Jaina Build Guide : Master Blaster Jaina :: Heroes of the Storm (HotS) Strategy Builds

Jaina

Build: Master Blaster

Level 1

Level 4

Level 7

Level 10

Level 13

Level 16

Level 20

Quick Overview (First Guide Be nice) Top

Jaina IMO is one of the best CC and single target damage out there. From the guides and pros look I see a lot of skills being selected that I feel compensation for poor positioning decisions instead of assuming that you are very good with skill shots and very good at positioning.

This assumes the following:

You know what characters to be around and behind
You are always watching the minimap and can make good predictions on where the team will be so you are not in the front of it
You are very aware of your mana, and know how to kite
You have quick cast on

This guide assumes that you have a League of Legends skill of about gold or higher when it comes to map awareness and positional awareness and team composition. (I do not know any other way to compare it sorry for those who get upset about the LoL reference).

Playing level 1 - 10 THEME: Conserve and POKE Top

Your going to start with Lingering chill. The reason for this is it increases the chill length that you can hit them with FrostBolt, and by the time the cool down is up for it, can shoot them again and get a crit and reproc the frostbite.

At the start of the game you will want to be very mana conservative. Using your E and your Q for most of your poke. The biggest part about mana conservation has to do with each map. There is no global rule here, just know the times you can blow lots of mana vs when you need keep it for future engagements.

Only use your W if you are engaged on by a melee or can get a clear lead on the champion. Never drop the W right on a champion always try to put it in a position you feel they will walk too, better yet, place it a little behind where they would go and then threat them with your Q and E to push them into it.

You generally always want to land your Q or E before you use your W.

Last part of these early levels, if you are not 90% sure your gonna hit with an ability just don't use it. Especially if your extended. It's better to have mana and abilities up for use then to blow them and miss.

13 The divergance Top

This is where most pros will tell you to take sprint. Why? Because Jaina has no innate escape (So they say) So champions like NOVA/Zeratule/Illidan catching you, you have no way to get away.

Instead of adopting that mindset we are instead going to be taking the Icy Veins. WHY, basically you become a rapid fire skill caster, with all your abilities costing half as much. If you get engaged on and have at least half your mana available, you should be able to 1v1 burst any one down in a straight fight. (it should be 100% assured with envionem)

SAVE this skill for either if you are surprised engaged on or for team fights ONLY. So if it's not a full commitment team fight don't blow it wait till it's an all out fight. Again positioning and timing is important here. DO NOT be afraid to unload on a tank. Some of the biggest misconceptions is don't focus the tank. This build is meant so that if the tank steps to far from the group (which they do a lot) you could drop everything and 100 - 0 them very fast especially if your team follows up well. The key to this skill is try to always have about 1/4th of your mana present when you use it.

For 5 seconds

Frostbolt will be 15 mana and a 2 second cool down.
Blizzard will cost 37 mana 7 seconds
Cone of Cold will cost 25 mana with a cool down of 5 seconds

So if you do this right you should be able to do:

2 shots of Q
2 shots of W (cool down effect does not add time once icy is over so as long as the ability is used the cool down present is the one affected by the buff)
2 Shots of E

Grand total of 155 mana

So add your ult into the mix and you you prob want at least about 250 mana with you for a team fight or major engagements.

Lets take a moment to do a quick flat dmg calculation (without levels base dmg)

325*2 -> 650
40 * 4 (to waves of ice) 160
50 * 2 -> 100

Grand total of 910 dmg before we add level modifiers. Now lets assume you dropped your ult and the target has been chilled which means all of this dmg is doubled. That's 1820 dmg burst at level 13 not including the level mods which if i add them would still be pretty crazy. That damage is CRAZY.

16 - 20 Top

So 16 is pretty standard from what the pros do since this helps the team and you do damage to Heros.

Lets talk about level 20, where the crazy part 2 is. We choose Arcane Insite.

WHY!!! WHY would you do this!!!! =P Again we don't need escapes we want to be a power house of blow people's face off.

This instantly gives you 80 mana a second for 5 seconds. During that 5 seconds AND you get a natural 15% increase is damage. Here is the sweet secret. You PAIR Arcane Insite With Icy Veins. So now you could do your full round burst starting at around 155 mana for the first second.

So if you are at low mana you can still instantly are team fight ready.

Ontop of that, this ensures that you have all the mana you need to do a full round burst of your abilities using icy veins.

The After Math Top

So now lets take a look at in the end what this does.

You can fire more abilities
Your passive lets you crit after the first chill effect is proced and is slowing the target
You will increase the damage done to them by 25% of those abilities and crits and your team mates dmg to them
You almost instantly be team fight ready and in best case use icy vein and arcane insight at the same time or at arcane 2 seconds before icy so the first round of burst will have another 15% dmg increase added ontop of all of it.

In the end this makes you a BLASTING monster in every team fight when you have icy veins and arcane insite up.

Positioning, Tactics, Smooth Moves Top

Remember chill naturally slows targets, hit them and back up don't hit and chase unless you know you can safely
When illidan or zerutal jump you: drop blizzard and back up, use Cone of Cold about 3 seconds after if they are still pursuing. If you are very confidant in skill shots use Frost bolt instead and save chill for if they use a gap closer
Stand outside team fights
If the fight moves ontop of you for various reasons keep moving and back up but don't move to far away from your team. Drag the enemy through your team and us the slows to keep the distance
Be confident in your dmg (this takes time) knowing your level vs theres and which champs you can hard jump is important. But also know when you can run and when it's better to stand and just unload. If it's a DPS race they want, the chances are you can win it.
Always be mana conservative. You're most dmging skill costs the least amount and has the lowest cool down of your spells. It's better to throw it in attempts to hit then us your blizzard to ensure dmg but lose a ton of mana at once. (remember cool downs also give you time to recover some of that mana you lost)
DONT LEAD TEAM FIGHTS, NEVER DO IT harass and bait but never LEAD
Look at your team comp and try to always be near someone who can peel or heal for you. As team fights starts move around these champions and focus on targets they are. Especially in soloque. Even if you don't agree on the target, it's better to eliminate one then hurt a lot and not kill any.
Always be moving in a team fight us an ability, re-position, us ability, re-position standing in one place unloading tons of damage is a great way to get a bunch of abilities blown on you and you don't want that, if your hitting people you should be able to easily position without much fear of gap close due to slows. (minus Ty's ult, but if they are ulting you instead of the healer, then your doing a great job)

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