Champion Guide

Jax Guide

By LoLSuggest

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Jax is a top-lane duelist who scales into one of the best late-game fighters. Relentless Assault stacks attack speed, Leap Strike jumps to any unit including wards, Empower resets his attack and adds range, Counter Strike dodges every incoming attack and stuns when recast, and Grandmaster-at-Arms adds bonus damage to every third hit and grants resistances when activated. With a couple of items he can duel almost anyone and is a great split pusher.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Jax build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Doran's Bow and a Health Potion with Lethal Tempo, Doran's Helm with Grasp, or Doran's Shield in poke-heavy lanes. Trinity Force is the most consistent first item, followed by Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Hextech Gunblade and Sterak's Gage, then Death's Dance and Spear of Shojin. Dusk and Dawn, Blade of the Ruined King and Navori Flickerblade are other strong options, Mercurial Scimitar helps against heavy crowd control, and Plated Steelcaps or Mercury's Treads replace Ionian boots against heavy AD or AP. Run Lethal Tempo with Presence of Mind, Legend: Haste and Last Stand, plus Second Wind and Overgrowth; Grasp of the Undying with Triple Tonic and Jack of All Trades gives a healthier lane, and Stormraider's Surge suits short-trade lanes like Gangplank or Teemo. Take Flash with Teleport, Ignite to fight for kills, or Exhaust against burst lanes like Riven. Max W, then E, then Q.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

An excellent duelist who can fight almost anyone late in the game.
A great split pusher with fast tower damage from Sheen procs.
Leap Strike onto a ward gives him a built-in escape over walls.

Weaknesses

Crowd control and kiting can shut him down.
Hard to bring back into the game when he falls behind.
Mana-hungry, and heavy lane bullies such as Jayce or Kennen make laning difficult.

Laning Phase

Stack Relentless Assault before committing to a fight so you have bonus attack speed. Empower adds 50 range and resets your attack, and you can cast it during Leap Strike for extra damage on the jump. Use Counter Strike to dodge the enemy's attacks during their trade, then recast it to stun. Leap Strike can target champions, minions, wards and jungle plants, so carry a Control Ward to ward-hop out of ganks. Falling far behind is very punishing, so play safe in bad matchups and farm toward your Trinity Force spike.

Mid & Late Game

Jax shines as a split pusher: attack, then Empower right as the attack lands for an attack reset and a Sheen proc, and recast Counter Strike manually when Sheen is ready for a second proc. Split when your team knows your plan, keep vision around your lane and track how many enemies are visible so you know when to back off. With Teleport, you can join a teamfight your team can hold for a few seconds. In teamfights use Grandmaster-at-Arms for resistances and dive onto carries once their crowd control is used.

Key Tips

Empower resets your attack timer and adds range; weave it right after an attack lands.
Recast Counter Strike manually to get a second Sheen proc while split pushing.
Leap Strike to a ward or a jungle plant to escape over walls.
Missing Grandmaster-at-Arms costs both damage and the resistances that keep you alive.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.