So recently I was criticized (not harshly, just a "Why did you build rageblade first?")somewhat early game as Jax. My items at the time where Merc treads (enemy had decent CC), Rageblade, and sheen. He politely suggested "It's better to rush tri-force and Gunblade first."
Just to let you guys know, I turn sheen into trinity later on, and build on gunlade later on as well.

Anyways, what do you guys think, should I take his advice and build Gunblade and trinity first before the rageblade?

Generally, getting a rage blade on Jax period is a bad thing.
Sanguine Blade is a better choice.

I was able to find an old post by Sauron on his Jax build and that is what I based my current Jax build off of.

From what I hear and read, rushing Trinity Force is not a good move either. I do rush The Brutalizer. I find the CDR, AD, and Armor Pen. very useful in Dominion. Then I start building Trinity Force, prioritizing the components I think are the most helpful in the game at the moment. After I get Trinity Force, I examine the game to see what I should focus on. Unless the game is going really, really bad, then I start doing weird builds out of panic...yeah...I should work on that...

Anyways, I digressed. I personally at least rushed Hextech Revolver before getting a Trinity Force components.

Take my comments with a grain of salt since I am not necessary the best Dominion player...

Isn't rage blade an obsolete item?

AS is not as valuable as it seems, especially on melee champions. If you're being kited a 2.0 ideal AS, might be closer to 0.8 effective AS. But if people aren't kiting AS items are very cost efficient.

The AP is not as useful as it seems. Jax's ultimate has a 0.7 AP scaling every 3 hits. However, 3 hits gives Jax a 3.0 AD ratio. Jax's W has 0.6 AP ratio, but it procs on hit effects so it also has a 1.0 AD ratio.

Every autoattack has a 1.0* AD ratio, and Jax's abilities proc off of his autoattacks which means his AD ratios are higher than his AP ratios.

* Technically autoattacks have a higher than 1.0 AD ratio when you account for crits.

Rageblade enhances the worst part of jax's kit - the derpy windup attackspeed increase. Sure, it's good but only after the, what? 3-5 seconds of autoattacking it takes to fully get your attackspeed up - at which point most combat is over.

Instead of building up the worst part of your kit, build to enhance the best part of your kit - the super low cooldown autoattack refersh. Getting an early brutalizer and either CDR boots or a kindlegem later on lets you can hit the enemy with all the Ws, ever.

Gunblade, post-nerf, is also pretty awful, just because the AD and lifesteal - much better for jax than the AP and spell vamp - got axed HARD. I would honestly reccomend a zeke's, sanguine or even just sit on one or two vamp scepters over ever building a gunblade.

I like pBlade, boots, sheen... sheen is a HUGE dps increase, nothing else compares, and why anyone would not rush sheen boggles my mind.... and then I generally Ionians, then zeal, phage, Triforce... every part of Triforce is of benefit to Jax, nothing wasted, and at that point his damage is very potent, and his survivability quite decent with 450 extra health, E and R. Then I've been getting a vamp scepter lately for more sustain and survivability (to be built into a sanguine down the road), and then grabbing an armor pen item. Ghostblade puts your W under 2.0 and can lead to some negative interaction with Triforce if you're not real careful, so I generally Last Whisper if anyone is building real armor, or if they're all squishy and not building armor, I Black Cleaver, as two swings in it's got the armor pen of LW beat against squishies, and it has noticably more AD, and a good chunk of AS, which is strong on Jax overall. At that point, I'm generally shutting anyone down, hard, that doesn't kite me to death... so... I start pining for move speed. The only practical way to up that at this point is with a Zeal > PD, as well as being the largest overall DPS increase. I then finish off my Sanguine Blade. If my gold is building up at the end, I'll sell my pBlade and grab another PD, for the extra MS and dps boost.

Rageblade is... a little bit of everything... and is OK for Jax but not great... he doesn't scale as well with AP as compared to AD, and should only be getting it if it's part of an AMAZING item for him otherwise like Sheen/Triforce. Gunblade is ok, but again, Jax doesn't scale as well with AP, and does the vast majority of his damage through auto attacks, which makes the spell vamp on it somewhat weak.

Agreed that Rageblade is not necessarily the best choice for Jax, despite initial impressions;

- The more AS you have, the less (relative) value from stacking more AS. Jax has a massive innate AS buff.
- Jax has a very low cooldown autoattack reset
- Jax AP ratios are decent but not amazing
- AS is worthless if you can't keep attacking, and Jax is still vulnerable to kiting and CC (though less so than most bruisers)

Are you bot lane? Then you get the triforce and life-steal, often some life-steal before completing triforce.

Are you top lane? Finish triforce, then get some lifesteal.

(Insert Brutalizer and shoes 2. I tend to rush the brutalizer, then Ionian, then Phage)

Rageblade is an underwhelming item.

I want to build the RageBlade on Nasus some time...