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Table of Contents
General Information
On this page, we present the viable talent choices for playing Jaina in a competitive environment in Heroes of the Storm. For each talent, we explain what they do and why they should or should not be taken.
The other pages of our Jaina guide can be accessed from the table of contents on the right.
About the Author
Oxygen is a veteran of the MOBA genre, which he has been playing for nearly 15 years. He has coached some of Heroes of the Storm's most prominent North American players and teams alike, including Team Liquid. As a Master player, he enjoys playing all Heroes and roles.
1. Talent Build
| Level | Choices |
|---|---|
| 1 |
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| 4 |
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✘
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| 7 |
✘
✔
✘
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| 10 |
✘
✔
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| 13 |
✘
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| 16 |
✘
✘
✔
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| 20 |
✘
✘
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|
2. Common Talent Paths
Reliable burst damage build: Reliably deal high burst damage to multiple enemies at once
Anti-Melee Frostbolt build: Very high sustained damage that is effective versus multiple melee Heroes
Ring of Frost combo build: Extremely high burst damage with Ring of Frost that can be comboed with allies
3. Level 1 Talents
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3.1. Descriptions
Winter's Reach increases the range of
Frostbolt for 30%.
Lingering Chill increases the duration of Chill from
4 to 6 seconds.
Deep Chill increases the slow of Chill from 25% to 30%.
Conjurer's Pursuit permanently increases your
Mana Regeneration by 0.1 per second for every Regeneration Globe you collect,
up to 2.5. After gathering 25 Regeneration Globes, your maximum Mana is
also increased by 100. Purple Regeneration Globes dropped from neutral
Boss monsters count as well.
3.2. Recommended
Deep Chill effectively increases the slow effect from
Chill by 20% (25% to 30%). This has a notable impact in fights in general, but
is especially helpful in landing both waves from 
Blizzard.
3.3. Not Recommended
Winter's Reach has very little practical effect. Very
rarely will there be a situation where the increased range on
Frostbolt makes a difference, especially considering you
need to be very close to hit enemies with 
Cone of Cold.
Lingering Chill, like Winter's Reach,
will not benefit you. You will be casting too many abilities — constantly
reapplying Chill — for the 4 second duration of Chill to fall off. If it does,
it is unlikely that 2 additional seconds will make a meaningful difference.
Lingering Chill is an inferior version of Deep Chill.
Conjurer's Pursuit provides you with Mana regeneration that
you do not require. If you use your abilities wisely, you should not run out of Mana.
4. Level 4 Talents
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4.1. Descriptions
Frost Shards causes Frostbolt
to pierce the first target and hit a second target, damaging and Chilling both.
Arcane Intellect allows Jaina to restore her Mana by
damaging Chilled enemies. Basic Attacks restore 5 Mana per attack and abilities
restore 20 Mana. Abilities hitting multiple Chilled targets will still only
restore 20 Mana.
Frost Armor causes enemy Heroes that use Basic Attacks
against you to be Chilled. Additionally, every 10 seconds you can block 1 enemy
Hero's Basic Attack, reducing its damage by 50%.
4.2. Recommended
Frost Shards improves the reliability of Frostbolt by making it
more difficult to block. It is particularly useful for hitting enemies that
are hiding behind Minions, Structures, or Summons.
4.3. Not Recommended
Arcane Intellect provides you with significantly more
Mana regeneration. However, if you only use your abilities as they are needed,
you will only rarely run out of Mana. Therefore, Arcane Intellect is not needed.
Frost Armor effectively blocks very little damage, even
against a Nova with 
Anti-Armor Shells, as most of the damage
from Heroes comes from their abilities. Additionally, your targets should already
be Chilled from the multitude of sources you have at your disposal.
5. Level 7 Talents
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5.1. Descriptions
Ice Floes doubles the width of
Cone of Cold and causes the cooldown of Cone of Cold to be
reduced by 1 second for every target hit, up to a maximum of 5 seconds.
Frostbitten increases the damage bonus against Chilled
targets from 50% to 65%.
Ice Lance reduces the cooldown of
Frostbolt by 50% and restores 10 Mana if it damages an
enemy that is already Chilled. Note that this effect is not doubled through
Frost Shards if you hit more than one enemy with a single Frostbolt.
5.2. Recommended
Frostbitten is the only talent that provides a
meaningful increase in damage. While an increase from 50% to 65% may not seem
very large, it amounts to a 10% damage increase from one rotation of your Basic
Abilities (assuming every ability hits a Chilled target). While your overall damage
increase is slightly lower than 10%, Frostbitten will benefit you more than any
other talent at this level.
5.3. Not Recommended
Ice Floes is very situational, only having a noticeable
benefit when clearing large minion waves. When used against a single target, where
it is impossible to miss Cone of Cold, it only reduces the
cooldown of the ability by 1 second, which is essentially meaningless. Even in
a near-perfect scenario where it hits four enemy Heroes, the cooldown of Cone of
Cold is reduced by only 5 seconds. In this scenario, you would deal
significantly less damage than the 10% damage increase from
Frostbitten, as well as having to wait several seconds until
Cone of Cold can be used to gain any benefit.
Ice Lance is quite a strong talent, but the damage it
provides is overshadowed by Frostbitten — at least in team
fights. Ice Lance provides higher single-target damage if you are able to land two
or more Frostbolts, as well as allowing you to chase and kite enemy Heroes more
effectively by constantly reapplying Chill. However, Frostbitten will provide
significantly more damage if your abilities hit just two or more targets, making
Ice Lance a little too niche. Additionally, Ice Lance means that you will be
casting twice as many Frostbolts, using twice as much Mana. This can be a problem
during the early game when Conjurer's Pursuit does not yet provide enough Mana
regeneration.
6. Level 10 Talents
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✔
6.1. Descriptions
Ring of Frost creates an icy ring at the target location.
After a short delay, all enemies touching the ring take significant damage and are
rooted for 3 seconds. The ring persists for 3 seconds afterwards, Chilling
(but not damaging) all enemies that touch it. Ring of Frost has no effect upon
enemies standing in the centre of the ring.
Summon Water Elemental summons a Water
Elemental under your control at the target location, damaging nearby enemies.
The Water Elemental will attack nearby enemies, with its Basic Attacks dealing
25% of their damage in an area around the target. It can be commanded to move
and attack targets by using the R button. The Water Elemental lasts for 20 seconds or until it is killed. It can be
commanded while Jaina is mounted, without dismounting her. It moves slightly
faster than unmounted Heroes.
6.2. Recommended
As mentioned on the Abilities page, Summon Water Elemental
is an extremely strong ability that exponentially increases Jaina's strength.
You can refer to the Abilities page in order to understand the ideal uses of
Summon Water Elemental.
6.3. Not Recommended
Ring of Frost deals an extremely high amount of damage,
accompanied by an equally outrageous 3-second root. However, it has a long cooldown
and is extremely difficult to hit, especially against more skilled opponents who
know that the inner circle is completely safe. Ring of Frost's unreliability is
too inhibiting, and most team fights will hinge on whether or not you are able to
successfully land Ring of Frost. In contrast, there can never be a poorly placed Summon Water Elemental, and it can be just as effective, if not more.
Ring of Frost can be used on an already stunned, rooted,
or slowed enemy, but it can be very difficult to coordinate, and chances are that
if your team is good enough to coordinate it, the enemy team is good enough to
counter it, with abilities like 
Cleanse or 
Divine Shield.
7. Level 13 Talents
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✘
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7.1. Descriptions
Storm Front doubles the casting range of Blizzard.
Ice Barrier causes Jaina's abilities to shield her for
25% of the damage dealt if they are used against Chilled targets. The shield lasts
for 4 seconds.
Icy Veins is an activatable talent that causes your
Basic Abilities to come off of cooldown three times as fast and cost 50% less
Mana. The effect lasts for 5 seconds.
7.2. Recommended
Icy Veins is a fantastic activatable talent that will
essentially reduce the Mana costs by 50% and the cooldowns of your abilities to
1.33 seconds, 5.33 seconds, and 3.33 seconds for Frostbolt, Blizzard, and Cone
of Cold respectively, for 5 seconds. It accentuates her already fantastic damage
and combo potential.
7.3. Not Recommended
Storm Front is a helpful but ineffective talent. You
must be within the casting range of Cone of Cold and Frostbolt to kill enemy Heroes and simply casting Blizzard will do very little.
Ice Barrier only increases Jaina's survivability, but
Jaina is a strong Hero because of the massive damage and utility she offers, not
because she is a difficult Hero to kill. Ice Barrier provides you with benefits
that are not helpful to her playstyle. You should be flanking enemy Heroes and
instantly using all of your abilities before they have time to react, making them
unable to even damage you in the 4 seconds that the shield from Ice Barrier lasts.
8. Level 16 Talents
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✘
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8.1. Descriptions
Snowstorm increases the radius of
Blizzard by 30%.
Northern Exposure causes Cone of Cold
to afflict enemies with Vulnerable, increasing the damage they take by 25% for 2
seconds.
Numbing Blast causes Cone of Cold
to root enemies for 1 second if they are already afflicted by Chill.
8.2. Recommended
Numbing Blast may not seem very strong, offering only a
1-second root on Chilled targets, but it will actually out-damage Northern Exposure in most situations, simply because of its
utility. The root guarantees that the targeted Hero(es) will take damage from both
waves of Blizzard, instead of just one. Additionally, the
root allows your team to correctly position around the enemy Hero(es) and apply
their own damage or crowd control. Since the first ability you use on the enemy
Hero(es) will be Summon Water Elemental, they will always be
Chilled for Numbing Blast.
8.3. Not Recommended
Although Snowstorm dramatically increases the radius of
Blizzard, the talent must compete with Numbing Blast.
Northern Exposure is a good talent, but Numbing Blast is more effective. Vulnerable does not amplify
the damage from Cone of Cold itself. Therefore, even if
both waves of Blizzard hit, which is unlikely without
the root from Numbing Blast, the 25% increased damage from
Jaina will barely equal a single wave of Blizzard. Since Numbing Blast guarantees the second wave of
Blizzard to hit, it is always a better choice,
even when only considering Jaina's damage.
9. Level 20 Talents
✘
✘
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9.1. Descriptions
Cold Snap causes the centre of
Ring of Frost to also explode once the outer ring has
exploded. Enemies can be hit by both explosions.
Wintermute increases the casting range of
Summon Water Elemental by 50% and causes your Water Elemental to
copy any abilities that you cast. The Water Elemental's mimicked abilities deal
50% damage and are cast at the same location of your own abilities.
Arcane Power is an activatable talent that
restores 400 Mana and increases the damage of your Abilities by 15% for 5
seconds. Arcane Power can be used without
interrupting progressing
channeled abilities, and has a 60-second
cooldown.Arcane Power must be active when an ability finishes casting for that
ability to have 15% increased damage.
Improved Ice Block is an activatable talent that puts
Jaina into a stasis for 3 seconds, preventing all damage and making her unable
to take any action. Nearby enemies are Chilled when the stasis ends. If Jaina is
affected by any damage over time effects, like 
Envenom,
the effect is paused
until Jaina comes out of stasis. Improved Ice Block can be reactivated early to
cancel the effect. It is identical to Ice Block, with the exception of the
Chilling effect after the stasis ends.
9.2. Recommended
Improved Ice Block can drastically increase your
survivability, by either allowing you to dodge enemy abilities or giving your
team time to assist you. Improved Ice Block is fantastic versus enemies that
deal significant burst or combo damage, such as Kerrigan and Nova. Choose
Improved Ice Block when you are being prioritised by enemy
Assassins, even when you are playing safely.
9.3. Not Recommended
Cold Snap cannot be chosen when using Summon Water Elemental.
Wintermute is a strong offensive talent, but Improved Ice Block is simply required; the utility that it provides is unsurpassed. During the late game, when the majority of
enemy Heroes can kill you nearly instantly, Improved Ice Block is a life saver. If Illidan,
E.T.C., or Zeratul attack you, you are dead unless your team can assist you.
Improved Ice Block can provide your team with the time that they need to reach you.
Arcane Power is a truly useless talent. Additional Mana has no impact in team fights, unless you are completely out of Mana, which you should not be. When it comes to the 15% increased ability damage for 10
seconds, there is no reason to take Arcane Power over
Wintermute, which will give you 50% increased
ability power (in the form of mimicked abilities) for 20 seconds, plus the 50%
increased range on Summon Water Elemental.
10. ChangeLog
+ show all entries - show only 10 entries- 11 Jul. 2016: Updated talent descriptions and recommendations to account for the Gul'dan patch changes.
- 17 May 2016: Updated Conjurer's Pursuit's description following Chromie's patch changes. Talent recommendations remain unchanged.
- 04 Apr. 2016: Dehaka patch update.
- Bolt of the Storm has been removed.
- Improved Ice Block has been moved to Level 20 Recommended
- Icy Veins changed to Recommended at Level 13.
- Ice Barrier has been moved to Level 13 Not Recommended.
- Descriptions have been updated for the relevant talents.
- 18 Nov. 2015: Updated Jaina's talent.
- Deep Chill movement speed Slow applied by Chill decreased from 35% to 30%.
- 22 Aug. 2015: Updated talent descriptions for Conjurer's Pursuit and recommendations.
- 02 Jul. 2015: Updates following the Butcher patch.
- Changed Conjurer's Pursuit from Recommended to Not Recommended. Talent description updated.
- Changed Deep Chill from Situational to Recommended. Talent description updated.
- Changed Envenom from Recommended to Not Recommended. Talent description updated.
- Changed Snowstorm from Not Recommended to Recommended. Talent description updated.
- Changed Improved Ice Block from Not Recommended to Recommended. Talent description updated.
- Changed Icy Veins from Not Recommended to Recommended. Talent description updated.
- Envenom now deals damage over 10 seconds, up from 5 seconds. The amount of damage is unchanged.
- Conjurer's Pursuit no longer initially provides 0.5 Mana regeneration per second. Each Regeneration Globe now grants 0.1 Mana regeneration (instead of 0.25 for every 3 globes collected).
- Jaina no longer has Sprint as a talent. Talent and description has been removed.
- 27 Apr. 2015: Changed Deep Chill from Not Recommended to Situational.
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