I've been playing this game since the closed beta and I've been interested with tournament play ever since I reached a competitive level. Currently I am on Momentum Gaming and am playing the main tank role.
I've been rank 1 since reaching level 30 and current am hovering around 3.5k MMR on hotslogs.
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^This is me, I'm actually a corgi.
Johanna is a pure CC tank who excels at locking down enemies and basically just causing general havoc in teamfights. Her burst damage isn't that great but with certain builds she can put out a steady amount of DPS simply by staying in the fight for a long time.
In lane Johanna is very safe due to her trait iron skin allowing her to shrug off CC and gain a large shield. Additionally due to knight takes pawn at level 1 she is able to clear waves quickly and rotate to other lanes to help out.
Note: Although Johanna's knight takes pawn was nerfed she is still considered a "wave clear tank" and can clear waves quickly.
Iron Skin
(D):
This trait is very strong and is one of the main reasons why Johanna is such a strong and safe pick. She can use this to get out of sticky situations and also to run into the enemy team to initiate without getting kited by CC. Usage of this ability is one of the defining factors in what makes a good Johanna player. As the cooldown is 20 seconds and fairly long, wasting this ability in a teamfight is very detrimental.
Punish
(Q)
This spell is a low cooldown slow that hits enemies very near to Johanna. Usually this is used in conjunction with condemn to either slow the enemies that you just pulled in or to more quickly clear the minion wave. Due to its low cooldown and mana cost you should be spamming this spell in teamfights and in lane.
Condemn
(W)
This spell is johanna's bread and butter in teamfights and laning. You can use this spell to pull enemies together for your team's AOE, peel for your carries, and quickly clear lanes. In lane this skill is used to quickly clear waves and push the enemy up to their tower. An added bonus of this increased lane pressure is that it leaves you time to gank or threaten to gank other lanes which will relieve some of the pressure off of your teammates. In teamfights it is usually advised to attempt to hit multiple enemies with this skill unless you can guarantee a kill by pulling back a low health enemy.
Shield Glare
(E)
Deal 54 (+4 per level) damage to enemies and cause them to miss Basic Attacks for 1.5 seconds.
First of all, NEVER USE THIS SPELL FOR DAMAGE. Okay, so maybe you can use this spell for damage to clear your lane faster but never, never, never, use this spell to do a little more damage in teamfights. A 1.5 second AOE blind can be the difference between winning and losing a teamfight and therefore I believe the usage of this spell really separates the average Johanna's from the great ones. Try to hit as many heroes as you can with this spell, especially targeting the illidans, raynors, vallas and other autoattack based heroes.
Falling Sword
(R)
Honestly, I cannot suggest this talent at all. It's alright as a panic button to get out of bad situations but its effect is so much weaker compared to Johanna's other ult I suggest not taking it at all.
Blessed Shield
(R)
This is what I'm talking about. It's a great skill that can be used in a variety of situations. It's got a pretty long range and fast missile speed so after practice it shouldn't be missed too much. Anyway, you can use this skill to engage, to disengage, to lock down targets mid-teamfight, or cancel channeled abilities. I suggest taking this ult 99% of the time and aim for the target you really want to lock down with the skillshot since the initial stun is longer than the stun of the bounces.
Level 1
This talent can be viable if you are going for a sustain Johanna build maybe on maps such as infernal shrines, haunted mines, or battlefield of eternity where prolonged teamfights are common, however, personally I have never taken this talent in a serious competitive game as knight takes pawn is very strong.
I am not a big fan of block styled talents, I believe this talent is only worth taking on tanks if the enemy has a nova or some other very slow but heavy hitter.
Okay you don't need this mana, and it doesnt even give that much mana. This could only be useful in lane. DO NOT TAKE.
This talent is AMAZING. It actually was so amazing it was just nerfed but still is amazing. It clears waves and stuns merc camps for what feels like eternity. 99% of the time you will be taking this talent level 1 and not even thinking about it.
Level 4
You have shields on shields and you're naturally tanky, don't make your healer focus on your by picking this talent. Let your healer save the assassins.
You're a pure tank, you don't need damage.
Okay this skill is pretty great and if you hit many people in a teamfight you'll probably be able to pull again in only a few seconds letting you have a ton of control.
This skill is also great. It gives you a large burst heal, which allows your healer to focus on other players. Additionally it adds sustain with its passive of healing over time.
Conclusion: In this tier there are two very good choices. If you believe that you can survive against the enemy team without laws of hope i suggest taking eternal retaliation, however, if laws of hope is necessary to keep you in the fight you should definitely take it.
Level 7
Quicker cooldowns on all your abilities is generally pretty great for a tank. You'll always be right in the thick of the fight auto-attacking everyone so therefore you usually get great value out of this talent.
This talent is great for both escaping and catching running enemies. A movement speed bonus is very useful in this game and I often take this talent against enemies that have great escapes or position themselves very far away from the tank line.
You only have 3 basic abilities, all with fairly high cooldowns, therefore this skill won't cut down on iron skins cooldown very much. do not take.
This skill can be okay for clearing waves faster but generally is not advised to be taken.
Level 10
Usually no, talked about this in abilities section.
Almost always yes, talking about this in abilities section.
Level 13
I usually take this talent as Johanna as she usually is standing near many enemies throughout most of the teamfight. Johanna's ability to sit in the middle of a fight allows her to get value out of this talent. Additionally, this talent is great for removing zagara creep.
Despite sounding very good on paper, 20% of your shield is not a large amount. Additionally, your shield is rarely going to be broken in a normal 5v5 teamfight so the cooldown will generally not be reduced.
An increased slow does sound nice and it is a possible pick, however, it only affects those in range for your very short range Q ability.
Spell shield is a great pick but also very situational. Against a double mage (Jaina/KT) comp or an stacking azmodan this talent can show its worth, however, usually it is not very useful due to the current auto-attack meta.
Level 16
This tier has many viable choices, basically on the merit that they are all not extremely powerful.
This talent is quite strong as it can heal you for a lot if you hit multiple enemies during a teamfight. However, usually you will use shield glare towards the beginning of a fight to mitigate damage to your team. Therefore you won't gain the full healing value as you would have cast this skill before taking significant damage.
This skill is very strong as it spins around you several times, each time dealing damage. This skill along with burning rage lets you deal a fair amount of AOE damage in a teamfight.
This is the only talent I won't recommend in this tier because it really doesn't do a lot. 40% does seem like a lot of movement speed but when you're trying to engage on the enemy, they won't really be attacking you to proc it. Additionally, if you're losing a teamfight, you shouldn't be the first to run away as a tank, you should be trying to help your teammates get away. So generally I would not suggest this talent.
This talent is a very situational pick. Even though its been nerfed its still extremely strong against AA only champions like illidan or raynor. It cuts their DPS by 40% and is almost an always pickup against these heroes. However, against caster heavy teams this skill does nearly nothing.
Level 20
So, as i mentioned johanna has 3 lives. The only talent worth picking in this tier is indestructable as it makes Johanna obnoxious late game.
You're not picking this ult so this talent means nothing.
The increase stun is good but it's not an extra life.
This is an amazing talent. It basically gives you another life when you should have died. This shield is nearly unbreakable and you can run, heal, or even re-engage. I cannot think of a single reason why you shouldn't take this talent.
This talent is okay, but I would not take it on Johanna. Maybe if you were running triple tank it would get decent value, however this is rarely the case in hero league.
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