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Thinking with Portals: Janus guide for Season 8

34 9 58,534
7.2
by SmugLookingBarrel updated March 12, 2021

Smite God: Janus

Build Guide Discussion 0 More Guides
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Build Summary

Starting Items

Notes This is the standard start for Janus. Unstable Vortex struggles to clear minion waves early on, so we'll supplement its damage with the strong bonus damage from Conduit Gem. Two of Janus' best items build off Lost Artifact, and it also provides a respectable 20 power to help with clear and 5 mp5 to sustain your mana. Purification Beads is the standard starting relic on mages, allowing you to cleanse a Crowd Control effect that would otherwise lead to your demise. If the enemy team is extremely light on crowd control, then Aegis Amulet is a viable alternative. While this build can afford five potions to start, I rarely find myself using them, and generally prefer to just buy three. If you expect to be fighting early, you can always get more.

Notes

This is the standard start for Janus. Unstable Vortex struggles to clear minion waves early on, so we'll supplement its damage with the strong bonus damage from Conduit Gem. Two of Janus' best items build off Lost Artifact, and it also provides a respectable 20 power to help with clear and 5 mp5 to sustain your mana. Purification Beads is the standard starting relic on mages, allowing you to cleanse a Crowd Control effect that would otherwise lead to your demise. If the enemy team is extremely light on crowd control, then Aegis Amulet is a viable alternative. While this build can afford five potions to start, I rarely find myself using them, and generally prefer to just buy three. If you expect to be fighting early, you can always get more.

Build Item Conduit Gem Conduit Gem
Build Item Lost Artifact Lost Artifact
Build Item Healing Potion Healing Potion
2
Build Item Mana Potion Mana Potion
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads

Full Standard Build

Notes This is the standard build I would recommend for Janus. First we get Shoes of Focus, then build our Lost Artifact into a Chronos' Pendant, then get Spear of Desolation, which will bring us up to the 40% cooldown cap, as well as give us strong magical power and some flat penetration. Our next two items are dedicated to percent penetration: Rod of Tahuti gives 10% along with a lot of power and a useful passive for a god who regularly needs to hit targets under 50% to kill them, and Obsidian Shard will help us damage tanks. Lastly, we build our starter item into Archmage's Gem for the excellent damage proc it provides. We have our important defensive relics, and should be getting Wards to maintain map vision.

Notes

This is the standard build I would recommend for Janus. First we get Shoes of Focus, then build our Lost Artifact into a Chronos' Pendant, then get Spear of Desolation, which will bring us up to the 40% cooldown cap, as well as give us strong magical power and some flat penetration. Our next two items are dedicated to percent penetration: Rod of Tahuti gives 10% along with a lot of power and a useful passive for a god who regularly needs to hit targets under 50% to kill them, and Obsidian Shard will help us damage tanks. Lastly, we build our starter item into Archmage's Gem for the excellent damage proc it provides. We have our important defensive relics, and should be getting Wards to maintain map vision.

Build Item Archmage's Gem Archmage's Gem
Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant
Build Item Shoes of Focus Shoes of Focus
Build Item Spear of Desolation Spear of Desolation
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti
Build Item Obsidian Shard Obsidian Shard
Build Item Sentry Ward Sentry Ward
Build Item Ward Ward
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads
Build Item Aegis Amulet Aegis Amulet

Janus's Skill Order Notes Unstable Vortex is your main source of damage, both to minions and to gods, so we take it at level 1 and level it every chance we can. Portal is Janus' most important ability, but its used mainly for its defense and utility, and levelling it only increases the damage, so while we always want to take it at level 2, we don't put further points into it until everything else is maxed out. Threshold not only provides a scaling slow that is easy to apply, but increases the movement speed of you and your allies whenever they enter a portal (which also scales as you level it), and adds additional scaling to targets we hit with it. Because it can't clear minion waves, we save it for second. You always get your ultimate at level 5, and while only the damage scales as you level it, it's still worth levelling at points where you can level your ultimate.

Notes

Unstable Vortex is your main source of damage, both to minions and to gods, so we take it at level 1 and level it every chance we can. Portal is Janus' most important ability, but its used mainly for its defense and utility, and levelling it only increases the damage, so while we always want to take it at level 2, we don't put further points into it until everything else is maxed out. Threshold not only provides a scaling slow that is easy to apply, but increases the movement speed of you and your allies whenever they enter a portal (which also scales as you level it), and adds additional scaling to targets we hit with it. Because it can't clear minion waves, we save it for second. You always get your ultimate at level 5, and while only the damage scales as you level it, it's still worth levelling at points where you can level your ultimate.

Portal

1 X Y
Portal
2 15 16 18 19

Unstable Vortex

2 A B
Unstable Vortex
1 3 6 7 9

Threshold

3 B A
Threshold
4 8 11 12 14

Through Space and Time

4 Y X
Through Space and Time
5 10 13 17 20
Portal
2 15 16 18 19

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 3 6 7 9

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 8 11 12 14

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 10 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

Extended Build

First Back

Notes In the early game, your goal is to clear the wave, farm camps with your jungler, and stay alive long enough to back with 1600 gold, so that you can buy Shoes of Focus on your first trip back to lane. This item provides you with the movement speed that every god needs, while also giving you the cooldown reduction that Janus really needs, being a god who relies on a single ability for both wave clear and poke, you want to have it up as much as possible.
If you have some extra gold after your first back, you should spend it on wards, and place those wards to the left and right of the mid lane on the opponent's side of the map, so you can see if the enemy mid laner is moving out of the lane, or the enemy jungler or support is moving in for a gank.

Notes

In the early game, your goal is to clear the wave, farm camps with your jungler, and stay alive long enough to back with 1600 gold, so that you can buy Shoes of Focus on your first trip back to lane. This item provides you with the movement speed that every god needs, while also giving you the cooldown reduction that Janus really needs, being a god who relies on a single ability for both wave clear and poke, you want to have it up as much as possible.
If you have some extra gold after your first back, you should spend it on wards, and place those wards to the left and right of the mid lane on the opponent's side of the map, so you can see if the enemy mid laner is moving out of the lane, or the enemy jungler or support is moving in for a gank.

Build Item Conduit Gem Conduit Gem
Build Item Lost Artifact Lost Artifact
Build Item Shoes of Focus Shoes of Focus
Build Item Ward Ward
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads

Mid Game

Notes After your boots are done, you then want to build your Lost Artifact into Chronos' Pendant, which will provide the cooldown reduction to use your abilities more often, the MP5 to keep you in lane and minimize the number of times you need to back, and a respectable 100 power. Your next item should be a source of flat Penetration, to increase the amount of damage you do to enemy gods. Most gods have about 40 magical protections if they don't buy items to increase it, so 10 flat penetration is the equivalent of 25% penetration. The standard option here is Spear of Desolation, for the highest power of items in this tree and maxing out our Cooldown reduction, though if your team need antiheal, this is where you'll pick up Divine Ruin. You'll likely reach level 12 around this time, and when you do, Aegis Amulet is the second relic I recommend

Notes

After your boots are done, you then want to build your Lost Artifact into Chronos' Pendant, which will provide the cooldown reduction to use your abilities more often, the MP5 to keep you in lane and minimize the number of times you need to back, and a respectable 100 power. Your next item should be a source of flat Penetration, to increase the amount of damage you do to enemy gods. Most gods have about 40 magical protections if they don't buy items to increase it, so 10 flat penetration is the equivalent of 25% penetration. The standard option here is Spear of Desolation, for the highest power of items in this tree and maxing out our Cooldown reduction, though if your team need antiheal, this is where you'll pick up Divine Ruin. You'll likely reach level 12 around this time, and when you do, Aegis Amulet is the second relic I recommend

Build Item Conduit Gem Conduit Gem
Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant
Build Item Shoes of Focus Shoes of Focus
Build Item Spear of Desolation Spear of Desolation
Build Item Ward Ward
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads
Build Item Aegis Amulet Aegis Amulet

Bells and Whistles

Notes If you manage to reach the point where you can sell your boots and pick up Elixir of Speed, I would buy Spear of the Magus in its place, for the flat penetration, power, and damage amplification, which isn't that good for your but will help your teammates. Now that you're not overcapped on CDR, you can pick up Potion of Power as well, and Elixir of Power when you can afford it, which will also cap your percent penetration.

Notes

If you manage to reach the point where you can sell your boots and pick up Elixir of Speed, I would buy Spear of the Magus in its place, for the flat penetration, power, and damage amplification, which isn't that good for your but will help your teammates. Now that you're not overcapped on CDR, you can pick up Potion of Power as well, and Elixir of Power when you can afford it, which will also cap your percent penetration.

Build Item Archmage's Gem Archmage's Gem
Build Item Chronos' Pendant Chronos' Pendant
Build Item Spear of the Magus Spear of the Magus
Build Item Spear of Desolation Spear of Desolation
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti
Build Item Obsidian Shard Obsidian Shard
Build Item Elixir of Speed Elixir of Speed
Build Item Potion of Power Potion of Power
Build Item Elixir of Power Elixir of Power
Build Item Sentry Ward Sentry Ward
Build Item Ward Ward
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads
Build Item Aegis Amulet Aegis Amulet

Alternate Tank Buster

Notes Janus isn't the greatest tank buster, but if the enemy team is loading up on protections, this is the build I would run to counter that. We have maximum percentage magical penetration between Rod, Ob Shard, and our Elixir, and two effects which deal percent health damage in Soul Reaver and Ethereal Staff.

Notes

Janus isn't the greatest tank buster, but if the enemy team is loading up on protections, this is the build I would run to counter that. We have maximum percentage magical penetration between Rod, Ob Shard, and our Elixir, and two effects which deal percent health damage in Soul Reaver and Ethereal Staff.

Build Item Archmage's Gem Archmage's Gem
Build Item Rod of Tahuti Rod of Tahuti
Build Item Ethereal Staff Ethereal Staff
Build Item Spear of Desolation Spear of Desolation
Build Item Obsidian Shard Obsidian Shard
Build Item Soul Reaver Soul Reaver
Build Item Potion of Power Potion of Power
Build Item Elixir of Power Elixir of Power
Build Item Purification Beads Purification Beads
Build Item Aegis Amulet Aegis Amulet

Introduction


Janus, the god of Portals and Transitions. Boasting incredible mobility combined with great poke, Janus is a great choice if you want to always be in the right place at the right time, to make your team better while still dealing great damage, and to kill unsuspecting enemies from half a map away with your ultimate.

Janus was the recipient of a minor rework at the start of season 8 that increased his quality of life significantly. Combined with the introduction of new items to help him through his traditionally weak early game, he's in a better state now than he's been in several years both in terms of his power level and how much fun he is to play.

The scope of this guide is limited to Conquest, playing Janus in the mid lane, as that is where he's strongest and where I have the most experience playing him.
This is my first guide, so comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Pros / Cons

Pros: Janus' biggest pro is his excellent mobility. He can reach fights more quickly than other mages between his powerful movement speed increases and his ability to teleport through walls. Not only that, but he can provide mobility to his team. The movement speed from his Threshold affects any allied god that walks over it, he can move his allies through walls using Portal, and his ultimate can get his entire team to safety or to an advantageous fight. In combat, Janus' strength is his ability to repeatedly poke with his Unstable Vortex: It's on a low cooldown, has long range, and can pass through walls, so Janus can often fire it many times through a teamfight while staying safely behind a wall and maintaining the ability to escape if he gets dived on.

Cons: Janus' biggest con is that, in situations where map mobility and ranged poke aren't viable, he's very vulnerable. Janus can't box another god unless he's heavily favoured, as his Unstable Vortex does less damage than other mage abilities if he doesn't have time to set up his Passages and combine it with his Threshold, and his only setup, a Portal underfoot, is slow to deploy and thus easily dodges, and is also his only escape. Unlike other mages who have the threat of killing an enemy with their full combo should they try and dive you for a kill, Janus is forced to fun away if engaged on even footing. He also can't use his only movement ability while not next to a wall, and due to his reliance on it, he's very vulnerable to cripples.

Ability Overview

Janus' abilities are all simple on the surface but have quite a lot of depth, and understanding exactly how your abilities work is a crucial element of playing the character to its fullest.


Passages
Janus' Passive is simple but has interesting implications. Any time he passes through one of his portals or over his 3, he gains a buff that increases the damage of his next ability by 15% of his magical power.
This most important thing to note about this passive is that it creates a Separate instance of damage, and that instance can trigger item effects. So any item that triggers for each instance of damage, like Soul Reaver, will trigger twice on each target you hit with your Unstable Vortex while your passive is active. The extra scaling from Passages is a core component to Janus' damage, and you'll find your abilities being much more effective if you're always getting that 15% scaling from your passive.


Portal
Janus' 1 is his most important ability, and also his most difficult to use. You can place it either on a wall or on the ground, and it works completely differently in those two instances, so I'll explain each separately:

Portal on a wall
Placing Janus' portal on a wall will open a second portal on the opposite end of that wall, and the first allied god that comes into contact with either portal will be instantly transported through the wall to the other one. This counts as a movement ability which means it is stopped by cripples, but it can be used to get you out of danger or, uniquely, get one of your allies either out of danger or closer to the enemy.

Portal on the ground
Placing Janus' portal on the ground will, after a short delay, spawn a circular trap on the ground that will banish enemies that it comes into contact with, dealing damage to them when they hit the ground. You can also fall through your own portal, which will banish you for the same duration but won't deal damage to you. A few things to note about it:
The Portal effect can be cleansed by Purification Beads, which will end the banish state early and the enemy will immediately be able to move again.
Characters that are CC immune won't fall into the portal at all. This includes enemies and also you, you can't fall through your own ground portal while CC immune.

This is Janus' only hard CC, but it needs to be used very carefully. While you can easily follow up with an unstable vortex on landing and deal some solid damage, you're down your only escape for 12 seconds after you use this, and the hitbox isn't that big and takes around a second to deploy. The best advice I can give for hitting it is to lead it just a little bit. Even against a stationary target, if they see you activating it, they have enough time to move out of the area before it becomes active, but if an enemy god is moving towards you and you place it in front of them, it can be more difficult for them to escape. Even if you have the opportunity though, it's often safer just to throw out an Unstable Vortex, and save your portal for escaping.


Unstable Vortex

This ability is both your lane clear and your main source of damage to gods. The most notable thing about it is its unique hitbox, which was updated in the season 8 patch. If you fire it in front of you, the two orbs will move outwards and inwards twice in something like a double helix. The three times that the two orbs meet (directly in front of you on cast, halfway through, and at the very end) will deal 15% bonus damage. My biggest piece of advice regarding Unstable Vortex, however, is not to worry too much about the double hit. While 15% extra damage is nice, every area that the attack can double hit is close to an area where it doesn't hit at all, which means aiming for double hits can often lead to the target having an easier time avoiding the damage entirely. Now that the center of the vortex has a hitbox, the most reliable way to aim the vortex is to try and hit the opponent with the electrical beam between the orbs as they move apart.


Threshold

This is quietly Janus' most powerful ability. As you rank up this ability, you passively give any allied god who moves through your Portal or Threshold movement speed, stacking up to twice for a maximum of 60% at rank 5. (affected by diminishing returns, but still very powerful) it's also a slow, which makes hitting your vortex easier. Finally, it debuffs targets hit, causing them to take additional scaling from your next damaging ability, up to 60% at max level. This means that at max level, an Unstable Vortex boosted by your passive, Threshold, and the double hit in the center will deal 414 damage + 167% of your Magical Power.


Though Space and Time

Janus ultimate is one of the best abilities in the game, with a multitude of uses. It grants you CC immunity during the startup, after which you fire a fast-moving projectile that will damage all enemies it hits, and create portals through any wall it comes into contact with. There are a number of ways to make use of this ability

The Escape

This is, honestly, what you'll be using your ultimate for quite often. Channel it, point at a wall, run towards the wall, and as long as you don't die during the charge time, your ult will get you out of almost any situation. The CC immunity lasts long enough to let you move through the portal even while crippled, and provided there are further walls that you can travel through, you can outpace almost any other god, no matter what movement ability they might have. It's not glamourous, but neither is being dead.

The Short range shot

Janus ultimate does a respectable amount of damage even at close range, while a little weaker than most mage ultimates, you can often secure a kill with this by adding it after a Portal into Unstable Vortex. When using your ult for this purpose, it helps to begin the charge while the target is still falling through the portal, and hit with the ult first and then Unstable Vortex, as the latter has a much faster startup.

The Self Rotation

This is mostly relevant to the early and mid game where you're often in lane: You can use your ultimate to get yourself (and your jungler, if they're nearby) quickly into either the solo or duo lane. If the enemy support and hunter are pushing yours under their tower, you can arrive with your jungler more quickly than any other mage, gaining a 4v2 advantage for a few seconds, which is often enough to secure a double kill. Remember to move out of sight of the enemy mid laner before you ult to another lane: If they let their teammate know your ult is coming, they can usually retreat in time to survive the gank. If their first warning that you're no your way is the ult itself arriving, they usually don't have enough time to get away.

The Snipe

This is the most flashy but least practical use of Janus Ultimate. Your ultimate has infinite range, is hard to see and hear, and does very high damage at long range, so if you can accurately predict where the enemy will be, you can hit them with it from across the map and often kill them. This use of Janus ult was nerfed going into season 8, as the ult can no longer do more than 75% of a target's maximum health, but you can often finish off a target that your ally is brawling with, or kill anyone who's gotten away, run under their tower, and is backing while looking at the item shop.


The Dropship

This use of Janus ultimate is better in more coordinated teams, but often the most powerful thing you can do with a Janus ultimate is move your entire team around the map quickly. If you see the enemy team falling back after a fight while both teams are in the fire giant side jungle, you can use your ultimate to get your whole team to the Gold Fury and kill it before the enemy team can show up. If your team is respawning after a Deicide while the enemy team is doing Fire Giant, you can use it to get your whole team there to contest quickly. Another noteworthy use case is to backdoor the titan. If the enemy team has a phoenix down but is able to defend a further push, you can use your ultimate to get your entire team through the walls and into the Titan room, bypassing the other phoenixes and the enemy team, and hopefully kill the titan before the enemy is able to fall back and stop you. Also noteworthy is the ability to get your entire team out of a dangerous situation: In that same scenario, your team has destroyed a phoenix but you're all low on health and worried about a counterattack, you can use your ultimate to get your team safely away from the enemy base to a point where they can back and regroup.

Gameplay Tips

How to position yourself with Janus: Janus requires different positioning than other gods in the game, because of how he interacts with walls. For most other gods, being near walls is poor positioning, because the wall blocks off some of your movement options, leaving you less room to avoid attacks. Some gods with long leaps can get away with staying near walls because their leap allows them to put the wall between them and their attacker, but for Janus, you HAVE to be near a wall to use your movement ability, and as a result, you should be near a wall at all times, ready to portal through the wall to safety. Unlike most other gods, you're very vulnerable when caught in the open.
This becomes even more important during the teamfight phase. As Janus, one of your major strengths in a teamfight is your ability to deal damage to the enemy team while safely behind a wall, which forces the enemy to move around the wall in order to reach you. As a result, you ideally want one wall in between you and the enemy, and one wall close behind to, that you can portal through if you get jumped. As a result, Janus is much more effective when teamfighting in the jungle than in lanes, which is a good thing in season 8, as most big fights happen in the jungle.

Step-by-step guide to the first minute

While I can't give you a detailed guide to every moment of a game of Conquest, as the possibility space is simply massive, the first minute of most games of conquest is relatively the same, and understanding and optimizing this part of the game will help you a lot.

When the game starts, grab your starting items and rush towards the red buff. You and your Hunter will be clearing this before the first minion wave. You should start on the side closest to the mid land, while your hunter starts on the side closest to the duo lane. When the red buff spawns at 20 seconds, your hunter starts by pulling it towards them (it's very important that the buff doesn't move towards you to start), while you should auto attack, then immediately fire your Unstable Vortex, then continue to auto attack. At this point, the Hunter will leash the red buff (that is, run out of the circle that defines its aggro range), and since you're the only other character in its range, it will start moving towards you. At this point, both you and the hunter should continue to auto attack it until it dies. The reason this is done is because the red buff manticore is very dangerous early on, but all the time it spends running to you, it isn't attacking anything.
Now that you have your red buff, you head straight to lane, and you should arrive just after the minions start fighting. Line up your Unstable Vortex so that the second time the orbs meet (in the middle of the animation) hits the melees and the final time hits the archers, which will maximize your damage, and then you want to autoattack the minions until you kill four of them, which will get you level 2. Getting four of them dead is more important than getting all six of them weakened, so be sure to finish off the weakened ones. This is around the time where the junglers show up, so once you have your Portal, head over to the entrance to the solo side mid camp and place your Vision Shard there to see them coming. After that, your next goal is to secure at least one mid camp with your jungler. Unless you have a very aggressive jungler, I would recommend trading the mid camps instead of contesting, just go grab whichever the enemy team doesn't take. From there, you and your jungle will alternate clearing the mid wave, rotating for jungle camps, and poking the enemy mid and jungle, in order to gain gold and experience.



Getting back to lane
When moving from the base back to the mid lane, first cast your Threshold the maximum possible distance away from you (if an allied god is nearby, be sure to cast it where they can benefit from it too), then run towards it, doing your best to stagger out the Rejuvenation buff and the Threshold speed buff, and also to be able to get to a wall while you still have the passages speed buff up, so you can then portal through the wall and have two stacks of it on your way back to lane. If you know you won't be needing your portal immediately in lane, the best portal for getting back to lane is going vertically through the rock next to your tier 2, the one on the opposite side from red buff.


Combos
Self Threshold into Unstable Vortex The safest, but weakest of Janus' combos. Throw your Threshold right under your feet, triggering Passages, then use Unstable Vortex. If you're not directly in combat, you should always be using your Threshold on yourself to refresh Passages and for movement speed.

Portal into Unstable Vortex Drop your portal under an enemy, and right as they finish falling, hit them with an Unstable Vortex. The portal will provide you enough time to line up the vortex so that the target is hit in the center. This is Janus' most damaging combo, but it requires you use your only escape, so think of it like using any other mage's jump or dash agressively: If you get a kill with it, it's probably worty it, but be careful.

Threshold into Unstable Vortex Similar to the first combo, drop your Threshold on an enemy, then hit them with your Unstable Vortex. While not as free as with Portal, the Threshold slow is usually enough to connect the vortex, and the additional scaling from Threshold will supplement the Vortex damage nicely. This should be your main combo, as it's safe and still very damaging.

The trifecta: Place a portal under the target's feet, run forwards as they fall, then quickly place a threshold under them right before they land, then fire off Unstable Vortex. It can take some practice to get all three abilities off in time, but this is your most damaging combo without using your ultimate.

Through Space and Time combo at close range: Slow the target with a Threshold], then charge up your ultimate while staying close to the target, hit them with that at short range, and then immediately follow up with [[unstable vortex. This combo allows for high damage without using your escape, but obviously requires your ultimate.

The full combo: Place a Portal under the target's feet, and charge Through Space and Time as they fall while staying close to them. As soon as they hit the ground, release the ult, then cast Threshold, being sure to hit both the enemy and yourself to refresh your Passages, then follow up with Unstable Vortex.

Item Interactions


Soul Gem: Janus has probably the quickest ability to stack this item out of any god in the game. All that's required to get stacks is that you hit any target with an ability. For Janus, any allied god (including yourself) moving through your Portal or over your Threshold counts as those abilities having hit them, and hitting minions with Portal or Unstable Vortex while your passive is up will give you two stacks. The extra 30% scaling is an excellent addition to your damage.


Soul Reaver: Janus Passive and the damage from Threshold can both trigger Soul Reaver, allowing you to get three triggers almost instantly against a single target. Note that because Soul Reaver's proc does Magical Damage, it can be mitigated by magical protections, so I would only recommend using this item if you're facing enemy gods with high health but low magical protections.


If you hit a target with Unstable Vortex, the main damage of the vortex is applied first, before the damage from your passive, threshold, and the bonus damage from hitting a target in the center of the vortex. This is unfortunate for Spear of the Magus, because it means your largest single instance of damage will not be affected by the bonus from Spear of the Magus. Note that if you Portal a target and then hit them with a Vortex on the way down, the damage from the Portal will trigger the spear and the Vortex damage will benefit from it, so this item will make your combo better, as well as improving the damage of your team.

Mid Lane Matchups

From levels 1-4, Agni suffers from the problem that he needs to get close to the wave in order to clear, which means you can often hit both him and the minions with your Unstable Vortex. However, his clear is much better than yours, so you might find yourself facing down a wave of half-health enemy minions with none of your own. Come level 5, Agni's clear becomes much safer, so you lose the ability to easily poke him while he's killing the minions,

A very uncommon sight in season 8, Ah Puch can be very dangerous but has no forms of escape, so this will largely be a matchup decided by your jungler. If left alone, I'd recommend against fighting Ah Puch, he hits harder than you do and has self sustain where you don't, but you can make it to solo or duo lane for ganks much faster than he can, and if your jungler is with you, Ah Puch can do very little but drop his ult and pray that you miss your Through Space and Time shot as he runs.

One of the nightmare matchups for Janus, Anhur mid is strong in all the areas Janus is weak. He can force you to fight him head-on with his Shifting Sands, which slows, makes you take more damage, and can't be portaled through, his Impale is extremely dangerous to you since you want to be near walls, and his ult is often enough to kill you after an impale combo. My best advice for this matchup is to simply stay far away and farm, you'll likely be conceding a few mid camps.

Janus is one of the gods that can easily stop Anubis' Plague of Locusts with a simple portal under his feet, which goes a long way to stopping his incredible lane clear. He can still kill you with his ultimate after a stun the same as anyone else, but overall this is a positive matchup. Remember that Anubis almost always builds Lifesteal, so grab your Divine Ruin.

You don't really have the pressure to force her out of lane, and she can heal herself with her Love Birds, but she can't really kill you either without a jungle gank, so this matchup is often you two trading minion waves and jungle camps while waiting for mid game, where your ability to move a teammate like the solo laner or jungler into position where they can isolate Aphrodite can really help take her out. Of course, Divine Ruin is a must.

You can easily escape her ultimate by portalling through a wall, and Unstable Vortex has a longer range than either of her abilities, and she needs to be in front of the wave and relatively close to it to hit it with Wild Witchcraft, so keep your distance, and try to hit her as you clear the wave.

This matchup is almost all about staying out of range of his Wrap it Up. You outrange Vivid Gaze and with your extra movement speed can often evade the Consign Spirits, but if he roots you he can drop his full combo and heal himself. Also don't be afraid to use Through Space and Time to escape from Life of the Party if your beads are down.

This is another case of "stay back". Her Crescent Moon Dance has short range but good damage and is on a short cooldown, so if she can hit you multiple times with it it will hurt a lot. She can also use her 2 to easily dodge your vortex, so I'd recommend not even fighting her and doing some jungle camps instead.

This is a god you can get aggressive against, if you know how to position yourself properly. Discordia's most dangerous ability, Strife, has a uniquely horizontal area of effect, so you want to position yourself in a way that you can move forward or backwards, not left or right, to dodge it. Without the Strife root leading into it, Unruly Magic doesn't do that much damage, so if you can avoid being rooted (and be sure to not stay to the left or right of your allies to avoid the madness effect), you can outdamage her and subsequently force her out of lane. If not, you can also just play a passive farm game and be fine.

Even more so than the gods we've looked at so far, you need to stay back. Hades has very high damage with his Devour Souls, but it's in a small area around him. Don't walk up to your minions, and you should be able to clear the wave while being able to poke effectively. Remember to pack your Divine Ruin, and you can use your ult to escape from the Pillar of Agony.

is almost the complete opposite of Janus as a mage. He does incredible burst damage, but needs to be in melee range to do it, and if he gets caught, he dies. If you're on your own, you need to stay back, and keep hitting him with Unstable Vortex, as he needs to get close to the wave in order to clear. This is one god where I would recommend Aegis Amulet as your first relic assuming the enemy jungler isn't a high CC god, as being able to absorb the Crushing Wave can save you, and his Waterspout is basically impossible to beads.

is another healer who isn't seen a lot after the season 8 changes. Hel is the most threatening to you at very low levels, where she has two to four times as many damaging abilities as you do, but none of them have the range of an Unstable Vortex, so stay back, pack a Divine Ruin, and keep poking her to force her to heal instead of attacking.

This matchup is all about Argus, the Defender. Hera's only CC is Polymorph which is slow and easy to avoid if she's not firing point blank, and her Royal Assault is well telegraphed while having a small hitbox, so you're advantaged while her ult is down, but Argus is a nightmare, coming in with an almost instant knockup that can set up her other abilities, and being very hard for you to get rid of. Do your best to poke her while her ult is down but play carefully while it's up.

Stopping the Isis Wing Gust with a portal is incredibly difficult, but if you can pull it off consistently you'll win the matchup. Otherwise, she outclears you, and you don't want to get stunned by Spirit Ball, which outranges your Vortex but is a relatively slow projectile. If you see it coming, run to the right or left, and always assume the hitbox for it is bigger than it looks

The mirror matchup is where it's very helpful to be familiar with the dead zones in the left and right of the center of Unstable Vortex, as you'll want to position yourself in such a way where the enemy Janus can't hit you and the wave with one Vortex, while you can. Try to stay constantly in motion, as it will make it easier to dodge Portal, and try to keep the enemy constantly in sight in case they ult into another lane.

You have zero chance of outclearing Whirlwind, so if Kuku just wants to hit the wave and retreat or rotate, you won't have much luck stopping him. On the other hand, he can't easily stop you from doing the same. This is another matchup where I would recommend Aegis Amulet, as he doesn't have a CC but his ult hits extremely hard.

Merlin's greatest strength is his ability to use his ultimate to gain a second set of abilities and thereby have a big advantage while trying to outdamage other mages, but you can nullify that strength if you never actually fight him. He doesn't have many abilities that can punish you for staying at long range and throwing out vortexes, and the best one, Eclipse, is on a long enough cooldown that he can't use two separate ones for poke and wave clear.

Nox does one thing, which is chain Shadow Lock into siphon darkness] over and over. [[Siphon Darkness] has a long enough buildup that you can easily move out of it if you're not trapped, so this matchup becomes almost entirely about evading [[shadow lock, which is easier said than done with how often Nox can use it. Another issue is that Shadow Lock silences, and your optimal position to fire Unstable Vortex to hit the wave is often right where she places it.

Nu wa's early game isn't very scary unless she gets an auto attack root into a clay soldier + Shining Metal stun, which can kill you from quite high HP if you're not careful, but the clay soldiers aren't very smart and her damage isn't very high... until the endgame, where her Fire Shards becomes one of the strongest abilities in the game together with Archmage's Gem, easily dealing a third of your health for free every 90 seconds. Ideally, you'll be able to end the game by then.

Prepare for a rough laning phase of dodging dozens of deadly plants. The best advice I can give for avoiding the ones that charge at you is that their attacks come in a cone, so you should run forwards and either to the left or right to avoid it. Grasp of Death is basically cleanse or die, and she can poke effectively as well with Bone Rush.

One of the few mages in the game with access to a cripple, Poseidon can be a lot of trouble for you because his Whirlpool blocks Portal, and is also likely to be followed up by a release the kraken. One thing to note though, is that being crippled doesn't stop the self banish of a portal on the ground, so if you're quick enough, you can portal under your feet to dodge the kracken

As long as you can consistently avoid Celestial Beam, which is at its most threatening at short range (which you shouldn't be), you're not at significant risk of being killed by Ra. Just be sure to bring your Divine Ruin

another poke god, and has better poke than you with Raiju into Percussive Storm, but his escape is slow enough that you can often hit him with a vortex during its activation. When he ults, be sure to dodge to the side, the projectiles aren't as wide as they look.

I wouldn't really call Scylla a poke god, given that if she hits you with any of her abilities, you're likely taking over 1000 damage in the late game, but her abilities aren't that easy to hit, and her lane clear is worse than yours in the early game. Be sure to always be moving to help you dodge Crush, and don't stand near minions once she's maxed her sic em.

her clear isn't great, and she needs to get close to you in order to stun you with her Deadly Aspects. The biggest threat in this matchups is her stealth, if she ambushes you while you're not near a wall she can deal significant damage, and her ultimate, which can turn her into any number of threatening gods. She can even turn into you, to have access to a global ultimate.

while Thoth and Janus do very different things in the teamfight phase, they have the same goals in the laning phase: poke from long range. Unfortunately, Thoth's poke is not only longer range than yours, but does more damage too. This is a matchup where having some amount of lifesteal can help a lot, as you're going to get hit by Hieroglyphic Assault

Is too new at the time of writing for me to really comment on the matchup, but from what I've seen so far, her clear isn't the greatest early on, and since her only escape forces her into a melee stance for several seconds, she's relatively easy to poke out, but can do quite high damage if she's able to commit onto you with three or four abilities. Worth noting that since your passive counts as an extra instance of damage, Unstable Vortex boosted by Passages can instantly destroy the snakes she spawns.

The other common hunter mid, and another god who's excellent at stomping Janus. You try to poke him, and he responds to a Vortex with Thrown Axe into Hail of Arrows into Bladed Arrow into your dead. Best not fight at all.

His abilities have fast casting times and do considerable damage, but neither of them have as long range as Unstable Vortex. The biggest threat from Vulcan is honestly his turret, which is durable enough that you'll usually need a whole Vortex to bring it down quickly, and is immune to Portal. If you see his ult coming, you can portal yourself into the ground to avoid it.

In this matchups, it's very important not to be close to your minion wave, lest you be hit by Aegis Assault or Chain Lightning. Zeus also has no CC, so you might want to grab Aegis Amulet to protect you from his Detonate Charge.

His Expose Evil is surprisingly good poke, and he has both innate tankiness and self healing that makes him hard to win poke wars against, plus his Recall Demons is deadly if he catches you in an open space. Be sure to get your Divine Ruin and a bit of extra pen, and you should be fine.

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League of Legends Build Guide Author SmugLookingBarrel
Thinking with Portals: Janus guide for Season 8
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