Janna feels extremely weak... Please help.

SKT Meanbunny··7 votes·2,120 views

Hey guys, I am a Janna Janna main and fairly new to League. I just am still struggling to find out how Janna competes with any other Support in the game. If anyone can help me with this, I would really appreciate it. I just feel like her Q isn't that great of peel or initiation because unless you charge it, they are airborne for only half a second. The shield is nice I guess but still feels like even in the end game, that I can't save my carry from being bursted down. The movement speed with the W is nice but when used proactively it is only a slow which is pretty standard in kits these days. Not to mention she does literally zero damage. The only redeeming factor of her kit that I can see is her ultimate. If anyone can tell me how she is considered top tier compared to other Supports, I would really appreciate it.

I have looked at almost every other Support and minus her ultimate most of them can do what Janna does and in some cases better. I am coming over as a Support main from another MOBA "Smite" where even the extremely defensive Supports have a decent impact on the game. Even if you aren't doing tons of damage, you still have impactful abilities that are unique to that character. I want to see the light, I want to realize what makes Janna strong, but right now I just am not seeing it.

Sometimes I just feel like its just an elaborate troll in my opinion. Basically, I just want you guys to compare her to the current top 5 meta Supports and tell me how she impacts a game more than any of them. Thanks for reading my thread. Any opinions or comments are greatly appreciated. Have fun and see you guys on the fields of justice.

EDIT: After reading some of the more helpful posts on this thread, it has now occured to me a possible reason why Janna was feeling weak to me in the first place. I think Janna is at her best when she has an ADC that plays off her strengths. Like if the ADC never uses the shield to win trades or make use of the AD steroid, then it can make you feel less impactful. I also now realize that Jannas Q can stop dashes and various engage skills, which I did not know before. I was also not giving her ultimate enough credit because apparently minus the rest of a champion's kit, a game changing ult can be enough to put them in the top tier.

Thanks to those who instead of pointlessly downvoting my thread, took the time to help me understand which was all I was asking for in the first place. I never said Janna was bad, I said what I FELT as a new player. Downvoting someone who asks for advice or help is one of the most troll things I think you can do on a forum. Anyway, I feel a bit better on the situation now and will try to carry this information forward to other new players. Have a great day all.


UPDATE 12/04/2016 : Hey guys, here is an update on how my view on Janna and the game in general has changed over the past couple weeks. There are some things I really had to come to terms with coming from another MOBA like Smite. The first thing is, just because they are both MOBAs, does not mean the games are similar in gameplay. I now realize that all they literally have in common is the fact that they are MOBAs... 3 lanes, 5v5.... Other than that, they are two completely different games. I now realize that certain champions have a special niche that they fill and sometimes when you do something extremely well, you have to do something else extremely poor.

You see in Smite, even the "Utility/Defensive" supports on the low side of the damage charts, even though they didnt do a ton, they do a decent amount of damage. It took me a while to understand that not every champ in League is meant to do damage. On top of that, when you come into the game as a brand new account, you are playing with other brand new players, some of which is their first time on a MOBA. I realized that Janna is amazing when played with an ADC that knows how to abuse your powers, versus one that has no idea what an ADC even is.

That brings me to the conclusion that with almost ALL supports, they are only as good as the team they are supporting. A good team will make a great support shine, whereas a terrible team can make a great support look not very good. This is what gave me the new player impression of Janna not having a hard enough impact on the game in general. Thanks to more gameplay and everyone's opinion and helpful information, everything makes a lot more sense to me now.

Honestly, I feel like someone coming over to League from another MOBA is almost at a disadvantage in some ways to a brand new MOBA player because although they have the advantage of knowing the roles, the basics of MOBAs and how to play the game for the most part, they will also be carrying over preconceived notions from their game, assuming that they will apply over in League when in many situations, that is just not the case. This game definitely has its own special learning curve and my best advice to new players would be to just watch videos on youtube of good players and practice the game as much as possible before you come to a verdict about the game or a certain champion. Thanks again for your time guys.

Have a happy holiday season!

TL;DR: Just because "insert MOBA here" and League of Legends are both MOBAs, does not mean they are similar in gameplay. Spend enough time watching videos, reading guides and playing the game before you draw any conclusions about the game or its champions. Thanks!

26 Comments

khorney3 votes

really she is the best supp in the game. straight up disengae and enage off of flash and ult

SKT Meanbunny1 votes

I understand that her ult is good disengage, but lets look at her Q "Howling Gale", if you don't have the time to charge it in a peel situation, it is only a half second knockup. Does that half second make enough of a difference to save someone's life? With everyone taking flash and a lot of champs having jumps or dashes, doesn't .5 seconds seem insufficient?

khorney4 votes

i use janna a lot and yes knock up helps. trust me i played smite and i like it alot. personally better skins in my opinion.

L0ve Is Blue1 votes

The main reason I use her Q usualy is stopping a champion mid-dash its pretty effective at doing this and can save lifes easily. You can also put it where you know enemies will come from/chase you to slow them.

W is amazing for making picks and help you dodge skillshots when off cooldown

E makes your ADC a total wrecker

R is the best dissengage ult in the game

What can you want more

Swiftstrike42 votes

Hands down one of the best supports in the game. Here is a very simple bullet list why:

  • She is mostly a disengage champion - Disengage champions are very strong in low elo because it fixes teammates mistakes while not making a mistake yourself. If you play an engage champion and you are low elo you are probably picking, or don't know how, to pick a fight properly. You may not consider cooldowns, mana, positioning, minion number, levels of opponents etc. But recovering from a mistake and/or waiting for a mistake is much easier to do in low elo - making janna a really great support in bronze, silver, gold.
  • Knockups and displacements - she has a displacement with her ultimate and a knockup with her Q. Those do no succumb to tenacity making them very powerful in league. Think about every champion with a knock up or displacement: Zac Yasuo MonkeyKing Poppy Gragas RekSai Hecarim Blitzcrank Vi Alistar all of them at different point were (or still are) very powerful champions because their skill is not altered by tenacity. Janna has two
  • She can shield her adc - this is simply a great skill for early lane trades giving you a huge edge - she can even shield towers! That's very useful
  • She is extremely simple to play - lower skill cap means you can climb faster with that champion

Some players will complain that she is very non-interactive, but she is highly successful at what she does. She is one of the best disengage champions in the game which is huge across all elo.

Edit: I am a support secondary, but I started playing Janna recently. While I think she is great I don't have fun playing her. Personally, I have a hard time playing champions that I do not enjoy playing, if that is your central complaint then I am with you there. Janna is pretty boring and prefer playing other supports, but in many of my recent Janna games I didn't even have to try or understand much about the champion and performed pretty well without much gameplay history.

SKT Meanbunny1 votes

Thank you so much. Your post along with some of the others here actually did what I asked and took time to help me to understand what makes Janna a great Support. I appreciate the time you spent writing this and I will surely put this information to use. It makes much more sense to me now that I realize the situations shes picked for versus just feeling passive in lane.

BladeSteel2 votes

Well...top 5 most popular supports are

  1. Thresh
  2. Janna
  3. Alistar
  4. Leona
  5. Nami (6 is Morg since we won't "count" Janna for comparisions)

top 5 winrates for supports are 1)Janna 2) Sion 3)Brand 4) Zyra 5) Soraka 6) Zilean

Now Janna imo is a peeling support. She has amazing disengage, some heals, a speedup, a slow,and a shield. What makes her pretty popular is how you can play her against the more popular supports. Someone picks alistar or leona? they want to jump to your adc and knock them up/stun them? you q or ult and shield your adc and your adc can walk away. Janna counters hard engage supports like thresh, alistar, and leona. Compared to nami she has easier disengage to land, but less engage. morg has a nicer shield in that it blocks cc, but it doesn't block ad damage from the enemy adc. Meanwhile janna's shield blocks both magic and attack damage, but doesn't block cc, BUT gives a lot of ad for your adc (late game ends up being about a b.f. swords worth). Compared to mage supports such as brand and zyra, she has, once again, easier disengage. If someone comes to gank your lane you can keep them off your adc much easier and for a longer time than brand or zyra would be able to, and definently longer than soraka. Basically janna is an amazing disengager. Basically shield the best person to shield, and keep them off your adc. .5 sec knockup doesn't seem like much, but it interrupts many things (leona dash, alistar w, zac jump just to name a few)

SKT Meanbunny1 votes

Thank you so much for your time spent doing what I actually asked and helping me to understand why Janna is powerful versus just downvoting me and calling me a noob with a 3 word reply "Janna is OP". This is helping me alot and your time was well spent. Thank you.

SKT Meanbunny2 votes

Okay, I want to say thank you to everyone who actually took time to explain to me what makes Janna good versus downvoting me, calling me a noob and saying something redundant that I already stated in my OP like "Janna is the best". I was just giving my new player opinion on her as a Support main from another MOBA. Please in the future if someone is asking for help, if you are going to post, either actually give some advice or information or just avoid posting all together. Thanks guys, I feel like I have a little bit better grasp on what she is all about now.

cope moment1 votes

Janna's ultimate is the ultimate disengage. Lane phase is really passive, just try to poke with autos and what not occasionally. Late game, peel with your q if your adc is jumped on if your ult is down

Astôlfo1 votes

Um... She's one of the best supports. In the entire game.

TheLittlestLulu1 votes

Janna is arguably the strongest support in the game.

paperbIade1 votes

I hope this is a troll thread because janna is strong af

SKT Meanbunny1 votes

2 comments saying "Janna is arguably the best support in the game".

That is the whole reason I picked Janna as my main when coming over to League. I didn't ask if she was good or not. I asked for you guys to explain to me WHY and WHAT makes her better than the next top 5 Supports. I want to get it, I really do, but right now I just am not seeing it.

cope moment1 votes

Janna is arguably the best support in the game due to her ult. Losing a fight? FWWOOOOP , the enemy is a mile away with the press of a button. Wins you games for just $2.95 a minute.

SKT Meanbunny1 votes

Okay, so is that really the major factor of why she is top tier? The ult? I am learning guys, I would appreciate it if instead of downvote my thread you just took the time to explain to a new player what makes her better than the other top Supports. Thanks.

cope moment1 votes

To my knowledge, yes. Q is good for peel. It might be only .5 seconds, and as you said before, many champions have dashes and whatnot. The thing is, her Q can stop many dashes too! The E is a shield, w is a slow, and you still will have exhaust and item actives. Janna is just good at disengaging with her kit, imo. take this with a grain of salt because im not that good either

Aptest2 votes

I am not a very good player myself but I will regurgitate some meta analysis your way. This is not my opinion i just found this on reddit and i am writing a short summary:

Right now the meta is stat-ball bulldozer champions in jungle and top lane positions and sometimes also in mid lane hi Vladimir. They just run at you and beat you u (see hecarim). To kill meatballs you need an ADC because that's the big DPS source in a team. I,E. the big contest is between the enemy stat-ball trying to dog-pile on top of your ADC and mash him into the ground and your ADC trying to kite them out and EVENTUALLY kill them.

The weakness of stat ball champions is that they can't just drop themselves on top of the ADC (that's how assassins play) they have to walk. Since they have to walk what is valuable in a support is being able to throw the statball away from the ADC and buy the ADC a lot of time. Janna is very good at that specific task because both of her hard CCs are high quality big airtime CCs and also they are both AOE so they can hit all of the other team's stat-ball.

because "peel" is right now at a huge premium, supports that specialize in peel (janna) are better than supports that are more well rounded or that provide other things.

ShaolinToilet1 votes

Instead of making a thread that will get you nowhere look up the best Janna players in your region and add them all. Eventually one will accept and you can ask how to play Janna.

Dracocrash1 votes

She is the best support in the game, highest winrate, takes no skill to play, so less room to mess up.

If you read her kit, its more than enough reason to realize why shes the best.

GULAG 4 U1 votes

lol

bad arcade kitty1 votes

one of the very strongest supports feels pretty weak

said by a "janna main"

janna mains these times...

AdamFrostyBeast1 votes

she is freelo. you say that her Q only knocks up for 0.5 sec. yeah god be damned if it knocked up for more since it has no wind up and interrupts all dashes in place + it has a really long range... it's the absolute peeling tool considering its moderately low cool down with max cdr and its potential of fully knocking up the entire team... She is a support that can't be touched since she has a knock back, tons of "built-in" movement speed, a shield that counts as a steroid that gets certain power spikes with the new item redemption (her ult as well) this coupled with the WS blessing key stone really bumps up her shield's strength... also her underrated W makes up for the perfect "yeah i just cockblocked your dash, wait you are trying to fall back? take this slow with you on your way to respawning after you get auto attacked to death by my adc" She is overloaded, let me shield that tower or let me delay the enemy minion wave for over a year with a charged up Q from "base" . You are trying to chase me? a whopping 500 movement speed will make the chase fruitless.

SKT Meanbunny1 votes

Thanks for adding your thoughts to my thread. Every bit of information and opinion helps myself and any future new summoners who might have similar feelings as I had.

Requiemsfire1 votes

She's freelo

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