Why Janna is considered top tier and why you should be playing her!
As a mid-tier diamond support main, I have had my fair share of playing as and against Janna. She is by far my most played support and I currently sit at a 62% win rate with over 120 games played. She has been and will continue being a highly contested support but why is she so good?
She’s easy to play
Let’s be simple here, Janna is quite easy to play. Her kit is very basic with only 1 skill shot which has a huge range and it easy to hit. Her W is a point and click slow, her E shields and her ultimate is a knockback/heal. As a peel support Janna’s main job is to protect her ADC and the team. You can do this job easily because of your kit as it has no real skill shots. Janna doesn’t require “much” mechanical skill to perform well with her.
Strong core items
In season 7, item changes for supports have made the role more rewarding and it feels like you’re more part of the team and not just the loner. Items such as redemption and ardent censer and even mikael’s crucible have made your healing more rewarding and buffing your team. This is because of their passives, which all increase healing and shielding power. Using these in conjunction with your locket and abilities will allow you to heal allies more than ever!
Counters most champions and matchups
Janna is often picked in unfavourable matchups or into strong enemy laners because she can deal with them. Her kit allows her to counter even the most difficult laners. Thresh for example is a horrible person to lane against in general because of his Q and E, and also his ability to help the jungler gank- Janna, can counter him! Janna can turn any hard engage lane or high damage dealing lane into a stale mate lane because of her ability to prevent any damage taken on his ADC.
A few champions Janna can counter are:
Leona — Janna counters Leona because she can prevent her getting onto the adc. In the laning phase, Leona will not be able to E onto your ADC because your Q can knock her up cancelling it.
Zyra — Janna can constantly shield your ADC whenever she uses her abilities on your team mate. Zyra is also squishy so your W slow can help you start ganks by slowing her.
Zilian — Zilian is quiet squishy and immobile, so Janna can slow him to start a gank. Janna can also shield your ADC whenever he uses his bombs.
Insane peel potential
Her kit makes Janna incredibly good at her role, her tornado (Q) can knock up many champions, for example Leona E + Q combo, Alistar E + Q combo and Shen taunt. This makes her hard to gank and kill in lane. Her ultimate can also knockback enemies and can be used as disengage, for example vs a heavy dive comp she can prevent them from diving. Her ultimate can also be used to prevent any champion getting on your backline, Rengar and Lee Sin can be completely useless in team fights with a good timed ultimate. As I said earlier, her core items such as redemption and ardent censer make her healing and shielding so much stronger.
Recent Coin changes
A few patches ago, Coin buffs made the starting item a must have on most supports, this is because it is very strong. The mana regeneration and coin generation is insane on her. The item can provide you with gold throughout the game, as long as you pick up the coins then you will be good to go. The gold income granted by this item allow you to get your core items quicker.
With that being said, Janna has always been a high pick support and has recently seen play in the LCS and Pro games. Janna has been one of my favorite supports and will continue to be for the future.
Hi there, I hope you enjoyed this guide. If you did, maybe you’d like to show your support by checking out my Twitch channel. I stream very frequently and if you have any questions about this guide or improving at League of Legends, please come by some time and ask me a question or two. Thank you for your support, and I hope to see you soon :) PS, I’m Diamond 1 if that helps.
