Sporting a variety of talents that improve your CC and damage, the generalist build is a swiss army knife. It'll work well in all circumstances and can be easily modified on the go.
1
No Threat
2
Sonya
Bruisers have the least amount of reach of any hero class, so your slowing abilities are infuriating for them. Furthermore, Ice Floes tends to catch bruisers in the line of fire. Beware of the strong 1-on-1 duelists!
3
E.T.C.
All CC from tanks are dangerous and should be respected. You'll almost always include the enemy tank in one of your Ice Floes targets, though, so you have an easy time destroying them.
3
Anduin
Most healers can do little to stop your gameplan. Some might even get caught in your AoE firepower.
4
Zeratul
All melee assassins are very dangerous for Jaina. Count your blessings between a free Ice Block, Water Elemental, and loading all of your talents into your close range shotgun. Numbing Blast is essential in neutralizing the threat these assassins have. Frost Armor is an easy flex pick, if needed.
5
Valla
An enemy team composition with a heavy emphasis on ranged assassins is harder to deal with. Your Cone is very short, and you instead may be the one who gets kited around and die before contributing anything!
6
No Threat
7
No Threat
8
Chromie
You have little to no way of dealing with the power of an entrenched artillery hero. This is not a fight Jaina can win on fair terms - abuse vision, bushes, and the weight of your whole team to take them down.
Time and time again, you will be picking Jaina into enemy teams predominantly made up of melee heroes. Most melee heroes fall under the category of Tank/Bruiser, so Arcane Intellect for additional mana is very necessary. You'll always be in range of multiple enemies for Cone, so it is important to buff it as much as possible. Finally, include Armor shred.
1
Sonya
Bruisers become completely trivialized. Without any speed to reach someone, they can't heal, CC, or damage anyone.
2
E.T.C.
This build punishes melee heroes harder. Arcane Intellect at level 4 helps a lot with your mana deficit against enemy tanks.
3
No Threat
4
Anduin
Most healers can do little to stop your gameplan.
5
Zeratul
Some right-clicking melee assassins, like Butcher or Illidan, find the Lingering Chill super debilitating. However, you typically forgo Frost Armor in favor of mana with Arcane Intellect. This can leave you highly vulnerable.
6
Valla
Lacking FoF for a little damage makes you perform slightly worse against ranged heroes. You still beat them out in most scenarios.
7
No Threat
8
No Threat
9
Chromie
Zero range, less mana, less damage. Your hard matchup gets harder, but not necessarily impossible.
If you do not envision being able to hit 2+ enemies with your Cones, then you should opt for a more single-target focused build. You'll deal less overall damage in teamfights, but your Fort sieging abilities and single target damage output are even stronger than Cone builds. Good positioning with Frost shard piercing can make up for a lack of AoE damage, so be on the lookout for good lines of fire.
1
No Threat
2
No Threat
3
Sonya
Jaina is naturally strong against bruisers due to her trait. But this build does better against solo duelists, like Mal'Ganis, Imperius, or Illidan. You'll have better PvE damage, if nothing else.
4
Anduin
Most healers can do little to stop your gameplan.
4
Valla
Ranged assassins are rarely close enough to be caught in a multi-man Ice Floes. But they're always vulnerable to a Q. This build has higher single target DPS should you challenge a ranged assassin.
5
E.T.C.
Tanks are now a neutral-matchup. You will miss out on your glorious Ice Floes value, but you'll still perform adequately in a sustain-damage role.
6
Chromie
Slightly longer range and better macro potential puts you on a more even playing field. You still have less range on all of your other abilities, so it's mostly a team composition thing.
7
No Threat
8
No Threat
9
Zeratul
The inflexibility of not picking up Frost Armor at 4 in favor of Frost Shards makes this a harder matchup. Furthermore, you have fewer Cones to go around, so fewer Numbing Blast roots and guaranteed damage.
Enemy team filled with artillery mages? Chromies, Hammers, Junkrats giving you headaches? Then you must match the playing field! Your Frostbolts are the longest reaching abilities, so pour all resources in amplifying it. So long as you can apply a source of Chill via Elemental or other, you can relentlessly pursue and chip down an enemy of your choice.
1
No Threat
2
No Threat
3
Valla
With the inclusion of a long range Q and Ice Barrier for shields, you can poke and wither down ranged assassins.
4
Sonya
Bruisers are all up in your face, anyway, and you'll miss out on your lack of mana. Play at a super long arms length for safety.
4
Chromie
Between Water Elemental and long range Qs, you can easily takedown an artillery hero. Cast the Elemental in a favorable flanking position and start chasing them down.
5
Anduin
Most healers can do little to stop your gameplan.
6
No Threat
7
E.T.C.
With no mana talents to speak of, you'll run dry after two combo rotations against a tank. Not having Icy Veins in your pocket makes it much harder to takedown a tank.
8
No Threat
9
Zeratul
Pain and agony. Your only hope against a melee assassin is that your team can protect you during your 2.5s iceblock.
WARNING: Non-serious build. This is for fun. Do not pick in wide-open maps with no corridors or tight choke points, nor without a frontline, nor without team CC. Blizzard-focus is all about sieging enemy structures and following CC setup. Your tank is the anvil - you bring down the hammer. So long as your opponents are unable to move, you can do some serious devastation at no risk to yourself.
This build is extremely team dependent and you'll find yourself rigid in talent choices. It doesn't help that you're basically defenseless if you get caught out!
1
No Threat
2
No Threat
3
No Threat
4
No Threat
5
Chromie
You're now an artillery hero, but weaker! Congratulations, now control the battlefield with your AoE and long range damage.
6
Valla
Ranged assassins can get dove upon by your tank and you can follow up with long range abilities. You can outrange most heroes and zone them away from a fight, but don't count on killing them.
7
Sonya
Jaina can still slow, so she's ok vs bruisers. Blizzard has an above average chance of landing, but they can all duel you so easily it's not funny.
7
Anduin
Some healers can speed up or get an ally away from your blizzard. Most have access to cleanses against roots, so your Ring of Frost can get countered hard.
8
No Threat
9
E.T.C.
You represent zero kill pressure against the enemy tank. Most have mobility to avoid Blizzard.
"It's your inquisitive nature that I've come to rely on, child. That crazed fool's convinced that the world is about to end."
-Antonidas
Welcome, welcome everyone! My name is TheFreind, and I'm here to give you strategies on how best to exploit Jaina's power. We'll cover everything about her - abilities, combos, talents, what you should be doing, etc. I've stylized some section banners with "MAIN QUEST" and "BONUS QUEST" - please give the "MAIN" quests more attention, while the "BONUS" quests can be skipped. I'd prefer if you gave everything a read, but this guide is hitting 50,000 words and I won't force your time.
Why does my opinion matter? Haha, truthfully, it doesn't! I do not know everything under the sun about Jaina, nor am I professional player. I'll tell you about myself, though, for the sake of establishing my authority.
I've been playing Heroes of the Storm on and off for 10 years. I was accepted to play in the Beta, back when Sylvanas and Tomb of the Spider Queen were new. Last ranked season earlier this year, I got to Diamond 5 solo in a span of 18 games primarily playing Jaina and flex picking. If it weren't for high-MMR queue times being average ~10 minute wait time in my busy life where I just want to enjoy the game with my friends, I'd play more games.
For the sake of establishing my authority as a teacher for Jaina, I am the #1 Jaina NA and #2 worldwide according to the HeroesProfile.com leaderboards.
In this guide, I will share with you every secret that I've learned and every truth I follow. However, always remember that what I've written serves only as a starting point to you getting more comfortable on Jaina. Along the way, you will develop your own opinions, methods, and discoveries on your path to mastering Jaina. All of which will coalesce into a playstyle unique only to you. I didn't discover all of this on my own - I built upon the legacy of prior Jaina guides and knowledge, just like how you might one day make something of your own.
I should also state that a professional does not necessarily make for a good teacher. The art of passing knowledge from one to another is a skill, not unlike any other. So please, kick me in the shins and give me feedback on any topic that is vague or confusing. Anyhow, the fun is in the play, not in the books, so waste no time in getting out there and kicking some ***!
-- Show synergies and reasoning for Generalist Build --
Fingers of Frost[1] provides mana regeneration + 10% bonus damage upon completion. Frost Shards[4] will multiply your damage against heroes, mercenaries, and minions. Consider Frost Armor[4] for protection against dangerous assassins, or Arcane Intellect[4] for more fuel against tanks. Ice Floes[7] provides maximum value for its tier and high synergy with future talents. Elemental[10] is by and large the more flexible ultimate as it will shine well on every battlefield and composition. Icy Veins[13] is non-negotiable in many scenarios - you'll multiply your E's with Ice Floes + multiply your Qs for multiple enemies hit each. Numbing Blast[16] provides ample CC to your team, and can single handedly kill two+ enemy heroes at once with Icy Veins. You may find Northern Exposure[16] useful if the CC isn't necessary, and that there is a lot of health to chew through. Finally; Wintermute[20] will benefit from Frost Shard piercing, more frequent Ice Floes Cones, Cone rooting or armor shredding, and lastly will copy every ability supercharged in Icy Veins state.
Melee Dozer Build
Level
1
4
7
10
13
16
20
Primary
Viable Alternatives
-- Show synergies and reasoning for Melee-Dozer Build --
Do you see melee assassins, tanks, and bruisers in 3 or 4 quantity? Pick up a bigger, badder build. Most melee-heavy compositions are extremely vulnerable to the increased slow of Lingering Chill[1]. It's not a mandatory talent - but it often overshadows Fingers of Frost[1] in raw utility. Arcane Intellect[4] is the go-to due to high health bars; you need as much mana as possible. Ice Floes[7] is non-negotiable in the sheer value it provides you. More damage, slowing, and CC from rooting. Water Elemental[10] is a reliable staple, though Ring of Frost has potential value due to how likely they are to clump together and how nasty the root is to them. Icy Veins[13] is incredible with Ice Floes, and will synergize with Numbing Blast[16] to keep an entire team immobilized as you mow them like grass. Northern Exposure[16] deserves a mention -- there is no better opportunity to shred the armor of such beefy targets. But rooting makes melee heroes harmless, so I prefer the safety. Wintermute[20] for the penultimate upgrade to your damage and CC. Honorable mention to Deep Chill[20] to completely cripple the enemy team - if that is important to you.
Machine Gun Build
Level
1
4
7
10
13
16
20
Primary
Viable Alternatives
-- Show synergies and reasoning for Machine Gun Build --
Are you fighting on Battlefield of Eternity? Is the map 99% macro play and 1% proper team fighting? Is there an extremely annoying Mal'Ganis/Imperius who is shoving their face into you and your mates? Consider this build for additional single target firepower. Q piercing is essential - pick up Fingers of Frost[1] for mana regeneration and damage. Frost Shards[4] is mandatory to multiply your damage against the enemy team and mercenaries. Since all of your damage is frontloaded to your Q, you better make sure it can hit more than one enemy. Ice Lance[7] is the rockstar of this build -- high CDR and refreshment rate against one enemy. You can focus fire them without ever running out of chill time + take out structures and big monsters easier. Water Elemental[10] for added single target damage. Icy Veins[13] is not a strict requirement, but the build does lack a lot of AoE damage, so pick it up to really hammer down on an enemy. Pick your preference for level 16: the root[16] combo is absent, so armor shred[16] is awesome against an overconfident tank. Wintermute[20] is the final pick up to add much needed damage to your combo and obliterate fortifications.
Artillery Harasser Build
Level
1
4
7
10
13
16
20
Primary
Viable Alternatives
-- Show synergies and reasoning for Artillery Harrasser --
Fighting an unorthodox team of multiple ranged assassins + healer? Well, you no longer have a frontline to abuse Ice Floes on. So you need to match the enemy range capabilities. Pick up Winter's Reach[1] so you can catch enemies out of position and fight them. Frost Shards[4] is amazing with Ice Lance[7] so I heavily lean on to it. Note: you'll run out of mana frequently, but this shouldn't be a big concern vs squishy enemy teams. The important facet of this build is to find a way to chill an enemy, then hit them with an Ice LanceQ. Repeat the Qs until you kill your enemy. Water Elemental[10] is a great chaser and is much more reliable than Ring of Frost. Icy Veins[13] is hard to utilize since these games don't have tanks to ground a fight in. Instead, it's just a lot of short and miniaturized duels, so I find more value off Ice Barrier[13]. But Icy Veins[13] can certainly overwhelm a high priority enemy. Numbing Blast[16] is mandatory for the rare CC effect. If you catch an enemy, they'll likely die to your team. Wintermute[20] for long range mimicry, or consider Ice Blink[20] for safety and outplay potential.
Blizzard Build
Level
1
4
7
10
13
16
20
Primary
Viable Alternatives
-- Show synergies and reasoning for Blizzard build --
Trust me, I try so hard to make this build work. But it's terrible, it makes you extremely dependent on your tank and whole team, and you don't even deal the same amount of damage as a standard Jaina. But you have wombo-combo potential and strong waveclear to boot. Why aren't you playing Zagara, then? Since you have a lot of range, I like Winter's Reach[1] here. The other options are good if range isn't needed. Then, more mana with Arcane Intellect[4] (if you don't have FoF[1]) or Frost Shards[4] for more waveclear and damage. Icefury Wand[7] provides crucial CDR on the long CD Blizzard, plus additional basic attack damage you should take advantage at every opportunity. Ring of Frost[10] is necessary to help guarantee your Blizzard can deal AoE damage. Next up... sighStorm Front[13] for more range and radius. Snowstorm[16] for a little more damage (which a single AA can cover mind you). Then, you have the choice of Cold Snap[20] for Ring CDR + roulette on landing on a hapless foe, or Deep Chill[20] to provide the team with more utility since you are a non-hero as is.
And that there are ALL possible builds available. Mixing other types of talents together not shown will result in inefficiencies, whilst these are catered and specialized to the purpose they serve, even if the build altogether is worse than others. I recommend Generalist in most matches, and for beginner Jainas. Are you curious on what my thoughts are on all the talents? Further down below in the "Arcane Talents" section, I have a click-down menu to reveal my thoughts on every single talent in the game for her.
Passive: Jaina's Abilities Chill targets,Slowing them by 25% andamplifying damage taken from her Abilities by 50%. Lasts 4 seconds.
❢ Quest: Additionally, Jaina has a built-in quest for her to complete. Deal 12,000 Spell Damage to Chilled Heroes. Unlock the Improved Ice Block ability, allowing Jaina to become temporarily Invulnerable for 2.5 seconds [40s Cooldown][Free].
Additional Notes on Frostbite
Frostbite defines Jaina. Your usefulness to the team in fights comes in two forms: terrifying damage, and long lasting slows. Tag as many enemies as possible to slow them down for your team for as long as possible.
Jaina's damage numbers are lower than most heroes - but it is made up for the powerful, +50% crit modifier from Frostbite. On principal, use your abilities in quick succession to ensure they all benefit from the damage boost.
Don't forget about the Iceblock quest for Jaina! She is a short range mage, so she'll be in the thick of danger very often. Take part in small skirmishes and look to deal chilled damage to stack your quest. It'll come naturally, but if you are really far behind I highly recommend casting Water Elemental to provide you with more chill sourcing and raw damage.
Q -- Frostbolt
Active: [4 CD][30 Mana] Fire a shard of ice in a straight line, dealing 184 damage to the first target hit andChilling them.
Additional Notes on Frostbolt
Your bread and butter ability. Use it all the time on anything you want to kill.
Note that it'll stop on the first enemy hit (exception: Frost Shards[4] talent). Skirt around your enemy until you find a clear path, free of enemy summons and minions, to hit your desired target.
If you have no other abilities available, feel free to use Frostbolt as a Frostbite applicator. Plus, since the cooldown is 4 seconds, alongside Frostbite lasting 4 seconds, you'll be able to fit in a second follow up Frostbolt to deal bonus damage.
Should you have other sources of easy Frostbite to use, I recommend using them to slow your target down. Then, it becomes much easier to land your Frostbolt on someone who is slowed.
W -- Blizzard
Active: [15 CD][90 Mana] Bombard an area with 3 waves of ice, dealing 142 damage each. Damaged enemies areChilled.
Additional Notes on Blizzard
Your best wave and mercenary clearing tool. Be sure to let the minions group a bit by letting them crash before you target the center.
Blizzard tends to deal little damage against heroes in most situations. Use it in a combo first so that your other abilities can benefit more from Chill.
Aside from your ultimates, Blizzard is your basic method of chilling multiple enemy heroes at once.
Be judicial with Blizzard usage. It is extremely expensive in mana cost and long in cooldown. Follow up your teammate's CC or block off a common route to make best use of the ability.
E -- Cone of Cold
Active: [10 CD][40 Mana] Deal 220 damage to all enemies in a short arc in front of Jaina,Chilling targets.
Additional Notes on Cone of Cold
An extremely reliable and powerful source of damage for Jaina. Hit as many enemy heroes as possible with your Cones.
Since Cone of Cold has no projectile and instantly deploys its damage, use this factor to surprise your opponents with its damage.
The talents that bolster Cone of Cold are very powerful. I highly recommend picking them up.
Heroic -- Ring of Frost
Active: [70 CD][70 Mana] After a 1.5 second delay, create a Ring of Frost in an area that deals 310 damage andRoots enemies for 3 seconds on the outer perimeter. The ring persists for 3 seconds afterward,Chilling any enemies who touch it.
Additional Notes on Ring of Frost
Although immensely powerful, Ring of Frost suffers a lot from having enemies dodge it narrowly during the windup. Coordinate with your team to chain together CC so that you'll get opportunities to land it. Alternatively, let the battle run its course and utilize your slowing to catch someone off guard.
Be sure to hold onto Blizzard until after you use Ring of Frost. Your rooted enemies cannot leave the area that Blizzard hits!
Heroic -- Summon Water Elemental
Active: [60 CD][60 Mana] Summons a Water Elemental at target location. The Water Elemental's Basic Attacks deal 62 damage,splash for 25% damage andChill. Lasts 20 seconds.
The Ability can be reactivated to command the Water Elemental. Target an enemy to focus fire it; OR target the ground to force move the Elemental to a location.
Additional Notes on Summon Water Elemental
Don't discount the damage you see. That's level 0 numbers, so at level 10 it'll deal about 90 damage per hit. THEN, it benefits off Chill damage, further boosting it by +50% to 145 damage a hit!
Water Elemental is the absolute best source of easy Chilling at your disposal. Once summoned, command it to hit your desired target. Its attacks also splash to apply Chill, so re-command it to hit dead centers of mass to help your team.
Feel free to play significantly more aggressively when Elemental is ready to be used. It's a potent duelist and avenger, should you fall.
Don't cast your Elemental in an area that is being pummeled by enemy abilities. If it dies too soon, you won't get any value off of it. The longer it lives, the better.
If there is one thing I want to talk about, then it is about Jaina's trait. Frostbite is vital to her damage output and utility. All of Jaina abilities inflict a 25% slowing chill to any enemy struck. All of Jaina's spells will deal +50% bonus damage on chilled targets. This property intrinsically establishes Jaina as a burst mage. She wants to unload her entire combo in an instant to take advantage of that damage boost.
Here's the catch: the "applicator" spell that inflicts chill won't be boosted by the bonus damage. So - what's the best sequence for your abilities? For all scenarios, seek to inflict chill using your free sources, and weakest abilities if otherwise. Water Elemental, Frost Armor[4], Iceblock expiration, and Blizzard are excellent "initiators" to the rest of your combo. Ring of Frost can kick down the door to a huge fight - though it is noteworthy that it deals extreme base damage and can benefit from being chill-amplified by another source.
Quick Cast Settings
In my opinion, Quick Cast is mandatory on Jaina, and it is a setting that will highly improve your experience on her. "Quick Cast" means you will cast your ability on key press, rather than calibrating the ability's range and confirming with a click.
Due to Jaina's insane Icy Veins cooldown reduction, you'll be flinging abilities like there is no tomorrow; so you may find clicking after each ability a hinderance to your mobility. It's also important because it improves the speed on her extreme burst damage, which is a handy quality in confirming kills.
Setting up Quick Cast is easy. Go to SETTINGS > HOTKEYS > QUICK CAST. It's up to you if you want to change your "Global" settings to affect all Heroes by default. For our purposes - scroll down the list until you find Jaina. Set all of her abilities and activatable hotkeys to "ON". There is one possible exception - Ring of Frost is a delicate powerhouse with a strange hitbox. I keep that setting "ON RELEASE" so that I can double check the radius before I cast it.
Fastest combo:
>>>
>>>
Blizzard impacts
>>>
>>>
Frostbolt impacts
By the time the 1st wave lands, your Frostbolt will immediately connect afterwards and your E is instant. This is great if surprising an enemy is important. Like a Genji or Varian, since they have access to the Protected buff to give them damage invulnerability, doing a quick combo before they react is important.
Chill first, aim after
>>>
Blizzard impacts
>>>
>>>
Very similar to the previous combo sequence, except that you wait for Blizzard to apply a slow so that is easier to land your Q. Your E is far too important to blow on applying chill. I recommend this sequence when time isn't an issue, but potentially missing your target is.
One-two punch
>>>
Wait 0.25 seconds
>>>
>>>
Frostbolt impacts
This simple combo is about applying as much instant damage as possible. Your Q has a travel time and short cast time, but your E is instant with a short cast time. Hence, fire out your Q and let it almost reach your target before you press E. You instantly apply two hard hitting abilities worth of damage. If you can apply any form of Chilling before you do this combo, all the better!
Ideally, you want to practice the timing so that your Q applies chill and your E crits. You deal slightly more damage and you benefit from her powerful Conetalents.
Sustained Assault
>>>
Frostbolt impacts
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Wait 0.5 seconds
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>>>
...
An important concept to remember is that your Q has a 4 second cooldown, your trait lasts for 4 seconds. Make sure that you can wait for its cooldown to progress before you refresh the Chill. Now, your subsequent Q will also get boosted.
Talents
You must think of your talents for chill-priority. Cone of Cold is significantly more powerful when hitting chilled targets via Ice Floes[7] and Numbing Blast[16] talents. Meanwhile, Northern Exposure[16] is best used as either initiator or 2nd-to-initiator. If you were to go for a Icelance[7] heavy build, then it should be used last to ensure hitting a chilled target for refunding the cooldown.
As such, re-organize the basic combos above to ensure your talents are being benefitted from. Many of them even outstrip priority in ability sequence. Their effects are vital to Jaina's endurance in a fight; you don't need to hit the gas pedal even harder when all of the aforementioned combos only take half a second to complete.
Patience
Chaining together your abilities for the frost-amplified damage and bonus effects is so important that I wait for my cooldowns, rather than flinging them raw w/o chill. Until I have a minimum of 2 abilities ready (or Elemental is in play), that's when I get casting. TIP: You may hold off on casting a ready ability until your second ability's CD is < 3 seconds. Since Frostbite's chill is 4 seconds long, you'll have it ready in time to do a critical hit.
Icy Veins
When you have Icy Veins[13], you can almost forget about combo sequence. Just smash your head on your keyboard and you'll do great.
While Jaina's abilities are straightforward, I wanted to talk more in depth about her heroic abilities since they are rather important.
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Water Elemental
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When to Pick:
Water Elemental is highly versatile and will work well anywhere, anytime. There's never a bad scenario to pick Elemental. If you were pressed to make a decision, then I pick Elemental in order to cover Jaina's weaknesses.
- 1) Jaina does not do well when she's zoned away from a fight by a highly dangerous duelist. She wants to be amongst her team and her abilities to be affecting multiple enemies. Elemental is essentially a second hero, wearing 70% of Jaina's stats whilst repeatedly applying a nasty slow to your aggressor.
- 2) Tanks, in particular ones with spell armor, are big problems. Jaina's burst damage is exceptional and can kill many heroes in one swoop, but she won't have the endurance to threaten anything when it's still standing tall and healthy. Elemental contributes a gargantuan amount of single-target focused damage to take down the tank. Furthermore, tanks cannot kill the Elemental, and are highly unwilling to spend their CC on anything that isn't a hero.
- 3) Highly mobile assassins can run circles around a Jaina. All of her abilities are skillshots and are dependent on one another's hit chance. Once she blows her cooldowns, there's not much Jaina can do to stop them from killing her. Water Elemental can apply continuous, reliable pressure without any fear of missing its damage. Should the worst happen and Jaina does die, she can command the Elemental from beyond the grave to still contribute to a fight.
- 4) Open maps with a lot of ground to run are not in Jaina's best interest. Such maps give opponents freedom to spread out and avoid her devastating area damage. Elemental too benefits from having more places to run -- the Elemental rarely dies to focus fire, but very frequently suffers a lot of stray area damaging abilities that so happen to harm it. Giving it full freedom to run off the leash gives you options to chase the healer or other heroes.
How to use:
It will easily boost your damage over the course of a fight by +2000. When you summon it, be sure to keep a second eye on what it's doing to get the most out of it. Let it focus the target you're killing, or have it splash a freezing slow on everyone, or sick it on the enemy healer/tank. You don't want to leave it fighting enemy ranged right-clickers, since they can swiftly kill the Elemental without expending any resources. Feel free to move it out of focus fire and re-engage.
If you have a feeling you can score a kill on an out-of-position enemy, do not hesitate to drop the Elemental directly on top of them! Fleeing enemies have no time to kill the Elemental, so you can place it as close as possible so they can't escape.
I prefer summoning Elemental in bushes if I get an opportunity to. It reveals the bush, hides the summoning animation, is often placed away to the side, and the Elemental will have time to launch an auto attack. When enemy teams see the Elemental come up first in the open, they know a fight's about to break out and will brace themselves. Or they just run for the hills. By concealing the 1 second wind-up time for Elemental, it can catch the enemy team off guard. You can unleash a fully-chilled combo and practically obliterate an enemy before chasing after the rest.
Your Elemental's only way of dying is suffering accidental area damage, or by stepping up too far and getting right clicked. The best way to remedy both problems is to cast Elemental as far as you can to the side, but still at max-range from one enemy. This spaces the Elemental far out so it won't get splashed on, and by limiting its presence to the closest enemy (most likely a frontline tank), it won't be in danger. Now it has free reign to apply pressure for the full 20 second duration.
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Ring of Frost
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When to Pick:
On the other hand, RoF is a lot more team and map dependent. Almost the inverse of Elemental. Should your team have a reliable way of bringing enemies together or to keep them CC'd, RoF can be utilized to devastating effect. It is simultaneously the damage and CC payoff for such a combo, especially when chill-boosted. I love picking RoF when...
- 1) I have friendly heroes with AoE CC ultimates. ETC, Garrosh, Uther, KTZ come to mind. These heroes act as initiators so the hard-to-hit RoF can extend the suffering. This is called being the "Hammer" to the "Anvil."
- 2) Rather than being the "Hammer," RoF can instead set up your team for their damage. Falstad, Orphea, Maiev, Mephisto love seeing clumped up and crippled opponents. This here is the "Anvil" where your team does the hammering.
- 3) Maps with tight corridors and limited walking space are prime candidates for Ring gaming. A Jaina that can flank from the shadows will have a high chance of landing an unfair Ring that opponents cannot run out of.
How to use:
First thing you should do is to identify how your team could set up a good Ring for you. Most have CC or some sort of knockback. Allow them to do their thing first and then cast RoF on an immobilized enemy.
Should you not have any hard CC, I recommend slowing enemies with your other abilities and wait for the fight to become somewhat chaotic. Then, unleash the Ring! Hitting a slightly slowed opponent helps your odds tremendously, and the chaos can make them react slower to the ring coming up. It may be a slow wind-up with a clear sound effect, but the visual ring is not super visible. Exploit that fact with other abilities flying about!
The aiming reticle is trickier than most skillshots. Get a bit of practice in, throw out those Rings frequently! Every inconsequential miss makes the next important Ring more likely to hit. The 70s cooldown is pretty forgiving.
Numbing Blast[16], a level 16 talent, can greatly bolster the odds of you hitting a Ring of Frost. Root an enemy, and then drop the edge of the ring on your enemy. Anybody that you've caught with your minor root is guaranteed to get blasted by the Ring.
Lastly, abuse vision. Humans that get surprised react twice/thrice as slow as those who expect it. If you suspect the enemy team is doing a mercenary camp, ESPECIALLY A BOSS, you have a prime opportunity to approach them unseen. Against a cluster of enemies that aren't expecting you, the results can be horrific to behold.
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Ice Block
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Whilst we are on this chapter, let's talk about Jaina's Iceblock. It is a highly desired talent on Heroes that have it, situated between levels 13-20; but Jaina gets it all for free! Becoming completely invulnerable to everything is an absurdly powerful effect. Let's talk some more about it.
Survival Instincts
Keep your wits about by keeping your mind open to possibilities. What Heroes do the enemies have? Is there an important ultimate I should dodge? Thinking about these will make you anticipate them in a fight sooner, letting you use Iceblock at a faster rate. Speed is the difference between life and death with the power of Invulnerability. Of course, your reflexes will kick in and you should always have your finger on the "1" key for any danger. Also, obey your gut feeling. It's often times right more than you know.
Avoid the full duration
Unlike Dota 2 or League, HotS has stasis abilities that can be cancelled after a 0.5 second delay. They're never forced to last the full duration, which is incredibly useful in increasing your survivability.
It is ill-advised to wait out the full duration on your Iceblock. Opponents can clearly see the remaining duration from a yellow bar that ticks down under your health. Hence, they'll prepare slow abilities with windup right as you unthaw automatically. You'll come out of it stunned and unable to cast your abilities.
Hence, it's immensely better to retain the element of unpredictability by unthawing early at some point. You've avoided the most important abilities from the enemies - there's no need to stay in the Iceblock. Get out of there before you make yourself an easy target for the next batch of abilities.
Of course, there's a time and place for when you need to stay in the Iceblock. If an assassin is killing you, staying in it for as long as possible gives your team more time to neutralize them. If there's a Graviton Surge under you, there's no point to unthaw because you'll get sucked in and take damage. These are good situations to stay in the Iceblock.
But as a rule of thumb, get in the habit of cancelling it early.
Cooldown your Abilities
After you unload all of your abilities, mages don't have anything else to contribute to a fight. Jaina shares this attribute as well. Her basic attacks are weak. Although moving around is important, that's not going to kill anybody anytime soon. So what do we do in this brief window of time? That's when we enter Iceblock! Your cooldowns continue to tick down while you are completely safe from harm. Once you exit Iceblock, you'll have another Q and E ready to be used.
Of course, don't just Iceblock in the middle of nowhere because I tell you. Get a feel for how the fight is unfolding. Most of the time it's just better to move to a more advantageous position. But if I feel like I'm about to get some danger or damage headed my way because I'm in the enemy team, I may just dig my heels in and enter Iceblock to make sure nothing bad happens while I wait for more abilities.
The best Offense is a good Defense
In my opinion, Iceblocks used when you're aggressively killing an enemy have a higher likelihood of you killing an opponent/winning a fight/surviving a fight than being forced to use it defensively. I just notice this pattern occur over and over. Why is that? It's because you're using Iceblock when you want to, rather than when you need to. If you're being assaulted by your enemies, sure, Iceblock is great and all but it immobilizes you in place! It's very easy for the enemy team to force you to Iceblock and subsequently surround you. Now you're in massive trouble. Maybe you live, maybe you take an enemy with you, but you're probably dying.
That's why you should reverse the situation. Jaina is a short ranged mage - so when you step up to deal damage, you're always in range of the enemy to retaliate back on you. Especially since your "strong CC" is just slowing and rooting, of which those don't prevent enemies from attacking. By pre-emptively putting yourself into stasis, you protect yourself from any knee-jerk reactions. Someone's getting hurt big time, of course they'll panic and try to use abilities. But you're one step ahead! Plus, your abilities are cooling down safely, so you'll have another round of abilities ready to go when you unthaw. Most enemies will survive one full rotation of Jaina's burst damage. No one survives the second rotation of Jaina's burst damage. And by making yourself invulnerable and immune to CC in-between your two combos, you completely prevent the enemy team from stopping you.
What's even better is that Jaina sets herself apart from other Heroes that can stasis when on the offensive. How? She directly slows and roots enemies. Immobilizing yourself can allow enemies to just walk away from you, true, but you don't get to do that against Jaina. Her CC keeps her enemies near when she comes back out of Iceblock.
Faster on the draw
Let me tell you a situation from experience (it feels weird describing it in 3rd person, just follow along). You're Jaina at 80% health. You just blew all of your abilities on an enemy Sylvanas, who is brought down to 20% health. Your Q or E will kill her if they connect. You enter Iceblock. Sylvanas used her Haunting Wave, but still has her Wailing Arrow available. How does she survive this?
She could try to run, but that's not possible because she's slowed and Jaina will just give chase. She could try to scare away Jaina by wounding her grievously. But Jaina knows she just needs one more Cone of Cold to guarantee the kill, so she's not backing off. Sylvanas is on a timer. The most likely course of action is for her to use her Wailing Arrow in one of three ways:
A) If Jaina is in Iceblock, Sylvanas could try to use her ultimate and predict that Jaina will unthaw early. It's a risky gambit relying on Jaina making a mistake by not reacting in time to stop herself from unthawing. If Jaina just waits in Iceblock, the Wailing Arrow will miss.
B) Sylvanas could try to shoot out her ultimate and detonate it if Jaina unthaws under it. But she doesn't know when or ifJaina unthaws, so she's forced to react. Let's optimistically assume her reaction speed is 0.25 seconds. Jaina, however, knows all the variables. She can unthaw and then immediately cast Cone of Cold in 0.125 seconds. Twice the speed that Sylvanas reacts in a best case scenario. Sylvanas loses the quickdraw and dies in every simulation.
C) Sylvanas waits to use Wailing Arrow for 2 seconds until Jaina is 0.5 seconds away from unthawing automatically. This guarantees she silences Jaina, but that relies on her making a mistake of using Iceblock for full duration. Besides, Sylvanas doesn't know if Jaina will unthaw early, but her certainty increases with each passing second. However, 2 seconds is an important number for Jaina because of Ice Floes[7] or Icy Veins[13]. Jaina has the power to unthaw and cast her Cone of Cold (or her Frostbolt) at the 2 second mark, killing Sylvanas either before she sends the arrow or before it's in range to silence Jaina.
This is the power of using Iceblock offensively, and by waiting for your cooldowns. In every scenario, Jaina is in full control of the encounter. It's her game to lose to make a mistake. But when played perfectly, no Hero can stop Jaina from unthawing and casting a 0.125 second quick Cone of Cold.
Purge debuffs and poison
Stasis is the most advanced form of protection because it applies Invulnerability. You get to cleanse not only CC, but also debuffs and damage over time. You come out of the Iceblock a "fresh" hero, as if nothing was hitting her mere moments ago. I play Jaina aggressively because I know I can purge CC that comes my way. Poison Heroes can't hope to kill Jaina before she absolutely annihilates them with her burst damage, only to see her healthbar cleansed of all poison after the stasis. Many Heroes rely upon a debuff, mark, or combo piece that enables the rest of their abilities. Stasis throws a wrench in their plans. Example - Maiev tags you with her pull, hoping to drag you closer. Or Kel'Thuzad manages to land a chain on you. It's a case by case scenario, so you need first-hand experience with other Heroes to know best. But it's immensely strong when you understand it.
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Icy Veins
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There are many Jaina players that have never bothered witnessing the resplendent glory of Icy Veins at level 13. I have no idea why. Still, this is essentially another ultimate for Jaina, and as such I must give you pointers on how to use it effectively.
In terms of priority in expenditure, it all depends on your situation. Refer to this list, using the first possible option if available and going down it if not.
If in a 1v1 situation...
1. If Water Elemental is available, only use Elemental. It is a potent duelist and will let you overpower any Hero.
2. If you don't have Water Elemental, use Icy Veins. The 5 spell rotations you receive will incinerate even tanks.
3. If you're finding yourself in some trouble, even when Elemental is on the field, then feel free to power up with Icy Veins to ensure you don't die.
4. Alternatively, with Ring of Frost, you should prioritize using Icy Veins to defend yourself and save RoF for teamfights. It's best to avoid picking fights by yourself without Water Elemental ideally - but if it comes down to it, scoring a kill with Icy Veins on an important Hero before an objective is worthwhile.
5. No Icy Veins? Ok fine, hit your hail mary Ring of Frost on your enemy. I highly recommend slowing or rooting them first before you fire it off.
If in a teamfight...
1. Activate Icy Veins as soon as you snag 2 or more Heroes with Ice Floes[7]. Keep casting abilities.
2. If you blew Cone of Cold with no effective Ice Floes, back off to recharge. But if the fight is getting juicy, then activate Icy Veins to quickly refresh your cooldowns and get back into it.
3. When Wintermute[20] is on the field, I'm more likely to use Icy Veins for sheer volume of abilities on a single high priority target.
4. Finally, when you need to kill just one more person to win the objective, put Icy Veins on full blast.
All in all, use Icy Veins when in combat. Definitely use it when you are fighting a cluster of enemies. It really is as simple as, "I need more gas. Time to refill!"
For all builds, Level 1 and 4 are your most flexible. You may slot in other options should you deem them better suited for the map and enemy composition. Honorable mention goes to level 13 - Ice Barrier[13] is a respectable pick that can give you a lot of hardiness. Surviving at all is more important than trading your life spectacularly.
I recommend reading my analysis on these key talents - Ice Floes[7], Icy Veins[13], Numbing Blast[16], Wintermute[20].
-- Show full analysis on all talents --
Green indicates "Recommended", "Very effective", "Flexible and useful"
Red indicates "Not advised", "Average talent for niche scenario", "Uncompetitive on its tier"
Niche
Winter's Reach
● Uncompetitive ● Talent Rigidity
Increases therange andtravel speed of Frostbolt by 30%.
For when you need to match those team compositions with long-range reach. If approaching the enemy team's backliners won't result in immediate death, then you do not need this talent. You still need the rest of your abilities to kill them, don't you? A single bolt from the blue isn't cut for the job.
Situational
Lingering Chill
● Composition Dependent ● Consistent Use
Increases the duration of Chill from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
When planning to take Arcane Intelligence at level 4 for when I need an outrageous amount of mana, I'm left with picking up utility or more damage at level 1. Lingering Chill is unbelievably annoying to enemy bruisers that beg to get in range to deal their damage. A 6 second 25% slow feels like an eternity. A longer chill effect also means a longer window of time for you to hit them with your abilities for bonus damage.
This talent is 100% unnecessary. I pick it for the rage inducing factor. Or if I want to do Lingering chill[1] + Deep Chill[20] (+ Frost Armor[4] for the memes) to provide an unbelievable amount of CC for my team.
❢ Quest: Gather Regeneration Globes to increase Jaina'sMana Regeneration by 0.1 per second, up to 2 per second.
❢ Reward: After gathering 20 Globes, thedamage bonus from Frostbite is increased by 10%.
One of my favorites! A very simple, yet useful talent for Jaina. You'd be surprised how much that bonus mana regen helps to keep you afloat throughout the game. Then, you get +10% bonus damage when you complete the quest! Completing your quest as soon as possible is your early game objective. Go to a lane, cast Blizzard , grab the regen orb and go to the next lane. Keep doing this until you're done. A smooth early game will let you finish the quest by level 7. If a more hectic game, then typically level 13, which is right on time for Icy Veins[13].
Recommended
Frost Shards
● Performance Booster ● Synergistic
Frostbolt will now pierce the first two targets.
Your Frostbolt now pierces to hit more targets. In most games, you don't quite need unlimited mana, and you don't need the defensive utility of Frost Armor[4]. Frost Shards is the most useful talent in this tier in increasing your damage output in a fight. Say goodbye to your frustrations of landing a pretty strong combo on someone, only to have your Frostbolt hit something meaningless!
Situational
Arcane Intellect
● Value Talent ● Map/Team Dependent
Dealing damage to a Chilled target returnsMana to Jaina.Basic Attacks return 5 Mana and Abilities return 20.
Passive: While above 75%Mana, Jaina gains 10%Spell Power.
Infinite mana at your fingertips. Fingers of Frost[1] does a great job giving you mana for all purposes, but not quite enough to sustain minute-long fights. Arcane Intellect is an excellent pick against tanky heroes so you can keep casting abilities without hitting the brakes. The 10% Spell amp is a nifty boost for the initial stages of a fight. Recalling home and replenishing to full mana before an objective teamfight begins will help with an initial combo. But, seriously, don't worry about that 10% Spell amp - I never think about it and perform just fine. It's a mana talent to me. Your decision making and urgency of being on the field is significantly more important. Fingers of Frost[1] in conjunction with, though overkill, will completely solve your mana issues. Not only that - it'll guarantee you stay over the >75% mana threshold for the spell amp, and you'll have Chill bonus damage for a total of +20% damage!
Situational
Frost Armor
● Opponent Dependent ● Unlocks New Capabilities
Enemies thatattack Jaina are Chilled. Additionally, every 10 seconds, Jaina gains 75PhysicalArmor against the next enemy HeroBasic Attack, reducing the damage taken by 75%.
A sleeper talent. I love, love love love Frost Armor. Against melee assassins, or ranged assassins dependent on auto attacking, they're going to want to kill you. At some point in their combo, it will involve auto-attacking. Automatically inflicting a slow helps so much in deterring them away, kind of like having bright vibrant spots to deter predators. The chilled effect can allow you to retaliate in full force - every ability, even the initiator, gets amplified. Hitting a slower target helps accuracy, too.
That 75% armor is splendid against slow, hard hitters. Thrall, Imperius, Ragnaros, Butcher can't do anything to remove the block themselves. This tremendously improves your odds of survival.
It is highly recommended to pick up Numbing Blast[16] at level 16. Got hit? Enemy is chilled. Turn around and cast Cone of Cold -- automatic root and death sentence!
Flexible
Ice Lance
● Consistent Use ● Flexible ● Alternative
Hitting a Chilled target with Frostbolt reduces itscooldown by 1.5 seconds and restores 10Mana.
A former meta-staple to Jaina gameplay, and a faithful servant for many long years. Flexible, in constant use, and powerful. Unlike Ice Floes[7], where it has a substantially more powerful effect, Icelance[7] activates on any chilled target. Ice Floes only works on enemy Heroes. Hence, Icelance[7] gives Jaina a significant boost in map presence. She can kill any merc camp on her own, take down bosses or huge monster objectives efficiently, and destroy forts without breaking a sweat. Not to mention that she still retains very good teamfight potential. The fact that Frostbolt's CD is less than 4 is critical. You can continuously benefit from hitting a chilled target + reapply it for the next Frostbolt.
Note, it's EXTREMELY recommended to pick up Frost Shards at level 4 if you plan on taking Icelance[7]. If you're casting Frostbolt twice as often, then why shouldn't you double or triple your damage output? Secondly, the piercing effect helps a lot ensuring that no random entities block your Q from hitting a chilled enemy.
The 10 bonus mana you get is a nice touch. It makes up for lack of Arcane Intelligence at level 4, and it ensures that spamming Q isn't the main reason you run out of mana.
Recommended
Ice Floes
● Very Effective ● Unlocks New Capabilities ● Synergistic
Increase the width of Cone of Cold by 100%, and cause each Hero hit to reduce itscooldown by 2 seconds, doubled against Chilled Heroes, up to a maximum of 8 seconds per use.
An unreasonably over-stated talent. Free CDR on your Cone is awesome! Getting the 2x CDR for hitting chilled enemies is a very easy condition to achieve. There are plenty of opportunities to hit 2+ enemy heroes in almost every enemy team composition. When you do get that -8s CD, you can keep enemies chilled indefinitely. Each wave does withering amounts of damage until they plop over and die.
If you thought this talent was pretty strong, wait until your future levels.
Not Advised
Icefury Wand
● Anti-Synergistic● Opportunity Cost ● Alternative
Basic Attacks against Chilled enemies deal 50% more damage and lower thecooldown of Blizzard by 1.25 seconds. Effects are doubled against enemy Heroes.
The most important perk to Blizzard builds. Centering an entire build around a 15 second CD is... not most wise. Being able to cast more blizzards to take advantage of your talents is extremely important. Optimal use of the talent effectively turns the ability into a 5 second cooldown! Also, the bonus damage you get off your auto attacks is nothing to scoff at. Suddenly, you hit as hard as a Raynor! You should auto attack as much as possible since you need more damage to make up for your lack of CDR in other abilities.
If you're not committing to the Blizzard build, Icefury Wand is just a little weak when compared to Icelance[7] or Ice Floes[7]. It's a perfectly fine talent, especially at level 7 right as you pick it up. The real reason it's such an awkward talent is because it is has anti-synergy with Icy Veins[13], the most important Jaina talent. When supercharged by Icy Veins[13], you are constantly casting ability after ability. You literally do not have the time to stop and right click. Furthermore, much of Icy Vein's explosive power is highly reliant on your level 7 talent pick. Ice Floes to devastate swathes of enemies; Icelance[7] to obliterate a single high priority target, or fort. Why should I choose Icefury Wand when pursuing a regular build? Blizzard is just a minor component to combos of most builds. And if I really wanted more single target damage, be it for teamfights or NPC killing, Icelance is does a better job.
After a 1.5 second delay, create a Ring of Frost in an area that deals 310 damage andRoots enemies for 3 seconds on the outer perimeter. The ring persists for 3 seconds afterward,Chilling any enemies who touch it.
In games where both teams engage in huge, heavy teamfights where the formation is relatively stable, you will need some big guns. Ring of Frost will punish enemy teams that clump too close together. Rooting any target not a tank is guaranteed to die to your focus fire. Your team will appreciate the long roots you inflicted as they finish off their foes.
The real power of Ring of Frost is slotting it in alongside a team with huge teamfight ultimates. Yours may take 1.5 seconds to fire off, and hence it is quite hard to land. But if you got set ups and the enemy team is forced into sitting still due to your teammates, then it's easiest thing in the world to land. The subsequent wombo combo will eviscerate entire teams or cleave through a few people without mercy.
Watch out for cleanses of all types. It will completely invalidate the ultimate.
Recommended
Summon Water Elemental
● Performance Booster ● Short Cooldown ● Synergistic
Summons a Water Elemental at target location. The Water Elemental's Basic Attacks deal 62 damage,splash for 25% damage andChill. Lasts 20 seconds.
The Ability can be reactivated to command the Water Elemental. Target an enemy to focus fire it; OR target the ground to force move the Elemental to a location.
Water Elementals from Warcraft 3, my beloved! In our time of need, you return more powerful than anyone can imagine. Elemental is extremely versatile and will work in any situation. A low cooldown, high uptime summon that enables yourself to do a withering amount of damage. If you need more damage, you will take Water Elemental. If you envision getting into a bunch of small skirmishes due to the shape of the map, Elemental is vital. The cooldown's so short you'll have it for every fight and few people can kill it swiftly on their own.
Casting it first and sicking it on an enemy you're about to kill will kickstart your combo hard. First, enemy is slowed so it is easier to land your abilities. Second, EVERYTHING is frost-damage boosted. Thirdly, the Elemental is outputting ~120 damage per second for 20 whole seconds. Do the math. Too late, enemy's dead!
Uncompetitive
Storm Front
● Opportunity Cost ● One Trick Pony
Increases thecast range of Blizzard by 75% and its radius by 30%.
First of all, I want to write a complaint to every Jaina that picks Storm Front absent mindedly. You have Icy Veins[13] to choose on level 13. PICK THAT INSTEAD! Your talents were looking so fine and then you got... THIS??
Okay. Rant over. Storm Front is an unnecessary talent. It does nothing to help you kill. Extra range on your Blizzard is meaningless when you're not close enough to use your abilities. Remember, the bulk of your damage comes from chaining Frost-amplified spells together. Not sporadic, individual abilities not boosted by Frost. Furthermore, additional radius is nice and all but you're investing a whole talent to increase the odds that your Blizzard hits 2 waves instead of 1. Or maybe you tagged a second person who will move out of the way. You could have achieved the same results with better blizzard placement...
There is only one reason you're getting Storm Front and that's when you have initiator tanks with CC that dive deep to deliver it. Think Diablo, Anub'Arak, Muradin. In this situation, you'll always be able to drop Blizzard on a stunned enemy no matter how far back you are. You can always support your front line and the odds are good you will land all 3 waves on an enemy. That's it! That's the only use-case for this talent. And even then... you can still do exactly that if you were just a bit closer to your tank when he engages an enemy. God I hate this talent's mere existence.
Situational
Ice Barrier
● Consistent Use● Alternative ● Opportunity Cost
Gain a Shield for 25% of Spell Damage dealt to Chilled targets. The Shield lasts 4 seconds.
Here's an actual, useful talent that can benefit Jaina in her deficiencies! Most of her talents have something to do with doing more damage, but this is a rare defensive talent. In games that you are being targeted due to the threat you represent, Ice Barrier gives you that much needed durability.
If your team is communicative and are willing to peel for you, I will happily trade away Ice Barrier for Icy Veins[13]. That's a case where your mates are applying less pressure/damage/CC in the direction of the enemy team in order to protect you. You need to step up a pace to carry for them.
Ice Barrier is entirely dependent on damaging frosted enemies. Any talents that frequently apply Frost (Water Elemental, Frost Armor[4], Lingering Chill[1]), or reduce the cooldowns of your other abilities (Ice Wand[7], Ice Floes[7]), will let you retain your massive shielding for a longer period of time.
Recommended
Icy Veins
● Very Effective ● Unlocks New Capabilities ● Performance Booster ● Synergistic ● Flexible● Skill Expression● Long Cooldown
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Active: Activate to make Jaina's Basic Abilities'cooldowns recharge 200% faster and reduce theirMana cost by 50% for 5 seconds.
Behold, Jaina's 2nd heroic ability. The single greatest talent power-up in the entire game, bar none. The enabler of every talent and ability in your arsenal. Say hello to Icy Veins.
I'm here to dispel the notion that just because it's an extra activatable ability means it is difficult to use. Absolutely not. You activate Icy Veins[13] whenever the hell you want in a middle of a battle and you will reap the power of a thousand suns. It's a free Ana boost whenever you command. The only cost you must pay is to smash your keyboard 5x as hard when powered up.
While Icy Vein'd, for every 1 second that passes, all of your basic abilities will cooldown by 3 seconds. Let's do some math, assuming you live and use every ability possible over the 5 second buff duration:
You will be able to cast ~4.75 Frostbolts. Waiting another half second is trivial, so basically 5 Frostbolts!
You'll cast Blizzard twice.
You'll cast 2.5 Cones of Cold. Two full abilities and half cooldown on your third.
At level 7, you'll have one of two options: If you picked up Icelance[7], you'll fire 7 Frostbolts. If Ice Floes[7], and assuming best case scenario, that's 6 Cones of Cold!
Combining Ice Floes with Numbing Blast[16], your Cone of Cold is effectively a 0.83s CD for 5 seconds. It will root everyone for 1 second. That's 100% uptime. You can keep blasting away and root everyone for 5 whole seconds!
Wintermute[20]MIMICS your abilities with full talent properties. Do everything above again at 50% damage.
Every ability you have is AoE. It can affect the entire enemy team.
Let's set an example. You and enemy team are level 13. You're fighting Azmodan, who has 3,945 Health. He has the 17th highest health in the game, and hence beefiest ranged assassin. Jaina is following the Generalist build, but hasn't completed Fingers of Frost[1] for simplicity. You are not using Water Elemental, and you initiate with your Blizzard .
A full rotation of abilities over Icy Veins[13] duration, including 1 person CDR Ice Floes[7], and two full casts of Blizzard, will deal 5,718 Damage. You just killed him 1.5 times over without even using your ultimate.
In more realistic conditions -- say where you only hit 3/6 waves of Blizzard, miss maybe 2 Frostbolts, but land all Cones because they're easy to hit, you deal 3,817 damage instead. You can easily knock the demon over with one attack. Had you completed Fingers of Frost[1] for +10% Frostbite damage, you'd have done 4,057 Damage.
What if... you found two enemies instead? Azmodan and maybe a stray Anduin. The generalist build includes Frostshards, and we will assume your good positioning is also piercing Anduin with everything you got. Ice Floes[7] now works off 2 person CDR, so let's see these numbers...
Best case scenario == 7,302 Damage on both of them
Realistic scenario == 5,399 Damage
Realistic + Globe talent == 5,746 Damage
This is why I like Ice Floes. It is a very common scenario to tag 2 or 3 people with the huge cone, and then your damage multiplies AND repeats faster. Icelance[7] on the other hand accelerates your single target damage.
You're not throwing some basic rock at someone. You're throwing entire 2003 Grandway Style Pianos at your opponents. You're serving cold plates of DEATH, with a side dish of PAIN.
Uncompetitive
Snowstorm
● Literally The Worst Talent
The damage of the second wave of Blizzard is increased by 50%. The damage of the third wave is increased by 100%.
Don't pick Snowstorm.
Anyways, here's the long reason why. Beware! This is a misleading talent. You'd think Blizzard would do exponentially more damage, but no! The increasing damage in waves is additive in respect to the base damage. At level 16, your Blizzard does 255 damage/wave. Assuming chilled target, your waves total damage is:
1.5 * (255 * 3) == 1147 damage.
With Snowstorm as it works... 255 + 127.5 + 0 | 255 + 127.5 + 127.5 | 255 + 127.5 + 255 == 1530 damage.
If the damage was multiplicative, it'd modify the base damage instead, which gets accelerated by your chill bonus. Let's see the numbers...
1.5 * (255*1 + 255*1.5 + 255*2) == 1721 damage.
When I read this talent, I'd thought it was the latter. It was a nigh-pathetic talent that barely warranted a raised eyebrow. After trying it out and being horrified by the numbers in game, I ran the math... and my contempt only deepened. Tell me, how often do you hit all 3 waves of Blizzard? Pretty rare even with your team's help. Doing it by yourself is impossible, except for when barraging an enemy rooted by Ring of Frost. Ergo - you will derive 0 benefit from this talent for most of the game. On the off chance that you're lucky to hit two waves, that's a measly 127 bonus damage. Bro, you can achieve that with an auto attack if you were so desperate!
You will unironically deal more damage, consistently, with Numbing Blast[16]. If you initiate with Blizzard and follow up with a Cone for the root, you're guaranteed a second wave to hit. Had you picked Snowstorm, the enemy likely would have never been hit by the second wave in the first place. Funny, isn't it?
Well, say chief, what happens if you hit multiple waves and many heroes with it? Now you're getting a lot more damage in! Arguments I may hear you think. Practically speaking, if the stars align that such a scenario does occur, you can basically write off the fight as being won already. Any other Jaina build will have annihilated the enemy team by the time the third wave lands. Furthermore, if you were so inclined, you should pursue Northern Exposure[16] for more damage. Why bolster your Blizzard every 15 seconds, when you can deal +25% damage with EVERY ability, including Blizzard, NOT TO MENTION AMPLIFYING YOUR TEAM AS WELL!
Embrace the meme. Pick Snowstorm in Blizzard build for fun.
Enemies damaged by Cone of Cold have theirArmor lowered by 25 for 2 seconds, increasing the damage they take by 25%.
A terrifying talent to skyrocket yours and your teams' damage to the stratosphere. If your damage just isn't even up to snuff against big, beefy and tanky enemies, you will need this to fell the great beasts. Alternatively, if your team sports sufficient CC for you to land your entire combo consistently, then you'll love Northern Exposure.
With this talent, your combo will change a bit. You want to use your Cone earlier in your combo. If you have Ice Floes[7], always make sure to get that CDR boost through other means so you can reapply more -armor shredding.
Now, you may wonder, does the ability itself benefit from the armor shred? Unfortunately, no. The damage is applied before the armor shred. And since that debuff lasts for 2 seconds, and Ice Floes[7] can bring Cone cooldown to a minimum of 2 seconds, you cannot 'cheat' and boost your Cone's damage. Right? WRONG. With the power of Icy Veins[13], you will recharge your Cone in one second instead. Now the subsequent Cones do +25% damage.
Also, your wingman Wintermute[20] will cast another Cone alongside you. Your Elemental's cast will always benefit from the armor shred!
So... why did I rate Northern Exposure[16] as yellow? Read the next talent.
Recommended
Numbing Blast
● Unlocks New Capabilities ● Synergistic ● Very Effective ● Consistent Use
Cone of ColdRoots Chilled targets for 1 second.
Despite my praise of Northern Exposure[16], I pick Numbing Blast 90% of the time. Not only because a teamwide root effect is super handy, but because rooting an enemy increases your combo damage! Why? It's because of Blizzard! Now, you can reliably guarantee 2 waves to land on an enemy ON YOUR OWN, rather than a measly 1. Also, rooting an enemy guarantees every other ability to connect with target. Take it from me, I miss a LOT of abilities as Jaina! That's a lot of missed potential damage for no reason. Numbing Blast eliminates that inefficiency.
With Ice Floes[7] and Icy Veins[13] synergy, every E you cast against 2+ enemies reduces the cooldown to 1. You root people for 1 second. You can keep an entire team rooted for 5 crisp seconds. By the third cast they are definitely dead, but you can just keep going. Game winning talent if you can get a killer flank.
With the power of Wintermute[20], you may summon the Elemental a screen away, have him tag an enemy for the chill, and then mimic a Numbing Blast[16] empowered Cone. You'd be SHOCKED at just how many games I've won by catching an out of position enemy with this sequence for my team to follow up on.
Lastly, Numbing Blast[16] is vital against pesky, mobile assassins. If you can't hit your targets, you deal 0 damage. Stopping an overzealous Genji right in his tracks for a split second is enough to severely clip his healthbar. Not to mention your team can easily chain CC to secure a kill. I love picking Frost Armor[4] + Numbing Blast[16] -- if someone jumps me and get frosted, I can immediately root them!
Not Advised
Cold Snap
● Anti-Synergistic ● No Agency ● Uncompetitive
The center area of Ring of Frost deals 310 damage andRoots enemies after the outer ring expires. Each enemy Hero hit reduces its cooldown by 15 seconds.
Interesting. Meaningless. The Cold Snap effect occurs 5 seconds after your initial cast. First, the 1.5s delay for RoF to fire. Then, your enemies on the outer rim will be rooted for 3s. Finally, the Cold Snap will try to fire 0.5s after this root expires. Who in gods name is still alive and of all places still inside the Ring? It's also as predictable as the morning sun. All it takes is someone to pay attention to your level 20 and they'll avoid the center.
Now, say, you try to combo with it using Numbing Blast to ground your enemies in place. Cool idea! But, the 5s firing delay makes it very awkward to plan for. You have the most control over landing the outer Ring, not the center, so you want to prioritize utilizing Numbing Blast to help land initial RoF. But now your enemies are on the ring, rather than the center. They'll probably die there and then. Once they're dethawed, they must miraculously reach the center within a miniscule half second (when slowed for 25% from your trait, mind you) before they can get blasted by Cold Snap. You can't do that on your own, and you need to rely on the enemy to panic or make a mistake when moving.
The only way you can make Cold Snap work is to have excellent Ring placement. You land a hit on some enemies on the outer rim, awesome, but you also want to center the whole Ring in an important location. Say, the center of a hallway, or over the objective, or over a likely to be crossed area. Now that when an enemy inevitably crosses through Ring to do something, you have an opportunity to root them with Numbing Blast. If you time it just right and root them a second before the Cold Snap will fire, then it is guaranteed the enemies will suffer the Cold Snap. Ok, now THAT's advanced planning!
Here's a cool hat trick: if an enemy is standing between the empty center and the inner most area of the outer rim, they can be hit by both outside and inside blasts. Credits to Hugs for making a clip of it.
However, all of these advanced tactics are dependent on two unspoken variables. You
must pick Ice Floes for the Cone CDR, and you must take Numbing Blast. You are recommended to take Icy Veins (I approve), but it is not a necessity. Should you deviate from these talents in favor of adapting to the game state, then you cannot perform the Cold Snap combos outlined above. Rigidity in talent selection is an unreliable and awful thing. Plus, you need to hold back on your Ice Cone damage to ensure your roots can chain into your Rings properly. Whereas before, there is little reason to hold back on your ability usage when you're in the thick of the fight, this just introduces unneeded friction.
The cooldown reduction on heroics is often times just not impactful in Level 20 teamfights. If you hit 1-3 people, you've just reduced RoF's CD at best to 25 seconds. The fight's going to be over before you recast it. Or, you hit 4-5 people instead. Well, if you land a RoF on the whole enemy team and your mates are with you, those guys DEAD and I think you've won the fight already. I've never seen a 5 man Cold Snap in my 9 years of playing HotS. Fun to think about, but the train of thought practically ends much sooner than that.
All in all... I've changed my mind about Cold Snap after hefty experimentation. I no longer believe that it is the worst heroic upgrade in the game. I believe it is the second worst heroic upgrade. It's a strict upgrade, sure, but it is nigh impossible to take advantage of it because you have little to no agency in applying the effect. Do not pick Cold Snap, please.
Recommended
Wintermute
● Unlocks New Capabilities ● Performance Booster ● Synergistic● Counterable
Increases thecast range of Water Elemental by 50%, and the Water Elemental will now mimic Jaina's Basic Abilities for 50% damage.
By the grace of god, in his infinite wisdom, Jaina has been bestowed the most busted level 20 in the game. Automatic pick in almost every match. Wintermute doubling every ability you throw out is a catastrophic amount of damage. Not only that, but sheer volume of abilities ensures that you will always be frostbiting your enemies. Finally, Wintermute goes a step beyond and mimic talent properties too. It'll also apply a root or armor shred off your level 16 talent, or Icelance[7]. There is a blacklist of talents that will not copy, as it'll turn Jaina mega-busted broken if so. Here's the list:
[*] Arcane Intellect[4], and Ice Floes[7], and Snowstorm[16].
The range increase is a nifty boost that helps every so often. It ensures that you can always plop down Elemental as a flanker or chaser. You'd be surprised how many games I won by casting Elemental > it attacks for Frostbiting > root an enemy from across a lane for my team.
One big issue with Wintermute is that all of its effects are tied to the Elemental. If your enemies are savvy and have been focusing it down, it may die before it gets full value. Then you don't have a level 20 ready. This is not a hopeless scenario - you can still summon it close to you and if it dies, well then you were in a position to die anyhow.
Flexible
Ice Blink
● Unlocks New Capabilities ● Surprise factor ● Opponent Dependent
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Active: Activate to teleport a short distance and Chill all nearby enemies.
Getting caught in Leoric entombs? Do you need to get out of dodge seeing that ETC approach you? Is the Falstad about to blast you to smithereens? A quick and dirty short range blink for an immobile mage is a game changer. I'm certain this is the shortest range Bolt of the Storm in the game, but you get a nifty frostbite applicator in a rather large radius. If survivability is your top concern, you may need to pick this over extra damage or utility. You can't deal damage when dead.
I also love catching people off guard with my blink. If you need to kickstart the fight with a cheap chill, Ice Blink can blink you around to the side for maximum wide arc cones. Landing a Cone on 2 people will maximize Ice Floes[7] value, and in conjunction with Icy Veins[13] and Numbing Blast[16], you know the rest. This is also a great setup for an immediate Ring of Frost after, especially since Cold Snap is such a terrible competitor on this tier.
PRO TIP: The range of your Cone (7) is the same as the blink forward (4) + chill radius (3). For reference, you have a basic attack range of (5.5) -- if you're close enough to an enemy land your Cone, you are close enough to blink straight at them and have them chilled for your Cone!
Frostbite's Chill can now stack a second time,Slowing targets up to 40%.
You do not know how horrific a 40% slow until you get affected by it. Doubling up your frostbites to cripple entire teams is very attractive. I love picking this against melee-heavy teams where shutting down their ability to move invalidates their existence. All slows do not stack. Instead, the strongest one is applied at a time. You should not pick Deep Chill if you've got heroes on your team capable of applying strong slows. Inversely, if your team completely lacks CC but have a plethora of damage, Deep Chill is incredible!
Let's discuss recovery strategies on lessoning Jaina's addiction to mana. By now, you've learned that Jaina guzzles mana by the gallons. When you are out of mana, you are useless.
Let me bestow some tips so you don't run out of gas in a inconvenient time.
Talent Specialization
In a perfect world, you'll never run out of mana when fighting minions all match long. Your mana consumption rate is directly related to what enemy heroes you battle. The tankier they are, the more abilities you must cast, and hence greater mana costs. In fact, I refer to this mana consumption table as the very first reaction to the loading screen/draft.
Example Enemy Team
Mana Talents
XX
✔X
X✔
✔✔
Justification
Your combo is lethal, no excess casting. Life expectancy's short - utility/range/defense talents more important.
Prolonged battles. Frequent Mercs and minions macro. Big monster objective.
Fighting 24/7. No additional utility; maximum damage and resources necessary.
Ability weaving
Jaina is a combo mage. You deal pitiful amounts of damage if you do not chain abilities together for their chill-bonus damage. I recommend holding off on your abilities unless you have an opportunity to do a combo; OR found a way to apply Frostbite in other ways. If a stray ability's slowing chill helps your team, by all means, go for it. Just note that excessive ability usage will run you dry.
The Awry Blizzard
Mistake #1 many Jainas make is using their Blizzard for the sake of it. It costs 90 mana and typically only lands one wave's worth of damage. These are the only scenarios you should use Blizzard:
Minion waves. One blizzard is enough to kill all minions, save for a few extra attacks on the melee minions. You'll also be refunded a regen globe for mana!
Zoning an enemy hero from following, or escaping you. Especially effective strategy in tight corridors. By casting Blizzard in their path, you force them to make an unfavorable decision. Either they walk through multiple waves and suffer massive damage, or try walking around and getting killed that way for other reasons.
Follow up on teammate CC. Keeping a hero immobilized for even one second will almost guarantee a second wave to land. Follow up slows and chain CC can upgrade this to three waves, making for a very worthwhile example of Blizzard.
You are COMITTING to the kill. No, not poking or trading blows, but I mean GOING FOR THE KILL. You shouldn't let your "mana conservation" be an obstacle to scoring an easy kill. Any kill you can secure is worth all the mana in the world.
You have yet to complete your Iceblockquest and you're desperate for progress. In this case, you need some ability to apply chill for your hard hitting Frostbolt and Cone of Cold. Considering how amazing Iceblock is and how vital it is to your survival, I'll let it slide. Only for a bit. This point is invalidated upon completion of Iceblock.
Fountains
The healing fountain found near your fort is among the best aspects of HotS. It is a tool that is meant to help you win. Considering how Jaina demands mana as a requirement for her to do anything, I'm more than happy to tap the fountain just to restore my mana. I don't worry about "losing" the benefits of restoring my health - your healer will have a very easy time stitching up your small health pool if it comes to that. Besides, most of the game your fountain is ready to be used, so let the timer rundown sooner so you'll have it ready again later. Staying on the map continuously is very important to your momentum, since there's always something for Jaina to do - clearing waves, helping in fights, and capturing mercenaries. If you keep up the momentum for a longer period of time, you'll be ahead in XP. And being ahead in XP is the golden key to victory in all matches.
Generally speaking, I prefer to recall home beforehand if I'm at 25-30% mana. Then I save the fountain for when we battle over the objective. But that goes under the assumption that there is no rush or there is time. But if tempo is everything and you can't spare the 20 seconds, then a quick 5 seconds to the fountain may be the quick and dirty solution to winning the objective. The judgement is best in your hands.
Regeneration Globes
Regeneration globes are an incredibly important aspect to this game, meant for all heroes. A globe will restore you 9% Health and 7% Mana over 5 seconds. And this can be shared between your entire team! Isn't that powerful? Imagine if your healer had a 5th ability to restore your team! Not only that, but Jaina has Fingers of Frost[1] - a quest requiring globes for completion. So it's extra important to keep an eye on globes.
Lurk around to gather all the regeneration globes that you can. Typically, it is not your job to pick up the globe since you present tremendous risk to yourself - that is meant for a more survivable hero, usually the tank. The only thing you need to do is stand in a 12-range radius around that globe. And then it'll be shared to you. The range is extremely long if you pay attention to it.
All mercenary camps will drop a globe for your team in the center of the camp.
Many objectives will drop a globe after completion, and some maps drop two globes, even! (Infernal Shrines, Battlefield of Eternity, Hanamura Temple)
You may allow your friendly wizard minion to intentionally die before you clear out the enemy minion wave. Turning an enemy globe to neutral and picking it up is as good as one meant for you!
Never lust for a globe. The healing is small in relation to the punishment damage you may suffer when picking it up. And of course, the high likelihood of death. Think twice before you run up when you're not certain where the enemy team is.
Before the Storm
If an objective is about to spawn, it's in Jaina's best interest to participate. Most first objectives "start priming" at 2:30 before they appear at 3:00. This is your last chance to recall home and replenish your mana. If you'd like to capture a mercenary camp, then you must either be insanely fast alongside your team or give it up in favor of mana. Recall no later than 20 seconds before objective appears and you'll be on time.
Should you fight at 50% mana, it's less than ideal but at least you've got enough to secure the objective before running dry.
If you fight with <40% mana, you're definitely running out of mana mid-fight. You'll be useless and your team's chances of success drop dramatically. This is the worst case scenario and it should be prevented however way you can. If you are compelled to stay for an objective, find other ways to help out the team - such as standing on a point or capturing a tribute of some kind. Since you're absolutely useless, you are now the best hero to spend time on contributing to the objective. I may even dare to recall if I suspect the fight will not end soon (please command your team to retreat or play safer until you return).
Jaina works best in clearing out a wave and then rotating. She may do pretty OK burst damage and slowing to secure a kill with her team, but she devastates minion waves just as easily! In fact, one Blizzard can kill an entire wave. Very few heroes can kill a wave as easily as she can from level 1! Therefore, you should spend the majority of your early game rotating between lanes just to kill waves for your team.
1. Walk up to a minion wave.
2. Wait until they make a ( o ) shape after clashing, then cast your Blizzard in the center.
3. [OPTIONAL] Your Blizzard will not fully kill off the ranged minions at the start of the game. At level 1, dedicate two basic attacks each to finish them. At level 2, just one. And from level 3 onwards the Blizzard is strong enough to not need further help.
4. Pick up XP and the regen globe to regain your mana and stack progress towards Fingers of Frost[1].
5. Adding a Cone of Cold to execute the melee minions is recommended for the sake of speed, but consider right clicking instead to preserve mana.
6. Start running to the next lane to smash another wave.
7. You will rinse and repeat this core process for the rest of the early and mid game.
Why should you bore yourself playing this game of whack-o-mole instead of, y'know, testing your mettle on the jaws of your opponents? I hear you inquisitively wondering. Let's go over the obvious - the fundamental aspect of HoTs is the XP sharing. Every minute that a lane doesn't have a hero to soak its XP is a 1000 XP lost to the rest of your team. For Jaina, she is a late game POWERHOUSE. Every single talent she adds to her arsenal makes her exponentially more dangerous. But she won't reap her late game fantasy if she cannot reach level 16/20. Someone needs to do the dirty work of getting all that XP. Don't rely on your team to do the macro for you. When you lock in Jaina, you are expected to be the one clearing minion waves. It's a hero-by-hero case on whose wave clear is better than others, but as a whole mages and bruisers got the best. Good news! Jaina's waveclear is strong, fast, and easy. SO UTILIZE IT TO THE FULLEST! You need to guzzle up TWO lanes worth of XP, back to back, whenever safe and possible!
When you reach level 4, you'll gain access to talents that will help a lot in taking down mercenary camps on your own. I don't recommend soloing them any earlier than level 4, unless you have a teammate. On most maps, the objective's 30 second countdown begins at 2:30. Jaina typically kills most camps by her 2nd Blizzard , so ~15 seconds give or take. Ergo...
You should start capturing a camp at 2:15.
You'll kill it by 2:30.
Recall to restore all your health and mana.
You'll arrive to the objective on time, usually 10-5 seconds early.
All the while, the mercenaries you took will pressure your opponents in a side lane!
The Mid Game [Level 10+]
Continue your wave-blizzard-rotate cycle just like in the early game, but reevaluate if you have to rotate to another lane. The XP gathering cycle is much less important than joining your team nearing a flashpoint. Unlike the early game, you have an ultimate and several talents to seriously bolster the damage you can provide for your team. Of course, do not skip objectives at this stage in the game. Fight tooth and nail for them.
You should suggest capturing Mercenary camps to your team frequently. Jaina's camp clear speed is amongst the best in the game. And if a fight were to break out over a camp, you're forcing enemies into a narrow chokepoint/tight area of space. Her AoE abilities are significantly more potent!
If you've followed my advice, then your Iceblock progress won't be as far along as when you'd be battling enemies all day. Trust me, Iceblock is a game changing piece to Jaina's kit so it's pretty important. That's no problem - Water Elemental is an incredible catch-up tool. I often summon it on a minor inconvenience so that I can apply Frostbite and have all of my abilities progress the Iceblock. The Elemental also sports a LOT of damage on a single target, easily adding +2000 damage to Iceblock.
The Elemental has such a short CD that I consider this legitimate good use of its powers, even if it didn't kill anyone. Remember, you're a Jaina, your power comes from highly synergistic talents. Getting your quests done before you get those levels is worth it!
Intermission -- Teamfight Etiquette
Let's quickly talk about what you should be doing, since mid and late game have the most important teamfights of the match.
In teamfights, team formation is extremely important. Tank/frontline in front, damage and healing in the back. As Jaina, you must always stand behind your frontline so you can safely apply your damage. Considering that I prefer Ice Floes[7]-based builds, which is essentially a shotgun, I don't have safe reach like other mages do. The body and threatening presence of my tank is what keeps me safe so I can move closer.
Alternatively, flanking is exceptionally deadly as Jaina. You'll have access to the high priority targets so you can eviscerate them. Furthermore, your Cone's wide arc will cover a wider target-saturated environment from the side rather than the front. Just be sure to watch your step if you've been spotted!
Just like a Maiev, I've been conditioned to hunt for 2+ enemies that are clumped together. Always be on the lookout to unload your Ice Floes[7] Cones on multiple, chilled heroes for absolute carnage.
If all you can reach is the enemy tank, that's ok! You will have lots of tools to handle it. Since Water Elemental can last a whopping 20 seconds, that's plenty of time to kill the tank and still have time leftover for something else. Summon it and barrage the tank. I don't recommend activating Icy Veins[13] when focusing down a lonesome tank - I consider it complete overkill. What if you were fighting 2 tanks at once, or someone else was next to the tank, though? Yes, use Icy Veins! Anyways, Northern Exposure[16] is a great tool to shred down tanks with your team. On the other hand, locking him down with Numbing Blast[16] is equally good if your team has lots of single target damage/armor shred as is.
If your backline gets threatened by a flanking assassin, turn around and help out! Your CC will help tremendously, you have a safe opportunity to dish out damage, and you're saving the life of your team. A life saved is as good as a kill.
Coordinate with your tank/bruiser/healer to setup CC. Jaina is exceptionally deadly when she can attack immobilized enemies!
The Late Game [Level 20]
Congratulations, pat yourself on the back for surviving. If you've had a rough game so far, fear not. You traded early game strength for a vastly more powerful late game. You heed only the power of Wintermute[20], your savior. Your Water Elemental's survival is more important than before. Cast it closer to you or at a range from your target so that its abilities will hit the same target. Furthermore, closer proximity means that the elemental is less likely to get focus fired and taken out.
But with great power, comes great responsibility. By now, your opponents will have suffered enough of your wrath. They will want to eliminate you on sight with extreme prejudice. Always move with your team. Do not linger, do not poke your head out. Your survival is paramount above all. Just because you have unlimited damage doesn't mean squat when you have 2500 health. You're mortal. A single Muradin stun will end your life. You should treat the game more of a chess board, where teams will posture over map vision and control. If you do not see 1 enemy on the map, you know they're all together and are HUNTING. If you reveal yourself fighting a minion wave, bet money they're 10 seconds away from jumping on you.
Here's a controversial opinion from me. Your life as Jaina is, in my opinion, more valuable than other heroes' in the endgame. If you must sacrifice one teammate so that you escape and they do not, so be it. So long as Jaina is alive, your team has hope to win the game. Her insane burst damage can eviscerate an enemy before they react. A well-placed root[16] can trap an opponent. If she hides in a bush and some hapless guy walks by, she can assassinate them. If you win a fight, Jaina with Wintermute[20] and Icy Veins[13] available can devastate 70% of a Core's health by herself. She just needs a little bit more help and you'll destroy the Core. Jaina must live.
Be sure to inventory what level 20 talents your opponents have chosen. Some previously thought non-threatening abilities can now be death sentences if you are caught in them, or that some heroes get a fancy new mobility tool. These will demand extra respect from you, so linger further back until you see them blown on your team. Once you're safe, operate just as you've done throughout the match.
I also want to mention "staggering deaths." Staggering deaths is the #1 most preventable cause of defeat. If one of your teammates die, then you are at a numbers disadvantage. Do not pick a fight at a number's disadvantage (unless desperate circumstances* or you have element of surpise). Do not even meander at a "safe" distance, poking at your enemies. Should you die when your fallen teammate has 20 seconds before they respawn, well guess what! Now your team must wait 60 seconds for you instead. The enemy team can easily walk over you when it was 4v5, and they will do so again when it's 4v5 for your team.
How to deal with this? Be patient. That's it, just cool your jets and bide your time for the next fight. Waiting for your team to fight as 5 is better than trying to salvage an already lost objective/fort and potentially dying right there and then. When you've reached the late game, the only thing that matters anymore is wiping the enemy team. The previous boardstate matters very little - they just give you... additional "chances" before you lose.
* Exceptional circumstances may include defending your Core from an assault; fighting over an objective that will without question take down your core (Blackheart's Bay, Battlefield of Eternity, Dragon Shire, Volskaya Foundry).
I've also got some videos, guides, and commentaries on Jaina theory.
#1 -- Overexplaining Jaina's talents
If the highly in-depth talent section wasn't detailed enough, here's an entire video of me going over all her abilities and talents.
#2 --
Gameplay commentary -- How to comeback from a lost early game
As you play Jaina, you may notice that you have a rougher time than usual early on. This is very natural - Jaina has little presence without the team's support until she gets her talents. But what happens when you get really behind?
#3 --
Gameplay commentary -- Dealing with melee assassins
Your natural predators - the buzzing, swarming assassins such as Genji and Kerrigan, may hound your game. Here's a tailor-made build to help deal with them.
#4 --
Gameplay commentary -- The value of prudent map control
Take advantage of your high AoE damage to devastate mercenary camps and capture them for your team. Playing around the mercenaries will net you map control, vision, initiative, and damage against enemy forts.
Thank you for reading my Jaina guide! It is a great honor that you stopped by and read what I had to write. I've achieved such mastery with her that I felt like it'd be a colossal missed opportunity to not write down everything I've learned. And I hope you feel more comfortable with her because of this guide. If you feel like my advice is not cutting it - please get a hold of me at TheFreind#2950 on Battle.net. We can debate further and I'm very happy to do replay analysis to take a closer look at what's going on. I'm a teacher by blood - it's just what I crave to do.
There is always something more I can improve on, add on, iron out that I feel restless all the time. This guide is complete - it should be! But maybe there's one more thing...
TO-DO LIST (FINAL):
Become #1 World Jaina. It's kind of a stupid metric though. I need to rig the system and maximize my winrate by assembling a team of 5 and play our best heroes for 50 games straight.
Add special notes to abilities and talents.
A teamfight-focused commentary video.
Maybe add a synergies, counters, and threats section.
As is customary, I will provide links below to the guides I authored for some other Heroes. They're about to receive a huge overhaul, so stay tuned!
I am biased - I gave this guide the most amount of attention compared to the other guides I wrote simply because... Jaina is my favorite Hero. Yeah, I get to write the rules around here.
HeroesFire is the place to find the perfect build guide to take your game to the next level. Learn how to play a new hero, or fine tune your favorite HotS hero’s build and strategy.
Jaina's power. We'll cover everything about her - abilities, combos, talents, what you should be doing, etc. I've stylized some section banners with "MAIN QUEST" and "BONUS QUEST" - please give the "MAIN" quests more attention, while the "BONUS" quests can be skipped. I'd prefer if you gave everything a read, but this guide is hitting 50,000 words and I won't force your time.
-- Show synergies and reasoning for Generalist Build -- 
Slowing them by 
amplifying damage taken from her Abilities by 
Roots enemies for 
splash for 
travel speed of 
Mana Regeneration by 
Basic Attacks return 
Armor against the next enemy Hero
cooldown by 
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