(Rank 1) DnT Dan Comprehensive Jaina by Dan1352

(Rank 1) DnT Dan Comprehensive Jaina

By: Dan1352
Last Updated: Jul 28, 2015
58 Votes
Build 1 of 1

Jaina

Build: The One Build to Rule them all

Level 1
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Level 7
Level 10
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Level 16
Level 20

Threats to Jaina with this build

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Threat Hero Notes
1
  No Threat
2
Gazlowe Really not a threat at all, no mobility and basically defenseless unless you get caught in a gravity bomb combo, which should be easily avoided assuming you're at proper range.
3
Azmodan Azmodan is not so much a threat as an annoyance. You can burn mana to out push him if necessary, but you will run out of steam first. Otherwise, he just has a ton of health and is generally neither a major threat nor a very good target. That said, he can still hit you hard from the backlines, but that is usually unavoidable. Just remember that if you are playing against a half-way decent Azmodan 0% health for you has just moved up to about the 35% marker: globes can definitely kill you on the fallback, don't forget it!
3
Li Li Just sort of an annoying presence. With slow on her she will be moving at the same speed as you, or thereabouts, so landing more than one wave of blizzard on her is essentially impossible without root. That said, she will likely never be alone and you can definitely 1v2 both her and a carry with water elemental and icy veins blow up combo.
3
Malfurion Avoid root, avoid twilight dream, if selected, and blast to pieces. Malf is not much of an issue for you unless you get caught by him.
3
Johanna Jaina does very well against Johanna (and with her). Easily kited; even if you eat a condemn, you can still 1v1 her. Watch for shield/ricochets if she has follow-up.
3
Leoric You can kite Leoric and mostly shit all over him but for tomb. Don't get tombed. It's range is probably longer than you think.
4
Anub'arak Generally, wait for him to burrow before you do anything against him; if he saves it as an escape, chunk him with frost bolts, if he burrows in blow him up and at proper range dodging spikes is not particularly difficult.
4
Arthas If you get rooted, you're screwed, otherwise you can blast him to pieces and blow up his ghouls.
4
Brightwing If he goes blink heal it's going to be a pain in the ass for you to land bolts on him, the good news is that he will probably blink into them as you chunk the rest of his team. Emerald wind can screw up your combo a bit, but not too big of a deal. Getting polymorphed by him is annoying, but not particularly devastating given there's nothing he can really interrupt and most of your spells should be on cooldown to begin with.
4
E.T.C. ETC is probably the easiest tank for you to deal with. You should never be in range for him to hit you with anything while you can poke him down with relative ease. Nonetheless, obviously remain wary of the wombo.
4
Uther Uther can be trouble with sprint, but he is also very susceptible to getting chunked via poke and the low range on his HoJ and ult until 20 means that he is a walking target while his sprint is off cooldown.
4
Raynor 1v1, you will be able to kill him before he kills you, but if the banshees come out they may kill you first. Generally speaking however, you can easily poke him down to regen level and then dispose of him next cooldown refresh. Raynor comes no where close to your teamfight damage and utility and will either be forced to retreat or die within about 5 seconds of the fight's outset. Although Hyperion can zone you, it's no where near as devastating as a good Starfall from Tyrande.
4
Sonya In lane, you will be able bully her, out of lane she can kill you if she lands a leap; i.e. be careful. In teamfights she will be forced back unless she wants to die within a couple of seconds.
4
Thrall In lane, you will probably lose the mana fight with him as he can generally just heal through you. That said, Thrall is very susceptible to ganks vs. a Jaina. In team-fights try to avoid Sundering, otherwise you can really just blow him up without too much issue.
5
Diablo Basic idea is poke him down and go for the kill, be very careful with positioning though, both of his ults can make it very difficult for you to get full dps in and if he catches up to you, you are dead.
5
Jaina As with every other assassin, you want to play reactively- wait until she uses her high cooldowns before you use yours, poke with frostbolts. Obviously a mirror match is as much a skill match-up as any other, but you will definitely want range on Frostbolt against a mirror.
5
Falstad One on one, out of lane, Falstad can be something of an issue at later levels. That said, if you are positioning properly you should not be fighting him alone. If you are in lane, stay at range and push down his minions faster than he does yours and poke with frost bolts. If he barrel rolls in to poke at you trade hard and orb walk away, if he misses his hammer you will be winning and likely able to kill him with frostbolts. In team fights he should almost be a non-issue for you. Falstad can't blow up your front line nearly as well as you can theirs, and his relatively limited range and low health means that if he tries to push forward he should be dead within a couple seconds.
5
Murky Generally just very annoying. He can chunk you if you don't deal with him and you need to be wary of his ults. If you get caught out by him and he has follow-up you will die.
5
Nova 1v1, if you get the jump on her she will probably die before she can even get you to half health. If she gets the jump on you, you will be in trouble, just be vigilant. In teamfights she is a serious weak link as her singletarget damage is negligible compared to the massive AoE you bring.
5
Rehgar Rehgar can occasionally be an issue, he hits harder than you'd expect if he gets on you 1v1, though you should never let him, and a good earthbind totem from him can even things mobility wise in fights. Even with great frostbolts he is still a serious pain in the ass to secure a kill on. Bloodlust comps will still fall short of icy veins and elemental combo in teamfights, unless of course they are melee carry heavy in which case you could be very screwed. His ancestral healing can turn things around... assuming it can go off in time.
5
Stitches Well, if you get hooked, you are probably absolutely screwed, if not, you can poke and chunk stitches quite easily. Avoid hooks at all costs, specifically be wary of a frontline gorge and a hook through the hole.
5
Valla 1v1, you are fairly evenly matched, though with Water Ele you have a big edge; there will be times where both of you will die; this isn't good, you are far more valuable to your team than Valla is for theirs. If you are confident that you can kill her 1v1, go for it, laning against is relatively evenly matched, avoid he rmulti-shot then you can harass. Most of the time however, it's best just to stay reticent with regards to the all-in.
5
Zagara Devouring maw can obviously pose an issue in teamfights, but generally speaking you should not be getting caught by it, and most of their team should be seriously chunked by the time it releases. 1v1 she can be threatening, if you have elemental or icy veins up you will win though.
5
Kael'thas Kael is the only other assassin who can match your damage and range. That said, you can put out a lot more dps than him out of his w range, i.e. you can 1v1 Kael quite easily if you keep good positioning and dodge gravity lapse.
5
Sylvanas You're just going to have to outplay her, plain and simple. She's not terribly different from Valla when it comes to 1v1s, but if she silences you before your Water Elemental is out and you've gotten a spell or two off you're going to be in bad shape. Again, watch out for wailing arrow in teamfights, if you get hit by it there's a good chance your team will lose the fight.
6
Abathur You can definitely hunt and kill Abathurs, but be extremely cautious of his symbiote's spike, even on low mobility heroes, it can very easily chunk you and/or secure kills on you. Additionally, be wary of his mines which can hit you far harder than you'd expect, you don't want to be wandering a ton against an abathur.
6
Kerrigan If she gets the jump on you, you will die. Stay the hell away from her and poke. It's not terribly difficult to chunk her when her leap is on cooldown, at which point you can kill her. In team fights she can also be an issue without peels, but in most matchups she should not be able to get close to you.
6
Muradin Muradin can be a threat to you if he can land a dwarf toss hammer combo on you and has follow-up. Otherwise he simply has a lot of health and a lot of regen, which means he will last in the front line of most team fights. Muradin generally should not be a target so much as an inadvertent casualty to the AoE you should be putting on their frontline, if he backs off, he probably single-handedly lost his team any hope of winning the fight.
7
Nazeebo Nazeebo has high enough health scaling that it will probably take at least 2 good combos to kill him 1v1 later in the game. If you get caught in a zombie wall there is a good chance you may die before you can get out of it. That said, zombie wall is relatively easy to avoid given its low range and, if you are caught 1v1, you can probably chunk him enough through the wall that he will back off. In team fights, Nazeebo can be equally as devastating as you, and kill you as well, without an interrupt on ravenous spirit. You need to get out as much damage as possible before the spirit gets close to you. In an even matchup it will come down to who dies or bails first. If their front line is taken down fast enough someone should be able to interrupt him relatively quickly.
7
Tassadar Archon can let Tassadar near your dps in teamfights, but he cannot match the utility provided by your slow, and he is still susceptible to poke damage. Generally speaking, Tassadar is a weaker version of you dps wise and is not capable of matching your offensive utility, but his defensive utility gives him the ability to match you over time unless properly dealt with. Do not kid yourself, Tassadar can be a serious threat in the right hands.
7
Tyrael Like Illidan, Tyrael needs to be peeled off you in teamfights, if he ultis you it can be a serious setback. His high mobility means that he can be both threatening 1v1 and difficult to secure a kill on, though he is far easier to deal with than Illidan and generally speaking you should be able to bully him in lane.
7
Tyrande Though her skillshots are not terribly difficult to avoid, she can still put out decent dps on you with mark and catch you out if you are not careful. 1v1 however, you will win. That said, she can be a major issue in teamfights if she is able to zone you with a starfall, which can be devastating unless your team is able to re-position quickly enough or someone can keep you alive to dps through it.
7
The Butcher Screw this guy. Either wait until he charges someone else to enter the fight or take ice block. I would recommend option 1 unless they have stronger poke. Once his charge is off cooldown however, Butcher is pretty easy to kite, chunk, and kill.
8
Chen Chen can be a real issue. Root kicks can really screw you up if you get caught by one, keep your distance. You should be looking to cautiously poke. His ultimates are now either difficult to peel or can put you in a terrible position, the only real option is to blow them up asap.
8
Sgt. Hammer Highly recommend not trying to 1v1 hammer. She will hit you harder than you her unless you blow elemental and icy veins, in which case she will most likely escape (even with root it is still unlikely you can kill her 1v1 before she gets away) and you will have thrown any teamfight that occurs before your cooldowns are refreshed. You can poke at her with blizzard and frostbolt though she will chunk you equivalently at the least- however, if she blows thrusters you may want to go for the kill if she comes back in the next 20 seconds or so. Long story short, generally stay the hell away from hammer and deal with the rest of their team first, you can still out dps her in team fights. If you can spare it, shove the water elemental on her after it's chilled their front line. All this said, you can still bully her a bit in lane with frostbolts, just stay very reticent of any 1v1 all-in.
8
Tychus 1v1, you will be able to seriously out-trade him so long as you avoid an overkill grenade combo. In teamfights the new Odin is now a serious problem. It lets him match you for range, out do you with mobility on his thrusters, and slow you with AoE. You either need to blow it up when he jumps in, or have someone to heal you through it. Tychus is now very strong against Jaina.
9
Illidan Illidan is a serious pain in the ass for you. DO NOT spam frostbolt or cone on him, blizzard on top of yourself then wait until he flips then cone of cold him (this takes a bit to get the hang of) and then frostbolt as he slides to your other side. At this point both of you will be pretty chunked and he will have cooldowns refreshed before you. If he tries to run, you have probably won, but obviously be wary of the turn. If he goes for the kill then you still have to attempt to frostbolt him; recall that he will probably flip you first, so prepare to fire one behind you. If you can land the difficult shot you may very well win. In teamfights let your team know that priority should be peeling him off you; he's less of a threat with a group of you, but obviously still requires more concentration than most heroes for you to deal with and can often times be a very dangerous distraction to your overall positioning.
9
Zeratul If Zeratul goes full dps build he can melt you before you can kill him 1v1, even if you catch him out. It's also possible that he can do this in a teamfight, in which case you will probably lose the fight, but more likely than not he will die well before you are horribly chunked. Void prison can be equally dangerous in the right hands, but if used on your frontline will not be adequate enough to stop your dps (and the win). Be wary of their team running into it and negating your damage, it is generally best to hold off on icy veins until the prison goes down. If you are caught in it, it can be devastating or lifesaving depending on the match-up and progression of the fight. Generally speaking however, unless you are playing at a high level Zeratul will not be able to carry their teamfight.
10
  No Threat

About Me Top

Hi, Dan here, formerly a DPS player for APM, formerly captain of my old WoW guild Death & Taxes' Heroes of the Storm team, which, since my retirement (a good job), has transformed into the team Wild Growth, captained by DnT's #1 DPS Jordo, contending in the ESL Majors: rock on boys!

Anyways, I have literally hundreds of games played with Jaina and have tried every possible build multiple times. If you think Jaina should be played this way, that way, or the other way, I'm here to tell you, she probably should not. If you want to watch me live, I stream @ www.twitch.tv/dan1352 or check out the rest of Death & Taxes @ www.dtguilds.com

If you want to see a highly exemplary replay of Jaina gameplay as suggested by guide, you can check that out here.

Update: New replay to be seen here, this one hero league.


Edit: Going to be continually updating this over the next few days now that I'm playing again, stay tuned!

Update:

Been playing frequently again for the past few weeks, using both my build and sprint/blow-up build very effectively depending on the match-up (blowup vs zera or illi and quite a few other comps, mine vs ranged assassin heavy, anub, and quite a few others as well). I'm predicting not so much as a rise of my Jaina talent rankings, but rather a decline of the sprint/blowup build. On that note, I will try for a more comprehensive update soon. In any case, back to sprint/blowup. Why do I think it will decline? Two reasons:

1. The obvious. Envenom ate a pretty big nerf where it comes to blow-up potential and sprint has been removed.

2. Kerrigan can do the same dps/lockdown with the same 100-0 potential at 16 (even with bfb nerf, she can 100-0 assassins) and has sprint.

So what does that mean? It means that you need to visualize your teamfights and build accordingly: if you're facing an Illidan some version of the blowup build is probably the better idea, and so on. That said, if you were playing blowup build frequently I'd recommend you get used to firing lasers from a safe distance and maintaining that safe distance in fights; that or getting replaced by Kerrigan in competitive play ;-P.

Oh and with regards to level 20 talents, Arcane Power is significantly worse than Wintermute, always. 15% increased DPS and 400 mana vs 50% increased dps and Wele utility... if you're not able to manage mana to the point you feel Arcane Power is anything close to a necessity you need to practice more with specific focus on your mana management timing for fights/objectives etc.


Cya round, and good luck my Jainas!

Jaina's Role Top

Jaina is great at a lot of things, but really excels at three things: destroying the opposing team in teamfights, defending against pushes, and bullying in lane. See spoiler for a brief overview of Jaina's role throughout the game.

Spoiler: Click to view

Laning Top

This section covers what you should be doing when you are in lane, which mostly revolves around poking hard.

Spoiler: Click to view

Teamfights & Objectives Top

Given that you should generally be contesting major objectives as a full team, this section will cover what you should be doing in team fights, which is nearly always the same thing.

Spoiler: Click to view

Mercenary Camps Top

Jaina can kill mercenaries very quickly, but obviously has drawbacks when it comes to getting beaten down by them. At full health she can solo siege giants at 7, although you will have to back or well-tap after. At 13, with icy veins, she can single-handedly clear a bruiser camp in 5-10 seconds; kite them to avoid getting chunked. As the game progresses she will only be able to solo mercenaries faster and faster while losing less and less health.

When to Merc


Spoiler: Click to view

Talent Explanations Top

Obviously optimal talent selections shift based upon match-up. With that in mind, I've tried to provide a solid commentary to help you figure out when you should select what. Everything is color coded from dark red to bright green based on how often each talent will be an optimal selection.

Level 1


Spoiler: Click to view

Level 4


Spoiler: Click to view

Level 7


Spoiler: Click to view

Level 10


Spoiler: Click to view

Level 13


Spoiler: Click to view

Level 16


Spoiler: Click to view

Level 20


Spoiler: Click to view

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