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Janna Build Guide by

Janna - The easy, breezy, beautiful, weather girl

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9 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author CTOStarOcean

Janna Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (9) More Janna Guides

Spells:

Flash

Exhaust

Items

Starting Items

Other Starting Items

Mid Game

Optional Mid Game Items

Core Items

Other End Game Items (Situational)

Essential at all times

Ability Order

Janna Passive Ability

Introduction

If you really need to know me, by all means keep reading. Otherwise, just scroll down to the next section. Oh, and don't worry... There is a lot of writing in this guide so enjoy.

Hello, my IGN is 519 StarOcean. Support has been my main ever since I started playing. Why did I play support? Well the first main reason was because my computer was very slow. I'd get maybe 20-30 frames per second in laning phase and 5-10 in team fights. Since I thought supports weren't really necessary to win fights, I didn't mind playing them. However, after I got a new computer, I started to realize that supports have the potential to make a lot of game changing plays. I'll cover it more in this guide.

tl;dr - I mained as a support since season 2. Janna was always one of my top picks and I would like to try and establish a good guide for her. Please leave feedback (It won't be flashy).

Why should I play Janna? (+Pros & Cons)

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ A lot of peeling potential (Save your carries!).
+ Her shield is amazing.
+ Global passive.
+ Catching enemies will be a breeze.
+ Amazing disengage if your team gets caught.

Cons

- Her ult can negatively affect your team
- Can become very mana hungry
- Squishy (Like most other support champions)
- No sustain/healing (Assuming you use her ult for cc purposes rather than healing)

She has great cc and doesn't need too much sustain if you can shield correctly. Her ult is fantastic and her movement speed is amazingly high. She brings great presence in team fights and can overall outmatch most supports. However, the only negative thing about her that affects me the most is that fact that she has no sustain (Excluding her ult). Staying in lane can be difficult if they have a lot of poke/harass potential. Even auto attacks from can hurt if she does it enough times. Getting a will easily compensate, but just use your shield correctly to keep your lane partner alive. Overall, she is a great champion and mastering her brings high reward.

tl;dr - A misplayed Janna can develop a lot of negative effects. Try practicing good uses for her ult and time your shields correctly. The pros and cons are not too long. Read it.

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Why these runes?

Greater Mark of Armor and Greater Seal of Armor are self-explanatory. Armour will help make you durable from basic attacks and any other AD scaling attacks. Since the bot lane is generally composed of an attack damage carry and a support, it will help reduce damage effectively.
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist provides some magic resist which will benefit mostly in the mid-late game when magic damage becomes a factor towards your survivability. Also, most supports deal magic damage in the laning phase, so it should help there too.
Greater Quintessence of Gold will give you gold per 10 seconds. Since supports will not get any farm whatsoever, getting these quints will help you achieve some items at an earlier stage of the game. It also helps fund for your wards, which is critical for supports. On average, a game can last 25 to 35 minutes. With this quintessences, you will gain 450 to 630 gold respectively.

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Only take this if:
You'll take GP5 items in game and feel that you need more survivability in laning phase (Which is a good idea).
-(Edited as of Auguest 14)

tl;dr - Durability is recommended as a support since you will be going against an adc. Armour is essential. MR is for mid game. Gold per 10 is for some income since you won't have much opportunity for farm (remember ). Switching gold per 10 for health will work well too.

Masteries

Since Janna lacks sustain pre-6, (her ult shouldn't be used to heal during the laning phase anyway) giving her a balance between durability and utility will benefit her most. By picking up the necessary masteries in the defensive tree that will reduce incoming damage (such as & ), you will have an easier time with the enemy ad carry.

Now in the utility tree, is actually very useful. It can be used to bait out a vision ward from your enemy support, or it can be used to quickly check for early invades. Some say its useless, but I have to disagree. Also, basically gives a free potion. Being a person that lacks survivability, it helps quite a bit. Going down towards the gold side, you'll be able to get some early gold for your starting items and it also gives potential for more gold as the game continues.

Now remember, in order to fully utilize , you'll need to poke the enemy champions with your basic attacks. Giving 3 gold per attack (5 second cooldown) it can easily give you enough for 1-2 wards in the early-mid stages of the game.

NOTE: Some people prefer to go down the utility tree for . They believe all (or most) supports need all the utility. Although some of the masteries do look good, staying in lane is much more important. Also, if you are going to get boots of mobility, this mastery is close to useless. You will go a bit faster, but you are already fast as it is (Hello! ).

tl;dr - Heading only into the utility tree is not recommended. Balance between durability and utility will benefit the most, as you can further decrease harass potential by the enemy adc/support.

Items

Zeke's Herald Sight Ward

Okay, these are the only items you should be considering in all parts of the game. Some of these items are expensive, but most of them would be bought between you and your jungler. Keep an eye out for the jungler's items in order to prevent any duplicate items. Depending on the enemy combination, you'll have to decide your own items accordingly.

is your core item. It gives you the chance to ward 3 areas with 5 chargse and recharges every time you go back to base. You'll cover your lanes so easily with this. It's a money saver. Not only that, but it gives a lot of health, which therefore, gives you durability. When this item came out, I didn't know whether buying this item was worth it, due to its limitations. It is worth it. No doubt.

is a good item. It provides an Area of Effect speed up to either engage your enemy or to escape dangerous situations. It also gives some sustain and cooldown reduction. Since you may build a Philosopher's Stone for the GP5, building that into shurelya's should be easy. Be sure to not buy this as soon as possible due to the fact that you'll lose the GP5 when fully building this.

is part of your core item build. It provides an AoE aura that increases magic resist and health regen. It also gives a shield to nearby allies when activated. This is a remarkable item. The regen and shield helps keep your team alive. The MR just provides so much more durability against AP champions. It's just amazing. Remember, durability is your friend.

is a good item. Generally built by tanks, it provides an AoE slow when activated and any basic attacks done to the person with this item will have reduced attack speed/movement speed for 1 second. It is a very expensive item. I would only recommend building this if you have a lot of gold, or if the enemy team is AD heavy. Otherwise, you're better spending the money on something else. This item synergizes well with .

Zeke's Herald

Zeke's Herald grants an aura that gives life steal and attack damage to nearby allies. This item is generally good with a team that is AD heavy. Building this will always help your ADC and they would appreciate the larger damage from this aura. If you plan to have these 4 items (, , , and Zeke's Herald), you can have a 40% cool down reduction for your abilities, which gives you the opportunity to save your teammates more often.

grants two ghosts that seek out two of the nearest enemies. As it moves towards the enemy, it grants some sort of vision and when it reaches the enemy, they are slowed and revealed for a few seconds. Now, if you get a Kage's lucky pick, I would prefer to buy this item over . Why? Well, not only does it help catch enemies that are out of position, but it has much better stats. The magic resistance is a life saver and the movement speed is a nice extra boost.

is known for it's cleanse ability. When activated on a teammate (or yourself), they will be healed based on their maximum health and all cc will be removed from the target. Again, a life saving ability. The cool down on the active is very long though, so use it wisely. The mana regen is nice for those who like to spam abilities. It would be nice to buy this for a cc heavy team, or even an enemy that has a good single target cc ability (i.e. , , etc). If you build a philosopher stone, it can be built into this item as well (or ).

grants a large amount of ability power, mana regen and cool down reduction. If an enemy takes damage when under 40% health (by the holder), they will receive grievous wounds which reduces heal and regeneration rates by 50%. If you build a Kage's lucky pick it can be built into this. Generally, this item should be built when they have a lot of healing potential. As an example: , , , etc. scales by a factor of 90% of your AP, so this item will help a lot.

grants the most movement speed when out of combat, but acts as a normal boot enhancement when in combat. The reason I prefer these boots over the is because the movement speed will help you roam around to save allies, catch enemies and speed your way back to lane. Although the cool down reduction from is fantastic, you can get the same results from other forms of items. This item is part of your core, but shouldn't be rushed (Unless you have the gold).

grants an aura around a target ally. Any enemies sitting within aura range will be slowed by 30%. This item is alright if you have champions that can easily catch up to enemies (). The other reason why people build this is because you keep the GP5 ability. Meaning you'll still get the gold income at all times while carrying this item. However, the stats on this item are not really great. Building will help the team much more often, but it all depends on your team combination.

Sight Ward

sight ward and grants vision around the area when placed. Vision wards can detect enemy wards or stealthed units while sight wards only grant vision. You should always have one slot for sight wards alone. Even in late game, you should still have a slot or two for wards. This is what makes you considered a support. By bringing utility and ward coverage, you'll be able to prevent any ganks from happening.

grants a buff that reveals all stealth units or / sight ward within range for 4 minutes. Even after dying, you'll still have the buff. If you are tired of the vision ward fights with the enemy support, buying an oracles can just stop this overall. If you have extra gold, it's a good idea to buy this for more lane dominance.

tl;dr - All items are summarized when you mouse over it. You must know when to buy items and when to effectively use them in fights. Try to avoid other items that are not covered in this. Recipe items for the final product are all fine.

Skill Sequence & Ability Explaination

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

In short:

>>>

Monsoon is an AoE ultimate that initially pushes all enemy champions away from Janna and then channels a heal to all allies that stand within the AoE. Like most champion ults, this should be maxed as soon as possible to fully utilize its crowd control and heal. A good use of this ult is to disengage a bad teamfight, to peel for your teammates(in other words, to get any bruisers/tanks away from your carries) and to give survivability for a short duration. You can also use it to push enemy champions towards your team in order to kill the target (usually with a flash being used up).
Eye of the Storm is a shield that covers a portion of an ally's health and it gives the ally some attack damage until the shield breaks. At rank 5, this gives 50 attack damage, which is basically another B. F. Sword. This is a VERY useful skill. It can save a lot of lives and it gives your AD carry a lot of kill potential. It should be maxed first.
Zephyr is a slow that when activated on an enemy unit, they will be slowed by 48% at level 5 for 3 seconds. When used, the passive effect will be gone until the cool down has finished. Zephyr passively grants movement speed and lets Janna pass through units. This move is best to catch enemies for your ADC to kill, or it can be used to escape some messy situations. The movement speed is greatly favoured over Howling Gale as increasing howling gale only increases damage and mana cost. Therefore, zephyr should be maxed second.
Howling Gale is a channel ability that increases in damage as it charges and knocks enemies into the air according to the duration of the charge. This ability should be maxed last as this is basically your utility for escaping, catching and harassing. The lower the mana cost, the better. No matter how much you increase this ability, it will not change the amount of cc that this move provides. Therefore, maxed last.
Tailwind is a global passive that grants 3% movement speed for all ally units. Bonus is lost upon death. It's a nice passive and works well with champions who need more movement speed ( Hecarim).

tl;dr - The abilities are summarized when you mouse over the ability. Do it.

Laning Phase

So you decided to become . Great! Now you must know how to come ahead in the laning phase.

As a non-sustain support, you have the potential to try to dish out poke without getting hurt. Basic attacks work really well due to being ranged. Generally, they will retaliate with their own poke, so you really have to be careful. Otherwise, if you do this enough time, you'll be able to "zone" them.

If you successfully zone them, it is good to always ward the tri-area and the river to prevent any ganks from occuring.

If you are getting zoned, warding the lane brushes will help prevent in-lane ganks, as well as detecting enemy harass

When you see the enemy get fairly close to your adc, it is completely fine to shield your ally a bit early. This is because if the enemy adc does not want to attack anymore, your adc has the chance to put up some counter-play since he'll be in range.

Only use your tornado for engaging or disengaging fights. If you have max mana, then you can use it for poke. It's never bad to use your mana, just don't spam this whenever it is off cool down. Zephyr should also be used to run away or slow an enemy to help secure a kill.

tl;dr - Depending on the enemy play style, you'll have to adjust accordingly. Remember, try not to take any poke due to having no sustain. Always ward your jungle and always use your cc when in tough situations. Never over extend with a ward-less jungle.

Teamfights

Your objective is to keep your carries alive. So stay with them! Don't just wonder off to go protect your tanks. Protect your back line at all costs.

If you see the enemy running towards them, knock them up!
If the enemies are still coming, slow them!
If your carries are getting hurt, shield them!
If your carries are still getting hurt, exhaust them!
If too many people are aimming to try to take your carry down, use your ult to push them away.

Simple right? You have to have a lot of awareness when playing in team fights (Or in any general situation in league).

tl;dr - Protect your carries. Use your abilities wisely so that it won't be on cooldown when you need to use it. Read the list, it is not that long.

Summoner Spells

This skill is probably the best summoner in league of legends at the moment. It gives the user the ability to teleport to any area within range. It can be used to secure kills, to save teammates, to give yourself an escape option or to block a shot from that . Overall, this is one of your main skills. Otherwise, most teams will aim for you since you won't have much of an escape until level 6.

This skill is probably the most common amoung all support characters. The target enemy will have reduced attack speed, reduced movement speed, reduced damage dealt and reduced damage from any form of item or ability damage. It will severely weaken the target enemy for 2.5 seconds. When landing this on a carry, they become vulnerable to damage and even deal out much lower DPS during a team fight. Recommended to have. However, this skill can he cleansed so use it correctly.

This skill applies reduced healing affects on the targeted enemy and applies true damage that scales based on your level over a period time. This should generally be picked up if you feel that you will be playing aggressive in the laning phase. It should also be picked up against healers, such as . This will deal with the heal and you can secure kills easily.

This skill has a very low cooldown and allows the user to scout out an area for 5 seconds. This can be a very useful skill to detect any ganks coming, to figure out the position of the jungler or to see any baron/dragon attempts. Quite a useful skill, but it has been looked down as it won't be very effective in team fights. Wards can achieve the same level of effectiveness (except clairvoyance cannot be destroyed).

This skill grants mana to yourself and allies in an area around you. Although this is good for early mana sustain, it will NOT be useful in the mid-late game fights. It is just so useless at that point in the game that people tend to not use it. If you feel that you are mana hungry, just buy a . If you still have mana problems, then you are doing something wrong. Not recommended.

This skill grants health to yourself and nearby allies in an area around you. This is a very effective skill and brings some survivability for your team. However, people tend to avoid this skill due to the long cool down for little healing and it scales off of champion level. Supports tend to be behind levels, causing it to be less effective. It depends on your play style which will either make this viable, or make this completely useless.

tl;dr - Flash, exhaust and ignite are recommended due to their large contributions to any stage of the game. The other skills are viable, but not recommended.

Warding

These are the most common areas to ward.

It is important to note that people don't always ward deep inside their jungle unless they want to know the location of their jungler at all times, or it is late in the game where warding almost everywhere is essential to winning the game. Please note that warding top lane as a support who goes bot lane is almost impossible, so therefore, those areas should be covered by the top/mid lane.

Also, please remember these timers. Please be aware that, although you don't have to call out all of the timers, it is important to at least know the timers.

Baron Nashor: Spawn time = 15:00 / Respawn time = 7 minutes
Dragon: Spawn time = 2:30 / Respawn time = 6 minutes.
Ancient Golem: Spawn time = 1:55 / Respawn time = 5 minutes.
Elder Lizard: Spawn time = 1:55 / Respawn time = 5 minutes.
Inhibitor: Respawn = 5 minutes.
Wards: 3 minute duration (60 second for explorer ward)
Oracles: 4 minutes duration

tl;dr - Warding is important. These areas should be considered for warding depending on your situation. Counter warding in these areas are effective too. Know your timers please. Even if you are not the support, just do it. Awareness is key.

Synergy

This list will contain people I think has the best potential with Janna. This is based on opinion so yeah.

Her volley poke really works well with . Also, since doesn't have any escape (except kiting with her slow and ), can utilize her cc to protect her, allowing her to dish out tons of damage. Both slows work well together too. Overall, a good match up.

has such a long range. With her constant harass on the enemy adc/support, you can use to amp up her harass potential. can also use her and can push anyone attempting to block the shot. Enemies caught in traps are vulnerable to a good tornado.

has some good burst damage with her , which can by increased with . Since has no immediate escape, can easily peel for her, granting great amount of synergy. However, be careful when using when uses her ultimate.

has a very long poke. Of course, since it scales with AD, will help him adequately. Again, since has no immediate escape, can easily peel for him. You can also follow up with a charged up tornado with his ultimate to apply the full tornado knock-up.

has been known to be a good pick with (besides ). Quick burst damage with will just obliterate your competition. Since doesn't have a lockdown ability, can adequately slow and cc the target enemy for some easy kills.

deals quite a lot of damage with his basic attacks, due to his steroid and his . He only scales with attack damage so works well in this case. Also, only has a speed up for re-positioning or escaping, so will help provide the necessary cc for good performance.

is quite alright with Janna. Although most of his skills deal magic damage, his basic attacks are what makes him a viable pick as an adc. is one of those champions with no viable escape. helps deal with this problem.

tl;dr - The champions above synergize well with Janna. If you want to read my reasoning for each, then be my guest.

Summary

This finally concludes my guide. Thank you for reading some of this, because I really doubt that someone would actually read it ALL. I did add a tl;dr for each section so I hope that helps.

If this adds some credibility, then I shall do it.

Season 2

Season 3

If you have any suggestions, please leave a comment. That is all. Have fun blowing your competition away. ;)

I do play other support and may make builds for them later.