Jayce
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Good (7.5/10)
High Investment Required
Paid Relics
Rare Relics OK
Jayce is a polarized champion: he feels sluggish and inconsistent at lower investment levels but becomes a potent "keyword soup" engine and spell-slinger with full Constellation upgrades. His effectiveness is heavily tied to specific relics and reaching high mana thresholds.
Hextech Perfection
Considered the definitive upgrade for Jayce, this relic refills your mana upon leveling up (or playing him, effectively), allowing you to immediately cast a 6-cost spell to stabilize the board.
The absolute core of Jayce's kit. Once you reach 6 mana gems, this doubles every spell, triggering his star powers multiple times and enabling massive damage spikes.
Summons a dormant copy of Jayce that awakens later. Having two Jayces on board doubles the benefits of his aura and leader abilities, exponentially increasing the value of duplicated spells.
Strategy
This build solves Jayce's primary weakness: tempo. The Hextech Battery allows you to impact the board immediately upon summoning him. Frozen Tomb ensures you have a backup champion and eventually double the aura effects, while Chemtech Duplicator handles the heavy lifting for damage and value generation.
Shadows of Progress
Reduces Jayce's cost by dealing damage to allies. At 4-stars (C4), this often enables a Turn 1 Jayce drop, significantly accelerating your game plan.- Essential for doubling 6+ cost spells to trigger Jayce's level-up conditions and removal effects twice.
Generates a fleeting copy of Jayce's champion spell (or Jayce himself) every round. This ensures you never run out of 6-cost spells to trigger his mechanics.
Strategy
This build focuses on speed. By utilizing Disciple of Shadows and Jayce's 4-star power, you can deploy him immediately. The Counterplan ensures a steady stream of spells to keep his engine running if you fail to draw high-cost cards.
F2P Artificer
- Even without epic relics, this remains the most critical item for Jayce due to his synergy with the 6-mana threshold.
Provides the spell mana necessary to cast expensive 6+ cost spells consistently each round.
A budget alternative to Jayce's Hextech Battery, offering a burst of mana to help cast your first big spell sooner.
Strategy
A reliable setup for players without Epic slots. Focus on surviving until Turn 3 or 4 when you hit 6 mana, then utilize the mana refill from Archangel's Staff to dominate the board with doubled spells.
Other Relic Options
Synergizes with Jayce's high-cost spells and Chemtech Duplicator to clear boards efficiently, as the damage increase applies to every copy of the spell.
Can be used in Plunder-focused builds (enabled by his 4-star power) to reduce his cost and ramp stats early.
Constellation
Jayce is widely considered to have one of the most expensive and linear constellation paths, often described as 'all or nothing.' He feels significantly weaker and slower at lower star levels (C3 and below). His true potential as a 'keyword soup' monster and board-wiper is locked behind his 5-star and 6-star upgrades.
Hyper Charge
When you play a 6+ cost spell, reduce the cost of non-spells in your hand by 1.
Unstable State
+1 Starting Mana. Round Start: Create a Hextech Anomaly in hand if you don't already have one you created this way.
Hyper Charge II
When you play a 6+ cost spell, reduce the cost of non-spells in your hand by 1, then give allies +1|+0 and a random keyword this round.
Gearing Up
Game Start: Summon 2 Armed Gearhead.Review
Enables aggressive Turn 1 plays when combined with relics like Disciple of Shadows or Plunder effects. However, without cost-reduction relics, you may still lack the mana to cast his signature spells this early.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
Considered his most critical upgrade. The additional Mana Gem and tempo swing allow you to curve naturally into 6-cost spells, smoothing out his previously awkward early game.
Hextech Infusion
After you play a 6+ cost spell, deal 10 to a random enemy or the enemy Nexus if there is none.Review
Adds 'Elixir of Sorcery' to 6+ cost spells and deals random damage. While powerful, it is controversial; the random targeting can be inefficient (hitting the same unit twice or wasting damage), and the requirement to play 6+ cost spells feels restrictive compared to other spell-slingers like Lux.
Gameplay Tips
Avoid Cost Reduction Powers
Jayce's entire kit revolves around playing spells that cost 6 or more mana. Powers like Glorious Evolution or items that reduce spell costs can be actively detrimental, as they may lower your expensive spells below the 6-mana threshold, preventing your Star Powers and Level-Up conditions from triggering.
The Chemtech Threshold
Remember that Chemtech Duplicator activates when you have 6 Mana Gems, not just when you have 6 mana available. Prioritize ramping or surviving until this breakpoint, as Jayce's power level spikes exponentially once duplication is active.
Sustain via Hextech
Jayce is one of the most reliable champions for generating Lifesteal. His Hexgate generation often grants this keyword to your units. If you are low on health, prioritize playing and duplicating units or spells that generate keywords to fish for Lifesteal and stabilize.