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Jax
JaxSquare
General Information
TitleGrandmaster at Arms
Real NameSaijax Cail-Rynx Kohari Icath'un
PronounsHe/Him
Release DateFebruary 21, 2009
Cost1350 BE 585 RP
PrimaryFighter
SecondaryAssassin
Statistics

HP
665 (+ 100)

HPR
8.5 (+ 0.55)

MP
339 (+ 52)

MPR
7.6 (+ 0.7)

MS
350

AD
68 (+ 4.25)

AS
0.638 (+ 3.4%)

RNG
125

AR
36 (+ 4.2)

MR
32 (+ 2.05)
Developer Info
DDragon KeyJax
Integer Key24
External Links
Universeuniverse.leagueoflegends.com
Game Info Wikileagueoflegends.fandom.com

Jax is a champion in League of Legends.

Lore[]

For outdated and now non-canon lore entries, click here.
  • Biography
  • Story #1
  • Story #2
Runeterra’s greatest weapons master, Jax is the only survivor of the Kohari—champions sworn to the defense of Icathia. But when the Void was unleashed against the Shuriman empire’s Ascended Host, Icathia was destroyed, leaving Jax without a home or purpose. He gathered the “last light of Icathia”, a symbol of his hope to one day defeat the Void, and now travels the world, searching for warriors strong enough to face the coming darkness by his side.

Saijax Cail-Rynx Icath’un grew up in Icathia, a satrapy of the Shuriman empire. Ever since he was a boy, his father told him of when their home was a proud, independent nation, before it was ground under the heel of Shuriman oppression. He told him of the Kohari, heroes who protected Icathia and its Mage King. The Mage King had resisted Shurima’s conquest, but when he died in battle, his Kohari protectors followed him, committing ritual suicide. The Shuriman emperor displayed the Kohari’s decaying bodies for all to see, and the Mage King himself was impaled above the city gates, his bones left to molder.

Saijax’s father had witnessed this cruel act, and over time he passed down to his son the burning resentment that was growing in every Icathian heart. Even so, Saijax committed himself to the study of arms, learning from Shurima’s weapons masters as well as his own clan’s elders.

After many centuries of Shuriman rule, a massive earthquake struck the coastal province of Saabera. The destruction revealed something hidden deep beneath the earth, something dark and of great power—perhaps strong enough even to overcome Shurima’s god-like Ascended warriors. Saijax was entrusted with protecting the Icathian mages who encountered this discovery… which the guards just barely contained with brazier-staves that blazed with conjured elemental fire. Disturbed, he escorted the mages to the governing council so they could tell of what they’d learned.

They called this power the Void.

Immediately the council recognized its potential, but Saijax saw the doom the Void portended. As a master of weaponry, he knew the danger of using a weapon they could neither fully understand nor safely harness. He regretted that he didn’t kill the mages as they rode from Saabera. He would regret it even more in the days to come.

Confident that the Void could defeat their Shuriman overlords, the council crowned a new Mage King. The Kohari were rebuilt, with Saijax among the first to join their ranks. They triumphed in early engagements, and Saijax even killed one of the vaunted Ascended in battle, watching with pride as its corpse was paraded around the liberated city of Bai-Zhek.

When the Ascended Host approached Icathia, Saijax and his brethren assembled on the front lines. As the two armies churned the earth beneath them into crimson loam, Icathia’s mages and priests deemed the time had come to unleash the Void.

Ruin swept over the land, as Icathians, Shurimans, and even Ascended were unraveled from existence. The city’s walls collapsed as the Void swallowed thousands into cold, silent oblivion.

In moments, Icathia was lost.

Saijax rode to the ruined crater where the Void had been summoned, determined to fall upon his sword like the Kohari of old. But before he could take his life, he saw among the devastation a discarded brazier-stave that he recognized from Saabera—it still blazed with elemental fire that harmed the Void. This flame kindled a spark in Saijax’s heart. He took up the stave and left behind the ruins of his homeland, tending to this “last light of Icathia”, and the hope it represented.

Grieving and ashamed, Saijax Cail-Rynx Kohari Icath’un forsook his old name, and from that day was known only as Jax.

He became a wanderer, traveling across the known world and to places beyond any map. As he bore the elemental fire, Jax’s life extended beyond even the expectations of his long-lived people. Yet the farther he went from Icathia, the lower the flame burned, until it threatened to gutter out once and for all. Jax understood with grim resolution that he couldn’t run from his past. He had a duty to return, and fight. The advance of the Void had been halted by the last surviving Ascended, but its singular threat endured.

For centuries since, Jax has roamed, a vagabond warrior searching for those strong enough to rebuild the Kohari. Though he has fought countless times against beings of great skill, courage, and power, none have yet convinced him that they can march against the coming darkness. The fall of Icathia has plagued Jax with doubt, but one thing remains certain: when the final battle comes, Jax will stand against the Void.

Even if he has to face it alone.

"Strength and will are what make a weapon."

- JaxSquareJax

NONE SHALL PASS

Jax sat cross-legged at the center of the bridge with his long-hafted polearm resting on his knees. Demacia had not changed much since he had last traveled this way, but that didn’t surprise him. Its people zealously protected their borders, which had turned them into pretty decent fighters. Well, some of them anyway, he thought, wiping a spot of blood from the softly glowing head of the lamppost. He flicked the droplet over the parapet to the river below and reached into his robe to pull out his third hard-boiled egg of the day. Tapping it on the cobbles, he slowly peeled the shell as he heard the warriors at the end of the bridge try to decide which one of them would face him next.

Jax lifted his mask and bit into the egg. He took a deep breath, tasting sun-ripened crops on the wind and freshly turned earth from the expanse of farmland stretching to every horizon. Jax sighed; to see a realm at peace made him homesick for a land that no longer existed. He shook off the chill of memory, knowing thoughts of Icathia would only distract him. His robes were heavy, but the sun’s warmth didn’t reach the mottled and oddly hued skin beneath. No part of his flesh was visible, which was probably just as well. He wasn’t even sure what his skin looked like anymore.

A cold wind scudded over the snowcapped mountains to the north and a distant storm disgorged rain over distant fields and settlements. Where Jax came from, there was little in the way of clouds, and even less rain. Perhaps the storm would come south and make the cobbles of the bridge slippery. That might make this more challenging for him.

It would also make things more difficult for his opponents. And perhaps that was no bad thing. After all, a warrior worthy of fighting at his side in the battles against the monsters from beyond would need to be adaptable. He heard the clatter of armor and the whisper of a blade cutting air.

“Stand and face me” ordered a powerful voice.

Jax held up a finger while he finished his egg. He licked his lips then settled his mask back over his face before looking up at the warrior standing before him. The man was powerfully built, broad of shoulder and thick of arm. Armored head to foot in gleaming warplate of burnished steel, he carried a double-edged, hand-and-a-half sword.

And looked like he knew how to use it. Jax approved.

“You seem like a man who can hew ironbirch trees all day and still have energy left for a tavern brawl” said Jax.

“I’ll not waste words on you, monster” said the warrior, assuming the same fighting stance all the others had. Jax sighed, disappointed the defeat of the fifteen men before this one hadn’t taught them anything.

“Monster?” he said, rising to his feet in one smooth motion. “I could show you monsters, but I fear you wouldn’t live long enough to tell anyone what a real monster looks like.”

He swung his lamppost around to loosen the muscles in his shoulders. Not that he needed to, but he’d been fighting, on and off, for the last four hours and it might make the man facing him feel like he at least had a chance of winning this duel.

“For Demacia!” shouted the swordsman and he attacked with the same tired, predictable strikes all the others had. The man was fast and strong enough to wield his sword in one hand. Jax swayed aside from the first blow, ducked the second and parried the third. He spun inside the swordsman’s guard and hammered his elbow against the side of his helmet. The metal buckled and the man went down on one knee with a grunt of pain. Jax gave him a moment to still the ringing in his head. The man tore off his helm and dropped it to the bridge.

Blood matted the side of his head, but Jax was impressed at how the man controlled his anger. Demacians had always been sticklers for discipline, so he was glad to see that hadn’t changed. The man took a steadying breath and attacked again, a series of blisteringly fast cuts that went high and low, a mixture of sweeping slashes, lighting thrusts and overhead cuts. Jax parried them all, his lamppost in constant motion as it deflected the Demacian’s blade and delivered stinging, bruising ripostes to the man’s arms and legs. He feinted left and hooked his lamppost around the opponent’s legs, putting him flat on his back. He jabbed the butt of his post into the man’s belly, doubling him up and leaving him gasping for air.

“Had enough yet?” asked Jax. “I can swap hands if it makes it easier.”

“A Demacian would rather die than take succor from an enemy” said the warrior, lurching to his feet. The man’s stoic facade was crumbling in the face of Jax’s mockery, and when he attacked again, it was with a ferocity untempered by discipline and skill. Jax ducked a risky beheading strike and switched to a one-handed grip on his lamppost. He spun his weapon under the man’s sword and rolled his wrist. The Demacian warrior’s sword was wrenched from his grasp and flipped through the air. Jax caught it deftly in his free hand.

“Nice little weapon” he said, spinning the blade in a dazzling series of master fencer’s strokes. “Lighter than it looks.”

The Demacian drew his dagger and rushed him. Jax shook his head at his foolishness. He threw the sword from the bridge and sidestepped a series of blisteringly fast thrusts. He ducked a sweeping cut and caught a thunderous right cross in his open palm. He nodded toward the river.

“I hope you can swim” he said, and twisted his wrist, lifting the armored warrior from his feet and flipping him over the bridge’s parapet. The man splashed down into the river and Jax planted his lamppost on the cobbles.

“Who’s next?” he said.

“That would be me” said a woman dismounting a gray gelding at the end of the bridge. Her horse’s flanks were lathered with sweat, her cloak dusty from a hard ride. She wore a silversteel breastplate, and a long-bladed sword was scabbarded at her hip.

She marched past the men at the end of the bridge and strode toward him, moving with a perfect economy of motion, utterly in balance and supremely confident in her skill. Her features were angular and patrician, framed by dark hair streaked with crimson. Her eyes were cold and unforgiving. They promised only death.

“Who are you?” asked Jax, intrigued.

“My name is Fiora of House Laurent” she said, drawing her weapon, a dueling saber that gleamed with a perfect edge. “And this is my bridge.”

Jax grinned beneath his mask.

Finally, an opponent worth fighting!

WHERE ICATHIA ONCE STOOD
WHERE ICATHIA ONCE STOOD

My name is Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari Icath’or.

Axamuk was my grandsire’s name. A warrior’s name, it means keeper of edges, and it is an auspicious title to bear. Axamuk was the last of the Mage Kings, the final ruler to fall before the Shuriman Sun Empress when she led her golden host of men and gods into the kingdom of Icathia.

Var is my mother and Choi my father. Icath’or is the name of the blood-bonded clan to which I was born, one with an honorable history of service to the Mage Kings.

I have borne these names since birth.

My name is Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari Icath’or.

Only Kohari is a new addition. The fit is new, but already feels natural. The name is now part of me, and I bear it with a pride that burns bright in my heart. The Kohari were once the life-wards of the Mage Kings, deadly warriors who dedicated their lives to the service of their master. When Axamuk the King fell before the god-warriors of the Sun Empress and Icathia became a vassal state of Shurima, every one of them fell upon their swords.

But the Kohari are reborn, rising to serve the new Mage King and reclaim their honor. I bear their sigil branded on my arm, the scroll-wrapped sword.

My name is Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari Icath’or. I repeat it over and over, holding onto what it represents.

I do not want to forget it. It is all I have left.


Was it only this morning I and the rest of the reformed Kohari marched through the streets of Icathia? It seems like a lifetime ago.

The wide thoroughfares were thronged with thousands of cheering men, women and children. Clad in their brightest cloth, and wearing their finest jewelry to honor our march, they had come to witness the rebirth of their kingdom.

For it was Icathia that was reborn today, not just the Kohari. Our heads were high, my chest swollen with pride.

We marched in step, gripping the leather straps of wicker shields and the wire-wound hilts of our curved nimcha blades. To bear Icathian armaments had been forbidden under Shuriman law, but enough had been wrought in secret forges and hidden in caches throughout the city, in readiness for the day of uprising.

I remember that day well.

The city had been filled with screams, as baying crowds chased down and murdered every Shuriman official they could find. Resentment for centuries of humiliating laws intended to eradicate our culture—and brutal executions for breaking those laws—came to a head in one blood-filled day of violence. It didn’t matter that most of these people were merely scriveners, merchants and tithe-takers. They were servants of the hated Sun-Emperor, and needed to die.

Overnight, Icathia was ours again!

Sun disc effigies were pulled from rooftops and smashed by cheering crowds. Shuriman scriptwork was burned and their treasuries looted. The statues of dead emperors were desecrated, and even I defaced one of the great frescoes with obscenities that would have made my mother blush.

I remember the smell of smoke and fire. It was the smell of freedom.

I held to that feeling as we marched.

My memory recalled the smiling faces and the cheers, but I could not pick out any words. The sunlight was too bright, the noise too intense, and the pounding in my head unrelenting.

I had not slept the previous night, too nervous at the prospect of battle. My skill with the nimcha was average, but I was deadly with the recurved serpent bow slung at my shoulder. Its wood was well-seasoned, protected from the humidity by a coat of red lacquer. My arrows were fletched with azure raptor feathers, and I had carved their piercing heads from razored obsidian sourced from the thaumaturges—the magickers of earth and rock. Long runs through Icathia’s lush, coastal forests and along its high mountain trails had given me powerful, clean limbs to draw the bowstring, and the stamina to fight all day.

A young girl, her hair braided with silver wire, and with the deepest green eyes I had ever seen, placed a garland of flowers over my head. The scent of the blossoms was intoxicating, but I forgot it all as she pulled me close to kiss my lips. She wore a necklace, an opal set in a swirling loop of gold, and I smiled as I recognized my father’s craft.

I tried to hold on to her, but our march carried me away. Instead, I fixed her face in my mind.

I cannot remember it now, only her eyes, deep green like the forests of my youth…

Soon, even that will be gone.

“Easy, Axa,” said Saijax Cail-Rynx Kohari Icath’un, popping a freshly shelled egg into his mouth. “She’ll be waiting for you when this day is done.”

“Aye,” said Colgrim Avel-Essa Kohari Icath’un, jabbing his elbow into my side. “Him and twenty other strapping young lads.”

I blushed at Colgrim’s words, and he laughed.

“Craft her a fine necklace from Shuriman gold,” he continued. “Then she’ll be yours forever. Or at least until morning!”

I should have said something to berate Colgrim for slighting this girl’s honor, but I was young and eager to prove myself to these veteran warriors. Saijax was the beating heart of the Kohari, a shaven-headed giant with skin pockmarked by the ravages of a childhood illness, and a forked beard stiffened to points with wax and white chalk. Colgrim was his right hand, a brute with cold eyes and a betrothal tattoo, though I had never heard him talk of his wife. These men had grown up together, and had learned the secret ways of the warrior since they were old enough to hold a blade.

But I was new to this life. My father had trained me as a lapidary—an artisan of gemstones and maker of jewelry. A meticulous and fastidious man, such coarse language was anathema to him, and unfamiliar to me. I relished it, of course, eager to fit in with these leather-tough men.

“Go easy on the lad, Colgrim,” said Saijax, slapping my back with one of his massive hands. Meant as a brotherly pat, it rattled the teeth in my skull, but I welcomed it all the same. “He’ll be a hero by nightfall.”

He shifted the long, axe-headed polearm slung at his shoulder. The weapon was immense, its ebony haft carved with the names of his forebears, and the blade a slab of razor-edged bronze. Few of our group could even lift it, let along swing it, but Saijax was a master of weapons.

I turned to catch a last glimpse of my green-eyed girl, but could not see her amid the tightly packed ranks of soldiers, and the waving arms of the crowds.

“Time to focus, Axa,” said Saijax. “The scryers say the Shurimans are less than half a day’s march from Icathia.”

“Are… Are the god-warriors with them?” I asked.

“So they say, lad. So they say.”

“Is it wrong that I can’t wait to see them?”

Saijax shook his head. “No, for they are mighty. But as soon as you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t.”

I did not understand Saijax’s meaning, and said, “Why?”

He gave me a sidelong glance. “Because they are monsters.”

“Have you seen one?”

I was filled with youthful enthusiasm, but I still remember the look that passed between Saijax and Colgrim.

“I have, Axa,” said Saijax. “We fought one at Bai-Zhek.”

“We had to topple half the mountain to put the big bastard down,” Colgrim added. “And even then, only Saijax had a weapon big enough to take its head off.”

I remembered the tale with a thrill of excitement. “That was you?”

Saijax nodded, but said nothing, and I knew to ask no more. The corpse had been paraded around the newly liberated city for all to see, proof that the Shuriman’s god-warriors could still die. My father had not wanted me to see it, fearing it would enflame the desire to rebel that had smoldered in every Icathian heart for centuries.

The memory of exactly what it looked like is gone now, but I remember it was enormous beyond belief, inhuman and terrible…

I would see the god-warriors later that day.

And then I understood Saijax’s meaning.


We formed up on the gentle slopes before the crumbling remains of the city walls. Since the coming of the Sun Empress, over a thousand years ago, we had been forbidden to reclaim the stone or rebuild the wall; forced to leave the rubble as a reminder of our ancient defeat.

But now an army of stonewrights, laborers and thaumaturges were hefting giant blocks of freshly hewn granite into place with windlass mechanisms that crackled with magic.

I felt pride at the sight of the rising walls. Icathia was being reborn in glory right before my eyes.

More immediately impressive was the army taking position athwart the hard-packed earthen road leading into the city. Ten thousand men and women, clad in armor of boiled leather and armed with axes, picks, and spears. The forges had worked day and night to produce swords, shields and arrowheads in the days following the uprising, but there was only so much that could be produced before the Sun Emperor turned his gaze upon this rebellious satrapy and marched east.

I had seen pictures of ancient Icathian armies in the forbidden texts—brave warriors arrayed in serried ranks of gold and silver—and though we were a shadow of such forces, we were no less proud. Two thousand talon-riders were deployed on either flank, their scaled and feathered mounts snorting, and stamping clawed hooves with impatience. A thousand archers knelt in two long lines, fifty feet ahead of us, blue-fletched shafts planted in the soft loam before them.

Three blocks of deep-ranked infantry formed the bulk of our line, a bulwark of courage to repel our ancient oppressors.

All down our line, crackling energies from the earth-craft of our mages made the air blurry. The Shurimans would surely bring mages, but we could counter their power with magic of our own.

“I’ve never seen so many warriors,” I said.

Colgrim shrugged. “None of us have, not in our lifetimes.”

“Don’t get too impressed,” said Saijax. “The Sun Emperor has five armies, and even the least of them will outnumber us three to one.”

I tried to imagine such a force, and failed. “How do we defeat such a host?” I asked.

Saijax did not answer me, but led the Kohari to our place in the line before a stepped structure of granite blocks. Shuriman corpses were impaled upon wooden stakes driven into the earth at its base, and flocks of carrion birds circled overhead. A silken pavilion of crimson and indigo had been raised at its summit, but I could not see what lay within. Robed priests surrounded it, each one weaving intricate patterns in the air with their star-metal staves.

I did not know what they were doing, but I heard an insistent buzzing sound, like a hive of insects trying to push their way into my skull.

The pavilion’s outline rippled like a desert mirage, and I had to look away as my eyes began to water. My teeth felt loose in their gums, and my mouth filled with the taste of soured milk. I gagged and wiped the back of my hand across my lips, surprised and not a little alarmed to see a smear of blood there.

“What is that?” I asked. “What’s in there?”

Saijax shrugged. “A new weapon, I heard. Something the thaumaturges found deep underground, after the earthquake at Saabera.”

“What kind of weapon?”

“Does it matter?” said Colgrim. “They say it’s going to wipe the gold-armored dung-eaters from the world. Even those thrice-damned god-warriors.”

The sun was close to its zenith by now, but a shiver worked its way down my spine. My mouth was suddenly dry. I could feel tingling in my fingertips.

Was it fear? Perhaps.

Or, maybe, just maybe, it was a premonition of what was to come.

An hour later, the Shuriman army arrived.


I had never seen such a host, nor ever imagined so many men could be gathered together in one place. Columns of dust created clouds that rose like a gathering storm set to sweep the mortal realm away.

And then, through the dust, I saw the bronze spears of the Shuriman warriors, filling my sight in all directions. They marched forward, a vast line of fighting men with golden banners and sun-disc totems glimmering in the noonday sun.

From the slopes above, we watched wave after wave come into sight, tens of thousands of men who had never known defeat, and whose ancestors had conquered the known world. Riders on golden mounts rode the flanks, as hundreds of floating chariots roved ahead of the army. Heavy wagons the size of river barques bore strange war-machines that resembled navigational astrolabes; spinning globes orbited by flaming spheres and crackling lightning. Robed priests came with them, each with a flame-topped staff and an entourage of blinded slaves.

At the heart of the army were the god-warriors.

Much else fades from my mind; the blood, the horror and the fear. But the sight of the god-warriors will follow me into whatever lies beyond this moment…

I saw nine of them, towering over the men they led. Their features and bodies were an awful blend of human and animal, and things that had never walked this world, and never should. Armored in bronze and jade, they were titans, inhuman monsters that defied belief.

Their leader, with skin as pale and smooth as ivory, turned her monstrous head towards us. Enclosed in a golden helm carved to resemble a roaring lion, her face was mercifully hidden, but I could feel her power as she swept her scornful gaze across our line.

A palpable wave of terror followed in its wake.

Our army shrank from the scale of the enemy force, on the brink of fleeing before even a single blow was struck. Steadying shouts arose from our brave leaders, and an immediate rout was halted, but even I could hear the fear in their voices.

I, too, felt an almost uncontrollable urge to void my bladder, but clamped down on the feeling. I was Kohari. I wouldn’t piss myself in my first battle.

Even so, my hands were clammy and I felt a sickening knot forming in my gut.

I wanted to run. I needed to run.

We could not possibly stand against such a force.

“Big bastards, aren’t they?” said Colgrim, and nervous laughter rippled through our ranks. My fear lessened.

“They may look like gods,” said Saijax, his voice carrying far and wide. “But they are mortal. They can bleed, and they can die.”

I took strength from his words, but I wonder now if he knew just how wrong he was.

“We are Icathians!” he roared. “We are the heirs of the kings and queens who first settled this land! It is ours by right and by birth. Aye, we are outnumbered, but the warriors our enemies have sent are slaves, and men whose only loyalty is to coin.”

He raised his weapon high and the sunlight shone from its polished blade. He was glorious in that moment, and I would have followed him to the very end of the world if he asked me to.

“We fight to live in freedom, not in slavery! This is our home, and it is a land of proud people, of free people! There is nothing stronger than that, and we will prevail!”

A cheer began in the Kohari ranks, and was swiftly carried to the other regiments in our army.

“I-ca-thi-a!I-ca-thi-a!I-ca-thi-a!”

It echoed from the rising walls of our city, and was carried to the Shuriman host. The god-warriors spoke swiftly to their attendants, who turned and ran to bear their orders to the wings of the army. Almost immediately, our enemy began to move uphill.

They came slowly, their pace deliberate. On every third step, the warriors hammered the hafts of their spears on their shields. The noise was profoundly unnerving, a slow drumbeat that sapped the will of we who were soon to feel the tips of those blades.

My mouth was dry, my heart hammered in my chest. I looked to Saijax for strength, to take courage from his indomitable presence. His jaw was set, his eyes hard. This was a soul who knew no fear, who rejected doubt and stood firm in the face of destiny.

Sensing my gaze, he glanced down at me. “Egg?” he said.

A pair of peeled eggs lay in the palm of his hand.

I shook my head. I couldn’t eat. Not now.

“I’ll take an egg,” said Colgrim, taking one and biting it in half. Saijax ate the other, and the pair of them chewed thoughtfully.

The Shurimans drew ever closer.

“Good egg,” noted Colgrim.

“I add a dash of vinegar as I boil them,” Saijax replied. “Makes them easier to peel.”

“Clever.”

“Thanks.”

I looked back and forth between them, unable to reconcile the mundane nature of their words as an all-conquering army marched upon us. And yet, I felt soothed by it.

I laughed, and that laughter swiftly spread.

The Kohari were laughing, and soon, without knowing why, our entire army was laughing. The fear that had threatened to undo us all now fled. Fresh resolve filled our hearts, and put iron in our sword arms.

The Shurimans halted two hundred yards from us. I tasted a strange texture to the air, like biting on tin. I looked up in time to see the spinning globes on the war-machines burn with searing light. The priests attending them swept their staves down.

One of the flaming spheres detached from the globe and arced through the air towards us.

It landed in the midst of our infantry, and burst in an explosion of pellucid green fire and screams. Another sphere followed, then another.

I gagged as the smell of roasting flesh billowed from the ranks, horrified at the carnage being wrought, but our warriors held firm.

More of the spheres arced towards us, but instead of striking our ranks, they wobbled in the air before reversing course to smash down in the heart of the Shuriman spearmen.

Amazed, I saw our thaumaturges holding their staves aloft, and crackling lines of magic flickered between them. The hairs on my arms and legs stood up in the shimmering air, as if a veil was being drawn up around us.

More of the searing fireballs launched from the Shuriman war-machines, but they exploded in mid-air, striking the invisible barrier woven around our force.

Cheers overcame the cries of pain in our ranks. I let out a breath, thankful that I had not been among the war-machines’ targets. I watched those piteously wounded men dragged to the rear by their comrades. The temptation to remain there must have been tremendous, but we Icathians descend from explorer kings, and not a single warrior failed to return to their place in the battle line.

The strain on our mages was clear, but their power was holding the Shuriman barrage at bay. I glanced over my shoulder to the pavilion atop the pyramid. There too, the priests were straining with all their power. To what end, I could not imagine. What manner of weapon lay within, and when would we unleash it?

“Stand to,” said Saijax, and I returned my attention to the army before us. “They’ll come at us now. A big wave to test us.”

I looked back at the Shurimans, who now came at us in a run. Arrows flashed from the lines of archers ranged before us, and scores of enemy warriors died. Bronzed plate and shields saved some, but the range was so close that many fell with shafts punched clean through their breastplates.

Another volley hammered the Shurimans, swiftly followed by another.

Hundreds were down. Their line was ragged and disorganized.

“Now!” roared Saijax. “Into them!”

Our infantry surged forward in a wedge, spears lowering as they charged. I was carried by the mass of men behind me, managing to drag my blade from its sheath as I ran. I screamed to keep my fear at bay, worrying that I might trip on my scabbard.

I saw the faces of the Shurimans, the braids in their hair, the gold of their crests, and the blood smearing their tunics. We were so close, I could have whispered and they might have heard me.

We struck their wavering ranks like a thunderbolt. Spears thrust and shivered, hafts splintering with the impact. Driven by sheer will and a thousand years of pent-up anger, the momentum of our charge clove deep into their ranks, splitting them and breaking their formation completely.

Anger gave me strength, and I swung my sword. It bit into flesh and blood sprayed me.

I heard screaming. It might have been me. I cannot say for sure.

I tried to stay close to Saijax and Colgrim, knowing that where they fought, Shurimans would be dying. I saw Saijax felling men by the dozen with his huge polearm, but could no longer see Colgrim. I soon lost sight of Saijax in the heave and sway of surging warriors.

I called his name, but my shout was drowned in the roar of battle.

Bodies slammed into me, pulling at me, clawing my face—Icathian hands or Shuriman, I had no idea.

A spear stabbed towards my heart, but the tip slid from my breastplate to slice across my arm. I remember pain, but little else. I hammered my sword into a screaming man’s face. He fell, and I pushed on, made fearless by fear and savage joy. I roared, and swung my sword like a madman.

Skill was meaningless. I was a butcher hacking meat.

I saw men die whose skill was much greater than mine. I kept moving, lost in the swirling tide of flesh and bone. Wherever I saw an exposed neck or back, I struck. I took grim pleasure in my killing. Whatever the outcome of this day, I could hold my head high in the company of warriors. More arrows flew overhead, and the cheers rising from our army were songs of freedom.

And then the Shurimans broke.

It began as a single slave warrior turning his back and running, but his panic spread like fire on the plain, and soon the whole formation was streaming back down the hill.

In the days leading up to this moment, Saijax had told me that the most dangerous moment for any warrior is when a regiment breaks. That is when the killing truly begins.

We tore through the routed Shurimans, spears plunging into exposed backs, and axes splitting skulls. They were no longer fighting back, simply trampling one another to escape. The bloodshed was appalling, yet I reveled in it as hundreds of bodies were crushed in the slaughter.

I saw Saijax again, then, standing firm, his polearm at his side. “Hold!” he yelled. “Hold!”

I wanted to curse his timidity. Our blood was up, and the Shurimans were fleeing in panic.

I did not know it at the time, but Saijax had seen how dangerous our position truly was.

“Pull back!” he shouted, and the cry was taken up by others who saw what he had seen.

At first, it seemed our army would not heed his words, drunk on victory and eager to plunge onward. We were intent on slaying every one of the enemy, wreaking vengeance upon soldiers who had held our land hostage for centuries.

I had not seen the danger, but all too soon I understood.

Screams and fountains of blood sheeted from the leading edges of our battle-line. Severed heads flew backwards, spinning like rocks skipped over a pool. Bodies soon followed, tossed aside without effort.

Screams and cries of terror erupted, and the songs of freedom were snuffed out.

The god-warriors had entered the fray.

Three of them surged into our ranks; some moving like men, others like ravenous beasts. Each was armed with a weapon larger than any man could lift, unstoppable and invincible. They waded through our ranks with sweeping blows that slew a dozen men with every swing. Icathians flew in pieces from their crackling blades, were crushed beneath their tread, or were rent asunder like bloodied rags.

“Back!” shouted Saijax. “Back to the walls!”

None could pierce the god-warriors’ armor, and their ferocity was so primal, so inhuman, that it froze me to the spot. Spears snapped against their iron-hard hides, and their bellowing roars cut me to the marrow with terror. One, a cawing beast with ragged, feathered wings and a vulture-like beak, leapt into the air, and searing blue fire blazed from its outstretched claws. I cried out at the sight of my fellow countrymen burned to ash.

The elation that had—only moments before—filled us with thoughts of victory and glory, now shattered like a fallen glass. In its place, I felt a sick horror of torments yet to come, the retribution of an unimaginably cruel despot who knows no mercy.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder, and lifted my bloodied blade.

“Move, Axa,” said Saijax, forcing me back. “There’s still fighting to be done!”

I was dragged along by the force of his grip, barely able to keep my feet. I wept as we streamed back to where we had first formed up. Our line was broken, and surely the day was lost.

But the god-warriors simply stood among the dead, not even bothering to pursue.

“You said we had a weapon,” I cried. “Why aren’t they doing anything?”

“They are,” said Saijax. “Look!”


What happened next defies my understanding. No mortal eye had ever seen such a thing.

The pavilion exploded with forking traceries of light. Arcing loops of purple energy ripped into the sky and lashed down like crashing waves. The force of the blast threw everyone to the ground. I covered my ears as a deafening screaming tore the air.

I pressed myself to the battle-churned earth as the wail burrowed deep into my skull, as though the world itself were shrieking in horror. I rolled onto my side, retching as stabbing nausea ripped through my belly. The sky, once bright and blue, was now the color of a week-old bruise. Unnatural twilight held sway, and I saw flickering afterimages burn themselves onto the back of my mind.

Slashing claws... Gaping maws... All-seeing eyes...

I sobbed in terror at the sight of such horrors.

Alone of all the things being stripped from me, this I gladly surrender.

A nightmarish light, sickly blue and ugly purple, smothered the world, pressing down from above and blooming up from somewhere far below. I pushed myself upright, turning in a slow circle as the world ended around me.

The Shurimans were streaming back from the city, terrified by whatever force our priests had unleashed. My enemies were being destroyed, and I knew I should be triumphal, but this... This was not a victory any sane person could revel in.

This was extinction.

An abyss that bled purple light tore open amid the Shurimans, and I saw their ivory-skinned general overcome by whipping cords of matter. She fought to free herself with wild sweeps of her blade, but the power we had unleashed was too much for her. The pulsing, glowing light spread over her body like a hideous cocoon.

Everywhere I looked, I saw the same slick coils rising from the earth, or from the very air itself, to seize the flesh of mortals. Men and women were swept up and enveloped. I saw one Shuriman clawing his way over the earth, his body seeming to dissolve as the tendrils of foul energy overwhelmed him.

I began to hope, to pray, that this doom was what had been planned all along.

I saw shapes in the flickering light, too fast and indistinct to make out clearly. Stretching, swelling limbs of strange, tar-like matter. Men were clawed from their feet and pulled apart. I heard the gurgling, hooting bellows of things never meant to walk the surface of this world.

As awful as this day had become, I wondered if this was the price of the great weapon our priests had unleashed. I hardened my heart to the suffering of the Shurimans and remembered the centuries of misery they had heaped upon us.

Once again, I had lost sight of Saijax and Colgrim. But I no longer needed their presence to steady me. I had proved myself worthy of my grandsire’s name, worthy of the brand on my arm.

I was Kohari!

The sky groaned and buckled, sounding like a vast sailcloth tearing in a storm. I turned and ran back to the city, joining up with other soldiers. I saw the same desperate, horrified looks on their faces I knew must be upon mine.

Had we won? None of us knew. The Shurimans were gone, swallowed whole by the terror we had unleashed upon the world. I felt no regret. No remorse. My horror had given way to justification.

I had lost my nimcha blade somewhere in the frenzy of the battle, so I took my bow from my shoulder and pumped it to the sky. “Icathia!” I yelled. “Icathia!”

The chant was taken up again by the soldiers around me, and we stopped to watch the enemy finally overcome. The seething mass of matter that had consumed them lay like a shroud over the flesh it had consumed. Its surface was undulant, and swelling blisters of glistening matter burst open with frothing birth-sacs that twisted and unfolded like newborn animals.

I turned as I heard a deafening grinding of rock.

Booming cracks echoed as more and more chasms tore the landscape open. I dropped to my knees as the earth shook, and the walls of Icathia, fallen once and now rising again, were shattered by a groaning bass note that split the earth.

Geysers of dust and smoke erupted from within the city. I saw men screaming, but could not hear them over the crash of falling rock and splitting earth. Towers and palaces that had stood since the first Mage King planted his star-metal staff were swallowed whole by the ever-widening chasms. Only rubble and shattered fragments remained, my beloved city reduced to a charred skeleton.

Fires spat skyward, and the wails of my people were somehow magnified by the canyons of the city as they fell into the hideous doom below.

“Icathia!” I cried one last time.

I saw a flash of movement, and flinched as something flew through the air above me. I recognized the vulture-headed god-warrior from earlier in the battle. Its flight was erratic, its limbs already partially ruined and unmade by the strange matter spilling from the rents in the earth.

It flew towards the pavilion with desperate beats of its ravaged wings, and I knew I had to stop it. I ran towards the towering creature, nocking an obsidian-tipped arrow to my bow.

The thing stumbled as it landed. Its legs were twisted and its back was alive with devouring tendrils. Feathers and skin sloughed from its head as it limped past the bodies of dead priests, whose own flesh bubbled and roiled with internal motion.

Fire built around the god-warrior’s hands, ready to burn the pavilion with the last of its power.

Saijax had said the Sun-Emperor had more armies, and we would need our weapon intact if we were to defeat them. I drew back the bowstring, an obsidian arrow aimed at the god-warrior.

I loosed, and the arrow sped true, punching through the dissolving matter of its skull.

The god-warrior fell, and the fire faded from its hands. It rolled onto its side, the flesh falling from its bones—I saw threads of sinewy, pallid matter forming beneath.

The god-warrior sensed my presence, and turned its vulturine head to me. One of its eyes was milky and distended by growths of a strange, fungus-like substance spreading across its skull. The other had my arrow protruding through it.

“Do you even... know… what you... have done… foolish… Icathian?” the blind god-warrior managed, its voice a wet growl of dissolving vocal chords.

I sought to think of some powerful words, something to mark the moment I had killed a god-warrior.

All I could think of was the truth. “We freed ourselves,” I said.

“You… have opened a door... to… a place… that should... never be opened…” it hissed. “You have... doomed us all…”

“Time for you to die,” I said.

The god-warrior tried to laugh, but what came out was a gurgling death-rattle. “Die…? No… What is to come… will be far worse… It will be… as if none of us… ever existed…”


I left the arrow embedded in the god-warrior’s skull. Men were limping back from the battle, bloodied and weary, with the same look of incredulous horror in their eyes. None of us truly understood what had happened, but the Shurimans were dead, and that was enough.

Wasn’t it?

We milled in confusion, none of us knowing what to say or do. The landscape before the city was twisting with unnatural motion, the flesh of the Shuriman army utterly obscured by pale, coiling ropes of hideous matter. Its surface was darkening as I watched, splitting where it hardened like some form of carapace. Viscous ichor spilled out, and more and more I had the impression that this was just the beginning of something far worse.

Light still spilled from the colossal rents torn in the ground, and alien sounds—a mix of shrieking, hissing and crazed howls—echoed from far below. I could feel tremors rising up from the bowels of the earth, like the slow grinding of bedrock that presages an earthquake.

“What’s down there?” said a man I didn’t know. His arm was all but encased in a translucent caul that was slowly creeping its way up the side of his neck. I wondered if he even knew. “Sounds like a nest. Or a lair, or… something.”

I did not know what hideous things lived down there. Nor did I want to.

I heard a voice call my name, and looked up to see Saijax limping toward me. His face was a mask of blood, thanks to a jagged wound that ran from above his right eye to his jawline.

I hadn’t thought Saijax could bleed at all.

“You’re hurt,” I said.

“It’s worse than it looks.”

“Is this the end?” I asked him.

“For Icathia, I fear it is,” he replied, moving away to grab the bridle of a cavalryman’s mount. The beast was skittish, but Saijax hauled its reins, and vaulted into the saddle.

“I would have given everything to see the Shurimans defeated,” I murmured.

“I fear we just did,” said Saijax.

“But… we won.”

“The Shurimans are dead, but I’m not sure that’s the same thing,” said Saijax. “Now find a mount, we have to go.”

“Go? What are you talking about?”

“Icathia is doomed,” he said. “You see that, don’t you? Not just the city, but our land. Look around you. That will be our fate too.”

I knew he was right, but the idea of simply riding away...? I didn’t know if I could.

“Icathia is my home,” I said.

“There’s nothing left of Icathia. Or, at least, there won’t be soon.”

He extended his hand to take mine, and I shook it.

“Axa...” he said, casting a glance back at the creeping horror. “There is no hope here.”

I shook my head and said, “I was born here and I will die here.”

“Then hold to who you are while you still can, lad,” he said, and I felt the weight of his sadness and guilt. “It’s all you have left.”

Saijax turned his mount and rode away. I never saw him again.


My name is Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari Icath’or.

I think… I think Axamuk was my grandsire’s name. It has meaning, but I can no longer remember what.

I wandered the ruins where a great city once stood. All that is left is an impossibly wide crater, rubble, and a tear in the fabric of the world.

I feel a terrible emptiness before me.

Axamuk was a king, I think. I do not remember where. Was it here? In this ruined, sunken city?

I do not know what Var or Choi mean. Icath’or should have meaning to me, but whatever it was is gone. There is a terrible void where my mind and memories once dwelled.

My name is Axamuk Var-Choi Kohari.

Kohari? What is that?

There is a mark on my arm, a sword wrapped in a scroll. Is it a slave mark? Was I the property of a conqueror? I remember a girl with green eyes and an opal necklace. Who was she? Was she my wife, my sister? A daughter? I do not know, but I remember the smell of her flowers.

My name is Axamuk Var-Choi.

I repeat it over and over, holding onto it as if it can stave off this slow dissolution.

I do not want to forget it. It is all I have left.

My name is Axamuk.

I am being erased. I know this, but I do not know why or how.

Something awful writhes within me.

All that I am is unravelling.

I am being undone.

My name is

My name

My

Abilities[]

Relentless Assault Relentless Assault [Passive]

Innate: Jax's basic attacks increase his Attack Speed for 2.5 seconds. This effect stacks up to 8 times and fall off one at a time.
Attack Speed: 3.5 / 5 / 6.5 / 8 / 9.5 / 11% (based on level)
Leap Strike Leap Strike [Q]
Cost: 65 Mana Cooldown: 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6 seconds Range: 700

Active: Jax leaps towards a target, dealing physical damage if the target was an enemy. Physical Damage: 65 / 105 / 145 / 185 / 225 (+100% bonus)
Empower Empower [W]
Cost: 30 Mana Cooldown: 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 seconds Range: 300

Active: Jax charges his weapon with energy, causing his next basic attack or Leap Strike Leap Strike to deal additional magic damage (deals half damage vs. structures). Magic Damage: 50 / 85 / 120 / 155 / 190 (+60%)
Counter Strike Counter Strike [E]
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 Mana Cooldown: 15 / 13.5 / 12 / 10.5 / 9 seconds Area of Effect: 300

Active: Jax enters a defensive stance for up to 2 seconds, dodging all incoming basic attacks and taking 25% less damage from area of effect abilities.

After 2 seconds or if activated again, Jax stuns surrounding enemies for 1 second and deals physical damage to them.

Counter Strike deals 20% more damage for each attack Jax dodged (max: 100%).

Physical Damage: 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+70%) [+3.5% max]
Master-At-Arms Grandmaster-At-Arms [R]
Cost: 100 Mana Cooldown: 100 / 90 / 80 seconds Area of Effect: 375

Passive: Every third consecutive strike Jax deals additional magic damage (deals half damage vs. structures).
Active: Jax swings his lantern around, dealing magic damage to nearby enemies. If this hits a champion, he gains bonus armor, increased for each champion hit beyond the first, and bonus magic resistance equal to 60% of that amount for 8 seconds. While this spell is active, every second consecutive strike Jax deals additional magic damage.
Bonus Magic Damage: 60 / 110 / 160 (+60%)
Magic Damage: 150 / 250 / 350 (+100%)
Bonus Armor: 15 / 40 / 65 (+40% bonus)
Bonus Armor per Champion Hit: 15 / 20 / 25 (+10% bonus)

Patch History[]

Patch 10.16

E cooldown decreased.

Now, it's Jax's turn! Similar to Fiora, we’re hoping to bring the Grandmaster back onto the scene by making him a more viable counterpick... with more counterstrikes. With his E more readily available, he’ll be able to see fights through in a different manner.

Counter Strike E - Counter Strike

COOLDOWN : [16/14/12/10/8]
14/12.5/11/9.5/8


Patch 10.1 R now works with Guinsoo's Rageblade

Grandmaster's Might R - Grandmaster's Might

GUINSOO'S RAGEBLADE : Now gains effects from Guinsoo's Rageblade


Patch 9.16
Q cooldown decreased.

As a melee champion, Jax will benefit from having more opportunities to jump on the ranged enemies who otherwise steadily chip him down in lane.

Leap Strike Q - Leap Strike

COOLDOWN : [10/9/8/7/6]
8/7.5/7/6.5/6


Patch 9.9

VFX are now sharper, more impactful, and clearer in gameplay.

BASIC ATTACK : Cleaned up and added some oomph
LEAP STRIKE : Cleaned up for readability
EMPOWER : Activation made more visible and fire added to his lamppost
COUNTER STRIKE : Cleaned up and added an indicator for the stun range
GRANDMASTER'S MIGHT : Cleaned up, added sand particles, and made the third hit more clear and satisfying
NEMESIS JAX : New particles over the entire kit
GOD STAFF JAX : Added E stun range indicator to match changes to base


Patch 9.2
Attack damage decreased. Q damage decreased early.

Nerfing Jax's early game damage to slow his roll into a late-game raid boss and give enemies a wider window to beat him early.

Base Stats

ATTACK DAMAGE : [69.97] 68

Leap Strike Q - Leap Strike

DAMAGE : [80/120/160/200/240]
65/105/145/185/225


Patch 8.24
R on-hit base damage reduced late.

When jungling, Jax falls into the power farming camp with champs like Graves and Shyvana, but boasts much better rank-up scaling than his peers. We're toning down his ult's base damage at ranks 2 and 3 so Jax doesn't diverge as hard from the rest of his pack. He'll still have best-in-class throughput come late game, but not by such a significant margin. This also helps even out Jax's performance across skill levels, as higher-tier matches (where Jax isn't as out of line) end faster than lower-tier matches.

Grandmaster's Might R - Grandmaster's Might

3RD ATTACK ON-HIT DAMAGE : [100/160/220]
100/140/180


v8.4
Counter Strike no longer sometimes delays briefly before blocking attacks.

Counter Strike E - Counter Strike

RIGHT THROUGH THE COUNTERSTRIKE : Fixed a bug where Counterstrike's buff could take up to 0.25 seconds to take effect.


v7.22

BASE ARMOR : [27.04] 36
BASE ATTACK DAMAGE : [61.97] 70

Leap Strike Q - Leap Strike

BASE DAMAGE : [70/110/150/190/230]
80/120/160/200/240

Counter Strike E - Counter Strike

MINIMUM BASE DAMAGE : [50/75/100/125/150]
55/80/105/130/155


v7.16
R third-attack effect no longer procs against wards.

Changing Grandmaster’s Might to be consistent with the on-hit context above.

Grandmaster's Might R - Grandmaster's Might

WARDS AREN’T PEOPLE : Grandmaster’s Might’s on-hit bonus damage no longer procs against wards


v7.12
W now grants bonus range.

Using Empowered Strike to reset his basic attack timer is Jax’s bread-and-butter, so we’re adding a little extra range to help that combat pattern feel a bit more fluid.

Empowered Strike W - Empowered Strike

BONUS RANGE If Jax uses Empowered Strike to empower a basic attack, it gains 50 extra range


v7.10

For a character whose gameplay revolves around basic attacks, Jax’s attack animations left some to be desired.

General

POW POW POW POW : Jax’s basic attack, empowered attack, and crit animations have been improved across all skins to better match the moment damage is applied and generally feel more responsive


v7.5

Animation timing

NOW IT’S A REAL WEAPON : Altered cast frames on Jax’s basic attacks to be more visually consistent.

Empower W - Empower

HARDER BETTER FASTER STRONGER : Empower's attack now always uses Crit animation.

Counter Strike E - Counter Strike

LESS COUNTERINTUITIVE : Resized Counterstrike hit particle and did some rotation/swirl editing to more accurately convey the range and shape of effect.

Grandmaster's Might R - Grandmaster's Might

WALTZ : Once he levels his ultimate, Jax cycles consistently through his different basic attack animations


v6.11
R’s stacks drop off one at a time.

Relentless Assault provides the core feel of Jax: a ramping threat that makes him deadly in extended fights. While focused CC should be the appropriate counterplay, he often loses all of his stacks to a single stray spell in a chaotic teamfight. Jax feeling pressure to avoid focused CC isn’t a problem, but shutting the Grandmaster at Arms down should be an intentional effort, not an accident.

Relentless Assault Passive - Relentless Assault

LESS RELENTING Stacks fall off 1 at a time rather than all at once


v6.3
Passive gives less attack speed per stack, but requires more stacks to reach the cap.

Surprise, he's back (we've made that joke before. Maybe even twice). Whether in the top lane or the jungle, Jax is a champion that's all about taking the time to ramp up before brutally smashing your face in with a lamppost. Traditionally that's been the case, but with powerful items like Rageblade and Devourer thrown into the mix, Jax's ramping threat has become more of a formality than a rule. We're installing speedbumps into Jax's powercurve to force him to commit a little longer in fights.

Relentless Assault Passive - Relentless Assault

MAXIMUM STACKS : [6] 8
ATTACK SPEED PER STACK : [4-14% (from levels 1-18)] 3.5-11% (from levels 1-18)
ATTACK SPEED AT MAX STACKS : [24-84% per level] 28-88% per level


v5.22

In a world without mana potions (and generally less early mana regeneration), we've identified a few champions for some emergency rations, giving early mana boosts until they can get their footing and purchase items to make up the deficit. This also means we can really understand which champions relied on mana potions as a crutch to limp through the early to mid game, and we can give additional love if necessary.

Mana

The following champs have +50 base mana and -3 mana scaling (net -1 mana at level 18):


v5.17
E cost down.

With strong endgame scaling, it makes sense that Jax’s laning should be a weakness - since taking a whack at his base stats last season however, the champ’s been a little too vulnerable when all he wants is to hit minions with his lamppost and buy a Trinity Force. We’re pretty keen to keeping Jax’s defenses tied to Counter Strike and Grandmaster’s Might, so amping the former should help big J suffer less for fighting back.

Counter Strike E - Counter Strike

COST : [70/75/80/85/90 mana] 50/60/70/80/90 mana


v5.12
R's Armor and Magic Resist up.

"Jax's stickiness and dueling capability in the mid and late-game are as strong as they've ever been, but in a world of death-ball comps and tanky moshpits the Grandmaster's feeling more like a novice and exploding a little too quickly when he steps into the ring. Slight tuning to his windowed durability shouldn't affect his 1v1 too greatly while making it easier to hop into skirmishes and give ‘em a piece of the champ."
  • Grandmaster's Might R - Grandmaster's Might
    • BONUS ARMOR AND MAGIC RESIST : 20/35/50 30/50/70

v4.21
Jax's E and R scale better into the late game.

"Surprise - he's back. While it hasn't been too long since Jax's reign over top lane, now that his laning power is a little more manageable we think we can give him some more late game love as a reward for getting through the early to mid phases."
  • Counter Strike E - Counter Strike
    • COOLDOWN : 18/16/14/12/10 seconds 16/14/12/10/8 seconds
  • Grandmaster's Might R - Grandmaster's Might
    • BONUS ARMOR : 25/35/45 (+0.3 attack damage) 20/35/50 (+0.5 attack damage)
    • BONUS MAGIC RESISTANCE : 25/35/45 (+0.2 ability power) 20/35/50 (+0.2 ability power)

v4.13
WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP

"What this change means is that Jax will finish his attack animations a little faster but it's not a direct buff to his attack speed. It's a weird concept but basically his last-hitting is more responsive."
  • General
    • LAMPPOST SWINGING SPEED Jax finishes his attack animation a little faster (19% to be exact)

v4.11
"Even though Jax is intended to be a champ that scales well into the late game, he's currently so well-rounded that 'scaling well' ultimately turns him into an offensive brick wall with very few defensive weaknesses."

  • General
    • BASE HEALTH: 561 ⇒ 535
    • HEALTH PER LEVEL: +98 ⇒ +85
    • ARMOR PER LEVEL: +3.5 ⇒ +3.0

v1.0.0.152

  • Base Movement Speed increased by 25.

v1.0.0.143

  • Counter Strike's dodge component now works properly against ShenSquareShen

v1.0.0.140b

  • Empower damage reduced at later ranks to 40 / 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 from 40 / 85 / 130 / 175 / 220

v1.0.0.139

  • Fixed a bug where Counterstrike was stunning through spell shields

v1.0.0.138

  • Relentless Assault (Passive) will now stack even if Jax's attack misses or is dodged

v1.0.0.136

  • Health per level increased to 98 from 88
  • Counterstrike area of effect radius increased to 375 from 350
  • Grandmaster's Might (New Active): Jax gains 25 / 35 / 45 (+30% of his bonus attack damage) armor and 25 / 35 / 45 (+20% of his ability power) magic resist for 8 seconds. 100 mana, 80 second cooldown.

v1.0.0.135

  • Fixed a bug where Grandmaster's Might passive attack canceled if the buff ran out during the attack animation

v1.0.0.133

  • Mana regen per level increased to 0.7 per 5 seconds from 0.45
  • Fixed a bug where Empower's cooldown was higher than stated at earlier ranks
  • Counter Strike
    • Dodge duration increased to 2 seconds from 1.5
    • Now additionally reduces the damage from area of effect abilities by 25% while Jax is dodging
    • Now can be activated again after 1 second to end the effect early
    • Damage adjusted to 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+0.5 bonus attack damage) from 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+0.8 bonus attack damage)
    • Now deals 20% increased damage for each attack dodged (up to a maximum of 100% increased damage) instead of 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 bonus damage per dodge
    • Cooldown reduced to 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 seconds from 22 / 20 / 18 / 16 / 14
  • Grandmaster’s Might duration increased to 8 seconds from 6

v1.0.0.132

  • Base health increased to 551 from 506
  • Health per level increased to 88 from 83
  • Armor per level increased to 3.5 from 3.2
  • Added an animation to Jax's Joke
  • Relentless Assault - Passive (Remade)
    • Every time Jax attacks an enemy he gains 4-14% increased attack speed (stacks up to 6 times)
  • Leap Strike
    • Cooldown changed to 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 seconds from 13 / 11 / 9 / 7 / 5
    • Damage changed to 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+1.0 bonus attack damage)(+0.6 ability power) from 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+1.0 total attack damage)(+0.7 ability power)
  • Empower
    • Cooldown reduced to 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 seconds from 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5
    • Damage changed to 40 / 85 / 130 / 175 / 220 from 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200
    • Ability power ratio increased to 0.6 from 0.4
    • Mana cost increased to 30 from 20
  • Counter Strike (Remade)
    • Jax dodges all incoming basic attacks for 1.5 seconds. At the end of the effect, Jax deals 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+0.8 bonus attack damage) physical damage and stuns nearby enemies for 1 second. This spell deals an additional 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 damage for each attack dodged.
  • Grandmaster's Might (Remade)
    • Passive - Every third consecutive attack deals an additional 100 / 160 / 220 (+0.7 ability power) magic damage.
    • Active - Jax gains ability power equal to 25 / 45 / 65 (+ 20% of his ability power) and attack damage equal to 25 / 45 / 65 (+ 20% of his bonus attack damage) for 6 seconds.

v1.0.0.124

  • Leap Strike damage reduced to 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 from 35 / 60 / 85 / 110 / 135
  • Empower
    • Damage reduced to 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 from 75 / 110 / 135 / 180 / 215
    • Now breaks spell shields

v1.0.0.123

  • Jax will now attempt to attack after Leap Striking if the target is an enemy champion
  • Fixed a bug where Jax's attacks could not be dodged

v1.0.0.122

  • Leap Strike
    • Attack damage ratio increased to 1.0 from 0.7
    • Base damage reduced to 35 / 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 from 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150

v1.0.0.121

  • Leap Strike can now target wards again, but will reveal wards to enemies when used in this manner

v1.0.0.120

  • Leap Strike attack damage ratio reduced to 0.7 from 1.0

v1.0.0.118

  • Leap Strike no longer locks jax, allowing him to cast spells while leaping

v1.0.0.114

  • Leap Strike now prefers to target enemies over allies when your cursor overlaps both.

v1.0.0.111

  • Updated tooltips

v1.0.0.110

  • Fixed a bug where Jax would lose health while leveling in some instances

v1.0.0.109

  • Leap Strike cooldown reduced to 13 / 11/ 9 / 7 / 5 seconds from 17 / 14 / 11 / 8 / 5
  • Counter Strike now shows a brighter particle when Jax has recently dodged an attack and Counter Strike is ready

v1.0.0.104


v1.0.0.103

  • Equipment Mastery tooltip updated to show health gained from each source dynamically
  • Leap Strike
    • Cast time reduced by 20%
    • Travel speed increased by 20%
    • Ability power ratio reduced to 0.7 from 0.8
  • Empower
    • Now only deals damage to a single target rather than to an area of effect
    • Now reset Jax's autoattack timer when cast
    • Damage increased to 75 / 110 / 145 / 180 / 215 from 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120
    • Ability power and damage ratios increased to 0.4 from 0.2
    • Mana cost reduced to 20 from 35
    • Cooldown increased to 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 seconds from 5 at all levels
    • Tooltip corrected to accurately state it deals magic damage
    • Fixed bugs where it incorrectly did less damage when used at the same time as Leap Strike or each 3rd Relentless Assault strike
  • Counter Strike damage incresaed to 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 from 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160
  • Relentless Assault
    • New active - Grants 20 / 35 / 50 + Jax's dodge percent in bonus magic resistance for 5 / 6.5 / 8 seconds upon activation. Cost 80 mana. Cooldown of 60 seconds at all levels.
    • Buff icon now dynamically shows the number of Relentless Assault stacks which Jax is benefiting from
    • Tooltip correctly indicates that Jax gains up to 10 stacks of Relentless Assault
  • Recommended items updated

v1.0.0.101

  • Counterstrike now has a buff that shows the duration of the effect

v1.0.0.94b

  • Health per level reduced to 83 from 86
  • Base movement speed reduced to 325 from 330

v1.0.0.94

  • Empower cooldown changed to 5 seconds from 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 seconds

v1.0.0.87

  • Fixed a bug where Jax was being healed when he received bonus health (from Guinsoo's Rageblade, Janna's Eye of the Storm, etc)
  • Fixed a bug where Jax could target himself with Leap Strike

v1.0.0.83

  • Fixed a minor tooltip type with Empower
  • Leapstrike is no longer castable while immobilized
  • Equipment Mastery health gained form attack damage reduced to 3 from 4
  • Base armor per level reduced to 3.2 from 4

v1.0.0.82

  • Leapstrike ability power ratio reduced to 0.8 from 1.0
  • Couterstrike ability power ratio reduced to 0.6 from 0.8
  • Relentless Strikes ability power ratio reduced to 0.7 from 1.0

v1.0.0.81

  • New "Selection" quote in PVP.net

v1.0.0.79

  • Equipment Mastery health bonus reduced to 4 health per damage and 2 health per ability power
  • Empower
    • Base damage reduced to 40 / 60 / 80 / 100 / 120 from 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125
    • Now gains 20% of both attack power and ability power as bonus damage

v1.0.0.75

  • Empower REMAKE
    • Jax instantly charges his weapon with energy, causing him to deal 45 / 65 / 85 / 105 / 125 damage to all enemies nearby on his next attack
    • As there is no longer a charge-up time, cooldown increased to 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 from 1 second
    • Changed mana cost to 35 at all levels from 40 / 35 / 30 / 25 / 20
  • Equipment Mastery NEW PASSIVE
    • Jax's prowess with weapons and armor increase his fortitude as he gains equipment
  • Jax gains 5 health per point of attack damage recieved from items
  • Jax gains 3 health per point of ability power received from items
  • Leap Strike can now target allies
  • Increased base mana to 235 from 215
  • Increased mana per level to 35 from 30

v1.0.0.72

  • Fixed an issue with Leap Strike that was causing the damage to fail in some cases when interacting with targets in brush

v1.0.0.63

  • Improved Leap Strike's responsiveness; you can now move much sooner after striking (but not attack)

v1.0.0.61

  • Leap Strike cooldown reduced to 17 / 14 / 11 / 8 / 5 seconds from 21 / 17 / 13 / 9 / 5
  • Empower
    • Cleave percent increased to 60 from 50
    • Duration to power up reduced to 3 from 4
    • Updated damage per second values to 25 / 35 / 45 / 55 / 65 from 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40
  • Ability positions modified - Leap Strike is now Q, Empower is now W

v0.9.22.16

  • Counter-Strike
    • Increased cooldown from 4 seconds to 4.5
    • Reduced ability power from 1.0 to 0.8
    • Reduced dodge percent from 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20 to 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 / 18
  • Relentless Assault attack speed per level reduced from 8 / 12 / 16% to 6 / 10 / 14%
  • Empower
    • Can no longer crit
    • Fixed an issue causing Empower to not proc

v0.9.22.15

  • Leap Strike
    • Now gives Jax a slight speed boost upon landing
    • Increased bonus damage from 30 / 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 to 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150
  • Counter-Strike dodge percent increased from 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20 to 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20
  • Relentless Assault
    • Reduced hits to proc from 4 to 3
    • Reduced damage to 140 / 170 / 210
    • Can now be held across targets for up to 2.5 seconds

v0.9.22.7

  • Increased movement speed from 315 to 325

v0.8.22.115

  • Counter Strike
    • Cooldown reduced from 5 to 4
    • Increased duration of dodge proc from 4 to 7
  • Increased base armor from 18 to 22
  • Increased health per lveel from 78 to 86

July 10, 2009 Patch

  • Leap Strike no longer causes double hits
  • Relentless Assault bug fixed with this skill interacting with neutral minions
  • Empower now grows its damage on a per level basis instead of cleave percent

June 12, 2009 Patch

  • Counter Strike ability power ratio increased form 0.5 to 1
  • Relentless Assault now properly shows that it has an ability power ratio of 1

May 15, 2009 Patch

  • Weapon Mastery bonus damage modified from 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% to 15% at all levels
  • Empower no longer triggers item effects like Sheen, Lich Bane, and Tear of the Goddess (since its cooldown is > 1 second)

April 11, 2009 Patch

  • Counterstrike
    • Reduce dodge chance from 8 / 12 / 16 / 20 / 24% to 8 / 11 / 14 / 17 / 20%
    • Increased mana cost from 50 to 60
  • Leap Strike
    • Increased mana cost from 50 to 65
    • Increased cooldown from 21 / 17 / 13 / 9 / 5 to 22 / 18 / 14 / 10 / 6
  • Empower
    • Damage can no longer critically strike
    • Bug fixed where Empower would last longer than intended
  • Relentless Assault
    • No longer gives Jax additional Haste upon striking buildings
    • Changed from an Active to a Passive
    • Reduced damage from 150 / 225 / 300 to 150 / 200 / 250

Alpha Week 7

  • Counterstrike now has a particle effect

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