Janna Build Guide by jetiger

Introduction

Welcome to my first guide on Mobafire, featuring the fury of the storm - Janna! This guide is not a guide meant for ranked play, as Janna is a much beter support than she is a solo mid. Playing Janna this way, however, can be very fun - especially when you nuke an enemy in a single burst! :)

Janna's incredible movement speed and insane burst due to her high AP ratios let you roam the map throughout almost the entire game. This, along with Janna's great CC can result in many devastating ganks all game long. Her ult to push enemies back along with her slow and tornado make escaping a gank from Janna almost impossible.

I have played Janna many games - both AP and support. She is definitely one of my favorite champions for her insane nuke as well as her large amount of cc. After experimenting with many different builds, I finally found a build that works very well and wanted to share it so others can enjoy the power of AP Janna. If you find any errors with this guide please let me know and I will fix them as soon as I am able. Thanks - read on and enjoy.

Pros / Cons

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Pros + Insane Burst Damage + Amazing Farmer With Tornado (Post level 7) + Very Fast / Good Escaper + Great Ganker

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Cons - Very Squishy - Hard to last hit (pre level 7) - Weak early game / easily zoned - Hard to catch back up (when underleveled)

Masteries

Offense

The ability power while ignite is on cooldown is very useful.
The 4 ability power will help your tornado kill all the minions sooner as well as buff your shield a bit more.
CDR on Janna is one of the more useful things, as her abilities have a decently high cool down.
This will help Zephyr and Howling Gale hit for that much more damage.
This is more of a filler slot. If you are having trouble last hitting you can replace this with Butcher or Brute Force .
AP ratios are so high on Janna that all the AP you can get is worth it.
This will significantly increase your AP to nuke the enemy even more.
Helps last hit as well as finish off the enemy champions.

Utility

The CDR on flash is very useful.
Mana is a problem for Janna, so this helps with that.
This also helps Janna's sustain in lane.
Movement speed helps Janna roam the map even faster, and she will be doing a lot of it.

Notable Mentions

Janna is very squishy, and these help with that somewhat. I dislike them though because Janna can usually escape from any gank and shield herself to avoid harass.
If you decide to go up the utility tree a little farther, this spell vamp will greatly increase your sustain, especially when your tornado hits every minion in the wave :)
Blue buff is amazing on Janna as it lets her spam her Zephyr on the opponent and Eye Of The Storm to avoid taking any damage.

Runes

Marks

Magic Pen really helps your spells hit much harder.
Ability Power is always a good thing on Janna.

Out of these two marks, I prefer the Magic Pen. With Magic Pen marks and AP quints, you get 8.55 Magic Pen and 14.85 AP. If you use Magic Pen quints and AP marks, you get 5.67 Magic Pen and 5.31 AP. Obviously it is better to go Magic Pen marks.

Seals

Greater Seal Of Replenishment Janna is very Mana hungry. These seals give her the boost she needs to stay in lane.
Ability power is always useful on Janna. These will let Janna's tornado farm the minions much more easily and more quickly.

Out of these two seals, I prefer the Mana regen. While it may be good to have more AP, it is useless if you have no Mana.

Glyphs

Gives Janna more AP to farm and harass with.
Greater Glyph Of Replenishment If you find yourself short on Mana and aren't using Replenishment seals, these can be a good choice.
These runes are always a good choice, especially if the other team is AP heavy.

My choice of these three Glyphs are the Glyphs of Potency. With the increased AP, Howling Gale can farm minions very well, and harassing hurts them more.

Quints

Gives a large deal of AP for you to use with your amazing AP ratios.
These runes will give Janna untold amount of speed. you will fly (literally) around the map ganking all the time. These are very good runes if you are going to roam a lot (which you probably will).
Janna is very squishy. These runes will help her have a little more health to sustain longer.

I believe that AP quints should be used on Janna. Which movement speed is nice, Janna really needs the early AP so one Howling Gale can kill all the caster minions by level 7.

Summoner Spells

Recommended

Ignites an enemy unit, dealing (50 + 20 × level) true damage over time to a single target and reduces the health regeneration and the healing effects received by 50%.

Such an amazing spell. Finishes off champions that are about to get away. You also will get 5 extra AP after you use it with Summoner's Wrath . The true damage this provides will give you many extra kills. It is also useful when fighting champions with huge life steal/gain like Dr. Mundo, Sion, or any AD carry with life steal.


Teleports your Champion to target nearby location.

Overpowered. Seriously Overpowered. Especially with Janna's ult. Learn how to flash - ult, and you will learn how to master Janna. Whether it is to push a pursuing enemy straight to your turret, or to save to life of your team, flash is what makes an AP Janna so good.

Other Choices

Your Champion ignores unit collision and moves 27% faster for 10 seconds.

After you pop this, you will probably move too fast to see. Use it to get to bot or top lane in the blink of an eye to gank or countergank. You can also use it to chase someone or to run away. They will have no chance after you use this.


Restores 160 + (lvl x 30) Mana to your champion and 50% of that to nearby allies.

If you seem to be running low on Mana this can be a useful spell. It will let you harass and use Eye Of The Storm more without thought of wasting too much Mana. If you dont use Greater Seal of Replenishment this might be a good choice.

Bad Choices

After 4 seconds, teleports your champion to target friendly minion or turret. 3 minute cooldown if cancelled.

You are Janna. You are fast. You dont need teleport.


Exhaust slows movement speed by 40% and reduces autoattack damage by 70% and ability/item damage by 35% for 2.5 seconds.

Janna already has enough CC. While Exhaust may be useful sometimes, Howling Gale and Zephyr do enough.

Skills

One of the best passives in the game in my opinion. It gives everyone on your team a noticeable increase in movement speed.


Janna summons a mighty whirlwind. She can activate the spell again to release the storm. On release the storm will fly in the direction it was cast, dealing magic damage to enemies and knocking them into the air. The damage done, knock up duration and distance traveled by the whirlwind increase for each second it channels to a maximum of 3.
Cost: 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 / 150 mana
Magic Damage: 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+0.75 per ability power)
Additional Damage: 25 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 per second charging

This is both one of your main damaging spells as well as your best farming ability, and it takes a lot of practice to get it right. There are three different times you should use this spell.

1: Use it to farm creeps. At the start of the game, Howling Gale will not kill any of the creeps if they are still at full life, even with a full charge. I see many AP Jannas who will start charging a tornado as soon as the enemy creep wave arrives. This is wrong. You should wait until the enemy minions start reaching about half life, this way one tornado will kill them instead of just damaging them.

Once you get to level 5, this method can change. If the enemy AP is playing passively or is scared of you, you can charge up your tornado as soon as the enemy creep wave arrives. This tornado should leave all three caster minions at very low life so that one basic attack will kill each of them. If their AP is playing aggressively, though, you should continue to wait to use your tornado until the right time.

At level 9, your farming will become very easy. One Howling Gale will kill all of the caster creeps, which will push your lane very hard. After you last hit the other three (or four) creeps, you will have about 20 seconds to roam the map. Use this time to get wraiths or go gank another lane.

Once you get your Needlessly Large Rod, which should be around or just after level 9 one tornado should kill an entire creep wave. During this time you can begin full-time roaming, coming back to lane once every 30 seconds to kill the fresh creep wave.

2: Defensively. This is one of the most obvious ways to use Howling Gale. When you are running away from an enemy or enemies, Howling Gale is a great ability to hit and slow down everyone chasing you.

If the enemy is right behind you, send an immediate tornado backwards to slow them down for a split second. If they are farther behind, let it charge a bit before you send it out. this will not only do more damage, but also knock them up in the air for a longer time. Often times I will aim the tornado at an angle across the path in the direction I am running (pictured below). This way you will get a longer charge, and can can release it at any time to hit them, no matter which side of the path they go. Only use this when a single enemy is chasing you. All other times line up the tornado so it hits as many enemies as possible.
(The enemies would be chasing from the right)

Howling Gale can also be used to interrupt spells. Whether a Karthus ult or Fiddlesticks, this can save games. Always be looking for them to start their channel. During a team fight, position your tornado to charge facing the middle of the fight. As soon as an enemy begins to channel (they will most likely be in the middle of the fight) release Howling Gale.

3: Offensively. This is definitely the hardest way to use Howling Gale. If you are ganking, try to let your tornado charge for a few seconds before you hit them with it for a better gank. This is much easier to do if you manage to get behind them. Remember: every second longer you charge the tornado, the more likely the gank will succeed.

While laning, most of your tornadoes should be used to farm minions. If you attempt to harass with them too much, you will run out of Mana. And trust me, being in lane as Janna with no Mana is not fun at all. If, however, you do decide to harass with Howling Gale, use it right after your Eye Of The Storm - Zephyr combo (explained next paragraph) with an instant release. This will ensure the tornado will hit them because they are still slowed by Zephyr and will have no reaction time to avoid it.


Passive: Increases Janna's movement speed by 8 / 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 %, and allows her to move through units.
Active: Janna launches her elemental at the target dealing 60 / 115 / 170 / 225 / 280 (+80% of ability power) magic damage, and slowing their movement speed by 24 / 30 / 36 / 42 / 48 % for 4 seconds. Janna loses the passive benefit while Zephyr is on cooldown.
Movement Speed Bonus: 8 / 10 / 12 / 14 / 16%
Cost: 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 mana
Cooldown: 12 / 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 seconds
Magic Damage: 60 / 115 / 170 / 225 / 280 (+0.8 per ability power)

This is your main harass ability. At an amazing 0.8 AP ratio, Zephyr hits incredibly hard. If you have extra Mana to spare during the laning phase, throw an Eye Of The Storm around yourself as you hit the enemy with Zephyr. Eye Of The Storm will take any damage you would receive, and they are slowed so they cant chase you as you run back behind your creeps.

Remember that when Zephyr is on cooldown, you get no bonus movement speed from its passive. This means that if a single enemy is chasing you, go ahead and hit them with zephyr. It will slow them down more than it slows you down. If there is more than one enemy behind you though, don't use Zephyr and instead keep the bonus movement speed to run away.


Janna conjures a defensive gale that shields her target from incoming damage for up to 5 seconds. While the shield holds, the target will also gain an attack damage bonus. This ability can target turrets.
Cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 mana
Shield Strength: 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+0.9 per ability power)
Attack Damage Bonus: 14 / 23 / 32 / 41 / 50

Eye Of The Storm is in my opinions one of the best shields in the game. Not only does it absorb a large amount of damage for someone, it also increases their attack damage by a considerable amount. This can be used in my different ways, both for offense and defense. Since it has such a high AP ratio and you don't need AD, you should max this skill last.

Use Eye Of The Storm during the laning phase to absorb damage from harassment. It combos well when you nuke the other player with both Howling Gale and/or Zephyr. They will take quite a bit of damage while you absorb most of theirs. Be aware: spamming Eye Of The Storm on yourself will drain your much needed Mana, so please dodge as much harassment as you can.

When you gank top or bot, make sure you shield your allies. If you are going bottom, the shield will give you AD carry a large increase in attack to burst down the other players. If you go top, they will almost always have a higher attack and attack speed than you, so they will benefit from the shield much more than you will.

During the team fighting portion of the game, your shield will absorb enormous amounts of damage. I have had shields that took over 1000 hp. Most of the time you will use this shield on your AD carry, but if an ally is about to die, a well timed Eye Of The Storm can often save their life.


Janna knocks surrounding enemies back and channels healing winds, restoring health to nearby allies each half second, for 4 seconds.

Cost: 150 / 225 / 300 mana
Heal Per Half Second: 35 / 55 / 75 (+0.175 per ability power)

This is an amazing ultimate. You can use it to split up the other team, escape deadly ganks, and save teammates from certain death. Be aware: while this ability can win games, it is can also easily lose them if you use it wrong.

Besides the obvious uses to knock back chasing enemies, this spell can be used offensively as well. Try to get an enemy to get close to your tower by baiting them, maybe even let them tower dive. once they do, flash to the other side of them and ult them into your turret. Then heal back to full life and burst what remains of the enemy down with Zephyr and Howling Gale. Late game this can restore over 1000 health to everyone on your team, which can easily win a team fight. Just be sure not to knock enemies back when you activate it if you are using it for the heal.

Items

Starting Items

Starting with an Amplifying Tome will help you get a Kage's Lucky Pick as soon as possible. This will give you a much needed gold income from the very start of the game as well as a decent amount of AP. One Health Potion will help your sustain.


Going boots 3 can sometimes be a good idea if you are playing against a skill shot champion like Morgana or Lux.


Doran's Ring gives you some AP and Mana regen which is sorely needed. This is a good choice against a harder lane where you will need the sustain Doran's Ring provides. If you find yourself short on Mana, this is a good purchase.

Core Items

+25 ability power
Unique Passive: Gain +5 gold per 10 seconds.
This item is a must, and you should try to get it as early as you can. Not only does it build into a Deathfire Grasp, it will give you GP10 to finish your build quicker. I would get this item almost every game.


+140 ability power
Unique Passive: +30% ability power
The deathcap gives an insane amount of ability power. Once this gets finished you will have incredible burst damage. Since you are Janna, you don't need a good defensive item until later due to the amount of cc she has (thought this is very situational).


+20 magic penetration
Unique Passive: Enhanced Movement 2
The standard shoes for an AP. The magic pen will let your abilities hit much harder. Ionian Boots of Lucidity are another option so you can spam your abilities more often. I would not recommend this as 20 magic pen is much more valuable than 15% CDR.


+80 ability power
Unique Passive: +15% cooldown reduction
Unique Active: Deals magic damage to target champion equal to 25% of their current health (+4% per 100 ability power) with a minimum of 200 damage. 1 minute cooldown. (750 range)

This is a required item for AP Janna. It adds a third spell to Janna's nuke while also giving ability power and cool down reduction. You can get this right after sorcerer's shoes if you want, but I prefer to get Zhonya's Hourglass first.

+100 ability power
+50 armor
Unique Active: Places your champion into stasis for 2 seconds, rendering you invulnerable and untargetable but unable to take any actions. 90 second cooldown.

Janna is very squishy throughout the game, so Zhonya's Hourglass is a very good item. Not only will Zhonya's give you more AP plus some armor, but it gives you an amazing effect which can often save your life. As soon as you see you are focused in a fight, use this active to let your abilities recharge and to let your team come help you.

AP carry Janna

+400 mana
+25 mana regen per 5 seconds
+45 ability power
Passive: Grants ability power equal to 3% of your maximum mana.
UNIQUE Passive: Every time you use an ability, your maximum mana increases by 4 (3 second cooldown). Bonus caps at 1000 mana. Does not stack with Tear of the Goddess or Manamune.

Once you finally get this item, not only will your Mana get incredibly high, but your AP will also explode. If you want to go pure AP, then this will give you the most.


+70 ability power
Unique Passive: +40% magic penetration
If the enemy is stacking magic resist, Void Staff will make it all good. This is a very situational item. Look at your opponent's builds to decide if you need void staff. If you don't, then go with a Rylai's Crystal Scepter or Abyssal Scepter.


+80 ability power
+30 magic resistance
+350 mana
+7% movement speed
Unique Passive: On cast, your next autoattack will deal additional physical damage equal to 100% of your ability power. 2 second cooldown.

This item has great potential, but ultimately falls short. Costing over 3000 gp, it just isn't worth what it provides. If you do decide to buy it when you have a surplus of gold, make sure to space your spells out so you get the maximum benefit from its passive.

Defensive Janna

+80 ability power
+500 health
Unique Passive: Your spell damage will slow the target by 35% for 1.5 seconds (15% for multi-target spells, damage-over-time spells and spells with a cooldown time below 3 seconds).

This item will give Janna a bit of tankiness as well as a great slow to add to her already devastating cc. When you play enemies with a good amount of speed and harass, this is a good item to get.


+70 ability power
+57 magic resistance
Unique Aura: Nearby enemy champions suffer −20 magic resistance. (1000 range)

If you need some magic resist, this is a good item to get. It will give you a large amount of MR alongside a great aura to reduce enemy's MR and a good amount of AP. If you do not need MR, I would not recommend this item as the benefits that it gives aren't otherwise worth the cost.

Gameplay

When to play AP Janna

AP Janna is only a good pick in certain situations. Janna excels at being a support, and she can do it incredibly well if she has a large amount of AP. For this reason, you should be supporting your team late game rather than chasing kills. When is a super powerful AP support Janna useful though?

First, your AD carry should be someone who doesn't have any escape moves and will need help to survive. (Think Kog'Maw, Miss Fortune.) Second, the enemy AP carry should be vulnerable to kiting and/or pushing. (Think LeBlanc.) If both of these things are true, then Janna would be a good choice.

Early Game

Your main goal early in the game is to push your lane extremely hard while still staying safe from ganks. You can accomplish this through good use of Howling Gale. Like I said earlier in the guide, make sure to use Howling Gale at the right moments. If you use it as soon as the enemy creep wave arrives, it will make last hitting very hard - especially if the enemy AP is playing aggressively. Wait until some of the minions are at a lower health before you cast the tornado. Hopefully the tornado will kill most of the creeps in one shot.

At this point in the game, Mana is extremely limited. Try to only use one tornado per group of enemy creeps. Each cast costs 90 Mana at level 1. If you keep using this spell, your Mana will be gone before you know it.

Try to avoid a direct fight with the enemy champion. At low levels, Janna will put out little to no damage, especially if you are rushing a Rabadon's Deathcap. If they get too close to you, shield yourself and hit them with Zephyr and Howling Gale if you need it.

Mid Game Mid game is when AP Janna begins to shine. Once you hit level 7 - 9, you should be able to start killing caster creeps in one charge of Howling Gale. Send your tornado in to hit every creep in the enemy wave as soon as you can. After that, last hit all the melee creeps before you start to roam or harass. During this time, you should go from having average to lower cs to having the most cs in the game. If you decide to roam, you should get Boots of Speed first. When you start roaming, you will typically have about 20 seconds before the enemy's next creep wave arrives. During this time you can counter jungle, grab wraiths, gank bot, or gank top. If you are going to gank a lane, make sure to let your jungle know so you can both show up. After the gank, you can head back to lane and usually be there before the next enemy wave has reached your turret. If you decide to jungle, first make sure you have enough Mana to waste a few spells. If you do, go to wraiths. After you get your Needlessly Large Rod one fully charge Howling Gale and one Zephyr on the blue wraith should clear the whole camp. To harass, you should use Zephyr as soon as you are close enough to them. Whenever you get close enough to them to be in danger, you should use Eye Of The Storm on yourself to avoid taking any damage. Try to keep your creeps pushed up to their turret while doing this. If you harass them while they are trying to last hit your creeps under their turret, they're going to have a bad time.

Late Game

Your Howling Gale should now completely clear a creep wave. Go roam the map, but be sure to come back to lane every once in a while to kill creeps! Using this method, you can keep your lane pushed while still ganking and jungling. You will get a huge amount of cs now, easily 200 by 25 min.

Try to stick next to your AD carry as much as you can - he will need your protection. Late game Janna drops off fairly hard, so you will need to go back to your support role and make your AD carry invincible.

During team fights, be sure to shield your AD carry. It will give them huge health and practically give them another BF sword. Nuke the enemy AD carry as soon as you can get in range. If the anyone gets too close, try to flash-ult them right into your team (just don't do that to their tank). Use Howling Gale to try to hit the entire other team, and Monsoon if they get too close or are about to kill your carry. Remember as AP Janna your ult heals for almost 1000 hp. If your team is low, tell them to fall back and heal everyone back up to full health in preparation for the next fight.

Ganking

When you gank, initiate with your Howling Gale and place your Eye Of The Storm on your AD ally. Right afterwards hit them with Zephyr. Do not autoattack unless you are in front of them. Instead, run past them to get in between them and their turret. If they are about to get back into the safety of their turret, ult them back towards your allies to ensure the kill.

Summary

Janna is a very underestimated AP mid champion. While she isn't good enough to play mid ranked with, she is a lot of fun to play unranked. Once you nuke an enemy for the first time with Janna, you will start laughing and will never be able to stop playing her.

Changelog

6/9/2012: Created guide
6/13/2012: Updated item build and gameplay