Jax Counter - S4 League of Legends

Jax is arguably the best duelist in the game. He snowballs really hard if he gets a couple of kills early game. His kit allows him to be tanky and dish out insane amounts of damage at the same time. Once Jax is on a roll, it gets very difficult to stop him because of his excellent scaling into the late game. Some might say that he is an OP champion, but as with every champion in the game, there are effective counters against Jax. Here are some tips when you’re facing Jax in the top lane.

• Jax doesn’t have the best laning phase. The key to preventing or delaying his power spike is to punish him during the early game. Poke him down and don’t let him cs easily. If you can, freeze the minions near your turret to deny Jax farm and experience.
• Counter Strike has a very long cooldown and uses a lot of mana. You can bait it out from Jax and just run or leap away to avoid the stun. Once his E is down, it’s time to go aggressive and use your skills and autoattacks to wear him down.
• At level 6, Jax gets a huge power spike because of his ultimate. This is when he truly shines. Avoid extended trades because this is where Jax excels at. Take note of his autoattacks, as he will try to leap to you every third hit and dish out insane burst.
• Hard CC is the best counter to Jax. Try to pick a team comp with a lot of stuns, snares and even slows to immobilize him.
• Jax deals a mix of physical and magic damage. Building armor only isn’t the best way to itemize against Jax. Instead, go for items that give you both resistances and HP such as Randuin’s Omen and Guardian Angel.
• Remember, try your best to shut him down early. Call your jungler for help especially if you don’t have a strong counter pick against Jax. During the late game, Jax can 1v1 pretty much any champion in the game, so don’t try to engage on him by yourself.

Jax Counter Picks

Counter Jax as Malphite

Malphite is one of the tankiest champions that can give Jax trouble during the early game. Max E gives you wave clear and great trading power when Jax tries to trade with you. You will probably not kill him without help from your jungler. But your objective is to limit his cs and push him out of lane if you can. Slowly wear him down with your spells. Jax will undoubtedly have more damage than you as the game goes on, but you have great CC abilities to help your team kill him during team fights.

Counter Jax as Renekton

Renekton is a great lane bully at solo top. He can easily out trade Jax during the early levels. You have better wave clear, sustain and damage so make sure you take advantage. Punish Jax pre-11 by killing him with your jungler and helping the rest of your team win their lanes. Remember, Jax outscales you so if you don’t make good use of your early lead, it will all be for naught. Try to win the game quickly before Jax gets his items.

Counter Jax as Pantheon

Pantheon has a great skill set that allows him to harass Jax in the laning phase. Using your spears, you can keep Jax low and keep him away from cs. You can negate one autoattack with your passive so you should win early trades against him. Try to gain a cs and experience lead over him and start wreaking havoc in the other lanes with your ultimate. Late game, you can hardly do anything to Jax when he already has his items.

Counter Jax as Garen

Garen’s abilities go through Jax’s Counter Strike. This means you can just let Jax leap to you with his E during the early game and punish him for doing so. Use W to beef you up during trades. When he leaps, start spinning and then use Q to deal even more damage. Rinse and repeat. Just be very careful during the first three levels when you don’t have W yet. After 6, try your best to prevent Jax from roaming.

Counter Jax as Ryze

Ryze can be a risky counter to Jax because he is very vulnerable to ganks. But if played correctly and with the help of your jungler, you can do well against Jax. What you will want to do is root him right away when he activates his E. This wastes his stun and makes him lose a lot of mana. The great thing about this pick is that you also scale really well into the late game. Make sure to place wards to prevent ganks.