Lady Jaina Proudmoore
Faction: Alliance
Class: Mage
Race: Human

Exclusive Preview by Aaron Lewis

As the newest member of the minis team, my first task was to review all the sets that have been developed and not released yet to get some ideas for parties to build. I’ve been playing World of Warcraft for a few years now, so naturally the epics caught my eye. It’s really interesting to see how the major figures in the lore of the game get translated into minis. I’ve built a few armies around today’s preview, and I’ve been really happy with the results. I present to you one of the most powerful Alliance Mages, Lady Jaina Proudmoore:

Click Here to See 360° Model Viewer

Jaina seriously affects the way your opponent plays the game. Her built-in AOE attack means that your opponent can never leave his characters clumped out without risking Jaina just stepping up and nuking them all. The low cost of her attack gives her a lot of mobility, so she can probably move in, take a shot, and go again before everyone on your opponent’s team can act. She can drop a parting shot, then get back to safety behind your other minis. With 9 health, it’s pretty safe to pull off this maneuver even if you take a hit, since she can just get healed afterwards. Of course, if you want a good single-target attack, you can give her an Arcane Blast and let her nuke away.

Jaina’s other power is going to look familiar, since we’ve seen the Horde version of it on Thrall. Jaina gives you some more options, though, since she’s happy just sitting in the back and casting away at enemies. You could pair her up with a couple ranged attackers and kite your opponents around while picking away at them with your buffed attacks. Another option is to try and protect her at melee range, maybe using a Warrior with taunt and Intervene. It’s going to be pretty awkward for your opponents to go for your melee team while still staying spread out enough to avoid Frostbolt Volley, and there are several options for you to take advantage of their positioning.

Now that we’ve looked at Jaina herself, let’s see what she has for an Action Bar card. What would a frost Mage be without a trusty companion?

Now that is a pet. Instant cast is a double bonus here, as it lets Jaina toss a Frostbolt Volley after summoning it and allows the pet to still act in the same tick. While standing next to Jaina, your Elemental gets to make a respectable 4 power attack for only 2 ticks, which is a pretty good deal. Your opponent doesn’t even have many options of dealing with it, since if they spend ticks killing it, the card just readies so Jaina can summon it again next turn. They’re just going to have to deal with the extra attacks coming in every 2 ticks unless they can manage to down Jaina herself. (Oh, and for those of you that like to use a mini to represent your pet, we have the perfect option for the Elemental. It looks awesome!)