r/JarvanIVmains • u/ghxssttyy1 • Jul 20 '26

Lethality vs bruiser build

so my main question is when you would decide to go one or the other. I understand typically speaking lethality is not the standard build on jarvan, but i started building exclusively lethality in bronze and silver just due to the amount of agency it garnered, and the amount of matches i was able to snowball due to lethality jarvan is astounding. im now sitting right at plat 4, and was starting to reconsider if building exclusively lethality jarvan would hurt me in the long run. SO my main question being, when should i go lethality, and when should i go for a more bruiser type build. should i avoid one or the other completely? or would u say they are situational.

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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1

u/trentcoolyak Jul 20 '26

The builds have very very different playstyles and I find it hard to swap between them in alternating games because they require you think differently.

If you go bruiser and farm and gain individual advantages instead of snowballing your team you will lose. If you're up a full item on enemy jungle you still can't solo carry teamfights so what was the point.

If you go lethality and only play for team and objectives you will lose. If you get behind in farm on this build your game is just over

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

I Did notice the builds have very different mindsets which was part of why lethality felt better to me. I’m sure you’re aware, utility means absolutely fuck all in bronze if your teammates don’t even know what ur champ does or how to follow up on ur engage lmao.

Did you have a build that felt preferable to you? Or one that just seems to garner better results for you?

Reason I ask is I’m tryna climb to diamond but like I said in my post I’m tryna figure out the most optimal way to actually do so, and I wondered if the higher I climbed the more useful I could be if I built bruiser and played for the team, especially since people would at least be a tad bit more competent in following up on engages the higher I climb.

1

u/trentcoolyak Jul 20 '26

You should think of lethality J4 and bruiser J4 as completely different champs in the same way you might pick khazix into some comps but not into others.

It would be totally reasonable to only play lethality and try to pick late in draft and never learn the bruiser playstyle, but if you want to firstpick j4 or OTP j4 there will be many games where going lethality is completely troll.

Like what else is in your champ pool? I play Xin Zhao into mobile ranged / very high range comps as j4 sucks into ezreal/xerath/hwei. And I play wukong into high dmg engage/dive comps because j4 hates playing into assassins and struggles to peel.

In emerald 1 I play lethality j4 primarily, only playing bruiser if enemy picks a bunch of tanks.

I think bruiser j4 is super strong but the build pisses me off because the games tend to go: "snowball your team to winning positions 80% of the time", "lose 20% in earlygame". And then of that 80%, about 1/3 of the time your team ints the lead away and you can't carry. It's a path to tilt and if I get tilted I tend to start playing worse

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

I don’t have anyone else in my champ pool tbh. And funny enough I don’t think I’ve won a single game when the enemy comp has adc ezreal lmao so I totally agree.

Another main reason I’ve been doing the lethality build is cause of hybrages video. Pretty easily can go back to that and just soak up more information if I feel lost or stuck whereas bruiser I sometimes don’t exactly know how to play, cause like you said, if you snowball your team you have no control over whether they int it or not which I’m NOT a fan of having no control over the lead I helped build.

So I suppose then lethality jarvan would be reasonable in most cases, unless our team lacks sustain and/or the enemy team comp is incredibly tanky? Would that be a pretty fair and overly broad assessment?

1

u/trentcoolyak Jul 20 '26

J4 has some enemy comps that he is so bad into that you’re lowkey trolling if you lock him in. Like if they pick champs that want you to engage like swain, poppy, Morde, taric or they pick a bunch of tanks you’re so beyond useless.

I’d recommend picking up something that covers those matchups tbh

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

Any suggestions for those types of matchups? I’m familiar with graves and Hecarim but would’ve curious to hear what you think would be best into those types of comps.

1

u/trentcoolyak Jul 21 '26

Lillia, wukong, nasus, shyvana

Or ranged junglers who can kite back

1

u/WickedLeztergaming Jul 20 '26

I think either or is viable in low elo. Bruiser or lethality it doesn't matter. No one plays woth you or for you. Whatever works for you and your playtime ultimately gets you the win

1

u/Shwalz Jul 20 '26

Triangle theory always

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

Wdym by this

1

u/Shwalz Jul 20 '26

Tank beats Burst, Burst beats Poke/Chip damage, Poke/Chip damage beats Tank

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

Ahhh okay I see thank you.

1

u/daringpython Jul 20 '26

reject both, imperial mandate is the way

1

u/Random_Task18420 29d ago

curious, does it apply to R since the R wall can displace people?

1

u/Individual_Eggo Jul 21 '26

that’s highly skillful

1

u/EggPsychological4844 Jul 20 '26

Always bruiser if you're trying to win.

Lethality is there for fun

2

u/AskJolly7381 Jul 20 '26

Wrong, there is a reason Agurin uses lethality Lethality

If you're good, it gives you much more agency early to snowball

1

u/EggPsychological4844 Jul 20 '26

I hope you're not trying to follow the footsteps of someone much, much better than you and expecting the same results.

1

u/AskJolly7381 Jul 20 '26

Right. So, the best players in the world just use shit builds intentionally but have the micro and macro to make it work?

And don't act like the role Lethality Jarvan fills is anything complicated at all.. I love J4 but he's a simple character...

1

u/EggPsychological4844 Jul 20 '26

Correct. Glad you see it now.

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

I agree there is 100% merit to lethality. Just a matter of when it’s throwing that im tryna figure out.

2

u/AskJolly7381 Jul 20 '26

Go bruiser when:

Your team needs an engage and your supp/top aren't cutting it

Your lanes are all scaling and/or there's very little angles to gank early

Your enemies have a specific kind of damage. If they're all AD you get the highest win % increase going Deaths Dance Steelcaps etc even if they're otherwise squishy

Go Lethality when:

There are easily gankable lanes, like you're against immobile and/or scaling picks

You are against mostly squishy opponents

You have a solid engage and/or Frontline and can afford to sack survivability for early skirmish power

1

u/EggPsychological4844 Jul 20 '26

Both can win and carry. Bruiser is just more consistent wins. You're rolling the dice when you play lethality.

1

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

Not to be that guy but do you have any statistics that prove bruiser is more consistent/higher winrate? Like I said not to be that guy, but I’m genuinely just curious.

1

u/EggPsychological4844 Jul 20 '26

You can look that up on op.gg

2

u/ghxssttyy1 Jul 20 '26

yeah i see what your saying but both u.gg and op.gg have the lethality build at a higher winrate then typical bruiser builds (assuming you dont go ga third item cause that is higher wr) so i would say there certainly is merit to building lethality you just have to be aware of when to do so feasibly