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Janus, Thinking With Portals (Joust)

0 2 21,388
by Oglogthefrog updated August 27, 2018

Smite God: Janus

Build Guide Discussion 5 More Guides
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Janus Build

Starting off

Build Item Mage's Blessing Mage's Blessing
Build Item Shoes Shoes
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
3
Build Item Mana Potion Mana Potion
3

Book of Thoth into Chronos Pendant

Build Item Shoes of the Magi Shoes of the Magi
Build Item Book of Thoth Book of Thoth
Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant

Pen and Extra Damage/Lifesteal

Notes Grabbing Spear of Desolation not only gives nice pen and damage, but maxes out your CDR which is great on Janus, especially in Joust for the burst potential.

Notes

Grabbing Spear of Desolation not only gives nice pen and damage, but maxes out your CDR which is great on Janus, especially in Joust for the burst potential.

Build Item Spear of Desolation Spear of Desolation
Build Item Bancroft's Talon Bancroft's Talon

Sell starter for either of these

Notes I nearly always pick Rod of Tahuti, but many prefer Soul Reaver so I thought to include it.

Notes

I nearly always pick Rod of Tahuti, but many prefer Soul Reaver so I thought to include it.

Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti
Build Item Soul Reaver Soul Reaver

Janus's Skill Order

Portal

1 X Y
Portal
3 10 11 12 14

Unstable Vortex

2 A B
Unstable Vortex
1 2 6 7 8

Threshold

3 B A
Threshold
4 15 16 18 19

Through Space and Time

4 Y X
Through Space and Time
5 9 13 17 20
Portal
3 10 11 12 14

Portal

1 X
Janus creates a portal in the world. If placed on a wall, the portal will create a passage through to the other side of the wall that Janus or any ally may use. The portal may be entered from either side, but closes after 1 use.

If placed on the ground, enemies and Janus will fall into the portal, being teleported into the air above it. Enemies take damage upon landing, and are considered banished during the fall.

Ability Type: Circle, Banish, Damage
Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+60% of your Magical Power)
Banish Duration: 1.5s
Wall Portal Duration: 5s
Wall Portal Range: 100
Range/Radius: 55/10
Cost: 70
Cooldown: 12s
Unstable Vortex
1 2 6 7 8

Unstable Vortex

2 A
Janus creates two tethered unstable portals, far too small to fit into, and flings them forward dealing damage to enemies in their path. Enemies hit by both portals take 15% damage on the second hit.

Ability Type: Area, Damage
Damage: 110 / 175 / 240 / 305 / 370 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Range: 70
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 9s
Threshold
4 15 16 18 19

Threshold

3 B
Passive: Janus increases the movement speed of himself and allies each time they go through a portal or over a Threshold (max. 2 Stacks).

Active: Janus opens a multi-dimensional rift. Enemies who pass over the rift are slowed, and marked with Phase. Targets in Phase take additional Magical scaling damage when hit by Janus' damaging abilities.

Ability Type: Line, Buff
Phase Slow: 25%
Additional Scaling: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60
Rift Duration: 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5s
Movement Speed: 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20% per Portal
Passive Duration: 5s
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 13s
Through Space and Time
5 9 13 17 20

Through Space and Time

4 Y
Passive: Janus gains increased % Magical Penetration.

Active: Janus becomes CC Immune and blasts a ball of multi-dimensional energy across the battlefield, burning a portal into every surface it encounters within range 500. These portals last 10s, may be used by allies, and do not vanish after the first use.

Enemies hit take damage, increasing in Magical scaling the further the energy travels. Enemy gods cannot take more than 75% of their maximum Health as damage.

Ability Type: Line, Damage
Damage: 300 / 375 / 450 / 525 / 600 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Distance Scaling: 100% of your Magical Power at distance greater than 800
% Magical Penetration: 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20%
Range: Global
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 110s

Janus Threats

Tap each threat level to view Janus’s threats

Max
0
Major
2
Even
0
Minor
0
Tiny
0

Introduction

Janus is a high utility mage who can always throw out high damage numbers throughout all phases of joust. Utilizing his portals, you can make quick and intelligent plays with your team by moving yourself or teammates around the map easily. While his abilities seem straightforward, portal and kill, he does remain a difficult god to master.

Pros / Cons

Pros
High utility
Great waveclear
Good speed/mobility
Longest Ult w/Very high damage
Portals

Cons
Squishy
Unstable Vortex can be difficult to aim
Has portals to escape, but not as effective as a Leap

Skills

Passive
Passages
Key Bind: Passive

Any time Janus transitions through a portal or over a threshold he becomes aged and wizened, gaining additional magical scaling on his next ability cast.

Ability Type: Passive
Magical Scaling: 15%

Portal
Key Bind: 1

Janus creates a portal in the world. If placed on a wall, the portal will create a passage through to the other side of the wall that Janus or any ally may use. The portal may be entered from either side, but closes after 1 use. If placed on the ground, enemies and Janus will fall into the portal, being teleported into the air above it. Enemies take damage upon landing, and are considered banished during the fall.

Ability Type: Ground Target
Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+60% of your Magical Power)
Banish Duration: 1.5s
Wall Portal Duration: 5s
Wall Portal Range: 100
Radius: 10
Cost: 70
Cooldown: 12s

Unstable Vortex
Key Bind: 2

Janus creates two unstable portals, far too small to fit into, and flings them forward dealing damage to enemies in their path. Enemies hit by both portals take 15% damage on the second hit.

Ability Type: Line
Damage: 100 / 165 / 230 / 295 / 360 (+80% of your Magical Power)
Range: 70
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 10s

Threshold
Key Bind: 3

Passive: Janus increases the movement speed of himself and allies each time they go through a portal or over a Threshold (max. 2 Stacks).

Active: Janus opens a multi-dimensional rift. Enemies who pass over the rift are slowed, and marked with Phase. Targets in Phase take additional Magical scaling damage when hit by Janus' damaging abilities.

Ability Type: Ground Target
Phase Slow: 25%
Additional Scaling: 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60
Rift Duration: 3 / 3.5 / 4 / 4.5 / 5s
Movement Speed: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30% per Portal
Passive Duration: 5s
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 15s

Through Space and Time
Key Bind: 4

Janus blasts a ball of multi-dimensional energy across the battlefield, burning a portal into every surface it encounters within range 500. These portals last 10s, may be used by allies, and do not vanish after the first use.

Enemies hit by the energy ball take damage, increasing in Magical scaling the further the energy travels. Janus is immune to Crowd Control whilst firing.

Ability Type: Global Line
Damage: 300 / 400 / 500 / 600 / 700 (+75% of your Magical Power)
Distance Scaling: 100% of your Magical Power at distance greater than 800
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 110s

Bread and Butter Combo
Use his Portal to banish the enemy to set up an easy hit with your Unstable Vortex. With practice you need to try to place the convergence point of both vortex balls onto the landing zone for maximum damage. Apply your passive prior to this to further increase damage output.

Items

Start off by purchasing Mage's Blessing as well as tier 1 shoes with 3 of each potion. This enables you to clear and sustain lane into level 5 and return with a full starter as well as Shoes of the Magi. This puts you at a good start clear and damage wise during the early game. After that, begin purchasing Book of Thoth to get those stacks sooner than later. I prefer Book of Thoth over Warlocks Staff in joust due to the high consumption of mana, and that Book of Thoth gives about 60 more power at full stacks then the Staff. After that go into Chronos' Pendent to reap the awesome benefits of high CDR, which is great on Janus. Then grab Spear of Desolation. Spear of Desolation not only rounds out your max CDR which is great for the mid-game portion of Joust but also provides good damage and some penetration which will be necessary at this point. I choose to grab Bancroft's Talon as my fifth item because a little lifesteal goes a long way on a low health, high damage mage, and the passive is excellent for the high risk/reward style of Janus in joust. Lastly, grab Rod of Tahuti for the awesome spike in damage.

Summary

Between his high damage all game to his extremely useful mobility/utility with portals, Janus has always been a staple high tier mage in both Joust and Conquest. By choosing to execute this build you will have good CDR all game as well as par sustain and very large pool of mana. This enables you to throw out high damage and confirm/setup kills all game long and push you ahead to victory.

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2
XenoChief | August 31, 2018 6:49pm
I dislike the start. Janus as a character has quite bad early clear for a mage, so you really need some power to get that Unstable Vortex] clearing waves. Mage's Blessing + Lost Artifact or Spellbook is generally the way to go.

Janus loves penetration and CDR as a god, he doesn't care about lifesteal making Bancroft's Talon not really the best choice in the world. You also want Obsidian Shard at some point on Janus because he doesn't have any in built penetration in his build. I like:

Shoes of the Magi, Chronos' Pendant, Obsidian Shard, Soul Gem, Spear of Desolation and Soul Reaver -> Probably the best since Janus uses every item really well on this build, and Janus has such absurd magical power scaling that you don't need to stack necessarily, though if you do want to:

Shoes of the Magi, Book of Thoth, Spear of Desolation, Chronos' Pendant, Obsidian Shard and Soul Gem - something along these lines is probably what you want if you really want to go Book of Thoth

40% CDR at some point is pretty much a requirement on Janus, as is pen. so those are the stats you want to prioritise, while making sure you have a good amount of power on your build.
1
Kriega1 (143) | September 1, 2018 6:03am
"40% CDR at some point is pretty much a requirement on Janus, as is pen." - 40% cdr is not a requirement on Janus as Potion of Magical Might gives 10% CDR, so I would remove Spear of Desolation from your first and second build and swap it for either Divine Ruin or Rod of Tahuti.
1
Kriega1 (143) | August 28, 2018 4:43am
Bancrofts on Janus? Ugh.... and no Obsidian Shard makes this build trash.

I would build Janus like this: Shoes of the Magi, Chronos' Pendant, Soul Gem, Obsidian Shard, Soul Reaver and either Rod of Tahuti or Divine Ruin.

Start with Mage's Blessing, Lost Artifact, 2 x Healing Potion and 2 x Mana Potion.
0
Oglogthefrog | August 28, 2018 5:23am
Obsidian shard is only needed if the enemy has a LOT of magic protections. Obviously if thats the case you can sub out the spear for it, however in most cases tanks in Joust have to divide protections up so they only have like 100 of them, which makes spear more useful for Janus due to the CDR benefits included.
2
Kriega1 (143) | August 28, 2018 5:50am
"however in most cases tanks in Joust have to divide protections up so they only have like 100 of them" - No they don't, they have more than that usually if they build at least one high magical defense item. You're forgetting to take base protections into account as well.

Please read the Word of Thoth and educate yourself: https://www.scribd.com/doc/166529015/The-Word-of-Thoth-A-Smite-Mechanics-Guide
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Oglogthefrog
Janus, Thinking With Portals (Joust)
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