Something was a bit too strong, so they toned it down and changed it so it's a little different. Then they give a little numbers buff to offset it. Janna's overall level of strength didn't change, it just got shifted into a different specialty. Balance.
Kingsgrave8 votesNot every champion is capable of being buffed in that way. The majority of them aren't, which is mostly Riot's fault of not designing them to be balanceable.
You can't really give the Janna treatment to Morde or Veigar honestly because their kits are so inherently volatile that any slight increase in utility or power could send them into "OP as FUCK" territory rather quickly
Copyrat1 votesYou can do that actually.
Take Fizz for example. He was nerfed twice without compensation (DFG removal and targeted nerf) because his late game was so strong. Now, he is just underwhelming, because Riot didn't switch some of that late game power to his lane phase. So, he can be bullied just as much as he was before, but even if he manages to survive the laning phase, he deals less damage than Zed, Talon or Leblanc, and he even has to land a high cooldown skillshot on top of that. There's no reason to pick Fizz now.
When you nerf or buff without some counterweight, these problems occur, especially when you're handling champions with very focused roles. If an assassin can't 100-0 reliably, he is useless.
vIbvdOwbko4 votesShe's still broken. Just saying.
ABlueQuaker30 votesShe's perfectly balanced with plenty of counterplay. She's a disengage/peel-oriented Support - you can't disengage or peel poke.
People who think Janna is broken are probably the same people who tunnel so hard on the enemy backline that they don't realize that they're a mile ahead of their team and dying for free.
killd0zer2 votesShe's been the best support in the game more often than any other support ever.
She's not "ok" or "good" she's amazingly strong.
Penguin Eclipse5 votesShe's been the best support in the game more often than any other support ever.
She's not "ok" or "good" she's amazingly strong.
On the contrary, Thresh has been a top tier support 24/7 since his release. Last year at this time everyone was calling Janna complete trash. I would say that makes her not the best support ever.
killd0zer4 votesShe was the original OP support, you just haven't played league long enough.
She was the top support from like Beta to S2 straight. When she fell off she's always come back.
Janna is better than thresh atm.
Penguin Eclipse7 votesShe was the original OP support, you just haven't played league long enough.
She was the top support from like Beta to S2 straight. When she fell off she's always come back.
Janna is better than thresh atm.
I've played plenty long to know she has had her good times and her bad. Thresh has never had the later.
TonyTonyMordecai1 votesSona is the one who's had some major ups and downs, all other supports have remained the same (forgot Soraka, but not many play as her atm) Sona was pretty decent as an aura mage before her rework, just didn't really rely on using spells as much as other mages because of the benefits of the persistent effects (too bad Udyr still has HIS persistent effects ._.'''). Sona AFTER rework, involves a little more awareness of your passive stacks, and your mana, because of how great her costs are, how low her CD's are, and then how she needs to keep activating her abilities in order to keep their effects worthwhile. While Sona is still a good support, I've seen some Sona Mids recently, and that got me thinking about how Sona's AP dependance has turned her into a strong AA dependent mage as opposed to the classic aura mage. Thresh has never faltered from his greatness, however. Still a strong pick against any matchup.
Ariaflux1 votesWhile Sona is still a good support, I've seen some Sona Mids recently
I'm really curious, how do they wave clear? I can't think of a worse mage champion for wave clear than Sona.
Civil Dawn1 votesSona support isn't great unless they're exeptionally good with her, because she has no escape, it's immensely easy to kill her mid lane whether a jungle gank or just 1v1.
Her clear is also not that great, I think she's better left Support
TonyTonyMordecai1 votesI think it almost relies on how well Sona does against her opponent. Once Sona has AP, she can push her opponent out of lane often with her Q-powerchord. And this is also dependent on the jungle presence against her, since she only has her E and R for escape
Raja Chachki3 voteswrong, Janna just counters all the strong, oppressive laning supports such as 
. She is made for disengage and peel, and she does what she is supposed to do. However Thresh has 3 CCs(a stun, a knock-back into a slow, and a SUPER strong slow). Janna's CC is nothing compared to that, AND Thresh has a shield. Thresh even has a get-out-of-jail free card for anyone but himself.
meneroth21 votesYou realize Janna has 3 cc abilities too.....and a shield.
Byrnes1 votesI would disagree, to an extent. Janna is a safer play champion. She has always been strong because safe play is always viable. Right now she is creeping on back because Riot has gone out of their way to reward safe play more than ever before (tier 2 tower shields wutttt). She makes it easy to safely take objectives, and since that is this year's focus - ta da! I would go as far as to say that this change for Janna, the people running towards her thing, is actually a buff for people who tend to play her more reserved; it gives her even more power and rewards for playing safe!
The break down in Thresh vs. Janna comes down to play-styles. No one ever really goes "THIS GAME WE SHOULD PLAY UBER SAFE AND JUST WIN SLOWLY", everyone's got to get that first blood and make plays by level 2. Janna, being a safe pick, can work in almost any team so long as they play it back. Thresh, on the other hand, instigates early aggression and rewards you for it (not that he can't be played safe, but come on a skill that literally pulls enemies into you?). At the end of the day Janna is the better and stronger support, even if she sees little play during meta shifts, while Thresh, on the other hand, is a one trick pony who makes plays and is played frequently.
Anyway, my two cents as a support player - though only Platinum.
tl;dr: Safe play is always in season, whereas aggressive play is higher risk higher reward. Therefore, Janna > Thresh on average.
Mandang03 votesI hear what you're saying, but I think Sona actually takes that title.
That said, Janna's rocking sub-35% winrates in NA and EU LCS, so I think the choice to nerf her is a bit funny.
killd0zer1 votesWinrate with high pick rate in LCS doesn't matter nearly as much as say Ranked does, because the fact that they pick them in the first place insinuates that they believe it's an effective and strong choice.
People in Gold 5 are going to play what they want, or have personal favorites. They will ONLY pick the best champs in LCS, or a niche pick if they're confident it's going to work.
Mandang01 votesIf you believe pickrate, regardless of winrate, is indicative of strength in LCS, then why aren't we seeing everything they play get nerfed?
All I'm saying is that she wouldn't be the first place I look to nerf (I'd start with the also-highly-picked champs who have higher winrates).
Lastly, if they're confident it's going to work, and it's working only 35% of the time.... well, something's not adding up.
DJ Di01 votesWinrate with high pick rate in LCS doesn't matter nearly as much as say Ranked does, because the fact that they pick them in the first place insinuates that they believe it's an effective and strong choice.
People in Gold 5 are going to play what they want, or have personal favorites. They will ONLY pick the best champs in LCS, or a niche pick if they're confident it's going to work.
You'd be surprised how blindy some people follow LoLcounter and LCS picks.
Penguin Eclipse1 votesWinrate with high pick rate in LCS doesn't matter nearly as much as say Ranked does, because the fact that they pick them in the first place insinuates that they believe it's an effective and strong choice.
People in Gold 5 are going to play what they want, or have personal favorites.
They will ONLY pick the best champs in LCS, or a niche pick if they're confident it's going to work.
They will ONLY pick what Korea tells them are the best champs in LCS, or a niche pick if they're confident it's going to work.
Fixed that for you.
Members of NA and EU LCS have great mechanical and communication skills, but they are some of the least knowledgeable players in regards to balance that there is. As a whole they only pick up new champions after another region has already tried it. And all the teams will pick up that said champion simultaneously, in the exact same day. This game is literally their career and they have coaches to help them, yet they only find out a champion is OP months and in some cases years after that champion was last tuned by Riot because SOMEONE ELSE convinced them they are OP.
DJ Di02 votesShe's been the best support in the game more often than any other support ever.
She's not "ok" or "good" she's amazingly strong.
-Prior to Worlds: "omg Janna is trash why would you pick her" -Picked at worlds: "RIOT GUT HER ALREADY SO BROKEN"
Thresh has been a top tier support for the longest time, much longer than Janna has been considered to be, but he's not getting changed anytime soon.
killd0zer1 votesThresh has been a top tier support for the longest time
Janna has spent more time being OP, than Thresh has spent being in League.
TonyTonyMordecai1 votesIsn't this what we've been saying about Blitz and Thresh and Morgana and and and and...
cFlame2 votesJanna can't even poke hard, she needs the enemy to lack range and be getting in her carries face to land her poke. Plus, shes squishy and a pull from Thresh or Blitzcrank is a free kill on her.
mi ramfan1 votes...
VDc0zCqe0w4 votesthe change is perfect, i love that, it makes her niche even more powerful and exploits her weaknesses (lack of engage), i'm a Janna main since S2 and i totally love the change, if only they would have done the same for Sona :/
ImpossibleGT4 votesHey you guys remember when Janna's passive was global and awesome, and she had a slow effect on anyone who reentered Monsoon?
I miss those days.
SmokingPuffin1 votesI think it's a good change.
Make no mistake, Janna passive change is a big nerf. It will have significant impact on the pro scene.
Remlap12231 votesYou know why she gets actual real balance? #LC$bigpuhlayz
RedCyclone1 votesNow if only they could do that with other pure supports
like for example
all of them except for Janna LULU USED IN TOPLANE, NERF EVERYTHING SORAKA HEALS TOO POTENT, NERF EVERYTHING SONA HAS A 0.5% HIGHER WINRATE THEN MOST SUPPORTS, NERF EVERYTHING TARIC LOL
TheDráco1 votesSo in other words shes still the most broken support?
thinking man1 votesShe needs more nerfs but it's a start I guess.
Saianna1 votesI play ARAMS only, thus most of balances for champions on SR don't affect me much. But with Janna her tornado width nerf was very noticable.
If you say she's fine in SR, then good for you. I i'm bit salty though :(
(i know nado width was rather old change)
