Jaina Talents
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. Jaina's Talent Build
Level | Choices |
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1 |
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4 |
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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. Jaina's Common Talent Paths
2.1. Frostbolt Build (talent calculator link)
The Frostbolt build seeks to improve Jaina's sustained damage output
through the several synergistic Frostbolt-related Talents.
Fingers of Frost
provides much needed Mana and a bit of extra damage;
Frost Shards makes
Frostbolt more difficult to block and potentially doubles its damage;
Ice Lance situationally halves Frostbolt's Cooldown, which is particularly
significant when combined with
Icy Veins;
Summon Water Elemental provides
a reliable way to keep targets Chilled through
Frostbite.
3. Level 1 Talents for Jaina


Increase the range of Frostbolt by 30%.


Increase the duration of Chill from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.


Quest: Gathering Regeneration Globes to increase Jaina's Mana regeneration by 0.1 per second, up to 2 per second.
Reward: After gathering 20 Globes, the damage bonus from Frostbite is increased by 10%.
3.1. Discussion
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. Furthermore, Frostbolt's relatively slow projectile speed
makes it difficult to fully exploit the range increase.
Although Lingering Chill turns
Frostbite into one of the longest
Slowing effect, it fits rather poorly with Jaina's bursty approach to solving
problems. In other words, it is difficult to benefit from the Slowing effect
when your typical plan involves using your Abilities very quickly in order to
force kills.
Fingers of Frost provides Jaina with more damage and Mana. Very nice.
4. Level 4 Talents for Jaina


Frostbolt will now pierce the first target to hit an additional target behind them.


Dealing damage to a Chilled target returns Mana to Jaina. Basic Attacks return 5 Mana and Abilities return 20.


Enemies that attack Jaina are Chilled. Additionally, every 10 seconds, Jaina gains 50 Physical Armor against the next enemy Hero Basic Attack, reducing the damage taken by 50%.
4.1. Discussion
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. It also helps with dealing
with Mercenary Camps; just make sure to line up your Frostbolts properly.
As we recommend Fingers of Frost, which provides a generous amount of Mana,
we judge
Arcane Intellect to be unnecessary. If another Hero Level 1
Talent were to become popular, Arcane Intellect could be justifiable.
Frost Armor has niche use against nimble melee Assassins. Although
the Armor provided by the Talent is passable, being able to Chill
any attacker allows you to retaliate with full force, through
Frostbite,
without having to initially hit with an Ability. The Slowing effect makes
Frostbolt and
Blizzard much easier to land, on top of
greatly improving
Cone of Cold's damage. This becomes particularly useful when
using the
Numbing Blast Talent.
5. Level 7 Talents for Jaina


Increase the width of Cone of Cold by 100% and cause each chilled Hero hit to reduce its cooldown by 2.5 seconds, up to a maximum of 5 seconds per use.


Hitting a Chilled target with Frostbolt reduces its cooldown by 2 seconds and restores 10 Mana.


Basic Attacks against Chilled Heroes deal 75% more damage and lower the cooldown of Blizzard by 1 second.
5.1. Discussion
Ice Floes provides
Cone of Cold with a very respectable Cooldown reduction.
The Talent, however, competes with
Ice Lance, which improves Jaina's
main Ability in a similarly meaningful way.
Ice Lance provides most damage potential at this Talent tier. This is
particularly true when coupled with
Frost Shards. Ice Lance also
allows you to chase and kite enemy Heroes more effectively through reapplying Chill.
Ice Lance is also the only Talent on this tier that works against Mercenaries
and Structures, making it much more versatile than its alternatives.
Icefury Wand has the unfortunate downside of functioning only against Heroes,
as stated above. Although the damage increase to Basic Attacks is notable, the
Blizzard-related Cooldown reduction aspect is underwhelming at best,
as it is typically difficult to deliver enough Basic Attacks safely as Jaina.
6. Level 10 Talents for Jaina


- Mana: 70
- Cooldown: 80 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.


- Mana: 60
- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Summon a Water Elemental at target location. The Water Elemental's Basic Attacks deal 78 (+4% per level) damage, splash for 25% damage and Chill. The Ability can be reactivated to retarget the Water Elemental. Lasts 20 seconds.
6.1. Discussion
At this level, Heroic Abilities become available. Both Heroic Abilities have already been described in the abilities section; refer to it for more information.
Summon Water Elemental is Jaina's versatile go-to Talent, as it does not
require any kind of setup or specific team composition to make use of, unlike
Ring of Frost.
Ring of Frost is an Ability that is generally used as part of a combo, or
as a means of punishing team compositions with 3 or more melee or otherwise
immobile Heroes.
Numbing Blast can help with setting up your own
Ring of Frost hits.
7. Level 13 Talents for Jaina


Increase cast range of Blizzard by 100%.


Gain a Shield for 25% of Ability damage dealt to Chilled targets. The shield lasts 4 seconds.


- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Activate to make Jaina's Basic Abilities' cooldowns recharge 200% faster and reduce their Mana cost by 50% for 5 seconds.
7.1. Discussion
Icy Veins is a fantastic activatable Talent that allows you to have a
"second wind" after using your Basic Abilities. Besides a hefty 50% Mana cost
reduction, Icy Veins also reduces the Cooldowns of your Basic Abilities to
1.33 seconds, 5.33 seconds, and 3.33 seconds for Frostbolt, Blizzard, and Cone
of Cold respectively. Icy Veins works particularly well with
Ice Lance.
Ice Barrier is the defensive alternative to
Icy Veins, and is
typically picked as a means of surviving against melee Assassins.
It also somewhat allows you to play more aggressively, and particularly if you
are able to hit Minions or Structure with Abilities, as they also trigger Ice
Barrier's effects.
Storm Front is an interesting but ultimately ineffective Talent when
compared to its alternatives. Generally, you need to be within the casting range
of
Cone of Cold and
Frostbolt to kill enemy Heroes. Although Storm
Front may catch opponents by surprise,
Icy Veins will yield much more
team fight damage.
8. Level 16 Talents for Jaina


Increase the radius of Blizzard by 30%.


Enemies damaged by Cone of Cold have their Armor lowered by 25 for 2 seconds, increasing their damage taken by 25%.


Cone of Cold Roots Chilled targets for 1 second.
8.1. Discussion
If Snowstorm makes it easier to reliably hit with
Blizzard,
its
Numbing Blast alternative does so as well, on top of providing more utility.
Snowstorm used to be a Hero Level 4 Talent, and effectively feels outdated as of
Jaina's current state.
Although Northern Exposure provides a reasonably powerful Armor-reducing
effect,
Numbing Blast is generally more effective at indirectly improving Jaina's
damage output. The main issue with Northern Exposure is that its effect do not
affect
Cone of Cold's own damage, making it less powerful than it may seem.
Although Numbing Blast provides no upfront damage, its Rooting effect will generally
result into much more burst than the alternative Talents by allowing you to
unconditionally hit with at least two
Blizzard waves, on top of allowing
your allies to follow up. It is worth noting that Numbing Blast is
Jaina's only source of hard crowd control besides
Ring of Frost.
Numbing Blast also has some defensive utility to it, but it will actually out-damage
Northern Exposure in most situations, simply because of its
utility, particularly against melee Heroes.
9. Level 20 Talents for Jaina


The center area of Ring of Frost deals 310 (+4% per level) damage and Roots enemies after the outer ring expires. Each enemy Hero hit reduces its cooldown by 10 seconds.


Increases the cast range of Water Elemental by 50%, and the Water Elemental will now mimic Jaina's Basic Abilities for 50% damage.


- Cooldown: 60 seconds
Activate to teleport a short distance and Chill all nearby enemies.


Frostbite's Chill can now stack a second time, slowing targets up to 40%.
9.1. Discussion
Cold Snap's additional central effect takes an excessive 6 seconds to trigger
after first casting
Ring of Frost, making it generally very unrealistic
to rely upon. The Cooldown reduction aspect is interesting, but is ultimately
winmore.
Wintermute provides an impressive potential short term damage increase of
50%, though in practice it is often a bit less, especially if the Water
Elemental is killed. If you feel like your survivability has not been an issue
throughout a given match, Wintermute will certainly pay off, especially with
Icy Veins; both Cooldowns should always be timed, especially considering
they are exactly the same length.
Ice Blink has both defensive and offensive utility for Jaina,
and is reminiscent of a short-ranged
Bolt of the Storm which can be used to apply
Frostbite. Ice Blink is especially useful when being heavily pressured
by melee Assassins or otherwise dived repeatedly,
but may also be used to combo with
Numbing Blast for a reliable Rooting effect
to burst down Heroes who are out of position.
Deep Chill can be debilitating to melee-heavy team compositions, but
must compete with more powerful Talents. Deep Chill was recently moved from a
Hero Level 1 Talent to this last Talent tier, making it somewhat of a misfit.
10. ChangeLog
- 14 Jan. 2018: Updated Tier 6 and 7 talent assessments. Updated Frostbolt build.



- Ben Brode Leaves Blizzard
- Weekly Collection Update: Apr 24
- Weekly Brawl: Braxis Outpost - Apr 20
- Blizzard Balance Gifting Now Available
- Icy Veins Podcast Episode #14
- Player-Reporting Technology Improvements
- In-Development: Deckard Cain, New Skins, Sprays & More
- Heroes of the Storm PTR Patch Notes: Apr 16


- Heroes of the Storm Malfurion
- Stuck in Silver
- Heroes of the Storm Glossary
- azmodan all shall burn build
- Heroes of the Storm Nova
- Can we do a tier list sorted by map?
- Heroes of the Storm Murky
- Heroes of the Storm Dehaka


- Stuck in Silver
- azmodan all shall burn build
- Heroes of the Storm Glossary
- Heroes of the Storm Malfurion


