Jarvan IV: The Prince in the Middle

Hello all! For a little longer than a year now, Jarvan IV has been a very popular pick in competitive play and soloqueue in the jungle role for his strong ganking abilities and the ability to deal damage while building tanky. However, Jarvan, similar to Pantheon, is an excellent choice for a snowballing AD assassin when put in mid lane.

 

1. Summoners

You're going to want to take Ignite no matter what. Jarvan IV in the mid lane is all about your kill, snowball and roam potential so you're going to want Ignite for your kill combo. I always take Flash for my second summoner because you can do so many crazy things with Flash on Jarvan. I'm going to list some of the combos here.

1. The most basic usage of Flash is: Flash E-Q then R (Flash, Demacian Standard, Dragon's Strike, Cataclysm). This is a long range engage. It's not the most optimal usage since you might be far from your team but you can use this to get over one or two walls to join a crucial team fight.

2. This isn't something that comes up very often but if for whatever reason you need to ult some people who don't have Flash or escapes off cooldown, you can E-Q, ult, then flash out of the  Cataclysm without having to dismantle its walls. I do this when it's necessary to isolate specific champions from the rest of your team such as Wukong in the middle of his ultimate. Champions this would be ineffcient against are champions such as Tristana, Jax, Riven, Akali, Katarina and Irelia. These champions all have ways to easily get out of your ultimate and most of these abilities that allow them to do so have low cooldowns. Of course you'll learn the ins and outs with experience on whether or not using this combo is worth it or not.

3. One of the less known combos is using flash in the middle of your E-Q combo. Similar to how champions like Vi flashing in the middle of her Vault Breaker extends the distance of the skill, Jarvan can do the same. Gragas for example can also accomplish this with his Body Slam. If you flash in the middle of your E-Q combo you can knock people up on the location to which you flashed to.

I ran Ignite/Barrier once for Jarvan and it worked really well for fights that you shouldn't otherwise be able to survive. Take that with a grain of salt, though, it might teach bad habits to players about what you can and can't engage on.
 

 

2. Runes

9x Armor Penetration Marks
9x Armor Seals
9x Magic Resist Glyphs
3x Attack Damage Quints

I use Armor Penetration Reds and Attack Damage Quints because of the way Jarvan's damage works. Since he gets a bunch of free Armor Pen with his Dragon Strike, the additional Armor Pen from Runes/Masteries helps him deal near-true damage early game. The burst is insane and the auto attacks after an E-Q combo will do additional amounts of damage. AD quints are there to help farm and deal damage when you go in for engages. Armor Yellows are important in any matchup because if you go against a ranged champion, they will likely use auto attacks to harass you.

You can possibly use alternative runes to Magic Resist Glyphs but the reason I prefer them is so you can survive trades gone bad. My alternative to MR Glyphs are Cooldown Reduction Glyphs. CDR is one of the most important stats on Jarvan IV since if you have at least 20% CDR, you're able to use Dragon Strike twice before your Demacian Standard disappears (before casting it again).

3. Masteries

These masteries are situational and up to preference. I like 21/9/0 for my overly aggressive playstyle and for Jarvan's huge power spike at level 2. You could opt for a safer 9/21/0.

 

4. Skill Order

You can opt for taking Q level one for the massive poke damage in lane, but I take E, Demacian Standard, to scout bushes and protect from jungle invades. That being said the skills to max out first are Q, then W, then E (R whenever possible). With all the nerfs to Demacian Standard in past months, it's more efficient to max his Golden Aegis second.

 

5. Final Tips and Build

Starting Items: [Doran's Blade + 1 Health Potion], [Red Elixir of Fortitude + 3 Health Potions], [Doran's Shield + 1 Health Potion]

First Back

Core

Final Build

Other acceptable items

Jarvan is an incredibly accomplished duelist and an exceptional assassin. With the proper practice on getting used to his damage values and how strong he is at early levels, here's hoping you can take this build and have some fun in the Fields of Justice! Remember to try and hit level 2 first and surprise your opponent with your damage by immediately jumping in on them!