Hello everyone, my name is Benzire and I'm an European support player. This will be my first attempt at a guide so it won't be perfect. I just achieved Diamond V and will take a small break from ranked to play some games with my friends. During my ranked games I played Janna whenever I could. I will try to share my knowledge about Janna with you now.



I am not the most impressive player in the League. My top lane is horrible, my mid lane probably just about average. My ADC is okayish and I can jungle decent but support is where I shine.
I mostly play Janna as support and she is by far the champion I play the best of all champions I have.

01-07-2013
Archived this build because it's outdated again and since nobody either read or commented on it I cba to update it.

03-01-2013
Recently I've been trying around with masteries starting items and such and decided to optimalize my build a little more. Not that anyone actually reads or reviews this guide.

- New masteries
- New starting items / build.

28-04-2013
Reworked quite a bit.

- Some new text
- New masteries + additional masteries.
- New runes + additional runepages

Janna is a support champion that recently has fallen out of favor somehow. I still believe Janna to be one of the best supports in game due to her insane utility. Janna has been my most played champion in both S2 and S3.

While Janna is a safe pick in most situations there are a couple of champions and combinations that can give you a hard time. I will describe match-ups later in this guide. Don't expect to do well on your first try as Janna can take a bit to get used to. Quick reflexes are very important as you need to be able to use skills in split seconds.

credits/shout-outs
Credits to jhoijhoi I would have never been able to create this guide without her templates, which you can find here. I used quite a bit of it since this is my first guide.

Edit 28-04-2013
Janna is being picked up A LOT more now since I created this guide. People are finally realising again how good Janna is

spaaaaaaace

Pros + Great passive + 3 CC's + High movespeed / mobility + Great mid / late game. + Hard to master

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Cons - Undeniably squishy - 'Weakish' early game - Monsoon is hard to use - Hard to master

Yeah, I put hard to master as a pro and a con ^^. To me it's fun to master Janna but if you are the 'mid or feed' kind of player that only wants to support when nothing else is left Janna might just not be for you.

• Greater Quintessence of Gold: You don't last hit so you need the gold.
  
• Greater Mark of Armor: Minions and enemy ADC mostly deal attack damage. You are squishy and need the defense
  
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: I run flat magic resist because most bot lanes have some degree of magic damage. With scaling magic resist it would take untill level 9 before it evens out but since Janna's late game is pretty strong anyway due to high moblity you need the flat magic resist in lane phase. Also if you are doing remotely well you will be ganked by the enemy mid lane making flat magic resist the better choice.
  
• Greater Seal of Gold: Money money money!

I run this runepage nearly every game now. Before I used to run seals of armor instead of gold, but if you play well the gold makes quite a huge impact. I am able to get Sightstone or Philosopher's stone earlier.




This is the page I used to run. I only run this now when playing against untraditional kill lanes that heavily rely on physical damage and making kills early. Something I pick this up against Caitlyn when I have a squishy hyper carry in my lane like Vayne or Kog'Maw and I really need to draw the attention towards me, getting slapped more often than normal.

Change: Greater Seal of Gold into Greater Seal of Armor




I only use this page against Blitzcrank or Thresh. I don't want to instantly pop the moment I accidently get caught once.

Change: Greater Quintessence of Gold into Greater Quintessence of Health

Defense
Durability You are squishy and need the survivability.
Resistance I put 2 points in this and Hardiness to once again boost my survivability. When your enemy bot lane has no magic damage and their mid isn't likely to gank you can put 3 in Hardiness and 1 in
Resistance
Veteran's Scars Same reason as Durability

Utility
Improved Recall 1 second doesn't seem like a big deal but it can be the difference between getting caught and getting out.
Meditation More mana regen means more spells. More spells means more sustain and more sustain means a happy ad carry. You want your ad carry to be happy.
Summoner's Insight We like the summoner spell flash, especially if we can use it more often.
Greed More gold since we don't last hit.
Wealth You need the 50 gold to buy all starting items
Intelligence Cooldown reduction is great. It allows you to shield and CC more often.
Nimble Janna is already fast in general but since we are 20 points in the tree anyway we pick this up for even more mobility.
Biscuiteer & Explorer Before I did not use these masteries but i've come to love them. With these items I can now use my new starting item build, being Faerie Charm Rejuvenation Bead 2x sight ward
Pickpocket the extra gold is okay. Don't get out of position just to use this though, only punish enemies when you can safely do so.
Mastermind Before I used to say that Mastermind and Expanded Mind are personal preference. I now believe that Mastermind is superior in every way. Imagine that you and the enemy get in a full fight and both Exhaust are used. (Assume that the enemy support has Exhaust and not Ignite). If a fight happens again and the enemy support has Exhaust back and you don't you are screwed. And the cooldown reduction of Flash is huge too.


Changes
Before I did not play with Pickpocket and either of the consumes. I changed this because starting with the consumes allows me to sustain a bit and in general I use the 1 minute ward to detect invades
Mastermind instead of Expanded Mind as explained above.



A second mastery page that I don't pick up often. Consider picking it up against lanes that really harras you like Caitlyn Thresh Sona

Flash: is a great summoner spell. It's a perfect tool to escape, reposition and chase. I find that a lot people die early game because they are trying to save their flash. This is wrong. I'm not saying to flash out as soon as you see an enemy champion but try to be careful, this skill is meant to safe you so use it like that. On a side note, people often burn flash when they are guaranteed to die. Don't do that. If you are certain you are going to die don't waste it.

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Exhaust: This summoner spell is like Draven, it does it all with style. You can use this to destroy the damage output of an enemy for 3 seconds, to escape ganks or escape in general and to slow down enemies that are running away. Great tool when enemies are tower diving. Also when Nunu & Willump is charging Absolute Zero and it's certain you and your ad carry aren't going to get out you can use it on him before it explodes to reduce the damage.

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Clairvoyance: Not advisable in solo play / solo queue. Decent support spell in co-ordinated teams for the sight.

Heal: In S3 the heal is no longer reduced on allieds making it better than it was in S2.

Philosopher's stoneThis item let's you sustain in lane and generates additional gold. A must have.




There seems to be a huge discussion among people whether to get Sightstone or Philosopher's stone first. For me, if I have 950 gold on my first recall I get Sightstone, otherwise I get Philosopher's stone


I put Aegis back in core over Shard of True Ice since this item is still good. As I have put in notes, don't get this item if somehow you have a jungler / top laner building it. Consider upgrading to bulwark if enemy has alot of magic damage.


The boots largely depend on the amount of hard CC the enemies have, amount of magic damage, amount of auto attack based champions etc. Against Caitlyn for example Ninja Tabi are great, against Taric and Leona on the other hand you should get Mercury's Treads.


I'm starting to use Ionian Boots of Lucidity quite a lot. As Janna I can often position myself out of harms way and the cooldown reduction is really handy.



This item is really good. It's relatively cheap and provides incredible survivability for it's cost. 420 health is huge and it also provides 35 armor and 10% cooldown reduction. I would almost add this item to the core but I wanted to keep my core cheap because after all, this is a situational game.



Like Aegis of the Legion this is good for survivability. Since it's hard to build decent magic resist items this will be a real help to your team when you face 2 or more ability power based enemies.



Zeke's Herald
Lost a bit of it's charm with the removal of attack speed on it. It's still good to get when your team heavily relies on attack damage.


Provides a cleanse to your ad carry + heal (or to anyone else in your team actually). Using this item properly can win you the game. Definitely worth picking up against teams that heavily relies on CC.


This item is still good to engage / disengage, but I don't find myself buying it a lot. As Janna I often sit in the back, I usually don't decide when to engage. Ofcourse it's still good to catch enemies that are alone and out of position.


This item builds from Kage's lucky pick which is fortunate because it helps you generate the hard needed gold. This item is incredible, in team fights you use it on your ad carry to help him kite bruisers chasing him, but don't be afraid to use it on a Xin Zhao that made a good engage.

• This is your primary hard CC so make sure you know what you want to achieve when casting it.
  
• The longer it charges, the more damage it does and the further it goes. Most of the time you will want to instantly release it for the cc effect.
  
• Don't waste it, you and your carry can be left vulnerable if you randomly use this.
  
• Try to hit as many people as possible.
  
• As described in the match-up section, when Taric shoots Dazzle to you or your allied carry CC them before it hits. Same applies for Leona with Zenith Blade
  

• In team fights try to use this on bruisers that are chasing your ad carry.
  
• The speed bonus will no longer be applied when used and you won't be able to walk through minions. Consider this when escaping.
  
• In lane it's not always the best idea to use this on the enemy ad carry in trades. Sometimes slowing down an enemy melee support can be more effective.
  

• When an enemy auto attack or skill is flying towards your ad carry use this before it hits him. Reflexes are very important.
  
• When your ad carry shoots an auto attack towards the enemy carry or support you can also shield them before the bullet hits, the extra damage adds up.
  
• In teamfights it's very tempting to use this on the first frontline that takes damage. Most of the time however you should be using it on your ad carry instead, even if he doesn't take any damage. 50 extra attack damage on each of his hits is almost guaranteed to do more.
  
• Smartcasting is a must.
  

• You can cancel this skill almost instantly after casting making it act as knockback only.
  
• When your team is doing Baron and the enemy jungler is comming in for the steal you can use Monsoon to CC him and he won't be able to smite. Obviously same applies to Dragon.
  
• This skill has a lot of utility, try to get the hang of it.
  

As support one of your important tasks is to ward the map. You probably already know this and since there are already good guides out there describing this I'm not going to describe this in detail.

If you are looking for warding information you might want to click this

There is one general rule I'd like to share with you though that helped me a great deal. As amount of wards you should carry try to always have Ruby Sightstone + 2x Vision Ward.

You are the support and you are important, no matter what people think. I will give you a list of some things you should do while playing Janna

• Buy wards, a lot of them. Yes, warding isn't only a supports task but guess what, most of the games you are going to have to do it anyway.
• You are supposed to be watching at your lane and the minimap almost all the time. This is what makes supporting rather hard. As soon as the jungler is in sight you ping him, no matter if it's top mid or bot lane.
• You call the ss in your lane for your carry.
• You don't rage, ever. As support try to keep your team as rage-free as possible, even if you get blamed without reason.
• As Janna you are good at protecting. Protecting your ad-carry always takes priority over protecting the rest of the team.
• If your lane is getting pushed ask for a gank.
• If top lane is getting stomped consider if it's worth to swap lanes.
• Always say the timers of objectives. Red / Blue buff have a 5 minute respawn, dragon 6 and baron 7. Activate time stamps in options. When dragon dies at 12;06 you say 18;06 d.
• Tell your team 1 minute before an objective spawns.
• Tell your jungler where wards are, if you see top warding when watching the minimap also point that out.

Quite a bit to do right? I bet I haven't even mentioned half of them though..

Ugh. Disgusting champion. Janna is extremely squishy early game and if you get grabbed once before level 6 you have a good chance you will die. if you die once the game can snowball out of control so fast it's not even funny. If you however make it to level 6-7 without dying and your allied ad carry didn't fall behind too much in cs it's a pretty won lane.
Start with Boots and two sight ward if you are not confident in dodging the grabs.
Difficulty: 10/10

This guy scales in late game just as well as you do due to Blood Boil and the odds of you killing him in lane aren't very high. Nunu & Willump himself doesn't make the lane hard.

HOWEVER, when Nunu is combined with Vayne Kog'Maw or Caitlyn the difficulty can easily go up to 9 or 10. Why? Because Vayne and Kog'Maw are hyper carries that scale in late game so well and with Blood Boil they are extremely strong. In lane you most likely won't be able to kill them and they will outscale you in late. As far as Caitlyn goes, she's not really favored right now and I think she's kind of weak normally, but with Nunu & Willump she just gets so strong.

Be wary with your CC usage in this lane. If you use both Howling Gale and Monsoon and your ad carry has no CC this gives Nunu & Willump the opportunity to use Absolute Zero unpunished.
Difficulty 6-10

Often matched with Graves and famous for his kill potentional. Don't do something stupid and you'll be okay. When his Dazzle flies to you or your ad carry try to instantly send Howling Gale into him and his ad carry, this way they won't be able to kill you or your ad. If you know you will be too slow at least use Eye of the Storm
Difficulty 5/10

Often matched with Corki and just like Taric known for her kill potentional. Same logic applies here as before. When Leona uses Zenith Blade you can send her up with an instant cast Howling Gale and you'll walk out unharmed. This requires good reflexes. When Leona hits 6 she will often try to engage with Solar Flare. If she stuns you with this she will follow up with W E Q and together with her ad carry she will kill you. Stay on your toes, always. If you need to flash out to dodge a perfect Solar Flare just do it.
Difficulty 6/10

uff, if Sivir uses her Spell Shield properly this is a hard lane.
Difficulty 7-8 / 10

If you have good reflexes you can use Eye of the Storm to nullify most of his skill shots making the lane relatively easy. When he's matched with Sona you're in for a whole lot of trouble though, since Sona and Ezreal both like to make short trades instead of full engages, and their short trades will tear your Eye of the Storm up and leave a lot of damage behind.
Difficulty 6/10

I kinda just mentioned Sona didn't I? Sona is really hard to deal with in lane since her harras easily deletes your Eye of the Storm 1 level in Aria of Perseverance allows her to sustain the lane pretty well. Also Crescendo is a pain in the ***.
Difficulty 8/10

Hm, Draven his lanephase is pretty strong but it's nothing you shouldn't be able to handle. When he sends an auto attack to your ad carry make sure you Eye of the Storm him and this lane will be manageable.
Difficulty 6/10

His trades with Phosphorus Bomb + auto attack are stronger than your shield. Also it's fast since Phosphorus Bomb is pretty much instant. Try to predict when he's going to trade with your ad carry.
Difficulty 7/10

Kind of easy, her way of harassing is auto attack + Volley. Since both move slow it's easy to shield with Eye of the Storm. Ashe mostly wants to passively farm early game and if you have a strong early game ad carry like Graves or Draven you can actually beat her up. Note that she is easy to deal with in lanephase but quite formidable late game.
Difficulty 5/10

Well everyone, thanks for reading my first guide. Atleast I assume you read it if you made it to here. I hope I didn't make too many spelling / grammar mistakes. This coding stuff looks really weird I'm not used to it at all.

Let me know what you think of it.

Kind regards,

Benzire