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Jarvan IV Build Guide by

*Support Jarvan IV (7.9)

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Jarvan IV Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (6) More Jarvan IV Guides

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Items

Starting Items

Prioritize These

Sample Full Build 1

Sample Full Build 2

Other Luxury Items

Ability Order

Jarvan IV Passive Ability

More Jarvan IV Counters

How to play Jarvan IV as a Support

Introduction

is a tanky melee fighter with excellent tools for early game damage, disruption, crowd control, initiation, peel, and survival. He can play to catch people out and start fights, or to protect carries, and when needed, he can even dish out a significant amount of damage, even as a support.

In the current meta, suffers in lane a bit, like most other melee supports. That being said, his mobility and utility do tend to mitigate this issue to a degree, and he can become a tremendous kill-pressure threat from as early as level 2 due to the sheer disruption, damage, and armor shred provided from his + + combo.

Summoner Spells

There's just about no reason not to take . It provides incredible mobility and safety in lane, increased initiation and kill threat range, and is generally your best play-making tool out of all the summoner spells. Not taking will often draw the enemy jungler and mid lane to your lane more frequently, as they'll read it as an opportunity for easy kills.

If you're playing into a lane with the objective of punishing one of your lane opponents for poor positioning and killing them with your + + combo, in conjunction with the damage of your carry, will add even more pressure to this combo.

For lanes in which you're expecting to play from the back foot, and kills are unlikely, take . This can be due to an early-game imbalance in damage threat from the opposing carries, or due to an inability to consistently land the + combo because of enemy abilities such as s . is also a great tool to have later in the game to protect your carry from assassins such as .

Masteries

If you're playing as the primary initiation for your team, is your best friend. Ideally, you don't want this role, however, as you probably won't be tanky enough with support income and items. That being said, it can still work out if your team has solid follow-up.

The extra health from is appreciated, but also has multiple tools for applying the passive to enemies, particularly if you go the build path. His + combo will apply on any targets caught in the knock-up, and can also easily apply it to the majority of an enemy team in fights. is ideal if you're not the primary initiation for your team, or you want to focus on protecting your carries.

Itemization

support should prioritize tank stats and cooldown reduction. Beyond typical utility items, these should be the build focus.

Starting Items

As a front-lining melee support, will provide the best balance of sustain and threat for .

Early Core

Regardless of what build path you aim to go, these will be your early priority items.

is your rush priority, providing lane brush and map control.

are usually next, built into if brawling it out in lane, or if pressuring the map.

is your priority for high tier items, as fights in locked locations. Drop it when you go for picks that look like they might turn into scraps. The health and CDR are excellent stats early, and the regeneration is nice if roaming.

Targon's Brace

Build Targon's Brace when you can't complete other mid and high tier items yet.

Once you have completed, provides great synergy, both in adding resistances to back up the health of , but also in providing a shield to help people survive until the active drops. You can easily turn fights with this combo, and it should make you considerably tanky for the mid-game.

Utilize s in key locations later in laning phase, and through most of the rest of the game to help control key locations. Upon reaching level 9, pick up to further help control vision around the map.

Core Build Paths

Path 1:

Targon's Brace+ >Eye of the Equinox

This build path combines Targon's Brace and into Eye of the Equinox. You'll have 20% Cooldown Reduction, a lot of health, and a fair bit of magic resist at this point, as well as two open item slots. I usually try to get a fair bit of armor and 20% Cooldown Reduction with those slots, but they're fairly flexible. This is the safer build path, better against physical damage teams, but not quite as strong against casters, nor if snowballing.

Path 2:

Targon's Brace>Face of the Mountain& >

This build path upgrades Targon's Brace into Face of the Mountain, and into . It has even more health than the previous build path, and has lots of utility via the actives and active Cooldown Reduction, but has to solve an armor deficit and Cooldown Reduction deficit with a single item, late in the game. It's generally stronger against caster teams, or if snowballing and rotating frequently.

Luxury Items

We have several strong luxury item options on , but they'll typically be used to try and solve Cooldown Reduction (CDR) deficits (if they haven't been solved via runes and/or ), and deficits in resistances and/or damage (if needed).

20% CDR Options

is a great CDR option, and also helps with solving armor deficits. It's excellent for locking up and disrupting enemies in team fights, and combines well with if you chose that mastery option. It will also turn you into a minor threat towards squishies.

is a more defense and armor heavy alternative to , particularly good against attack speed based comps, and if significant armor is needed.

is your best damage option. It'll CDR cap , provide utility shred, and turn you into a late game threat. It is, however, a bit of a greedy option, and expensive. You might want to opt for other options if you're not snowballing, particularly if your team is fine for damage.

10% CDR Options

is a decent item if you need armor and CDR, and want to group. It'll allow you to proxy push lanes, or buff siege potential a bit.

should be built against certain target taunt and stun spells, if they're proving to be deadly to your carry.

isn't a great option in most cases, as it's expensive, and you're typically not lacking in health, but it's still worth considering, particularly against burst comps.

Other Luxury Items

is excellent if you need budget armor in conjunction with all the health you innately have, due to your build path. Particularly good if you went for for CDR.

is a great armor option, particularly if you're sticking with a carry most of the time.

is excellent if you need a mixture of resistances, and/or your team needs help with or against siege.

is an exceptional replacement for , with the recent changes. It fills a similar role in team fights, providing incredible durability for a short burst of time.

is a hyper-luxury defensive item if your team needs help catching people that are out of position. is pretty good at this even without the movement speed, however.

is another hyper-luxury defensive item, great if you're diving or scrapping against crit heavy teams.

Boots Options

are ideal for pressuring the map, and providing gank support mid-game.

are ideal if you're generally stick with and babysitting your carry, and scraps are coming to you.

aren't ideal, but are worth considering if you need certain items like , but also want to CDR cap in as few item slots as possible.

aren't great on , as his spells tend to come out in bursts, but if you're being shut down by CC, and auto-attacks are less of an issue, they're worth considering.