Jaina Abilities and Strategy
Welcome to our Abilities page for Jaina. Here, we give you an overview of every ability in Jaina's kit. For each of them, we explain what it does, how to best use it, and how it works in combination with Jaina's other abilities. We also give you strategy tips to play Jaina efficiently.
Jaina's Tips and Tricks
- Use your Abilities together to maximise
Frostbite's damage.
- Root or Slow enemies before casting
Blizzard and
Ring of Frost. Allied crowd control is also helpful.
- Use Blizzard to very efficiently waveclear or claim Mercenary Camps.
Frostbite (Trait)
Although we typically list Hero Abilities in order, Jaina's Trait is quite unique in that it heavily impacts the way that she is played. As such, we will list it first.


- Passive
Jaina's Abilities Chill targets, Slowing them by 25% and amplifying damage taken from her Abilities by 50%. Lasts 4 seconds.
Quest: Deal 12000 Ability damage to Chilled Heroes.
Reward: Unlock the Improved Ice Block Ability, allowing Jaina to become temporarily Invulnerable.
Frostbite passively causes Jaina's Abilities to also affect their targets with Chill, Slowing them by 25% and causing any Ability that hits an enemy already afflicted by Chill to deal 50% increased damage. Chill lasts for 4 seconds, but Jaina's Abilities cause this duration to refresh. Chill affects all entities in the game for the purpose of inflicting bonus damage, including Structures.
The Chilling effect associated to Frostbite must be taken advantage of in order for Jaina to be effective. On top of reliably applying a lengthy Slowing effect, it can potentially increase the damage you deal with Abilities by a hefty 50%. It is therefore imperative that all of your Abilities are used against targets that are affected by Chill whenever possible. In practice, this is quite easy to do, since your Abilities will all be used shortly after one another. The difficulty comes with the order that they must be used in depending on the situation at hand.
A Quest is also associated to Frostbite; completing it by dealing 12000
damage to Heroes that are Chilled unlocks the Improved Ice Block Ability.
Improved Ice Block greatly improves Jaina's survivability by allowing you to
prevent ALL damage for a generous amount of time. It can also be used to quickly
avoid dangerous Abilities. Improved Ice Block can be canceled before expiring
naturally by casting the Ability again; this is particularly useful when simply
trying to avoid one specific Ability, such as Hook, to then escape or
reposition. It should be noted that the Cooldowns of your other Abilities do
continue to progress while protected by Improved Ice Block, which can be useful
to refresh Cooldowns safely. The fact that the completion of this Quest relies
upon dealing damage to Heroes, Jaina players should see to try and get into
as much combat as possible, as early as possible.
Frostbolt


- Mana: 30
- Cooldown: 4 seconds
Deal 184 (+4% per level) damage and Chill the target.
Frostbolt is Jaina's bread and butter. The Ability's extremely short
Cooldown, insignificant Mana cost, and long range means that it is typically
used on-Cooldown whenever enemies are within range — whether it be
Minions, Structures, Mercenaries, or Heroes. When possible, Frostbolt should be
used first in your Ability chain as its Slowing effect
helps with landing Blizzard, and as
Cone of Cold deals much
more damage when multiplied by
Frostbite.
Frostbolt's skillshot nature, however, means that some practice to assimilate the projectile's speed and width is necessary. Also keep in mind that Minions and other undesirable targets may prevent Frostbolt from hitting your desired target, as it does not pierce without the help of a specific Talent.
Blizzard


- Mana: 90
- Cooldown: 15 seconds
Bombard an area with 3 waves of ice, dealing 142 (+4% per level) damage each. Damaged enemies are Chilled.
Blizzard is Jaina's most damaging Ability, assuming several waves hit. Due to its long Cooldown, it should only be used if at least two waves are guaranteed to hit, unless only one wave is needed to secure a kill. Since there is a short delay between casting Blizzard and it dealing damage, moving enemies may have time to avoid most if not all of its damage. This means that you should only use Blizzard under certain circumstances; generally, against stationary targets such as Minions, Structures, or Mercenaries, or against Heroes under the effects of crowd control.
If you are chasing a fleeing enemy or are being chased yourself, you can land
multiple Blizzard waves by first Slowing your target with Frostbolt or
Cone of Cold, and then casting Blizzard in the direction they are moving.
This is particularly useful when blocking off choke points, as you
are forcing your target to choose between taking heavy damage or completely
changing direction.
Blizzard is also an extremely effective waveclearing tool. As
early as Hero Level 2, a single cast will kill all 4 of the ranged Minions in a
given Minion wave. Cone of Cold can be used to instantly finish off
the remainder of the wave. To clear Minions most effectively, wait until every
enemy Minion begins attacking your own Minions, at which point all enemy Minions
will be within the radius of Blizzard.
Cone of Cold


- Mana: 40
- Cooldown: 10 seconds
Deal 220 (+4% per level) damage and Chill targets.
Cone of Cold is Jaina's most damaging instant Ability (although, as we
mentioned, it is surpassed by Blizzard if at least two of its waves hit
the target). Its range, however, is the shortest, meaning getting into position
for hits may be risky. Still, its instant point-and-click nature makes it the
easiest Ability to hit with. Cone of Cold should be used whenever it is
available and safe to do so, although only if the target is already Chilled. It
is better to first Chill targets with
Frostbolt, Blizzard, or
Summon Water Elemental, since they each deal less damage than Cone of Cold.
Once you unlock the
Numbing Blast Talent at Level 16, using Cone of
Cold against Chilled targets becomes even more important, as the Rooting effect
it provides is vital to landing subsequent Blizzard waves.
Ring of Frost
In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.


- Heroic
- Mana: 70
- Cooldown: 70 seconds
After a 1.5 second delay, create a Ring of Frost in an area that deals 310 (+4% per level) damage and Roots enemies for 3 seconds. The ring persists for 3 seconds afterward, Chilling any enemies who touch it.
Ring of Frost is Jaina's combo- and crowd control-oriented Heroic Ability choice.
Its unusual circular targeting makes it one of the most unique Ability in the
game, and much practice is required to reliably hit Ring of Frost while under
pressure. Allied crowd control and your own Chilling effects, however, can help
greatly with this task. As with most Heroic Abilities that have a long Cooldown,
you should try to hit as many Heroes as possible with Ring of Frost so as to
maximise its value. Blizzard should follow successful Ring of Frost
casts naturally, as the lengthy Rooting effect will ensure all waves hit.
Ring of Frost works particularly well with the following Abilities:
Mosh Pit from E.T.C;
Grav-O-Bomb 3000 from Gazlowe;
Devouring Maw from Zagara;
Graviton Surge from Zarya;
Void Prison from Zeratul.
Summon Water Elemental
In this section we discuss how this Heroic Ability works and give some tips on how to use it. If you are looking for a detailed explanation on when and why you should pick it, check out the dedicated section in the Talent Build page.


- Heroic
- Mana: 60
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Summon a Water Elemental at target location. The Water Elemental's Basic Attacks deal 62 (+4% per level) damage, splash for 25% damage and Chill. The Ability can be reactivated to retarget the Water Elemental. Lasts 20 seconds.
Summon Water Elemental is a versatile Heroic Ability choice that helps make
up for several of Jaina's weakness, notably, dueling. Besides dealing a substantial
amount of single-target damage on its own, the Water Elemental provides
Frostbite's Chilling effect to anything it hits, which allows
your Abilities to deal their full damage for as long as Water Elemental persists
and attacks. Summon Water Elemental's long range can also be used to catch up
to fleeing enemies. The Water Elemental can be ordered to move to a specific
area or attack a specific target by re-casting the Ability at the desired
location or on the desired target; this can be done even after Jaina has died.
Controling the Elemental can also be useful for applying Frostbite to multiple
targets by re-targeting the Summon's attack quickly against different Heroes.
Try and never leave your Elemental idle, which it will become if it loses sight
of its target. This Ability's relatively short Cooldown means it should be used
liberally.
Changelog
- 09 Dec. 2021: Frostbite's description updated after recent balance patch.
More Ranged Assassin Guides
Derenash has been playing Heroes of the Storm since 2015 and has achieved Grandmaster in multiple seasons, peaking at Top 1 in Season 3 and 4 of 2018. He participated in the HGC Copa America in 2018 where his team had a strong victory. He is passionate about teaching others about the game, and streams often on Twitch in Portuguese, and you can find him in Wind Striders' Discord as well where he is happy to answer any questions in English or Portuguese.
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