I've played against Jax many times in the past, but I never really got the kick to play him until recently. I wish I started playing him sooner, he's a blast! I love him so much that I've been trying to buy a PAX Jax skin off of ebay, but I refuse to go over $30 and they tend to go for at least $60... but anyway, back to business.

I've tried a couple builds for him but I never really found one I liked, so I used my thinker and tried to come up with items that would flow naturally with Jax's abilities. This is what I came up with, and its seemed to work pretty well for me thus far. I'll go into more detail about the details later.

My build is all about landing consecutive hits on a target to shed their defenses and destroy their health. It stacks too well with his ultimate, Relentless Assault. Hopefully you'll agree.

From max stacks on the items this is what bonuses you will have:

+ 20 Magic Resist
+ 31.5% Attack Speed (Roughly)
+ 48 Ability Power

Your target will suffer from these:

Bonus 62 Magic Damage dealt EVERY attack
- 24 Magic Resistance
- 45 Armor

Here is some helpful information to help piece together some questions you might have. It may help you better understand Jax if you at least read the dodge section.

And here is a link to LoL wiki's Jax page. There is some good to know info in there too.

For runes you need to max your dodge chance as much as possible, unfortunately you can only get dodge Seals and Quintessences... Still, that's a bonus 11.25% just from runes and you'll get another 2% from your masteries later So a total of 13.25% without items or from the help of Jaxes third ability, Counter Strike.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration x 9 = 8.55 Magic Penetration
Greater Seal of Evasion x 9 = 6.75% Dodge chance
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power x 9 = 27.54 Ability Power at level 18
Greater Quintessence of Evasion x 9 = 4.5% Dodge chance

21-9-0

I capitalize offense with Jax and secondary defense. I chose not to put points into either Deadliness or Lethality because I don't have any critical strike chance built in. Even if you put the 3 points into Deadliness you would still only have a 2% critical strike chance and the other 3 points into Lethality wouldn't help you very much. I see the 6 points being used elsewhere as a more efficient strategy.

My build focuses on two things, additional on hit damage and stacking negative effects on target. The great thing about Jax is his passive, Relentless Assault. With this you can focus on getting nothing but kill orientated items and still survive for more than one kill.
I do throw in a bit of Magic Resist to help against one of his two only weaknesses. His other weakness, is Crowd Control Effects... If there are a lot of "CC's" on the enemy team then your best bet is to just get a Tenacity item of your choosing. I don't advise getting Mercury's Treads, because that would take away your only dodge item... That's 12% of your dodge chance!

Ok so here is the goods. I'll explain my reasoning for my items of choice as I progress through the purchases. I will also cover some strategy and game play tactics that I use with Jax. As for you final build with no modifications you will end up with these items.



If this doesn't work for you the first time I encourage you to switch up the order of the items to suit your play style, but this is the order that works best for me.

FROM THE START

Cloth Armor and Health Potion x 5

Yes, it's the same as a standard jungle build. I rush the Ninja Tabi and I prefer having 5 health potions and armor over 3 health pots and a boot. Hopefully if you get your last hits in and don't get forced out of lane you can get a couple needed items before everyone gets itchy for some kills. The ideal items you'll want to have when you come back to the lane are as follows.

Cloth Armor >>> Ninja Tabi, a Vampiric Scepter and maybe even a Dagger.

This is usually where I try to pick up a couple kills, but don't get too greedy. Why you ask? Simple really, it's because you'll die. :D You don't want to be caught in a lane with low hp and mana when your enemies have had the chance to get a few items and want revenge. Be aware of your MIA's and the happenings of your own lane as well. Your next trip back to the shop is a good one so getting those kills is pretty essential.

END OF LANE PHASE

Dagger >>> Malady and a Hextech Revolver.

This is the ideal items you should have around mid game, but it costs 2605 gold from the last "checkpoint". I can usually hang around for a while to rack up that kind of gold... but it's stupid to be honest. Like I said earlier, don't put yourself into a bad situation. If you need to, go back to shop more than once to get here. With that being said, the more time you spend shopping the less experience you'll have.

MID GAME / TEAM FIGHTS

This is the part where it's on you to know when it's a good time to go shop, and what to get. So for the rest of this section I'll just be giving some tips on how to progress through the match smoothly. Obviously things wont go exactly as planned, but this is what I do.

Jax is an amazing lane pusher, an awesome initiater, and one tough cookie to crumble. As long as you're not turding out the whole game up to this point, people will most likely be looking to you to get them down the lane. When it comes to team fights, I try to stay clear of the enemy until I see a quick easy kill that I can get before their teammates can really assist them. With a mad amount of Dodge Chance and Magic Resist you should be able to stick it out the whole team fight, or at least long enough for your Leap Strike to cool down and gtfo.

LATE GAME

Same plan as earlier when it comes to team fights, but by this time you should be the bully everyone hates. Try not to KS (Kill steal) from your teammates too much... For one, it will make them not want to help you. Two, you will deprive your team of gold making them very vulnerable without you.

You'll probably get the majority of my kills around this time... because you'll be ridiculous. The only thing that could possibly stop you late game is CC's followed by the ENTIRE enemy team focusing you... but if they don't kill you before the CC runs out you can just Leap Strike to an ally and flash away further. When I have my full build, I win EVERY 1v1. I was down to 300 hp after a failed gank on me and killed a Warwick at full hp.

Your main focus late game needs to be those Inhibitors and obviously the Nexus. I like to back door with Jax, but I try to take a buddy if possible. With the help of one other champion, the whole enemy team will have to stop pushing to come stop you. If they suddenly disappear off the minimap, sneak to another lane or go back to base... no need to die pushing solo or in a pair. Push down lane and smash any solo or paired enemies that try to interfere, and get the ball rolling for your team. Once you have your enemy playing some serious defense your team will follow your lead and you can push for the win.

OPTIONAL ITEMS

Obviously some games you'll need different items to counter your enemies. If you need to switch out an item, I suggest removing Malady. If you don't really need the extra Magic Resistance, then substitute out the Wit's End. Here are some good items that helped me in certain games.

Need Tenacity? >>> Moonflair Spellblade
Need more Magic Resist? >>> Hexdrinker
Want even better pushing? >>> Tiamat (Don't knock on it, it's great.)
Too much Max Health on opposing team? >>> Madred's Bloodrazor *
Need to GTFO?! >>> Wriggle's Lantern **

* The reason this item isn't normally in my build is because your attack speed will already be maxed. If you choose to take this item you should sacrifice the extra Magic Resist of Wit's End for sure.

** You should sell this later if you get it. It helps a lot early game for some added damage, armor, and life steal. More importantly it's active will allow you to ALWAYS have something to Leap Strike to (and obviously have a ward). Simply place it somewhere you can get to fast, preferably over a wall or something (as long as it's an easy jump), and do your what you need to. :)

BE VERY AFRAID OF A CHAMPION WITH THIS PESKY ITEM!!!

With an Attack Speed of 2.5/s, that's up to 20 attacks that you can't dodge! That means 1v1 with no minions you won't have your Counter Strike! An Attack Damage Twisted Fate with this item can easily shut you down if you're not careful.

Both red and blue buff are very nice to have for Jax, but don't be greedy with the blue... A ranged spell slinger would defiantly appreciate it.

After you get your Ninja Tabi, Vampiric Scepter, and your Malady you should be able to solo dragon.

After you complete my build, you CAN SOLO BARON!

Here I'll briefly run over Jaxes Abilities and some cool tips for them. Hopefully you'll learn something. :p

Relentless Assault (Passive) - With this you don't need to buy any health items, just stack damage!

Q Leap Strike - Very good for getting into or out of battle. You can leap to anything with a health bar, friend or foe, except for buildings.
W Empower - Mad damage bonus the refreshes his Regular Attack. Use it before you leap for great damage.
E Counter Strike - Make sure you've gotten your dodge proctor before you use leap. You can use it in mid leap to stun enemies around your target.
R Relentless Assault - Very helpful against mad magical burst damage such as Akali or Anivia.

Leveling Priorities:

1. Relentless Assault
2. Empower
3. Counter Strike
4. Leap Strike

With that being said, your first couple levels wont follow that list.

Level 1 - Leap Strike will allow you to "face check" a bush and leap out (Targeting your ally) if you need to avoid damage.
Level 2 - Counter Strike will give you a better dodge chance and a stun. Very helpful when someone tries to get an early kill.
Level 3 - Empower so you can start slappin some fools.

Follow the priority list after level 3.

For great harassment continually Empower a Leap Strike on an enemy champion and just run away. Just don't blow all your Mana and when they get low jump them again in the same way, but go for the kill. Make sure to have your Counter Strikes Dodge Proctor ready to pop for when they run. Using Exhaust on the target always helps, but try not to overlap it with the stun from the Counter Strike. You will have more time to beat them down this way, and your Leap Strike should be cooled down by the time the effects wear off. :)

I suggest taking Exhaust and Flash, but really Summoner Spells should be picked off your personal play style (and level). Some players I know prefer to take Ignite with Jax. If you're one of those players, I would substitute the one mastery point I have in Offensive Mastery for a point in Burning Embers .

So I hope I've enlightened you in the ways of the GRANDMASTER AT ARMS. I enjoyed putting it together, even if it took way longer than my other builds. Please vote and leave me some feed back! I'll keep the build updated as much as possible and I'll answer any questions you ask!

<3 MOBAFIRE!