I've been playing Moba style games for roughly six years now, and I've been playing Heroes of the Storm for roughly a month now. I've played Jaina since the very hour she was released on the alpha, and I've had plenty of experience with her so far.

THIS GUIDE IS AN ALPHA GUIDE. IT IS UPDATED FOR ALPHA. THINGS MAY HAVE CHANGED. DO NOT TRUST THIS GUIDE IF THE GAME IS NOW LIVE AND THIS MESSAGE REMAINS.

Jaina is a burst mage with extreme supportive capabilties, she can lay down the control on the enemy team with huge slows and area of effect freezes to constantly allow the rest of her team to land their own aimed abillities (skillshots) while dealing massive amounts of damage on herself. Her kit, while not as verstile and interchangeable as other Heroes, can still fit itself to many different situations. Finally, Jaina's zone control makes her especially powerful in maps where many enemies may want to stay in one position to do something (Gather tribute, hand in doubloons)

Pros :

Absolutly huge burst.

Overwhelming area of effect damage.

Great burst survivability (Has many cooldowns that allow escape).

Amazing combo-ability with allies.

Zone control.

Fantastic sustain.

Cons:

Squishy! Once your cooldowns are down, standing in the wrong place will kill you!

Less versitile than other Heroes, burst and cc is all you got.

Meduim range.

Meduim cooldowns force you to change your build for proper teamfight damage.



When do you pick Jaina?

Jaina's extreme zone control allows her to combo with many allies! For example, landing a ring of frost and having a Nova use her Precision Strike inside the ring while it forms will force your enemies into either freezing, or exploding. This is applicable to any other form of high-damage area of effect attack that's usually easy to avoid, Jaina allows you to hit with abilities that are generally hard to hit much easier.

Further more, Jaina's extreme burst is helpful to ANY team, not just the ones she can combo with. So, if your team's missing area of effect damage for teamfights, Jaina's the right choice.

Passive - Chill : Enemies hit by your abillties are Chilled!
Chilled enemies move 25% slower and take 50% extra damage from your abillties.

This passive is amazing. It really is, you can keep enemies chill-locked and it will impede their movements and teamfighting capabilities hugely. Remember that the first abillity that hits your enemy will NOT get the +50% damage, while the following ability hits will. This is why, your combos are so very important to be oredered in a specific way or else you'll not deal maximum damage and might even not be able to kill someone!

Q - Frostbolt : Frostbolt launches a fast-moving bolt of ice. It hits the target, chills it, and deals moderate amounts of damage, very short cooldown. (4 seconds)

Frostbolt may be your core abillity, or your least useful one, depending on which way you build. Regardless, lategame you must use frostbolt whenever it is ready because it hits like a truck. It could hit for 1000-1500 damage.

W - Blizzard : Mark a nearby small area for impact - after an extremely short delay, it will be hit by a blizzard and enemies in the zone will take damage and be chilled. After a few moments, a second blizzard would hit the zone, dealing the same amount of damage. High cooldown (15 seconds)

Ah, the spell that must go into every game. I have been told it can be very entertaining.
Jokes aside, this is your main damage source in teamfights. This spell hits for HIGH damage. Both hits together can deal a total of 1700 damage to one target! This abillity decimates the enemy team, and proper positioning and timing will make or break Jaina. Unlike frostbolt, this spell has a significat cooldown, and wrong positioning could mean you just lost your chance to use it for the rest of the teamfight.

E - Cone of Cold : Deals a small-moderate amount of damage in a cone in the direction you're pointing. Chills the target. Meduim cooldown. (10 seconds).

This abillity is a cruicial combo piece and is fantastic for farming. Combined with blizzard, you wipe out minion-waves in two seconds. It doesn't deal that much damage straight up but it plays a very important role in your combos.

R - Ring of Frost : Forms a ring of frost at target location. When it forms, enemies on the edge of the ring will be frozen and take MASSIVE damage. Afterwards, enemies who pass through the ring will then be chilled. Enemies at the center of the ring or outside will not be affected by the ring at all unless they choose to walk through it in which case, they'll be chilled.

This abillity will make or break a good Jaina. It's far superior to water elemental except for very specfic builds. Now. When do you use this abillity? The best time to use it is when your opponent doens't WANT to move out of the way. For example, correct positioning around a tribute in the raven lord map while your opponents are trying to gather it, will result in some cold time for your opponents. Now. This abillity deals MASSSSSSSSIIIIVEEEE damage. Easily 80% of an assassin's health pool if they're chilled before it hits. This is important. This abillitie's correct positioning and use will win or lose a fight, thus, win or lose a game.

R - Summon Water Elemental : Forms a water elemental at target location, when it is created, it deals moderate damage around the impact point and then is put under the control of the mage. Clicking 'R' (or your heroic abillity key) will control it. Clicking R over an enemy champion will get it to attack the enemy, and pressing R over a location will get it to walk there. After your own death the water elemental will remain for its full duration or untill killed but pressing R will not to anything and it will simply be immobolized and attack the nearest by target. The water elemental has a moderate amount of health and its attack deal low damage and splash to chill their targets.

This abillity makes you an excellent duelist if you pick it. The water elemental will eventually deal more damage than the ring to a single target, but it will have to hit it 5-10 times. The main use for this abillity however is after level 20, at which point you should ALWAYS pick up the wintermute talent, which will cause the elemental to copy your abillties. It becomes very simple, and a very core part of the Teamfight Jaina build. You start a teamfight, summon a water elemental BEHIND your enemy's team, and start spamming aoe. The elemental will add 50% to your damage and its positioning will both assure full impact on the enemy team and blocking off the escape.


TO BE CONTINUED