LoL Season 12 is bringing big changes to Janna, here’s why

League of Legends’ 12th season is going to be shaking up a lot, including Janna.

Janna is a controversial champion in the bot lane, known for poking out enemies with relentless damage and shielding her marksman from all harm. Or doing absolutely nothing. In the first series of announced changes for the upcoming LoL season 12, Riot is trying to give Janna less oppressive laning and more utility.

Why is Janna getting changed in LoL season 12?

Janna is a champion whose design has aged in the decade since her release but has still remained evergreen. A few elements of her playstyle have proven problematic enough that Riot is already committed to changing her next season.

We have a Janna update for 12.1 that should be showing up on the PBE soon (feedback is appreciated).

Summary: We're draining lane poke power out of her W + AA's and focusing it into utility. Q is now a much stronger spell when used offensively. pic.twitter.com/rvpxtn722Y

— August (@RiotAugust) December 9, 2021

In LoL season 12’s first patch Janna will be losing power from her auto-attacks and some movement speed in order to make her harassment in lane more manageable. At the same time, her Q is gaining range, travel speed, and more power as she charges it up. Her tornado now travels a further minimum and maximum distance depending on charge time, and it will hit harder.

The tradeoff is her W changes her range and her shield will no longer have its cooldown partially refunded by knocking enemies airborne. These LoL season 12 Janna changes should reduce Janna’s feast or famine feeling by balanacing most of her use cases. All of these changes are slated to go live on patch 12.2.

When will LoL patch 12.2 launch?

LoL patch 12.2 is scheduled for Thursday, January 20, 2022.

Just like the standard release schedule, patches are set for every two weeks in 2022. Riot hasn’t yet announced any of the other changes that will fill up the 12.2 update, but it’s not unreasonable to expect some other small modernization efforts for other champions. These efforts are a long shot from a kit rework, but do help to make old champions feel less ancient in their play patterns.