Johanna is possibly the most resilient tank in the game. Great early game wave clear with
Sins Exposed, blinds to mitigate damage from a distance, and extra shielding and unstoppable on a short cooldown let her wade into and out of battle at will. Her ultimate,
Blessed Shield, provides the critical ranged multi-stun that makes her kit as a whole one of the best out of any tank.
Pros: Very tanky, blinds, good peel, high wave clear, reliable escape, ranged stun.
Cons: Poor initiation, marginal crowd control among tanks, low damage.
Look to take or ban Joh on any map with a 1/4 split; Her wave clear is an integral part to a powerful early game 4 man rotation. Since she’s good at peeling and chasing but has rather low damage of her own she pairs well with high sustain damage dealers. Also look to fill in some of her marginal crowd control with more reliable and roots and stuns.
Level 1:
Laws of Hope is the go-to choice at level 1. Combining this self-sustain with
Iron Skin and
Shield Glare mean you'll rarely have to tap in the early game, allowing you to maintain the soaking you should be focusing on. And later it's still useful as a pinch self-heal when the team fights get ugly.
Reinforce can be taken in place of
Laws of Hope when the enemy team drafted an auto heavy comp. And by heavy, I mean two auto attackers or more as their main or sole source of damage. Just one auto attacker does not warrant this talent over
Laws of Hope.
Level 4:
Sins Exposed is the reason you chose Joh. She's a great tank in her own right, but the one thing that makes her leagues better than other tanks is her ability to clear waves instantly and consistently. It comes in at the right time, level 4, when the first objectives are going to be fought over and you can catch that one last wave of minions before arriving at the objective, or ensure you have the ability to double soak should the first fight go poorly.
Level 7:
Blessed Momentum is the choice here because more
Condemn and more
Shield Glare mean more influence.
Subdue is a trap; Completing the quest is nearly impossible and it's arguable even if you complete it that you wouldn't just rather be able to blind their auto-attacker again sooner with the CDR from
Blessed Momentum.
Level 10:
Blessed Shield is the clear choice here. In every situation, against any comp, you will never benefit from taking one of the worst ultimates in the game,
Falling Sword, over one of the best,
Blessed Shield.
Blessed Shield gives you a near instant ranged stun that has the benefit of bouncing to two other heroes, stunning them as well. If my saying that doesn't explain to you why it's superior to a slow-moving, extremely broadcast and so easily avoidable low damage slow with a micro-stun, then you may need to experience more
Mosh Pits and
Holy Word: Salvations and
Jug of 1,000 Cupss and
Taz'dingo!s and
Dragonblades, not to mention interrupting
Dragonqueen or
D.Va from getting back in her mech, or shutting down
Valeera as she over-commits thinking she got your back line, or preventing
Pyroblast from removing a team mate from the fight. In every situation you could experience, whatever you're doing with
Falling Sword, you could accomplish the same things more reliably with
Blessed Shield.
Level 13:
Blessed Hammer is my choice here simply because I find it more reliable aimless extra damage than the other two. Don't overlook the second effect of the talent. You should be casting
Blessed Hammer as you approach a fight
before casting
Shield Glare, because depending on the number of enemies hit with
Shield Glare you can potentially get a second
Blessed Hammer immediately.
Roar and
Holy Fire both have a gimmick to them that require the enemy to kind of 'play along' to maximize their damage, and in both cases the damage can only be dealt to people physically near Joh. Not only is
Blessed Hammer going to hit whoever is near you, but has the potential to hit them more than once as well as hit things farther away.
Level 16:
Holy Renewal is my recommendation here because, later in the game, hitting three or more heroes with
Shield Glare can give you a pretty good self-heal. It's just part of being reliable and consistent, and since you get more glares with
Blessed Momentum it can help you remain in the fight and let your healer focus on others. I do think Fanaticism and
Imposing Presence are fine choices too. You can make some very dramatic position plays with Fanaticism, and
Imposing Presence is again a situational pick based on how may auto-attackers the enemy has, and how well they've been doing at punishing you.
Level 20:
Blinded By The Light is the go-to choice at twenty. Again don't forget the second feature of this talent, that its CD is reduced per hero hit with
Shield Glare.
I like it more than
Radiating Faith because the power of
Blessed Shield is already there. It does what it needs to do, and the bonuses provided to that mechanic by
Radiating Faith are rather superfluous.
Indestructible is also superfluous when you can instead take the talent that will not only give you a huge shield, but your team mates huge shields as well. Not only is that your main focus as a tank, to protect your team mates (not just yourself,) but
Blinded By The Light also triggers whenever you need it, not only when you're about to die, and potentially leaves you and your team in a stronger position after the effects expire, where as you'll be near dead when the shield from
Indestructible expires.
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