Welcome to the League of Legends Champion Spotlight featuring Jarvan IV, the Exemplar of Demacia.
Jarvan is a tanky DPS champion, excelling in rapid movement and singling out his targets. He’s designed to be an initiator, getting into combat quickly and safely while dishing out tons of damage.
Jarvan’s passive is Martial Cadence. When Jarvan hits any enemy, he deals a percent of its current health in bonus damage.
This ability cannot hit the same target more than once every few seconds, but he can freely switch between targets to deal bonus damage to all of them.
Jarvan’s first ability is Dragon Strike. He deals physical damage to enemy targets in a line, reducing their armor.
Second is Golden Aegis. Jarvan immediately shields himself from a flat amount of damage.
The shield grows stronger with the number of enemy champions present. Additionally, upon activating the shield nearby enemies are slowed.
Demacian Standard is Jarvan’s third ability. At all times, Jarvan has increased attack speed and armor.
When activated, Jarvan throws a flag to target location, dealing damage to enemies it hits.
After landing, the flag grants armor and attack speed to nearby allies, which doubles his own passive benefit.
Additionally, Jarvan may use Dragon Strike aimed at Demacian Standard. If it connects, he is pulled to his flag, knocking up enemies along his path.
Jarvan’s ultimate is Cataclysm. Jarvan leaps at target enemy, damaging it and creating a ring of impassable terrain around the landing zone for a few seconds.
Jarvan may re-activate the ability to destroy the terrain if it suits his purposes.
Cataclysm combines well with Dragon Strike and Demacian Standard, allowing you to block off an enemy and simply back off if needed.
Jarvan combines very well with allied gankers. Here as Maokai comes in, I launch Morgana into the air with Demacian Standard into Dragon Strike.
Unfortunately I use Exhaust way too late, resulting in Maokai’s death in exchange for our kill on Morgana.
With Cataclysm, Jarvan can also kill enemies by himself. Here I open up on Morgana with Demacian Standard plus Dragon Strike.
As soon as Morgana turns to fight, I put on Golden Aegis.
Afterwards I back out to draw her away from the turret before unleashing Cataclysm and taking her down with Dragon Strike and basic attacks. 0:02:29.700,0:00:35.500 Jarvan also excels at escaping ganks. Seeing Singed come in from the side, I know I can’t head to my turret.
Once in the river, I notice they both follow me, so I head back up towards the turret. Unfortunately, this means that I walk straight into Warwick.
I time Demacian Standard and Dragon Strike to knock-up Warwick mid-ultimate. This breaks his suppression on me and I walk out at full health.
Cataclym not only keeps enemies in; it also keeps enemies out. Because I’m teamed with Maokai who can also blink, I drop onto Morgana with Cataclysm.
This makes Singed completely helpless to stop us. Afterwards, we chase down the enemy Maokai while my ally takes one for the team, rooting Singed in place and sealing his own fate.
Always remember to be patient when escaping your enemies. Because I max Golden Aegis second, I am able to withstand a fair amount of punishment,
taking my time to ensure that firing Dragon Strike onto Demacian Standard will get me far away from my opponents.
Even at low health, Jarvan can be deceptively durable. I get ganked by Singed but using Golen Aegis, I force him to run.
In doing so, I hold him in place with Cataclysm. Knowing he will run soon after, I position myself for Dragon Strike’s knock-up effect.
With the follow-up from Urgot, we take down Singed.
Jarvan combines especially well with ranged champions. Catching a glimpse of Morgana in the jungle, I barely catch up to her with Cataclysm.
Unable to react, Urgot and I get tons of free damage on her.
Because I didn’t have to use my knock-up combo, it’s already available for Warwick. Urgot makes sure he’s pinned down as I deal the killing blow.
Cataclysm is especially good when you know you’ll win the fight. Here I block Morgana, Singed, and Warwick all within.
We kill off Warwick and Morgana very early, while the 5v3 is too much for Singed to handle.
From that point on it’s extremely easy to mop up the rest of the team, with me running up to the cliff to use Golden Aegis, slowing Lux for the last kill.
Jarvan’s wealth of crowd control effects makes him an excellent teammate all around. I open with Golden Aegis, slowing Lux and Singed.
Though I intended to also hit Lux, Demacian Standard with Dragon Strike helps us kill Singed.
From there, I land Cataclysm when it will trap both Morgana and Lux.
Noting that we can’t kill Lux quickly enough, I use Exhaust before she gets out of range, picking up the kill with Dragon Strike.
Jarvan also has probably the funniest synergy with Urgot.
As soon as Urgot picks a target to swap, land Cataclysm on the target now stuck in the middle of your team. Guaranteed success!
Now let’s talk builds.
I take armor penetration marks, health per level seals, magic resist per level glyphs, and armor penetration quintessences.
I use 21/8/1 masteries, taking Strength of Spirit in Defense, and improving my Exhaust and Ghost summoner spells.
For skills you want to max Demacian Standard as soon as possible, with one point early in Dragon Strike, and then maxing Golden Aegis.
Item-wise, I start out with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions. I turn the Cloth Armor into Wriggle’s Lantern and grab Mercury Treads in most cases.
From there, you need to assess the enemy team. Typically I take both Sunfire Cape and Banshee’s Veil.
Though in the game shown here, the lack of physical damage on the enemy team made me take Frozen Mallet instead of Sunfire. 0:05:41.000,0:00:48.000 Afterwards, building Atma’s Impaler, Infinity Edge, and finally selling Wriggle’s Lantern for Last Whisper will give you a ton of damage output.
You typically won’t get to those last two items, but just the damage from Atma’s will make you a large threat.
Get out there and start playing Jarvan. Don’t stop until you “topple their forces!”