How to Beat Nest of Thorns In Dota 2

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

Act 4 of the Crownfall Event in 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 mini-game. It’s a roguelike game mode where you can play with three heroes to level up and gather 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 located at the final node of Crownfall Act 4 overworld. So, to unlock it, you’ll have to clear all the hero quests and mini-games, including the Spoon Man in Dota 2.

In this encounter, you’ll have to choose between the three heroes, Dragonus, Shen, and Kez, and survive in a roguelike arena for 12 minutes. Hordes of enemies will keep spawning and rushing towards you from every direction. If you manage to survive for 12 minutes, you’ll face the final boss, Queen Imperia, in her throne room. To win the game, you’ll have to defeat the boss.

Each of the three heroes has a different playstyle and starts with their own set of spells. As you kill enemies, you’ll pick up experience shards that will allow you to level up and unlock new spells or upgrade existing ones. On top of that, you’ll periodically encounter Roshan enemies that 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 spawn after a certain amount of time has passed. While you don’t have to beat these mini-bosses to face Queen Imperia, we recommend killing them since the Aghanim’s Scepter upgrades make your spells much stronger.

There are seven difficulty levels called Echelons. Clearing each will unlock the next one, adding 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 Upgrades menu.

How to Beat Nest of Thorns in Dota 2

The key to winning Nest of Thorns is understanding the three heroes and figuring out the best Spells and Items for each of them. Since this is a roguelike game mode, luck will certainly play a part. That being said, here’s a quick breakdown 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 off with the Arcane Bolt ability, and his passive ability allows him to fire additional projectiles each time he casts. That means stacking up on Magical Damage abilities and Items that lower cooldown and add more Magic Damage works well on the hero.

Dragonus has the least health of the three heroes.

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

• Magic Missile: Magical Damage Shoots a bouncing projectile at the closest enemy, dealing damage and stun in an AOE around it.
• Mortimer’s Kisses: Magical Damage Fires Damaging Blobs around you.
• Spirits: Summons spirits that rotate around you and deal magical damage to enemy heroes for a certain duration.
• Laguna Blade: Targets the strongest enemy in range with a bolt of lightning.
• Frostbite: Freezes the target enemies in place, causing them to take bonus damage from projectiles.
• Rot: Deals constant damage in a small AOE around you.
• Chain Frost: Shoots a projectile that bounces between enemies, dealing magic damage.

As for your Item options, focus on the ones that grant extra magic damage or lower your spell cooldown. Items like Kaya, Phylactery, and Octarine Core are excellent choices. Reaver is also a good choice since the extra health helps Dragonus survive better. Apex is a must-have for the extra spell slot.

Shen

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

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

Here are the spells you’ll want to pick up 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 phased movement and makes you invulnerable for a certain duration while damaging enemies that you run over.
• Track: Tracks enemy dealing a small amount of physical damage. The tracked target takes amplified damage from other attacks and also has a chance to drop gold on death.
• Swashbuckle: Slashes enemies horizontally with multiple quick attacks. Also has a small knockback.
• Rot: Deals constant magical damage in a small AOE around you.
• Annihilation: 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 on Physical Damage when you’re playing as Shen. While she can also play as a hybrid blending both Magic and Physical Damage, it’s best to go with one so that you can optimize your item build. Go for Items like Sange, Daedalus (Crystalis and Demon Edge), Bloodstone, and Octarine Core for the best result.

Kez:

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

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

Here are the spells we recommend picking up on Kez.

• Knife Throw: Throws a knife projectile straight ahead.
• Proximity Mines: Plants a mine behind you that detonates after a certain period, dealing AOE physical damage.
• 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 phased movement and makes you invulnerable for a certain duration while damaging enemies that you run over.
• Track: Tracks enemy dealing a small amount of physical damage. The tracked target takes amplified damage from other attacks and also has a chance to drop gold on death.
• Swashbuckle: Slashes enemies horizontally with multiple quick attacks. Also, it has a small knockback.

As for Kez’s item build, we recommend Daedalus as a must-have. So, try to pick up Crystalis and Demon Edge and upgrade them to the maximum level as soon as possible. Octarine Core is also a good choice for cooldown reduction. Heart of Tarrasque and Blade Mail are also great choices for this hero.

Kez’s passive critical damage stacks independently with Daedalus

Nest of Thorns is certainly 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 mini-game.