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Dark Horses - Solo Lane Assassin Jarvan IV

Riot··5 votes·51,674 views
We're back with another installment of Dark Horses! This time, we'll be digging into Jarvan IV -- while we're used to seeing him do his princely duty in the jungle, he's also very viable as a solo laner built for assassinating high-damage squishy targets.

Fear the flag

Jarvan IV is most commonly played in the jungle, built as a tank with high mobility and crowd control to keep his enemies in line with strong gank pressure. While the idea of tanking damage for his people is all very nice and princely, we're going to focus on Jarvan IV's ability to do the dirty damaging work by himself.

Lane bully of Demacia

Jarvan can get off to a strong start during laning phase, thanks to his threat of constant poke with Dragon Strike (Q) and the damage from his passive (Martial Cadence), which adds 10% of the enemy's current health as bonus physical damage to his auto-attack. If you can use his tools wisely in lane, it shouldn't be too hard to grind down your opponent's health low enough to force them to go back to base or risk giving up a kill.


Tools to dodge ganks or set them up

The tools that make Jarvan a powerful jungler also serve him well for dealing with enemy junglers; specifically, his E+Q combo (also known as the Flag 'n' Drag) quickly puts him in position to avoid trouble (or start his own). When he's out of position in lane and the enemy jungler comes to gank, he can use this combo to knock up the jungler and escape without using Flash. Of course, he can also use his E+Q combo to quickly roam the map and gank other lanes, just like he does in the jungle.


Turn the enemy carries into a squishkebab

We’ve talked about his damage and how strong Jarvan can be, but to really make a difference in the mid game Jarvan will need offensive items, especially the ones that have Armor Penetration. After laning phase, your job in teamfights is to jump onto the carries and explode them.


Not yet ready for the throne

Can't deal with damage

We're used to thinking of Jarvan as a solid tank in his standard jungle role, but if you go for a full damage build, he won't be able to handle taking damage very well. His W gives you a shield that slows enemies, which can be useful for buying you time and space to survive long enough for your teammates to help, but don't expect this Jarvan style to do well in longer fights.

All-in on teamfights

If you blew your full Jarvan IV combo and your team didn’t follow up, or your team didn’t win the team fight and you’re out of cooldowns, you can consider yourself pretty much dead. Jarvan's assassination potential lies in his ability to burst a single enemy and hold him behind, especially in the early game. Remember: Princes don't live long enough to become kings unless they only pick fights they know they'll win.

Need to manage your mana

Jarvan is very mana-reliant, so make sure you keep a reserve pool of mana handy or you might have a problem finishing a combo or escaping a gank. If you need a little more safety in your laning phase, consider picking up a Crystal Flask to quench Jarvan's mana thirst.



You can add Jarvan IV to your champion pool for 616 RP (30% off), and his Warring Kingdoms skin for 945 RP (30% off) from April 9 until 11:59 PM PDT April 13.

DEMAAAAAAAAAACIIIAAA!

264 Comments

gt4SU1uALs60 votes

"Lane Bully of Demacia" Love how Riot's example of J4's damage is showing Irelia getting hit for free over and over again.

iciclearms47 votes

JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen Lux JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen JarvanIV Garen

PK Fiyaaa104 votes

In my head "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia!" "DEMACIAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Illuminate the enemy!" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA" "Demacia! "DEMACIAAA"

Starblaster1158 votes

Olaf BROMACIA!!!!! Gnar DEMAGLIO!!!!

Kayana Koe30 votes

Trundle TROLLMACIA!!!!

My ADC Sux Again28 votes

DRRRRAAAVEEEENNNNN

ChronoMagusFrog13 votes

Teemo SATAN

Shaco QQ17 votes

Not DRRRAAAVEEENNNN...Draaaaven...Draven

Drachensviel12 votes
  1. NOXUSSSSSSCassiopeia Darius Katarina Talon Swain Leblanc Singed Vladimir Urgot
Ha Piness23 votes

Sion ain't dead yet

Nightsaw92 votes

@DragOnKim vlad is not noxus and singed isnt either. Also cass isnt

Crovax II13 votes

Actually Cassiopeia is noxus, read the lore. And you forgotDraven

SoKayleMeMaybe17 votes

Rammus Ok.

21 03 20007 votes

What does it even mean?

flaming death20016 votes

is that aLux i see in there

sIav40 votes

[deleted]

Super Saiyan10 votes

Sona dude? Really? Shes fron Ionia... did you even pay attention to who you were putting in this? And Xin Zhao too like what?

Auryiel84 votes

She is an ionian orphan who has lived her whole life in Demacia He has built a life in Demacia and considers this City-State to be his home

You wanna shut up now?

Wideman20 votes

Wait a second... You're telling me that garen if from Demacia? Next you'll say that Jarven IV is from Demacia! Noobs these days...

ShutenDöuji6 votes

Erherm... Xin Zhao - Senechal of DEMACIA

ImCreepinDeath8 votes

People these days.

BootyConnoisseur4 votes

Why is Lucian up there?

Oathbringer15 votes

Lucian was born in Demacia he no longer lives there as he hunts undead but he still is loyal to them.

GetToTheLantern6 votes

Sona doesn't talk.. lol

Maeolan20 votes

OMG imagine sona yelling demacia (or using a sound clip)

Trothezium24 votes

[deleted]

PuBsCWaet420 votes

Demacia, Jemacia, same difference

League of Potato29 votes

"flashes over ultimate" unnecessary, you could have pressed "R"

ggwp

GetToTheLantern1 votes

Why when you could lock someone in and give you more time to E Q away

AnysonAcE5 votes

The guy in the vid was chasing Ezreal, so he burned his flash to just get him and wouldn't have lost his flash if he just pressed "R" (He may have had to use that to catch up to Ezreal anyway, but initially Jarvan didn't need to waste it)

DrathTurtle3142 votes

He had to catch up after arcane shift. If his q was up(or within a second of being up), press r and continue to chase until Q, otherwise flash auto.

xDream5 votes

I mean....it seemed like all of the videos in this post were some novice fighting bots. But yeah that especially made me cringe

FirexSaber24 votes

This is a dark horse? I though Solo Lane Jarvan has been around for a long time. At least, that's how I usually played him.

Kitty no Mates4 votes

It was, top lane urgot and jungle gragas were dark horses too, but they were still commonly used whenever the champion happened to be in a game. Of course you rarely ever saw urgot, but if you did for the most part it was top

Pants4every112 votes

i wonder how long it takes for a giraffe to throwup

Dog Of WÍsdom10 votes

Exactly 3.2481796754 seconds. Zilean

TH3 SP1R1TLORD2 votes

42, i knew it!!! But what was the question again?? Heimerdinger

Fnatic Jhin11 votes

It says dark horse but after viewing Warring Kingdom Jarvan IV I saw no horse.

Meep Man7 votes

BANDLE CITY! Corki Heimerdinger Lulu Rumble Teemo Tristana

(doesnt quite have that ring to it?)

Kitsunetsuki 6 votes

Demacia is my love, my life, and my ringtone! Garen Lux JarvanIV Shyvana Quinn

Remalaz2 votes

but this is the original demacian team: Garen XinZhao JarvanIV Lux Galio

Ponishio6 votes

SHURIMA!! Azir Renekton Sivir Xerath Cassiopeia Amumu Nasus Rammus Skarner

Choi10134 votes

Leave a commentAhri

GummyGuy274 votes

Ok. Rammus

HeroesOfTheSun3 votes

PITOVER!!!Vi Caitlyn Jayce Ezreal Jinx

lCantPauseltMom3 votes

I think I might be wrong on this one, but isn't Jinx's affiliation with Zaun not Piltover?

DynamicFang1 votes
  1. whoever tries this is a tryBard and sucks Ashe Evelynn n if they are a cool person if they are good with j4 tho they are Gnar ly many saltMasterYi sitem 3070
Super Saiyan7 votes

What?

King Punch24 votes

I guess this guy is kinda a tryBard

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