The X2-mode electron cyclotron heating (ECH) assisted start-up has been studied experimentally on the J-TEXT device to determine the minimum ECH power requirements to assist breakdown and develop a better physics description of the process. Results indicate that the minimum toroidal electric field for a successful start-up on J-TEXT was expanded from 2.5 V m−1 to 0.56 V m−1, and that injecting 300 kW of X2-mode ECH power can ensure robust breakdown. The critical ECH power for successful start-up was determined to be approximately 200 kW. At lower powers ECH was observed to cause ionization but this did not necessarily result in successful start-up. The effects of varying ECH power, pulse-width and toroidal magnetic field on start-up were also investigated. Higher ECH power leads to quicker, stronger ionization and CIII emission, and is beneficial for burn-through. Higher pre-plasma density caused by high ECH power can decrease the required toroidal electric field for the Ohmic breakdown, while the enhanced CIII emission may be not good for the startup. The characteristics of the pre-plasma formed by ECH prior to the application of the loop voltage were also studied. The toroidal magnetic field affects the initial location where pre-plasma forms and this also affected the subsequent tokamak startup. The analysis of spatial density showed that the pre-plasma can radially develop at a velocity of 600 m s−1. Furthermore, it was found that injecting ECH power at the appropriate time with a low power of 150 kW can achieve similar pre-ionization results as the high power case. The transition from ECH plasma to Ohmic plasma suggests that the ECH assisted start-up modified the process of purely Ohmic breakdown.