The Path of Champions: Jayce Guide

Hello, it’s Mezume here! Recently, a new PvE mode has been added to Legends of Runeterra – The Path of Champions. We plan on creating guides for champions available in the mode in order to help everyone who’s struggling to get through it – or simply wants to be prepared for what awaits. In this guide of the series, I will tackle the newest addition to Legends of Runeterra – Jayce!

I will begin by introducing you to the general gameplan of his deck. After that, we’ll go over the best starting powers and relic items to pick from, as well as which reinforcements are best to look out for. I will also touch on the reputation breakpoints, as there are a few which can affect the way you approach the game. Finally, I will provide tips specific for Jayce on each of the specific adventures.

If you are looking for more big picture strategy tips for The Path of Champions, you can check out my guide on Jinx’s adventure, and Den’s article about the mode!

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Jayce’s deck goes all-in on the spell synergies. Many of the initial cards refill your spell mana or get bonuses when you cast 6+ cost spells. In short, they want Jayce to level fast and be able to benefit from his level 2 ability.

Sadly, Jayce does not get any PvE-exclusive cards, but this initial list is still quite powerful due to how impactful it can be to cast Shock Blast or Assembly Line on turn 3, without skipping turns prior thanks to Eager Apprentice and Forge Chief.

From my experience, you have two great ways of complementing your initial list: you can either go even deeper into the synergy, which – in my opinion – is the most fun approach; or get a bit more aggressive in order to use Jayce as an occasional finisher as well as just a strong unit.

In the first approach, you will be looking for expensive spells as well as champions that benefit from casting spells – think Lux and Heimerdinger, maybe even Nami. In the second approach, search for early game, as well as ways to swarm the board.

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Reputation Unlocks

1	Begin your Adventure	Complete adventures to gain Reputation and unlock your champion’s potential!
2	Studded Leather (+1|+1)	Begin every adventure with Studded Leather
3	+50 Gold	Begin every adventure with an extra 50 gold
4	+2 Rerolls	Begin every adventure with 2 additional Rerolls.
5	Random Starting Item	Begin each adventure with a random Common Item on a card in your Deck.
6	Common Relic Slot	Gain a slot for a Common Relic Item.
7	Cut Cards	You can now cut cards at the Healer.
8	New starting Power	Round Start: Grant the  strongest ally  Impact 1.
9	+10% Rare Powers	You have a 10% additional chance to find Rare Powers.
10	+50 Gold	Begin every adventure with an extra 50 gold
11	Rare Relic Slot	Upgrade to a slot for a Rare or Common Relic Item.
12	+2 Rerolls	Begin every adventure with 2 additional Rerolls.
13	+10% Gold	You earn 10% additional gold during adventures.
14	Common Relic Slot	Gain a slot for a Common Relic Item.
15	+1 Revive	Begin every adventure with 1 Revive. It will save you if you lose a combat!
16	+10% Rare Items	You have a 10% additional chance to find Rare Items.
17	Random Starting Item	Begin each adventure with a random Rare Item on a card in your deck.
18	Upgraded Starting Power	Round Start: Grant the  strongest ally  Impact 2.
19	+10% Gold	You earn 10% additional gold during adventures.
20	Rare Relic Slot	Upgrade to a slot for a Rare or Common Relic Item.
21	5% Epic Items	You have a 5% additional chance to find Epic Items
22	+1 Mana	You begin every battle with an extra mana gem.

At level 8 Jayce receives his starting power – When you summon an ally, grant it +1/+0 for each 6+ cost spell in your hand.

While I initially believed it would be a very minor buff, it turned out to change a lot in how I approached the different adventures. This power can definitely make some of the Power rewards much more desirable, while in general making your early and midgame more menacing. Summoning two 4/3s instead of 3/3s with Assembly Line is quite a breakpoint, as they now can compete with 4 health units while getting a high attack Jayce is really crucial.

This power also makes it more enticing to go for swarm strategies benefiting from Acceleration Gate over slower and more control approaches – letting you choose out of a higher variety of playstyles whenever picking Reinforcements, Powers, and Relics.

At level 18, the power upgrades to also grant an extra point of health. This is a huge upgrade, as it allows your units to survive more trades and be more resilient to spell removal.

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Relic Items

Jayce is really strong by himself and just a Studded Leather (+1/+1) already makes him extremely useful. Any relic items on top of that are just a cherry on top.

I’ve found simple stat buffs to be some of the strongest items on Jayce, as Quick Attack and Challenger both synergize very well with large bodies. For that reason, I would rate Jaurim’s Fist (+1/+2), as well as Caulfield’s Warhammer (+2/+1) the highest.

Because in general, spending gold can be a trap and you are usually better off not buying additional cards, The Bounty Hunter’s Renown (+1/+1 for every 200 gold) is also incredibly useful.

When it comes to common relics, Lost Chapter (When I’m summoned, refill your spell mana) is definitely my favourite. Jayce wants to cast as many expensive spells as possible and Lost Chapter helps you achieve just that.

If you do not have access to that relic, another great option is The Troll King Crusher (Overwhelm) and Ravenous Hydra (When I’m summoned, deal 1 to all enemies).

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Reinforcements

There are many ways to approach Reinforcements, so first of all I would like to say that I encourage you to try out all the crazy ideas you might have! That said, there are a few I feel work best with Jayce – or at least they did in my experience.

The most obvious ones are definitely Lux, as well as Heimerdinger. They both synergize very well with the initial deck we are given and their packages complement the strategy nicely.

The best part of Jayce, however, is that he’s so flexible that there are few pairings that feel outright bad. In a similar vein to previous champions, Karma provides lots of value by adding more spell synergy – ever cast a TRIPLE Shock Blast? One of my runs even had Akshan, whose package felt powerful in combination with Jayce’s Challenger keyword; and being able to pop Warlord’s Hoard gives you options to finish off the game even without Jayce’s abilities.

My best recommendation for Jayce’s reinforcements is: play what seems fun! Sometimes it won’t work, some pairings will be stronger than others, but in general, most of them will feel great to play with.

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Powers

Choosing power rewards depends on the adventure you are currently in, as well as relic items you have equipped. Jayce’s favourite power, in my opinion, is Sorcery (Start of Round: refill spell mana). Even though the deck is initially built to be able to have full spell mana anyway, this power allows you to branch out into early game plays that do not have to sacrifice stats for such effects.

In the relic items part, I mentioned Jayce liking stat buffs and the same is true about the entirety of his starter deck. Due to this, powers such as Rush Them Down (When you summon an ally, give it +1/+1 this round), Battlefield Training (Round start: grant the weakest ally +1/+1), as well as Reunited (allies have +1/+0) are all quite useful.

In my opinion, however, these are overshadowed by buffs that give keywords to your units. Crush is my personal favourite, giving Overwhelm to all your units, but Duelist (when you summon a unit, give it Challenger this round) can also be incredibly powerful, as Jayce then becomes a Quick Attack Challenger – likely one of the strongest keyword combinations in the game.

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Boss and Adventure Tips

There are 7 total adventures in the Path of Champions, consisting of one Prologue adventure, as well as 6 that pit you against more difficult opponents.

In the case of Jayce, the prologue path is against Viktor – it is a very simple adventure that allows you to explore how Jayce works as a champion. There is not much to say about this one, as you have an advantage against most of the opponents and your cards and powers are simply much more powerful than theirs.

In the section below I will provide tips for encounters starting from Lulu; all the way until the final Viktor adventure.

The regular encounters in this adventure are still extremely basic – the main difficulty comes from the two bosses: Poppy and Lulu.

Poppy

• There is very little threat outside of the board she will try to build – and you have the right tools to stop it in Shock Blast and Mystic Shot.
• Jayce’s Challenger keyword makes him a great removal tool.

Lulu

• The innate ability of Lulu – Whimsy, can cause you some problems early on, but simply focus on levelling Jayce and Acceleration Gate will work well even on a 1/1 Squirrel.
• Prioritize your removal on Support units like Young Witch and Fuzzy Caretaker to avoid having to face levelled Lulu
• This is a very simple encounter: kill Lulu when you see her with the multitude of tools you have, including Thermogenic Beam and you should be able to move on.

This is the first adventure where the non-boss encounters feel quite impactful. This is because they all have some ways to damage your units and Nexus. That said, as Jayce, you have many ways of stopping that damage thanks to a variety of removal.

Swain

• Swain’s removal is way too weak to threaten your important units, so you can be rather careless. Jayce’s Quick Attack form is really powerful.
• Make sure you have a way to block Swain despite his Fearsome keyword. Many of your cheaper units only have 2 attack, so keep this in mind.

Gangplank

• Make sure to challenge the Kegs whenever you aren’t able to stop potential extra damage by destroying them with a spell. A high damage Make It Rain could blow you out of the water.
• You have quite a bit of removal, so you can actually delay Gangplank level up for a long time – try to do this as much as possible.
• Jayce with Studded Leather can pick off both Gangplank and The Dreadway – unless you’ve picked up Duelist power rewards, Challenger form is the go-to.
• Watch out for his passive Dreadway summon when he reaches 20HP – make sure you can remove it instantly, as it will draw him a Gangplank as well!

By this adventure, we will progress our Reputations and have access to additional rerolls – at the very least, or even more perks if you have been farming reputation! This lets you roll to tailor your additional powers for the encounters, making non-boss fights quite trivial.

Karma

• There are multiple ways for you to lose this encounter – but they all include a surviving Karma. Make sure you can play Jayce on turn 1 or 2 and kill her. You will likely need to pick up some expensive cards on the way leading to this fight – Karma herself is a great champion to find for your deck!
• Once there is no Karma on board, or they have used most of their initial spells like Mystic Shot and Will of Ionia, the only threat comes from Enlightened units, as well as Aurora Porealis. If you haven’t killed Karma yet – do so before you’re staring down an army of 10/10 Poros.
• While the encounter is extremely difficult, they do lack removal outside of Sonic Wave. If you can build a board and buff it with a doubled Acceleration Gate, you should be able to swing the battlefield’s state in your favour, winning the game.

Ezreal

• Your important units are all out of range of Statikk Shock’s damage, so try to bait it out on them before playing the low health ones.
• Ezreal’s 4 health is slightly awkward to deal with, as Shock Blast only deals 3 damage. Having a levelled Jayce ready before Ezreal comes down should be enough to be safe, however.
• Once Trueshot Barrage comes into play due to their passive, you will be on the clock – but at that point, they’re likely out of cards. Look to set up lethal as soon as possible, before you run out of Nexus health.

The non-boss encounters in this adventure actually caused me to sweat a little – something I did not at all expect! You might have some trouble dealing with all the low health units, so be on your guard – them going wide, or using Elusive can put you at pretty low health before your Fiora fight!

Fiora

• I found Fiora to be easier to defeat than some of the non-boss encounters. Thermogenic Beam and Jayce can take care of Fiora, while Shock Blast should kill everything else.
• This is a pretty straightforward matchup – non-Rally Demacia versus Piltover & Zaun. Simply use your removal wisely and keep in mind they run Prismatic Barrier.

Zed

• Because of the passive in the fight, you need to try to chump block his units – luckily they do not have Overwhelm. This is important, because they run some Elusive units and their Zed will have around 7-8 attack. If you get too low, you might just lose the game because you don’t have the mana to kill off a Navori Bladescout that will, in the end, deal 10+ damage, despite only having 3 attack.
• Thermogenic Beam is your way to kill Zed, so try to keep up enough mana on turn 4 to be able to remove him. Without Zed, there is little they can do to you.
• Jayce can remove Zed easily due to being a 6-attack Challenger, so make sure to wait with attacking until they drop it!

The Duelist power is really strong here, as you will want to be able to pick which trades you take, due to all opposing units having Tough. Jayce has a much easier time than Jinx in this adventure from my experience – I highly recommend taking the “Freljord” fights over the ones with Sea Monsters whenever possible.

Sejuani

• There is not a lot to be said – it’s just beefy units that you can counter by having your own high attack units thanks to your starting power – try to play cheap units first when you have Thermogenic Beam in hand so it counts as an extra 6+ cost spell!
• You can generally keep up on the board due to your stat buffs and there is no way Sejuani’s deck can interact with Acceleration Gate buffed board, so use that to finish off the game.

Nautilus

• I always feel like I get a bit lucky when I win this fight – curving out and hoping he skips some early turns with Slaughter Docks is very important.
• Jayce has enough stats to trade into most units that are not Nautilus, but you will have to watch out for Devourer of the Depths. It is recommended to start off with a smaller unit once he has more than 6 mana, so you can bait it out.
• Going wide and looking for a strong Acceleration Gate is how you win this one. Once the board is lost, there is no taking it back, as this is essentially an accelerated Deep deck.

Fitting for the final adventure, the non-boss encounters feel appropriately difficult. In many of them, you will be on edge and lose a significant chunk of your health if you are not careful. The random keyword can surprise you in the worst possible moments, while some of the encounters simply include strong decks.

Azir

• The Sand Soldiers buff is quite frustrating, but luckily with the plethora of removal at your disposal, you should be able to remove most of the engines that create those. This is your priority, as you do not have too many chump blockers.
• Save Mystic Shots for those pesky Sand Soldiers that end up getting Elusive or Overwhelm. You wouldn’t want to get blown up out of nowhere due to RNG, would you?!
• It should be a fairly simple fight for Jayce. You do not have to go out of your way too much – you want to fight for the board as a part of your general strategy anyway and that is how you win this one.

Viktor

• Duelist is a fantastic power in this encounter, as with that and some stat buffs, Jayce will actually be able to pick off and deal with Viktor.
• There is always a bit of luck involved, as you need to hope Viktor doesn’t get some ridiculous keyword combinations early, before you find your Jayce. One other way of cleanly dealing with Viktor is grabbing the item that lets your unit Capture Viktor and then protecting that unit.
• Use your removal wisely. Viktor will usually be out of range of most of it, so it is best used on Mechanized Mimic – a card that could get out of hand if you don’t keep it in check!

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Closing Words

I hope you had fun with Jayce’s Path of Champions! Personally, I found it quite a bit more fun than Jinx, as I felt I could try out many more champion combinations and strategies, but I was a little disappointed when I found own he does not get any special cards like Pow-Pow.

Overall, I continue to enjoy Path of Champions – it does not get boring too fast and it is challenging enough that it keeps you engaged. I cannot wait to write another one of these guides and in the meantime, I will continue playing around with all the available champions.

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