Johanna Talents

Last updated on Dec 12, 2023 at 10:49 by Elitesparkle 41 comments
General Information

Welcome to our Talents page for Johanna. Here, we give you an overview of how strong each of Johanna's talents is. Then, we present several viable builds, before analyzing each talent row separately, so that you can make informed decisions.

1.

Johanna's Talent Build

Level Choices
1 Zealous Glare Divine Fortress ? Laws of Hope ?
4 Subdue Eternal Retaliation ? Hold Your Ground ?
7 Sins Exposed ? Conviction Steed Charge ?
10 Falling Sword ? Blessed Shield
13 Roar ? Holy Fury ✘︎ Blessed Hammer
16 Shrinking Vacuum ? Holy Renewal Blessed Momentum ?
20 Heaven's Fury ? Radiating Faith ? Indestructible ? Blinded By The Light
2.

Johanna's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Shield Glare Build

Recommended
Level 1 Zealous Glare Icon
Level 4 Subdue Icon
Level 7 Conviction Icon Sins Exposed Icon ?
Level 10 Blessed Shield Icon Falling Sword Icon ?
Level 13 Blessed Hammer Icon
Level 16 Holy Renewal Icon
Level 20 Blinded By The Light Icon Radiating Faith Icon ? Heaven's Fury Icon ?

Johanna's Shield Glare Build gives you the opportunity to Blind enemy Heroes more often and, in the late-game, get self-healing and cooldown reduction from that.

You can play this Build when you and your teammates need help against enemy Heroes who rely on Basic Attacks (for example Greymane). Just make sure to keep at least one charge of Shield Glare Icon Shield Glare for peeling.

Basic Attacks Build

Situational
Level 1 Laws of Hope Icon
Level 4 Subdue Icon
Level 7 Conviction Icon Sins Exposed Icon ?
Level 10 Blessed Shield Icon Falling Sword Icon ?
Level 13 Blessed Hammer Icon
Level 16 Blessed Momentum Icon
Level 20 Blinded By The Light Icon Radiating Faith Icon ? Heaven's Fury Icon ?

Johanna's Basic Attacks Build allows you to crowd control enemy Heroes more often in the late game while also having a respectable amount of additional survivability.

You can play this Build when you want more self-sustain in the early game, thanks to Laws of Hope Icon Laws of Hope at Level 1, and when you want more playmaking potential later on, thanks to Blessed Momentum Icon Blessed Momentum at Level 16.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Zealous Glare Icon
Level 4 Subdue Icon
Level 7 Conviction Icon Sins Exposed Icon ?
Level 10 Blessed Shield Icon Falling Sword Icon ?
Level 13 Blessed Hammer Icon
Level 16 Holy Renewal Icon
Level 20 Blinded By The Light Icon Radiating Faith Icon ? Heaven's Fury Icon ?

Johanna's ARAM Build gives you the opportunity to Blind enemy Heroes more often and, in the late-game, get self-healing and cooldown reduction from that.

3.

Level 1 Talents for Johanna

Johanna Zealous Glare
Zealous Glare (Level 1) Diablo Johanna

Shield Glare gains 1 additional charge, and deals 75% more damage.

Zealous Glare Icon Zealous Glare is a strong Talent that gives you an additional charge of Shield Glare Icon Shield Glare and increases its damage by a considerable amount. There is no compensation for the additional Mana you will end up consuming, so be careful with that.

Pick this Talent when you want more waveclear and/or when playing against Heroes who deal a huge amount of damage with Basic Attacks, especially if they are Marksmen who can constantly harass you from the distance and scale well into the late game (such as Zul'jin).

The additional charge allows you to check a bush while still having your Blind available and has synergy with Holy Renewal Icon Holy Renewal at Level 16, increasing your self-sustain and damage in the late game.

Johanna Divine Fortress ?
Divine Fortress (Level 1) Diablo Johanna

Basic Attacks grant 10 Physical Armor for 4 seconds, stacking up to 40.

Gambit: Gain 20% bonus maximum Health. Every death reduces this bonus by 5%.

Divine Fortress Icon Divine Fortress is a situational Gambit-based Talent that immediately gives you extra maximum Health, however, dying reduces its amount. In addition to that, Johanna receives 10 Physical Armor while hitting enemies with Basic Attacks, stacking up to 40 Physical Armor after 4 Basic Attacks within 4 seconds from each other.

The additional maximum Health makes you harder to kill with burst damage and increases any percent-based healing you receive (such as Life-Binder Icon Life-Binder by Alexstrasza). As a consequence, it has synergy with Holy Renewal Icon Holy Renewal at Level 16 as well as with Blinded By The Light Icon Blinded By The Light at Level 20 who uses a similar mechanic, however, those Talents have better synergy with Zealous Glare Icon Zealous Glare at Level 1.

Consider picking this Talent to counter enemy Heroes who can deal a lot of damage via Basic Attacks and your team features two Healers, especially on Maps where team fights happen near Minions and/or Monsters. More healing will amplify the value you can get from the Physical Armor it provides and also because it will be easier to keep it fully stacked until the late game. If needed, you can further increase your survivability with the help of Hold Your Ground Icon Hold Your Ground at Level 4, Steed Charge Icon Steed Charge at Level 7, and/or Falling Sword Icon Falling Sword.

Johanna Laws of Hope ?
Laws of Hope (Level 1) Diablo Johanna
  • Cooldown: 40 seconds

Activate to heal 20% of Johanna's max Health over 5 seconds.

Quest: Every 10 Regeneration Globes gathered increases this heal amount by 5% of Johanna's max Health.

Laws of Hope Icon Laws of Hope is a good Quest-based Talent that provides you a powerful on-demand healing effect with a 40-second cooldown. You can increase its power by collecting Regeneration Globes during the game.

If you are not in a team fight, your Healer is not nearby, and you have less than full Health, it is correct to use Laws of Hope Icon Laws of Hope to heal. Otherwise, the heal should be saved for upcoming team fights.

Be careful when playing this Talent against Heroes who have access to healing reduction effects (for example Ana with Biotic Grenade Icon Biotic Grenade). Wait for them to use that kind of Abilities or just use Laws of Hope Icon Laws of Hope to sustain yourself between team fights and while laning.

On the other hand, consider going for this Talent when playing against Heroes who have access to Shield-breaking effects (such as Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw by Varian) to diversify your survivability into different types: not only Shielding, but also healing.

Prefer picking this Talent when your team has a burst Healer (such as Uther) and not a sustain one (for example Malfurion) to help them keeping your whole team in a good shape without wasting too much Mana for you.

4.

Level 4 Talents for Johanna

Johanna Subdue
Subdue (Level 4) Diablo Johanna

Hitting 2 or more Heroes at the same time with Punish increases the Slow to 80% and the Slow amount does not decay.

Quest: Hit 4 or more Heroes at the same time with Punish.

Reward: Punish always Slows by 80%.

Subdue Icon Subdue is a strong Talent that empowers the Slow applied when hitting two or more enemy Heroes with a single Punish Icon Punish and makes it no longer decay over time before it expires. In addition to that, hitting 4 enemy Heroes with a single Punish Icon Punish will complete a Quest and empower the Slow from Punish Icon Punish even when hitting a single Hero.

We highly recommend this Talent when playing Johanna as main Tank. The best part of this Talent is the decay removal on the Slow, together with the moderate increase of the Slow amount, to the point that it does not matter if you cannot complete the Quest and you should never bother trying to do so.

Johanna Eternal Retaliation ?
Eternal Retaliation (Level 4) Diablo Johanna

Mark enemies hit by Condemn for 10 seconds. Johanna's next Basic Attack against them removes the mark, lowering the cooldown of Condemn by 1 second, refunding 10 Mana, and killing Minions.

Eternal Retaliation Icon Eternal Retaliation is a situational Talent that marks enemies hit by Condemn Icon Condemn for 10 seconds. Consuming marks with your Basic Attacks will reduce the cooldown of Condemn Icon Condemn, give you some Mana, and instantly kill enemy Minions. You cannot consume marks with Abilities.

We recommend this Talent only when playing Johanna as Offlaner. The ability to instantly kill enemy Minions with Basic Attacks is useful when you need more waveclear, however, the requirement to hit each Minion once makes this Talent less effective when playing as main Tank because enemy Heroes will easily pressure you away from enemy Minions by damaging you.

Johanna Hold Your Ground ?
Hold Your Ground (Level 4) Diablo Johanna

Increases Iron Skin's Shield by 40% and its cooldown is reduced by 2 seconds.

Hold Your Ground Icon Hold Your Ground is a situational Talent that empowers the Shield provided by Iron Skin Icon Iron Skin while also reducing its cooldown a little.

You may need this Talent as an additional tool to survive when playing Johanna as main Tank against team compositions who don't have tools to break Shields (such as Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw by Varian) and rely on crowd control and burst damage to take you down.

Making the Shield bigger indirectly translates to being Unstoppable for longer because said effect ends when the Shield gets destroyed, not only when it expires or after a fixed amount of time.

Having a better Shield can be good for Divine Fortress Icon Divine Fortress at Level 1 because you will be more durable while trying to retreat, something that will help you keep its Gambit component fully stacked.

5.

Level 7 Talents for Johanna

Johanna Sins Exposed ?
Sins Exposed (Level 7) Diablo Johanna

Punish reduces healing received by 35% for 3 seconds. Basic Attacks against them refresh this duration.

Sins Exposed Icon Sins Exposed is a situational Talent that gives you access to a moderate healing reduction effect right after using Punish Icon Punish on enemy Heroes. The effect lasts 3 seconds but you can refresh its duration with Basic Attacks.

Consider picking this Talent when your team needs extra burst damage against a team featuring a high amount of healing (Whitemane comes to mind) and/or a lot of self-sustain (for example Stitches).

Johanna Conviction
Conviction (Level 7) Diablo Johanna

Gain 10% Movement Speed, increased to 20% while Condemn is charging up.

Conviction Icon Conviction is a strong Talent that passively gives you a moderate amount of Movement Speed and further boosts your Movement Speed while Condemn Icon Condemn is charging.

Johanna is a relatively immobile Hero, therefore she benefits a lot from this kind of Talent as it increases her mobility for either defensive or offensive uses, especially when her Heroic Abilities are not available.

Johanna Steed Charge ?
Steed Charge (Level 7) Diablo Johanna
  • Cooldown: 20 seconds

Activate to instantly Mount for 3 seconds, unhindered by damage.

Passive: Increase the duration of Iron Skin by 2 second.

Steed Charge Icon Steed Charge is a situational Talent that can be activated to instantly Mount and run away without being dismounted by damage. In addition to giving you mobility, this Talent passively increases the duration of Iron Skin Icon Iron Skin by 2 second. Johanna will be automatically dismounted at the end of its effect.

If it is not dangerous, you can even use Steed Charge Icon Steed Charge aggressively, immediately after casting Condemn Icon Condemn, to engage without Heroic Ability. That said, Conviction Icon Conviction will give you about the same value in a similar scenario.

Keep in mind that you can still be dismounted by crowd control effects unless you combine it with Iron Skin Icon Iron Skin to become Unstoppable right before using it.

Having an escape at your disposal can be good for Divine Fortress Icon Divine Fortress at Level 1 because it will help you to get away from danger without dying and, as a consequence, keeping its Gambit component fully stacked. Similarly, it can be useful when playing as Offlaner in order to further increase your survivability against enemy ganks.

If you do not want to waste your Heroic Ability to interrupt powerful channeled Abilities (such as Ravenous Spirit Icon Ravenous Spirit by Nazeebo), you can use Steed Charge Icon Steed Charge as a gap-closer for using Condemn Icon Condemn instead.

6.

Level 10 Talents for Johanna

In this section we discuss when and why to pick a given Heroic Ability. If you want to read how they work and/or you are looking for some tips on how to use them, check the dedicated section in the Abilities and Strategy page.

Johanna Falling Sword ?
Falling Sword (Level 10) Diablo Johanna
  • Mana: 60
  • Cooldown: 50 seconds

Johanna leaps into the air for 2 seconds and she can steer the landing location by moving. While in the air, allies below Johanna are Unstoppable. Upon landing enemies hit take 225 (+4% per level) damage and are Stunned for 0.25 seconds.

Falling Sword Icon Falling Sword is a situational Heroic Ability that can be used defensively to escape or offensively to dive into the enemy backline to damage and briefly Stun enemies hit.

The ability to make allied Heroes below you Unstoppable is versatile as it can be useful for both offensive (for example to enable Kerrigan to play aggressively) and defensive plays (to free teammates from scary crowd control effects).

Some team compositions will put so much pressure on you that you will need to pick Falling Sword Icon Falling Sword to escape (for example Leoric with Entomb Icon Entomb before Level 20 or without Buried Alive Icon Buried Alive at Level 20).

Johanna Blessed Shield
Blessed Shield (Level 10) Diablo Johanna
  • Mana: 90
  • Cooldown: 60 seconds

Deal 114 (+4% per level) damage and Stun the first enemy hit for 1.5 seconds. Blessed Shield then bounces to 2 nearby enemies, dealing 57 (+4% per level) damage and Stunning them for 0.75 seconds.

Blessed Shield Icon Blessed Shield is a strong Heroic Ability that provides you a powerful Stun, making up for the lack of hard crowd control among your Basic Abilities.

You can use it to engage enemy Heroes, to peel for your team or to interrupt powerful enemy channeled Abilities (such as Ravenous Spirit Icon Ravenous Spirit by Nazeebo) when Condemn Icon Condemn is on cooldown or lacks range.

7.

Level 13 Talents for Johanna

Johanna Roar ?
Roar (Level 13) Diablo Johanna

Increase Punish's damage by 50%. This bonus is increased to 150% whenever Punish hits 2 or more Heroes.

Roar Icon Roar is a good Talent that increases the damage done by Punish Icon Punish, even against non-Heroes, and provides a solid amount of burst damage when hitting 2 enemy Heroes with a single Punish Icon Punish.

The main benefit of this Talent is that it gives you a solid amount of burst damage when you can hit multiple enemy Heroes with Punish Icon Punish, which helps your team finish them before they can use defensive Abilities and/or their Healer can react.

Johanna Holy Fury
Holy Fury (Level 13) Diablo Johanna
  • Mana: 50
  • Cooldown: 10 seconds

Deal 15 (+4% per level) damage per second to nearby enemies. Each Hero hit by Condemn increases this damage by 40% for 5 seconds.

Holy Fury Icon Holy Fury is a weak Talent that allows you to deal area of effect damage around you, empowered after hitting Heroes with Condemn Icon Condemn.

We do not recommend this Talent because it requires to hit 4 enemy Heroes with Condemn Icon Condemn and Johanna to stay nearby at least one of them for 5 seconds to get enough value compared to the other options in the same Tier.

Johanna Blessed Hammer
Blessed Hammer (Level 13) Diablo Johanna
  • Cooldown: 30 seconds

Activate to create 2 hammers that spiral outward from Johanna, dealing 74 (+4% per level) damage to enemies hit. Damaging enemies with Basic Abilities reduce the cooldown of this Ability by 2 seconds.

Passive: Every 3rd Basic Attack against enemy Heroes releases a hammer.

Blessed Hammer Icon Blessed Hammer is a strong Talent that causes every third Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes to spawn a small hammer of light which spiral outwards from Johanna and deals damage to all enemies hit. Once every 30 seconds, you can manually activate Blessed Hammer Icon Blessed Hammer to spawn 2 hammers that work in the same way. You can reduce the cooldown of the active component by hitting enemies with Basic Abilities.

Pick Blessed Hammer Icon Blessed Hammer when you want more sustain damage or when all you need is single-target damage, and/or more waveclear. You can activate it to quickly clear multiple Minions or Monsters at the same time, however, its passive component only works when using Basic Attacks against enemy Heroes.

8.

Level 16 Talents for Johanna

Johanna Shrinking Vacuum ?
Shrinking Vacuum (Level 16) Diablo Johanna

Condemn reduces enemy Heroes damage by 25% and Slows by 25% for 2 seconds.

Shrinking Vacuum Icon Shrinking Vacuum is a situational Talent that reduces the damage done by enemy Heroes hit with Condemn Icon Condemn and Slows them a little.

Heroes who are Unstoppable (such as Deathwing) or that are usually not great targets to use your Abilities on unless they mess up hard (for example Mephisto) are hard to peel, so you can opt for this Talent to at least reduce their damage output.

When playing against Heroes who can shred your Shields with dedicated effects (notably Varian with Shattering Throw Icon Shattering Throw), you can use this Talent to increase your survivability and make up for that extra damage the enemy team will deal on you.

You can combine this Talent with Conviction Icon Conviction at Level 7 to make it easier to hit enemy Heroes with Condemn Icon Condemn, however, it is already good on its own.

Johanna Holy Renewal
Holy Renewal (Level 16) Diablo Johanna

Hitting enemy Heroes with Shield Glare reduce its cooldown by 1.5 seconds and heals for 5% of Johanna's maximum Health.

Holy Renewal Icon Holy Renewal is a strong Talent that heals you for a significant amount when hitting enemy Heroes with Shield Glare Icon Shield Glare, in addition to reducing its cooldown. Both effects are multiplied for each enemy Hero hit.

The potential healing coming from this Talent can be useful to reduce the stress on your Healer when playing against a poke-composition. While hitting 5 enemy Heroes is too optimistic, you can reliably hit 2 Heroes with each use, restoring a good chunk of your maximum Health.

Being based on your maximum Health, the healing provided by Holy Renewal Icon Holy Renewal can be increased with Divine Fortress Icon Divine Fortress at Level 1, assuming you do not die too much. Alternatively, you can benefit from this Talent more often thanks to the second Shield Glare Icon Shield Glare provided by Zealous Glare Icon Zealous Glare at Level 1.

Johanna Blessed Momentum ?
Blessed Momentum (Level 16) Diablo Johanna

Basic Attacks grant 10% increased Attack Speed for 4 seconds, stacking up to 40%. They also reduce Johanna's Basic Ability cooldowns by 0.5 seconds.

Blessed Momentum Icon Blessed Momentum is a good Talent that, when hitting any target with Basic Attacks, boosts your Attack Speed and reduces the cooldown of your Basic Abilities.

Pick this Talent when you want to use your Basic Abilities more often, either defensively or offensively, or when your team needs more damage as the other Talents in this Tier do not provide any offensive bonus.

9.

Level 20 Talents for Johanna

Johanna Heaven's Fury ?
Heaven's Fury (Level 20) Diablo Johanna

Falling Sword rains down holy bolts, dealing 50 (+4% per level) damage to enemies, healing allied Heroes for 68 (+4% per level), and reducing its cooldown by 1 second for each Hero hit.

Heaven's Fury Icon Heaven's Fury is a good Talent that heavily empowers Falling Sword Icon Falling Sword in 3 ways: more damage against enemy Heroes, healing allied Heroes, and cooldown reduction based on the number of Heroes hit with the previous two effects.

The damage bolts can hit up to 3 enemies (not only Heroes) while the healing bolts can hit up to 3 allied Heroes. The cooldown reduction is equal to 8 seconds per Hero affected, therefore the cooldown remaining will end up being:

  • 40 seconds for 1 Hero;
  • 32 seconds for 2 Heroes;
  • 24 seconds for 3 Heroes;
  • 16 seconds for 4 Heroes (at least 1 per team);
  • 8 seconds for 5 Heroes (at least 2 per team);
  • 0 seconds for 6 Heroes (3 per team).

The possibility of using multiple Heroic Abilities per team fight is great, especially in the late game when your Mana pool is big enough to pay for the extra casts without problems.

Johanna Radiating Faith ?
Radiating Faith (Level 20) Diablo Johanna

Increase the number of enemies hit by Blessed Shield by 2. Its Stun duration is increased to 1.75 seconds and all targets hit are Stunned for the maximum duration.

Radiating Faith Icon Radiating Faith is a good Talent that allows Blessed Shield Icon Blessed Shield to hit up to 5 enemies (prioritizing Heroes) and Stun all of them for 1.75 seconds.

We strongly recommend this Talent because it has the potential to win a late game team fight on its own by setting up a powerful engage for your team.

Johanna Indestructible ?
Indestructible (Level 20) Diablo Johanna

Upon taking fatal damage, Johanna gains a Shield equal to her maximum Health for 4 seconds. This effect has a 120 second cooldown.

Indestructible Icon Indestructible is a situational Talent that will not only keep you alive in team fights, but discourage enemies from targeting you altogether.

To prevent the enemy team from simply ignoring you and focusing the rest of your team instead, you need to force them to deal with you by playing extremely aggressive, a strategy that will not always work because the enemy team could theoretically decide to ignore you anyways.

Once Indestructible Icon Indestructible gets triggered, you must immediately retreat from combat, unless you are immediately healed, or you will die once the Shield ends. Holy Renewal Icon Holy Renewal at Level 16 and Laws of Hope Icon Laws of Hope at Level 1 can help you with that.

We recommend this Talent only when playing against teams who want to kill you through Iron Skin Icon Iron Skin (for example Leoric with Entomb Icon Entomb and Buried Alive Icon Buried Alive at Level 20).

Johanna Blinded By The Light
Blinded By The Light (Level 20) Diablo Johanna
  • Cooldown: 60 seconds

Activate to grant nearby allied Heroes a Shield equal to 25% of their maximum Health for 3 seconds.

Hitting Heroes with Shield Glare reduces the cooldown of this Ability by 8 seconds.

Blinded By The Light Icon Blinded By The Light is a strong Talent that can be helpful if the enemy team has so much area of effect burst damage that your team cannot do anything to win the team fight.

Like any other Shield-based Ability, to avoid wasting it, only use it immediately before significant burst damage. The cooldown reduction provided by hitting enemy Heroes with Shield Glare Icon Shield Glare has the potential to let you use this Talent twice in a single team fight.

The second charge of Shield Glare Icon Shield Glare provided by Zealous Glare Icon Zealous Glare at Level 1 can help you quickly reset the cooldown of Blinded By The Light Icon Blinded By The Light.

Being based on maximum Health, the Shield provided by this Talent will be bigger if you took Divine Fortress Icon Divine Fortress at Level 1 and you did not lose too many stacks of its Gambit.

10.

Changelog

  • 12 Dec. 2023: Guide reviewed.
  • 20 Sep. 2023: ARAM Build added.
  • 30 Mar. 2022: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 28 Jan. 2022: Builds updated.
  • 13 Dec. 2021: Builds updated.
  • 07 Dec. 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Major Patch.
  • 03 Nov. 2021: Builds updated.
  • 21 Sep. 2021: Builds updated.
  • 16 Jul. 2021: Builds updated.
  • 18 Jun. 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 30 May 2021: Builds updated.
  • 17 May 2021: Guide reviewed for the latest Patch.
  • 27 Feb. 2021: Build Tags updated.
  • 25 Feb. 2021: New layout.
  • 16 Jul. 2020: Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 10 Jul. 2020: Builds and Descriptions modified to reflect the current metagame.
  • 15 Apr. 2020: Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
    • Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
  • 11 Jun. 2019: Updated Johanna's guide to align it more with the current state of the game.
  • 16 Oct. 2018: Changed Sins Exposed from Situational to Recommended.
  • 29 Jan. 2017: Changed Blessed Hammer from Not Recommended to Recommended and updated Johanna's Builds.
  • 02 Nov. 2017: Changed Subdue from Not Recommended to Recommended.
  • 29 Sep. 2017: Updated Johanna's talents for Ana's patch.
  • 04 May 2017: Updated Heaven's Fury's talent description and recommendation.
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