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Choose Champion Build:
- Jungle (Tri + Cinderhulk Build)
- Top Lane
- Bloodrazor Jax Jungle
Recommended Items
Runes: Conqueror
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Smite
Items
Ability Order
Relentless Assault (PASSIVE)
Jax Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Sejuani
I hate this champ. Perma cc and can even duel you early on as a damn tank. Why did riot even make this champ?
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.
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
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.
+ 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 :)
- 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
You can only choose two summoner spells when you play this game (basic knowledge). So choose wisely!! Make sure one will help you escape out of sticky situations and the second will help you in combat!!
This is Jax's Passive ability that helps out with clearing the jungle as well as split pushing. Relentless Assault stacks up to 8 times is something you should try to keep track of when deciding to go in for a kill on the enemy. As the game goes on the attack speed continues to scale, making Jax a dps machine. |
- Stacking this up on a tower or minions can help when you are about to go in for a kill on a champion.
- Empower & Titanic Hydra add a stack of Relentless Assault.
- Be careful when deciding to fight without any stacks in a teamfight. You will have to build up stacks on champions during the fight which can determine an outcome of a fight.
This is Jax's gap closing ability to plop on top of his targets. You can also escape with this ability which can come in handy if you are in a sticky situation. Deals Physical damage but it scales off Ability Power as well as Attack Damage |
- Use Leap Strike wisely, when you commit you are committed for awhile until it is off cooldown.
- You can combine Leap Strike with Empower for extra burst damage.
- Jax can Leap Strike to Ally Champions, Allied Minons, & Wards. Make sure to have some wards on you in case you get into sticky situations when your team is not around you.
Jax's main dps ability, alongside his Grandmaster-At-Arms 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-At-Arms 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-At-Arms before going into a teamfight!! You gain resistances for 8 seconds.
- Combine the passive of Grandmaster-At-Arms 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.
CHANGE LEVEL UP SEQUENCE DEPENDING ACCORDING TO TEAM COMP/PLAYSTYLE
- 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-At-Arms 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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |
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! |
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. |
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. |
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-At-Arms to hurt a lot more since the abilities both deal magic damage. |
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. |
If you are pulling ahead of the competition you might want to consider picking this up second or third as a core item. There are many builds you can do with the new Guinsoo's Rageblade such as Hybrid or Tankier Variants. Some people probably still won't buy it since Essence Reaver is usually the go to damage item besides Trinity Force & Titanic Hydra nowadays. I really think this item really shows it's true potential if you are splitting.. but it is bad if you don't manage to stack it up for teamfighting!! It does have a lot of flexibility and works well with my splitpush based playstyle, but Trinity Force & Titanic usually do the job just fine as it is.. so it's hard for me to recommend this unless you are ahead.
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!!
In This Video I Show You Guys What You Should Do In Some Matchups When It Comes To Trading And Getting Creep Farm!!!
Farming Tips:
-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 just wanted to share my thoughts on my main champion Jax and why he is an AMAZING pick! He truly is one of the most fun champions to play in my opinion due to his high amount of mixed damage and his mysterious background!
Votes and Comments will help this guide out a lot!! I believe I have done pretty well making my first mobafire guide!
If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comment section!!
HUGE shoutout to Jovy for the art on this guide!!! She does a fantastic job!! I suggest you take a look at the work she does!
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!
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