Dota 2 Nest of Thorns Guide

The cool mini-game and how to beat it

Game Guide by Arne on Nov 23, 2024

Nest of Thorns is the final challenge of one of the greatest event updates that Dota 2 has had. It is the main mini-game found within the latest update, Crownfall Act 4. It is a solo survival game comparable to Runescape or Realm of the Mad God. You roam around a fixed map, killing hordes of monsters that spawn randomly. These attacks occur automatically, and you really have to upgrade your skills.

After each wave you pass through, you gain upgrades with choices between three different ones. These upgrades can let you get a new skill or upgrade to another one. You have to pick these upgrades with some thought as the waves get progressively harder. This means that you need to get the best upgrades.

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Before starting a game, you have the option to pick between three heroes. These are the main figures of the Crownfall Event. Skywrath Mage, also known as Dragonus, is the first and premier option. He is good at crowd control and mainly deals magical damage. Vengeful Spirit, also called Shen, is a balanced approach with both offensive and defensive capabilities. The final hero is Dota 2’s newest addition, Kez. Kez is incredibly mobile and great at dealing with enemies up close.

Early on, you should focus on getting more skills that do more attack or deal splash damage. This basically lets you get levels faster and have lots of options in your hand. You have the option between seven levels, but you only really need to complete the first one.

The others offer rewards that are variously cosmetic; however, for the first, you can really easily beat it. In fact, you can go about completing the first one with barely any upgrades. Health upgrades, regeneration, status resistance, and so on are upgraded using tokens. You can use these at an upgrade shop. You can increase your HP, HP Regen, Damage, and Movement Speed.

Regardless of your first character, you start off with a default spell and their innate. Your character starts off with 5 ability slots and 6 item slots, which don’t change throughout the game. Abilities can be upgraded to level 9. Items can be combined and upgraded as well. These upgrades aren’t always relevant as the upgrades go to mostly level 1. Some can be upgraded to level 2, and others can even go up to 3. You cannot Respec, meaning you can’t switch abilities, so once they’re selected, they remain there.

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Skywrath Mage

Skywrath Mage is good because his innate ability helps with all the other abilities that you may get. His innate ability lowers his maximum health but gives you a bonus projectile on all abilities that use projectiles. You should look to get the abilities: Arcane Bolt, Magic Missile, Chain Frost, Laguna Blade, and Spirits. Everything else is variable, but you should still try to get projectile-based abilities. He enjoys the use of Apex, Octarine Core, Kaya, Yasha, and, eventually, the Trident.

Spells

Laguna Blade, Arcane Bolt, and Magic Missile are the damage dealers, while Chain Frost is good for crowd control; you can pick from either one or get the item that grants you an additional spell slot. The first three are great for dealing with single targets, mainly mini-bosses and bosses.

Magic Missile, particularly, has increased damage for each enemy killed once you get its Aghanim upgrade. This makes it incredibly strong in the late game. Laguna Blade also improves a lot with the scepter, basically melting the face of any bosses as if you’re a space marine with a multi-melta.

Spirits is a great spell once you get it to a sufficient level. Try to focus on getting the Aghanim’s Scepter since it basically makes the spirits last forever. Summon your inner OG and smash the balls in the faces of the enemy for incredible crowd control. At max upgrade, you even have eight balls instead of four.

If you are struggling, you can use Batrider’s Goo to slow down enemies; Stampede boosts movement speed, so that’s useful, too. Ideally, however, you won’t require these.

Items

For his items, Apex, Octarine Core, Sange & Kaya, and Reaver are all great items to get. You should particularly try to get Apex and Kaya for their boost to your damage. To not die, you can keep a ring of tarrasque or reaver. However, a good option is getting an Octarine Core, which reduces cooldowns but also boosts your health by a decent chunk.

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Kez

Kez prefers to use physical damage, so you should get those skills and items. Axe Spin, Echo Slash, Swashbuckle, and Throwing Knives are all great abilities for this purpose. You can also get Bat Rider’s Goo to slow down enemies and pick up important items.

In these cases, Echo Slash is your primary damage dealer, so upgrade it more often than the rest. You are basically building a carry, so play it like that. Get more items that increase damage or give you lifesteal. You should also keep blademail to make sure you don’t die. Kez is better at the later levels.

Mini-Boss

Every now and then, you’ll get to face off against stronger enemies; these enemies scale with you, so the earlier you finish them off, the better. Killing one of them will give you an Aghanim’s Sceptre. One of the bosses is a large golem, like the one found in medium-neutral camps. They act like Minecraft’s Slimes. Killing the big one gets you 3 normal ones. Killing them gives you three small ones for each normal one. This totals you having to fight 1 big golem, 3 normal-sized golems, and 9 small golems.

The next boss is the easiest to deal with; you can just spam your damage-dealing abilities for them. The eveshade can reincarnate two times, but again, you can easily kill them. Requires a bit of kiting to get by unharmed. Be careful of his second resurrection, as he gets a massive speed boost, all the while dealing a lot of damage.

One of the other bosses is a large ball that follows you around, trying to kill you. It hurts a lot if it can land the hit. It’s pretty easy to kill, however. You just need to kite it.

The next mini-boss is the scariest. Like Clinkz’s Burning Army, you have to beat five skeletons, but there’s a catch. Only one of them takes actual damage at a time. So you have to finish them one by one. They all pack a punch, and they’re pretty hard to dodge, so this is a game of patience and good positioning.

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Queen Imperia

Imperia is surprisingly easy to beat once you actually go to that stage. She is easy to dodge if you have good items or abilities. She pops up after around 9-12 minutes, so be ready for her. Compared to the archers, Imperia is pretty easy. You can easily dodge her attacks and use your spells once they are on cooldown.

Once Queen Imperia is defeated, you will get a cool cinematic that goes over the downfall of the despotic queen. With that, you will finish Act 4 of the Crownfall Event and, thereby, Crownfall as a whole. Again, this was one of the most fun Events for the Dota 2 Developers. Hopefully, this guide will help you beat Imperia in record time and free Skywrath!

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