Overview
Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam! One of the premier dunkers in the game, Jarvan is a jungle champion with a lot of pizzazz thanks to his flag and drag combo and his Cataclysm. If you need a jungler that’s good at getting the party started then look no further! Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Top 3 Things to Remember About Jarvan IV
Cataclysm is one of the few abilities in the game that can unintentionally grief your own teammates, as you may end up locking them in with an enemy or locking them out from helping you. You can cancel the generated terrain by pressing R again, so be on the lookout for whether or not you really want to be locked in there with them!
Demacian Standard provides a large attack speed bonus to nearby champions -- this can make all the difference when fighting neutral monsters or trying to secure turrets, and a flag in the backline doubles as an escape route for you.
You don’t have to combo Demacian Standard with Dragon Strike, even if it feels like the two abilities might as well be one. There are many situations where it’s better to just use them alone, such as Q for damage from a bit of range, or dropping a flag into a bush for vision.
Strengths
Thanks to his flag and drag (EQ) combo, he can quickly traverse the map by going over walls and the like -- this means you can avoid vision if you happen to know where enemies are warding. Combo this with this ability to close gaps and apply a slow, Jarvan’s early ganks can be devastating for opponents. The low cooldowns on his abilities means that if you can find a second flag and drag in a fight, it should spell doom for your target. At level 6, Cataclysm is a very simple point and click ability that should make it very easy to secure kills.
Weaknesses
Jarvan can be relatively squishy thanks to many of his builds leaning more heavily towards a large AD profile. And because he must go in to find value from his kit, this can sometimes expose him to strong counter engages from champions, especially those with the afforded mobility to escape from Cataclsym. You can often force a movement ability if you’re able to land or threaten the knock-up with flag and drag, but if you miss it, Cataclysm’s threat is greatly reduced.
Game Plan
Early Game: His abilities make it so that you can find effective ganks as early as level 2, but in general you’ll want to continue ganking early and often. Rushing level 6 is also viable if you don’t have strong lanes to gank for.
Mid Game: You definitely want to be looking for value with your abilities -- you can hit multiple enemies with all of them, so be on the lookout for big engage opportunities. It’s fine to take risks if your team can capitalize on whatever ends up happening to you.
Late Game: At this point, your damage will have fallen off and you become more of a CC bot -- be sure to keep a good lookout for engage opportunities, but if the enemy is being aggressive, it may be better to instead peel backwards for your carries.
