Janna Build Guide by IceCreamy

Introduction

Hey everyone! :)

This is my third guide, this time for Janna! :) She is a support champion, and this is the way I like to build her in ranked games. If you need tips on playing Twisted Treeline or Dominion, you will not find them here, I only play Summoner's Rift. Just so you know before you start reading.

IMPORTANT!

I know Riot lists her as Support and Mage, but... There should be another category for her. She isn't a support like Soraka, who helps her lanemate stay in lane longer. Nor is she a mage like Brand, who should get a load of kills. She is the kind of champion who helps her lane partner get a kill. If needed, she can take it, but she is not a carry! Your job is to collect as much assists as possible, preferred score being something like 1-2-24 or such. Perhaps you accidentally took a kill, the 2 deaths come from enemy focus on you and/or a lost teamfight, and the 24 assists for all the times you shield an ally and/or CC an enemy. Keep that in mind!

I am writing this guide for a simple reason. I want to show you that Janna is a great champion, and that she can be a support but also be aggressive at the same time. I hope that you will improve your playing by this guide, especially as Janna but maybe even with any champion.

Last note. If you are scared off by the seemingly large guide, I will tell you it is not. I added quite a lot of screenshots (which I made myself) and they take up quite some space. So don't be scared - it's not a lot of boring reading, I tried to make it look appealing to the eye.

I hope you will enjoy reading, and that it will encourage you to play her with this build.

P.S. If you encounter a term you don't know, it is probably in this topic right here.

Pros/Cons

NOTE: Click HERE for the template of this section.

spaaaaaaaace

Pros + Passive movement speed. + A shield that gives AD. + You get to save people. + Lots of CC. + Only 2,95 a minute!

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Cons - Squishy. - Doesn't heal. - Shield requires skill. - Often underrated, whined at. - Mana trouble.

Runes

I take gold per 10 Quints, to keep my income stable. I also take Armor Marks and Seals, and Magic Resist per level Glyphs, to get some more defense.

In your runepage it should look like this:

R U N E S

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- Magic Penetration Marks, in case you prefer more damage over defense - gp/10 Seals, in case you prefer the extra gold over the extra defense - Flat Magic Resist Glyphs, if you are up against harassing supports or AD Carries that also deal magic damage - Flat Health Quintessences, in case you prefer the extra HP over the bonus gold - Movement Speed Quintessences, in case you feel the bonus MS is more useful than bonus gold

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R U N E S

Also, please do not waste your IP/RP and buy tier 1 or tier 2 runes. Just be patient, wait until you get Summoner Level 20 and buy tier 3 runes. You can not sell your old runes, you can put them in some sort of blender and hope you will get something nice, but it is not worth it.

Masteries

Summoner's Wrath to improve Exhaust

Durability for the nice hp boost Hardiness for the bonus Armor Resistance (1 point) for the bonus Magic Resist

Summoner's Insight to improve Flash Wanderer for the bonus Movement Speed Mastermind to reduce the cooldowns of Exhaust and Flash Artificer to reduce the cooldowns on Shard of True Ice and Shurelya's Reverie Greed to help your income Awareness to keep up in levels Pickpocket for rewarding the harass even more Intelligence (2 points) for the nice Cooldown Reduction Nimble for the always useful Movement Speed

- Taking Meditation instead of Wanderer is fine too.
- Maxing out Intelligence instead of putting a point in Pickpocket is fine as well.
- I'm not taking Greed because I really don't know which points to remove. But it's good if you start with the items I recommend since instead of a pot you can buy a second Sight Ward!
- I'm also not taking Biscuiteer and Explorer , because I simply don't like them. If you do, find the points somewhere and enjoy the measly 80hp/50mana and ward.

Summoner Spells

I've listed all Summoner Spells available on Summoner's Rift, the higher it is the better I consider it.

Despite the recent nerf, still the best Summoner Spell in the game. So useful in chasing and running away, can't go without it :)

Probably the best choice to go along with Flash. This spell is very useful in bot lane when fighting 2v2, but also still nice in team fights later on.

Not entirely sure how this matches up against Exhaust but I think the latter is better. However since you don't have a healing ability (besides your ult) this certainly is an option.

Not such a great spell, you're basically getting free wards from Ruby Sightstone so you won't really need this. Besides, you'll give up some lane control if the enemy support takes Exhaust.

On most champions this spell is good but not on Janna, since she has her W already.

Might be of use to deal some damage, but usually you use this to secure a kill and you are the queen of assists.

Good spell for your AD Carry but not for you - like I said earlier, if you're the focus, the enemy is doing something wrong.

Commonly taken by your AD Carry but nothing for you, really. It's a good thing if the enemy focuses you, since your carries can deal damage.

No reason at all to take this spell, you use this to gank or to defend a lane which both are not your job.

You are not a jungler, so there is absolutely no reason to take this spell. blablablablablablablablabla

Only viable when you're very much behind, or when you take Teleport along with it. But you're not really a base defender or the hero that can change the game...

Most useless spell in game, stay away from it or puppies will die. You wouldn't want puppies to die, would you?

Skill Explanation and Sequence

Janna's passive is Tailwind. It gives everyone in your team a 3 % speedboost, you never know when that will come in useful. Since the recent changes to boots, this passive got buffed, sort of :P



Her Q is Howling Gale. There are so many uses for this, it is such a great ability. For instance: You can use it to run away from an enemy, you can use it to keep him in place for a little while, you can use it to farm.

Try to use your Howling Gale to interrupt the abilities of enemies! Examples: Jarvan IV's Cataclysm, Corki's Valkyrie, Lee Sin's Sonic Wave / Resonating Strike (the Resonating Strike part), Tristana's Rocket Jump, Jax' Leap Strike, Urgot's Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverse, Fiddlesticks' Crowstorm (while he is charging), Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole, Galio's Idol of Durand, Janna's Monsoon (their Janna, not you >_<), Malzahar's Nether Grasp, Karthus' Requiem, Shen's Stand United and Twisted Fate's Destiny (the Gate part) or Warwick's Infinite Duress! Untested: Akali's Shadow Dance, Nidalee's Bushwhack / Pounce (the Pounce part), Leona's Zenith Blade.



The W spell is Zephyr. It passively gives you extra movement speed, if you use it on an enemy he will be slowed (and will be dealt some damage), but you will lose your passive. It can be useful, if an enemy is chasing you, and is faster. Just do not bother to use it on Master Yi or Olaf when they have ulted - you are better off with the passive then. When harassing, try to use your Zephyr and then your Howling Gale. The slow will make it harder to dodge the Howling Gale. When running away, try to pass through minion waves. The passive of this skill allows you to go through them, while almost all champions have collision and will be slowed by the minions.



The E ability is Eye Of The Storm. This is awesome! You can use it to save a low hp ally (or yourself) from death, use it on your melee DPS (it also gives an AD boost while the shield is active!) and even on a turret! When pushing a turret, use your Eye Of The Storm on the one with the highest DPS. Someone like Caitlyn, Ashe, Xin Zhao or Tryndamere would be nice.



Her ult is Monsoon. I mostly use it to save myself or an ally from a chasing enemy, but you can also use it when you are pushing, and you want to heal your team. In a teamfight, you can use this to initiate. Flash in and use your Monsoon, that will blow everyone away. However, be cautious of spell shields and Banshee's Veils, because they will block that effect. Note that you will probably die, but since your team can pick their team off one by one it will normally be worth it. Usually it is better to save it for saving an ally being chased, in my opinion. So only do that when no one else is initiating.

Monsoon whenever you can, max Eye Of The Storm first and Zephyr second. Put a point in Howling Gale at level 2 and max it last. Just like this:

Items

I personally like to start with Faerie Charm, Rejuvenation Bead, Sight Ward and a potion of choice (usually Health Potion since I never have mana problems). However you can leave out either Faerie Charm or Rejuvenation Bead to buy some more wards at the beginning.

On your first trip back you should be able to buy a Philosopher's Stone and a Sightstone. This should make sure you will never have to buy Sight Wards anymore :)

On the second trip back, buy a Pick and an Aegis of the Legion. If you can't buy it yet, get an Emblem of Valor and upgrade it later. There is no real need to buy any more Sight Wards now, if your team is throwing in their fair share of wards as well. As first "big" item you'll want Aegis of the Legion, unless someone else in your team is already building it. Make sure you don't buy 2 as the effect does not stack except on those who've bought it.

The first completely finished item you'll like is Shard of True Ice. It still gives the bonus gold, which is always nice, but you'll also gain a nice active which you should use on your tank or bruiser.

Second up is the Ruby Sightstone for some more HP and the bonus Wards, to give some more map control. It's quite cheap to upgrade, anyways.

Now upgrade the Philosopher's Stone to a Shurelya's Reverie. The item has paid itself off by now, so time for the upgrade. The CDR will help you, but the active is the nicest part about this item. Use it to engage or to run away, whichever suits the situation best.

Next is Runic Bulwark - nice upgrade to Aegis of the Legion which gives even more HP and Magic Resist to you and Magic Resist to your allies.

As very last you should buy some boots and get some Cooldown Reduction, and you get just that from Ionian Boots of Lucidity. Since all the items we've bought before don't grant any CDR, and every support likes CDR, it's time to get it.

If the game lasts this long you can upgrade your boots with an Enchantment. I personally prefer Enchantment: Alacrity, but Enchantment: Captain can work very well too.


Leaves us with one open item slot. I don't really think there is a best item for her, it's all situational. Just look at the game, and pick an item based on that.


//alternative

Great item if you want do some more damage, help out your allies with another aura and get some Magic Resist in the process.

Decent item if your team needs pushing power, but I'd prefer Aegis of the Legion/ Runic Bulwark over this item any day.

Syncs very well with Eye Of The Storm, since it prolongs the AD buff, but I personally think this is a very measly item that's not worth buying.

Not that you will really need it for the mana regen but the active is ridiculously strong. blablablablablablablablabla

Nice item if their team has a lot of champs who rely on spell vamp/life steal.

Excellent item for tower diving/pushing, and the basic stats it gives aren't measly either. blablablablablablablablabla

THE item of AP-based champions, if your team lacks in damage you'll want this item.

Great defensive item, best used if their team has a lot of AD based champions. The active is really nice and the health and armor really help out.

Great item if every time enemies escape at low hp from team fights. Otherwise, not so much.

Great item if your team has a lot of AP based champions, and for some reason they do not buy this. Also goes well with your Q if you let it go over a minion wave.

Great item if your team has a lot of AD based champions.

//boots

Good choice of boots if their team has a lot of CC.

Good choice of boots if their team has a lot of champs who count on their autoattacks. blablablablablablablablabla

General Tips

You will mostly lane with a ranged DPS champion like Ashe or Graves, but a melee DPS champion like Tryndamere or Talon also works nicely. Anything else will not work really well, and laning with another support just plain sucks.

You have so much CC, laning against any melee champion is very doable. You will find yourself in more trouble against ranged champions, so keep your distance.



1. Try to guess when the enemy is going to harass you/your lane partner. Quick fingers are useful, since Eye Of The Storm is a shield and not a heal. That is what makes Janna so hard compared to healing supports; reaction time.
2. Get your AD carry fed. Janna is the kind of support who does not lean back and just spam heals, she is very well equipped to get some kills/assists in laning phase. Exploit that when you can, ping (or tell in Skype/TS, if possible) your AD carry to attack. Plant a Howling Gale in the direction the enemy will run if he/she sees the two of you approaching. If it hits, continue by using Eye Of The Storm on your lane partner, and Zephyr on the opponent. Good luck with surviving that, enemy!
3. Warding. Look in the section below to get more info!



Note on beforehand: Obviously you are going to shield them when under attack. Also you are going to be aggressive because your shield grants your AD carry bonus AD, and it has a lower cooldown than the heals of the opposite support.

Ashe

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A bit of a meh lane, it is hard to tell when to shield her aggressively.

Caitlyn

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Good lane, shield her when she has Headshot ready or is charging Piltover Peacemaker.

Corki

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Needs some coordination when it comes to being aggressive. Shield him whenever he is going in with his Valkyrie.

Draven

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Pretty good lane, you can tell he will go aggressive when he uses Blood Rush. He gains bonus AD from Spinning Axe already, and there is nothing wrong with giving even more bonus AD :D

Ezreal

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Again, hard to tell when he will be aggressive. Would not recommend this lane.

Graves

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Easy to tell when to shield him: Whenever he uses Quickdraw. He will often use it to go aggressive, and guess what, your shield is perfect for just that!

Kennen

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Shield him whenever he uses Lightning Rush, that will usually mean he is going to be aggressive soon.

Kog

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Whenever he uses Bio-Arcane Barrage, shield him. His autoattack range will increase with the skill. He makes some strange noise when he activates it, so that is how you can tell.

MF

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If she uses Make it Rain it means she will probably try to attack. Good time to shield her.

Sivir

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Whenever she throws that big Boomerang Blade, give her a nice shield to amplify her damage.

Trist

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Great lane, because she can use both Rocket Jump and Rapid Fire to go aggressive. She makes a sound when she uses Rapid Fire, and you are blind if you can't see her Rocket Jump...

Urgot

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Whenever he hits his Noxian Corrosive Charge on an enemy champion you should shield him, because he will surely throw some Acid Hunters their way.

Varus

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Pretty darn good lane. You can easily spot when he is charging Piercing Arrow, so give him a shield then. He has big burst, which goes well with your aggression. If he uses Chain of Corruption you can land an easy Howling Gale.

Vayne

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You need quick fingers here, whenever she Tumbles forward it would be a good time to shield her. Not the best combination because she has her true damage from Silver Bolts.

Warding

But seriously, warding is the most important job of a support. Doesn't mean that other people should not do it (in early game your jungler (probably along with Wriggle's Lantern), your top laner (to stop ganks from their jungler) and your mid (to stop ganks from top, bot and jungler) will also do it.), but in mid and late game you will be the one placing the most wards. You should always have at least 3 in your inventory as soon as teamfights start to break out.

Anyways, if you are new to the support role, or if you don't know where to place wards, here are a bunch of screenshots to help you.

In case you have played more often, and you know the map, I took an image from the internet and used Paint to draw some circles to show you where you should place wards in certain stages:



Early game
Mid-late game
When doing Dragon or Baron, respectively
Black : When pushing the midlane

And the rest of this section shows screenshots of that place, in case you do not know the map by heart yet.

In early game, you will want to place wards here:

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In mid- and lategame, you will want to place wards here:




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If your team is about to do Dragon, you will want to place wards here:




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If your team is about to do Baron, you will want to place wards here:











If you are pushing the midlane up to their inhibitor turret, those places are nice places to ward:




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Oracles and Vision Wards

At the start, if the enemy has any champion with a stealth mechanism in the bot lane or the jungle, you could get some until you can buy Oracles. When everyone hits about level 7, you should always have one up near Dragon so you can destroy the enemy ward that is probably there. Later on, having one at Baron is also great. For the rest, I do not recommend using them as a Sight Ward gives you pretty much the same vision.



Almost all the time if the enemy team has any stealth ability. Oracles detect them when they are close to you.
Otherwise I do not recommend taking them early, they are quite costly and if you die you will have to spend another 400 gold. One way or another, get your gp/10 items first.
Reasoning behind this is that usually, your jungler gets one early. If he/she doesn't, you could consider it but a Vision Ward usually does the job just fine.

The other good thing about getting an Oracle is that you can clear enemy wards. Especially in bot lane, this will be of good use. Clear the 2 lane brushes, tribrush, river and dragon wards whenever you can, so your jungler can have free reign!

Teamfights

Anyone who comes close, but if you have a choice try to protect your AD carry by shielding them. They can take a little more damage, and they will deal more damage as well! Help your other carries with killing off those who come close, keep spamming your skills! One note with using Monsoon; if you use it at a bad time, you might save an enemy from death! Be very careful with it, but if some allies are low on hp don't hesitate to save 2 allies and 1 enemy if you have to.



Anyone who has the means to kill you. Nocturne and Tryndamere come to mind, but Graves, Evelynn and Kassadin are also dangerous. Shield yourself if you must! No reason to be scared of the enemy support or tank, when it comes to damage.



Always in the back. Your main goal is to protect your teammates, if you find the time you can try to help killing their target.

Ranked Play

Janna is most viable in ranked play. She is by far the number one played support. And I can see why :)

So, when is a good time to pick her?

• If you have an AD carry to lane with
• If this AD carry actually KNOWS how to play without a support that can heal with a non-ult and non-summoner spell ability
• If your team does not have a support already
• If your team has enough damage

Anyways I usually play normal games, and there she is viable also. Especially with this aggressive build she can do fair damage and help teammates also.

Videos

So, I have this cool program called LoL Replay, but I have no idea how I can edit stuff. Any help is appreciated, just leave a comment or send me a PM :)

Anyways, some videos you should watch:

Janna Champion Spotlight:

I could not find it :o If you do, help me out :P

Shurelia's zoning guide:

My scores

Below here are also ranked scores, but they are with my ranked 5x5 team:

Special thanks to...

All the people who have commented and/or voted on my guide. No matter if it was an up- or downvote, I appreciate everything you guys did.

Some very special thanks go to:

- The_Nameless_Bard, for making the awesome banners in this guide. Go visit her sig shop right here!
- Kusoku for helping me out greatly with the use of columns, thanks a lot dude!
- LaCorpse, for making the really cool small banners in this guide! You should visit her sig shop right here.
- jhoijhoi for writing her Guide to making a Guide. It has helped me in so many ways, I can't link it enough. If you are going to make a guide yourself, READ IT!

Summary

Runes: Flat Armor Marks, Flat Armor Seals, MR/lvl Glyphs, gp/10 Quintessences.
Masteries: 1-8-21
Spells: Flash/ Exhaust or Heal.
Items: Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Shurelya's Reverie, Ruby Sightstone, Shard of True Ice, Runic Bulwark, situational item.
Skill Sequence: Take Howling Gale at level 2, then go R>E>W>Q.

I hope you liked reading, enjoy playing Janna! :)

To do list

Here's a list of things I still want to do, in order of most important to least important:

• Decide on what my 6th item will be
• Improve the Champion match up list
• Scores from my ranked adventures
• Hopefully I'll figure out a way to make my own videos

This guide is still under construction and prone to changes.