Could Janna theoretically be an auto-attack based champion?

Flashes·Jan 1, 2019·3 votes·5,904 views

I'm wondering if Janna could be played effectively as an early game/mid game auto attack based champion, with her AP scalings, in combination with items like Guinsoo, Nashor, other AP items, and her Passive, which increases the damage she gives out for her autoattacks, while building Ardent Censer for her actual ADC, I'm wondering if Janna could serve to provide both utility and damage through autoattacks at the expense of her total safety in the back line. She still has a Q and R for self peel, she has W for slows, and she has an E for an attack damage steroid. Of course this isn't optimal, as Janna is supposed to be focused on defending the ADC, but would this be a nice alternative for support mains who also play ADC, who are stuck with autofilled ADCs?

12 Comments

Silly NeekoJan 1, 20192 votes

Janna is already played as a psuedo adc by some people, so some auto apcing wouldnt be completely out of the picture. Though that would go into the same catagory as the "Brand, Lux, velkoz, xerath, and Zyra" catagory of annoyances for the adc.

IllabetheJan 2, 20192 votes

It's not Theoretical. Smurf Jannas and high elo Jannas often first item an item 3100 , and get to a point where a single auto attack does 900+ damage. I've had one duel a Jhin to death.

ModDaenrysTargaryenJan 1, 20191 votes

Tech any champ can be an auto attack based champ, that being said I did do a 1v1 janna v janna was quite fun and I did go ap attack speed and it worked out fine. its less effective now that they took out some damage from rageblade from its passive but if you get Rage,Wits, Ardent,Nashors, Swiftness boots, Frozen Mallet, She can be formidible, she would not put out so much damage to be a carry but she would have alot of utility, would go well against a magic team with the magic resist shread and and magic resist. it all depends on how you want to play her I used to play a mean tank Janna that worked very well

TLDR yes its possible but will only really work well if you get Janna to Full build, even then its a feast or famine build, if you get behind you are very likely to be useless as a damage source

EDIT: just tried this in practice, nope, I can see it working as a way to slow down people and annoy them very much but its not a good build lol

FireDrizzleJan 1, 20191 votes

You could probably build lichbanes and other ap items too be another Sona. With her buffed point and click damage Janna is a better Sona in the laning phase.

LordGeovanniJan 1, 20191 votes

she could same with orianna and veigar but mage 'PLAYERS' cant get their mind around making mages do (even more) dps because mah 6-2 second cooldowns. and its super good because of how garbage magic resist items are on top of people not wanting to build magic resist because the item effects are so-so to decent but the stats are just bad on top of their being limited magic resist items and no big damage magic resist items unlike item 3110 or item 3075

ParavozikchoochoJan 1, 20191 votes

I don't play Janna, but I do play supports and like offmeta builds Imho it is not viable, as far as I read her abilities she doesn't have any constant on-hit AP scalings. One powerful AA and that's it. Movement speed is another story, there is not many items (if there is at all) for both on-hit and movement speed. Plus building both item 3115 and item 3504 is not effective at all. One can be replaced by another. You won't be powerful enough to deal damage constantly neither you will be able to burst, neither you will provide good enough utlity due to absence of such items. I suggest you switch to champs like Zyra to carry the game Or AP Karma Morgana Lux to deal both damage and provide basic utlity.

LarrietJan 2, 20191 votes

I know a guy who started trying this immediately after they updated her passive to include the on-hit damage. No matter what he tried, it was just kind of lame. "Just play AP Janna Mid if you want an off-meta playstyle" is what he said after months of testing it, lol

Linna ExcelJan 2, 20191 votes

Getting Janna in ARAM and then realizing you have to go with an auto-attack build because you are the only ranged champ is never fun. I think it's an interesting concept and it might have niche applications, but in the long run such a thing being legit would require riot to decide she's an secondary auto-attacker and rework her more in that direction.

kneel on IceJan 2, 20191 votes

Dude aram janna is like the most op ? you just max Q , build full ap damage + rylai and spam ur Storms , i once won a 3 v5 with only janna damaging ennemies under tower , with a nautilus and an xin we go in when enough storms have harrassed the ennemy team , and they couldn't attack us under tower cause my slows/shield wouldn't let them run alive , you just stand put ur storms and launch them non stop from miles away

Binding EclipseJan 2, 20191 votes

That's exactly how I play her, so yeah, sure.

Fondling GemsJan 2, 20191 votes

Personally I like to go ludens > lich > nash > rage > wits (or whatever last item I feel I need) in the mid lane. Botrk is also a fun pickup instead of/after lich sometimes.

Max W and focus on using it to harass early. Just use shield for negating enemy trades. Later on you start to transition into an AS champion, but they don't do great mid lane early game and her shield has too low of an uptime. Focusing on early trades with W is a lot stronger imo.

I honestly loved to play it into Zed back when I still played. Pretty good into Yas as well although there is a higher risk of death if you mess up. Plus he can windwall your Q and force you to last hit under turret, which Janna kind of sucks at.

As a support you will struggle to afford the items you need for the build to function. AS items are just too expensive, and if you don't have a lot of natural synergy with them you need more than one before you actually output damage.