack in Cannon Stance reduces the enemy's armor and magic resist for 5 seconds.
  • Cooldown: 6 seconds
  • Armor and Magic Resist Reduction: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 %



Transform: Mercury Hammer -- (Active): Transforms the Mercury Cannon into the Mercury Hammer, gaining new abilities and bonus armor and magic resist.
The next attack in Hammer Stance deals additional magic damage.
  • Cooldown: 6 seconds
  • Bonus Armor and Magic Resist: 5 / 15 / 25 / 35
  • Bonus Damage: 20 / 60 / 100 / 140

This ultimate is great. He gets it automatically at level 1 and it gives him the option of being Ranged or Melee. It opens up combos, gives movement speed and it increases his killing potential. Switching forms often in combat will give you a huge advantage over your opponent with the buff/debuffs this ability gives.
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Combos


Jayce has a whole arsenal of combos up his sleave. He is able to shoot balls at large ranges and jump over walls. With this section, i'll do my best to explain a wide variety of combos available to Jayce and please note that I might miss some so feel free to tell me what I could add to improve this section!



THIS SECTION IS CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS BUT HAS BEEN RELEASED EARLY TO PROVIDE PLAYERS WITH SOME INFORMATION. SOME INFORMATION IS BETTER THAN NONE! THANKS FOR YOUR UNDERSTANDING :)


Accelerated Shock blast


->

Make sure you are in Mercury Cannon form. Place your Acceleration Gate (E) in front of you. Fire your Shock Blast (Q) through your Acceleration Gate. This will increase its range, accelerate its speed and increase the damage dealth by 40%.

USE: Harrassment (Primarily), Team Fights, To View Bushes/Buffs


To the Skies & Thundering Blow


-> POSITION YOURSELF ->

Make sure you are in Mercury Hammer form. Use your To The Skies! (Q) on your enemy (or near the enemy) to slow them and close the gap. Use your Thundering Blow (E) to hit the enemy into your team or away from you/your team.

USE: Positioning the Enemy (Primarily), To Initiate, To Jump Through Walls


Hyper Charged Hammer


-> -> MELEE SWING

Make sure you are in Mercury Cannon form. Activate Hyper Charge (W) and then use Transform: Mercury Hammer (ULTIMATE) to go into hammer form. Attack an enemy before the buff wears off to hit them rapidly with your hammer.

USE: Hammer Time (Primarily), Fun Combo :)

Don't Feed Jayce by Ciderhelm

Thanks to Ciderhelm who has graciously allowed me to use his video! :D
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Laning


In this section, I will be providing tips and strategy for each lane (even mid). The hopes of this is to improve your awareness of his power and to show you when you should be cautious.

Top Lane:

Top Lane is exactly what Jayce needs. Solo farm, and the chance to dominate his opponent in 1v1 (which is his strongest suite!). Jayce has a great amount of harassment and very strong skillset to back him up in 1 to 1 combat. However, he lacks an important attribute to top lane, which is sustain. It is very very easy to over extend your lane as Jayce and you must be careful that the enemy won't take advantage of that.

Tips:
  • Harass with your E and Q often
  • Keep river warded
  • Farm up when waiting on cds or the enemy to make their move
  • If the enemy leaves lane, get your mana back with hammer form
  • Don't be afraid of your enemy, be aggressive (as long as your hp is not too low)
  • Watch out for their Jungler! Getting CCed can be the death of you

Help! What to do against 2 people at top:
This does happen from time to time. The enemy team might decide not to have a jungler and this could make your life hell, but not to worry! You will still show them how resilient you are and make them regret it!

What do I do? -- Stay close to your tower at ALL times! You don't want to jump into two of them on your own and get killed. The idea is to sit back and farm up, waiting on your jungler. Make sure that you harass whenever possible with your E and Q. This is a good way to keep the enemy in check and make them rethink tower diving you. If done right, you will be getting double kills when your jungler ganks and you should quickly out level your opponents making the 2v1 situation look like child's play.

Mid Lane:

Mid Lane is very similar to Top Lane for Jayce, however with one crucial difference. Instead of fighting more AD/tank centered people, he will be fighting AP centered champions (generally). This makes your life easy! Squishy champions are the best kind and with his harassment, they wont stand a chance.

Tips:
  • Harass with your E and Q often
  • Farm up when waiting on cds or the enemy to make their move
  • If the enemy leaves lane, get your mana back with hammer form
  • Don't be afraid of your enemy, be aggressive (as long as your hp is not too low)
  • Watch out for their Jungler! Getting CCed can be the death of you
  • Dodge skill shots! (you will regret it if you don't)

Bot Lane:

Bot lane is Jayce's worst lane and I don't intend for that to be over exaggerated. I say this because his 1v1 potential is far greater than his 2v2 potential, but don't be discouraged! Jayce is the king of his lane and is still a true force to reckon with. Keep in mind that he works best with a support or a tank, however having another champion with large amounts of harassment can be equally as effective!

Tips:
  • As always, harass harass harass. Make good use of his Accelerated Shock Blast!
  • Don't be afraid to initiate if you have to (but if you have a tanky champ, let them do it)
  • If they have a soraka, good luck. Your damage will mean nothing unless your jungler helps.
  • Farm. This is very important if you want to keep up in gold and levels.
  • Return to base only when you absolutely have to! Falling behind in duo lanes is far more deadly than in solo lanes.
  • Don't overextend too often. The reason is simple, if your jungler can't gank, their jungler will.
  • Make sure you or your team mate is warding river constantly. You don't want unexpected visits.

Help! What to do against 2 people at bot (solo):

What do I do? -- First of all, calm down because this can happen and its not a bad thing too! This is exactly the same as solo top against two people (however, this could be caused by an unusual lane layout or a dc/afk on your team). Stay close to the tower, farm and wait for your jungler. Its very easy to stay alive if you don't have skill shots to dodge. Just be careful, they might have some crazy tower diving tarics that are bent on your destruction! Don't forget to harass!

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Items


Now we get to the important part, the items. Items give you advantages and advantages get the the kills and hopefully the win. With my Jayce build, you get the best things about Jayce and it lets you show his true colors.


OFF TANK SOLO TOP:



x 3
Start off with boots and pots. This will give you the extra movement speed and some pots to survive the early game troubles of solo laning. On your first return, grab a Doran's Blade for the extra damage and health.




On your second (or even first) return back to base, grab a ruby crystal or even a phage if you have the gold. This will give you a good advantage over your opponent and keep them from running when you almost have them. When you get the change, finish up your Mercury's Treads.




Your first complete item will be the Trinity Force. This gives you a lot of good stats as an AD champion, and you will definitely enjoy it. Next you will grab a B. F. Sword for the damage that you are starting to lack, a Vampiric Scepter to keep up with your lifesteal needed to sustain yourself and finally finishing your Black Cleaver. I prefer making a Black Cleaver over other items but this is easily replaced with Infinity Edge or perhaps even a Last Whisper (i don't recommend the Last Whisper).




Now you are nearing the end of your build. You want to grab a Giant's Belt to finish up your Warmog's Armor. This will be amazing on Jayce as an Off Tank. Next you'll finish off your Bloodthirster that you started earlier and finish off your build with a Guardian Angel. The Guardian Angel is a situational item. This slot is where I would highly recommend switching out the item for situational items to counter the enemy team.


AD GLASS CANNON:




These items start you off well and give you what you need early game to stay ahead. You get two Doran's Blades because they give you a bit of health, lifesteal, and damage which you will need to survive and thrive early on. The boots give you your movement speed to keep up with your opponent/s.




You want to pick up your B. F. Sword as quick as you can after your second Doran's Blade to make sure you don't fall behind in damage. Once you get that, grab your max boots and finish up your Black Cleaver. Since Jayce does well with a high attack speed, getting this over Last Whisper is highly favorable.




Get yourself a Zeal and finish off your phantom dancer for that great attack speed, movement speed and crit! Pickup a Vampiric Scepter for the lifesteal because your Doran's Blades are starting to get obsolete.




Grab another B.F. Sword (selling one of your Doran's Blades and make yourself an Infinity Edge. Then you can make a Bloodthirster and a second Bloodthirster to finish your build. This last bloodthirster is optional. I would highly recommend situational items over it (or a Phantom Dancer if you chose to grab a Trinity Force over your Phantom Dancer earlier).



The text above is describing the builds I use. Please take a look in the Chapter below which will explain situational items and good alternatives to items above.
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Situational and Alternative Items


There comes a point in time when your build can branch off into what is needed for the game. Once you have completed your first Bloodthirster, you are free to select what is needed or wanted. But how do we determine what is needed? These kind of items are called situational items.

In the previous Chapter, I have Bloodthirster as my last item (AD GLASS CANNON) and Guardian Angel as my last item (OFF TANK SOLO TOP). Now these are my situational items (generic ones). Listed below are some good questions to ask yourself about the enemy composition and items that would be great for countering them.

WHAT DOES THE ENEMY TEAM HAVE/WHAT DO I NEED?
Some of the items above are probably not what you would of expected. I'm not surprised because most of you probably watched the champion spotlight and you've probably already seen some builds other people created in-game. But since I want to clarify that this is NOT the only way to do it, I will show some great alternatives to items above!

Trinity Force

This item works well on Jayce as with most AD carrys. It gives him a few good stats like health, mana, movement speed, and a slow.

Replaces:
PHANTOM DANCER

WHY: The Phantom Dancer is great, but some people prefer the stats that the Trinity Force has to offer. There is nothing wrong with this choice. Its all preference.

Ionic Spark

This item is very underrated and underused. Its a lot better than people give it credit for. Its not just a troll item people! It gives a bit of attack speed and life which are both great on Jayce

Replaces:
PHANTOM DANCER

WHY: The phantom dancer is brilliant and amazing, but this is a LIGHTNING champion. I mean he is like Thor with his hammer and lightning so why not get a fun item for that?

Frozen Mallet

This is a great item to build for anyone looking for tankyness (whether you are a tank or not). You get a bunch of health, and you also get some damage, however the slow will be useless because of the Trinity Force.

Replaces:
WARMOG'S ARMOR

WHY: Warmog's Armor gives a lot of health, but it lacks in damage. Some people would prefer getting a little extra AD over a little extra health and this is a viable option. Its not like your going for a double slow anyways.

Atma's Impaler

This item is a great item to have when you are flooding with health. It gives you more attack damage the more health you have, and it provides some crit. Very useful.

Replaces:
GUARDIAN ANGEL

WHY: Having a second life is great, I love being able to revive when you die in combat to continue helping your team, but a great alternative to having that second life is increased damage in direct result of having such high health. This is definitely a good idea if you don't think you will need the extra life.

Frozen Mallet

This is a great item to have in any Glass Cannon build. I know the point of a glass cannon is to be fragile but hit really hard. But maybe sometimes adding that little edge of survivability will give you the upper edge on your opponents! (especially when they want to focus you first).

Replaces:
THE BLOODTHIRSTER

WHY: Some people prefer to get more health over more lifesteal as a survival method. This is completely viable and if you just don't deal enough damage quick enough to the enemy team, would be a very smart idea. Make sure you are replacing your SECOND Bloodthirster with this and not your first one. You still need some lifesteal!



MORE ITEMS WILL BE ADDED IF I SEE MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO CHANGE THE BUILD WITHOUT HAMPERING IT. FEEL FREE TO SUGGEST ITEMS!

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Updates


7/17 -- Added video to combos section (thanks to Ciderhelm!)
7/14 -- Finished and released the Laning Section
7/13 -- Added both the Frozen Mallet and the Atma's Impaler to the alternative items section.
7/12 -- Updated guide to include nice dividers thanks to jhoijhoi
7/12 -- Guide Created :)
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Concluding Notes

Thanks for reading my guide! This guide should of showed you why Jayce can be a true force to reckon with and hopefully you will go out and show the world who's boss!



IF THIS GUIDE WAS HELPFUL, POST A COMMENT, GIVE +REP, RATE IT UP! DO SOMETHING TO HELP KEEP THIS GUIDE OPEN TO EVERYONE!

A special thanks to jhoijhoi for her special dividers! Check out her guide on making guides here!

Take a look at my Tryndamere build! Tryndamere - Critting Their Face In With A Sword
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