Janna Build Guide by TenebraeThalrin

How I got this idea?

Hello, whoever you may be, reading this guide. I am Tenebrae Thalrin and Janna is my favorite character. I started playing LoL with some experience from DotA and I first unlocked Master Yi. I did fairly well, but it wasn´t my style, all that hack´n´slash and almost no thinking, just AAcking targets... No. But then, one beautiful day, I played Twisted Treeline and I had my a*s kicked by Janna. She was fabulous. No kidding, I just couldn´t bring her down.
Because I had some IPs to spare, I unlocked Janna, launched a game and couldn´t wait until the game began. By then, I started enjoying her potential. She is great support, she has 3 CC´s ( Zephyr, Howling Gale, Monsoon) and she can literally do anything. I have been playing her a lot since these times. True, I like trying new chars, but I always return back to play Janna. So, basically, what are you reading now is my first guide here on Mobafire and in it you can find just how I play her. Enjoy your reading, and know that this build is mostly made for fun. I reccomend using Janna only in Summoner´s Rift, Dominion requires other characters, or so I think.

Who Janna really is?

So, we get to the point: Why play Janna?
She is CC queen, can keep her whole team alive, can dish some nice damage and, what she excels at: she DISRUPTS your enemies EACH TIME THEY TRY TO TAKE AN ACTION. If you can react swiftly, you can answer all kinds of threats against you and your teammates with ease. You will throw enemies up and away, you will slow them and then your team swoops in, taking easy kills while enemy team is divided and still in shock, thinking: "Who the hell threw me over this wall?" Although you won´t get all the kills, you get many assists and that´s all you need, for Janna isn´t as item dependable as some other characters are. It is more worth it surviving without any harm and having many assists than killing few enemies, but having only few HPs and MPs, being forced to retreat. As to survivability, Janna has great escaping and team-saving mechanics, besides, your team will love you for typing: "Retreat, I hold!" And then you just Howling Gale enemies, then you Eye Of The Storm yourself and wait until enemies are on you, just to laugh and press the R button... Janna is very interesting champion and in right hands, you will control the whole game.

Pros / Cons

PROS

Can heal
Can knock up or away her enemies
Can slow
Shielding
Team saver
Almost impossible to slay when you use her abilities correctly
Cheap
Easy to learn
Nice attack animation
Her passive boosts her team
She looks nice
She is so much fun

Not such a great AP nuke as others can be
Can be squishy at the beggining of game
Hard to master
Needs good team

Runes

For runes I reccomend using 9 Greater Mark of Magic Penetration, 9 Greater Seal of Replenishment, 9 Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, and 3 Greater Quintessence of Cooldown Reduction. Why? If I count correctly, these 3 quints and 9 glyphs will together reduce your CDs by 10% -a pretty nice amount, if you ask me. Marks for magic penetration, as you will want to spam your Zephyr mid to late game and use it frequently even early game. And those seals will help you to stay in line much longer, mana regen is always good on casters.

Masteries

As for masteries, I chose the classical 9/0/21. The support build. You gonna need mana ( Expanded Mind ) and mana regen ( Meditation ). Summoner´s Insight lowers the cooldowns of your Flash and increases the duration of Clarity. Improved Recall is what it says-it will allow you to jump home a bit faster. Scout is useful for all supports who use wards-this is essential. Intelligence means more CDR, take it. Awareness makes you level faster, good to put some space between you and enemies. Greed and Wealth provides some money you will need for sure, as you won´t last hit as much as you want to. Now to the offense: Mental Force , Sorcery and Arcane Knowledge will boost your early game damage. These 9 masteries will make you feel more bada*s and your spells will hit harder.

Summoner Spells

You are support, you wanna help your team.
I take Clairvoyance to keep track of enemy movements and to prevent from ganks. Also, don´t forget to use this at the beginning of the game, like 10 sec after the start, to check which enemy champ goes where.
Next spell I use (and love) is Flash. Ultimate choice. You almost cannot be caught with this combined with Janna´s skills. And defensive use is nice, but nothing is more worth it than jumping into enemy team and sending them away with good timed Monsoon.

Yeah, there are few another spells you can use as a support:
Clarity-even though you will want to have mana early game, if you are sensible when using your skills, you won´t need this. Janna has good mana regen and her spells aren´t that expensive.
Heal-good choice to save your partner when he screwed or was ganked. However, it is better to predict this situation with Clairvoyance and that brain of yours. The spells I recommend just fit Janna better.

Any other skills are waste on Janna, or so I think.

Skill Sequence

I will begin by writing a bit about Tailwind. This is Janna´s passive, works globally and helps whole your team. This little MS bonus is nice, but nothing extreme.
Back to the skill sequence.
Always start with your Howling Gale. It packs quite a punch early game and its knock-up effect is really worth it. Imagine-you just send the tornado on your enemies, you knock them up, interrupt them from their actions, while landing like 2-3 free autoattacks... Do this at level one and they WILL feel it. Although this is a level one must, max it last. It will cost you more and the damage increase isn´t such a worldbreaker.
Next skill I pick is Zephyr. Sure, most of you would pick the Eye Of The Storm by now, but think a bit: if you can slow your enemies and then knock them up, all while making few attacks at your target... Isn´t it nice? Yeah, definetely. So max this skill first. But if you don´t like this idea, feel free to switch this skill for Eye Of The Storm.
The third skill i pick up is the famous shield- Eye Of The Storm. Not only it is a life-saver, it also boosts the AD of its target. At level one, it adds 10 damage. Lovely. At level five, its damage bonus is equal to that of B.F.Sword. And that is, my friends, a powerful card in your sleeve. Play it correctly and your Carry will worship you. I max my shield second.
At level four and five, increase your Zephyr. It will kick´em up a bit stronger.
And finally, at level six, don´t hesitate. Monsoon is the choice. Team saving tool. The ultimate defense mechanism. The supreme "enemy delivery" service. Just position yourself correctly and you can send enemies into your turrets or into your team, you can blow enemy team in all directions-making them easy targets. And you can HEAL a lot. Well, the knockback is better part, but still, I like to use every little bit of my Monsoon. Take this spell whenever you can.

Manual on how to use: Janna

Begin by buying your Meki Pendant and three Health Potions. Go with someone into bottom lane, it´s best if your partner is AD carry or fighter. Clear the bushes with either Clairvoyance (if you aren´t on CD) or just press your Howling Gale through. Then wait. After minions arrive, stay behind, AA enemy champs when they try to Last Hit, leave your Last Hits to your partner. Use your tornado to knock enemies up or to save your mate. You can get First Blood for your partner or for you, if you use this correctly. On level two, start using Zephyr- Howling Gale combo. First, start the tornado. Then slow your enemy with Zephyr. And then let your gale fly. Kaboom, about 1/3 of their life is down...
Your partner will apreciate your shield at level three. Shield him from harm or use it to boost his damage. Good to put on your mate just before you slow your enemy. Almost 50% of enemy champion´s health brought down pretty quickly.
Don´t play too aggressively and you will live to see your level 6 without troubles. By level 7, you should have few assists or kills, and about 1600 gold, so full back and buy your Needlessly Large Rod. Return and save your gold. Next, get Boots of Speed. Use your remaining gold to buy wards. Return to your lane (or go help others if needed). Ward the river bushes and help your partner to bring down few turrets. By now, ganks are occuring pretty often. Don´t worry, just ward, Clairvoyance and stay sharp. By doing this you will survive and keep your friend alive, too. If trouble comes, just knock it up, and slow (if only one enemy). When you are ganked by many guys, just knock them away with Monsoon and run. You won´t die, only if you get REALLY unlucky. Return back after you have some money to buy Blasting Wand. Rush Rabadon's Deathcap and after it Fiendish Codex. Right now, you pack up a strong punch with your really-short-cooldown Zephyr and you have nice CDR. Go get blue and then you will try to help your team. Spam your Zephyr, do not hesitate to use your skills when it seems right to use them. Keep your team alive and if the need is, sacrifice yourself to let your WHOLE team live. After you return (you will be forced to do so sometimes), buy Boots of Mobility. If your team is good, by now you have dominated the game. Just buy any items you like (although I recommend Will of the Ancients), you are probably destroying enemy Nexus right now, so enjoy the scenery.

Fight to live, not to die

Janna is very durable character thanks to her skills. Use her patiently, wait for your chances, don´t charge in enemy territory without at least two escape plans and skills on cooldowns. It is better to make enemy retreat and not loose your life than to push hard and be crushed at their turrets. When countering enemy champions, I have few tips against all kinds of enemies.
Firstly, when going against melee, just knock´em up! Nothing will make them more furious than seeing their chars flying up, then being hit by Zephyr (or use Zephyr first, it doesn´t really matter much) and taking few attacks witout them having any chance to stop this. If they get dangerously close, send them flying away-you have your Monsoon, don´t you? Never be afraid to use your skills, this build will offer you good CDR, so you can use your skills frequently and without worrying much about your mana.
Against ranged, it is harder to hit´em with Howling Gale. But still, Janna is so fast, that she can just get near, launch tornado and hit them with Zephyr, followed by quick retreat without taking any hits. And because ranged heroes aren´t usually as durable as melee are, you and your partner will take them down faster.
Against tanks, just don´t prioritize them, take them on last. Nobody wants to attack their tank to have your team crushed by the rest of enemies. Just keep your distance and Zephyr them as much as possible. Sooner or later, they will have to return home, cursing you and Janna.
Supports are such a fun to take down. Yeah, they are kinda durable and they can heal, but who cares? They will never blow as much as you will. Just spam your attack abilities and shield yourself when you AA or when in danger. No problem.
Assassins are ugly, but you have your wards and you are carefull. And when that ugly little Twitch appears, do as usual-send him flying up and away! This is the best recipe against all enemies-send them away.

The End

Well, and that´s it. I wrote everything important I wanted you to know. I cannot command you to do as I write, I also cannot expect you to play the way I do, but I sure hope you liked this build well enough. Don´t be afraid to comment, or PM me. Thanks for your attention, I am glad you decided to enjoy your game with Janna a little more after reading this tutorial. See you on Fields of Justice!