Jax Build Guide by Dunk Master Jax

Hello my brand name is RealWeaponAFK formerly known to some people as Dunk Master Jax. I am a Jax Jungle Main, who was in Platinum Season 6. I didn't make it to platinum in season 7,8, or 9 and stayed in gold due to lack of play due to irl things going on. My goals for you guys is to bring more gameplay to my Twitch channel, Youtube guides + gameplay commentaries (that will be posted on this mobafire guide every now and then) as well as updating this guide constantly!


I have been playing League Of Legends Since Season 2. I started playing ranked for League of Legends during Season 4 (ended up in Silver 4 and could never climb). I have always found video games fascinating since I first played Pokemon Silver on my Game Boy Color at the Age of 6. It is a real nice experience for me to watch as games grow over the years with the advancement of technology. I spend my time working to sustain myself, being a moderator of The Subreddit /r/Jaxmains & creating videos as a hobby. I also have been posting Youtube gameplay videos for several years now and I really enjoy the experience of growing and learning how to edit videos to make content more enjoyable for my viewers. If you wish to see any of my videos there will be plenty spread around in this guide!


This is my first Mobafire guide I have created (actually my first game guide on a website in general 0.0), & This Guide has Definitely come a LONG WAY but I still believe it still needs some touch ups. I will be posting updates for Season 8, so look out for the amount of content I will provide you all! I decided to make this guide because I wanted to share with people how AWESOME of a champion I believe Jax is!!

I see Jax played so much more often ever since the Empower 50 range buff they added back in Patch 7.12. He can work well as an all around pick for Jungle, Top, or even Mid if you know your mathups. Building Full damage on Jax is REALLY FUN, & it makes him more of an Assassin like Rengar. The issue with going full damage opposed to a bruiser build is that you get blown up easily when you are in the heart of battle to deal your damage. For this reason I decided to center this guide around the more competitive builds. I will play AP Jax or AD Jax every so often, but this guide is dedicated to the best builds with the most reliability. I may create a separate guide in the future for fun builds you guys can try out.

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I'm sure whenever Jax is brought up in a conversation the first thing that pops in someones head is how AMAZING his Late Game is!!! He excels at split pushing towers (gates god) and shredding through any enemy on the team!

Jax is the PERFECT example of a champion that scales very well with levels and gets MASSIVE power spikes from items! Back in the olden days, people used to build Blade of the Ruined King pre nerfs with a Trinity Force and then to finish the rest of his build with tanky items. While this can be an efficent way to build him it doesn't usually work out. Sometimes for their team you need more damage to burst down their hyper carries, but then you are too squishy to even find a good opening into a fight. Sometimes you need more tankiness to have more survivability for teamfights, which is usually not even that helpful due to the fact Jax scales so well with damage compared to tankiness, although it does help him in teamfights much better to go a more tanky route.



I decided to throw in these two different build paths with the idea that there are other more options than just Standard cookie cutter builds due to the fact Jax is a VERY VERSATILE CHAMPION. Some of these builds can have more of an impact on the game than the usual six item meta build. These different builds can help with some of the weaknesses Jax needs or to help out your Team-comp against the enemies.


Let's listen to this beautiful rap made by Badministrator for our favorite Purple Jesus :D


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Preparing for SEASON 9!!

I am working on creating Youtube Videos on my channel to keep people updated for highlights. I will be posting those informative videos in this section for you guys.

+ Great in 1v1 Situations
+ Amazing Late Game
+ Not too Difficult to Play
+ Has an Aoe Stun
+ Split Pushes Extremely Well
+ When He Hits a Turret Over & Over The Ult Proc Sound Effect Is So Satisfying :)

- Can Be Hard to Play in Teamfights Especially if not Tanky
- Really Weak to Hard Crowd Control as it Ruins DPS Potential
- Has Somewhat of a Hard Time if gets Behind
- Takes Knowledge When it Comes to Using Abilities At Appropriate Times
- Imagine if He Had A Real Weapon

Smite is necessary if you are Jungling. If you don't take this you may have to back after camps way too often, wont be able to get a smite upgrade (since you can't buy Hunter's Machete w/ out Smite), plus you may end up dying too often. Please take it !!

I suggest taking Teleport if you plan on focusing on farming in lane, don't plan on killing your lane opponent that often, and trying to make plays across the map when your team needs you. This Summoner spell showed its power during season 5 for sure and even after the nerf I still find it to be the best choice For Top Lane Jax.

Take Ignite if you plan on being really aggresive in lane and want to snowball hard to carry. A really good choice if there are champions such as Dr. Mundo, Zac, or Vladimir that rely on their healing a lot. Really good choice this season if you want to snowball and carry games!!

Flash is the basic get away spell and I'm sure most of you know this. Jax is one of those champions who honestly doesn't need it as much as other champions due to his Leap Strike for getting away or gap closing. I still find it very useful on Jax because sometimes fighting in the jungle you will find yourself in sticky situations where you don't have wards in your inventory or an ally to jump to. Plus the extra distance to securing kills can be really helpful honestly so I still do recommend this.

Ghost provides a good burst of movement speed for escaping or catching up to enemies. This comes in handy in a lot of situations and is on a very short cooldown. One of the downfalls, however, is that it isn't an instant escape/gap closer like Flash so it really depends on the team comp the enemy has overall for what you decide to take.

Jax's main dps ability, alongside his Grandmaster's Might passive. It provides really good magic damage and can reset your auto attack.. pretty much it.

• After auto attacking, Reset your auto attack with Empower on towers, minions, and champions.
• Empower can combine with Leap Strike as well as Grandmaster's Might for heavy damage output. Combine this ability with any Sheen Item for more devastating damage.
• When auto attacking a tower and resetting yout auto on it with empower auto attack a minion if there's one nearby. This puts the ability back on cooldown rather than having to wait for the buff to end.

This is Jax's Crowd Control ability for defensive and offensive purposes. It also enables Jax to dodge all incoming auto atacks and reduces damage from area of effect damage by 25% while active.

• You can use Counter Strike to stun opponents to escape out of situations before Leap Striking out. This helps create a bigger gap of distance when making a get away.
• You can activate Counter Strike early if you need to instantly stun someone. This can help with starting a fight or peeling for allies.
• Level one Trades in lane are usually really good with Counter Strike. You can cheese the opponent after soaking up enough damage from their minions & possibly get first blood.
• After auto attacking a jungle camp use this right before the auto attack from the monster hits you to have a healthier clear.

This is Jax's key ability to deal significant damage & providing him some defensive stats. It is a two in one ability, passively granting him an empowered burst attack every third auto attack. When active, Jax gains defenses that help him tank a lot more damage.

• Activate Grandmaster's Might before going into a teamfight!! You gain resistances for 8 seconds.
• Combine the passive of Grandmaster's Might with Empower for devastating burst damage.
• The resistances scale off offensive stats, Magic Resist from Ability Power & Armor with Bonus Attack Damage. Keep this in mind when looking at the enemy composition as well.

• Empower is Jax's main source of damage, which helps him out with clearing Jungle Camps faster and with duels, due to the low cooldown and the auto attack reset. This is usually what you want to max first.
  
• Leap Strike is your gap closer/escape ability. You could decide to max Leap Strike first for the shorter cooldown on the gap closer for ganks if you jungle or if against a ranged champion in lane and feel you need the shorter cooldown for trading easier.
  
• Counter Strike is Jax's defensive ability as well as crowd control ability. If you feel you need the shorter cooldown on the stun or if the enemy team has a lot of auto attacking threats, I would max this second in those scenarios.
  
• You should put a point in Grandmaster's Might whenever you can due to the extra armor and magic resist it gives with the active as well as the higher base damage with the passive proc every third auto attack. This ability alone gives Jax a massive power spike.

Hunter's Machete helps with clear speed and sustain in the jungle. This defeats Hunter's Talisman since you will be auto attacking a lot in the jungle to help you sustain. Without this item you will have a hard time making it through the early clears, So I recommend always getting this first if you are jungling.

Refillable Potion is a solid choice for a cheap potion you can use throughout the game. Jax has a lot of sustain with his early clears due to his Counter Strike dodging Monster auto attacks. 3 Health Potions is fine as well but it doesn't make too much of a difference, unless you plan on ganking early.

Warding Totem is your only trinket you should use. It's obviously a solid choice if your team is not using enough wards so you can help out with vision. I always keep this throughout the entire game so I can escape out of sticky situations with ward hops, or make some crazy dragon/baron steals. I consider this to be core to the build.

This is my personal go to choice for top lane Jax. I found a lot of success recently with this item start. It gives you some sustain, health, and extra damage which allows you to secure an early lead in lane if you play with it correctly. I also tend to build a second Doran's blade before any other items to give me extra laning power.

A good starting item choice if you are learning Jax or for some matchups you aren't confident in winning. Can't go wrong with this item since it gives nice sustain in the laning phase and refills everytime you back.

Always start this item into hard lanes (Teemo, Pantheon, Quinn, Etc). The sustain it gives after being poked along with the second wind rune provides a lot of sustain from harass in the laning phase. Play on the backfoot with this item.

Mercury's Treads are usually necessary for Jax since Crowd Control is one of his main weaknesses. Without Tenacity you usually find yourself a sitting duck in teamfights and can end up getting locked down. The Magic Resist it provides is pretty decent as well. Sadly, tenacity doesn't affect knockups or suppressions, so keep this in mind when looking at the enemy team composition for selecting booties.

Ninja Tabi are good against team comps with heavy Attack Damage and Auto Attacking threats. I do recommend getting these if you are having issues against the adc or any other auto attacking threat in the game.

Swifties are very situational boots. A lot of champion have slows, which can be problematic when it comes down to sticking to a target to beat them down with your lamppost (In my case usually my fishing rod since I use Angler Jax as my skin of choice.. I'm just being reel with you). Plus the extra mobility is really nice, so you can't go wrong with them if they are needed.

Ionian Boots Of Lucidity are cheap and provide cooldown reduction for abilities & Summoner spells. Ever since the changes they made to these in Season 6, I found myself trying them out every now and then. A shorter cooldown on Flash can help out with getting kills or getting out of sticky situations.

Bloodrazor should be built to deal with tanks for Jungle Jax. The only time I would recommend taking this jungle item over Cinderhulk is if you need more damage output or are far ahead and can carry.

Cinderhulk is the go to choice for Jungle Jax. You can never go wrong with choosing this item on Jax.

Warrior provides some Cooldown Reduction & a good amount of Attack Damage. If you want to snowball the early-mid game more effectively then this item is not a bad choice. However, it does fall off which is not good for Jax since he scales into the late game, so consider replacing the enchantment with a different item later on in the game.

Trinity Force is considered to be a core item for Jax. It provides him with all stats he can make use of as well as the Sheen Effect doing 200% of base damage. It synergizes so well with Jax because it gives him sticking power and well as a hard hitting auto attack with the Sheen proc. Combine this with Empower and you will deal loads of damage.

Titanic Hydra has shown it's power on Jax. The Attack Damage, Health Bulk, & waveclear provides Jax really necessary things. You can also activate Titanic Hydra to auto attack reset and it gives you a stack of Relentless Assault.

Spear of Shojin synergizes with Jax's all in playstyle. It provides a lot of things Jax wants, Cooldown Reduction, Health, AD, & most importantly, the Awakened Dragon passive. When you pop ultimate Awakened Dragon activates and does work when you start autoattacking to lower your cooldowns for each basic attack by 20%. If you get a good all in, this item really pays off (hard to use if really CC'd). I would recommend this as a core item, if ahead.

Hextech Gunblade is probably the best sustain item Jax could buy. The active is nice for sticking to targets and provides some more damage to your ability rotations. It also gives ability power, attack damage, & 15% Vamp from damage you deal, which all synergize very well on Jax. I recommend this item to increase your burst and for the extra sustain.

Blade Of The Ruined King is meh for Jax. The health shred got nerfed for season 6. The current health damage and attack speed it provides allows you to shred through tanks a lot more effectively.. but it's dps output is heavily negated by armor. After various testing with the item for multiple Jax players, we believe Hextech Gunblade is the best option in terms of sustain nowadays. I usually don't recommend building this unless you feel you want more attack speed in your item build.

Death's Dance is weird, but TF Blade builds it on Jax? This item is built mainly for the CDR and effective tankiness it rewards for building damage.. but I personally wouldn't recommend building this over Hextech Gunblade until I have done further testing with the item myself.

Sterak's is a staple item for good defense and offense for Jax. You can really go pretty ham with this item so i recommend using it in a normal Jax build.

Maw of Malmortius is a staple item against heavy magic damage comps.The Attack Damage, CDR, & Shield it provides is nothing to scoff at. The passive is pretty beast as well when going really ham in a teamfight/duel. Consider buying this if you are vs a magic damage heavy comp.

Banshee's is a decent defensive/offensive Magic Resist choice. I don't recommend buying this unless you need the spell shield and extra magic resist + damage boost. The stats aren't the greatest but still synergize with Jaxsomewhat, providing AP, CDR, & Some Magic Resist, but the spell shield is what makes this item valuable as it can make or break a teamfight.

Frozen Mallet is probably one of the most underrated items in the game.It provides a good slow on basic attacks (which Jax applies really well] as well as giving Jax sticking power. You can't go wrong with the health and Attack Damage as well, so I really recommend using this item!

Frozen Heart provides a load of armor and cooldown reduction.Buying this is usually not a bad idea since most comps have some Attack Damage. The passive attack speed slow aura is also pretty nice as well so you can't go wrong with this item.

Randuin's is the staple "screw crits" item. Good health, a good amount of armor, and an active that slows down champions in an aoe. You can't go wrong with building this item.

Deadman's Plate is a good offensive/defensive item choice. Provides mobility, a slow and extra damage on the next basic attack, and a good amount of armor and health bulk. If you are roaming around the map a lot you may want to consider this item!

Thornmail= ADC's worst nightmare. If an auto attack hits you they will be taking some damage for hurting you so yea.. prickly thorns is not forgiving and it's pretty good in certain situations.

Spirit Visage gives Cooldown Reduction & Some Good Health With Magic Resist The sustain passive also synergizes well with lifesteal and spell vamp items so keep in mind if you have those items then building it would be good.

Abyssal Mask is a situational item for Magic Resist in your Jax build. It provides health bulk, CDR, some good utility for your team as well, increasing magic damage for your allies. This will also allow your Empower & Grandmaster's Might to hurt a lot more since the abilities both deal magic damage.

Adaptive Helm is a real situational item. It provides Health, CDR, and a good amount of Magic Resist. The thing that makes this item so unique is its passive, providing a 15% damage reduction against the same spell for 4 seconds! Now if you see Cassiopeia in this game it may be worth taking!

Phantom Dancer provides more dps and crit damage as well as some damage reduction. This was an old school item a few Jax Mains were into early season 7 (we always talked about different item builds in our discord channel, and a few high elo Jax Mains were using this). If you are looking for more dueling potential, I recommend this item.

Nashor's Tooth provides Cooldown Reduction, attack speed, on hit damage, and ability power. This was an old school item a few Jax Mains were into early season 7 (we always talked about different item builds in our discord channel, and a few high elo Jax Mains were using this). All of these stats compliment Jax really well, so it isn't an awful buy if you are looking to snowball a lead.

Zz'Rot Portal is proving it's strength this season. You can split push towers and be a nuisance even more with this item. Also if you need something to lend you a helping hand for defending this item can do that as well. The Void bugs damage on towers scales off of Health so I recommend building a lot of HP to use this with.

This item is still being tested although I think it is situational. It provides a good amount of armor and magic resist in teamfights and a nice active if you need to soak in more damage for awhile. Issue with that is your damage is reduced by 60% while it is active so it kinda hurts Jax a bit.

Farming is probably the most important thing to do with Jax. Yes kills are very nice and all but did you know every 15 cs advantage is = to one kill? Basically if you aren't csing properly the game is going to be much harder for you since you wont be able to get to your core items sooner for your important power spikes, which Jax is quite dependent on! Plus I'm sure you guys know that Trinity Force is one of the most expensive items in the game.. so yea farming is actually key to your victory!!

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-Try not to push the wave to their tower unless you will miss a cs if you dont use an ability

-Focus on last hitting with your auto attacks rather than your abilities if you can so that you can trade in lane easier

-Freeze the lane whenever you can to put pressure on the enemy top laner having him/her over extended

If you are pushed under your tower:

1. Let turret hit melee minons twice then last hit.

2. Auto attack prep the caster minons once, let tower hit them once, then auto attack them again.

3. If your minon wave pulls up to the enemy minon wave it gets pretty tricky, so you may need to use Empower, Leap Strike(if in no danger of getting killed under tower), or Tiamat to secure last hits if you can!































I plan on spreading my builds across the board with numerous champions so you guys can understand stats I feel are underrated and not used enough on certain champions as well as giving you more knowledge about the champions themselves!