The State of Janna 2017

TigStripe·7/12/2017, 4:37:38 PM·11 votes·2,168 views

It's been a while, League Boards! Howdy! Pre-season 1 Janna main here, who used to be quite vocal around here up until about season 5. Still been playing, just not as heavily.

I would love to hear Riot's thoughts on Janna's current state. I've come to accept her (somewhat forced) spot as a support-only champ, and I'm mainly curious if Riot thinks she's where she should be, gameplay wise. For the record, she hasn't been changed drastically in years, and I do enjoy playing her to this day.

A few facts (most facts taken from personal experience, as well as op.gg):

  • Janna's consistently one of the higher win-rate supports across multiple regions. People who play her play her very well.
  • She's one of the lesser-picked supports in high ranking games.
  • She's got a bad matchup against some of the more common picks in supports nowadays
  • She's a great matchup against some of the burstier supports
  • Her damage has been nerfed into obscurity, as Riot has focused more on her CC capabilities.
  • Her CC makes her amazingly viable without AP, and tends to make more plays late game, enabling a high win rate.
  • Last time I heard Riot's discussion on Janna, the attitude was "She's a support, and by definition, she should require another champion to deal with threats." -Morello
  • The recent Athene's change goes a long way to allowing non-AP supports getting a little extra oomph in their spells.
  • Janna's "endgame fantasy" mostly consists of Q or R to save people or make teamfight plays.
  • Her shield changes to (primarily) an AD support tactic, not a life-saving tactic, late game.
  • Her passive's synergy with the Ancient Coin line is incredible (especially with the new 8% MS passive)

My concerns with the champion:

  • Waiting for opportunities to press Q/R/Coin is not much of an endgame fantasy.
  • Her shield still feels overwhelmingly lackluster late game, because she doesn't build much AP and it breaks really easily.
  • If her success with the Coin line proves too high, Janna's passive may be on the chopping block. Again.
  • Her Q has not been satisfying to charge for several years now.
  • Janna's W passive is still the only stat-granting passive that has to be chosen based on cooldown.
  • Her survivability doesn't really outweigh her inability to duel other supports (I can elaborate if someone wants).
  • She's still one of the only support champs who can't even halfway go somewhere other than support.

I'd love to see other people's thoughts on Janna as a support and a champion nowadays. Would love Development's insight, too. I have my concerns with her, and I just wonder if others do, too.

43 Comments

Kloqdq7/12/2017, 5:28:04 PM3 votes

I feel the champion is lacking in her "fantasy" as some wind-spirit-half-naked-lady-thing. Really I want to see her updated to modern times kind of like WW or Urgot's updates. Most of her gameplay is just boiled down to, "Shield allies for 20 minutes and throw some Q and Es out sometimes"

It's not an exciting gameplay pattern and I think Riot can do better with all their current knowledge.

Sire Hippington7/12/2017, 6:03:30 PM2 votes

My main concern with janna is that playing against her is not enjoyable at all. She's a floating nope button, if played well she can just deny any chance to make a play vs melees. With two insta cast aoe intterupts that cancle gapclosers, a shield, passive ms, heavy sloe and the ult heal, it is near impossible to ever get onto her carry and get something done. However, if you have range to do something without needing to get close, janna has little tools against that.

Her extrem focus on saying 'fuck you' to melees is her main issue, it makes her feel opressive for hlaf the champions, while it also consumes so much of her power that she feels rather lackluster against the other half. Imo she needs to get the knockup on her insta Q replaced with a brief 99% slow(still getting a knock upo after +0.5sec charge time) and then be given more power into the charged Q, like showing where it will go to allies so they can bait opponents into it.

mosaickle7/12/2017, 7:12:11 PM1 votes

I don't really have much input on this subject but as an avid support player, I want to play Janna but she just seems less fun, quite team dependent and somewhat lackluster compared to lets say (who I play a ton of right now) Thresh. I really want to see Janna reworked somehow to make her less linear and more fun

TigStripe7/12/2017, 8:59:34 PM1 votes

(NOTE: THIS IS COMPLETELY FOR FUN. Obviously things would need fine tuning and some compensations would need to be added - this is almost all just buffs. I just thought of some things that might make Janna more interactive and less reactive. I'll include reasoning for fun.)

Passive - Divine Winds: Effect radius: 850 Cooldown: 300 seconds Once every 5 minutes, Janna can select a large zone centered anywhere on the map. Allies within that zone move gain 8% bonus movement speed, and enemies within that zone are slowed by 5%. At level 18, Janna permanently gains a region of Divine Winds centered on herself, which disables this passive elsewhere on the map.

[Reasoning: Active passives are the new thing, and keeping with the Air Elemental concept and her lore of helping sailors, being able to aid select regions of the map seems right up Janna's alley. The speed adjustments would definitely need fine tuning. The level 18 zone allows Janna's passive to transition to late game team fights instead of focusing on laning assistance.]

Q - Howling Gale: Target range: 825-1350 [reduced max range] Collision radius: 60-80 [rewards charging with better zone control] Cost: 90/105/120/135/150 mana Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds Damage: 70/105/150/195/230 (+55% AP) magic damage (50% damage to minions and monsters) [allows actual dueling with other supports without pushing too much] Active: Janna summons a whirlwind at her current location which charges up over 3 seconds. Its range and knockup duration increase for each second it charges. Its collision width gradually expands as it travels.

At the end of the duration, or upon reactivation, the whirlwind launches itself in the target direction, dealing magic damage to all enemies it passes through and knocking them up for 0.5-1.25 (based on seconds charged) seconds. If the whirlwind is allowed to fully charge, enemies knocked up by the ability are slowed by 60% for 1 second upon landing.

[Reasoning: Janna's Q sucks at max charge. There's no payoff to it other than range and a slightly longer knockup. I stripped the damage increase so I could increase the base damage to better help with duels without contributing to mass pushing, while rewarding charging it up with better zone control. To adjust for the increased hit box, I reduced the max range.]

W - Wild Zephyr: Effect radius: 600 Cost: 65/80/95/110/125 mana Cooldown: 15 seconds Magic damage: 50/85/130/165/190 (+60% AP) Bonus movement speed: 9/11/13/15/17% (+2% per 100 AP), decays over time Slow: 18/22/26/30/34% (+4% per 100 AP), decays over time Active: Janna's elemental ghosts Janna and all allied champions within range, granting them bonus movespeed for 3 seconds, while dealing magic damage and slowing all enemy champions within range.

[Reasoning: Janna's W is currently very binary, and punishes you for saving your allies. I went with a more proactive ability, similar to a mini Coin active or Sivir ult, which also contributes to escapes by slowing enemies. The damage is minimal, far less than her current single-target W, but enough to help contribute to skirmishes. Janna only gets the ghosting effect upon activation, but she also gives it to her allies. It is a high-risk ability with a short range when used in the heat of combat.]

E - Eye of the Storm: Target range: 800 Cost: 70/85/100/115/130 mana Cooldown: 14/13/12/11/10 seconds [longer early, same late] Shield strength: 70/115/160/210/260 (+75% AP) Bonus AD: 10/17.5/25/32.5/40 (+10% AP) Active: Janna shields the target allied champion or herself for 5 seconds, granting them bonus attack damage until the shield expires. Allies shielded by this ability gain 10% movement speed on-hit, stacking up to 30%, until the shield expires.

Eye of the Storm can be used on turrets, causing Janna to be credited for any kills it earns while the shield holds.

[Reasoning: Her E is a powerful ability, but shields just aren't interesting. To me, "Eye of the Storm" infers some kind of chaotic winds, which simple AD just doesn't reflect. I added a chase ability for ADCs she shields, allowing for enhanced kiting or chasing, depending on the situation. The AD bonus could probably be reduced to compensate, although it does have a longer cooldown early on this way. I did reduce the early shield to compensate for the increased utility for those level 1 fights, while increasing the late game shield to actually hope it can take more than one hit in the late game.]

R - Reverent Cyclone: Effect radius: 600 Cost: 100 mana Cooldown: 150/135/120 Heal per half second: 50/75/100 (+25% AP) (Maximum healing: 300/450/600 (+150% AP)) Active: Janna knocks back all nearby enemies up to 700 units based on their proximity to her, stunning them for 0.5 seconds, and channels for 3 seconds, releasing soothing winds that heal nerby allies every half-second while channeling. Enemies that are knocked back by this ability once are immune to additional knock backs.

Janna may move during the channel of Reverent Cyclone, but activating abilities, attacking, or reactiving this ability will cancel the channel, restoring 10 seconds of the ability's cooldown for each full half second of the channel remaining. Janna is slowed by 50% during Reverent Cyclone's channel.

[Reasoning: Janna's ult is great for disrupting fights, but is odd to use in the heat of battle as a real support ultimate. By condensing the AoE and allowing her to move at a slower pace during the channel, Janna turns into a roaming zone of CC and healing, rewarding the full channel of her ability while still making her vulnerable to retaliation. Also, about the name, a Monsoon is usually attributed to a huge rainstorm. I just figured something less associated with rain would fit better.

TL;DR - I'm dumb and find rewriting champs to be fun. Just ignore me.

Nomad Sol7/12/2017, 10:42:08 PM1 votes

Meddler mains Janna and his role in life is that of a woman so don't expect her to ever require skill or leave the support role.

DunkinNoobs7/13/2017, 12:26:38 AM1 votes

Her top winrate is lower than her overall winrate, which points to her being a braindead, low skillcap champ. Not that you needed stats to know that, but hey, now you have those too.

Darth Pixy Misa7/13/2017, 2:07:22 AM1 votes

I would like to just add in that Janna's new lore is Awfull compared to her past one, and should be fixed.

Núrse MeÐúsÂ7/13/2017, 5:22:14 AM1 votes

Hello. I am a Janna main and have been since season 1. You have excellent points but I disagree with a few mentioned. I personally think that her current state is perfect so please consider my perspective on the disagreements.

Moreover, while I am only Silver1 atm I have played from bronze 5 to plat 4 and do research the differences. While I agree with a vast majority of Riots actions and acknowledge their motives I do not fully agree with shaping the game from top players only. That is not the level where the vast majority of players are playing at. Consider all levels of play which are very different.

  • I find her Q to be very satisfying as it knocks up for a long duration as a projectile with a relatively short CD. Riot has purposely installed CDR more support items to help this.

  • Her mobility with E and the scaling from it should not be ignored. With the current and previous masteries combined with this and boots of mobility is unique and under estimated. Positioning Q or E safely or warding/recalling/roaming and still being able to help bottom in a timely manner is invaluable. So out dueling supports is not a priority for me as she has an amazing kit already with much CC. While I remember when she was a middle pick in season 3 I personally think she should not go back there as nerfs would happen ruining her support game. She cant have ratios mobility and cc simultaneously.

  • Her E is a game changer! I personally build AP on Janna as support by getting late game banshees and even a deathcap. Why? Because I can shield the ADC or any other fed champ with an AD ratio every few seconds and give them a B.F. sword with 600+ shield all while being safe. If they die, I don't and can shield someone else while providing movement speed with my passive for an escape and a knockup that hits multiple people. Some champs have this same move, but worse, as a ULTIMATE. this is not even calculating the utility on her R.

Naching7/13/2017, 11:38:29 AM1 votes

I think she is perfect now Only W looks weak for me...at least a multi target will be better.

Euthenaasia7/13/2017, 5:42:51 PM1 votes

{quoted}

It's been a while, League Boards! Howdy! Pre-season 1 Janna main here, who used to be quite vocal around here up until about season 5. Still been playing, just not as heavily.

I would love to hear Riot's thoughts on Janna's current state. I've come to accept her (somewhat forced) spot as a support-only champ, and I'm mainly curious if Riot thinks she's where she should be, gameplay wise. For the record, she hasn't been changed drastically in years, and I do enjoy playing her to this day.

A few facts (most facts taken from personal experience, as well as op.gg):

  • Janna's consistently one of the higher win-rate supports across multiple regions. People who play her play her very well.
  • She's one of the lesser-picked supports in high ranking games.
  • She's got a bad matchup against some of the more common picks in supports nowadays
  • She's a great matchup against some of the burstier supports
  • Her damage has been nerfed into obscurity, as Riot has focused more on her CC capabilities.
  • Her CC makes her amazingly viable without AP, and tends to make more plays late game, enabling a high win rate.
  • Last time I heard Riot's discussion on Janna, the attitude was "She's a support, and by definition, she should require another champion to deal with threats." -Morello
  • The recent Athene's change goes a long way to allowing non-AP supports getting a little extra oomph in their spells.
  • Janna's "endgame fantasy" mostly consists of Q or R to save people or make teamfight plays.
  • Her shield changes to (primarily) an AD support tactic, not a life-saving tactic, late game.
  • Her passive's synergy with the Ancient Coin line is incredible (especially with the new 8% MS passive)

My concerns with the champion:

  • Waiting for opportunities to press Q/R/Coin is not much of an endgame fantasy.
  • Her shield still feels overwhelmingly lackluster late game, because she doesn't build much AP and it breaks really easily.
  • If her success with the Coin line proves too high, Janna's passive may be on the chopping block. Again.
  • Her Q has not been satisfying to charge for several years now.
  • Janna's W passive is still the only stat-granting passive that has to be chosen based on cooldown.
  • Her survivability doesn't really outweigh her inability to duel other supports (I can elaborate if someone wants).
  • She's still one of the only support champs who can't even halfway go somewhere other than support.

I'd love to see other people's thoughts on Janna as a support and a champion nowadays. Would love Development's insight, too. I have my concerns with her, and I just wonder if others do, too.

Hey ! Janna main here since season 2 I really love this post and i'm glad to see other Janna mains here but I also would have to disagree with some points although many of these are great.

Thoughts:

  • Janna's shield is completely fine and in fact it's one of the better shields in the game especially with the new increased healing and shields stats alongside windspeakers blessing, let alone Ardent Censer. With an AD buff on it it's even effective to be used offensively when poking early game. Extremely potent tool late game considering how often its up, i'm not sure how anyone can complain about it.

  • Ancient Coins new reward is actually somewhat bothersome considering it is LITERALLY Janna's current passive. It's quite lazy to slap her passive onto this item considering it's an item she already buys and I can't even think of another viable starting item. It's a joke really that Lulu can now have my passive. I gladly welcome Janna's passive being reworked so I can have something unique.

  • New Athene's has some fantastic synergy on Janna. By midgame Janna becomes a fountain of healing if you're constantly throwing out tornados, as mentioned before the healing and shielding power stat also makes this become quite potent. AP also has some great effects on Janna and people seem to forget that not only does AP make her movespeed passive increase but it even increases the AD buff on her shields. These are rather unique imo and the effects of AP on Janna is overlooked due to how much she overlooks AP in general. These free stats are welcomed and I can feel a difference.

Overall I think Janna is fine and the only things that I think she needs to have looked at are her passive (the global effect was fantastic RIP). Her W is also odd, the active part at least. I would like to see some cool functionality on using her W aside from slowing the target being focused/chasing. I love the passive part of her W, being able to phase through minions is so good as well as the extra movement speed. It does feel like it's kinda off the lore now considering that it's listed in the tooltip as being an elemental, even though thats clearly some type of bird. Her lore mentions her being able to shapeshift into a bird now (which I find just terribly out of place) so this has just become a really weird grey area. I overall did not like the lore update as a side note which I can get more into detail with if needed. Some people play support to be hyper-aggressive but as others have stated Janna is a reactive support (although i love to flash ult enemies under my turret) and if you aren't happy with making the tradeoff of some burst damage for being the queen of disengage then Janna is simply not the support champion for you.

Janna

Tiniest Turtle7/14/2017, 1:35:27 PM1 votes

(pasting this here too)

I love Janna to bits, but would love a modernization of her kit. Her E gives AD which I always found weird for her character. I wouldn't expect the guardian wind spirit of the dispossessed of Zaun to be directly contributing to some crazy marksman's murdering power. She seems like her combat identity would be based around keeping her squishier backline friends out of harm's way with movement speed and shields and turning engagements on the attackers' faces with CC. I'd kinda picture her as the counterpart to Ivern, complimenting teams whose backlines need the protection instead of assisting your divers. She's already a boon to your backline, but upping this fantasy could make her fresh.

A new passive would be amazing, since her's is pretty dull. I'd still like the whole "get to the Janna" thing to be present in her kit though, to reward positioning. Her Q could just use a dusting off really. It's really a good ability as is, but I'd like it to feel more satisfying to use. I never really enjoyed Janna's W, but damn is it effective. I wouldn't say Janna needs a new ult since hers is so good, but if they could find a way to make it more satisfying to use too, then I'd be really happy. Her icons and model are outdated too. Janna could be a lot cooler looking now that she's an elemental spirit thought form thing instead of some poor orphan with an affinity for air.

I'm pretty sure I've said before on the forums somewhere that working with physical phenomena as a wielded weapon limits creative freedom. The best example of this is the freljord champions. A lot use ice based attacks, and although they serve different purposes, you know that when it comes to them you're gonna be seeing a lot of slows and stuns. That's just what ice attacks do in gaming. Wind can be an even more difficult media to come up with unique and magical feeling abilities that still feel fitting of a wind based caster. What does air do? Pushes stuff around. In gaming it's pretty much assured there's going to be knockups and movement speed boosts. If Janna ever does receive an update I hope they can nail the idea of wind mage while keeping her skillset inspired by a purpose in the game instead of by abilities that fit the concept. They have some interesting things they could work a mechanic out of thanks to her new lore though. Something making use of her ability to become a bluebird, or some mechanic based on her being more effective based on allies' 'belief' in her. I'd also love for her to bring something unique to the support role beyond her ad boost. Some level of CC cleanse could give people a reason to take Janna besides her peel and poke denial.

Also, she's not "The Storm's Fury" anymore, she's a sweetheart to poor orphaned children :'( she needs a new title. I'd love "Windspeaker" to couple with the mastery, but it might not be the most fitting title.

WoonStruck7/20/2017, 4:10:47 PM1 votes

She's still one of the only support champs who can't even halfway go somewhere other than support.

Braum Leona Rakan Thresh

Considering the amount of safety she offers even compared to these champs, she doesn't deserve to be able to go anywhere other than support. That's too much utility if she's able to accomplish other things as well.

King of TroIIs7/29/2017, 2:39:57 AM1 votes

Build her like a tank. She's beastly.

Sassmast3r7/12/2017, 5:04:15 PM1 votes

It's funny how people's views on the Athene's changes shift depending on who they main. I actually main Karma support myself, and seeing the Athene's changes kinda saddened me tbh. Karma thrives on CDR (hence why, once they put CDR on all items ever, Karma immediately grew in strength), but when the only two 20% CDR items left in the game are Morellonomicon and Nashor's Tooth, and only one really makes sense to build on Karma (I mean, you could build Nashor's...), she becomes indirectly nerfed. Athene's used to be something I'd build every game just for the CDR; I didn't care how much AP it gave because AP is something you build AFTER you have support items. She doesn't necessarily feel weaker, but now it feels like I'm not actually helping my team as much as usual since I can't max out my CDR anymore.

As a Janna main, are you benefited from or damaged from the Athene's changes?

The Deckowner8/2/2017, 5:15:46 AM1 votes

The problem with Janna is that she feels like a less satisfying Braum. With Braum you are your adc's bitch but you are still fucking people up with your passive and R and Braum's character is interesting, as Janna you are just your adc's bitch, and that is it.

Bob the Toastr7/12/2017, 5:52:18 PM1 votes
  • Janna's W passive is still the only stat-granting passive that has to be chosen based on cooldown.

Not trying to be picky, but I just want to point out that MasterYi's E passive is disabled while it is on cooldown.

Nicely written post though.