Jayce Build Guide by Nusaik

Introduction

Welcome everyone, to my Jayce guide! Jayce is a very interesting champion who can be played in many different ways. He has a very high skill cap, but can be devastating if you know how to play him well. His role can vary from main DPS to offtank. There's a lot you can learn about him, and I hope this guide will help.

I will discuss three builds for Jayce: solotop, jungler and AD carry. These are the three roles Jayce is good at. The builds are just guidelines and you could very well mix them up a bit, depending on personal preference.

So I hope I can teach you a thing or two. If you like my guide, please leave a comment and rating to help me improve. Also check out my other guides.

Pros and Cons

Deciding whether or not to buy Jayce? Here's a list to help you out a bit.

Pros Very fun to play. Very versatile. Can escape almost any situation (and chase any enemy). Has a lot of combo opportunities. Strong late-game. Great ganker.

Cons Loses most 1v1s top. Low range (for an AD carry at least). Can be shut down early. Can be frustratingly difficult to play/master. His DPS is on the low end, early- and mid-game. Has no built-in health-sustain.

Different Builds

Jayce can fit a number of roles really well, each with a different build. In general, I think Jayce should be built with a lot of damage and some survivability. If you feel like you're too squishy, build more durability. If you're surviving anyway, go for more damage.

Solotop Jayce Jayce can be played very well as a solotop, but he's very different from others. In lane, he is usually weaker in direct combat, but he can poke really well. With this build, you end up becoming a bruiser.

AD carry Jayce Jayce isn't a standard AD carry, because of his short range and melee form, but this role fits him well. In this role you focus on your ranged form, but you can of course still switch to melee to pull off some great combos. Jayce's high mobility and CC makes up for his low range and keeps him safe.

Jungle Jayce Jayce is actually a great jungler. He can clear camps pretty fast with his AoE abilities, has no mana problems thanks to the passive from lighting field / hyper charge and is a very strong ganker. This build ends with the same items as the solotop build, but starts differently.

Runes

I will now explain my rune choices. They are pretty standard and the same for each role, so I will keep it short.

Marks 9 x Greater Mark of Attack Damage. For obvious reasons. I think these are better on Jayce then armor penetration marks, because some of his abilities deal magic damage and scale with AD, so armor penetration won't increase their damage.

Seals 9 x Greater Seal of Armor. Whatever your position is, you will take mainly physical damage early-game. Either from jungle monsters, an AD carry or a toplaner. These will help reduce that damage.

Glyphs 9 x Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist. Towards mid- and late-game, you will take more magic damage. As people start to roam, you will likely meet up with some casters. These glyphs scale well into late-game.

Quintessences 3 x Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage. For the same reasons as the marks.

Masteries

Solotop
As a solotop, I take 9-21-0 masteries. This is aimed at an easier laning phase. These are pretty standard masteries for bruisers.

AD carry
As an AD carry, you should focus on offense, so I take 21-9-0 masteries. This is aimed at the highest damage possible, while taking some armor and health to help against physical damage.

Jungler
As a jungler I take 9-12-9 masteries, getting everything to help me jungle. This improves clearing speed and survivability, as well as some other useful things.

Detailed explanations

Solotop
I go for the armor penetration from Weapon Expertise in offense. In the defense tree I take MR, armor and health. Tough Skin and Indomitable help really well in lane, mainly against damage from minions. The extra movement speed from Initiator is really useful for kiting. I also take Honor Guard and Juggernaut for extra tankiness.

AD carry
I take everything related to physical damage in the offense tree. I also take Summoner's Wrath for Ignite. I don't take Havoc , because I don't think it's that good in any realistic situation. You could take Butcher instead of something else to make last-hitting easier. In defense, I focus on armor and go up to Veteran's Scars .

Jungler
In offense, I take Butcher , to kill jungle monsters faster. In defense, I take Hardiness , Tough Skin and Bladed Armor , so I take less damage and clear faster. In the utility tree, I go for Runic Affinity for a longer red/blue buff. I don't take mana regen, because Jayce has no mana problems when jungling.

Items

Solotop
My build for solotop is Trinity Force, Mercury's Treads, Randuin's Omen, maw of malmotius, The Bloodthirster and zeke's herald. This build will give a good balance between offense and defense, while also helping your team a little with supportive items. I buy 2 GP10 items at the beginning for extra gold income. They will most likely pay for themselves, so they give free stats.

AD carry
As an AD carry I get Mercury's Treads, Infinity Edge, Phantom Dancer, Trinity Force, The Bloodthirster and yuumou's ghostblade. This build is obviously focussed on offense and you will do crazy damage with it if you use your abilities well too. If you feel like you need some more survivability, replace an offensive item with something like a Guardian Angel or Quicksilver Sash.

Jungler
This build ends the same as the solotop build. The only difference is you start with a Wriggle's Lantern instead of GP10 items. This increases your jungle speed, which means you get more gold and can gank more. The free ward is very useful too.

When laning, I take Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions. The extra movement speed will make it easier to avoid ganks and the potions give more sustain. When jungling, I take a Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions. This will give you a pretty easy full clear. The Cloth Armor will be built into your Wriggle's Lantern.

Item explanations

Trinity Force A great item on Jayce, because every part of it benefits him. The movement speed and slow chance will help when chasing or fleeing. Besides that, Trinity Force will increase your damage significantly and will provide some sustain with the health and mana.

Mercury's Treads I think these are the best boots, whatever your role is. The most important thing is the tenacity. It will give you more freedom and make it easier to use your abilities in the right way. The MR is also nice. Another option for boots is Ninja Tabi, if the enemy team doesn't have a lot of magic damage. I don't like Berserker's Greaves on Jayce because you already get AS from Lightning Field / Hyper Charge and Trinity Force and Phantom Dancer (as an AD carry).

Randuin's Omen More slows for kiting and more survivability. This item will really help your team in teamfights. The 5% CDR is also good. Jayce benefits a lot from CDR.

Maw of Malmortius Ignore even more CC with the spell shield. By now you probably need some MR to combat enemy casters. You also get 55 AD, and even more AD the lower on health you are. All this can easily bait people into thinking they can beat you.

The Bloodthirster More AD and a good amount of lifesteal to help you survive.

zeke's herald

zeke's herald An overlooked item. By now, all you need to survive is health. The cooldown reduction is amazing. You will probably have 2 other AD champions on your team if you play as a bruiser. They will benefit greatly from the aura.

Infinity Edge Pretty much required on all AD carries at the moment. It will increase your damage by a lot.

Phantom Dancer Synergizes really well with Infinity Edge because of the extra crit chance. It also gives well-needed movement and attack speed.

Aegis of the Legion Good support or tank item. Gives good MR and some AP. The aura is the most important though.

Youmuu's Ghostblade To finish up your build as an AD carry, this will give some extra AD, crit chance and armor pen. The active will basically give you an extra Phantom Dancer in terms of movement and attack speed. As I said before, CDR is a great stat on Jayce.

Other good items

The item builds I give you are just a guideline. You should always change your build depending on your situation. Pretty much any AD bruiser item works well on Jayce, and even some AP items. Keep in mind that AS and armor pen aren't that good on him because some of his abilities deal magic damage and he already gets a lot of AS from Lightning Field / Hyper Charge.

Generally, build more tanky if you're dying too quickly and build more damage if you can get away with it. Check if the damage you're taking is mainly physical or magical and build armor and MR accordingly. You can see this in your death recap if you die, or you can press tab and look at the enemy team.

Abilities

Jayce is a very complicated champion because of his abilities. He basically has 6 main abilities and 1 transform ability. There's a lot of stuff you can do once you learn how to use his abilities, but it's very hard to master him. There is an infinite amount of combos you can pull off if you know what you're doing. Below, I will ezplain what his abilities do. I will then talk about some combos you can use.

Ability explanations

Transform: Mercury Hammer / Transform: Mercury Cannon Jayce's 'ultimate'. This will make you switch between ranged and melee form. Each form has it's own 3 basic abilities. When switching to melee form, your next auto attack will reduce the target's armor and MR. When switching to melee form, your next auto attack will deal bonus magic damage. While in melee form, you gain increased armor and MR. These bonuses get higher when you level up this ability at level 6, 11 and 16. This ability has a short (6 second) cooldown. It's usually best to use it as much as possible in a fight, so you get the auto attack bonuses and you can use all your abilities.

Hextech Capacitor Jayce's passive. Every time you change form, you gain 40 movement speed and ignore unit collisions for 1.25 seconds. It's very useful for certain combos, or when unning away or chasing.

Mercury Hammer:

To the Skies! Jayce jump to a target enemy, slowing and damaging all enemies in an area around him when he lands. This ability can be used to jump over walls. It's a very good gap closer when chasing. When you're running away, you can also use this on an enemy behind you to gain some distance. The damage is pretty high and the slow isn't bad either.

Lightning Field Creates an aura around Jayce, dealing magic damage to enemies over 4 seconds. This ability also passively regens mana every auto attack (when in hammer form). This ability is easy to use, just activate it when you are in combat to increase your damage.

Thundering Blow Jayce deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's maximum health, and knocks the target back. The damage on this ability is really high if you level it up. It can be used to knock someone back into your team if you can get behind them. It can also save you if you're being chased.

Mercury Cannon:

Shock Blast Fires an orb in a direction, exploding when contacting an enemy. All enemies in the explosion's radius are damaged. When the orb passes through an Acceleration Gate (ranged E), it gains increased speed, damage, range and explosion size. It's great for poking, but should always be used in combination with your E if possible.

Hyper Charge Jayce gains attack speed for his next 3 attacks. The more ranks you have in this ability, the more damage these attacks will deal. Pretty straighforward, just an increase in DPS.

Acceleration gate Deploys a gate, increasing the movement speed of all allies passing through it. It also interacts with your Q, as explained before. It's great for all sorts of things: chasing, fleeing, ganking, initiating, kiting...

Ability sequence

Solotop As a solotop, I max E first, because of the melee part. The damage can help you win trades because it's really high. I max Q second because it provides high poke damage in ranged form and good damage and utility in melee form. You could also max Q first if you'd like.

AD carry As an AD carry, I max Q first, because you will mainly focus on your ranged form. It has some great poke damage.

Jungler As a jungler, you can choose between maxing W or Q first, but start out with a point in everything at level 3. This will give you full ganking power at level 3 and you will clear fast.

Combos

This is where it gets interesting. Jayce is very combo-based and can do amazing stuff when used to his full potential. I will now explain a few things you can do with him. Of course, there are many other combos you can use. I will not include the use of your W in these combos because they simply increase damage and should be used whenever possible.

Accelerated Shock blast (E-Q) This one's pretty basic. You just put an Acceleration Gate in front of you and fire a Shock Blast through it, at some enemies. This can be used to poke very well and deals a lot of damage.

Knockout (E-R-Q-E) A bit more advanced, and very effective. You start off in ranged form, use your gate to speed yourself up, and switch to melee for the extra movement speed. Then you jump on, let's say their AD carry, with Q and knock him back into your team/turret with E, where he gets destroyed.

Over the Wall (Q-R-Q) Use this combo to jump over walls, onto your enemy. Get vision by using your ranged Q, transform to melee form and jump towards them with your melee Q.

Come With Me (E-Q-R-E) A great combo to get rid of threats in a teamfight. Knock away the fed AP carry, jump onto him and stick to him by transforming to ranged and using your E. Follow it up by using all your damage abilities on him.

Can't Touch This (R-E-R-R...) The best way to run away. Keep switching between forms to get the movement speed bonus from your passive. When in ranged form, use your Acceleration Gate whenever possible for more speed. You can always shoot your Shock Blast back through the gate at your chasing enemies.

Summoner Spells

My choice

Flash The best summoner spell there is. It helps you set up combos and unexpected moves. You already have a lot of movement speed, but no real blink. With this you can get over walls easily.

Teleport A great spell for a solotop. This can really be a game-changer when used at the right time. As a solotop, you are far away from everyone else during the laning phase. If your team suddenly needs you, you can use this to get to them. Really useful for dragon fights or counter-ganks.

Ignite I think this is the best spell if you're playing as an AD carry. Usually AD carries take Heal, but it's been nerfed. Ignite also counters Heal completely if you use it first. It's different from what most players do, but I think it works well and could surprise your enemies.

Smite As a jungler, you must have this spell. Secure buffs, dragon and baron, and speed up your jungle.

Other viable choices

Ghost It works well, but I think Flash is better for mobility on Jayce. You already have a lot of movement speed, so you don't really need Ghost, it just makes kiting easier.

Exhaust A good spell to have as a solotop or AD carry. Exhaust your opponent in 1v1 or 2v2 situations to reduce their damage. In the current meta, the support usually takes exhaust though.

Heal Can be good on AD carries. It won't save you in teamfights if you get focussed but it might just make the difference in skirmishes. It's good to have one Heal on your team to heal everyone in a teamfight. More than one is too much.

Cleanse Works well against teams with a lot of CC. This will make sure noone can stop you from getting to their carries and smashing them.

Gameplay

How you should play depends on the role you take. Below I will talk about what your goals are for each role.

Solotop Jayce

As a solotop, you're on your own. Apart from junglers coming to gank sometimes, it's a 1v1 situation most of the time. If you get behind, it can be hard to recover if you don't get help, but if you get ahead as Jayce, you will dominate. Jayce's early-game as a solotop is pretty weak, but mid-game he starts getting really strong. Try to farm up as much as possible and beat your lane opponent. Always pay attention to the map. Help your jungler if you're close to him and look for opportunities to use Teleport. If you can farm well, and deny your opponent, there's no need to take down their turret. Just keep it up as long as you're in control of the lane.

AD carry Jayce

Farm, farm, farm... Try to outfarm the enemy AD carry. Set up ganks with the help of your jungler or mid. If your lane is pushed or your enemies are at base or dead, try to get dragon with your jungler whenever possible. This will give your team a gold advantage. The type of support you have really decides how you should play in lane. There are basically three types of supports:

• Sustain supports. They keep the lane safe by healing you or granting sustain in a different way. They usually make the lane passive. You should try to farm as much as possible and not waste too much mana on poking, when playing with, or against them.
• Poke supports. They constantly try to zone the enemy by poking them from a distance. Try to help zone your opponents when playing with them. When playing against them, it's best to have a sustain support and keep the brush warded so the enemies don't have a safe place to poke from.
• Burst supports. They play passively until there's an opportunity. They then use most of their abilities quickly to burst down an opponent with the help of their AD carry. Pay close attention to everyone's position and react as quickly as possible when you see them attack.

Jungle Jayce

As a jungler, you should farm the jungle monsters (duh). With my ability sequence you can gank best at level 3, when you have all your abilities. Try to do as much as you can for your lanes, while keeping up in farm and level. I will talk about jungling some more in the section below.

Jungling

Jayce is a very good jungler in my opinion. He clears pretty fast with the help of his abilities and his ganks can be really good if you know your combos. Below I will explain your jungle route and talk about some other stuff you need to know as a jungler.

Route

Wolves If your team cooperates, do wolves before blue and ask teammates to do some damage, while you tank them. This will help you clear faster. Use W to take them down faster. Try to make sure your teammates don't leech exp.

Blue buff Start in ranged form. Use W and switch to melee form. Use W again and keep attacking until you can take it down with Smite.

Wraiths Kill them by using all your abilities and keep switching between forms.

Red buff Do it if your Smite cooldown is below 20 seconds, otherwise do golems first. Spam all your abilities and finish it with Smite.

Golems Again, use all your abilities, including R.

Now that you're level 3, you're free to do whatever you want. You can either gank, jungle some more or go back and buy if you're low on health.

Tips

• No matter what you're doing, helping your team is ALWAYS more important than clearing the jungle. Keep that in mind. If a lane is losing, you need to gank there quickly. If someone's getting attacked near you, help them.
• Always focus the largest jungle monster in a camp, the others will be killed by your AoE abilities quickly.
• Don't waste attacks on monsters that are low on health. Just attack different ones so they will be killed by your AoE abilities. This will increase your speed.
• Get your team to give you cover. The worst thing that could happen to you is losing your blue buff. It will hurt your speed and sustain a lot.
• Donate your second blue to your mid. Get it low on health and let your mid kill it with their abilities. Jayce doesn't really need his blue buff, as he can always attack in melee form to get mana back, thanks to the passive from his W.
• You can start at red buff and go for an early gank. Just make sure your team knows this and doesn't push the lanes.

Ganking

You can gank at any level, but it's best to have your E available. Always look for opportunities to gank. You can either come in from the side of the lane (if it's pushed towards your turret), or you can sneak into the brush at bot or top (when it's pushed towards the enemy's turret) and gank from there. If you notice that a lane is warded at a certain point, try ganking from a different direction if possible. If not, you could take a Vision Ward with you, or even an Oracle's Elixir if you feel safe enough.

When ganking, first of all make sure your team-mates are aware of it by pinging or typing in chat. Start off in ranged form. Use your E to speed everyone up and shoot your Q through it for some damage. Use W for extra damage. Now switch to melee. Close the gap towards your enemies with Q, while using W for more damage. Try to get behind them and use E to knock them back. There are of course other ways to gank, but this one is usually the best. It should force your enemies to use summoner spells. They may still die even if they do. Even if they don't, you can probably get some good damage on them.

Conclusion

I hope you've found my guide useful! I recommend everyone to try Jayce, as he's a very fun champion. He's difficult to play but very rewarding once you get used to him. If you've learned to play him, you can learn to play any champion. So try him out and have fun!

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it. Please leave a comment or a rating and tell me what you think. This way I can improve my guides.