Guide · Jungle

Jarvan IV Guide

the Exemplar of Demacia

Fighter

Tank

Tier C Jungle

Jarvan IV, the Exemplar of Demacia, is a fighter and tank champion of medium difficulty. Across our 900 analysed ranked games, Jarvan IV is mostly played in the Jungle (100% of its games), with a 50.4% win rate in that role: tier C among Jungle champions (#34 of 48, ranked by win rate). Jarvan IV's damage is mostly physical (86%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 54.6% in long games (over 35 min, 97 games) versus 49.2% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Averages measured over 900 Jungle games played with Jarvan IV, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Jarvan IV is an engage fighter-tank: his first attack deals a percentage of the target's current health. Demacian Standard raises his attack speed and that of nearby allies, Dragon Strike reduces armor and can bring Jarvan back to his Standard while knocking enemies up, and Cataclysm creates an arena around him.

The engage combo

E › Q › AA AA

When: An enemy is within Dragon Strike range.

Demacian Standard plants a flag that deals magic damage; Dragon Strike brings you back to the standard while knocking up the enemies on the way, then your first attack deals the passive's damage.

The arena

R › Q › W › AA AA

When: A carry is isolated.

Cataclysm leaps you onto a target while turning the area into an arena; follow with Dragon Strike and Golden Aegis to slow.

See all 3 Jarvan IV combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Your first attack on an enemy deals a percentage of their current health: open the trade with it. Plant your Demacian Standard to set up your Dragon Strike and an engage.

Common mistakes

• Casting Dragon Strike without the Standard: you lose the knock-up.
• Using Cataclysm with no ally to follow up.
• Attacking the same target several times: the passive only triggers once per period.

Riot's official tips for playing Jarvan IV

• You can use the Dragon Strike / Demacian Standard combo to get out of your own Cataclysm arenas.
• Split your basic attacks on different champions at the beginning of fights to maximize damage.
• Use Demacian Standard as a scouting tool when worried about incoming enemies.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Bastionbreaker, Profane Hydra, and Voltaic Cyclosword (64 games, 51.6% win rate).

Bastionbreaker+Profane Hydra+Voltaic Cyclosword

64 games · 51.6%

Guardian Angel+Black Cleaver+Sundered Sky

58 games · 60.3%

Death's Dance+Axiom Arc+Profane Hydra

50 games · 40.0%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W54.5% · 101 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●		●	●		●		●
W			●											●	●
E	●							●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 134 games).

Starting items

Scorchclaw PupHealth Potion46.8% · 47 games

Scorchclaw Pup50.0% · 40 games

First completed items, in order

Sundered Sky›Black Cleaver

23 games · 47.8%

Profane Hydra›Axiom Arc

19 games · 63.2%

Profane Hydra›Voltaic Cyclosword

15 games · 26.7%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 4010 gold, 70 CS, 3965 XP. At 15 min: 6385 gold, 107 CS, 6757 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Smite50.5% · 899 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Inspiration

50.9% · 802 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity82%

Coup de Grace58%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Cosmic Insight100%

Magical Footwear96%

Shards

Attack speed96%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling70%

Conqueror + Domination

50.0% · 66 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Alacrity94%

Coup de Grace94%

Secondary tree · Domination

Sudden Impact100%

Relentless Hunter91%

Shards

Attack speed98%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling94%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Jarvan IV's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team51.0% · 243 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Profane Hydra 47.2%

Sundered Sky 54.3% ▲

Black Cleaver 55.3%

Eclipse 56.5%

Voltaic Cyclosword 49.2%

Death's Dance 51.8% ▼

The item that stands out most is Sundered Sky: 54.3% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team48.4% · 244 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Profane Hydra 49.6%

Sundered Sky 48.4%

Death's Dance 59.3%

Black Cleaver 50.6%

Voltaic Cyclosword 48.9%

Eclipse 48.9% ▼

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team51.3% · 413 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Profane Hydra 48.9%

Sundered Sky 50.0%

Black Cleaver 54.3%

Death's Dance 59.5%

Eclipse 55.1%

Voltaic Cyclosword 53.8%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Jarvan IV in the Jungle

Viego Jarvan IV: 43.5%23 games

Viego has the edge in 57% of the 23 Jungle duels against Jarvan IV. See the Viego guide.

Lee Sin Jarvan IV: 46.8%47 games

Lee Sin has the edge in 53% of the 47 Jungle duels against Jarvan IV. See the Lee Sin guide.

Kha'Zix Jarvan IV: 50.0%20 games

Kha'Zix has the edge in 50% of the 20 Jungle duels against Jarvan IV. See the Kha'Zix guide.

Qiyana Jarvan IV: 53.3%15 games

Qiyana has the edge in 47% of the 15 Jungle duels against Jarvan IV. See the Qiyana guide.

Graves Jarvan IV: 56.5%23 games

Graves has the edge in 43% of the 23 Jungle duels against Jarvan IV. See the Graves guide.

Who Jarvan IV is strong against

Graves56.5% · 23 games

Qiyana53.3% · 15 games

Kha'Zix50.0% · 20 games

Lee Sin46.8% · 47 games

Viego43.5% · 23 games

How to play against Jarvan IV

• Keep out of the path between Jarvan IV and his Demacian Standard to avoid being knocked up in the air.
• Cataclysm's terrain is a frightening force to fight against, but movement abilities can go through it.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Jarvan IV's matchups.

Jarvan IV Jungle: what our games say

Laning phase against the Jungle average

Measured over 134 Jarvan IV games with a timeline; the average covers 69 champions played Jungle in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Abilities

PassiveMartial Cadence

Jarvan's first basic attack on an enemy deals bonus physical damage based on their current Health. This effect cannot occur again on the same enemy for a few seconds.

QDragon Strike

Jarvan IV extends his lance, dealing physical damage and lowering the Armor of enemies in its path. Additionally, this will pull Jarvan to his Demacian Standard, knocking up enemies in his path.

WGolden Aegis

Jarvan IV calls upon the ancient kings of Demacia to shield him from harm and slow surrounding enemies.

EDemacian Standard

Jarvan IV carries the pride of Demacia, passively granting him bonus Attack Speed. Activating Demacian Standard allows Jarvan IV to place a Demacian flag that deals magic damage on impact and grants Attack Speed to nearby allied champions.

RCataclysm

Jarvan IV heroically leaps into battle at a target with such force that he terraforms the surrounding area to create an arena around them. Nearby enemies are damaged at the moment of impact.

Other Jungle champions to know

Most played

Lee Sin50.1 %Graves49.2 %Qiyana51.4 %Viego47.2 %Hecarim49.2 %Talon51.2 %Sylas50.2 %Kha'Zix50.9 %

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Rek'Sai58.7 %Quinn56.9 %Briar55.4 %Kayn54.3 %Shaco53.4 %Nidalee53.3 %Vi53.0 %Rammus52.9 %

Frequently asked questions

Full Jarvan IV page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides