How to beat Nest of Thorns in Dota 2

The Crownfall Event i Dota 2 has been a game changer for the popular MOBA title. Spread across four different acts, players can learn a deep, interconnected story of the heroes. In addition to that, players can also earn tokens by playing different heroes in their regular games and use them to unlock treasures, rewards and other items for their favorite characters.

Act 4 of Crownfall Event i Dota 2 gave us a whole new overworld to explore, along with a new hero, Kez. Once you complete the overworld and reach the end, you can unlock the Nest of Thorns minigame. It's a rogue-like game mode where you can play with three heroes to level up and collect upgrades to take on the evil Queen Imperia. It's certainly not an easy game mode to beat, but this guide will show you all the tricks to succeed.

Dota 2 Nest of Thorns Overview

The Nest of Thorns encounter is at the final node of the Crownfall Act 4 overworld. So to unlock it you need to clear all hero quests and mini games including Spoon Man i Dota 2.

In this encounter, you have to choose between the three heroes, Dragonus, Shen and Kez, and survive in a roguelike arena for 12 minutes. Hordes of enemies will continue to spawn and rush at you from all directions. If you manage to survive for 12 minutes, you will face the final boss, Queen Imperia, in her throne room. To win the game you must defeat the boss.

Each of the three heroes has a different play style and starts with their own spells. As you kill enemies, you'll pick up experience shards that allow you to level up and unlock new spells or upgrade existing ones. In addition to that, you will periodically encounter Roshan enemies that will drop an item to add to your inventory.

You can have 6 items and 5 spells in total in this game mode.

In addition to the enemy waves, the map also spawns three mini-bosses that you can kill to unlock an Aghanim's Scepter upgrade for your spells. They play after a certain amount of time has passed. While you don't need to beat these mini-bosses to face Queen Imperia, we recommend killing them as the Aghanim's Scepter upgrades make your spells much stronger.

There are seven levels of difficulty called Echelons. Clearing each unlocks the next and adds modifiers to the game, such as increased enemy health or movement speed. You can also add upgrades to all your heroes, such as increased HP, Cooldown Reduction, etc., from the Upgrade Menu.

How to beat Nest of Thorns in Dota 2

The key to winning Nest of Thorns is to understand the three heroes and figure out the best spells and items for each of them. Since this is a rogue-like game mode, luck will certainly play a role. That said, here's a quick rundown of how to play each hero in Nest of Thorns.

Dragonus

For the early Echelons, Dragonus is the best hero to play with. He starts with the Arcane Bolt ability, and his passive allows him to fire additional projectiles each time he casts. This means you can stack magic damage and items that lower the cooldown and add more magic damage work well on the hero.

Dragonus has the lowest health of the three heroes.

Here are the best spells you can pick up for Dragonus:

• Magic Missile: Magical Damage Fires a bouncing projectile at the nearest enemy, dealing damage and stunning in an AOE around it.
• Mortimer's kisses: Magic damage fires damaging blobs around you.
• Spirits: Summons spirits that rotate around you and deal magic damage to enemy heroes for a set amount of time.
• Laguna Blade: Targets the strongest enemy within range with a flash.
• Frostbite: Freezes target enemies in place, causing them to take bonus damage from projectiles.
• Addle: Deals constant damage in a small AOE around you.
• Chain Frost: Fires a projectile that bounces between enemies and deals magic damage.

As for your item options, focus on ones that deal extra magic damage or lower your spellcasting. Items like Kaya, Phylactery, and Octarine Core are excellent choices. Reaver is also a good choice as the extra health helps Dragonus survive better. Apex is a must have for the extra game slot.

Shen

Shen starts with the Magic Missile enchantment, and while you might be tempted to build her by focusing on magic damage, her passive makes her better suited for a physical damage build. Thanks to her passive, every enemy she hits with her Magic Damage ability gets a debuff that increases her physical damage to the target.

Since Magic Missile is an AOE ability, you can use it to take down the enemy and deal massive damage with your Physical Damage Spells. Of course, some Magic Damage Spells are still viable to bring up with the hero.

Here are the spells you want to take when playing Nest of Thorns as Shen:

• Counter Helix: Deals physical damage to enemies in an AOE around you while knocking them back.
• Stampede: Gives you staggered movement and makes you invulnerable for a certain amount of time while dealing damage to enemies you run over.
• Track: Tracks the enemy that deals a small amount of physical damage. The tracked target takes boosted damage from other attacks and also has a chance to drop gold on death.
• Swashbuckle: Slash enemies horizontally with multiple quick attacks. Also has a small knockback.
• Addle: Deals constant magic damage in a small AOE around you.
• Holocaust: Damages a large number of enemies with massive physical damage. It has a long cooldown.
• Snotty the Bat: Summons a bat companion that picks up items and experiences while dealing area damage and slowing enemies.

We recommend loading up Physical Damage when playing as Shen. While she can also play as a hybrid that mixes both magic and physical damage, it's best to go with one so you can optimize your item build. Go for items like Sange, Daedalus (Crystalis and Demon Edge), Bloodstone and Octarine Core for best results.

Kez:

Kez has a relatively higher skill cap compared to Dragonus and Shen in Nest of Thorns. Since the hero's starting Spell Echo Slash doesn't target enemies automatically, you have to manually face the enemy unit to kill it. That said, in the late game, when you manage to stack physical damage items, the damage output can skyrocket.

Kez's passive gives him bonus movement speed and also adds a critical hit modifier on enemies he has marked. So you'll want to go with abilities that scale well with critical hits.

Here are the spells we recommend using Kez.

• Knife Throwing: Throws a knife projectile straight ahead.
• Proximity Mines: Plant a mine behind you that detonates after a certain period and deals physical damage in AOE.
• Snotty the Bat: Summons a bat companion that picks up items and experiences while dealing area damage and slowing enemies.
• Counter Helix: Deals physical damage to enemies in an AOE around you while knocking them back.
• Stampede: Gives you staggered movement and makes you invulnerable for a certain amount of time while dealing damage to enemies you run over.
• Track: Tracks the enemy that deals a small amount of physical damage. The tracked target takes boosted damage from other attacks and also has a chance to drop gold on death.
• Swashbuckle: Slash enemies horizontally with multiple quick attacks. Also, it has a small knockback.

When it comes to Kez's item building, we recommend Daedalus as a must. So try to pick up Crystalis and Demon Edge and upgrade them to max level as soon as possible. Octarine Core is also a good choice for cooldown reduction. Heart of Tarrasque and Blade Mail are also good choices for this hero.

Kez's passive critical damage stacks independently of Daedalus

Nest of Thorns is really a fun addition to Dota 2. With the tips and hero builds we mentioned above, you should be able to reach Echelon 7 and beat it to unlock all the rewards from this minigame.