Garen vs Jayce
Skill matchup
Build vs Jayce
Build adapted to this matchup
Recommended items for Garen: Stridebreaker, Phantom Dancer, Mortal Reminder, Berserker's Greaves, Dead Man's Plate, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Infinity Edge, Force of Nature.
Starting items
Core build
Standard
Summoner spells
Anti CC
Other options
Power Spikes
Strength by game phase
Jayce's abilities
Passive, spells and ultimate
When Jayce swaps weapons he gains Move Speed for a short duration.
Cooldowns
Cooldowns by spell rank
| Level | Q | W | E | R |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 16s | 10s | 20s | – |
| 6 | 12s | 10s | 20s | 6s |
| 9 | 8s | 10s | 20s | 6s |
| 11 | 8s | 10s | 20s | 6s |
| 16 | 8s | 10s | 16s | 6s |
| 18 | 8s | 10s | 12s | 6s |
Playing as Garen
Tips to maximize your impact
- Silence, spin, back off
Trade with Decisive Strike (Q), then Judgment (E), and back off: the Decisive Strike silence stops your opponent from answering with spells.
- Stay closest to your opponent
During Judgment (E), stay closer to your opponent than to their minions: the nearest enemy takes extra damage.
- Back off to regenerate
After a trade, back off until Perseverance (passive) kicks in: without recent damage taken, you regenerate part of your health every second.
- Courage just before impact
Activate Courage (W) just before the bulk of the damage: you first gain a shield and tenacity, then a longer damage reduction.
- Save your R to finish
Save Demacian Justice (R) to finish: its true damage grows with the target's missing health.
Playing against Jayce
How to counter and exploit weaknesses
- Watch for the orb behind his gate
When he places Acceleration Gate (E), expect Shock Blast (Q) through it: the orb gains speed, range and damage.
- Back off when he goes hammer
If you have range, back off when he switches to hammer: Mercury Hammer (R) makes him tankier, and he can't go back to cannon for 6 seconds.
- Engage after his Thundering Blow
Engage after Thundering Blow (E): it's his only knockback, and it has a 20 to 10 second cooldown.
- Drag the game out
If you survive the laning phase, play for time: Jayce is strongest early, when his cannon range dominates the lane.
Other Garen matchups
Patch 16.21.1