Hello, I have been playing Jarvan IV Since he came out and I have learned that he can fulfill several needed functions on a team. He is usually my go-to if my team is lacking in tankiness or physical damage. This build is designed to be flexible and the items that I have listed are just the core build and don't even begin to approach the variations I use when the situation calls for it. In my opinion a good tank needs to be able to hold agro effectively. Some tanks do that by having lots of crowd control like amumu, and you can play Jarvan like that, but I think that Jarvan holds better agro by doing so much damage that your opponents soil themselves while being as bulky as a tank could wish.

With runes I went with armor pen, attack speed, attack damage, and some general defense wards. These categories are the ones you will focus on with your items so feel free to change the runes to whatever you feel would add to your particular playing style. The only runes that I would strongly recommend is some magic resist runes. I suggest this just because unless you see a strong need for MR items before the build calls for them, you won't be getting any until later in the game.

I usually take and
but to be honest you should take the ones that you feel are best suited to how you play. The only thing I will say is that



Really aren't the best spells for Jarvan

the masteries really aren't anything special although I do stress the need to get magic resistance in the masteries. Every little bit helps.

I recommend that you max out your demacian standard as soon as you can because of the wonderful buff it gives you and your allies. Besides that I usually focus on dragon strike second and I only pick up a couple of the golden ages before the very end. Of course you should get cataclysm whenever it is available.

As far as the Items go I'm worried that I can't stress one thing enough... Flexibility. Flexibility is the difference between following a guide to the letter and failing because the guide didn't take into account a specific problem you face and recognizing the problem realizing that you need to counter it. I rarely have the same build for Jarvan. There are always little changes that could mean the difference between owning the squishy caster or getting nuked before you are even within range. That being said I'm going to lay out my base item list and then list some situations and changes I might make to react to that particular problem.

If you've been playing Jarvan for long you know that his two greatest offensive abilities

and both stack off of his bonus

Attack Damage.

Dragon Strike has a 1.1(bonus AD) ratio and Cataclysm a 1.5(bonus AD) ratio. What this means

is that if you build straight damage you abilities will get much stronger and both your

abilities and your normal attacks are both strengthened by the same thing. This makes things

much simpler for you because unlike some tanks that need defensive items to increase their

defense attack damage to increase their normal attacks and ability power to increase their

abilities strength you only have to concentrate on two main categories. This allows a more

effective and robust build.

I almost always start out with a Long Sword early game just because of

the added amount of harass and potential early game threat you gain from the Attack Damage.

I usually lane for as long as possible and try to get at least enough money to buy the

and . At this point you should

have no trouble farming minions like there is no tomorrow between your passive

and the unique passive that gives.

I usually then go on to finish which offers some nice magic

resist and the awesome reduction of stuns slows and the like.

After that I usually decide it's time to start really inflicting punishment and start to build

but make sure to get the first so

that your abilities will start to hit like bricks. At this point I usually feel the need for

some more armor and go for the by this point in the game it's is most

likely the teamfight phase which is why I get next. It gives a

nice amount of health damage and a nice slow that helps for chasing or protecting allies form

chasers. Next I get for some more armor and some Magic

Resist. Aegis also give a nice buff to your aliies which when combined with your

buff makes you a huge asset to the team. I usually don't need

more defensive items at this point so I like to go for some attack damage and some attack

speed to make sure I'm still pulling the agro instead of the glass cannon Ashe who likes to

think she's invincible. is a great item for this and if when it is

paired with , your passive ,

and the armor reduction of your you will be the bane of all

tanks, and needless to say squishies will flee in terror.

Sometimes situations arise that require a different approach or counter. You need to be the one on your team that is willing to alter your style, build, role, and mindset to counter the enemy team and help your team to excel.

For example I will go into the choice or the as the first item:

Jarvan is a very mana hungry champion if you try to harass early game. Sometimes it

is worth it to get a Meki Pendant, particularly if you are going

to be laning against two very bulky champions such as a Mordekasier and a Garren. This willl

allow you to harass more with Dragon Strike but wont give you as much burst damage.

Another possibility is that

both you and your laning partner are very mana hungry, in which case it would be beneficial to

you both if one of you got the Mana Manipulator.

There are many different situations like this that require an individual thought process for each one. There is no fix-all or universal build that will work for everything. I'm going to go through some of the situations and potential item substitutions I might make when I'm playing a typical match.
You need look at the enemy team during the summoning screen and ask yourslef: "Is this team Primarily magic damage, physical damage, or a combination of the two?" This will tell you what kind of defnese your going to have to put up.

Common Substitutions:

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*
* I usually will get this instead of Madred's Bloodrazor if I am having trouble staying
* in the lane because of the lifesteal it offers. Also it has a nice free ward which I
* use to keep the baron warded almost constantly from level 11-13 on.

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* Beserker's Greaves
* I might get these if I am going for just straight DPS Jarvan.


*
* I would get these if the enemy team is completely physical DPS

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* If their team is nearly all magic damage I would probably go with
* or

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* If I am doing extremely well and getting fed quite nicely I might get
*

* in which case next I would probably get a

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* If I'm already about as bulky as neccesary a good option would be the
* A good item for Jarvan but one I haven't tried very much

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* As the final item this is one that really needs to be completely situational and really
* cannot be predicted by me. I include The Black Cleaver just because it is a good fit
* for the concept of a Bruiser Agro-Monger like Jarvan. When you get to this point in the
* build you really need to take a second and ask yourself "what does my team need right
* now?" This could make the difference between a nice finish or an enemy comeback.

I need to preface this by saying that my playstyle is my own and might not work for you, I mean it doesn't always work for me. However, I can share some of the things that are important to me and hopefully you might be able to use them in your playing style

The First thing you need to do as early as the Champion selection screen is to look at your team. You need to identify who is squishy. They are usually the people who put out the most damage. They will be the ones that you have to be most conscious of because they need you to keep the pressure off of them and they will also benefit the most from the particular auras that you will put out. Ranged dps's or like Ashe and Tristana or burst damage mages like annie are the ones that you will want to gank with mid game because they will be able to atttack the enemies you have imprisoned in your ultimate.

The other Thing you need to look at is the enemey team. I can usually tell what general direction I'm going to take my build by the time we get out of the summoning screen. If you see the enemy team is full of casters than chances are you're going to have to stack magic resist pretty hard. Another big moment for analysis is when you first see who will be opposing you in the lane. You need to identify who is the probable target of your focus or harassment but still maintain an open mind. While you are in the laning phase your aggressiveness needs to be directly influenced by your enemies if you are going against squishies you can usually be pretty aggressive and push hard.

A couple of things you should watch for:

If you or you and some allies are able to attack a turret continually for a long enough period of time be sure to drop your demacian standard within range of both of you so that you can get the attack speed buff.

If during a teamfight an enemy begins to drift away from the pack and looks like he might be trying to initiate then a nice demacian standard-dragon strike-cataclysm will teach himm that only you initiate and also put your team in position for a 5v4 battle instead of a full 5v5

While caution is good when initiating remember that fighting on your terms is better than fighting on theirs. You might catch them off guard or be able to really hurt them before the can get their maneuvers off.

there are some champions that will be able to get out of your cataclysm:
Katarina
Shaco
Tristana
Jax
Jarvan
Pantheon(he can jump on enemies)
Kassadin

there are several others and on top of that anyone with flash can really ruin a well planned gank if you aren't prepared.

concerning your demacian standard-dragon strike combo:
you should alway try to get you demacian standard to land on an enemy so that it can do ts magic damage. if you do that you can also get a auto-attack in before you move away if you just plan on harassing
VERY IMPORTANT!
YOUR COMBO CAN BE USED TO GET OVER WALLS. this is very useful when fleeing, ganking, or chasing

Thank you very much for taking the time to read my guide if you have any questions, suggestions, or if you feel I didn't make something very clear please feel free to let me know. Please comment as I am eager to hear what people have to say.

I got the information about AP and AD ratios from:
http://www.leagueoflegends.com/board/showthread.php?t=15812

I go there whenever I am thinking about learning a new character, it's a wonderful resource

remember to GL HF and GG

Kobrazc