Talk:Jarvan IV/@comment-16477585-20131010220710

Jarvan has been a strong jungler since his release. His signature E > Q combo allows him to gap close flashes and almost garauntee a knock up. With it he can also jump walls for evading ward and stealing buffs, jump on squishies without an escape, and escape from dire situations. He's tanky, he deals damage, and he can setup his team for AoE and increase damage via %Pen and attack speed. He's a fairly safe early pick but can still be countered quite easily.

Typical skill order:

E > Q > E > Q > W > R > E > Q > Q > W > R > Q > E > W > W > E > R > E > W

His passive is pretty good. Remember it deals % current health up to every 6 seconds. When jungling it's generally best to auto attack first before casting your E or Q to get the most damage out of it. Also if you're planning to smite it may be worth to get that 2nd or 3rd passive proc in first. During late game team fights you'll need to focus on spreading your passive to 2-3 targets instead of staying on a single target.

E and Q deal +45 damage per rank. Q gets -1 CD, 4% Arpen, and +5 mana. E gets 3 armor, +3/6% attack speed but keeps the same cooldown and mana cost. Generally E is better for ranking. E deals magic damage meaning it will always deal full damage to monsters, has a flat mana cost, and gives you armor and attack speed. The downside is that Q will generally deal more damage during ganks especially coupled with an AD based champ like Riven. Also it should be noted that his Standard remains for 8 seconds after cast. That being said you need Rank 3 of Q to match that 8 seconds and some CDR to make the second cast possible.

His W is better than it has ever been however it's almost always the last ability to rank. It's generally worth putting the first point in at level 4/5 depending in if you're ganking and then another point between 8-10 since the 2nd skill point is very effective once you start fighting 2v2's and 3v3's.

His ult is a classicc ability. You'll notice a number of champions can bug when using this ability or escape it in a nonsensical way (Vayne's Q). Comboed with E > Q the gap close is near Vi level however it's the least efficient way damage wise. Optimally you want to be in melee distance when engaging before using any abilities. The highest damage rotation late game is:

auto > Q > auto > W > auto until they use escape ability > R > E their escape path > auto until ult fades > Q (knock up if possible) that way you get the % pen damage increase on your ult and are saving your combo for escaping (E > Q out of your ult if needing to flee)

Jarvan is much like an assassin 1-11 but falls off late game into a more tank/support/peel role later. I like to get some AD early game when jungling with an item like Doran's Blade to get the most out of his high attack speed, 120% ratio on his Q and 150% on his ult.

Spirit Stone and Madred's are both viable item routes for J4. Most games you will want to rush Spirit of the Ancient Golem for its efficiency but against high AD based teams the +25 armor on Madred's can be a saving grace (remember resistances work best with his Golden Aegis shield). If successful during early ganks I like to buy a Doran's Blade to continue carrying, if not I focus on building tanky with a Locket (assuming your support isn't). Zeke's Herald is a great item to build on J4 with the right team comp.

So overall, J4 is relatively easy to play once you master his E > Q combo. He deals damage, gap closes, and tanks all relatively well. He's not the strongest in any of the roles when compared to other jungle champs but most will find him fun to play and able to fit into a number of team compositions. With the right jungle route and build you can often find yourself carrying a game by dunking and yelling DAMACIAAAA! gl