Jaina Build: Burst of Cold

by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Jaina is one of the strongest heroes in the game when it comes to burst damage. Her wide variety of cold spells allow her to slow enemy targets for easy kills. Jaina is every bit a glass cannon, all damage with no health, but the slow effects on the abilities make her a hard target to close in on. To see some of the basics on Jaina head on over to the BlizzPro hero page located here.

Abilities

Frostbite is Jaina’s trait and it’s what makes her abilities all cause a slow effect with a damage increase. The key is to make sure that your next spell hits before the 4 seconds expire so that you can get the most burst damage possible.

Frostbolt(Q) is a long range skill shot with a low cooldown. If Jaina can open her combo with this skill then the damage potential increases highly. This is because by the time you run through Jaina’s abilities Frostbolt will be available again at the end of the combo. Frostbolt also has a low mana cost so it can be abused for lane harassment.

Blizzard(W) is a high damage AOE spell that comes out in two waves. Learning how to place your Blizzard so that Jaina has the highest potential to hit both waves is key. Often times Blizzard is a lot easier to hit if her target is already affected by Frostbite. Blizzard is also great for harassing structures that are already affected by Frostbite. Due to Blizzard’s high mana cost and cooldown make sure not to waste its use.

Cone of Cold(E) has strong instant AOE damage but requires Jaina to step in close when using it. Often times this is a great skill to use early in combos because of later talent choices. Using this in team fights can afford Jaina the opportunity to put the Frostbite effect on many enemy heroes.

Heroic Abilities

Summon Water Elemental(R) This is my go to heroic for Jaina. Dropping another AOE chill/damage effect really adds to Jaina’s damage output after level 10. When using the water elemental don’t forget that you can micro manage which target it will attack with use of the R button. The water elemental will also apply a chill effect with splash damage that can be used to set up Jaina’s other abilities. This is a very versatile heroic that will allow you to win most 1 on 1 duels or put out a big spike of damage while providing an extra body in team fights.

Ring of Frost(R) I’m not a big fan of this heroic because of the delay, difficulty to hit, high cooldown, and poor damage compared to a properly micro managed water elemental. I’d avoid this one unless your team is trying to set up some big wombo combo.

The Build

Level 1

Deep Chill – Everything Jaina does relies on the chill effect so increasing the slow makes it much easier to keep it on the enemy and hit abilities. The other talents offer very little compared to Deep Chill because a 10% increase in slow is very large. I wouldn’t consider any other skill for this level other than Deep Chill.

Level 4

Arcane Intellect – Arcane Intellect is a skill that I like because it suits my play style. When using Jaina I like to be a lane bully and I like to have the mana to do it. Once I have a lane shoved back I also like to put the siege damage on the opponent’s structures with my abilities. The problem is that this is a mana hungry strategy but Arcane Intellect solves those problems. Since the patch, which allowed Jaina’s Frostbite to apply to structures, she can put up massive siege numbers. If you play Jaina as more of a roam/gank hero Envenom is a much better choice as you wont need the mana.

Level 7

Frostbitten – So this is basically a 15% increase to all of your skills as long as they are hitting a chill target. Nothing else in her entire talent pool will increase her damage over the course of a game like this will. When you chain abilities that extra 15% will often ensure death to the target(s). No other choice on this level is even worth exploring.

Level 10

Summon Water Elemental – Strong choice as explained in the heroic abilities section.

Level 13

Sprint – Jaina really needs Sprint because she completely lacks any mobility tools until this level. This skill will allow her the ability to escape bad situations or chase down low health targets. If you find yourself the focus in team fights by someone diving into your back line then Improved Ice Block might be the choice here. That talent choice relies on your team to capitalize on the slight confusion Ice block initially creates.

Level 16

Northern Exposure – This is another ability that give Jaina and her teammates a massive damage increase provided the targets are hit by Cold Of Cone. You can also use this to make structure vulnerable during late game keep and core pushes. This is a skill that could use a vulnerable call out, when on voice chat, to let your team members know to unload on a target. If you enjoy playing the roam/gank version of Jaina then Numbing Blast might be a more ideal choice but I would argue that you will spend less time ganking after 16.

Level 20

Bolt of the Storm – Jaina’s mobility will probably still be an issue and keeping her away from that 60 second death timer is very important. The team has probably come to rely on your damage at this point and dying wont be doing anybody on your team any favors. Bolt will not only keep you safe but also allow Jaina the ability to close the gap for kill secure.  If for some reason you don’t need bolt Wintermute is an option here but it’s often overkill.

The Strategy

The combo I’m often trying to land on single targets early is Frostbolt-Cone of Cold-Blizzard-Frostbolt. This is even easier if you’re laning with someone like Tyrande early as her stun will almost guarantee a kill. Make sure to play the positioning game and harass the enemies out of lane as much as possible. Jaina’s ability to push a lane early relies completely on her ability to land skill shots so practice will make this technique perfect.

During the mid/late game when the team fights start happening the combo I will attempt if 2 or more enemy targets are clumped together is Water elemental-Cone of Cold- Blizzard. After that it’s all about micro on the water elemental and landing her Frostbolts for kill secure. Your job in team fights is doing damage so attempt to get as many enemies as you can with your Blizzard and Cone of Cold. The Water Elemental is another body and should be used to peel for your teammates or chase down targets.

Positioning and mini map awareness are two important aspects of any hero without mobility tools and Jaina is no different. The goal is to keep her in a good spot for damaging that also keeps her safe. Kiting is something Jaina does best because of her slow. The greatest feeling of the world is coaxing a target to overextend and nailing them with a Frostbolt that makes them eat a full Blizzard. Never stand still when fighting a target 1v1 since your greatest strength will be that you’re not slow and they are.

I hope you enjoyed this guide and it helps you stay cool in the nexus. Look for more from me in the future here at BlizzPro!