Jaina
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Build: #1 Standard (Threats)
Level 1
Level 4
Level 7
Level 10
Level 13
Level 16
Level 20
Tier 1 TalentsLevel 1
| Winter's Reach allows Jaina's Frostbolt to travel much further. The range is so much longer that I find it overkill and I personally don't seem to take advantage of it most of the time. It works well with a Frostbolt build, but is not necessary for the build to perform optimally. It is advised to take this talent if you are picking into a strict Frostbolt build and want to stay the furthest away in the backline, poking. |
| Lingering Chill keeps Jaina's Frostbite passive on an enemy unit for two seconds longer. This is another talent that I personally find overkill for the most part. One can pick this talent in order to allow Frostbolt to set itself up using the Ice Lance talent. It isn't necessary since Jaina can simply use another ability to setup Frostbolt poking and the player will most likely initially use another ability anyway. Overall, this talent is pretty underwhelming compared to others in the same tier. |
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| Deep Chill slows down units affected by Jaina's Frostbite even more than it already does. The ten percent increase is quite noticeable especially when attempting to kite melee heroes. It is a solid choice at this tier when you simply don't know what else to pick or when going against a lot of melee. Of course, this can also be used offensively to hunt down enemy heroes as well or slow them down long enough for an ally hero to secure the kill. A good go-to choice. |
| Conjurer's Pursuit gives Jaina additional mana regeneration that starts small as the player collects globes and quickly ramps up in the late game depending on the amount of globes collected. This is an excellent choice when the player is not going to pick the Arcane Intellect talent. It gives Jaina a much needed longevity in protracted teamfights (Which will happen in solo queue!) later on in the game. If another talent is picked in this tier, without picking Arcane Intellect later, expect to go back to the fountain frequently. This goes without saying, but do not pick this talent AND Arcane Intellect; it is definitely overkill. It is also necessary to note that if the player manages mana well, he or she shant need either of them. |
Tier 2 TalentsLevel 4
| Frost Shards will, as it says in the description, go through the first target and hit a unit behind it. This is a very nice talent for Jaina when picking into a Frostbolt build. It allows the player to harass enemy heroes in ways that would otherwise be impossible. (Through a minion wave or the enemy gate/wall for example.) It can be used to clear camps markedly quicker and harass two heroes at a time if lined up well. With that said, I believe this talent is overshadowed by the other choices in this tier which is unfortunate because its good. |
| Snowstorm will make Blizzard noticably larger in size allowing Jaina to more easily land the ability on every minion in the wave and make it more difficult for heroes to escape the AoE. Right off the bat, I think this talent is a crutch and let's the player become lazy in aiming Blizzard. If the player leads the target hero(es) well enough and casts Blizzard right in the center of the enemy minion wave, he or she should have no problem in landing it sucessfully. It is possible to hit every minion in the wave with the standard Blizzard radius. Veteran Jaina players, I think, would stay away from this talent. Although, if picking Ring of Frost, this talent allows you to hit more rooted targets which would be impossible otherwise. It is something to think about. |
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| Arcane Intellect basically grants Jaina unlimited mana for the rest of the match. I'm not joking. As long as the player uses Jaina's abilities carefully, hits as many targets as possible with the AoE spells, and autoattacks in between spells, Jaina will almost never run out of mana. This as you, the reader, can probably tell, is the most powerful talent in this tier and the second most powerful talent in Jaina's entire talent pool! This is the go-to talent for Jaina in this tier unless the player is going for a strict Frostbolt build, a strict Ring of Frost build, or the player picked Conjurer's Pursuit. If the player can manage mana exceptionally well, then this talent may not even be relevant. I find it is too good not to take, regardless of skill. |
| Envenom is an active ability that poisons an enemy hero for over ten seconds. The damage of this generic ability is great, but it takes too long for it all to be applied. By the time it finishes the enemy hero probably healed up or died immediately after use. I suppose the ability is okay if the player wants Jaina to have some single target sustained damage after the burst to finish off the enemy hero. The range is also quite short which is harmful to Jaina. The player should keep Jaina away from enemy heroes in the backline because she doesn't have any innate, hard escape abilities and is vulnerable. |
Tier 3 TalentsLevel 7
| Ice Floes enhances Jaina's Cone of Cold's minion wave clearing ability. The cooldown gets reduced for every target hit and the width is doubled; this makes the ability perfect for wave clearing. The problem with this talent is that it is kind of redundant. Blizzard accomplishes the same effect talentless. Cone of Cold can clear the wave just fine by itself, if aimed correctly, as well. The talent just doesn't seem necessary and almost feels like a crutch. The width increase could be nice for teamfights, but if the enemy hero or heroes are that close, then the player is probably using Cone of Cold as more of a disengagement tool and not damage. |
| Not much explanation needed. This talent is a basic flat damage boost. It is a solid talent that can be picked with any build really when the player doesn't know what else to pick. Contrary to popular opinion, I find the damage boost this ability gives to be a little small and I believe there is another talent in this tier that can give Jaina more damage output than this, overall. |
| Okay, a lot of players probably think this talent is underwhelming, but it has its uses in the right situation. Frost Armor is an extremely hard counter to a Nova that is targeting you exclusively. If the Nova player picks into the Decoy build, then chances are the Nova player picked Anti-Armor Shells. I think Anti-Armor Shells to be a terrible choice that cripples Nova. She will attack so slowly and the one autoattack that she will land before she dies an awful death by Jaina will be reduced by 75%. On top of that she will be Chilled, setting Jaina up for immediate critical hits on Nova. This talent can also be picked if the enemy team chose a few melee assassins that are getting to the backline regardless of position (Illidan). Don't count this talent out. It has its uses people. |
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| Ice Lance is the bread and butter of the Frostbolt build and honestly is not a bad talent to pick in general. I believe this can deliver more damage output than the Frostbitten talent can. It requires the player to accurately land the Frostbolt skillshot consistently and use another ability to chill the target beforehand unless the player picked up Lingering Chill; if this is the case, Frostbolt can set itself up. This isn't that hard to do with some practice and the Frost Shards talent can make it easier. A good rule of thumb is to actively think about positioning Jaina so that she has a clear line of sight before you fire. This also combos hardcore with Icy Veins. |
Heroic Tier TalentsLevel 10
| Ring of Frost is an AoE damage and root that is extremely hard to land. I would typically only pick this heroic talent if an allied hero could set it up first. If not the other heoric talent is much more reliable. That being said, the ability is quite powerful when it lands and is a teamfight ender in most cases. Taking the Snowstorm talent with this one is a good idea because the player can land Blizzard on targets that are more spread out on the ring. Don't underestimate the after effect of Ring of Frost even if the initial hit doesn't land as it slows targets down for allied heroes to get to and sets up critical hits for Jaina regardless. Quick casting this ability is not recommended, but if the player does, don't aim the mouse pointer directly on the enemy hero. Instead, try to visualize the ring around the pointer and target appropriately. |
| This heroic talent is my preferred choice on Jaina. The heroic is reliable, and completely controllable independent of Jaina. The damage it does is enough of a threat to enemy heroes for them not to ignore it, it's basic attacks splash and set up critical hits for Jaina while slowing them all the same, and the level twenty upgrade allows it to mimic all of Jaina's abilities for fifty percent damage; it makes this guy a bro and just as dangerous as Jaina herself. The player can summon the Water Elemental in a nice radius around Jaina meaning that it can be deployed immediately to the enemy backline. One good use of this is to have the Water Elemental stick to the enemy healer causing the healer to run away from his or her team in some cases or the player could do the same against an assassin. The player can also use this guy to scout a location ahead of Jaina or defend Jaina, slowing a target, in a retreat. Its just a really great heroic talent in general. |
Tier 5 TalentsLevel 13
| Blizzard is, without a doubt, Jaina's most devastating basic ability. Being able to cast it from a really safe distance is a definite boon. Jaina is vulnerable and the further away the player can stay from the enemy heroes the better. Not much else to say about this talent. Kind of underwhelming in comparison to the other amazing choices in this tier. |
| This is Jaina's improved version of the generic talent Ice Block. It is an extremely popular choice that most Jaina players pick, but I feel that sometimes this talent is unnecessary and some players fail to realize this and pick it anyway when they could have picked something better. In solo queue at least, when players use this ability they will most likely die immediately afterward. I see it all the time. This is a definite pickup when the player is being extremely focused and has a team that backs the player up when he or she out of stasis or when the enemy team has channeled ultimates/abilities that can be cancelled with this talent. If these conditions don't apply, then Icy Veins is always the better talent choice. Even if they do apply, sometimes Icy Veins can win the game regardless. |
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| Being allowed to use Jaina's initial combo, activate this ability, and continue blasting the enemy with abilities until the end of Icy Veins' duration is a teamfight ender. This talent combined with Ice Lance will put Frostbolt at a 0.5 second cooldown everytime it hits a Chilled target for five seconds and on top of that, recharging all other basic ability cooldowns after the initial casting three times faster. This is absolutely insane if left unchecked by the enemy team. Everyone will be destroyed by this power, even tanks. Definitely a go-to talent in every build if Improved Ice Block isn't absolutely needed. Oh, it also makes all of Jaina's abilities fifty percent cheaper. As if the cooldown recharge wasn't enough! This is the best talent Jaina has available to her. |
Tier 6 TalentsLevel 16
| Snow Crash gives Jaina an additional wave to her Blizzard ability. This talent may seem great, but let's be honest here: How often are players going to stand in Blizzard to be hit by it three whole times? The answer is: Very few times, if at all. This talent should be taken if picking into the Ring of Frost build as targets are guaranteed to be hit by all three waves or if an allied hero is able to keep enemy heroes in a location for an extended period of time. |
| Northern Exposure increases the damage enemy heroes receive by 25% from ALL sources when hit with Cone of Cold. This talent is extremely effective in its own right without comboing anything from Jaina's own kit because allied heroes can take advantage of this as well. This is basically another go-to talent that the player really can't go wrong with. A lot of the time though, I find myself using Cone of Cold more defensively to shoo away melee assassins so Numbing Blast may be a better choice sometimes especially if the player's team already has sufficient damage to win the game. |
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| I find myself liking this talent more and more everytime I pick it up. Since I use Cone of Cold as more of a disengagement tool, this talent works wonders in stopping those melee assassins and allowing Jaina to run away to safety. The beautiful thing about this talent is that it can be used offensively as well to allow allied heroes to catch up and kill the enemy hero(es) or forcing them to stand in Blizzard. More situational than Northern Exposure due to it not adding raw damage output, but still a solid choice. |
| This highly underrated talent is quite insane when used correctly. Jaina can rack up a lot of critical hit damage pretty fast when hitting multiple buildings, heroes, and/or minions with abilities. Using Icy Veins on top of that nets Jaina an impressive shield that can stop melee assassins and Nova from touching Jaina's health bar for a small amount of time. The only problem with this defensive talent is that the shield only lasts three seconds, but spacing out abilities a little bit and using the Ice Lance talent to continuously hit targets with Frostbolt can refresh the duration as more damage is added on making the shield last awhile. |
Storm Tier TalentsLevel 20
| This talent effectively shores up the weakness that Ring of Frost has by making the center of the ring no longer a safe zone. If for some reason enemy players do not look at Jaina's talents and stay inside the ring after the initial casting, they will get a nasty surprise that may even kill them. This talent is kind of underwhleming in comparison to Bolt of the Storm and can be dodged by diligent players. |
| Ah, Wintermute is such a disgustingly powerful talent that it makes me sad that I feel inclined to take Bolt of the Storm most matches. This makes it so the Water Elemental can be cast further away from Jaina allowing the player to stay further back and still reach the backline with the Water Elemental. It also casts all of Jaina's abilities at the same time and in the same direction she does other than Blizzard. Blizzard is cast after Jaina's Blizzard in the same location. What this talent doesn't tell you is that any talents invested in any other abilities the Water Elemental WILL use. If the player combos Jaina's abilities and then uses Icy Veins, the Water Elemental will be casting just as frequently right alongside Jaina. If the player feels that Jaina is safe enough in a particular match or has taken other adequatly defensive talents then Wintermute is the correct talent choice over Bolt of the Storm. |
| Arcane Power is truly underwhelming. Restoring 400 mana is pointless at this point of the game when the player has picked either Arcane Intellect or Conjurer's Pursuit to have seemingly limitless mana. The 15% ability power increase is nice, but it is not enough to justify picking this damage talent over the godlike Wintermute talent. If for some reason the player did not take any mana regeneration talents then maybe consider this talent, but even then I would not pick this. |
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| Bolt of the Storm is the best disengagement tool in the game for any hero. It allows the hero to teleport a fair distance away in any direction and over any terrain. In most matches, Jaina must have this talent in order to stay alive in the late part of the game. If she doesn't need this, then Wintermute is the clear winner of this tier. |
A note from the author:
Please realize that this guide is simply my humble opinion of where Jaina's talents stand and portrays builds I find most optimal for me. I just decided to share it all. Thank you for reading and I sincerely hope this helped you!
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