Janus Build and Guide | MID | Patch 3.8

Standard guide for Janus Mid. He's one of my main mages, and is pretty easy to play. This is about as generic as you can get.

(If going Lost Artifact start)
- If you cannot stack Doom Orb safely, keep Lost Artifact and finish Shoes of the Magi. Once you get that, build Lost Artifact into Chronos Pendant, and then go into Obsidian Shard, Dynasty Plate Helm (for survivability), Rod of Tahuti, and Soul Reaver, Late game, sell Dynasty Plate Helm for Book of Thoth.

- If you CAN stack Doom Orb safely, get it online as soon as possible to begin your power spike. Go into Pen boots, Chronos Pendant, Obsidian Shard, Rod of Tahuti, and Soul Reaver. Sell Doom Orb for Book of Thoth late game.

(If going Boots 1 start)
Go into Shoes of the Magi directly. Now for your second item you can go Lost Artifact into Doom Orb. However, if you still cannot stack Doom Orb safely, go into Dynasty Plate Helm second instead. Then go into Chronos Pendant, Obsidian Shard, Rod of Tahuti, and Soul Reaver. Sell Dynasty Plate Helm for Thoth late game.


Full Late Game Build:

Shoes of the Magi, Book of Thoth, Chronos Pendant, Obsidian Shard, Rod of Tahuti, Soul Reaver.

Passive - Passages: For every portal or threshold you pass through (so his 1 (Portal), his 3 (Threshold) and his ultimate (Through Space and Time), you get an additional 15% Magical Power scaling on the next ability you cast.

Usage: This is useful for chasing and confirming damage (and more damage) If you want to cast an Unstable Vortex to kill someone, make sure you have this passive up to deal more damage.



1st Ability - Portal: Casts a portal. You can either place it on the ground, or on a wall. If place on the ground, all enemies will fall through it, banishing them. When they land, they will take Magical Damage [80/130/180/230/280 (+60% of your magical power)]
When placed on a wall, only you and allies can go through it once. Any allies including yourself passing through this gain movement speed. After a single ally goes through it, the portal disappears.

Usage: This is your main setup for your Unstable Vortex, and also your escape. Janus has no dash or leap, so this is his form of escape.



2nd Ability - Unstable Vortex: Janus shoots 2 Projectiles that deal huge amounts of Magical Damage [90/150/210/270/330 (+70% of your magical power)] in an odd pattern.

Usage: At first this will seem hard to land, but it'll be easy enough. This is your main form of clear and damage.



3rd Ability - Threshold: Buffs movement speed of you and your allies (minions as well), but slows your enemies (enemy minions too). They are also marked with an effect called Phase. Enemies under this effect take additional Magical scaling damage from all your abilities

Usage: I like to use this passively early game to push waves and keep my creeps coming fast. Late game, this is very very useful for slowing down enemies as well as dishing out huge amounts of damage. If you are effected by Passages, and the enemy is effected by Phase, your Unstable Vortex will do A LOT more damage than it usually would.



Ultimate Ability - Through Space and Time: Shoots a ball of energy across the entire map (it doesn't stop until it reaches the edge of a map) creating a wall portal (just like the one from your 1st Ability) on every surface it touches until a certain distance. However, these portals can be passed through by every single member on your team, and does not expire on a single use. It also deals a huge amount of Magical Damage [200/300/400/500/600 (+50% of your magical power)]. Not only that, but if you hit it from a long range you get even MORE magical power scaling on the damage. [200% of your Magical Power at distance greater than 800.]

Usage: This might be one of, if not the best ability in the entire game. The mobility it provides your team with is absolutely crazy. You can take your team from your base to their phoenix quickly, or it can be used as a snipe to secure kills (or just as a main damage dealer if you feel like, as it can one shot almost any squishies late game.
For example, late game you'll have around 700 magical power. This ability deals 600 magical damage +50% of magical power. 50% of 700 is 350. So that's 600 + 350, which is 950. But if you hit a 800+ unit ultimate, that's TWICE AS MUCH MAGICAL POWER ADDED, IN DAMAGE. 2 times 700 is 1400. So now you have 950 + 1400, which is 2350 Magical Damage (unmitigated). Those damage numbers are crazy. This ultimate can help your team rotate to the enemy team doing the Fire Giant, it can help you try to snipe a gold fury steal/fire giant steal/kill, etc. The utility this ultimate provides is near unmatched.

The movement speed buff on his 1 and 3 can be stacked twice, so you can usually just leave your 3 on the ground and go through a portal and you'll get the buff. Also, all your allies can get the buff as well.


If you find it hard to confirm the damage on your 2, just get up close and cast it right in front of the enemy, so they'll take damage instantly. This is very very very risky, but if you play correctly and are absolutely sure it will kill them, this will work out fine.


Unstable Vortex goes through all walls and surfaces, as well as Through Space and Time.

PROS:
[*] Crazy Mobility

[*] Very very very high damage numbers

[*] Lots of Utility

[*] Great clear


CONS:
[*] Does not have a "true" escape (no dash/leap) his escape is in the form of a portal.

[*] Generally weak early game, takes a bit to come online.

[*] His ult takes a bit to charge up, so you need to plan ahead before using it.

Perfectly viable, one of the absolute best Mids in the entire game. Not top priority first pick/ban material atm, since gods like Kali, Khepri, and Ao Kuang take those spots right now, but definitely a priority ban when you make an observation like "well the enemy team needs to pick a mid laner now"