Janna, The Mistress of Storms

Skills:
 
Q: Howling Gale - Upon activation starts channeling a circle of dust which turns into a tornado and goes in a straight line in the direction cast to the end of the spells radius, Charges for *UP TO* 5 seconds, or can be released upon command by activating the skill again. The bonus of charging it is to simply increase damage.

W: Zephyr - While available to cast you will have a move speed bonus, as well as the ability to avoid unit collision (It's like having perma-"ghost") Upon activation you will damage and slow for 4 seconds. While the ability is cooling down (meaning unable to be cast) you lose the passive bonus.

E: Eye of The Storm - Shields the target allied champion *OR* turret, giving the bonus physical damage while the shield remains active. Shield wears off naturally after 12 seconds.

R: Monsoon - Knocks all hostile targets away from yourself upon casting and if channeled it heals per second in the radius (clearly shown by a green energy-like field around you) for up to 6 seconds.

Passive: Increases movement speed of all allied champion's by 3%, global effect.


Runes: -% cooldown, HP, ability power, magic resist, armor, mana regen
(Personal Setup: -6% cooldown, +118hp @1, 260ish hp @18)
*Note: I use this rune setup for my tank support build, for AP, choose othwerwise...If i intend on going AP i use a runepage with 11% cooldowns so that i can still hit cap cooldown with Nashor's Tooth* 


Summoner Skills: Flash and Teleport

Ideal Mastery Build: 9/0/21 or 21/0/9 (non utility specs may have mana problems)

ITEMS:

*******************************SUPPORT TANK BUILD**********************************
*Note: This build is bad at gaining gold although not horribly bad, you just have to last shot your howling gale victims, but that is fine because after you complete even just your chalice, boots, and frozen heart, you are already extremely hard to kill because of your superior mobility and decent defensive stats...attaining the banshee's veil just solidifies this even further and adds some much appreciated HP for those who don't use HP runes*


Starting:
Meki's Pendant, 2 health potions

850 gold:
Chalice of Harmony and Boots 1

1675 gold:
Glacial Shroud

1125 or 1825 gold:

Frozen Heart and Boots of Swiftness
*Note: If you want to play a more "ganking" style janna which is more than viable and acceptable, you might consider getting Boots of Mobility, as your out of combat move speed with zephyr and utility spec is 490....extremely fast ability to move around the map. Janna does have good gankability being as she can get there fast, and she has a slow and a knockback and a aerial knockback, It's also a huge help for chasing down fleeing opponents whom aren't hitting you back although boots of swiftness clock in at 466 MS and can do this job quite well too.*

740 or 1325 gold:

Negatron Cloak or Catalyst The Protector 
*Note: Pending on wether you need the HP or MR more, usually go for catalyst first*

XXX gold:
Finish it into Banshee's Veil

1150 gold: (You will probably never make it to this point...i personally haven't yet xD )
Giant's Belt 

2140 or 2050 gold:
Frozen Mallet or Warmog's (I highly prefer frozen mallet on malph, but your choice)

1625 gold:
Sell Chalice of Harmony and buy Guardian Angel (having the res if the game makes it this far is HUGE)
************************************************** ********************************




**************************************AP ITEM BUILDS********************************
*Note: This build will probably change over time, as currently I'm unsure of what mix of AP items i like best on janna, personally i try to get some AP without sacrificing my survivability and ability to crowd control....those are the basis of my item selection...I'm going for more of an AP+GOOD survivability over a PURE AP build that would obviously attain a much higher AP value, but at the sacrifice of MUCH NEEDED survivability....you are a crowd controlling support hero, if you are dead, you are useless to your team. That is my mindset when thinking up this build*


Starting:
Meki's Pendant + 2 Health Potions

850 or 1240 gold:
Chalice of Harmony and Boots 1 and Meki Pendant 
*Note: The reason i choose chalice here is because Janna is capable of absolute mowing through her mana pool like nobody's business, so the extreme regen chalice offers when low is highly necessary on her, and as i said in my note before, i build for survivability and +40 MR is survivability.*

855 or 1245 gold: *Pending on wether or not you have already purchased meki's pendant*
Fiendish Codex

***The next two steps are interchangeable if you wish, i usually go for nashor's first but if you want the boots for the speed and/or AP go for it***

525 or 700 gold:
Sorcerer's Shoes or Boots of Swiftness
*Note: I suggest/prefer the Boots of Swiftness, but if you want more AP...sorc's are for you*

1400 gold:
Nashor's Tooth

1325 gold:
Catalyst The Protector

880 or 1830 gold:
Blasting Staff and Rod of Ages
880 gold:
Blasting Staff

1790 gold:
Abyssal Scepter


*If at any point you need armor to live against physical dps'ers do yourself a huge favor and pick up a warden's mail or thornmail...or even just a chainmail, 50 armor for 700g is pretty good*

Like i said...this build is Some AP with survivability as the emphasis still.


**Pure AP build**

Chalice of Harmony
Boots 1
2x Kage's Lucky Picks
Sorcerer's Shoes or Swiftness(For Mobility)
Nashor's Tooth
Abyssal Scepter or Lichbane(Again, Mobility)
***The other one, Or pick one and move straight to***
Zhonya's Ring (sell a pick) 
*Note: I haven't tested this build yet, as I wouldn't even bother trying a pure AP build on janna...if anyone else has a better suggestion for an AP build i'd gladly post it instead with credits to whomever told me*


SKILL BUILD:

1: W (At level 1 with utility, no boots, you will have 353 move speed, and if you setup a gank with a lantemate, a nice 24% slow for 4 seconds)
2: Q (Charge fully to deal damage to the entire wave and possibly a hero or two if they stray into it's path, or use instantly to try and set up a kill with a teammate)
3: E (Main uses early game: Tower diving, buffing a physical DPSER in ganks/fights for +24 damage, and it HAS saved my teammates lives before, even at level 1, a 100hp absorb to any damage can still be extremely useful....later on, if your tank support, use it to buff physical DPSers damage, if your AP use it to shield teammates who will get hit as it will absorb a fair chunk still)
4: Q 
5: Q
6: R (Pretty nice ability, has multiple uses, can be used to interupt a channeling ultimate... ie: nunu's or fiddlesticks or an enemy janna :P with its knockback, and it can also be extremely helpful if you are against amumu as it will negate the damage from his ulti and waste a chunk of time while they have to travel back to you. It can also be used to simply backoff from a group push about 1 screen have everyone group up on you, and pop it to keep the push continuing after a great restore of HP on the go. This ulti has a lot of uses and can save A LOT of lives, and keep pushes going.)
7: Q
8: W
9: Q (maxed out here)
10: W
11: R
12: W
13: W (maxed out here)
14: E
15: E
16: R (maxed out here)
17: E
18: E (maxed out here)
*Note: This IS NOT! the only way to build your skills!! I find this to be the most effecient method to be generally useful to your team.... Another method is to get 1 level of Q (howling gale) and then max W (zephyr) followd up by E (eye of the storm) which gives you a much more supporty role early on, but you basically lose any ability to defend a lane or deal AoE in group fights. This build can however be a bit more harassive to heroes as you can walk up to them with move speed on, throw zephyr at them then just back off while they are slowed, and having a more powerful shield earlier on in the game can VERY EASILY save lives! and the added 24 more damage is a godsend to any fast attacking heros (Ie: Warwick, Yi w/ highlander, Twitch etc)*



Early Game(1-5): If you can, try to set up ganks with your lanemate with your tornado and slow once you hit level 2, aggressive play can really shine with janna as she has more move speed than most do at this level, and slow gives your teammate and yourself time to go to work as well as tornado just bolster the effect. Last hitting is pretty important, howling gale won't be killing ANYTHING any time soon (especially if you chose the non AP build..and even the AP build...you will take a long time before you can even 1 hit kill back row creeps...it's very depressing how weak this spell is, but its got a crowd control effect, so with damage it would be overpowered i guess) just keep the income flowing, use howling gale as often as you can to keep your lane pushed or from being pushed. 

Mid Game(5-11): Somewhere in mid game is (if you wish) the prime time to start stirring up some ganks (especially if you opted for boots of mobility and have them) Your ability to traverse the maps will mean constant ganks if you please, but try not to spend too much time ganking as leveling up and getting max zephyr is of relative importance to you. Keep pushing your lane when you have the chance, don't leave yourself in vulnerable positions to be ganked, and just keep the exp and money (and BLOOD!) flowing :3

Mid-Late Game(11-16): This is when Janna really starts to shine, now that your team is probably grouped up a good amount of time, you can finally realize the true strength of Howling gale, Zephyr and Monsoon as the amazing spells they actually are. Stick with your team, keep throwing gales towards the enemys whenever you get the chance. The more you can hit them pre-initiating, or at least keep them moving and unable to set up formation without some interuption the better. Once people start dropping to about 75% life is when you want to pop monsoon as it is a Heal over Time and does require some time to work, popping it too late and you will find your teammates sleeping in the dirt, and some ravenous enemys looking for your blood, but that's okay too, because you probably run faster than they do, and with quick howling gales back at them, they either cant follow you in a direct line, or are just getting thrown up in the air, and losing the oppurtunity to kill you completely. (Obviously not true for ALL hero's...but i'd say 80% or more this rings true)

Late Game(16+): This is pretty much the same story as the mid-late game section. Just keep on supporting, keep throwing howling gales all over the place, use zephyr where necessary, whether to save lives, or end lives, just be wary about losing your movespeed and don't use it when you need that movespeed. 


Lanemates/Partners:

People you want: Somebody who can snare, continual slow, stunners...basically people that can give time to do some work and go to town (as well as massively increasing the effectiveness of your slow and ulti) You also could prefer a good harasser, **Ranged is a big plus but not necessary**
Such As: Viegar, Ryze, Annie, Karthus, Anivia, Morgana, Taric, Singed, Alistar, Blitzcrank (to a certain extent, if he's good :P) Evelynn, Twitch, etc. 

People you don't want: Hmm, I can't honestly think of any, i mean honestly, you are a support hero, your role is to work well with basically everyone....and go figure, Janna pretty much does :) Other than those who may not be on the preference list....the others just "aren't quite as good" but still not necessarily bad =3


How to approach battles:
As a support, your job is basically exactly that. Bolster your physical DPS'ers or shield your wounded with eye of the storm at any given time (assuming you have enough mana to do so.) Howling gale at basically EVERY given oppurtunity, and of course let us not forgot about Zephyr as well. Monsoon, i have already explained its typical applications, just be wary of NOT pushing enemys away (like a bad allistar or singed -.-;) that are low life.

Another thing that is pretty crucial to Janna's effectiveness is learning how to kite your enemys... be it chasing down, be it kiting them in an area to either kill or set them up for an incoming teammate, or wether it be running away, these 3 are all forms of important kiting. More or less, you want to gain a bit of ground with zephyr on, hit them from maximum spell distance (if running is your intention) or mid-range (if you just want to kite them) and keep a bit of a mental check in your head, and try to hit them with a howling gale within a split second of Zephyr coming off. You now have about 3 seconds until you get zephy'rs run speed and slow back, and howling gale is on the same cooldown pretty much. So at this point it's just rinse and repate. It takes a bit of practice, but kiting with janna is amazing, especially when you pair it with my survivability build, it takes a LONG time for any 1 melee'r or even caster to take you down.


Final Note: During my time of research for this guide, I have discovered i have an amazing amount of fun playing this hero I once considered sub-par. She has an amazing skill set as a support and crowd controller, and part of doing said crowd controlling in the way only Janna can really do it, is so amazingly fun to me ^_^