I'm here to talk to you about properly supporting with Janna.

Why am I making another guide, there's plenty already existing, you will say. So yeah, a lot of guides are already existing, but I read some of them, and even if they are great, they don't really describe the way I see Janna, or the way I play her.

Because... My gameplay with her can be seen as awkward for some.
I don't claim that it's the best guide you can find, or the best gameplay for Supporting with Janna, but it's the way I play her, and it's quite effective.

So I wanted to share it, to share a different point of view about this amazing champion, to share a different way of playing it.

I apologize if there is already a guide that's exactly the same as mine, you'll understand I can't read'em all.

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-Janna is mainly a support champion.

-She has amazing AOE Crowd Control (CC), and an astonishing shield that'll make your AD Carry extremely powerful, by boosting his damages. Because yeah, you'll want to play Janna as a support champ, meaning you'll go Bot Lane with an AD Carry champ and Babysit him.

-She can be played as an AP Champ though, even if I'm not a big fan of it.
Why ?
Because first of all, there are plenty more mages that deal way more damage that Janna will. But she has some good points though : a great AOE heal with her ultimate, a great shield (that has an AP ratio on the damages it absorbs) but... If you wanna heal, you'll want to play Soraka, Sona, or Taric. Then, if you play her as an AP champ, you'll have to grab kills and creep kills to be effective. Meaning you'll be a handicap for your AD Carry.

-What makes Janna so great at supporting is that she has the power of being extremely useful, with almost no items.
You can give your team a win by playin naked from the very beggining to the very end.
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PROS +Amazing Crowd Control, mostly AOE +She doesn't need items to be really effective +Provides your AD Carry a lot of extra damage +Awesome kiter +Provides a total map control for your team +Really nice mobility

SPACE

SPACE

CONS -Kinda weak if really focused -No heal -Have to get oracle to counter opponents warding -Will usually be almost useless with random PickUp players

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I put these 9points in Defensive Tree for early Surviviability. Janna is extremely squishy, and i can't remember how many times me and my bot lane mates were able to stay alive after a fight, and got out of it with two kills and barely alive. This defensive tree provides great HP for the early game laning phase, and some armor and mr. Won't spit on that will ya ?
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You need Utility Tree for different reasons :

-First: You're not a damage dealer, nor a tank. You don't need more points in Defensive Tree, and you don't need any in the offensive one (even if the CDR is pretty useful though).
-Second: This tree provides you with mana regen, move speed, more starting gold, and CoolDownReduction. Pretty useful for you, as you'll stay in lane (or in the mid/late game phase, roaming with your mates) for a LONG time. But I'll explain this later. The spell I find really NECESSARY is Scout . But again, I'll explain why later.

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Greater Mark of Magic Penetration : I pick these ones because, even if your role isn't to deal damage, your Howling Gale and your Zephyr will add a non neglectable extra damage on your opponents. I find this extremely useful, because it helps your AD Carry to make some early game kills.

greater seal of replenishment : I pick these ones for this required mana regen. You'll have to stay in lane a LOT, and you'll have to be able to use your skills as long as your carry is with you. How many times did I see a Janna (spamming too much, but that's another story) oom on lane, and when we attacked her Carry, she couldnt help him. Barely able to use shield, and no mana at all for Howling Gale. Because remember : a Janna with no mana, is totally USELESS.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction : I pick these ones because you'll want to be able to spam your shield when the fighting time comes, or when your AD carry is about to bein' hit by an enemy spell. Moreover, the CD on your Howling Gale is really high, and being able to use it more often is a necessity (even if I DO NOT say that you have to use it a lot, but again... We'll talk about that in the Gameplay Section)

Greater Quintessence of Health : These ones provides you with a lot of HP, which is reaaaaaally good, especially in the early game phase. You'll stay alive easier, meaning you'll have less trouble helping your mate to live/escape/get some kills. You don't wanna have to back everytime you got hit by one or two skill shots.
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Well, there's one thing you need to know about Janna, or probably about any support laning with an AD Carry.

You make the game during the early game. Of course there are some exceptions. Of course sometimes the tides of the game suddenly change, and even with an awesome early game you can loose. Of course. But I speak in general.

If you lane with an AD Carry, and you play smartly enough during the whole game, if you manage to get him fed early game, he'll crush any opponent he'll meet with an extreme easiness. Remember that Caitlyn you saw last game that 3 shot your Lux within 1second and a half? Yep, that's what I'm talkin' about.

That's why you need to put EVERYTHING on the early game.
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Greater Mark of Armor: Providing you with flat early game armor. Pretty good to be able to stay in lane longer, and be less squishy. This way, if the ennemy focuses you thinking "Oh she's Janna, a squishy champ, she'll melt under my bullets", then he'll be totally wrong, and YOUR mate will take him down during the time your ennemy tries to kill you.

greater seal of replenishment: like the First Way this mana regen is, in my opinion, a necessity, and you don't want to miss it.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Well, same explanation as the marks above. More surviviability.

Greater Quintessence of Health: Again, flat HP, more early surviviability.
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Well, i'm actually a player of Way #1, but I found that building up your runes this way can be really effective also. It's really up to you. I'm usually doin' great with the Way #1 but feel free to try this out aswell.
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/!\ Section still under construction, as I'm adding runes people suggest in the comments /!\
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: This Quintessence is a really good option, and you wanna consider getting it, especially if like me, you're not buying . More Gold by time is a good option. Because we know it, MOAR GOLD = MOAR FUN.
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You'll max your Eye of the Storm. It gives it more extra damage, and more absorbed damage. That's all you want.
Why not maxing the other ones ?
Well, maxing the other spells first is not a priority. Maxing Eye of the Storm first gives your AD Carry a lot of extra damage. And with this he'll be able to score a lot more kills, or harass so much that they'll have to hug their turret, and your Carry will be able to farm freely.

Because, Howling Gale and Zephyr do almost the same at lvl 1 and at lvl 5. Yeah, Zephyr gives you more movement speed, and the slow is bigger. But Howling Gale stays the same, just the damages change. (Of course, both of them get lower CD when you reach higher levels of the spell, but it's not as important as giving your carry these extra damages).

Maxing your Eye of the Storm can be explained in only one sentence :
At lvl 5, you add 50 extra damage to your AD Carry, more than a B. F. Sword.

Why not picking another points on the Ultimate at levels 11-16 ?

Well, when you play Support Janna, you will NEVER use your ultimate to HEAL.
You'll use it to bump back your opponents. I'll explain how this can be useful (because it is) later, especially in the Tricks Section. But bumping back your opponents with Monsoon works exactly the same at lvl 1 and at lvl 3. Adding more points into it will only make the heal better, which is what you don't really need.
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Flash : It's for me the most REQUIRED Summoner Spell on Janna. As I said, you're squishy. This can save your life. But, moreover, this spell is extremely useful on an assist like Janna. It has so many utilities I can't even tell'em all. You can flash to get closer to your mates, shield, tornado, and save him (or maybe even make him get a kill). You can flash BEHIND your opponents to bump'em back under your turret, or under your carry, to ensure a kill. You can flash to intercept Caitlyn's ultimate. You can flash to... Well, you'll figure this out on your own !

Clairvoyance : Awesome spell on any assist. Really great for map awarness, avoid incoming ganks, check their blue/red etc...
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Heal : with it's improvement, it's way more useful now. You have no heal on Janna, so you might think about getting heal. It might be a great replacement for Clairvoyance if you're not a big fan of it. It can save your life, or your AD Carry's life.

Ghost : I'm actually not a big fan of it. I prefer Flash by far. And I'm not a big fan of combining Flash/Ghost on Janna, but it's pretty viable. Don't under estimate it, even on an assist. To meet your mates who are fighting, it's extremely useful.

Exhaust : Well, if your Ad Carry doesnt pick it, it can be a real help for him, or for you. With this, if there's a fight between you and your opponents, exhaust might change the tide of the fight. Your AD Carry will be able to take down the opponent while taking almost no damage at all. Plus, if the opponent tries to runaway from your Carry well... he won't.
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As I said before, Janna doesn't need any items to be effective. This way, she can buy a LOT of wards, and provide your team a GREAT map awarness. You won't be ganked, and you'll know exactly what the ennemy's doing. Priceless.

Your role will mainly be to provide your team with this map awarness, and this, during the WHOLE game. I will talk more about the wards in the Warding Section.
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a Sight Ward is what you'll buy EVERYTIME you back. Everytime I back, I buy between 5 and 8 of these after my core is done. Before, i buy 3~4 of 'em everytime. Can't tell how important this is, because except babysitting your carry, providing map awarness is your main role.

can be a great opportunity aswell. Gives you some CDR, which is what you'll want. Think about it especially if you've gone with the Way #2 of Runes.

are another great choice for boots. I always go with Mobility Boots but it can be a great choice if the ennemy team has a LOT of Ap Nukers, or a LOT of CC.

is a pretty good item, looking a lot like Philospher's stone. You won't have kills. But you'll have assists. You won't have creep kills neither. That's why building items that makes you win more gold is really effective on Janna. I usually don't buy this item, because, even if it's cheap, I think it stays too expensive for the benefits he'll give me. With 825gold, I can buy half of a , or +6Sight Ward. You'll probably think I'm dumb not to take it, even totally insane. Well, as I said, I wanted to share MY way of playing Janna, and I play it without , and never had any trouble.

is usually my first item after the Core. It gives you and your mates great early game Armor, Magic Resist, and add 8 damage on top of your shield for your Carry. Extremely good and useful. Your carry will be able to tank more your opponents, while takin'em down faster. "Easy-peasy".

is usually my second choice, after building the Aegis. It's truly awesome to boost even more your Carry. With your shield and this item, add it the Aegis and HIS stuff (probably one or two items by this time) and your opponent's life will melt like cheddar in the microwave.

is the equivalent of for AP. Give'em SpellVamp, to stay alive much longer in teamfights. Really great item if you have a hard AP nuker. Awesome if you have a in your team for example.

is really a great item on Support Champ. I usually don't have the time to do it, because I usually have won/lost the game before I have time to build it. But you might think of building this item to gain more life, and with it's active, make your team able to catch up with fleeing opponents easily. Or, escape from their wrath after you aced'em once and got greedy.

is also a great item. It doesn't really help your team mates, but if you are the #1 Focus, then you might think of getting that. Because a dead Support won't help your team at all.

is what you wanna buy if they have a stealth champ like or even if they have an or . This makes you able to take them down before they can reach you and your friends.
It's also an amazing and REQUIRED item on Janna if the ennemy team is warding aswell, or if they have Vision Ward to counter yours.

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As a player of Support Janna, you'll want to go with an AD Carry.
Your role will be to Babysit him.

What does that mean ?

That mean that you'll have to stay not far from him, protecting him with your spells and helping him escape/get kills when he needs it (No ****, thanks Cap'tain Obvious) but especially LETTING HIM GET EVERY SINGLE CREEP KILL. I can't tell how much this is important. I already told that you don't need items to be effective. Well... HE DOES. Pickin last hits from him means that he'll be outfarmed by the opponents, and won't be able to stand during the lane. He won't be able to get kills, due to his lack of gold, meaning, lack of items. I repeat it, DO NOT pick last hits.

Of course, you can do it if your mate had to back ! It's way better on you that on your creeps ! But when he's here, no touch.

In lane, you will do almost nothing. Just hit "S" to prevent your champ from autoattacking creeps, and watch. No need to crush your mouse button by going from left to right in order to give your mate and opponents a headache.

DO NOT use your Howling Gale. It's predictable, meaning that the opponents will SEE it coming, and if they have even one quarter of their brain, they'll dodge it with no problem. So what's the meaning of using it ? Stealing creeps from your carry ? You don't want that. Pushing your lane ? You don't want that neither. And most of all, you want your spell to be on CD when the fight comes ? Absolutely not. Moreover, it's a waste of mana.

Just use Eye of the Storm when your Carry is about to being hit by a spell, or when he's attacking the ennemy.

NOTHING more is required.

Your role will also be to buy wards, as many as you can. As I read in a great guide about warding some time ago, "If your going out of your Nexus with more than 75g in your bag, and no wards on you, then "Houston we've got a problem" ". It's true for ANY champ, but even more on Janna. You're a warding machine. You're the Tom Thumb of your team, leaving trails of wards behind you.
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During Mid/End Game, your role will basically be the same as it was in the laning phase. You'll stay behind, to avoid AOE nuke from the opponents, or to be harder to reach if they want to focus you. You'll mainly shield your AD Carry. You have to be wise enough to know when to shield your Carry, to add damage, and to know when to shield one of your mates that's being under assault, in order to save him.

Then, you'll need to use your Howling Gale in order to prevent the ennemy carries to attack, Zephyr the carries that are running away from yours, or getting too close to yours.

Finally, you'll have to learn how to land good and useful ultimates. This ultimate is EXTREMELY powerful if well used. Read the Tricks Section to learn more about it.
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So here i'm gonna talk about how you should properly ward.
Warding is something that few people do usually. They always think it's the jungler's job or the support's job. In a way it's not entirely false, but mainly, they are WRONG.
As I said few lines above, if you leave base with more than 75G and no ward, you're doing it WRONG.

It's true about Support aswell. But Support like Janna won't buy one ward when they back. They'll buy plenty.

Why ? Why "wasting" gold in wards when you can actually buy stuff that'll be usefull for your carry ?

Well it's simple, here's what you'll do with wards :

• you'll be non-gankable. Meaning you guys can farm (and kill) freely, without be scared about the jungler.
• You'll know the ennemy moves. It's important. You'll know if they gather to kill the Dragon, you'll know if they gather to gank, you'll know if they go on other lanes, and finally you'll know if they are in your jungle, doing your creeps, or in theirs, where you can counter em.

So one more time. ALWAYS HAVE WARDS ON YOU. AND WARD A LOT.

Here are some picture I've made for you to see where you should ward.
Of course, you don't have to ward ALL these spots at the same time. Some are optionnal, some are situational.
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Here is one image I made to show some warding points. I may have forgotten some, if so, please tell me. The map is tiny and seeing it from above like this isn't the best way to remember everything :P
You can see different types of warding spots.
Most of'em are SITUATIONAL.
You don't wanna ward on ALL these spots at the same time !

But some of them are REQUIRED.
Dragon, Baron.
ALWAYS put a ward around dragon, to check if the ennemy is doing it (and if you're doing a good job at warding, you'll be able to do it safely, or secure your jungler from incoming ganks if he does it), and one around Baron as soon as he popped.

I've seen a lot o'times people doing early baron (at lvl 12~13) because the ennemy team didn't think they would do it so soon, and didn't ward it. That's why you need , you'll be able to roam quickly to drop some wards then go back safely to your mate.

But BEWARE !
Don't take risks just to put a ward, or to destroy one of theirs if you got Oracle.
I've seen many Support loosing an Oracle, or dying because he was careless.
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Let's talk about the tips and tricks you can do to be more than an average or a good Janna Support. Let's talk about stuff that'll make you an awesome support.
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• If there is a stealth ennemy, buy ASAP. If they have a Support that wards aswell, buy it if possible. If you counter their wards, they'll have no map awarness, PLUS, the support would have lost precious money.
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• You can self-shield by hitting Alt+E.
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• Play with Smart Casting. Okay, it's hard to handle at first, but you have to get used to it. You are FAR quicker when you have to shield someone, and especially far far quicker when you'll use Howling Gale. Why? Because you won't have to click on the direction ! Simply put your mouse pointer over the place you wanna throw it, then hit "Q" twice quickly. You'll throw a very fast tornado.
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• Play safely, but don't hesitate to get closer to the ennemy in a fight between your Carry and opponent(s). Why ? Because you'll be able to throw Howling Gale and they won't be able to dodge it. Because if they runaway, you'll be right on the spot to Zephyr them and make sure your carry picks'em up. Because if the fight turns bad for your mate, you'll be able to use your Monsoon to make sure he's able to escape.
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• Mosoon can be devastating for the ennemy team. It can avoid your people to get killed, yes, of course. BUT. It has another awesome utility that a lot of Janna players under-estimate, or don't dare to do. It's the opportunity to knock back someone right beneath the feet of your Ad Carry, or, even better, right under your turret. Here's the trick. If they come too close to you and your mate (and if of course you won't offer the ennemy a kill by throwing him to your Carry, you have to be sure he'll be able to handle it), just run behind them and use your Monsoon. The best trick is to surprise them. When they think your just farming peacefully, or hugging the turret, don't hesitate to Flash behind them and Monsoon them. Most of the time, they'll try to runaway from your Carry instead of focusing you, and most of the times you'll have a kill. Right after you've done it, Howling Gale and Zephyr them to make sure they won't get away.
  This technique is less effective against champs with high escape abilities, like . You don't wanna waste + for nothing.
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• In teamfights, you wanna keep your Howling Gale for some devastating ultimates like Death Lotus, Absolute Zero, Nether Grasp or even Idol of Durand. Just throw a fast Howling Gale as soon as they popped their ult and they are pretty much screwed. You may wanna use Monsoon to do so aswell, but be careful, you might save your ennemies, and send them out of reach from your teammates.
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• You can throw your opponents through walls with Monsoon. You can send them back to the jungle if they are doing Baron for example. Pretty fun when this happens, and can screw'em up pretty bad !
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• As I said before, be WISE about who you'll shield. Mostly in teamfights, you wanna shield your AD Carry. Remember, it adds 50 Damage, which is ****in' huge. It'll be a great help in teamfights, adding a lot of dps. BUT, sometimes, you wanna shield one of your mates that's going to be crushed by the ennemy team. It might not save him, but it'll add more time for your friends to meet you, or to damage the ennemy team while they are hunting your poor mate, running away, scared like hell.
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• Don't hesitate, when you and your team are running away, to flash between your friends and your ennemies to land a neat Monsoon to be sure you all will be able to live.
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• Dont suicide. You are a Support, you're not God. If one of your mates is being raped, try to help him by using all your spells to make him escape, but don't come too close though ! If your mate is going to die, then dying aswell is NOT a good option. Live together, Die alone, as they say in Lost :D
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• You are a support. You deal absolutely no damage, and you are squishy as hell. So don't try to defend a turret all by yourself against two or more ennemies. Don't try to engage them alone, just .... NEVER STAY ALONE. Support means SUPPORTING. Who are you supporting by standing there all by yourself ? NO ONE. Stick to your AD Carry as much as you can, and if it's not possible, stick with your other team mates.
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• Don't hesitate to use Clairvoyance on a brush you wanna drop a ward in. You don't wanna just vanish in the air within a fraction of seconds because they were all waiting for you in this brush.
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• In Teamfights, use Zephyr on the opponent Carry. If he tries to reach your mates, he'll be slower. If he tries to escape, he'll be dead.
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• Do autoattacks ! Okay you'll deal a ridiculous amount of damage, but... How many times did you see an ennemy escaping with barely 1% of his life, your friends yelling "Lucker" on the /all ? Maybe if you landed 4~5 autoattacks on it, he wouldn't have fled.
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• If you are destroying an ennemy ward (thanks to Oracle or to a Pink Ward), try be the one who destroys it. By doing so, you'll win enough money to repay your Oracle, or buy other Wards.
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• Early game, you wanna go back and grab Philosopher's stone ASAP, in order to maximise the benefits it grants you. The earlier you get it, the richer you'll become quickly.
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• When knocking back an ennemy with Monsoon, you can stun him for a short duration if you knock him against a wall. It's exactly working like Heroic Charge or Condemn.
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• Do not try to steal or counter the ennemy team at Dragon if you're solo. Remember... Supporting. Not damage dealer, nor tank.
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• You can shield your turrets ! Like that, if some creeps are hitting it, and you're waiting for your Carry to come back to lane, it'll minimize the damage it'll take. And, it'll hit harder on the creeps.
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• Don't use your shield badly. For example, if ultimate pops above your head, and you're standing next to a mate almost dead.... Wait for the last second to use your shield on him. Or maybe the shield will fade before the ultimate hits and... Drop dead.
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• About this ultimate. Don't use your shield on a dying friend if you KNOW that it won't save him. Best to keep it for you or for other mates to minimize the damage and prevent them from backing to heal.
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• Of course, don't hesitate to shield yourself if you're the target. But wisely. If your Ad Carry is around, and deals a high amount of damage, better shield him. He'll grab a kill, AND save your ***. If you shield yourself, okay, maybe you'll live, but maybe your Carry won't have enough damage to take down the opponent, and he'll runaway.
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• If the game goes really well, and you think that the ennemy team doesn't deal a lot of damage, you can skip building to go straight for to maximise faster your Ad Carry potential.
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• Try not to play her with random players. Many AD Carry has no idea on how to play'em, and you'll be totally useless. Providing extra damage or protection for someone who does nothing, or dumb thing, is useless. And for that, your team will blame YOU. Your opponents will blame YOU.
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• Buy Hextech Janna, or Frost Queen Janna. Why ? BOOBS OMG!
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• Turn off the sound. Her voice is even more annoying than one.
  

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Woa, thanks for reading this guide to the end.
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I wanna give a special thanks to jhoijhoi for his guide about "How to make a Guide" (here)
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Remember, this is just MY way of playing Janna, and I don't claim it's the best or the most effective way of playing her. I'm not a High Elo player, so maybe in High Elo games this won't work. But when I play her like that, it does.
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Don't hesitate to give me advices for optimizing this guide though, and i'll be glad to answer any question you have about Janna.
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I'll try to gather some replays from when I played Janna, to add videos to the Tips & Tricks section of this guide.
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And finally, please Vote and comment ! I'm not claiming I'm pro, and I'm open to ANY advice or suggestion you wanna gimme, about this guide, about my gameplay, about what I say... Everything.
I'm also sorry if my english isn't good enough, or sometimes not understandable. English is not my native language, so don't hesitate to tell me about a part that you think is hard to understand properly.
And i'm also sorry if there are mistakes about orthography. Read the whole guide several times but... Might have missed some. Again, don't hesitate to tell me.
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