Jarvans place in the league: a discussion about jarvan

I feel as though Jarvan has lost much of what makes him different through out the years of nerfs he has recieved, mainly to his utility. As a long time Jarvan player since season 2, I have always been content with about how strong Jarvan has been, even when many people would criticize him for his ult not working so well on high mobility carries. It's something to play around, and it's fun to outsmart your opponent as you claim their body with a loud DEMACIA as you time their flashes and burn their escapes, it's so satisfying. Lately though, I feel as though all this work I do for that satisfying outcome of smashing them into the ground helpless is just overshadowed by someone like vi who just clicks her ult and flies at them. It's brutal and cool to watch but I never felt as satisfied using vi as I did j4 because of how linear her kit plays, while j4 has many more options and things you can do.

Now obviously, vi has existed for a long time and this has never been a problem before, so what's different nowadays? The main thing about j4 that has always separated him from the class of champions he belongs in (diving fighters/bruisers, what ever you want to call them) has always been 2 things, his utility and team fighting power compared to the others. Jarvan would rise from the ashes occasionally and would become a top tier pick at times, and every single time he rose to popularity and meta status riot nerfed his utility every single time, and rather hard. The only buffs he's recieved since I started playing was a lower cd on his shield and his ult dealing damage to multiple enemies that get caught in the circle. His shield being lower cd could be considered a buff to his utility but that's not really the case when you consider how his kit actually plays out in a real match. The thing about jarvan is, his base stats suck really bad. This really takes a toll on him when you are trying to be forward and direct like a fighter like vi, but now with so much of his utility removed it really doesn't feel like the trade off for picking him over vi is really fair at all anymore.

Another thing I would like to point out about j4 is that he is actually quite a toxic champion to play against. This issue stems from his ult. The circle he creates makes for hit or miss gameplay that feels very high variance and downright frustrating to play against. Either you have an escape for it or not, and if you don't you are helpless. This already invalidates many adcs who might have to face him, because if they don't have an escape they must burn flash and trade a 300 second cd for a 100 second cd. This creates very annoying to deal with gameplay that feels very toxic when ever jarvan is considered a strong champion. This is also probably why his win rate is always pretty decent right now at 51.5% according to lolking, because he's just that damn good against low mobility carries which are quite popular right now.

So what needs to change about jarvans ult? Many have suggested making his ult apply the grounded effect and this is one I would be rather happy to see. Now obviously giving it to him now as ult is currently would be broken. Make the ability harder to land though and you can give the ability more impact for when it actually hits. This is much more healthy than his current iteration because the interaction is more about avoiding the hit rather than just saving a spell for the ability. Maybe make his ult a skill shot with a slight cast time/travel distance and apply the grounded effect is my personal idea. You keep that satisfying feel of tracking their cooldowns and waiting for the right moment to jump on the enemy that his current ult does, but the mobility is to actually avoid the ult, not just tank the hit and then jump out and laugh at him. This interaction makes it more apparent to jarvan players as well, as they quickly realize when they use their ult that if the enemy can jump they will just simply avoid it completely, where as right now keeping cool downs in mind is something that only higher level jarvan players do because it's harder to read what is actually more effective. Landing an effective ult is also much easier to read with the grounded effect because they are actually trapped in the ult.

In terms of his EQ combo, I really like the combo the way it is and don't think anything should be changed about this interaction. The dash combo is less damage and more utility, which sticks out from vi in a good way that is meaningful enough to make a difference. The cast time on the combo is also rather long, which really hinders his assassin play style, which while good for some laughs and can actually be strong at times, is not a play style I think jarvan should be as good with as the other builds he can do. If you want to fulfill that type of role then I think vi would simply always be better at that type of thing, and if she wasn't better than j4 at it then something would be very wrong imo.

Now his W.... This ability really needs something, some form of utility that effects his allies would be great. I'm really not sure though, I have many half baked ideas flowing through my head with changes but when I try to flesh them out a bit more they don't make a whole lot of sense. Right now the shield just doesn't feel good at all to play around with. I've played jarvan for years and never have I felt a significant gain from landing the shield on more than 1 or 2 enemies. I look at the numbers and see the potential shield he can get for hitting 5 enemies and it sounds good, but unless I'm full tank and ahead of the enemy I will just get melted because of how bad jarvans base stats are. Maybe the shield could be the thing that applies the grounded effect and relegate it to be a more powerful ability with a longer cool down and make it more recognizable to compensate? I do like this idea as well, although not as much as I like it on his ult. As it is now you melt if you try to get the shield on more than a few people because your EQ is simply not good for knocking up multiple people due to the long cast time, and this is jarvans only hard cc. So what generally happens is you EQ a few people then ult in and maybe get a good shield, but everyone is sitting their wailing on you because you couldn't actually disrupt them from using their damage on you for any meaningful amount of time. A better idea I just thought of would be to make his shield give damage reduction that scales with how many enemies he hits with it, I think this would be much more significant.

I really hope the fighter rework is next after the assassin rework, and I really hope jarvan is one of the main contenders for changes in the rework, because I think jarvan does need a significant touch up to differentiate him and create meaningful reasons to pick him over his brethren. I would really like Jarvan to be a healthy champion who has real differences and isn't super frustrating to play against. Right now though, vi is a fun champion and I do enjoy playing her and she feels much better to play than jarvan does currently. She's always been my number 2, and I am glad to see that she is doing so well as a champ, even if I am sad to prefer her over jarvan at any given time due to how much his kit is in need of love.