Janna Build Guide by XeresAce

Introduction

Elegant pros / Crippling cons

Pros //+ Amazing amount of CC. //+ AOE heal. //+ passive speed boost. //+ One of the best shields in game. //+ ad steroid. //+ Has very high base mana.

SPACE

Cons //- very squishy. //- Despite her high base mana , she can still deplete it quite quickly. //- To utilize her ultimate properly , you need to position yourself very carefully. //- Has a very high skill-cap , perhaps the highest of all of the supports. //- No heal . Using her shield as a form of lane sustain takes a lot of practice . //- Very team dependent , can carry a good team to victory , cannot help a bad team.

Masteries

These are the masteries that i mostly use.
In tier 1 i take Summoners Insight and Good Hands for improved Summoner Spells and Reduced time spent dead , you shouldn't be dying , but those few seconds off your death timer can make or break a teamfight.

In tier 2 i take : Swiftness It stacks very well with Janna's Zephyr and Tailwind , this helps with getting back to lane , warding , chasing and so on .

In tier 3 i take : Greed , additional GP/5 is very useful , considering how nicely it stacks with Philosopher's Stone and Heart of Gold .

In tier 4 i take : Wealth and Awareness , for an increase in gold early game to let me buy an extra ward , and for increased exp gain , because you will fall behind levels eventually cause of going on and off to ward .

In tier 5 i take : Intelligence for CDR , to help shake off some seconds of Monsoon and all of your other skills as well .

The reason why i spec in to the defense tree instead of the offense tree is simple , it is because Janna's primary role is supporting her team and disrupting the enemy team , not dealing damage .

In tier 1 i take : Resistance and 1 point in Hardiness for increased durability , and these also stack well with your runes.

In tier 2 i take : Durability To unlock the tier 3 mastery , and provide you with some additional hp which stacks with your Greater Quintessence of Health

In tier 3 i take : Veteran's Scars Because i think it's really amazing , it gives slightly more hp than Greater Quintessence of Health and with 3 quints and this and Durability you start off with 546 health with no health items , and combined with your runes and masteries you should not be forced out of lane quickly .

Runes

"What's up with these runes you naaaaaab ?!!??!?!??!"
These runes , IMO are the best you COULD get for Janna .
However you can use anything else , as long as it provides armor , hp and mr.
Explanation : what do these marks provide you with ?
- Armor , and a lot of it .
Why would this be helpful to a support champion , like Janna?
- Simple , According to the current meta , you go bot with your carry , and the enemy support and carry also go bot , the enemy carry does physical damage , the enemy turret also does physical damage , if the enemy carry decides to harass you , these will shake of a lot of damage , and can help you tank the turret so your carry can kill the enemy carry and support.




What do these Glyphs provide you with ?
-Magic resist .
Why would these be helpful for Janna?
-Simple , the enemy team will , most of the times , have an ability power carry in the mid lane , and if doing a decent job , the mid carry would gank bot frequently , these Glyphs help with preventing what could've been a unfortunate encounter .
Also helps lessen the damage from ap junglers( Maokai , Fiddlesticks)

What do these seals provide for Janna ?
-Mana regeneration.
Why would these runes help Janna ?
- To use a shield as a form of lane sustain , Janna needs to waste a lot of mana , combine that with harassing with her Zephyr and Howling Gale it depletes her mana so fast it isn't even funny , even after philosophers , this is mainly for keeping Janna's mana up so she can do her job properly.




What do these Quintessence's provide Janna with ?
- Effective Health points.
Why would this Quintessence's help Janna ?
-Janna has very low base hp , and with this and Veteran's Scars you have 111 more effective health , which , at-least in my opinion , helps you out a LOT.

Summoner Spells

There are 3 viable spells on support Janna and there is 1 situational summoner spell, the others simply are not as viable as these 4.
Amazing spell , i get it every game , valuable repositioning tool and excellent escape tool.

Great spell , set's up ganks , great dragon/baron control , saves life's and so on , but until you get that "support instinct" its gonna be useless . Remember you NEED this spell if the enemy team has a jungler that can easily invade your jungle .


After It's buff , Heal is actually not so bad , but id rather leave it for the carry .

If your enemy does not have a jungler that can counter jungle very fast and that can get out fast as well , then get this , since your carry will most likely be getting heal .

Skill Sequence & explanation

This is one of the greatest spells in the game , it's practically Crescendo but with charging time and a slower animation .
It has various uses which i will explain :

• This is your main pushing tool , aim it towards the minions and let it charge to max , now your lane is pushed and you can proceed to go b.
• This can interrupt channeled ultimate's , like Idol of Durand , Absolute Zero , Monsoon and so on. To interrupt an ultimate , aim the skill shot arrow towards the person who is channeling it and double tap Q.
• This can be used to effectivley escape and chase , if you are escaping , aim it towards the direction you are running at , and as soon as the enemies step over it , tap Q .
  To chase , get close to the enemy and aim it so you cut off their path .
  Mental note :
  To do this , when you aim your Q picture a line on the screen that indicates where you aimed it , when the enemy champion comes close to that line , release the Tornado .
• To use this as a stun so your carry can Shoot a skill-shot at the enemy (example of carries with hard hitting skill shots Ashe , Caitlyn , Graves) you must communicate with your carry , ping them go near the enemy , double tap it and make sure your carry follows it up with a skill-shot , easy damage .

Also , you should start with your Q when you know there will be a lv 1 team fight , otherwise start with shield.


This skill is amazing , at lv 5 it provides you with a 16% speed boost , it's base damage is awesome and the slow it provides is great as-well.
You can use this in the following ways :

• To slow down the enemies so your carry can land a skill shot , works very well with Howling Gale .
• To harass the enemy support/carry , since this ability has a lot of base damage , it's a great harass tool.
• To save your carry (or any teammate ) , even if you lose the speed boost and die , the carry's life is much more important.
• to get the last hit on someone , but don't ks !

This is your shield , your only form of lane sustain that you max first , at lv 5 it give +50 ad ! it's a free bf sword and can give your carry the edge in 2v2 situations !

• use it to block incoming harass .
• use it to give your carry an edge in 2v2 fights .
• use it to save someone from DoT's ! it even absorbs true damage , such as the damage from Ignite .
• use it on your jungler to let him have an easier time with soloing blue/red =] .
• Use it to prevent damage done to your turret !

This ultimate is extremely powerful , it has an extremely long knock back range (875 and extends to 1000 over time)
Can be used as :

• To heal allies , in or after a team fight , while doing baron , and so on.
• To reset a team fight , if things are not going very well , just ulti and run for it.
• To peel off enemies like amumu or kennen or fiddlesticks that deal a **** ton of aoe damage/have aoe cc.
• To pin enemies to walls , however this takes extreme practice .
• To push important enemies (carries , the most fed member) to your team
  .
  Remeber that the knock-back is blocked by Spell Shield , Shroud of Darkness , Black Shield and Banshee's Veil!

Items

To make everything more clear i will divide this part in to sections .

• Philosopher's Stone
  This provides you with early sustain , which is essential for Janna , and also , in about 30 minutes it pays for itself , this is basically a free item if you think about it .
• Boots of Speed
  These help with everything , warding , harassing , chasing , escaping etc etc .
• Sight Ward
  MUST BUY WARDS MORE WARDS WARDS WARDS WARDS WARDDDDDSSSS!!!!1111oneoneone , no , but really , buy a ward , save kittens.

So that's it with items i get in every game .

• Heart of Gold Provides you with a lot of effective health and pays for itself in roughly 35 minutes .
• Mercury's Treads these are tied with Boots of Mobility for my top picks , i mostly pick up the +5 boots and then get my treads later in the game when i have my Zephyr maxed and when team fights are more common.
• Aegis of the Legion This item is dirt cheap for all the stat's it gives a MUST have.
• Shurelya's Reverie Great item with an amazing passive , helps a lot with escaping / chasing / Initiating and so on.
• Locket of the Iron Solari Great item , even greater passive . 240 hp shields for your team ? thats a total of 1200 , combining this with the heal from your ult , you can completely turn around what seems like a lost team fight , trust me.
• Soul Shroud This helps a lot when your carry is Ez/Ashe and you have a lot of overall mana hungry champs , also that cdr is great for you and your mage .

Situational Items.

• Randuin's Omen a meh item on Janna if the enemy has a lot of champions that benefit from atack speed , or champions that need to get in the middle of things , the slow can come in handy.
  What to swap for ? Locket of the Iron Solari
• Frozen Heart A great item to cripple the enemy ad carries , also gives a LOT of armor mana and cdr , this item is fabulous on Janna but it's expensive sadly xD
  Swap this for Soul Shroud .
• Abyssal Scepter MEEEEEEH item , get it if the enemy is stacking magic resist and if your ap carry is fed. Swap it for Shroud/locket.
• Zeke's Herald it's an okay item , Aegis of the legion , however , outclasses it by far . Only get this if you have more than 3 champions who benefit from the life steal , swap it for Aegis/Shroud/Locket.
  
  
  

Warding

The Blue color indicates areas that need to warded nonstop throught the game , namley the entrance to blue buff / baron and dragon , however remember to place them in between the entrances , that way you get a lot of vision and it's much easier to avoid ganks.
The orange color indicates areas that should be warded to protect your lane , either for top bottom or mid lane.
The green color indicates areas that you can ward to protect your jungle , or invade the enemy jungle with ease , this can really cripple the enemy jungler.

Laning

In the lane , Janna is a fairly good support , but she is outclassed by Soraka/ Sona in terms of sustain , however she can provide excellent CC , a massive damage increase , and great disengage , so no jungler will be able to get your carry !So when the game starts , wait a few seconds (8-10) and CV the enemy fountain , hopefully this will give you some intel on where everyone is going .
Start with a Faerie Charm and 3 sight wards and 2 health potions or charm+ 1 vision and 1 sight ward with a hp pot.Go to your lane , help pull the red/blue buff (depending on your jungler and your side) if appropriate.
After a few seconds if you know the enemies are not in the bush attempt to go inside the bush and zone them , If you see them overextending just a tiny bit , ping your carry Slow+knock them up , shield your carry and make them pay for existing. erm .
If your jungler ganks , try and make it not so obvious don't just rush in and start slowing and knocking things up , wait for your jungler to get in position (If the enemy warded river make him go around and in to the bushes ) and then ping , slow , knock up , get 2 assists , gg.and that's pretty much all you should do , as for items , try and get a Philo and a HoG , get basic boots and slowly build an Aegis of the Legion.

Teamfights

In team-fights there is a lot a good Janna can do.
There a few roles when team fighting happens , and Janna can fill a lot of them ;
She can be the :

• initiator
  - A role that is mostly fulfilled by tanks/characters with a gap closer that are tanky/characters with aoe cc/a mix of all 3 .
  - Lets see what Janna has ;
  She has a speed boost to help her get in the middle of things , she has a shield to keep her alive , a aoe knock-up and a large dis-positioning tool , once she sees an enemy she can shield herself + flash + Ultimate to knock the enemies away and knock one enemy towards you , resulting in an easy kill and team fight advantage , however her ultimate isn't as good as an initiation tool as Crecendo or Curse of the Sad Mummy as it is a much better disengage/team fight reset .
• Lifeguard
  - A lifeguard is a character who focuses on protecting their highest damage dealing character , or in other words , peels off enemies off your carry .
  -Lets see what Janna has in this case ;
  She can push all enemies away , provide a shield , and knock up all the enemies for 0.75 seconds , need i say more ? she is an extremely good lifeguard !
• Disruptor
  -a disruptor is a character with multiple Crowd Control skills (other than slows ) that saves their crowd control to completely disable the enemy team ( crecendo if not used as an initiation tool , Idol of Durand , Soul Shackles and so on ) , to stop a channeled ultimate ( for this single target cc is best , using your ultimate would be a waste (unless it's Curse of the Sad Mummy) ( Cryptic Gaze Dazzle Terrify Infuse Shield of Daybreak etc), or to pin down a single enemy that's causing trouble.
  -Lets see what Janna has from this aspect ;
  A disruption spell on a low cd Howling Gale , and a disruption and disposition spell Monsoon (Excellent for when that fiddle jumps to you , or when that ammumu snares your whole team ) So she is a beast in this role too.
  
  

  So in short

  , if you see an enemy out of position , flash+ ult proceed to win , if you see enemies attacking your carry , ult em away and heal your team , if you see an enemy Amumu/ Kennen/ Fiddlesticks ulting at you , blow them away.

Ability Power Carry

(NOTE: NEVER PICK AP JANNA WHEN YOUR TEAM IS IN SERIOUS NEED OF DAMAGE ! She only has two damage spells , and is definitely not good when you have a tanky jungler and top and your only source of damage is your ad carry -.-)EDIT:Now ap Janna has gotten nerfed, as her primary nuke zephyr had its scaling reduced. It can still work, just not as strong as it used to be.


I wouldn't swap any of them except maybe the Greater Glyph of Ability Power for Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist to help you absorb enemy harass better.



In the utility tree , i take increased movement speed to help dodge skill-shots , improved flash , reduced time spent dead and improved recall.



I will divide this in to sections , early , mid and late game.




Now you have your blasting wand and catalyst, one or two doran's rings and basic boots.
If you feel like you are lacking mobility, then go ahead and upgrade your boots.
If you feel like you need more damage upgrade the Blasting Wand to a Deathfire Grasp
its active gives you more than enough extra damage.
if you feel like you need more survivability, get a RoA.
Once you got lv 2 boots and DFG or RoA, try and get either a Blasting Wand or needlesy large rod to build in to a rabadons deathcap.




Now, for some cool down reduction and some mana regeneration, we have two choices.
Either the cheaper alternative, morrelos evil tome which should only be bought if you need to stop a high healing champ ( Swain Dr mundo Warwick) .
or you could go for the more expensive, Athens unholy grail. It also gives you some magic resistance , a good amount of ap , cdr and a passive which should never leave you oom.
For your last item, you could also get zonyas hourglass to provide you with the much needed armor and a wonderful active that can help you survive what seems like a lost cause.
These items should be upgrades to your early chainvest /mantle, if the situation demands it, sell vest/mantle so you can buy your last item.(eg, early game i bought a mantle cause the enemy ap carry was giving me trouble, but late game their ad carry poses the biggest threat so i sell mantle buy vest and build a zonyas)
And that's pretty much it .

Summary & Change log

Thank you for reading my guide , i would appreciate any constructive critisism and other info that i could use in this guide , i hope i managed to get someone to play janna or helped someone improve with playing janna .

Thanks to the people who helped me make this guide ! :
Jhoijhoi , for her awesome guide to making a guide , and for her dividers , you can find her profile here and her guide to making a guide here .

Changes :
17th may 2012 - Added warding section and added a lot of pictures , started writing the teamfight page and laning page.
Fixed some grammar erros, some are still there