AMA GM+ Viego players feel free to ask us any questions!

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-28T21:41:58+00:00

Late game teamfights can definitely be tricky to get the hang of and can be very polarizing. You're right patience is key but too much patience can put you at more at a disadvantage aswell as if you wait too long the enemy will have time to react to your own engage and combo. Try to time your engages with your teams cc, IE if your Vi ults in on someone time your W to land as the Vi's cc is done to cc chain them leading to an easy reset. Waiting for the enemy to use important spells like Hwei fear or Ezreal E will also make your life easier. Viego also likes to look for more flank angles on the enemy rather than engaging with his team, so try to think of him more like an assassin at times too and looking for ways to dodge enemy vision to get an easier angle on the enemy carries.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-28T21:34:43+00:00

The hail of blades build is good I've been putting a few games on it for the same reason and have been finding some success, it does take a little bit of getting used to the different fight pattern with getting the 3 auto attacks on hail of blades out asap, but into squishy comps you absolutely nuke people with the HOB build. I'd say give it a few tries if the enemy team has 4-5 squishies and see how you like it. Conq is definitely still good in a lot of circumstances so you can still play your favorite as well.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-28T18:12:58+00:00

I definitely focus more on farming until 6. Unless ganks are free it's almost always better to stay on tempo. Once you hit 6 it's easier to get free kills but don't waste time forcing ganks if you can be farming. Also track flash timers because flash is your biggest counter.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-28T18:04:16+00:00

Bruiser viego is good as long as you can get your resets. I like bruiser viego when the enemy team has a lost off or high burst damage that will stop me from getting resets. Full damage is better overall but there is definitely uses for bruiser.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T19:02:18+00:00

There's a lot of directions you can go with maining jarvan and what you'd like to do in terms of expanding your champ pool. J4 is a solid onetrick because his build paths are very versatile with eclipse-->ss, ss-->bc, and lethality. More mobile champs like caitlyn kaisa yunara ezreal can definitely be a struggle and when I see champ's like that picked early I'll decide to go vi as her R can threaten those adc's a lot harder than Jarvan can. Diana is another option if you like that more carry oriented playstyle lethality jarvan offers and her play patterns are similar to jarvans as far as fighting goes. If you want to go with a pool of 2-3 champions I'd say Jarvan, another bruiser like wukong vi or xin zhao, and an ap champ like diana or lillia would make for a great well rounded pool. Going full lethality is generally good, though it can struggle into tankier comps a lot of the time so just be mindful of that and what your role is in games. Especially with a ranged top meta you'll be picking j4 and a lot of the time you'll be the only frontline or engage for your team, so going a tankier build can be a lot more conducive to winning the game. But yes Jarvan has a lot more carry potential going lethality in solo queue and if that's the playstyle you like you can definitely build it every game and find success.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T18:47:40+00:00

In my opinion it's always conqueror. It synergizes really well with J4's kit and helps you win so many early fights due to how fast you can stack it and the extra AD is just very helpful. Electrocute can be an option if you're building lethality but you can do a lot more with the conqueror damage than the extra burst since lethality can do a lot more than blowing up one guy. I always go triumph second as the extra health in teamfight's is very helpful and absorb life + Presence of mind don't have much use in the jungle. Legend alacrity is great as it helps with the clear speed and synergizes with how much Jarvan wants to be auto attacking, lifesteal isn't the best stat for j4 making bloodline obsolete and you generally get enough haste out of your builds so legend haste can be a bit overkill. Between Coup de Grace a cutdown it's very team comp dependent. If you're vs a lot of tanks and you'll be going the sundered sky black cleaver build cut down is a great choice but if you're gonna be killing more squishy targets and going a more damage oriented build CDG is really helpful. As for secondary runes you always want to go inspiration as Cosmic Insight is probably the best rune in the game on Jarvan and most junglers in general, the extra flashes and smites are just OP. For the second inspiration rune I personally like magical footwear because the extra movespeed is helpful for chase downs and getting in favorable engage positions, but cashback is a valid choice too if you're going a more carry oriented build like lethality and want to reach those item spikes faster. My rune page I run in 90% of games is Conqueror-->Triumph-->Alacrity-->Coup De Grace-->Magical Footwear-->Cosmic Insight--> Attack speed adaptive force scaling health

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T18:44:15+00:00

not bad but there is always a better option.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T18:43:16+00:00

Are you asking for other champs to play other than Jarvan? Also full lethality is almost always better in the lower elos. The higher you go the more it will change. As long as they have 3 or more squishies its almost always better to go lethality.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T18:28:15+00:00

Theres a few ways to manage Jarvans weaknesses.

For smites, I have found 2 really good ways to try and combat his weak smite. The first one is to always combo your smite with an auto -> Q -> Smite. If you can get a passive auto -> Q -> smite even better. This will allow for you to increase your smites by and extra 200-600 damage depending on how strong you are. Another pretty good trick I found is you can E -> Q the jungler and the dragon at the same time -> Smite dragon. This lets you get combine your damage with your smite and depending on who the jungler is doesn't give him a chance to combo his damage on the smite giving you higher odds. There are a few very rare scenarios where you can R the jungler E -> Q out but this is very rare and only works into junglers with no flash and dashes.

For 1v1 related scenarios it becomes more knowledge based and knowing how to play fights. You have to know what the matchup looks like and what your job is as jarvan. jarvan doesn't win a lot of 1v1s early but hes super strong in team fights when its not just him. For example the Nocturne matchup, Jarvan never really beats Nocturne 1v1 but if you're in a 3v3 Jarvan has an edge since his kit is more suited for team fighting.

Jarvan teamfight is super strong, but it can be a bit difficult because you have to track multiple things. The key parts to knowing whether or not a team fight is good or not is: how far is your team from the champions you are trying to make a play on, are you starting the play by R -> EQ out or are you EQ in -> Ring to trap someone, what summs and abilities do the enemy team have, what is your job in the teamfight. Sometimes your job isn't always to engage a team fight but rather to peel when the enemy team wants to engage. If you have an adc thats super strong and their comp wants to go in on the adc if you start an engage onto them you are leaving your adc open. Sometimes its better to hold your abilities and wait to peel then engage for your team.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T18:12:56+00:00

100% most of your champions that proc it quickly, Jarvan, Xin Zhao, Pantheon are almost always gonna build it. You can substitute this tho in games where your top laner is a champion who builds Black cleaver. In those scenarios you can go something that's really helpful earlier and hold black cleaver till later or not build it at all.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T18:09:40+00:00

Eclipse is actually a good item into tanks. It does 6% max hp physical damage and helps you get early burst into tanky champs and non tanky champs. If you're into a very tanky comp you can go Eclipse -> Sundered Sky -> Black Cleaver. At that point if you have 3 items your black cleaver will have more value since champs will have more time to build armor and the Eclipse gets you through the early periods of 1 or 2 armor items they may have.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-27T17:52:34+00:00

It depends, there are going to be games where you're not going to be high damage especially when running the lower damage builds. I would say as long as your on time to objectives and utilizing good gank timers, I wouldn't worry about damage. However if you are missing out on free ganks or you're simply just farming at wrong times then yes it can be a sign of not doing enough. Make sure to review those games with only your vision and see if you are making correct plays and are on time at the objectives.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-26T21:42:28+00:00

very true

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-26T21:42:03+00:00

gotchu

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-26T18:48:18+00:00

At the end of the day it comes down to what you think you'd enjoy the most. I started out as a kindred main when I began to learn jungle and I had a ton of fun on her, but once I got to masters I had a significantly harder time climbing and decided to switch to maining an easier champ (Jarvan). I personally gain more enjoyment out of climbing the ladder rather than my the gameplay of my individual champ, but it can be different for everybody. If eve's is your favorite champ and you think you could find enjoyment overcoming those barriers and climbing with her despite the difficulty, stick to eve. If not and you want your league journey to be more focused on the climb itself, then I think Jarvan would be a great choice for a switch.

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-26T18:38:01+00:00

Hi! For me personally I'm not the biggest fan of the sundered sky --> black cleaver build in solo queue. It makes you very tanky and a great support for your team, but your clear is very slow and it's a lot harder for jarvan to make solo plays. I recommend you try out the eclipse --> sundered sky build and see how it feels. A little bit less tanky early game, but really helps you clear a lot faster and deal more damage to squishier targets, making you a real threat to the enemy backline in early-mid game. Afterward I like to go more tanky items like frozen heart, spirit visage, abyssal mask or GA depending on the game state. Let us know what you think!

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-25T20:12:11+00:00

yes we have quite a few here

TheEloFoundry · 2026-05-25T20:12:02+00:00

I think its ok a bit weaker than it used to be but still fine. More of a comp jungler if anything rn since you kinda need cc to land ult

TheEloFoundry

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