Need Braum or Janna tips?

great question

My standard Janna build:

Start

If backing with 800 gold,

if backing with less than 800,

next back get which one you missed,

I personally like to finish before getting boots because Janna's W provides great ms and I like the cdr, mana regen, and the active on Talisman is fantastic for escapes and engages.

I always build third

I like going full utility Janna, so I like to get for the great AS buff, which synergizes great with her E, which at level 9 (so 5 levels in E) gives a base 50 AD for 6 seconds. OP.

Next I get , honestly I'd get it before Ardent if the enemy team is really AD heavy just for the armor.

Last item is for funsies, so I pretty much go

In lane, the Q is used for interrupting enemies during trades or especially for disrupting a gank and disengaging. If you spam it you're going to run out of mana. It's more optimal to focus on casting E on either yourself or your adc (usually the adc) to ensure they win trades. Q just doesn't do enough damage to justify it as a poke, which is why I personally don't go for on Janna, unlike other AP supports, even if I will eventually sell it for a

great question

I just faced this matchup a few games ago in ranked 5's

http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1963939401/207588468?tab=overview

so it was me as Braum (plat 5) and Jinx (gold 4) vs Thresh (plat 5) and Vayne (plat 2)

I always start the same way as Braum:

This is an aggressive lane because Thresh wants to engage and land a hook so Vayne can get an easy 3 aa's and proc her silver bolts. However, Thresh has a bad build path, so I consider Braum to outscale him in midgame. In the current meta, all things being equal, Vayne is generally considered to outscale Jinx, so it's imperative to starve her early.

Thresh can go either or , both of which are bad on him. The coin is for a utility support where Thresh's kit is designed to be tanky, and his shield is insignificant to provide true sustain to his adc (unlike that of or perhaps so it's easy to poke the adc down. The huge disadvantage of relic shield and its subsequent upgrades is that Thresh cannot execute minions. I personally avoid trying to keep him from collecting souls since the scaling is somewhat bad, and just try to zone him from proccing relic shield.

I like landing Q's on either Vayne or Thresh, both are squishy early game so the damage is not insignificant. A great thing about laning with Jinx is her increased range on Q when she goes for rockets so it's somewhat easier to help her proc the passive. I stay out of Thresh's flay range and aa range and just poke. I prefer to avoid his hook, but if hooked just W to a minion or your adc if pulled into a dangerous spot. Similarly, if the adc gets grabbed, immediately W them and cast E in the direction of Vayne. An op strategy is to watch her, and if she lands 2 aa's on the same target, try to E the third to block the silver bolts proc.

You can also E Thresh's Q but that is suboptimal. Remember that Braum's E blocks projectile damage, but does not prevent disables. In other words, if Ashe ulted on you, blocking the ult with the E would prevent the damage but you would still get stunned for the full duration.

I consider to be a core item on Braum in essentially every game but it is particularly useful against an AS reliant champion like Vayne.

Against a Thresh, take control of laning phase. You outrange and outdamage him, keep poking and get your adc to proc your passive as much as possible. Thresh is one of those champions that is relatively useless when not fed because his kit is reliant on him being able to burn everything and stay alive long enough to keep the cc going.

replay link: http://www.replay.gg/?r=NA1&id=1963939401&key=JmvUCdvb8CdkQqoolqcoyzXs%2FP7iBaO8

I go to the second tab and download it as a batch file and just open it.

great question

has great stats, in my opinion it depends on how much you like its passive charges and its active shield. Personally I prefer, in most circumstances, to build in the following order:

Start - and pots

Rush -

Generally in order -

next depends on whether there is significant cc in lane, such as a Morgana, a Lulu, a Nami, etc.

either or , then finish the one you didn't get

next I usually like to get a , prioritizing the second over the

I then finish , then usually finish

now that I have a good amount of armor and mr, I go then

most frequently my last item is a

The reason I prefer armor and mr on Braum is that his W scales to it for yourself and the ally champion you cast it on. I consider this to be a more significant defense for allies than the active shield on .

I personally never max E over Q. One point in E is sufficient to significantly hamper enemy projectiles. It's great as a second max, but I really prefer the increased damage on Q since I consider it Braum's best skill since it can start and progress his passive so you're going to want to land it as much as possible.

For sure I still whiff Braum's ult sometimes, I try to hit it when there are several enemies grouped up so it's somewhat guaranteed to hit at least one or two. It just takes practice. What you can do is try to land an aa or Q on an enemy and get your team to proc the stun, then ult the enemy while stunned so it's a stationary target. Most enemies will not survive the passive stun and the ult knockup while taking damage from you and your allies.

While I think is bad to get early on Braum this is personal playstyle, and I'm not saying it's necessarily "meta" to play it my way. I also think there's considerable value in getting since it gives you 3 charges, each of which regenerate every 30 seconds instead of 2 charges, each which regenerate every minute. A money maker indeed.

Great question

Personally, just personal preference, I do not modify the skill order leveling on any support. I think there is a set order to level that maximizes either damage, cooldown, or other utility. This does not mean I'm right, and I welcome input from other supports who do adjust skill leveling based on particular circumstance.

Actually I take that back, the ONLY exception I can think of is on Alistar, where I may take his heal (E) at 2 instead of his headbutt (W) if the adc took significant poke at level 1, then take W as normal at 3, and standard max order on Alistar of Q->W->E

On Janna, leveling E first is logical because that AD steroid is incredible, and increasing its potency will help your adc win trades and lane. I like leveling W second because I like the increased passive movespeed, the increased slow when cast, and the extra damage. While 1 point in Q is essential at 2, the extra damage from leveling is somewhat small, and the lowered cooldown does not justify precedence over E or W.

On Braum, Q is definitely the skill that will be used most in lane, and throughout the game, for its damage, its slow, and most importantly its starting of concussive blows (passive). The E, maxed second, is quite powerful even at one skill point and is definitely sufficient to block most adc harass (for short periods of time) at early levels. I can't see leveling it before Q in any circumstance. W happens to be the skill I use the least in lane and throughout the game, though it is invaluable in a teamfight. The problem with leveling it before Q or E is first its relative lack of use and also it doesn't really scale well early game - it provides an extra 2.5 flat armor and mr per increased level and an extra 1.5% of Braum's bonus armor and mr. You're probably not going to have a whole lot of bonus armor and mr early game, so to maximize utility of all skills, max W last.

I don't know what the "counter meta" is, I'll just speak from personal experience.

As Braum, I hate facing Soraka and Brand

Soraka is a pain in the butt, she can stay behind the adc (and out of Braum's Q range!) and heal her adc. If you have a Soraka who knows positioning it will be almost impossible to kill the adc without a gank from someone with burst. The normal strategy against a passive support - going aggressive and poking them and the adc down with Q and passive stuns - is a problem. Usually the adc needs specific position in order to harass and cs at the same time, and Soraka's huge aoe damage/self-heal Q will very often find an easy target in the focused adc. With some mana regen, this gives Soraka and her adc essentially infinite sustain. Want to W your ally who's getting hit with Soraka's Q to mitigate the damage by providing some mr? Well now you just provided her with double the healing.

Brand does insane damage early game and it's practically impossible to reduce any of it with abilities. Get too close and he'll burst you or the adc and good luck E shielding any of it - it's not a clear missile like Morgana's Q or a predictable barrage like an enemy adc's aa's. I recently played against a Brand and laning phase was absolute torture. The only solace was that Braum outscales a mage support because they have to choose between utility or damage and generally hurt their team as a result of what they don't choose. I would add Lulu to this list because she is a utility mage who needs very little AP to be incredibly deadly, but very few gifted Lulu supports exist at the platinum level.

In my opinion, Janna does not have lane counters. Her kit is specifically designed to help adcs win lane, and even if they lose lane, the utility build path that I favor somewhat ensures that the adc will be stronger than their counterpart. People who absolutely annoy me to play against are junglers with invisibility - Rengar, Shaco, Evelynn - who can sneak up on me and burst me down before I can cast any of my disengage abilities or use my massive movespeed to get clear. Janna is incredibly vulnerable to assassins which is why vision control is an absolute must on her. If Janna sees them first, she can never get caught out.

however big it is, make sure you can back it up with your OP play

oh great question

if you are equally skilled with both, the main factor for me is adc preference. If they want one over the other, that's who I go with.

As a general rule, if they are playing Vayne, I go Janna, because I want to keep her safe in laning phase and help her survive critical early trades when she doesn't have a lot of points in silver bolts and no BotRK yet. A well-timed E can help keep her alive and free-farming, with exhaust, Q, and W saved for an overly-aggressive enemy bot lane or a hungry jungler.

If they are playing Lucian, that is an automatic Braum pick. Recall that Lucian's passive is that after he casts an ability, his next auto attack will hit twice. That means if Braum lands a Q, that starts concussive blows, Lucian can then auto, dash with E into a better position, then double auto attack and the stun is procced. Incredibly powerful and a reasonably easy combo to pull off.

I also like Braum with Jinx and Tristana and Janna with Caitlyn and Twitch. If your adc is the type who can go ham in laning phase, Braum is probably the pick for you. If you want to be a bit more passive and just farm, or you have the op poke of Caitlyn, that AD boost on the E will chunk the enemy bot lane down pretty quick.

Next, team preference. Does the team prefer a utility support or a tank support? Many teams will very much prefer one over the other depending on their perception on which is stronger.

Last, team composition. Do you need a tank? Do you have multiple auto-attackers who might build BotRK who would benefit from the incredibly versatile Braum passive? Or maybe the AS/AD steroid of an ardent-enhanced Janna E?

If other supports can think of other factors that play into the choice, I welcome their input.