Jayce is neither melee nor ranged champion. He is both. Jayce is the only champion that has the ability to switch between melee and range freely. He will use his ranged stance to poke you down and then switch to a melee stance and finish you off.
Jayce’s Abilities
Jayce’s kit is based mainly on managing to switch between the stances. To better understand how to avoid mistakes when dealing with him, you have to study his abilities closely. All of his abilities have two versions except Passive which stays the same regardless of his current stance.
- Passive – Hextech Capacitor: Each time Jayce switches between Hammer Stance and Cannon Stance, he gains 40 bonus movement speed and ghosting for 0.75 seconds.
- Q – To the Skies!: Jayce leaps to the target enemy’s location and smashes his hammer on the ground upon arrival, dealing physical damage to all enemies within an area and slowing them for 2 seconds.
- Q – Shock Blast: Jayce fires an electric bolt in the target direction that detonates upon hitting an enemy or max range, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies and briefly granting sight of the area. If the bolt passes through Acceleration Gate, it supercharges: dealing 40% increased damage with increased speed, range, and explosion.
- W – Lightning Field: Jayce surrounds himself with an electric field for 4 seconds, dealing magic damage each second to all nearby enemies over the duration.
- W – Hyper Charge: Jayce gains 300% bonus attack speed on his next 3 basic attacks within 4 seconds, each one dealing modified damage. Hyper Charge resets Jayce’s basic attack timer, and the modified damage is affected by critical strike modifiers.
- E – Thundering Blow: Jayce swings his hammer at the target enemy, dealing magic damage, capped against monsters, while also pulling them to a location 500 units in front of him.
- E – Acceleration Gate: Jayce deploys an energy gate centered at the target location for 4 seconds, granting sight of its area. All allied champions that touch the gate will gain bonus movement speed that decays over 3 seconds. The buff is continuously refreshed inside the gate.
- R – Transform Mercury Cannon: Jayce transforms into Cannon Stance, receiving access to its abilities, becoming ranged with 500 attack range, and empowering his next basic attack to reduce the target’s armor and magic resistance by 10 / 15 / 20 / 25% (based on level) for 5 seconds. Jayce begins the game with Transform but cannot increase its rank. Instead, his basic abilities each have 6 ranks.
- R – Transform Mercury Hammer: Jayce transforms into Hammer Stance, receiving access to its abilities, becoming melee with 125 attack range, gaining 5 / 15 / 25 / 35 (based on level) bonus armor and bonus magic resistance, and empowering his next basic attack to deal 25 / 65 / 105 / 145 (based on level) (+ 25% bonus AD) bonus magic damage.
Countering Jayce’s Spells
Jayce is fairly mana-hungry. If he is low on mana, be ready to surprise him by going all in. Try to keep your distance and stay behind minions to not get hit by his Shock Blast (Q). Using dash abilities (Flash as well) to leave the area before he hits the ground using his To the Skies! (Q) will completely negate the damage. Changing weapons (R) has a 6-second cooldown. If he used it for whatever reason, try to take advantage of his mistake and punish him for it.
Most Common Jayce Combos
The early game basic poking combo is E > Q or Q > E while he is in his ranged mode. In melee mode, he will use quick Q > AA > E. In ranged mode more complex combo to trade he will use is AA > Q > R > Q > AA > E. There is also variant with a gate (E) in the mix such as Q > E > R > Q > AA > E. And last but not least is usage of all of his abilities in one combo. Starting in ranged mode it looks like this: Q > E > AA > W > R > Q > W > AA > E.
Jayce’s Weaknesses
1. CC
CC is always recommended, and it is no different with Jayce.
2. Mana
Jayce uses a lot of mana. If you manage to dance around his poke and make him waste his abilities, you will find yourself in a very good position where you can try to kill him, and he will not be able to react because of his low mana.
3. Weak if behind
Jayce is very dependant on his items. If you manage to punish him in the early game and he stays behind the whole game, he will deal no damage in team fights, and his poke and all-in will not be as impactful as they could be.
The Best Jayce Lane Counters in Season 12
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1. Dr. Mundo
Dr. Mundo is very easy to learn, doesn’t have skill shots except for his Q, and has simple mechanics. With the gold difference of +770 gold at the 15th-minute mark, Dr. Mundo is the champion that is a great pick against Jayce. His tankiness and health regeneration are great to survive the poke and are quite useful even during the late-game fights. His beefiness gives him the great potential to tank for his teammates and can even go directly for the enemy backline.
2. Tahm Kench
Tahm Kench is a moderately hard-to-play champion, has few skill shots and simple mechanics. With the gold difference of +650 gold at the 15th-minute mark, Tahm Kench is the champion that is an ideal pick against Jayce. Tahm Kench provides excellent utility to initiate team fights, and his beefiness gives him time to survive most of the damage that Jayce has to use on him instead of on your squishy teammates.
Honorable Mention: Nasus
Nasus is very easy to play, has no skill shots, and has very simple mechanics. With the gold difference of +210 gold at the 15th-minute mark, Nasus is not as potent as the two champions above but still a solid pick against Jayce. Nasus is weaker in the early game, but his late-game is very strong. He has the same plan for every game, and that is to stack as much as possible. He can split push very well, which can lure more than one enemy to your lane.
The Best Champions to Counter Jayce in Season 12
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1. Amumu
In the jungle, Amumu is our recommended pick. His excellent CC in the form of 2x Bandage Toss (Q) and Curse of the Sad Mummy (R) gives him upper over the squishy Jayce.
2. Vladimir
In the mid-lane, Vladimir, with his sustain, is another counter against Jayce. His Sanguine Pool (W) allows him to dodge most of the Jayce combo, and his team fight potential with his Tides of Blood (E) and Hemoplague (R) is superb.
3. Ashe
Ashe in the bot lane is an ideal ADC that is viable against Jayce. Her Passive gives her a great peeling tool to kite enemies, and her Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R) can help the team pick off Jayce unexpectedly.
Best Items to Counter Jayce in Season 12
1. Zhonya’s Hourglass or Guardian Angel
Zhonya’s Hourglass is an excellent way to counter Jayce. It provides Armor and an active that can deny most of the Jayce combos. Guardian Angel can save your game in the late game after enemy Jayce decides to all in you.
2. Health and armor items
All that gives some amount of health or armor is good. Being beefy and tanky is an ideal scenario against Jayce as he will not be able to one-shot you.
3. Items with dash active
Last but not least are items such as Galeforce, Hextech Rocketbelt, or Prowler’s Claw that allow you to dodge his Shock Blast (Q) or move yourself to a better position if he decides to all in you.
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Conclusion
Jayce is the strong early game champion that is extremely hard to play. That does not mean he is easy to play against, but after reading our guide, we firmly believe that you found a few tips that you can use next time to counter him.
Pick a champion within our recommended counters that you are most familiar with and feel most comfortable playing with. If you did not find any of your favorite champions from our list, try to pick something that has reliable CC or is tanky enough to survive his constant poke.
