Jarvan IV Jungle Wild Rift overview and best build snapshot
Best Build
Quick snapshot of the default setup for this guide.
Boots
Items
Summoner Spells
Spell 1
Flash
Spell 2
Smite
How to play
Look for early ganks Place your 3rd ability behind the enemy, then aim your 1st ability through it. You pull yourself to the flag and knock up enemies along the way.
Trap enemies after they use their escape Your ultimate is harder to leave when their dash or Flash is unavailable.
Keep a way to protect your carry Use your 3rd ability followed by your 1st to knock up enemies diving onto your carry. Press your ultimate again to remove its walls if an ally is trapped.
Guide author
Royal
Royal has reached Rank 1 in EU and NA, and Legend and Sovereign on the Chinese server. Created by Royal with input from high elo and professional players and the WildRiftGuides Discord community.
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Strengths
- His flag-and-lance flip is a guaranteed knockup, turning a risky gank into a kill the moment he reaches a laner.
- He starts objectives well, since the same engage that flips a laner can throw an enemy onto his team at dragon.
- He scales as a tanky bruiser who can stack resists and still bring an ultimate that walls a carry in.
Weaknesses
- His engage is one dash on a real cooldown, so a missed flag or a baited flip leaves him with no escape.
- He locks down one target, and once he has flipped and ulted that person he adds little to a long fight.
- Stasis, cleanse, and well-timed movement can avoid his control and leave him committed without a target.
Jarvan IV Jungle Wild Rift best build, items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order
ITEM BUILD
Best Wild Rift build for Jarvan IV Jungle, including items, runes, summoner spells, and skill order.
STARTING ITEM
Simple early attack damage. His passive already adds a percentage of current health to his first hit on a target.
BOOTS
Armor and health, which let him survive the dive his flag and drag combo commits him to.
CORE BUILD
Spellblade triggers on the attack after his combo, which speeds up his clear. The move speed also helps him reach the target he flagged.
His ultimate is a fixed engage cast on the enemy carry, and this turns that same cast into a heal for everyone who followed him.
Build this when the enemy team has two or more AP champions. The move speed also helps him close before his flag is up.
Build this when the enemy team has a lot of attack speed dependent champions, since his ultimate traps one in the arena with him.
Build this when you are fighting in the middle of the enemy team and need both armor and magic resist, which his ultimate walls him into.
SITUATIONAL ITEMS
Build this against healing. The Grievous Wounds applies from your own damage as well as when they attack you, so it sticks to the carry trapped in his arena.
Build this when the enemy team has multiple crit champions. Cataclysm (Ult) traps Jarvan beside the marksman he engaged, so crit reduction helps him survive his own arena.
Boot swap against heavy magic damage and crowd control, which is what lands before his flag does.
Replace Trinity Force when Jarvan is enabling multiple physical carries against an armored frontline. Health and haste support longer fights, while repeated physical damage reduces Armor for your whole team.
Replace Radiant Virtue when Jarvan needs personal skirmish damage and healing more than team protection after his ultimate. The first attack against each champion delivers an empowered hit and a heal, with a separate cooldown per target.
Replace Amaranth's Twinguard when Jarvan needs to survive the opening focus inside his arena before combat stacks would activate. Health, permanent Tenacity, and a bonus-Health Lifeline shield help you survive the return damage. Choose this or Maw of Malmortius for your Lifeline slot.
Replace Frozen Heart when Jarvan is ahead and can help secure prompt takedowns, trading the attack-speed aura for damage and recovery. Armor and delayed physical and magic damage buy time; a champion you recently damaged must die to clear the stored damage and trigger its heal.
Replace Force of Nature when magic poke or one opening AP combo is more dangerous than repeated spell hits. High Magic Resistance and a magic shield protect against AP poke or opening burst. The shield needs time without taking magic damage to return.
Replace Radiant Virtue when Jarvan remains beside multiple trapped melee champions and needs repeated personal healing. Health and mixed resistances support recurring nearby damage and healing. It pays off in extended melee fights, not when ranged enemies keep you outside its reach.
RUNES
KEYSTONE
His arena forces a fight that lasts, so he reaches max stacks inside the walls and the healing pays for standing there.
PRIMARY
His ultimate walls him in with whoever he caught, which is when this gives the most.
His flag and drag puts him inside their team, so the first answer aimed back at him is what this blunts.
His ultimate traps him in with the target, so surviving the follow-up is what the health buys.
SECONDARY
His engage is meant to convert into a kill, and refunding health mid-fight lets him survive the collapse.
SITUATIONAL RUNES
Take this over Overgrowth when crowd control is a bigger threat than long-term health. Its tenacity shortens most disables and grants temporary defenses while immobilized. The shorter disable lets Jarvan finish the engage with Cataclysm (Ult) after his flag-and-drag entry.
Take this over Triumph against teams that force extended frontline fights. Shorter Dragon Strike (1st) and Demacian Standard (3rd) cooldowns let Jarvan threaten another knockup after his first engage.
SUMMONER SPELLS
MAIN SPELLS
Flash
Must take. Flash into his ultimate is how he traps a target who was standing too far back for his flag and drag.
Smite
You are playing Jungle, you always take Smite. Monster damage upgrades from 600 to 1000 after 8 consumed Eco-system Protection stacks and to 1400 after 20 total.
SKILL ORDER
Skill Priority Order
- 11st Ability
Q - 23rd Ability
E - 32nd Ability
W
Jarvan IV Jungle Wild Rift matchups and counters
Wild Rift matchup guide for Jarvan IV Jungle, covering favorable lanes and difficult counters to prepare for in ranked.
Good Matchups
These champions are favorable matchups for this pick in Wild Rift. You have advantages against them and can play more aggressively.
Hecarim
Hecarim depends on momentum, and your knockup plus the Cataclysm (Ult) cage stop the charge his whole game runs on. Trapped inside your arena, his speed means nothing.
Xin Zhao
Xin Zhao commits everything to his dive, and your knockup interrupts his three-hit combo while the cage traps him away from his team once he is all-in.
Wukong
Wukong wants to knock up your team and clean up, but your knockup lands first and the cage strands the real one after his clone trick, where his burst does nothing.
Jarvan IV Counters
These champions counter this pick in Wild Rift and can be difficult matchups. Learn how to play against them or consider banning them.
Ekko
Ekko slips your engage with Phase Dive (3rd), his shield eats the knockup, and Chronobreak (Ult) rewinds him straight out of your Cataclysm (Ult), so your trap means nothing against a target who simply leaves.
Amumu
Amumu wins the long fight: his percent-health aura chips your tank frame while your lockdown only buys one window, and his ultimate locks you down harder than your cage locks him.
Graves
Graves turns your Cataclysm (Ult) into his arena, since trapping a point-blank shotgun bruiser just feeds him the duel. His burst out-damages your bruiser frame and True Grit (3rd) shrugs off your lockdown.
Jarvan IV Jungle Wild Rift game strategy and teamfighting guide
Wild Rift game strategy for Jarvan IV Jungle, from early lane control through mid and late game map play to final teamfights.