Build the Right Team for Dota 2's Dark Moon Event

The Dark Moon is the latest event to be added to Dota 2. This time, you and your allies will be fighting against a horde of enemies in a PvE mode. As a reward, you will accumulate points that can be spent on cosmetic items in game.

The Dark Moon event can easily be accessed from the main menu, as it's prominently displayed on the right side of the screen. You can join with a group of 5, or just search for allies to play with.

Note: You DO NOT need a Battle Pass to play Dark Moon. They are two separate things, and can be used independently of each other!

Once you are in a match, you can pick from a very limited Hero Pool. Remember that this isn't your typical Dota match, so think careful and plan ahead with your team on what heroes to pick. Also, make sure to check your skills! Some skills have been altered for Dark Moon.

Once you are in the game, you will purchase items like normal. Enemies drop gold for you to pick up, which is crucial to do or else you'll find yourself struggling for gold. They will also randomly drop Health, Mana and Teleport Scrolls. Touching any potion will instantly use it, while TP scrolls are placed in your inventory.

Your goal is to protect the Ancient, and save as many towers as possible. The more towers you save, the better the gold reward at the end of the wave. Dark Moon will end if all 5 members of your team are dead at the same time.

Dark Moon is not easy. It's not uncommon to die on the first few waves, and getting beyond Wave 9 requires everything to go off perfectly. Below are some tips on how to get as far as possible!

• Draft - There are several combinations of heroes that can succeed, but here are a few we like best. Dark Seer is good in almost all situations, thanks to Ion Shell and Illusory Wall. Phantom Assassin is also very good here, so long as you get a Battle Fury very quickly. She also works best when paired with a Treant Protector, who can shield her and heal the team repeatedly. Sniper is also strong in this mode, thanks to his altered Ultimate.
• Items - Your normal items won't do much in Dark Moon. Instead, aim towards things that will benefit your team ASAP. This changes per character, but items like Battlefury, Octarine Core, Guardian Greaves are all great choices. If, by some stroke of luck and skill you make it beyond wave 10, items like Radiance can be very helpful.
• Save Towers Early - The key to early money is saving as many towers as you can during the first few waves. Waves 1 and 2 should be fairly easy to defend, and you shouldn't lose more than 1 tower.
• Maximize Gold Waves - Every 5 waves there is a gold round. It's crucial you earn as much gold as possible on these if you hope to get further. On Wave 5, it's a giant, fast moving chicken. Disrupter can lock him in a prison for a short time, giving you ample opportunity to wail on him. On wave 10, there will be dozens of fast moving Roshans. The key to earning money on either of these waves is fast hitting AoEs, which is where Dark Seer shines. Ion Shell as many people as possible and gold will rain in as the Chicken and Tiny Roshans take tons of damage per second.

As you play, you will earn Dark Moon points. Every 35,000 points will earn you a spin of the Dark Moon wheel. If you get something from the wheel you don't want, you can recycle it immediately, and you'll be refunded 20,000 Dark Moon points.

Each day, you get a one time bonus on points, which will usually equate to you earning 1 spin a day from the bonus. Without the bonus active, it will take several games of Dark Moon to earn a spin of the wheel.

There are currently 15 waves in Dark Moon. Each one is harder than the last, with the exception of Waves 5 and 10. Below is a breakdown of each wave and what you should expect to see.

• Wave 1 - The first wave is filled with Worgs. There will be a few groups of weak ones, then some groups with larger Alpha Wolves mixed in. This wave should give you almost no issues, outside of the high damage the Alpha Wolves can inflict.
• Wave 2 - This is filled with small Wildwings, as well as large Dazzles. You will want to focus on Dazzle first, but be careful, his Shadow Wave is incredibly powerful and will hit for several hundred damage.
• Wave 3 - This wave is filled with small Hellbears, and some large Nyx Assassins. This wave isn't too terrifying, but they do hit hard, particularly Nyx. Kiting them around is wise if you're a low health hero.
• Wave 4 - Morphlings, everywhere! The little ones won't be much threat, but the big ones have hard hitting right-clicks and can also use Waveform for a lot of damage. Use caution while engaging, and be prepared to quickly fall back if the big ones get out of hand.
• Wave 5 - This is a gold wave. A giant chicken spawns and every time you hit it, you earn gold. It's hard to chase due to its speed, but you can lock it down using Disruptor or Ember Spirit. Abilities that do fast damage over time, like Flameguard or Ion Shell will net you a ton of money, as doing quick damage is better than high amounts of damage.
• Wave 6 - This consists of Warlock and a bunch of Golems. The key to this wave is killing the Warlocks. They make the Golems stronger, so once the Warlocks are dead, the Golems will fall quickly.
• Wave 7 - Wave 7 can be a tough one. It starts with slow moving, easy to kill zombies. However, anytime one dies, it spawns a faster, much harder hitting zombie. Kill the second one and they stay dead. As if that's not bad enough, there will be Lifestealers walking around, who can also hit pretty hard and have their normal life stealing abilities. Large amounts of crowd control will help make this wave easier to handle.
• Wave 8 - Not holding back, Wave 8 is filled with Kunkka's and Tidehunter's. Depending on their size, they can use different skills, with the biggest versions able to use their respective Ultimate Skills. This wave can be chaotic, and requires a lot of team coordination, healing, and a pinch of luck.
• Wave 9 - A strange one compared to 8. Wave 9 might seem easy at first, but this one is less about outright damage and more about tactics. In order to beat this wave, you must focus down the giant catapults that spawn. They do hundreds of damage per shot, and it's in an AoE that glows orange on the ground. Once you kill them, the smaller enemies will fall quickly.
• Wave 10 - This is another gold wave. This time you'll have to chase down a bunch of little enemies. Again, try to cage some up if you have a Disrupter, and make sure as many people have Ion Shell on them as possible.
• Wave 11 - Satyrs, Nightstalkers and Enigmas all spawn on this wave. The Satyrs are just fodder, but Nightstalker and Enigma can access all their normal skills and hit very hard. Enigma should be your focus so you can shut down Blackholes, then take out Nightstalkers and finally the Satyrs.
• Wave 12 - Mirana will be the main problem this round. They have their Arrow, allowing them to chain stun you if you're unlucky. For this wave, mobility will be important. Fortunately they don't have much health, so just watch out for arrows, and beat on them as quickly as possible.
• Wave 13 - Only 6 enemies spawn, but they are big, durable Alchemists. To kill them, you will want to have all 5 people focus 1 down at a time. Kill it, move on to another and repeat.
• Wave 14 - Techies are everywhere. Small ones can drop mines, while the bigger ones will use their Blast Off against you. This wave in particular will really test your team's regeneration items. If you don't have any, be cautious and kite the enemies around as best as possible.
• Wave 15 - 3 very big Invokers spawn. They are powerful, but if you focus them down one at a time, and have some good survivability items, you'll be able to survive. Try not to group up too tightly though, as there is no use in having the whole team being hit by his spells.
• Final Fight - The last fight is against one giant Invoker. As you would expect, he is very tanky and can cast all of his spells. After taking so much damage, he summons Forge Spirits. As soon as they appear, you need to kill them ASAP, or else they will quickly demolish all your towers and base. There will also be segments when he is closer to death where he starts dropping a lot of Sun Strikes and Meteors. These sections last about 10 seconds and your best option is to just run away until they stop. For the final fight, a Reaver is extremely important on your core heroes, as they will need the powerful Life Leech.

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