LoL Jarvan IV Jungle Guide

LoL Jarvan IV Jungle Guide by BlasI

Skill Order

1. level 1 E -> level 2 Q -> level 3 W
2. After that, max R -> Q -> E -> W. Q first because it’s your main source of damage. E next because of the free stats, and because it helps tremendously in pushing towers during mid-game. If you are buliding J4 full-tank, then max R -> Q -> W -> E, so that you can be extra beefy in the mid-game.

Masteries

• 21/9/0, J4 has devastating ganks pre-6, 21 points in offense gives the most power increase to your ganks. If you are building full-tank 9/21/0 can work however 21 points in offense gives so much %-damage it’s hard to give up and I don’t recommend it. Double-Edged Sword, Expose Weakness, Executioner, and Havoc together give +6% damage, +11% damage if they are below 50%, that’s a very LARGE increase in damage.

Runes

• J4 benefits extremely well from armor penetration, however anything more than 3-4 armor pen is wasted against the lower-armor monsters, also since I consider both Warrior and Brutalizer core you are pretty much doing true damage to all camps after your 2nd or 3rd clear anyway.
• Marks/Quints: combination of AD/AS
• Seals: combination of flat health + flat armor
• glyphs: either 9x scaling MR, or 6 CDR + 3 scaling MR if you want the extra 5% CDR

Jungle Route

1. Krugs are the best start for J4, due to AS bonus from E. Smite and use E immediately, your leash will also get benefit from E which will help.
2. Red buff. Make sure to line yourself up so that your Q hits all 3 monsters.
3. From here you can either go straight to blue or take a camp then blue. Since you smited krugs immediately your smite will be back up in time for this camp.

Jungle Item

• Pretty much always Ranger’s. He has no sustain and only a 50-health shield until level 14 (unless you max W 1st or 2nd, do not do that), and suffers from mana issues unless you are very stingy with your abilities (slower clear)
• Skirmisher’s is decent on him, but not as good as Ranger’s
• He has 2 gap-closers and 2 forms of cc, so he doesn’t need Stalker’s. HOWEVER, right now the stalker smite is so good it might be OP, so stalker’s can still work.
• He’s not particularly good at counterjungling, so Poacher’s is more or less wasted on him.

Jungle Enchantment

• J4 synergizes extremely well with both cooldown reduction and armor penetration, this strongly favors warrior enchantment.
• If you are building J4 as full-tank then take Juggernaut.

Item Build

• Jungle Item -> Jungle Enchantment -> Boots -> Brutalizer -> Tank
• If you are fed, then Jungle Item -> Jungle Enchantment -> Brutalizer -> Boots -> Black Cleaver -> Tank
• Tank Items: Randuin’s Omen, Banshee’s Veil, Locket of the Iron Solari, Thornmail, Frozen Heart
• Situational Items: hexdrinker/maw against double-AP or fed burst AP (leblanc/veigar/etc.), Last Whisper if you need more damage after BC

Tips

• Once your Q reaches <8s cooldown, you can Q to your flag twice before flag runs out. ALWAYS pay attention to where your flag is so you can get that Oddone Special™
• General combo: E -> Q -> W (-> R). Make sure to ult within 3 seconds of hitting Q so that R gets the benefit of armor reduction
• DO NOT W IMMEDIATELY AFTER KNOCKING UP. The knockup lasts .75s, so wait ~1 second before using W for the slow
• If you get jumped on by multiple people, R -> EQ out of your cataclysm to get away. If E or Q is on cooldown, you can also flash. This is also extremely useful if you get tower-dived.
• Be careful of ulting in the tight spaces, particularly in the jungle. Cataclysm becomes much more deadly in the jungle, both to your team and the enemy team.
• To initiate a teamfight, you can either try to EQ a carry if they get within 830 range, or if you can’t knockup a carry, then a multi-person knockup is still a good engage.
• Jarvan IV excels at clumped up enemy teams. A 3- or 4-man knockup -> ult -> W the whole team is pretty much a guaranteed win for a teamfight.
• If you need to clear as fast as possible and not worry about knocking up, Q then E so that you get in as many auto-attacks as possible
• E deals magic damage on impact, in a 75-range AOE. The true J4 snipers will get kills using E on fleeing targets
• W has an AOE of 300. That’s roughly twice the range of a melee-attack
• If you absolutely must catch your target in your ult at all costs, J4 has insane initiation range using E->Q->flash->R. This comes out to 1880 range, or almost as much as Level 1 Nocturne ult