Janus is one of the best mages with very high burst damage. But that is not the only thing that makes Janus strong. Three of his four abilities can be used to escape any pursuers with ease. Janus is, and always has been, very viable in competitive play because of his kit which really benefits from good team coordination.

Janus can be usually found in the middle lane and that is also the position I’ll be focusing on in this guide.

Abilities

Passages [Passive]

A great little passive that should remind you of using your movement abilities quite often to get the damage boost applied to as many abilities as you can. This fits really well into the rest of Janus’ tool kit as it provides great incentive to be on the move all the time.

Portal [1]

This is - like most of Janus’ other abilities - a potent ability with multiple uses. By using it on the enemies, you can force the use of their Purification Beads. In the late game, this spell is especially dangerous as it can guarantee an easy kill. It is also one of the best escape abilities in the game because it can cover an extremely long distance AND go through walls. By placing it under your feet, you can use this spell to give yourself a short invulnerability effect or get rid of any melee attackers who are chasing you. Bear in mind that it's great to use this tactic particularly when there are no walls nearby.

Unstable Vortex

Unstable Vortex is your main damaging ability. It deals an extremely high amount of damage which can be boosted even higher by hitting the enemy gods with both small portals. The passive bonus will stack with this bonus.

This is definitely not the easiest ability to hit on its own. Try to help yourself a little bit by combining it with your Portal [1] to get some easy poke on the enemy. For wave clear, you will be able to hit both the melee and ranged minions where the ability’s pattern's joints are (if the minions are standing still). If the minions are moving, however, you should try to aim at the whole minion wave with only one side of the ability - like this:

This will ensure that you'll hit the entire wave even if it's on the move. When you get enough damage to one shot all of the minions, it is very effective to use this little trick. You'll kill the minion wave faster and then you'll be able to use the saved time to gank other lanes or to kill harpy camps.

Threshold

This ability provides a great speed buff for you and your teammates, a huge slow against your enemies, and it also offers higher damage scaling against enemies who are unfortunate enough to walk into the Threshold. Combined with your Portal [1], this ability can guarantee kills on squishy characters and it will also help you hit your Unstable Vortex [2] easier on enemies affected by the powerful slow. It can be used to zone players out if it's placed on jungle paths or you just use it to escape if you feel like you’re in a dangerous spot. When chasing down enemies, try to place the Threshold in front of your teammates to give them a speed boost and then go across the spell yourself.

Through Space and Time

This is what Janus is really about: public transport. The ability’s damage isn’t bad and if you see an enemy fleeing with low hp, I recommend to take the shot, however, I think the ability to transport your whole team from one end of the map to the other in just a few seconds is too valuable for the ability to be wasted on damage in a teamfight. But then again, don’t be afraid to use this ability to escape. You get long crowd control immunity when casting it and if you hug a wall, you’ll be instantly teleported away from the danger at the end of channeling this ability.

Ability leveling:

I prefer to level up my abilities in this order: 2>3>1>4. By prioritising Threshold [3] over Portal [1] you will get the benefit of getting in and out of teamfights with ease while you’ll be also helping your team greatly by increasing their movement speed drastically. I level up the ultimate last because I really don’t see much of a point in increasing its damage by 100 as it should be mostly used for its transportation function.

Items:

For the starter build, I like to buy Vampiric Shroud, Shoes, an Active item depending on the enemy team’s composition, a Health Potion and a Mana Potion. Everyone's preferences for this starter build might differ but this is definitely one of the safest options.

After that, get Shoes of Focus and Chronos’ Pendant. You only have one reliable damaging ability - make sure you can use it often with these Cooldown Reduction items. Book of Thoth and Rod of Tahuti will get you back on track in terms of Magical Power. For our next item I recommend some penetration. As I've already stated in my other guide - Obsidian Shard will get you exactly what you need. Soul Reaver will round out your build nicely and it will also give you the ability to basically one-shot squishy gods with your 1-3-2 combo.

Substitute items:

Bancroft’s Talon is a very gold efficient item for all mages. Get it if you're not getting enough gold or if you’re falling behind. Doom Orb and Warlock’s Sash are good stacking alternatives. You can either replace Book of Thoth or Soul Reaver with one of these. If you’re playing very defensively or if you’re not getting ganked in the middle lane very often, the riskier choice - Doom Orb might pay off in the long run. Warlock’s Sash is the exact opposite - it is a very safe pick with 600 health on top of its high magical power. It also works great in combination with Book of Thoth's passive and gives you even more magical power.

Active items:

Buying Greater Purification is a must. Use it defensively and it will get rid of any Crowd Control effects or use it offensively and get 3 seconds off all your cooldowns. With this, you’ll be able to fire off two Unstable Vortex [2] spells in a very small timeframe, which makes that ability even deadlier. Aegis Pendant is great against gods who have high burst damage (Poseidon or Agni for example). By choosing the Pendant, you will be able to keep moving, however, the Aegis Amulet is a viable choice here as well. Whichever one you choose, it will increase your survivability by a great amount. The alternative active item to Aegis is Greater Blink. I’m not joking, this item works exceptionally well with Janus. It can give Janus a boost to his already insane mobility. Use it to close the gap to chase down enemies or use it with a "Surprise, here's an Unstable Vortex to the face tactic™" or use it to distance yourself from enemies even further after using your Portal [1].

Stages of the game:

Early game: At the start of the game your ability to push waves will be very weak. Gods like Poseidon or Ra will counter Janus easily and push the wave under your tower. To slow down their push you will have to hit minion waves with your Unstable Vortex [2] where the ability patterns meet in the middle. If you still get pushed out then don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world. Try to at least focus on killing the archers before your tower hits them.

In this phase of the game, it is a good idea to play it safe. Of course, you can always poke the enemy god but wave clear should be the top priority for you. Just be careful - if you use your Portal [1] to set up an easy Unstable Vortex [2] hit, you will be very vulnerable to enemy ganks and your best escape tool will be on cooldown.

When the three minute mark comes around, try to fight for at least one mid camp and don't be afraid of being a bit more agressive in this situation.

Mid game: Now is a great time to use your ultimate to rotate to the side lanes. Just don’t use the ultimate when in direct line of sight of the enemy god. Doing that will make your gank much less effective.

While Janus is one of the safer picks for the middle lane, don’t forget to ward up the mid camps every once in a while - wards win games and also give you the ability to see enemies who are rotating into the lane. Try to poke them with your Unstable Vortex [2] when you get the chance. And remember: "Warding is a team effort!" -Janus

In lane you can try to be a little bit more aggressive. Use your 1-3-2 ability combination if you can and punish the enemy mid laner for trying to clear the minion wave. While doing this, always keep an eye out on the minimap - the enemy jungler can be waiting for a good opportunity to gank you behind the corner.

Late game: Just like any other mage, Janus shines in the late game. If you catch someone off guard with your Portal [1] then you probably got your team a kill. In teamfights try to fire your Unstable Vortex [2] on enemies and when it's on cooldown, use your Threshold and zoom back out into the backline. If there's an enemy near you, try to relocate and find a better position to use your abilities from. Try to be unpredictable and slippery.

Make use of your ultimate’s teleports too as they can be true game changers. Is the enemy team spread out while their titan is exposed? Just teleport your whole team into their base and they won’t even know what hit them. Another good tactic is to bait the enemy team to show up on one side of the map and then quickly teleport your whole team into the Fire Giant pit. Depending on your team’s damage, you might be able to kill the Fire Giant before you even see any enemies near its lair.

Recap: All in all I really love Janus’ ability kit. The key to mastering him is to make your movement as fluid and swift as possible. Hit and run tactics are Janus’ strong point. Insane mobility, great team coordination and high late game damage are what makes Janus a very good and competitively viable mage. Plus: he’s a really fun god to play!

Thank you for reading my guide. If you have any questions or suggestions, please, leave a comment below this guide or send me a message on Twitter - @TheRikisak

[VEW]: "The way is open!"