HeLoL summoners! My name is Nightreaper775, and argentinian LoL player (sorry if my english is not very good) and i'm here to teach you the way you can play Jax - The grandmaster at Arms (Commonly known as "The man with a ******* lampost that kicks your ***")

I have more than 120 games with Jax, i´ve played him at any position! Even as a support (of course he is not very good at that), but in that match I was "trolled" by another player who went to top lane even without calling "top", so I was forced to support with Jax. We still won.

I am in Gold League Division IV, yes, I know that's not very high, but the average LoL player is in that League. However, I don't think that I am a bad player, but I still have things to learn, as everyone else.

If you don't like long and complete guides, you are free to go :)

Enjoy this beatiful music while reading this guide!

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Good question, Jax is one of the best solo tops and junglers, he is also a good ganker/roamer.

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Why play Jax?

Well, I usually pick Jax when I want a solo top that can trade damage easily in 1v1 fights, an AoE stun and a very good teamfighter/pusher (yes, with his passive, he destroys turrets easily).

When to play him?

This question is usually for ranked games, where you usually know what the enemy team is before you choose a champion, if the enemy top laner depends on basic attacks or is DPS based ( Irelia for example), Jax is one of the better choices, since he can dogde her true damage attacks, and stun her easily. Also, Jax can absorb a lot of damage when his ultimate ( Grandmaster-At-Arms) is active, making him a very good champ to sustain a fight or to escape.

As every champion, Jax has his strenghs and weaknesses, lets list them.

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Pros: +Great 1v1 fighter +Can jungle +Good ganker +THAT OP DODGE!!!! +Can survive bursts +Many different builds +Very mobile +Great to assassin or to disable carries in teamfights +AoE Stun +Can engage or escape very easily +Wins most trades

Cons: -Not very strong against AP champs early game -Needs to stick to his target -Melee/Not very good farmer -Can be harassed very easily -His E has a very long CD -Not that good if he runs out of mana

As you can see, Jax is a very versatile champion that can sustain a long fight if he uses his abilities in a proper way. He builds both offense and defense, which makes him good at many roles, as he can play as a AD/Hybrid/AP carry, or as a jungler, and, at the same time, receive high damages without dying.

When your team has low CC, you can AoE stun the closest enemies, focus the weakest opponent and sustain the damage.

If your team has high CC, you can work as an assassin, Leap Strike to a weak champion and kill him/her relatively fast, using some spell combinations or just auto attacking.

Also, his mid and late game are great, so, when another champions fall off, you become better, making you a lot more powerful the longer the game gets.

Runes

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This is a very interesting part, because if you change Jax's build, you must also change his rune page/rune set.

Why?

Simple, because his strenght will relie on AD, AP or both, so, if you choose AD runes, but you build him AP, it will not help Jax, furthermore, he will lose power.

After this example, we are going to see what runes should you equip him and why.

AD Jax runes

greater mark of armor penetration You are building AD, if you want to deal more damage to your opponent, you must penetrate his or her armor to reduce the percentage of physical damage it blocks.

Another options are:

Greater Mark of Attack Damage
Greater Mark of Attack Speed
Greater Mark of Health

Yes, armor. It will reduce the amount of damage you will receive from basic attacks and physical damage spells, so, why not?

Another options are:

Greater Seal of Scaling Armor
Greater Seal of Health
Greater Seal of Scaling Health
Greater Seal of Magic Resist

AP champions get very strong in mid and late game, so early MR would be unnecesary, scaling magic resist seems to be a better idea, as you will be getting more MR at level 7 or 8 that you would get at level 1 will flat MR runes, and the difference becomes bigger the more levels you gain

Another options are:

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
Greater Glyph of Attack Damage
Greater Glyph of Armor

Jax´s Counter Strike and Leap Strike scale both of AD. Bonus AD at the start also empowers your basic attacks, making 1v1 fights, farming and killing turrets easier. Also, with your armor penetration runes, you will deal quite good damage.

Another options are:

Greater Quintessence of Scaling Attack Damage
greater quintessence of armor penetration
Greater Quintessence of Health
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health
Greater Quintessence of Life Steal
Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

Hybrid Jax runes

greater mark of hybrid penetration Great runes, them give you armor penetration and magic penetration, so you can deal more damage in average.

Another options are:

greater mark of armor penetration
Greater Mark of Armor
Greater Mark of Attack Speed
Greater Mark of Ability Power

You are still going to receive physical damage in top, even if it´s from minions or an enemy champion.

Another options are:

Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power
Greater Seal of Scaling Health
Greater Seal of Health
Greater Seal of Scaling Armor
Greater Seal of Scaling Magic Resist
Greater Seal of Magic Resist

You will block more MR at mid or late game, when the enemy AP carry will be better.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
Greater Glyph of Armor
Greater Glyph of Ability Power

You will need AD to last hit minions better, and to empower your Q and E combo (we'll see that later is the guide).

Another options are:

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
Greater Quintessence of Health
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Attack Damage
Greater Quintessence of Life Steal
Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp

Your early game will not be as offensive as you were a full AD jax, take one of this to raise your overall defense.

Another options are:

Greater Quintessence of Armor
Greater Quintessence of Health
greater quintessence of hybrid penetration
Greater Quintessence of Life Steal
Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp

AP Jax runes

You will be dealing more magic damage than physical, so, pick this runes to achieve maximum damage.

Another options are:

Greater Mark of Armor
Greater Mark of Ability Power
greater mark of hybrid penetration

You are an AP top, you need some ability power, and this seals will help you a bit during mid and late game.

Another options are:

Greater Seal of Scaling Health
Greater Seal of Scaling Armor
Greater Seal of Armor
Greater Seal of Scaling Magic Resist

Not that much armor as in my other Jax builds, but very nice to absorb physical damage.

Another options are:

Greater Seal of Health
Greater Seal of Scaling Armor
Greater Seal of Ability Power
Greater Seal of Magic Resist
Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power


Even if the amount of MR you´ll get is not very good, it is worth to have more MR at mid and late game.

Another options are:

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
Greater Glyph of Ability Power

More AP for mid and late game equals more spell damage.

Another options are:

Greater Glyph of Ability Power
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
Greater Glyph of Magic Penetration

It is never bad to have a bit of AP as you start a game, it helps your damage early game.

Another options are:

Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power
Greater Quintessence of Health
Greater Quintessence of Armor
Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration
greater quintessence of hybrid penetration

Like in my hybrid runes section, this will increase your defense and resistance to true damage.

Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Health
Greater Quintessence of Armor

Jungle Jax runes

Yes, this runes are by far the best for jungling, it helps you deal more DPS to monters and clear camps nore easily.

Another options are:

Greater Mark of Attack Damage
Greater Mark of Armor
greater mark of armor penetration

Lovely runes if you are in the jungle, you will receive less damage from monsters, which will help you a lot.

Another options are:

Greater Seal of Attack Damage
Greater Seal of Health
Greater Seal of Attack Speed
Greater Seal of Scaling Health

At late game, you will need MR to reduce the damage from magic and AP casters, take this runes.

Another options are:

Greater Glyph of Attack Damage
Greater Glyph of Armor
Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
Greater Glyph of Health

AD will help you kill monters faster, empower your AD scaling spells and, when you get some life steal, this runes will help you achieve more regeneration in every basic attack.

Another options are:

Greater Quintessence of Life Steal
Greater Quintessence of Armor
Greater Quintessence of Scaling Armor
Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed
Greater Quintessence of Health

Masteries

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AD Jax masteries

Hybrid Jax masteries

AP Jax masteries

Jungle Jax masteries

Top lane Jax summoner spells

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All of these combinations work greatly on Jax.

- Ghost + Ignite is the best idea when you want to stick to your target and combo him or her down, or to outrun him/her,

- Ignite + Flash is the most popular combination in the entire game, it provides extra damage, chasing or escaping potential and it synergizes well with almost all champions.

- Exhaust + Flash, also a good idea, if you are facing an enemy that can outdamage you, Exhaust is great to fight him/her, pursue targets, focus somebody in teeamfights, etc. Flash is great for escaping/chasing.

You can also use (In order of preference):

1 - Teleport
2 - Barrier
3 - Heal
4 - Clarity

Jungle Jax summoner spells

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Never jungle without Smite, you gain bonus gold when killing a monster with it, you can steal or secure buffs and dragon, baron.

Flash is great to engage and escape, and it's utility is wonderful.

You can also use Ghost, it's better if you want to pursue or outrun someone in wide areas, great on champions that need to stick to their target, Jax falls into that category.

All right as we get deeper into this guide. It's time to talk about the items you can get as Jax, which are better, worse and situational picks.

AD Jax items

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How to start?

Elixir of Fortitude + 1x Sight Ward + x1 Health Potion

sight ward

S3 brought a lot of new ways to play LoL, one of that ways is to start with a Elixir of Fortitude, also known as Red Elixir, a sight ward and 1 Health Potion. This item is great if you want to 1v1 the opponent, turning up fights, escaping ganks, avoid death, etc. Also, the bonus Attack Damage and Hit Points last for 3 minutes, making you stronger in lane. Since the price was changed to 350g from 250g, it is not the best option, but you can pick it if you think you need to.

Crystalline flask + 1x Sight Ward + x1 Health Potion

sight ward

Great, this item not only grants a lot of sustain early in the game, but it fills up again every time you are at your base. After S3 changes, this is one the best items you can get.

Boots + x3 potions

After the S3 changes, this is not the best option, but you'll get early movement speed to evade skillshots, escape ganks, move quicker and 450 effective health to recover your strenght after a fight or some enemy harass.

1x Sight Ward + 7x Health Potions + 2x Mana potions

sight ward

Without any doubt this consumable items will help you a lot in laning phase if you plan to sustain yourself early in the game and not to leave your lane fast. The downside of this is that you wont have the option to automatically refill your sustain as with Crystalline Flask when you get to the fountain.

Doran's blade

Quite a nice start, but I prefer to choose [doran's shield]. This build gives you life steal, health and a good amount of AD.

Cloth armor + 5x potions

I sometimes use this to jungle, but if you solo top it can also be nice, especially if you want to 1v1 fight the opposing AD based top laner or prevent him from damaging you too much.

Doran's shield

Best defensive item you can get at this price, it gives you health, armor and a little bit of health regen. Although this item seems to give you everything you need to top lane, there are better choices, as the health regen needs some time to regenerate a nice amount of HP, also, if your opponent has Health Potions, you will become weaker as he/she recovers his/her hp a lot faster than you.

Long sword + 2x potions

There are little times when you need more damage than defense, but you also need the effective health from health potions.

- If the enemy top lane isn't exactly designed to fit that position ( Sona is a great example)
- If you need to be more effective at farming (Bad farmer or last-hitter)
- If you need to deal more damage with AD spells (AD caster Jax? It may work, as Jax perfoms worse without spells than, for example, Warwick)

Rejuvenation bead + 2x Sight wards + 4x Health potions

sight wardsight ward

When you are laning versus one of your counters you would want to play passive, and some extra health regen, wards and health potions will help you to do so.

Follow with

Boots + 2x Doran's blades + 3x health potions + 1x mana potion

Just... great! Movement speed, life steal, damage and health.

Note: Don't forget to buy sight wards if the enemy team has a jungler or a roamer.

- If you started with a Doran's Blade, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Cloth Armor, pick one Doran's Blade, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Long Sword, pick one Doran's Blade, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Doran's Shield, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a pair of Boots, follow this build, but adding either a Long Sword or Ruby Crystal.
- If you started with sight wards, health potions and mana potions, don't change this build.
- If you started with a Crystalline Flask, or Elixir of Fortitude, don't change this build.
- If you started with Rejuvenation Bead, follow this build, but try to get a Ruby Crystal to finish your Warmog's Armor soon.

Note: Remember to buy sight wards to prevent ganks or roaming.

Mid game build

Mercury's treads + Enchantment: Furor + Blade of the ruined king + Trinity Force

Finish your boots, Mercury's Treads are the best option for Jax, because he has to do the maximum damage possible, as the same time as he can take some damage too, any crowd control will stop this, and the extra Magic Resist is not bad. You'll need to stick to the enemy, that's why I get Enchantment: Furor. But you can take either Enchantment: Alacrity or Enchantment: Homeguard. Trinity Force is awesome on AD Jax, it gives you everything you can need. And Blade of the Ruined King is very good to fight tankier champions and to sustain yourself, also, the active is beast, and the pushing ability it has is so strong right now.

Late game build

Warmog's Armor + The Black Cleaver + Maw of malmortius



I love this late game build. Why? Simple, Warmog's Armor will give you that boost on tankyness that you will need to survive teamfights even when tanking almost all the damage. Black Cleaver will allow you to deal a lot of damage while also getting a little amount of HP. And, finally, Maw of Malmortius is great on prolonged 1v1 fights due to it's 1st passive, and the 55 bonus attack damage and 36 magic resist, combined with the 2nd passive, that gives you a lot of resistance to AP casters.

Situational Items

Against Heavy AD

Ninja Tabi + Iceborn Gauntlet + Blade of the Ruined King

If the enemy team has a fed AD Carry, 3 or more AD champions in their team or the enemy top laner is purely AD based, take Ninja Tabi, as it lowers every basic attack damage by 10%.

Iceborn Gauntlet is pretty good when replacing Trinity Force vs a strong AD enemy team because of it's AoE slow and armor bonus.

And Blade of the Ruined King is pretty nice when sustaining against most basic attack based opponents, even if they're tanky.

Against Heavy AP

Mercury's Treads + Blade of the Ruined King + Wit's End

Mercury's Treads are great against heavy AP and CC, as they give you magic resist and tenacity, just great.

Blade of the Ruined King, despite not having any defensive item, this item is really powerful on AD Jax, also, AP champions are not that good on early mid game, so taking this item is not a bad idea.

Wit's End, awesome, attack speed, magic damage, magic resist, and a great price, very good item overall, better against AP opponents.

Hybrid Jax items

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How to start?

Elixir of Fortitude + 1x Sight Ward + x1 Health Potion

sight ward

Nice way to start your game, but not as good as before. However, how does it feel when you instantly gain 120 to 235 health points (raises by 6,76 HP per level) and 15 attack damage? And, even better, these stats last for 3 minutes!

Crystalline flask + 1x Sight Ward + x1 Health Potion

sight ward

One of the best options for solo top champions right now. Lots of sustain in terms of health regeneration and... YES! no mana problems along with a sight ward!

Boots + x3 potions

Again, a good option, More movement means you will get away from danger, engage and evade skillshots easier. 450 effective health is awesome if you want to stay in lane.

1x Sight Ward + 7x Health Potions + 2x Mana potions

sight ward

Best early game sustain ot there, pick this if you don't want the automatic charge refill of Crystalline Flask and need even more sustain in lane.

Doran's blade

This items works very good if you want to get your HP back by hitting minions or enemy champions (which leads you vulnerable to ganks, harass and roams), more attack damage to be more aggresive and health to counter the enemy's attacks/harass, or survive ganks/escape.

Doran's ring

You will be building AP in this build, and your runes make this starting item possible, but I dont recommend it, mainly because Jax's low AP damage early game and no sustain (No spell vamp/life steal/health potions/crystalline flask)

Doran's shield

Very good item to trade damage and to 1v1, but not very good if the enemy has potions, as they will be better the longer you are in lane.

Long sword + 2x potions

Good items to start in an offensive way, and to farm better, sustain is granted by 2 health potions.

Amplifying tome + 1x health potion

If you like to start with AP damage, this is very good, you have a potion to sustain your lane and 20 extra AP to deal more damage with your AP scaling spells

Cloth armor + 5x potions

Best sustain out there, but your damaging potential will be low, if you think you need to sustain against a more powerful opponent, this is a good option.

Ruby crystal

180 bonus health, you can receive more damage than usual, but you health regeneration will be very bad, because you don't have potions.

Follow with

Boots + 2x Doran's blades + 3x health potions + 1x mana potion

Very good way to follow your build, you'll get life steal, more health, damage and sustain abilities.

Note: Don't forget to buy sight wards if the enemy team has a jungler or a roamer.

- If you started with a Doran's Blade, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Doran's Ring, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Cloth Armor, pick one Doran's Blade, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Long Sword, pick one Doran's Blade, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Doran's Shield, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with an Amplifying Tome, pick another one, or a Sapphire Crystal, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with sight wards, health potions and mana potions, don't change this build.
- If you started with a Crystalline Flask, or Elixir of Fortitude, don't change this build.
- If you started with a Ruby Crystal, pick one Long Sword, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a pair of Boots, follow this build, but pick a Ruby Crystal or Long Sword, to start building Phage.

Note: Remember to buy sight wards to prevent ganks or roaming, whenever you have gold to expend, and a space in inventory, buy sight wards.

Mid game build

Mercury's Treads + Enchantment: Furor + Trinity Force + Hextech Gunblade

This build is the best for Hybrid Jax right now, Mercury's Treads are strong vs CC and AP damage. I take Enchantment: Furor to stick to the enemies, but you can either take Enchantment: Homeguard or Enchantment: Alacrity. Trinity Force gives you everytihng you can need and, as your third item to get, Hextech Gunblade is awesome, life steal, spell vamp, a nice active, AD and AP.

Late game build

Randuin's Omen + Guinsoo's Rageblade + Maw of malmortius

You will be doing more damage than if you build full AD, that's why I prefer to get Randuin's Omen, so I can survive teamfights and high damages. Later in the game, a Guinsoo's Rageblade is great in 1v1 fights and to increase both AD and AP damage. Finally, Maw of Malmortius is again the best item, because it blocks a lot of magic damage and improves your AD scaling spells and basic attacks.

Situational Items

Against Heavy AD

Ninja Tabi + Trinity Force + Sunfire cape

Ninja Tabi, obvious!! Armor and a nice passive that reduces damage incoming from basic attacks.

Trinity Force, health, mana, damage, ability power, EVERYTHING! You need to have this item, despite the situation.

And finally, Sunfire Aegis will help you build more tanky and, also, you will deal a little amount of damage to units around you.

Against Heavy AP

Mercury's Treads + Trinity Force + Wit's End

Of course, Mercury's Treads is the best option, tenacity and magic resist will help you survive more in teamfights and when laning against AP champions such as Rumble.

Trinity Force, as I said before, you don't have to replace this item, it's the best you can get on Hybrid Jax.

And Wit's End it's awesome, magic damage, magic resist and attack speed. Very good.

AP Jax items

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How to start?

Elixir of Fortitude + 1x Sight Ward + x1 Health Potion

sight ward

Also great on AP Jax, you won't be getting any mana back when getting this item, as you would with Crystalline Flask, but you instantly gain 120 health points (amount raises by 6,76 every level) and 15 AD. Great when fighting an opponent that counters you, like Jayce, Singed or Malphite.

Crystalline flask + 1x Sight Ward + x1 Health Potion

sight ward

Really nice on AP Jax too, as I said before, one of the best options. Infinite sustain and a sight ward.

Boots + x3 potions

Not the best way to start, but 450 effective health and 25 bonus MS to evade skillshots, survive ganks and to escape or engage fights easier are really good.

1x Sight Ward + 7x Health Potions + 2x Mana potions

sight ward

As I said before, this items will provide you with a godlike sustain in lane, that will beat the rival's in most matchups. It does not refill when you get back to your fountain as it would do with a Crystalline Flask, which is better at long terms.

Doran's ring

Good amount of AP and good mana regen, but lacks sustain to keep yourself in lane, and mobility.

Amplifying tome + 1x health potion

Great way to start with AP items, as you have 20 bonus AP and a bit of effective health.

Sapphire crystal + 2x health potions

If you have mana problems, and you want to hit your enemy with spells frequently, this is good for you.

Doran's shield

Starting with bonus health, armor and health regen is quite nice, but if the enemy has potions you'll lose your lane the longer you stay, and you'll be more vulnerable to ganks due to the poor health regeneration you have without Health Potions.

Ruby crystal

180 bonus health, seems great, but it's very bad for the same reasons I gave for the Doran's Shield, you'll get outhealed by your opponent/s.

Follow with

Boots + Seeker's Armguard (Agaisnt AD) or Sheen (Against Hybrid or AP) + 3x health potions + 2x mana potions

or

Sustain is granted by potions, you have more AP, which means more AP scaling spell damage, and an extra mana potion.

- If you started with a Doran's Ring, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Doran's Shield, pick another one, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with an Amplifying Tome, build them into a Sheen, or Seeker's Armguard, pick boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with sight wards, health potions and mana potions, don't change this build.
- If you started with a Ruby Crystal, pick two Doran's Rings, boots and the potions listed.
- If you started with a Sapphire Crystal, pick one Amplifying Tome (to finish your Sheen), boots and the potions listed. If you want to build Sekker's armguard instead of Sheen, you should pick two Amplifying Tomes, building them into this more defensive item.
- If you started with a Crystalline Flask, or Elixir of Fortitude, don't change this build.
- If you started with a pair of Boots, pick either a Sheen or a Seeker's Armguard, and the potions listed..

Note: You can buy sight wards to counter the enemy jungler/roamer.

Mid game build

Mercury's treads + Enchantment: Furor + Lich Bane + Nashor's Tooth

You are now a burst combo caster (Something like Pantheon or Talon, but in an AP way), that's a champion that relie in short spells combination to deal high amounts of damage very fast, and then going back to wait for their cooldowns to go off. This type of champion is very strong at doing damage, but squishy.

That's the main reason why I take Mercury's Treads, they reduce the duration of any CC applied on the champion that has them, so I can escape faster and with less complications. Enchantment: Furor helps you to do that, as my movement speed becomes bigger, I can get away with ease.

Lich Bane: Awesome AP burst combo caster item, especially for Jax, it makes your W ( Empower) hit like a truck (It procs with Lich Bane passive), gives you a huge amount of AP, mana and a movement speed multiplier, it's known as the AP Trinity Force.

Nashor's Tooth, I could not believe my eyes when I saw this item on AP Jax, I though people were crazy, but NO! This is just an amazing item, it synergizes with your passive so well! Also, the bonus ability power and cooldown reduction are great on this "AP caster Jax".

Late game build

Rabadon's Deathcap + Zhonya's Hourglass + Liandry's Torment

Of course, every AP caster should get Rabadon's Deathcap, as it makes your base AP larger with a 120 AP bonus and a 25% base AP increse.

Zhonya's Hourglass: Upgrade your early Seeker's Armguard (If you were against an AD champion), or build it from scratch. Awesome active, awesome stats, great item for late game.

And, finally, Liandry's Torment helps you fight those tankier champions, because this item has 15 magic penetration, 50 AP, 300 bonus health and a 6% magic damage DoT effect, great when fighting tankier targets.

Situational Items

Against Heavy AD

Ninja Tabi + Iceborn Gauntlet + Nashor's Tooth

Ninja Tabi is just the best option, you know why, armor, and a nice passive.

Iceborn Gauntlet, armor, ability power, AoE slow, cooldown reduction, mana, just awesome.

And, finally, Nashor's Tooth will help you in 1v1 fights, assasinating targeta and also it will synergize with your passive, Relentless Assault.

Against Heavy AP

Mercury's Treads + Lich Bane + Abyssal Scepter

Mercury's Treads, as always, against and AP opponent, this ones will provide the best defense.

Lich Bane, don't change this item, as it will help your damage a lot.

And, to sum up, buy an Abyssal Mask for the bonus AP and magic resist, also, it's passive is very nice on teamfights, it creates an AoE that lowers the enemy champions magic resist by 20.

Jungle Jax items

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How to start?

Hunter's machete + 5x health potions

Best option, clearing camps faster allows you to recall/gank faster, and losing less health when fighting monters.

Cloth armor + 5x potions

Also a good form to start, if you already have too much damage from AD/AP/attack speed, you can start in a defensive way.


Boots + 3x potions



Not very much worth the starting gold, because you won't be able to sustain yourself in the jungle, and even die if you are not familiarized with jungling.

Follow with

Spirit Stone + Boots of speed + Health potions + Sight ward

sight ward

With this build you can gank better and faster (more movement speed), sustain yourself better in the jungle with Spirit Stone, as well as doing more damage to monsters, and also to help at warding enemy buffs, lanes or map objectives.

- If you started with Boots, pick a Spirit Stone and the items listed.
- If you started with a Cloth Armor, follow this build as it is.
- If you started with a Hunter's Machete, follow this build as it is.

Note: You can buy sight wards for your team and to counter jungle the enemy.

Mid game build

Ninja Tabi + Enchantment: Alacrity + Spirirt of the Elder Lizard + Locket of the Iron Solari



Ninja Tabi are great in the jungle to prevent some damage from monsters or fighting enemy champions and with Enchantment: Alacrity you can gank more frequently, as you move faster.

Note: You can also use Mercury's Treads, Mobility Boots or evwn Boots of Swiftness, depending on your team, the enemy team and your personal preferences.

Spirit of the Elder Lizard is the best jungling item for Jax, he needs to do damage, and this item provides him with AD and a nice passive that applies a true damage DoT on the enemy. Cheap for it's price.

Note: You can also pick a Spirit of the Ancient Golem if you need to be tankier.

At last, Locket of the Iron Solari is one of the best items if you are willing to help your team in teamfights, tanking a lot of damage and providing them with a shield. Very cheap and powerful item to have.

Late game build

Warmog's Armor + Atma's Impaler + Randuin's Omen



Excellent items for your late game, Warmog's Armor makes you almost unkillable, in the recent metagame, junglers have to build tanky, and it's for a good reason: Live longer in teamfights to prevent the enemy to damage your carries.

The 5th item you should get is an Atma's Impaler, you are already really tanky, so, why not having more defense but also more AD and critical strike chance? Just great, and it becomes better if you are able to get your last item: Randuin's Omen

Randuin's Omen: More health? More armor? Great active and passive? YES! Did you think you were godlike with Warmog's Armor? You were wrong, this is the item that gives you immortality.

Many people say that Iceborn Gauntlet is a better option than Trinity Force or Lich Bane. But, is that really true?

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First, I would want to compare their stats.


Iceborn Gauntlet

Total Price: 3250
Recipe Price: 700

40 Ability Power, 60 Armor, 15 Cooldown Reduction, 500 Mana. UNIQUE Passive: Spellblade: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 125% of your base attack damage to surrounding enemies and creates a field for 2 seconds that slows enemies inside by 30% (2 second cooldown).

Very nice item for champions such as Nasus, Ezreal, Skarner, Udyr, Jax, and some other champions that have either an ability that procs on-hit effects, need to slow opponents in order to pursue and kill them or abilities such as Nasus Siphoning Strike, that empowers his next basic attack.

Also, it gives the champion a decent amount of AP, better amount of armor, 15% cooldown reduction (Very nice on Jax, because he needs his abilities to be up to fight in a proper way) and 500 mana.


Trinity Force

Total Price: 3843
Recipe Price: 3

30 Ability Power, 30 Attack Damage, 30 Attack Speed, 10 Critical Strike Chance, 250 Health, 200 Mana, 8 Movement Speed Multiplier. UNIQUE Passive: Icy: Your basic attacks have a 25% chance to slow your target's Movement Speed by 30% for 2 seconds (20% for ranged attacks). UNIQUE Passive: Spellblade: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus physical damage equal to 150% of your base Attack Damage. 2 second cooldown. Does not stack with Sheen or Lich Bane.

Most versatile item in the whole game, in my opinion, it gives you a lot of stats including 30 AP and AD, 30% attack speed, 10% critical strike chance, 8% movement speed multiplier, and bonus health and mana. Also includes Phage's passive and bonus physical damage in the next basic attack after using an ability.


Lich Bane

Total Price: 3000
Recipe Price: 940

80 Ability Power, 250 Mana, 5 Movement Speed Multiplier. UNIQUE Passive: Spellblade: After using an ability, your next basic attack deals bonus magic damage equal to 50 + 75% of your Ability Power (2 Second Cooldown).

An item made for champions like Evelynn, Master Yi, and AP Jax. These champions either need bonus damage on their combos, or use abilities often, like Evelynn's Q, Hate Spike.

Is it better to use this item when your lane matchup has low magic resist, because Lich Bane's passive deals magic damage. Also, this item makes engaging and escaping easier, as it gives movement speed.

What to choose? And when?

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There are few times when you will need one item, or another, it all depends on if you build AD/Hybrid or AP items, and your lane and enemy team matchups.

Iceborn Gauntlet: Nice agaisnt champions that have high amounts of AD. Also, it helps you to chase them with the slow and bonus damage proc. It works in AD and Hybrid Jax. Nice when attacking, but it's better on teamfights and when defending, as it deals bonus damage in a AoE slow, and it gives you 70 armor and 15% cooldown reduction.

Trinity Force: Most versatile item out there, you can build this in both AD and Hybrid Jax.
Not also it gives you both AD and AP, but attack speed, movement speed, critical strike chance, health and mana. It will boost all of your abilities and also help you to survive and spend more mana without much worrying. You can use this item both offensive and deffensive

Lich Bane: Great on AP Jax, 80 AP, 250 mana, 5% movement speed multiplier and bonus magic damage in your next basic attack that scales off your base AP. It adds damage to your combos and helps you engage and escape. Use this when you play offensively.

To sum up

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There is not a better item, they all work when picked correctly. It all depends on who are you facing in lane, the enemy team, your team and what way are you building.

Knowing that, try to use these items at the right moment to help you in the Fields of Justice.

Jax's Passive

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A passive made for Jax, this passive makes 1v1 fights easier the longer they get, because with every successive basic attack you gain a 4%/6%/8%/10%/12%/14% bonus attack speed (stacks up to 6 times and will still apply if you are blinded or your attack is dodged).

Jax's Q

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This ability make chases, engages and escapes better, you can Leap Strike to an ally object (it does not matter if it is a living being or an object, except turrets and major structures) or onto a living enemy unit. It deals quite good damage and it scales both of AD and AP.

Jax's W

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I love this skill, it has a very low cooldown of 3 seconds and it procs with Trinity Force, Sheen, Iceborn Gauntlet and Lich Bane. You can spam it in long fights, as it has a low mana cost.

Jax's E

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The skill that defines a good Jax player from a bad one. This skill does not also works in direct combat (allowing you to dodge all enemy basic attacks), combined with your Q ( Leap Strike) your can "leap-stun" somebody, and then following up with a few basic attacks and Empower. In the middle of a teamfight, you can stun a high amount of enemies with it. Yes, then stun has and area of effect (AoE). It also does 50/75/100/125/150 physical damage, which scales on AD and gets higher the more attacks you dodge, with a maximum of 100% bonus damage.

Jax's Ultimate

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This skill has a passive and an active. The passive is very good to farm with and can turn 1v1 fights or finish enemies very fast. This passive does 100/160/220 extra magic damage on every 3rd basic attack and scales of AP.

The active is purely defensive, you gain a flat amount of armor and magic resist (25/35/45) for 8 seconds. The amount of armor and magic resist you get can be higher, as the bonus armor scales on 30% of your bonus attack damage. And the bonus magic resist scales on 20% of your total ability power.

Skill order

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AD Jax



I max Q first, because of it being a high damaging spell that scales of 100% of your bonus AD.
I max W second, despite not having AP items ( Trinity Force is the exception), it helps greatly to your combo.
I always level up my ultimate when I can.
I last level my E, despite scaling on AD, is more of an utility spell than a damaging one.

Hybrid Jax



I max Empower early, so i can do the highest damage with my hybrid combo (I'll explain that later)
Then I level up my Q, because of it's AD and AP scaling.
I take a point in my ultimate whenever I can.
I last level my E, for me, it's great as utility, not as a damaging spell.

AP Jax



I use the same skill sequence order as in my hybrid Jax build.

I max W first.
Then my Q
I level up my ultimate when it's up
finally, my E, Counter Strike, as it deals little damage in my AP build.

Jungle Jax



I first gank a lane at level 4, so I take a late point in Leap Strike. I start with E and then I take 2 points into my W.

Welcome to the jungling section of this Jax guide. Here I will explain to you how I jungle with Jax, the routes I take and how and when to gank.

How to jungle with Jax

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Jax has great sustain in the jungle, granted by potions and by his ability to dodge all basic attacks and then AoE stun all enemies in the area.

The jungling combo

As many of you know, the jungle is divided in camps, and a good jungle is the one that can gank earlier by killing those camps faster.

Playing as Jax, the best way to ensure that you kill all the camps is using a combo that is made to kill those monsters faster.

The combo that I'm going to explain to you is very simple:

Empower- Auto Attack - Turn on Counter Strike - Auto attack - Stun the creeps - Auto attack until they die.

In a simpler way: W + AA + E + AA + AoE Stun + AA

What does this combo does for you? First, you dodge the maximum basic attacks you can before taking any damage, also, you stun the creeps and attack them without any harm.

The jungling route

NOTE: For the purple side of the map, the route to follow is the same, except that you start ganking bot lane, then mid, and finally top. Viceversa to blue side.

After a lot of games i've designed a jungling route that combines both aggresive ganking and counter jungling, as well as having control over my jungle camps.

I´ll explain the image to you, so you can understand better.

1 - At first, you would want to start wolves, because they spawn at 1:40, 15 seconds before the blue golem, so, when you "clear" (kill all the monters) the camp, you are free to move to the bluee buff golem without even having it there, so you don´t waste time you would want to have to gank or counter jungle.

2 - Kill the blue golem, make sure your team helps you at this, because we don´t want to use Smite on this monster (I´ll explain why later). This is called "smiteless clearing with help (leash) of your teammates"

Ganking top lane - After you get the blue buff, it's time to level up that Leap Strike for an early gank on top. People often think that bot or mid are going to be the first lanes to be ganked, and also think that the jungler won´t come until 3 minutes into the game. So, we have the element of surprise. Use your Q + E Combo to jump and stun the enemy, and, luckily, you or your ally will get a kill.

Note: Make sure you start your gank passing the river, at the very start of enemy territory (Wait at Tri-bush for the opponent to make a mistake or overextend). And watch carefully if you are too close from the enemy turret. At level 2, turrets hurt you, A LOT!

3 - I would want to divide this in options.

Option 1 (3-1 in picture): Go and kill the enemy wraiths, this is an easy and effective way to counterjungle him/her without risking too much. also, if you have an encounter with him/her, you should have the advantage. Always leave one of the little wraiths to prevent the camp from respawning entirely.

Option 2 (3-2 in picture): Go and try to steal the enemy red buff. This is danguerous, the enemy jungler may be expecting you to make this move, and wait for you to start attacking the monster to kill you. always think twice when doing this move, you may find you in a difficult situation. Always leave one little lizard to prevent the red buff from respawning.

Option 3 (3-3 in picture): Clear the enemy big golem, this is not as risky as stealing the another jungler's red buff lizard, but it's still danguerous, if you aren´t fast, get into the minions vision range or the jungler's, you can be counter - counterjungled.

Ganking mid lane - Mid lane champions are often more squishy than top laners, but their lane is smaller and can get away from a gank easier, a good way to ensure you are ganking in a proper way is to not wait at the bushes, but at the small cliff that is over them, so you won't be spotted by a ward. Remember not to walk throught the river if you are following this, walk into the enmy jungle, if you pass the river, a ward is more likely to spot you.

4 - Kill the red lizard. Red buff is great for ganking, and gives you a DoT (damage over time) effect on the enemy that can either secure a kill or to damage (and most times forcing to recall) the enemy champion affected, so they start playing more passive and giving "free" farm to your ally.

5 - Recall to base. If you maneged to kill or assist in one of your ganks or in both, it can give you very nice items. But if that doesn't happen, you van always ggran Madred's Razors and a pair of Boots + Health Potions and even [[sight ward]s.

6 - Kill your wraiths camp. Before ganking bot, you can gain some gold and experience by doing this. I sometimes level up when finishing this camp, which helps me when ganking.

Ganking bot lane - Bot lane has to be the most difficult lane to gank. Why? bcause it is a duo lane, there are 2 champions on each side, which can help each other to prevent deaths, or even turn the situation in their favor. This lane is always the most warded, and you have to be careful when ganking, because the enemy jungler may be comming as well after seeing you on his/her minimap.

A little trick that I use is to go to the enemy blue buff camp, with a sight ward in my inventory, then going bot, to the cliff over the river, to be more specific, to the corner just above the little brush. There, I should be able to just place a ward inside the bush, without being noticed, then, I use my Leap Strike onto it, and, there you have it! Invisible positioning for ganking bot lane! Remember to enter the enemy jungle in the area above Dragon, and not to do so in the place below it, because there will be an enemy sight ward there almost all the time.

7 - Time to do wolves again! Here, you have 2 options. The first one (7-1 in the picture) Is to do your camp, it's safer and you have more freedom of movement.

The another one (7-2 in the picture), is to steal the wolves camp from the enemy jungle, after ganking bot lane. This will help you to gain more advantage over the other jungler and to keep him/her off lanes longer, or to gank with less damage/potential.

8 - Do your wraiths again! Time to get more gold for your items, so secure it from your own wraiths.

This final step could be replaced with ganking or backing, if you find it more comfortable/neccesary.

Counter jungling

Here is when jungling becomes interesting. Counter jungling is, basically, entering the enemy team's side of the map to kill the monters in their jungle.

When you counter jungle you should always prioritize buff holders than lesser monsters, because you can deny the enemy jungler of ganking with more efficiency or recalling back to base because he/she gets low on mana or has less potential to gank. Also, this denies gold and experience.

But that is not the end, many AP carrys need to have blue buff control in order to keep doing high damage to the enemy mid laner. If you counter jungle the enemy blue buff golem, you are forcing them to recall or either try to steal your jungle's blue buff (which is very danguerous, as your allies can help you kill him/her easily)

A good way of confusing the enemy team when counter jungling is by killing all the monsters in a specific camp except one, which must be the lesser monster in that camp. So, you prevent the another monsters in that camp from respawning, delaying all buffs and aexperience from the another jungler and forcing him to stay in another lane to gain that needed gold and experience.

Warding your jungle/Buff control

A great way to defend your team against counter jungling is by placing wards in your jungle buffs (Red lizard and Blue golem). By this, you know when the enemy is stealing your jungle, and you and your team can attack and secure the buff for you or any of your team carries (AP benefits from Blue and AD from Red)

However, this can be played in an offensive way, by placing wards in the enemy buffs holders when they're about to respawn, you can steal the buff with your Smite, or either try to kill the enemy jungler and get an uncontested buff.

Dragon/Baron control

In Summoner's Rift, there are 2 major jungle objectives, they are:

- The Dragon (also known as Draco) is a powerful creature with a huge HP pool (around 4500 HP at 10 minutes)

- Baron is an ultra powerful neutral monster, it has around 500 damage in every basic attack, around 11000 HP at 25 minutes, it is inmune to any crowd control effect (CC), it can knock champions into the air and knock them back. It gives every member of your team 300 gold and a high experience reward (around 900 experience), plus a buff that gives every ally champion 40 bonus AD and 40 bonus AP

Knowing this, you should consider trying to steal it when the enemy team is trying to kill him.

This is not hard to do. First, get a sight ward or use your Wriggle's Lantern free one, and place them next to Baron and Dragon, make sure you have vision of it.

So, when the enemy team is trying to kill Baron or Dragon, you must make sure that you have your Smite off cooldown, and remember the amount of damage it does. Then, look at Baron or Dragon health bar, and as quickly as it goes below the full amount of damage you do with your Smite, use this summoner spell as fast as you can on the monster. If you are succesful, your team will have an advantage over the enemy.

Jax is an unique champion, as he can build in so many different ways. Listing them will help you.

- Tank. If your team has low defense, you can initiate a teamfight without problems. Try to do this after you get some HP/Armor/Magic resist.

- AD/Hybrid split pusher. You can use either my full AD or hybrid Jax builds to split push really quickly, taking down turrets very fast. AP Jax may also work, if you build some attack speed on him, as I do. This is the role that I mostly play.

- AD/AP Carry. If the natural AD/AP carry in your team is AFK, feeding or not doing that well, you can "replace" him/her.

- Hybrid carry. A very strange term in League of Legends. If the enemy team builds very tanky, you can help your team damage by building hybrid, so you do more overall damage than you would by buiding full AD or full AP.

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Knowing all of this, depending on your team you can play different roles. But, what is better for Jax?

My personal opinion is that my hybrid Jax is the better option, is not also very tanky, but has both physical and magical damage, to counter full armor builds or full magic resist builds.

However, both AD and AP Jax work, but is a situational build, not the normal builds that are better to use when playing as solo top Jax, who benefits a lot more if he builds in a hybrid way.

This is very important, depending of the enemy champion you will be facing in top lane, you will have an advantage or a disadvantage, and you can act with knowledge.

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Jax counters the following champions

All the following champions are DPS and basic attack based, so, Jax is one of the best champions to counter them, mainly because of his Counter Strike.

The following champions counter Jax

All this champions have some way to counter Jax, for example Teemo's Q can blind Jax, so his basic attacks do no damage at all. Jayce can harass him too heavily, forcing him to spend gold on potions or recalling back to his base. Or Singed, who can out farm him, pushing Jax away from the enemy creeps, and Fling him onto Singed's turret when Jax tries to attack him.

In this section we'll take a look into Jax possible combos (ability combinations), which is good and which is not in most situations.

E+Q+W+AA

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Most basic Jax's combo out there, it has the best damage output when playing Hybrid Jax, because this combo scales both of AD and AP. This combo relies on leap stunig the target and then using your Empower in your next basic attack to do the more burst damage.

W+Q+AA+E+AA

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This is the combo you use when you want to engage onto a DPS based enemy. Why? Because you can Empower + Leap Strike an enemy to engage with good damage, then auto attacking + Counter Strike to keep doing damage by a stun or dodges as they counter attack or try to escape.

E+W+Q

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This is the normal combination of spells you will use in a high DPS enemy champions teamfights, you will enter to the teamfight receiving less damage than normal, as you can dodge all basic attacks while using Counter Strike, and the AoE stun all the champions in the area, so your allies can deal free damage to them. Then, what you want to do is to Leap Strike to an ally, ward or minion and wait till the enemy team is divided to attack the weakest target first.

AA+E+AA+Q+W+R

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If an enemy is forcing you to a 1v1 direct fight, this combo is great, you can start by gaining attack speed from your passive ( Relentless Assault) and try to turn the tide of the fight using Counter Strike to dodge basic attacks, deal extra damage and stun your target. If the enemy is losing, he/she will try to escape, this is why we saved our Leap Strike and Empower: Chasing.

When the enemy is starting to get awey with, normally, low HP, you can Q+W him/her and luckily you'll get the kill, if this is not enough, just follow with basic attacks. If you are going to turret dive, use the active on your Grandmaster-At-Arms to absorb more turret and enemy damage.

It is better to use Grandmaster-At-Arms on chasing and escaping than in direct 1v1 fights, as we have superiority in them even without using this skill. But, after they finish, it its great on following through and to absorb damage.

E+Q+W+R

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If you can not escape a teamfight or wait that the enemy team is divided, you need more sustain, in form of armor and magic resist, and your ultimate is great for that, you can wait for your team, get a difficult kill or 1v1 AD or AP carries. Your items will make you more tankier, but it's never bad to be more powerful, isn't it?

W+AA+E+AA

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As I mentioned in the Jungling section of this guide, this combo is great to clear camps fast and without receiving too much damage, it doesn't waste too much mana, and it deals high damage.

This combo is entirely possible thanks to Counter Strike, a really unique ability that makes Jax who he is. Renember to use it wisely!

This section helps you to know how many people visited this guide in the past, and informs you of the changes I did.

29/12/12 - This guide was released. "pros and cons" section was improved. And I added a new part: "AD/Hybrid/AP: What to play?"

15/01/13 - Guide reached 5.000 views

30/01/13 - Guide reached 10.000 views/A new section was added: "Iceborn Gauntlet vs Trinity Force vs Lich Bane"

5/4/13 - Guide at +25.000 views. Masteries, items and jungling route from Jungle Jax and the "jungling" section of this guide, modified. I added a "personal preference list" to order the best and worse summoner spells for all types of Jax builds. Finally, I managed to find "better" items for AP Jax, which were included in the main build.

6/4/13 - Items for jungling Jax modified again, I added Atma's Impaler as your fifth item to get. And I moved Wriggle's Lantern as your second item to build. Elixir of Fortitude replaces Crystalline Flask as your starting item.

13/5/13 - Jungling items changed, added Rejuvenation Bead to the "how to start?" section of this guide. Mercury's Treads are now the best boots for AD/Hybrid and AP builds.

16/5/13 - Black Cleaver has replaced Frozen Mallet in the AD Jax build.

Well, this is the end of my Jax guide, I hope you enjoyed my guide, I've put a lot of time and effort into it. you are free to vote and comment this guide, despite you like or didn't like it.

If it helps you in some way during your League of Legends experience, I'll be very proud of you.

Have a nice day, greetings from Argentina.

Nightreaper775.