Janna
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Good (7.5/10)
High Investment Required
Epic Relics
Paid Relics
Janna is a polarizing champion who requires significant investment to function effectively. While her leveling process is widely considered difficult and underwhelming due to a lack of early-game power, she transforms into a highly potent 'engine' champion at Level 30 with full Epic relic slots. In her optimal state, she offers a unique, high-tempo playstyle capable of infinite card draw and massive board scaling, though she remains vulnerable to specific aggressive mutators.
Oath of the Guardians
Shuffles five Level 2 champions with doubled stats into the deck. This provides Janna with powerful alternate win conditions that compensate for her low base stats.
Reduces the cost of allied champions by 2 while Janna is on the board. This synergizes perfectly with the champions created by Oath, often making them free to play.- Further reduces champion costs, ensuring that once Janna is summoned, you can immediately flood the board with high-stat units.
Strategy
This build addresses Janna's primary weakness—her slow start and low durability—by pivoting her role into a summoner of powerful champions. By stacking Star Gems, you turn Janna into a discount engine for the Oath champions, allowing for overwhelming board presence by Turn 3 or 4. This strategy is considered the most consistent way to clear difficult content like Lissandra.
Infinite Engine
Adds seven copies of Janna to the deck and reduces their cost. This is crucial for ensuring you never run out of cards to draw and allows for infinite cycling of her champion spell.
Triggers on summon to deal damage, refund mana, and draw cards. This provides the immediate tempo swing Janna needs to start her card-playing chain.
Creates 0-cost spells in hand on summon, providing immediate fodder for Janna's cost-reduction mechanics and leveling condition.
Strategy
This build maximizes Janna's identity as a 'card spamming' champion. The combination of Searing Brilliance and Spellweaver's Symphony ensures that playing Janna immediately refunds her cost and refills your hand. Echoing Spirit then allows you to chain multiple copies of her champion spell, discounting your entire deck to 0 cost and creating an elusive OTK (One Turn Kill) board.
Plunder Tempo
Deals damage to the enemy nexus on Game Start, guaranteeing Plunder effects are active on Turn 1.
Reduces Janna's cost by 1 for each round Plunder is triggered. Combined with Swain's relic, this ensures Janna can be played as early as Turn 1 or 2.- Provides the necessary deck density and draw power to sustain the engine once Janna is deployed early.
Strategy
This aggressive setup mitigates Janna's slow mana curve by forcing early cost reduction. By deploying Janna on the first or second turn, you can begin discounting your deck immediately, outpacing aggressive encounters that would otherwise overrun her.
Free to Play Control
Refills spell mana each round, ensuring you always have resources to cast the spells Janna draws.
Creates a fleeting copy of Janna in hand each round. Since Janna is already on board, this becomes her champion spell, providing consistent draw and cost reduction.
Doubles all spells once you reach 6 mana. This serves as a powerful late-game finisher, allowing you to burn out the enemy nexus or draw your entire deck.
Strategy
A reliable build for players without Epic relics. Focus on stalling the early game until Janna is on the board. Use the consistent spell generation from Counterplan to control the board and discount your deck, eventually winning through value generation and Chemtech Duplicator's double casts.
Other Relic Options
Highly effective on Janna due to her Elemental spells (Howling Gale). It turns her removal into potent board wipes and burn damage.
Draws a card and grants a free 0-cost unit on summon. Excellent for maintaining tempo and triggering flow.
Provides immediate card draw and cost reduction on summon, fitting well into her engine-based playstyle.
Constellation
Janna currently relies on her 1 and 3-star powers, which focus on reducing the cost of drawn cards. While effective when the engine gets going, this design suffers from inconsistency in the early game compared to modern champions with full constellation trees. She requires high-level upgrades to mitigate the risk of 'bricking' (drawing unplayable hands) in the first few turns.
What's Updraft?
When you play a cost reduced card, reduce the cost of the top card of your deck by 1.
Eye of the Storm
+1 Starting Mana. When you play a cost reduced card, grant the weakest ally +1|+1.
What's Updraft? II
When you play a cost reduced card, reduce the cost of the top 2 cards of your deck by 1.
Gameplay Tips
Manage Your Hand Size
Janna's engine is prone to over-drawing. When using relics like Echoing Spirit or The Grand General's Counterplan, be mindful of your hand size limit (10 cards). Prioritize playing low-impact cards to make space for your key draw engines, or you risk burning essential win conditions.
The Volibear Counter
Avoid the Volibear adventure when playing Janna. The adventure's passive power sets the cost of drawn cards to 3, which directly negates Janna's cost-reduction mechanics, rendering her primary advantage useless.
Discount Manipulation
Janna's powers often discount the top card of your deck or cards drawn this turn. Use effects that Predict or place specific cards on top of your deck (like her champion spell) to ensure your most important units receive the cost reduction.
Plunder Without Swain
If running Packed Powder without Swain's Raven Army, you can often trigger Plunder on Turn 2 by playing a 1-cost unit on Turn 1 and attacking, or by using a spell to damage the nexus. This tempo boost is critical for surviving aggressive Nightmare encounters.