Jarvan IV: An identity crisis

Jarvan is an interesting champion in League of Legends. He has a simple kit; he has his flag and drag, he has his shield, and he has his Cataclysm. His pattern follows a simple pattern; he EQs in, he autos, and he ults. The amount of variability and expression for a fighter is rather limited, and his skillcap is somewhat limited by this.

I’m going to follow this thought on the premise that he, at his core, is a fighter. However, he doesn’t really follow the pattern of a fighter. Most fighters have something they can do after their gap closer. Lee Sin can E and his everyone around him and slow. Other champs like Vi have auto attack resets and a 3 hit passive to keep them threatening at melee range. Jax has an auto reset, a 3 hit passive, and a time-dependent dodge. Olaf has his Q that he constantly throws, Renekton has his spin, his W stun, etc. These champs have something to make them interesting once they get in. Zac’s Q was even reworked on the premise that after he E’s in, he doesn’t have anything else to do besides ult. Jarvan, however, is in a bit of a predicament. His EQ is his gap closer. However, he’s got nothing afterwards, other than his passive, which I believe to be a little cheesy and not very fitting of his fantasy as a fighter. Utilizing this passive generally means slapping someone, and then waiting to slap them again. This makes for really odd, unfocused gameplay with his auto attacks. I get that the point is to set up his team by lowering their current health, but all this means in a gameplay sense is that he ends up switching who he hits all the time. This is weird gameplay and it doesn’t make much sense to a fighter.

In the current meta, he ends up being either an assassin or a full tank. The fantasy of an assassin is highly unfitting. He’s supposed to lead his teammates into battle with his plated armor and unique two-handed weapon. Why is he taking Thunderlord’s Decree and looking to burst people with his combo? It’s extremely cheesy. The fantasy of a tank is not as unfitting, but not fully accurate. Again, he has a big, sharp, pointed weapon. In his new lore, it states that he was trained by the best Demacian swordsman and is quite skilled. Sounds like a guy that can hold his own. He is, however, only human. His plated armor isn’t nearly the beef that Nautilus’ suit or Gragas’ belly-fat. He’s not an armordillo and he’s not a morbidly obese catfish. Additionally, his kit initially resembled something a tank would have, sporting a shield and passive armor on his E, but the high AD ratios made playing him with a Warrior or an Elder Lizard back in the old days feel really good. Straight up, Jarvan is a fighter. So how do we remedy this weird identity crisis that this champ seems to face? He’s well rounded, but he doesn’t really live up to his fantasy of being a leader or being a fighter.

A trend I’ve noticed among fighters is that they have all 3 of their basic abilities being somewhat offensive. Jax, Vi, Illaoi, Irelia, Renekton all kind of follow this pattern. I’ll give you my observations with his kit/combos/patterns, and feel free to discuss. Golden Aegis feels tacked on. The group slow and the group shield is a great move, but it feels like you’re kind of going to use it every time regardless of the situation Jarvan’s facing. If J4 jumps in, he Ws. If he’s running away, he Ws. If he’s clearing the jungle, he Ws. It reminds me a little bit of Ahri’s Foxfire, an ability that she’s probably going to use almost every time she lands a charm or dives towards a target.

J4’s flag and drag feels signature. It’s the combo people associate with him. It has relatively high counterplay, can be flayed, can be dodged, and it must be perfectly accurate in order to achieve the desired effect. In essence, the combo actually fits today’s game a little bit. We obviously LIKE counterplay, and there’s a ton of it in Jarvan’s flag and drag.

His ultimate, while a bowl of spaghetti to most people, is relatively fitting. It’s often used as a burst tool. That’s fine, I suppose. There’s some fun decision making that occurs when deciding a target to ult. “How can I dunk the most people?” often becomes the question asked in a split second.

So based on my observations, I’ve limited 2 parts of his kit that should be changed in order to accommodate his intended playstyle. His passive, and his W.

However, I’d like to make changes to signature flag and drag in order to accommodate the following changes. Jarvan’s Q needs to have a slightly lower cooldown, slightly lower mana cost, and a fairly reduced AD ratio. It should have moderate to good base damage. The premise of this is so that Jarvan isn’t fully screwed if he misses his Q. Additionally, this should help reduce the amount of full AD Jarvan that pushes the assassin playstyle. Cataclysm would also have a reduced AD ratio as well, but would still keep solid base damage. Personally, I’d put his W on his passive. When he knocks up or Cataclysms a champion or large monster, he sends out a nova that briefly slows and gives a shield based upon his maximum health. This would keep his identity as a teamfighter. It would feel rewarding to land a large knock-up on a number of people. Then, I’d replace his W with some kind of new, interesting offensive damage spell. A couple of ideas come to mind:

• A Fiora E-like ability where an auto reset leads into two strengthened auto attacks. The first would do current health damage and the following would do missing health damage. The percentages on these could be low, like 4-5% of each.
• A sweep attack in a cone that may slow, similar to a Camille E.
• Perhaps a combination of both, a sweep attack that slows, followed by an auto attack that does damage based on maximum health.

The goal of a new, offensive spell would: a. Make his auto attack more interesting and replacing an outdated, and frankly weird, passive. b. Solidify his role as a fighter. c. Increase his reliability by allowing him to do something after he’s EQ’d in.

TL;DR J4 is supposed to be a fighter. Put Golden Aegis on his passive and give him a new, offensive skill instead of his passive that may involve auto attacks. Nerf AD ratios in order to accommodate new move.