The Problem with Janna IMO and a Fix Proposition

Xisled95·11/27/2013, 8:49:27 PM·1 votes·903 views

Janna, for those who don't know her, is a support champion with Wind being her main "element" for her magical attacks. I mainly play support, and thusly I have a great read in Janna's strengths and weaknesses.

The problem with Janna is that she cannot play as a pure support and contribute to the game very much. Her abilities are simply too weak. Because Janna has such horrible mana problems (especially if you try to build her ap), she is awful at sieging towers or dueling other support champions. Her ad is abysmally low, which is expected, but her attack speed is also unusably low, even for a support. In general, I see Janna being slightly weaker in terms of damage dealing (both ability and ad) than virtually all other supports, but her saving grace is her CC ability.

At least that seems to be what Riot intended. Yes, her Q attack is a good stun spell, but the only time you can really use it to its full effect is when you are at 400+ ap near max level when you can farm entire spawns of minions with just that spell. But at level 18? The knock up effect is overrated, IMO. When chasing an enemy, it usually doesn't work because it isn't fast enough. Her W move (Zephyr) is a great move to single out an enemy, and in a gank, it nearly guarantees a kill. That said, the range is tiny, and when being chased, it is suicide to use it (long animation and she is squishy). Her E (shield) is decent, especially with good ap (I've gotten 800hp boost from it) but it doesn't last long and only gives ad. Her ultimate move is also slightly overrated, IMO. Yes, it resets teamfights, and heals, but the knock back is very small, and the stun is only the knockback. Janna must stand in the same spot and channel the spell (hold down R) for a couple seconds to heal fully. If you tap R, the spell will heal about 200 hp (which is nothing).

The funny thing is, at least in my experience, Janna is not viable for basic laning and supporting an adc, HOWEVER, in certain situations, when coordinated properly, her slight tactical advantages she provides from her spells become game-breaking. Let me tell you it is very tough to judge whether or not to use the ulti spell, in a crazy teamfight and you having 1700hp. Usually it doesn't do that much. However, the one time it does, with a decent Master Yi in there, instant ace occurs. One guy ends up below an enemy tower, one guy lands next to 3 allies, 2 others get pushed away, and one dies.

GREAT!

But... Is that really worth it?

No.

So a possible solution is give her an irrelevant buff so that she will become viable again. Her ap in comparison to other supports is in such a delicate situation that buffing Janna in terms of her abilities will make her OP (equal ap to other supports, but her abilities are tactically stronger). Therefore, IMHO she should get a slight ad and attack speed buff, maybe +10 ad and +0.1 attack speed, as well as maybe a passive that boosts nearby allied champions' attack speed by 0.1. Targon's Brace is all the rage nowadays and this buff, while small, would help bottom lane farm much, much better while not stealing the adc's gold. It would also help make up for the lack of damage Janna's abilities should do. In the current metagame, I think this is the best way to bring Janna back into usage while not making her imbalanced.

Thoughts?

2 Comments

Epitome of Noob11/27/2013, 9:57:54 PM1 votes

Maybe if her Q charged up in 2 seconds, or if it travelled faster upon activation than currently.

Ahriin3/18/2014, 4:10:59 AM1 votes

I do agree she is weak but this is what you get as a trade off. A good Janna is ungankable. And pretty much makes you're adc invincible Shes also amazing with not the Smartest ADCs because if the adc acts stupid and goes into a 1v3 janna can peel them so easily. Which most other supports can't do.