Janus Guide as of 6/13/2016

Passive - Passages
Every time you pass over your Threshold or through a Portal, you gain a buff that causes your next ability to have an additional 15% Magical Scaling. Always make sure to have this buff active. The general practice that I will do is to drop your Threshold at your feet and run over it to activate the passive and gain the speed buff as well. You can also gain it by going through any portal on the ground or wall, either through your Portal or Through Space and Time. Basically add 15% of your magical power to the ability you first cast after. Remember that after you use an ability, this scaling goes away so you must go through a Portal or Threshold to reapply.

1 - Portal
Portal is the 1 for Janus. This ability has a couple of uses. The first, and most obvious, is to place it on the ground under an enemy and watch them take damage. This can be placed under them, it can be used to assist in escaping as you place it at your feet, or my favorite is to use it when Thanatos, Apollo, Thor, or Ratatoskr use their ultimate. You can can use it on yourself to hide in as they land. It takes some skill to place it perfectly but it is a safety valve. The other use is for travel and proc'ing your passive, Passages. The portal can be placed on a wall to allow you or an ally to travel through. Only one person can go through it, unlike your ultimate. This can be used to just simply hop through a wall to get somewhere quicker or it can be used as an escape from enemies as you are running (or floating in Janus's case) away from an enemy.

2 - Unstable Vortex
Unstable Vortex is the bread and butter to Janus. It is what gives you power, it is what clears waves of minions, and it is what is hard to avoid. I say hard to avoid because if a Janus get's a portal under you, just assume half your health is going to be missing after at a minimum. Unstable Vortex sends two small portals forward in a near figure 8 form. It takes some skill to line it up correctly but the goal is to hit the target where the two portals join in the middle and end. A surefired way to use this is to get the enemy in a Portal and then figure out the timing for them to fall and hit your Unstable Vortex. It's a guaranteed chunk of damage.

3 - Threshold
Threshold is the last item I skill up. It gives you a short speed buff, slows enemies if they run over it, and also puts a debuff on the enemy increasing the scaling on your next ability that hits them. It also applies Passages to proc the 15% scaling on your next ability. The reason I level this last is because Janus has a lot of mobility as it is. The main use for it is to put that buff on yourself or put the speed debuff on the enemy. Yes the scaling damage to the enemy is nice but the odds of hitting them with it and it making a difference early game is rarer. Get powerful, get ahead in levels and gold, then level this up and close strong.

4 - Through Space and Time
Through Space and Time is my favorite move on Janus. It sends a portal through the entire map and any object. This means you could hit someone on the other side of the Conquest map and kill them. How likely is this? Not very which is why I have seen this leveled last on some builds. I personally like to level it up as I go for the sole reason that when I didn't, I always seemed to drop my target to about 50 health and watch them get away. You really could swap out Threshold and Through Space and Time and it might work better for you depending on your play style. The main use for this ability for me though is to portal across the map to get into the action or out of it. Your teammates can also use it as long as it's up. Think of Odin trapping your entire team against a wall only to have a portal created for your entire team to hop out of. It has that type of an effect on the game. Not to mention, if you are getting into the action, I generally will aim at the enemy around my friends and hope to pick them off. You can always hop out a portal early if need be if it was mis-aimed or the battling has moved.

Combo's
First and foremost, always make sure Passages is active. I personally will run over Threshold but hopping through a Portal never does the same and can get you from point A to B possibly quicker. That is the first step always. Now the only real combo that Janus has, and it's all he really needs, is to drop a Portal under an enemy/enemies and then using your Unstable Vortex to drop loads of damage onto them. If the Portal hits, there is no reason for it to not be a guaranteed 1-2 punch.

Vampiric Shroud
Vampiric Shroud is my go to off the start. With Unstable Vortex, Janus can clear an entire wave in the mid game with one push of the button instantly restoring 10 health/mana per kill. Unless you are playing Joust, this is the go to off the start. If you are playing joust, you probably should go straight Shoes of Focus or possibly grab the tier 2 boots and grab a couple pots off the start to help with sustain. Ideally though, I will rock Vampiric Shroud and just play it safe off the start and poke when needed.

Shoes of Focus
Shoes of Focus is the shoes I go with. I find the Mana and cooldown% reduction to be much more beneficial early on for sustain over Shoes of the Magi. Late game, you could switch it over for that little extra punch but I would do that after you've completed the build.

Chronos' Pendant
Off the start, you should have bought the first tier of the Chronos' Pendant, Lost Artifact. This gives you a little more mana regeneration and a little extra power early on. Once finished, your sustain skyrockets with the cooldown reduction and the increase in mana regen by 25. The 75 magical Power is nothing to shrug your shoulders at either. I believe this item is a must early on.

Book of Thoth
Here is where you have a choice and this depends completely on your gameplay. The third slot is a stack item. What that means is that as you kill enemy players, minions, or camps, your item gets stronger. If you believe you will not die or bet that you won't die, go with Doom Orb. I personally, like to poke and sometimes will put myself in bad situations. Dieing makes the Doom Orb a terrible choice so I roll with the Book of Thoth or the Warlock's Sash. The Book of Thoth gives you 100 base magical power and you gain 10 mana per stack with a max of 750 mana added on. Additionally, 3% of your mana is converted into magical power. This is the harder hitting power option. The other option I go with is the Warlock's Sash. This is the health build and is the safest option of the three. You gain health and magical power per stack resulting giving you up to 110 magical power, 600 health, and 400 mana. The choice is yours and I would play around with it and see which suits you better. I will usually look at the makeup of my team and go from there. If it's full of squishy's, I go sash for the sustain. If we have some warriors/guardians, I will go for the pop.

Obsidian Shard
This is where you start packing on the high damage. Obsidian Shard tacks on 70 magical power and gives you Magical Penetration in the form of 33%. Now, I will note that this should be a flex item. It will bypass 33% of their magical protection but if they aren't using any protection items, it isn't going to be as effective. Magical Protection is essentially armor so if Ymir has 300 magical protection, he would have 200 with the Obsidian Shard. % magical penetration is great if they keep building up magical penetration over multiple items (Guardians come to mind).

Rod of Tahuti
This is the thunder and lighting all in one item. Mana regen, 125 magical power, and then a passive that increases your magical power by 25%. The passive alone makes this item 156.25 magical power and that's not even including the previous items that you have. Your power spikes so high at this point that if you have any sort of a level advantage, mages, hunters, assassins, and even some warriors/guardians are pretty much wiped off the face of the earth with a Portal and Unstable Vortex.

Soul Reaver
The final item is the Soul Reaver. What isn't there to like? 100 magical power, 300 mana which works well with the Book of Thoth and Rod of Tahuti, and a passive that allows you dock 15% of an enemies health every 60 seconds. You will be a one man wrecking crew at this point.

Janus's is probably one of, if not the best mid lane gods in Smite. His ability to travel is second to none and his Unstable Vortex is a very good ability to clear minions. He is a very good at poking, or harassing an enemy, as well. Look for him as your mid laner unless he get's banned which is a very good possibility as well.

Janus as previously stated should be in the mid lane. Before leaving, I usually grab a couple health potions. You will first go to the damage camp located on your map and you take the camp. This is going to look like a red sword on the map. You will clear this out with the support while the ADC (Attack Damage Carry) takes out the small harpies and then rolls over to help. You will then haul it to the middle lane and clear out the minions. Your next priority is to assist the Jungler in taking down the mid harpies. These mid harpies are huge to your team and should be taken down with the Jungler every chance you can. The key here though is to work with your Jungler so you both meet there at the same time. Timing is everything in Smite. You want to be a team working in motion and knowing exactly where everyone else is going to be. I spend most of my time looking at the map making sure to hit the camps on their cooldowns. As soon as you have cleared the wave of minions after clearing the mid harpies, and I mean the second you have cleared them, head back to the small harpies. You should never be waiting for minions. Time is XP/Gold. You will then head back to the mid lane and clear the minions. Get ready at this point to maybe poke a little bit. You should have the advantage in terms of clearing minions. At this point, look to see about sniping a kill across the map with your ultimate or possibly saving a friend if needed. Remember you are the God of Portals and those portals don't just apply to you. Most people look for kills and kills are the most sexy stat in any game. Saving two teammates though is worth so much more than a kill and don't hesitate to save them. Your leveling feeds off their sustain. Once you back, buy two wards. Warding is the most underutilized habit in Smite. Once you start to hit level 7 or 8, look to the Gold Fury if you knock out a couple of enemies.

Group up and get the Gold Fury. A this point, as soon as the Gold Fury is up make sure to try and get it. Ward and Counter ward this and the Fire Giant at all times. A Fire Giant kill can be the difference between winning and losing. Know when the enemy is on it. At this point, you want to focus objectives and team fights. Don't over extend just to get a kill. Make sure to know when to move foreward and when to let them return. A kill over a tower is not worth it. Also, as a reminder, always be watching for your ultimate for a kill, to move your team fast, or to save teammates.

At this point it is going to be a lot of team fighting but try to focus objectives. Take out phoenixes and take them out often. Fire minions are great pushers if a lane is abandoned. If you take out a couple enemies, look for the fire giant. Otherwise if you aren't 20, hit camps quick as you work your way back to the action and just keep pushing.

1. Do not fight camps in deep. What I mean by this is to not run to where they are standing. Fight them near their ring on your side incase you have to ditch it.

2. Call out any god you see on the map in the jungles. Knowing where people are is huge to your entire team.

3. Think ahead. Don't react to how the game is being played. Dictate how the game is going to be played. When clearing minions, know where you are going to go after that and before you even start for there, know where you will go after.

4. Ward often. Warding prevents ganks and gives your team map awareness. Your teammates should be doing this as well.

5. Look to gank. If you see 3 in the duo lane and you can get behind them and gank a couple kills, don't be afraid to roll over and assist.

6. Call out when an enemy uses a relic and be aware of the cooldowns. Beads and Sanctuary are the two main ones as that could save your teammates from wasting an ultimate.

7. If on console, know the emote callouts if not everyone is on the mic.