Dota 2’s Frostivus is cancelled! The Greeviling begins…

Those Greevils are up to no good!

If you were playing Dota 2 around Halloween, you likely played some of the Diretide event and received a Greevil egg. Until now, those Greevils have simply been couriers to use in-game. Today, however, they become much more important. The new holiday Dota 2 event, the Greeviling, is upon us! It’s a cute little distraction, plus the river is now icy! Dota 2 Ice Capades!

The event plays very differently from normal and consists of no creeps or regular neutral camps. Instead, evil Greevils will spawn around the map at the camps, and the first team to destroy 11 of them wins. You can’t buy items, but instead are randomly awarded items after either team destroys a Greevil camp. You can also turn into your Greevil, with abilities determined by the various essences used to create it. Mine, for example, has Magic Missle, Rot (ugh), and Poison Nova.

OH! And now you can buy an Announcer Pack featuring the announcer from Bastion. Of course by “can” I mean “should.” You can preview it here.

I’ve played and won about four games so far, and here are some various tips I’ve learned:

• Pick a hero who can “place” skills down. Heros like Undying (Tombstone), Dark Seer (Wall of Replica), and Shadow Shaman (Serpent Wards) can plop down their skills and turn into their Greevil immediately.
• Pretty much all fighting should be done in Greevil form, since they are by-and-large stronger and tankier than the heroes. You can also turn into Greevil form before dying as a hero and your Greevil will have full HP.
• Your Greevil gets one random item each time you respawn, so don’t hesitate to use them.
• Stay together! Don’t split up to fight two Greevil camps at once, as you’ll get picked off real quick otherwise.
• Your Greevil’s Blink item has a crap range, but if you’re having a hard time getting from the icy river onto a staircase, just Blink up.