I usually play AD carry champions but recently I decided to try playing support. I ended up purchasing Janna and playing a few games with her and I honestly had NO IDEA what I was doing. I read up on a couple of builds and heard that she can be an AP carry as well as a support. If you guys could provide some information on how to play Janna (AP carry or support idrc although AP carry sounds fun) that would be nice. Thanks!
Max your E, then your W (taking points in R whenever you can). Max Q last. Start with ancient coin, get sightstone early as well as Token of Ascension. After that pretty much just build AP...Athene's Unholy Grail, Deathcap, Zhonyas. Your E gives the shielded target bonus AD, so always give it to your AD Carry if you're playing offensively, otherwise use it to shield someone from an incoming ability. You will VERY rarely use your R to heal, usually it is to save people by knocking away the enemy team (very effective against Malphite, Leona, Warwick and Katarina). If you do find the change to keep channeling you R in a team fight then by all means take it.
As a support maxing E first is a must, if the other team is an all in at 2, then get Q, other wise get W, max W for poke/slow, then Q. Recommended gold item is ancient coin, and if you are going to play passively then definitely take this. If you know that you can win lane/will harass quite a bit then take spellthief's (But i recommend taking Coin until youre comfortable, and trust your adc!) Athene's all the way for both AP and supp. If you go in to poke you can use E on yourself, but higher elo's generally will punish you by going after your adc if they're exposed. Janna is amazing at peeling, so practice timing her Q, she can cast it while moving (perfect for being chased). And her ult if you can push the other team away (make sure they're on the opposite side, don't want to push them closer during escapes!) Like Sona, Flash then ult makes plays, if you can move pass/flash on the other side of the enemy champ, you can use your ult, then if positioned right Q, i highly recommend not trying unless practiced cause you might push them away from your adc. Or if trying to separate the opposing adc+support for a pick might push both at your adc and effectively trap yourself/adc
Personally not a big fan of AP carry Janna. But she has huge shields and mega ult heals. Has the mobility to roam for ganks, as well the peel to escape ganks (tho gap closers will get her good), can push her lane quickly with her Q.
Practice is the best thing for new Janna players! Janna is quite the amazing champ if the summoner knows what they're doing :D
For Janna, it depends on who you are laning against as well as who you have a ADC. With ADC's that have higher poke such as Cait and Ez I usually max E in order to boost their damage. Other times when I have the bursty ones such as Lucian and Graves shield is preferred for the extra AD, however you can also max W first in order to increase the poke damage you deal as well as the slow which can allow for higher damage trading.
Item builds I recommend getting the coin first, working your way to sightstone as well as chalice. Spooky ghost also work because of their catch potential and with your slows from W and knock up from Q you can catch people with those. Her ult works best as a anti-initation although if you're really baldy you can try to flash into the enemy and push one of them towards your team to kill before you die.
I haven't played Janna as an APC so I can't help you there.
Please don't play Janna as an AP carry. You can get a little AP, because it does strengthen her shield, but don't go crazy and buy a deathcap. Focus on support items (sight stone, frozen heart, locket, mikael's,etc.) and get CDR. CDR is incredible on Janna because the more shields, and slows, and knockups you can pump out the better. One second off your shield can mean the difference between saving your ADC's life or watching them die as you sit there helpless.
In trades I always just focus the enemy ADC (unless the other support is very dangerous like Annie or something). Ideally you want to immediately shield your ADC, knock up both aggressors, and W their ADC as well. Then just start autoing the enemy adc. I don't think people realize the damage you can do with just autos even as someone like janna.
Janna is best with hard-hitting ADCs like Draven, Vayne and Lucian because her Shield increases their AD and thus makes them hit even HARDER. The damage can become insane once you both get a few items.
In teamfights you want to focus on helping and protecting your ADC. Your ult is crazy powerful and use it to stop assassins/fighters from blowing up your ADC. honestly i feel like this is the main reason Janna is so strong because she counters a lot of the "dive in and kill the ADC in 2 seconds" bullshit that many team comps in solo q depend on.
I think what separates a good Janna from a bad one is being able to shield poke. If you can anticipate and shield poke you will me your lane a lot easier. It's harder than it sounds. If you shield too early enemies will simply wiat for it to end and you've just wasted a lot of mana for nothing. Janna does not have a heal pre-6 shielding is the only way to keep your ADC healthy before an all-in. Also make sure to poke the enemy ADC. You have your Frostfang with makes your autos do extra damage. Make sure to use those charges. You can run up, shield yourself, and do some autos that will be more powerful because of the AD your shield is giving you.
Anyways that's all I got for now. I hope you enjoy Janna I honestly think she is the most fun most pure support in the game and I hope you can figure her out.
