I always enjoy a challenge in playing the many different champions in league. So it didn’t come to much of a surprise when people introduced me to Jayce. In many ways, Jayce is a hybrid champion, because he can be a ranged and also a melee champion. Knowing when to swap between the different forms is important when looking to play Jayce well, this makes Jayce a high skill cap Champion to play.

Jayce is mainly a top lane champion; because his range attack gives him a bit of an advantage over most top lane champions, unless you are fighting against Nidalee or Teemo. Whenever I play Jayce top lane, I try to rush a Black Cleaver first. The extra health, cooldown reduction and armor penetration are good in helping Jayce out in the early game. But you should try to build Jayce tanky early game. It helps keep Jayce alive and beefy toward the mid and end game.

Items that are good for Jayce are Trinity Force and Bloodthirster, depending on your match-up, Maw of Malmortius if you need MR. In most cases, during the early and mid game, you mostly want Jayce to be tanky, but near the end game you can start to transition into dishing out damage.

Learning the Skills of Each Different Form

Jayce is one of the few Champions with 8 different skills, so learning when to swap and use each skill is important to play Jayce well.

Hextech Capacitor – Gains 40 Movement Speed for 1.25 seconds and can move through units each time Transform is cast.

Jayce passive helps him chase down his targets or escape from the enemy that might be chasing after him. Knowing when to swap between a bruiser and AD carry can help you grab a kill or even escape death.

Q: To The Skies / Shock Blast

To The Skies (Melee Form) – (Active): Jayce leaps to an enemy, dealing physical damage to his target and to enemies in the area, slowing them for 2 seconds.

Shock Blast (Range Form) – (Active): Fires an orb of electricity that detonates upon hitting an enemy or reaching the end of its path, dealing physical damage to all enemies in the area of the explosion.

To The Skies is going to be your way of getting in close on your enemy. It’s a good way of closing a battle after you used your range combination spells or on someone who is trying to escape. By leaping in and slowing the target and knocking them back with Thundering Blow.

Shock Blast is Jayce form of poking the enemy. Combined with Acceleration gate, it can clear creeps waves fast and even hit targets that are trying to escape or flashed away or initiate teamfights.

W: Lighting Field / Hyper Charge

Lighting Field (Melee Form) - (Passive): Jayce regenerates mana each time he strikes an enemy while in Hammer Stance.

(Active): Creates an electric aura, dealing magic damage over 4 seconds to nearby enemies.

Hyper Charge (Range Form) - (Active): Jayce gains a burst of energy, increasing his attack speed to maximum for 3 attacks. These attacks deal varied damage depending on rank.

For Lighting Field, it’s good to have at least one point in it, but should be maxed out last. It’s good for clearing creep waves in melee form and also getting back a bit of mana since in the early game you are going to be using a lot of mana on Jayce. It's also good to have a bit of extra damage when you are up close to your target.

Hyper Charge is mostly used for taking down towers faster or poking the enemy, forcing them to use their health pots early game. But you could also active Hyper Charge and quickly swap to melee form and still have the 3 extra attacks for some quick damage.

E: Thundering Blow / Acceleration Gate

Thunder Blow (Melee Form) - (Active): Deals magic damage equal to a base amount plus a percentage of the target's maximum health, knocking the target back a short distance. This damage is capped against monsters.

Acceleration Gate (Range Form) - (Active): Deploys an Acceleration Gate for 4 seconds, increasing the movement speed of all allies who pass through it for 3 seconds. This bonus fades over the duration.

If Shock Blast is fired through the gate, the missile speed and range will be increased, and its damage will increase by 40%.

Thunder Blow is the first skill I get on Jayce, but should be maxed out second after Q. The reason I get E first is for the knock back it gives to Jayce. Acceleration Gate is Jayce's method of escape. This ability can also be used to poke the enemy or perform ranged kills on enemies that might have gotten away. Using Shock Blast and Acceleration Gate gives Jayce huge range and damage to clear waves at a safe distance. Also, Acceleration Gate is a good method to help your teammates escape from the enemy when they are being chased.

R: Transform: Mercury Cannon / Transform: Mercury Hammer

Transform: Mercury Cannon (Melee Form) - Transforms the Mercury Hammer into the Mercury Cannon, gaining new abilities and ranged attacks.

The next attack in Cannon Stance reduces the enemy's armor and magic resist for 5 seconds.

Transform: Mercury Hammer (Range Form) - Transforms the Mercury Cannon into the Mercury Hammer, gaining new abilities and bonus armor and magic resist.

The next attack in Hammer Stance deals additional magic damage.

Knowing when to swap is an important mechanic, since Jayce is able to learn how to transform at Level 1, so it’s best to start out in range form when going top lane. The cooldown is quite low, so switching between different forms is quite easy. Knowing the timing of each of your abilities is important; because each of his form has an extra bonus to help you dish out damage or provide extra armor and magic resist bonuses.

I normally only switch into Hammer form, when I’m trying to close in on a target. I use Thunder Blow to knock the enemy back in order for me to escape, when my Acceleration Gate is on cooldown.

Strategy and Tactics

During the laning phase, you can choose to select Q or E first. I normally get E first, because of the knock back, but if you were to select Q first Jayce gets two extra damaging spells that make Jayce quite a powerful level 1 champion.

When playing top lane as Jayce, you need to be aware of the enemy jungler that might come gank you, so staying at a safe range and distance is the best thing to do. Since Jayce has a great advantage, being a ranged champion, which allows you to push the top lane with the different range skills and spells you have.

Champions that might give Jayce a hard time are champions that have forms of dash in attacks or methods in closing the gap. Examples: Irelia, Riven, Renekton. So when laning against these champions, try to play smart and keep a distance.

Jayce Acceleration Gate is what makes him mobile. So using the Acceleration Gate wisely will help you and your teammates in fights or escape fights. A tip in using the Acceleration Gate and Shock Blast combo is that it’s quite easy to dodge if the Shock Blast has to fly a distance before it’s accelerated by the gate. Try to place your Shock Blast shoots in front of the gate, so it makes it hard for the enemy to dodge or even react to the incoming shot.

Jayce's main focus in team fights is to focus the AD carry of the enemy team, but never be scared to transform into Hammer Form and jump in on any other targets that might be weak or trying to escape. Follow your team and try to help them with your Acceleration Gate or Shock Blast pokes.

Conclusion

Jayce is quite a powerful champion in many ways, since he can be an AD carry or a bruiser. What makes Jayce a really fun champion to play is the different transformation he can do. I always enjoyed playing difficult champions that require thinking and planning. So if you ever get the chance, give Jayce a chance. I’m sure you will find him to be quite overpowered and fun.