[2.4] Jarvan Iv Guide - JARVAN THE VI TEAMMATE

General information:

In the following, I will list the best items from experience in my games. I will describe why I find them the best options and what makes them useful. I will use the term "cost efficient" a lot. That's because I am a really big advocate of building a set of items that gives the most value of stats, and not only gives my champion the stats that seem useful in general. Cost efficiency means that the item gives stats relatively to its cost. The stats are calculated with the stats and cost from the items that have the lowest price for that stat, also known as Tier 1 items. A Long Sword would be 100% gold efficient, but in this case, you wouldn't use this stat. That's because it is the item from which the value is derived. An example of a really cost inefficient item would be   Winged Moonplate because it only gives you 5% movement speed for the cost of 400 gold. An example for a really cost efficient item would be Trinity Force because for its price it gives you more stats than it costs to build and that's without the passive effects.

I encourage everyone reading this guide to think more about the items that they build and if they are worth it. I would also be happy to be corrected for the decisions I made in this guide because someone else finds a more useful build than mine. In the end, it's about the love of the game, and not about being the one who is always right.

STARTING ITEMS:

I always start with an Amplifying Tome . I guess another viable option would be Ruby Crystal , but in my experience, the Amplifying Tome gives you are really good head start for lane in terms of damage. Amp tome is in my experience the best item to start with. You not only get 25 AP from it but also start to get adaptive AP damage from the runes. Which means suddenly have 39 AP. I also tested it out with dummy bots. The bots have 100 armor, which is unrealistic for an early laning stage. But even here you can see 18 damage difference.

Damage with amplifying tome

 

Damage with ruby crystal

 

Boots of Speed could also be a good option if you struggle against certain matchups like Blitzcrank . Because his hooks are easier to dodge with more movement speed and it's harder to poke him down you could go for boots and try to roam early. Then again, you lose AP early, which is the time where you want to be annoying the enemy ADC out of lane.

At the first backport you want enough gold for Ionian Boots of Lucidity . Why boots first? You may ask. The lucidity boots are extremely cost efficient and also provide you movement speed to roam around the map. Roaming is a key element of Jarvan the sixth member, which will be described more in detail in later parts.
If you have more or less than 1000 gold you can also buy Boots of Speed or components for your Ardent Censer like Aether Wisp or a ruby crystal for Kindlegem .
Sometimes you get to base late in the game and have enough gold for an instant Ardent Censer . This way you lose out on the ability to roam more effective, but gain more damage for fights in lane.

CORE ITEMS:

First of all, the sequence of the items is not that important. You can try to change them around if the situation requires it. Generally, though you get the most out of the item strengths if you buy them in this order. That means the two AP items first because they align with the time in the game where you want to play around your Demacian Standard and the damage from it.

The first major item you want to finish is Ardent Censer . It is an extremely cost efficient item with 97%, which doesn't count the passive buff. This buff can proc at maximum two times per Demacian Standard. If you shield an ally with Aery the passive effect will be activated. This means another attack speed buff for your teammate on top of a damage buff. Also, it gives you movement speed to roam around the map more quickly. Lastly, it gives you 250 HP which benefits your build later when you start to build more resistances.

The second item you want to finish is Athene's Unholy Grail . In contrast to Harmonic Echo the healing activates on your Aery shield. The healing effect is good, but realistically a bonus that comes with this item. The AP and magic resist is the main factor why athene's fits good in your build.

After the first two items, you are usually at a point in the game where it's better for your team if you can tank more damage. That's also the point where Redeeming Enchant comes in handy. There are generally two situations when you want to use this item:

1. You dive into the enemies heads first and cage the carries with your Cataclysm . Right after this you can active redeeming enchant on top of yourself to do more damage and also survive longer.
2. You stand behind and wait for the enemies to dive on you. In this situation, you want to heal as many teammates as possible. Healing means the effect from Ardent Censer , but also lets them survive longer.

The item Protector's Vow marks the time of the game where you start to be the frontline engage of your team. This item is quite interesting because it interacts really well with the other items in your build. It is relatively cost eficient, but also gives you all the stats you need: health, armor, and ability haste. The part which makes it really good for this build is it's passive. Your teammates receive a shield if they are near you and take damage. This makes it good in situations like the second use of Redeeming Enchant noted above. But also, interestingly, the shielding benefits from bonus health and ability power. Two things we already built before. So at this point, you are really squeezing the effectiveness out of your items.

Your next item will be Zeke's Convergence . I also have to note that most of my games never reach the point where I get to finish Zeke's. It is one item I added to the build because it allows you to be tankier while also giving your teammates more damage with its passive effect. This item could probably also be built before Protector's Vow . The reason for this would be because it's generally more useful in League of Legends to build combat items earlier and defensive items later. Then again, I usually never get to the point where I finish Zeke's before the game ends, and in my experience Protector's Vow is a very useful item. In my opinion Zeke's Convergence is an item that rounds the build really well with armor and magic resist. I am also happy to be corrected on this part and if a reader finds a more useful build path or item instead.

OTHER VIABLE ITEMS:

With the last item, you want a cost efficient item that preferably also gives you HP. The item Protector's Vow scales with bonus HP, so that's why getting more health is a good idea. Also with more HP, you benefit more from the resistances from the other items.
Randuin's Omen is a really good cost efficient item. It also lets you dive onto the AD carry, because of the passive that reduces critical strike damage.
If you want more magic resist the best option would be Spirit Visage . Again, because it is relatively cost efficient. But also because it gives you more healing from Redeeming Enchant .
Other options would be Thornmail or Force of Nature . Thornmail has a cost efficiency of  90.77 and also gives your team Grievous Wounds, which is a really valuable stat to have in your team. Also because you usually try to stick onto the enemies with your ult they cant avoid attacking you, which makes the Grievous Wounds effect very useful. Force of Nature is 80.41% cost efficient without passive effects. It is an okay option, but you also don't really need the movement speed effects this late into the game. Your abilities are on a relatively low cooldown which allows you to move around quickly in fights. In later stages of the game, it is also usually not necessary to move around the map quickly, because roaming doesn't have that much of an impact as earlier.