After DireTide, the Dota 2 shopkeepers decided to organize a fitting seasonal event for this winter: the Frostivus. It is to be completed with various games, including Ice-Is-Not-Nice, Star of Madness planting, and even the chopping of Frostivus trees. What a great idea!
Unfortunately, in the middle of organizing, some little creeps burst in and stole all of the items in the shops! In fact, even the Roshan is not exempted from such chaos. This leads to the cancellation of Frostivus...
The shopkeepers are extremely frustrated (so do we!), so they hire the warriors in Dota 2 to aid in the hunt of Greevils. And thus, the Greeviling begins...
Background and Mechanics
In this new game mode, players continue to take the role of various power units in Dota 2, but this time they can call upon the aid of their tamed Greevil pets into the battle. The aim of the game is to defeat as many wild Greevils as they can, with the first team to kill/last hit 11 Greevil camps win the game (one Greevil camp can have up to 4 wild Greevils in it). Players can no longer earn any gold in this game mode, and everyone have zero GPM. Instead, whenever a Greevil camp is defeated, the wild Greevil returns some of the stolen items back. The returned items randomly fly towards the players, giving them quite a random set of items. The following screenshot shows one of the match which I participated in. Note that my GPM is zero, and the only way I can get the items is through the random gifting.
All players get a constant 900 EXP/minute, regardless of the amount of Greevils killed, or even the number of opponents defeated. This does not mean you should not be motivated to attack your opponent though. Even when you are getting neither gold nor EXP in killing the opponents, you still help to prevent the enemies from landing the last hit on the Greevil camps. In this game, the kill score is awarded from the last wild Greevil in the Greevil camp is defeated, and that score is given to the team which landed the last hit. Hence, you must be always vigilance to make sure your enemies are not nearby trying to kill steal the Greevil camp. Furthermore, since your opponents would have zero GPM also (and the shopkeepers are all out of items), there is no way for your opponents to buy teleportation scrolls or buyback, making it a hassle for them to walk all the way from their base to the Greevil camps.
Did you notice the first inventory item shown in the screenshot above? It doesn't look familiar at all, right? That item is a weasel, an event-only item which can transform your unit into a (tamed) Greevil in the game (this is reversible). These tamed Greevils have three skills in their set. The skills are decided by the choice of Essences you put in your pet (if you did not put any Essences, or if you do not have a Greevil pet, you can given a naked Greevil for the purpose of this game). Oraln has compiled a list of spells for the tamed Greevil here.
If you come with a naked Greevil, then you are going to get a truly random set of spells. The above screenshot shows an example of the random skill set which I got in one of the matches. Note that it has Blink Strike (a yellow essence spell), Rot (a red essence spell), and Black Hole (a blue essence spell). Everytime your naked tamed Greevil get killed, it respawns with a different set of spells, adding another layer of fun in the game (I personally find the Black Hole to be best).
Oh before I forget, the river in the middle of the Dota 2 has frozen over during the winter. Any attempt to walk on the icy surface can cause your unit to slip over (it could be frustrating at first, but it starts to become VERY fun if you are able to initiate a team fight on the river, with everyone slipping around). And there is this elusive "Thyg, the Giftsnatch" who randomly appears on the map. It will try to run from one end of the river to the other, and if you are able to kill this 10,000 HP beast before it escapes, then your team (and opponents) have a chance to retrieve some really nice loots from it.
Tips
Since there is no way to buy any gem, dust of appearance, or sentry ward, all wild Greevil camps give a huge area of true sight to everyone on the map (making Bounty Hunter virtually useless, since Gold and Invisibility are quite useless in this game mode).
When your unit metamorphose into Greevil mode, your unit (not the tamed Greevil) gain increased rate of regeneration. You can basically switch between Greevil mode and normal unit mode to make use of its quick regeneration rate in the middle of battle (besides, switching between two modes essentially gives you 7 spells).
When you switch over to Greevil mode, your summons remain. In other words, you can summon Treants, Spiderlings, and even Spirit Bear before going into Greevil mode. Meepo is a special case where only the main Meepo is transformed into Greevil, while the clones continue to work.
The wild Greevils are really tanky, hence spells which do HP-percentage-based damage (like Heartstopper's Aura and Midnight Pulse) are excellent in dropping the creeps' HP.
Since the key to the game is to last hit the wild Greevils, certain units are very handy in this aspect:
As you can see, Enigma (has Demonic Coversion, Midnight Pulse, and Black Hole) and Necrolyte (has Heartstopper's Aura and Reaper's Scythe) are the favourites in this game mode, so try to get it for your team if possible.
The winning team gets a nice Frostivus Gift, while the losing team get an inferior version of the gift. Either way, the main point of the game is to have fun, so go ahead, and enjoy the hunt.
When your unit metamorphose into Greevil mode, your unit (not the tamed Greevil) gain increased rate of regeneration. You can basically switch between Greevil mode and normal unit mode to make use of its quick regeneration rate in the middle of battle (besides, switching between two modes essentially gives you 7 spells).
When you switch over to Greevil mode, your summons remain. In other words, you can summon Treants, Spiderlings, and even Spirit Bear before going into Greevil mode. Meepo is a special case where only the main Meepo is transformed into Greevil, while the clones continue to work.
The wild Greevils are really tanky, hence spells which do HP-percentage-based damage (like Heartstopper's Aura and Midnight Pulse) are excellent in dropping the creeps' HP.
Since the key to the game is to last hit the wild Greevils, certain units are very handy in this aspect:
- Those with burst damage (Lina with its Laguna Blade, Akasha with its range of AoE spells)
- Those with long range spells (Sniper can cast Assassinate from a safe zone to kill steal enemies'
Greevil camp, Invoker's Sunstrike can work in the same way, same goes to Pudge's Hook) - Those with powerful AoE disables (Enigma can Black Hole the whole enemy team while your allies try to secure the last hit, Faceless Void can immobilize enemies at the last second to get the kill score)
- Those with some instant kill abilities (Axe can cast its Ultimate on the wild Greevils, Necrolyte can kill any wild Greevils which have less than 50% HP)
As you can see, Enigma (has Demonic Coversion, Midnight Pulse, and Black Hole) and Necrolyte (has Heartstopper's Aura and Reaper's Scythe) are the favourites in this game mode, so try to get it for your team if possible.
The winning team gets a nice Frostivus Gift, while the losing team get an inferior version of the gift. Either way, the main point of the game is to have fun, so go ahead, and enjoy the hunt.