I think we can all agree Jax could use something of a rework;
So I went ahead and gave it a shot! Megapost, TL;DR at the bottom.
Passive: Martial Mastery. In addition to his mana bar, Jax has a secondary resource bar that measures his current level of 'Mastery.' Jax gains a point of Mastery each time he fulfills a specific condition outlined by each of his basic abilities. Jax can have a maximum of 4 points of Mastery at any one time, increasing to 5 at level 6, 6 at level 11, and 7 at level 16. If Jax has been out of combat with Champions or Neutral Monsters for 4 seconds he begins losing Mastery at a rate of 1 point per second. Explanation: Not really a 'passive' so much as an explanation of his secondary resource. The general idea of this rework is to change Jax from an extremely simple bruiser with a very low skill floor and a similarly low skill ceiling, to a champion that can ACTUALLY claim to be a Grandmaster at Arms, in other words give an opportunity to show and even require mechanical skill.
Passive: Lantern Flame Jax's basic attacks do additional magic damage equal to 1+1 per 100 AP% of the target's maximum health. If he has at least 2 points of mastery, every 3rd basic attack against the same target will deal an additional 4/5/6/7 +1 per 33 AP% of their maximum health as magic damage over 4 seconds, with the duration refreshing and not stacking if this effect is applied again. If he has at least 4 points of mastery, instead of refreshing the remaining duration the damage is dealt immediately. Explanation: We see here the first instance of Mastery's primary effect; if you have enough of it, your abilities become better. We will see the secondary effect when we look at his new ultimate.
Q: Flame Strike CD: 18/17/16/15/14 Mana Cost: 80/90/100/110/120 Jax begins to channel for up to 3 seconds. During this channel he can still move, use items, and cast summoner spells, but he cannot use basic attacks or his other abilities. Over the first 2 seconds of the channel the range (from 350 to 700), size of the target area (from 150 to 300), and damage dealt (from 20/30/40/50/60 + 40% AP +40% TAD to 40/60/80/120 + 80% AP +80% TAD) all increase. Upon the second cast, Jax becomes briefly untargetable and then blinks to the target location, dealing magic damage in an AoE around himself. If Jax hits an enemy champion or large monster with the center of this ability (75-150 radius based on channel time) he gains a point of Mastery. If this ability was cast while Jax had at least 2 points of Mastery he gains 60/70/80/90/100% Bonus AS for his next 3 attacks. While Jax has 4 or more points of Mastery, this ability's remaining cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds each time he basic attacks an enemy champion. Explanation: This ability serves as Jax's only escape option, his primary initiating tool, and his most dependable option for gaining Mastery. The basic attack CD reduction allows him to chase better, and also to make use of the untargetability to dodge abilities, but the relatively high mana cost of this ability makes spamming it only possible in higher mana builds.
W: The Old One-Two CD: 8/7.5/7/6.5/6 Mana Cost: 40 When Jax first casts this spell, he immediately swipes a 350 range cone in front of himself, dealing 30/50/70/90/110 +50% TAD physical damage to all enemies hit and slowing them by 60% for 0.25 seconds. Jax may then reactivate this ability within 0.75 seconds, striking forward up to 450 range in front of himself, stopping at and damaging the first enemy hit for 20/30/40/50/60 +140/15/160/170/180% TAD physical damage, as well as applying damage from Lantern Flame. If Jax waits at least 0.25 seconds before reactivating this ability and hits a champion or large neutral monster with that second activation he gains a point of mastery. While Jax has 2 or more points of mastery, basic attacks reduce the remaining cooldown of this ability by 0.25 seconds. If Jax has at least 4 points of mastery when he reactivates his ability, enemies damaged by the second activation are stunned for 1 second. Explanation: Jax's bread and butter damage spell has been changed into something with at least a bit more counterplay, while having an element added that means Jax can at least sometimes contribute more than just damage to his team, and to make up for the fact that I removed the stun from his E.
E: Counter Strike CD: 10/9.5/9/8.5/8 Mana Cost: 50/55/60/65/70 For the next 0.6 seconds, Jax will block the next single target ability or basic attack of a Champion or Neutral Monster that hits him, also blocking any attached CC or Debuff. If he blocked an attack he will deal 20/30/40/50/60 + 40% TAD physical damage to his attacker, and if he blocked an ability he will deal 20/30/40/50/60 +25% AP magical damage to that enemy. If Jax blocks an attack or ability within the first 0.3 seconds of this ability's activation he will gain a point of Mastery. If Jax has at least 2 points of Mastery when he activates this ability it will block the effects of AoE spells on him (other targets in the AoE will be affected as normal.) While Jax has 4 or more points of Mastery, basic attacks against Champions and Large Neutral monsters reduce the remaining cooldown of this ability by 0.5 seconds. Explanation: I thought counterstrike as a concept was just too cool to throw away, but the amount of uncounterable power it gives him against basic attackers right now isn't really fair. I redistributed power a bit, giving him the ability to deal with spell slingers and rewarding the player for clutch blocks.
R: Grandmaster's Might CD: None. Cannot be cast again until a basic ability is used, the 3 second empower duration ends, or this ability is rank 3 and can be double cast. Cost: 1 point of Mastery per cast. When Jax casts this ability, he pays 1 point of mastery and empowers his next basic ability within 3 seconds. When this ability reaches 3rd rank, he gains can double cast this ability and pay 2 points of Mastery total to grant an alternative empowerment. Every 10 seconds Jax will gain a point of mastery, unless he already has 1/2/3 points of mastery already. Explanation: Once Jax gets his ultimate, he will have to constantly balance retaining the augmenting affects of holding on to Mastery with the significant boosts in power that empowered abilities give him. Even the most skilled Jax player will have to sacrifice one for the other, or risk losing both. Single empowered abilities mostly have to deal with increasing Jax's dueling power, while double empowered abilities (which are only unlocked very late into the game) give him a more significant team-fight presence if dueling is clearly not working. If it's not already clear, the empowerments do not stack, so you can never gain the benefits of both a regular empowered ability and a doubly empowered ability for the same cast.
Empowered Q: Instantly gain the benefits of 2 seconds of channeling, while still maintaining the 3 second casting window. Upon arrival gain 15/20/25 + 1 per 50 AP% Omnivamp for 6 seconds. Double Empowered Q: After arriving at your destination Jax becomes wreathed in flame for 4 seconds. While wreathed in flame, enemies within 300 range take 100 + 40% AP magic damage every second they remain in range.
Empowered W (first cast): enemies damaged by this ability are disarmed for 0.25/0.5/0.75 seconds. Double Empowered W (first cast): Enemies damaged by this ability take an additional 120% of their own AD as physical damage over 4 seconds.
Empowered W (second cast): The target of this ability has their armor and magic resistance reduced by 1/15/20 +1 per 33 AP% for 4 seconds. Double Empowered W (second cast): This ability now penetrates all targets in a line, damaging them and stunning them as applicable.
Empowered E: If a basic attack is blocked, that enemy is disarmed for 0.75/1/1.25 seconds. If a spell is blocked, they are instead silenced for 0.75/1/1.25 seconds. Double Empowered E: Now blocks 3 abilities or attacks. Cannot gain mastery from the second or third blocks. If multiple attacks or abilities come from the same enemy, they take half damage from subsequent blocks (10/15/20/25/30 +20% TAD for basic attacks and 10/15/20/25/30 +12.5% AP for spells.)
TL; DR Currently Jax as a champion is called the Grandmaster at Arms, but his low skill floor and ceiling don't really reflect that. My hope is to turn him into a more rewarding and skillful champion, and reduce his statcheck-ey nature.
I would love to hear any thoughts, criticisms, or suggestions! I'm going to work right now but I'll try to answer responses when I go on break. Hope you're having a splendid day :)
