Janus, The First Uber Driver (Y10)

Hello, my name is Butcher and I'm a PC player. I've been playing Smite since 2015 but only started taking ranked seriously in Season 8, and have been consistently in the High Diamond/Low Master MMRs ever since. I have written Guides for Set and Cthulhu. Janus is my 2nd favorite god in the game, but was also my 1st Diamond God back when I wasn't sure what I was doing with the character. Now with 13k Worshippers under my belt, I believe I have enough experience to write a comprehensive guide for those looking to install the Uber app.

Passages increases Janus's Magical Scaling by 15% after going through a Portal or a Threshold.

Tips

Realistically, you will and should almost always have Passages active. Especially in the late game.

Portals can be opened on walls and on the floor. Enemies who fall through it are banished and take damage: 80/130/180/230/280 (+60% of your Magical Power). Janus or one of his allies can go through the wall portal. Duration is 5 seconds. Cooldown is 12 seconds.



Janus creates two tethered unstable portals, and flings them forward dealing damage to enemies in their path for 110/175/240/305/370 (+80% of your Magical Power). Enemies hit by both portals 126/201/276/351/426 (+92% of your Magical Power).



Janus increases the Movement Speed of himself and allies by 20/25/30/35/40% each time they go through a portal or over a Threshold (max. 2 Stacks). Enemies who walk through are slowed by 25% and marked with Phase. Targets in Phase take additional Magical scaling damage 20/30/40/50/60 when hit by Janus' damaging abilities.

CDR (Cooldown Reduction) - Allows for ability spam.

Example Items: Chrono's Pendant, Spear of Desolation, Staff of Myrdiin, Soul Gem

High Power - Bread and Butter for most mages, maximum damage output.

Example Items: Rod of Tahuti, Doom Orb, Staff of Myrdiin, Spear of Desolation

Pen - Flat pen for low protection squishies.

Example Items: Spear of Desolation, Divine Ruin

%Pen - Since Through Space and Time has passive %Pen, you can pick this up last to deal with Tanks.

Example Items: Obsidian Shard, Staff of Myrdiin, Rod of Tahuti, Doom Orb

Janus in the jungle has been a bit of a sleeper in my opinion. I've played it in most of my matches since the added passive %Pen on Through Space and Time and it's honestly underrated. Your farm potential beats most assassins, and in most games (as long as you're confident, understand jungle routes) you will out-farm your enemy.


Do your normal jungle routes, and remember to clear using Unstable Vortex's extra damage as it will 1 shot smalls making you more effective at clearing early.
You also will be mana hungry so don't hold back on buying Multis or Mana potions.
Focus on farming until level 5, Through Space and Time will then be used as a rotation ability. Use it to secure camps. If the enemy team is invading, use it to invade. If your team lost a fight in a side lane with the enemy jungle present, use it to turn fights around by rotating.
Once you get Spear of Desolation online, your fights will go much smoother.
It's important to remember, a Honda Civic has 5 seats, and you are the driver. Enemy team rotates to solo? Drive your team to Gold Fury or a huge 4 man rotation to back up your solo laner.

ANYTHING and EVERYTHING is possible but DO NOT FORGET to farm.

Always use Threshold for movement speed plus damage buff to clear. ALWAYS get your camps on TIME. Making it to late game is priority.

Late game Janus plays as any jungler, but he has something that most other do not have. The ability to engage and disengage using Through Space and Time, Portal, Blink Rune.

With this in your glove box, you can harrass the backline like no other assassin can.
Remember when I said, avoid using Through Space and Time for snipes? Buy some wards and throw that out the window. Use wards for vision not only to set yourself up, but to keep yourself safe. You can also get 1 shot. Your job in the late game, is to read the situation. FG Siege by the enemy but your whole team is down and losing Teamfights? Try to steal, most times you will be able to. Even match but you need that pick? Use your movement to get a good angle and just go for the snipe. You miss 100% of the shots you do not take. Sieging left phoenix, but the enemy team isn't making it easy? Take your team on a joyride Through Space and Time to the right phoenix and contest it easily.

So many possibilities, but it's up to you to read the traffic signs.


You should avoid 1v1ing assassins, as they will kill you in the early to mid game.
You can be CC'd and effectively 1 shot since this playstyle is very aggressive.
Expensive Build, since selling Bumba's Dagger for Rod of Tahuti or any other high power item is 100% recommended.
Requires you to have very good game sense.
Requires to have a lot of practice with Janus.

Not much to say here about Janus Mid. You will lose 1v1 match-ups in lane if you are not careful, don't rely on in lane farm as you can move around the jungle fairly fast and get farm anywhere. Go for rotations, that is mostly where you will get kills/assists, do not use Portal aggressively. You do not have the luxury of being forced to back and miss a whole wave.

To summarize: Play for Rotations and Objectives. Get to late game and play with the team. Try to stay in the backline, if you're winning a fight, then you can be aggressive and push. Remember you can use Portal to save allies as well as making it easier for them to engage.
Through Space and Time is now more of a secure ability since a mage's job is to secure objectives but you can still snipe with it.
Being safe in the backline means you can use Portal for extra burst with Unstable Vortex but again, this isn't recommended.

Hope you enjoyed the Guide, I plan to go further in-depth in the coming days with gameplay clips, more tips and new builds.
Thank you for your time, I tried to make a unique guide here on an off role Jungle pick that I've been really enjoying while also putting in some overall tips for Janus.
If you want a Set guide per chance, I also have one up on here.