Year Beast Brawl

This event has finished

What is the Year Beast Brawl?

A Year Beast Brawl is the same as a regular match, except for one thing: each team has a Year Beast. It will spawn every 5 minutes in the game and can be commanded with the use of 'points' (see later section). If a beast dies it will respawn 5 minutes after it spawned last time (if the beast is still alive nothing happens). The team to destroy the enemy ancient wins.

Lore

My master told me of the creature's first coming. It struck without warning, razing our first great city to the ground, slaughtering every warrior we had. And the next spring, it came back. And every spring since. We came to call it the Year Beast. And over time, we learned how to survive it. Then the heroes came, and we learned how to fight it. This year, we will not run from the Year Beast. No, this year, we will tame it!

How to join a Year Beast Brawl

On the main menu there will be 2 search buttons: the normal one and a year beast brawl one. You won't be able to click the 'search for brawl match' if the message "The Year Beasts are now dormant" is being shown. However, at random times throughout the day this message will turn into "a year beast has awoken" (or something like that) with a timer counting down from 1 hour and 30 minutes. When the hour and a half expires you will be able to click the "search for brawl match" for 10-20 minutes only. When the timer run out you will no longer be able to join the event game mode, and the main screen will revert to "the year beasts are now dormant".
This will repeat itself throughout the day at random times.

Matchmaking Rating is not affected by Year Beast Brawls

Year Beast Info

Level - 1
Experience - 1789+50
Health - 2000+350
HP regen - 5
Mana - 500
Mana regen - 1
Damage - 85+35
Armour - 4+1
Magic Resistance - 0+5
Move Speed - 250 +5
Attack Range - 120
Attack Animation - 0.3+1.0
Casting animation - instant
Base Attack Time 170
Missile Speed - instant
Sight Range - 50/50
Bounty - 100-500+50

There is something quite confusing about the beast. For some hero abilities he's considered a hero and for others he's a creep. For example:
With Doom's Devour he's considered a Hero.
With Mystic Flare he's considered a creep.
It's different per ability whether he's considered a hero or a creep. I don't know which it is for every single ability.

Year Beast Abilities

The Year Beasts all have some basic abilities which cost points to use. Once an ability has been used it will go onto cooldown for a while (the cheaper spells have the shorter cooldown).

50 point cost abilities
Teleport: teleports the beast (works like BoTs)
Target attack: attack the selected target (will warn allies in chat)
Double Damage: give the beast double damage for 10 seconds
Heal: heals the beast 20% of it's hp

750 point cost abilities
Global Chakra: restore the full mana pool to all ally heroes
Thundergod's Wrath: deal 350 damage to all enemy heroes
Global Silence: silences all enemies for 5 seconds
Hand of God: restores 300 hp to all allies
Tower Flax Cannon: Causes towers to hit all enemy units within 1000 range each time they attack. Lasts 10 seconds (works similar to Gyro's Flax Cannon). Applies Skadi to attacks.
Glyph of Fortification: Causes buildings to become invulnerable for 5 seconds. Functions in the same way as the Glyph of Fortification

Year Beast Upgrades

Each year beast can be upgraded via 3 pathways: Support, Speed and Combat. Each pathway can be upgraded 3 times and will give the Beast different abilities. You cannot upgrade the pathways till a certain point into the game.

Upgrade costs:
Lvl 1: free
Lvl 2: 5,000
Lvl 3: 10,000


Support pathway.
- Level 1
Healing Aura: Heals 10 HP every 2 seconds in a 1100 area of effect around the Beast.

- Level 2
True Sight: Grants truesight in a 1100 radius. The Beast will use Mekansm and Arcane Boots every 35 seconds in a 750 radius. Smoke Aura: While standing near the Beast, heroes are smoked.

- Level 3
If a hero dies in an 1100 radius of the Beast, it will be resurrected after 3 seconds. This effect can only happen once every 20 seconds.

Multiple instances of Support Path have independent cooldowns for Arcane Boots, Mek, and Resurrection Aura.


Speed pathway
- Level 1
Attack Speed Aura: Allied units gain 30 attack speed in a 900 radius around the Beast.

- Level 2
Stampede: If there are 2 or more enemy Heroes within 500 range of the Year Beast, it causes a Stampede, and all friendly units gain haste and phase for 3 seconds.

- Level 3
Refresher Aura: When an allied hero casts a spell within 900 range of the Beast, that spell has a 50% chance to be instantly refreshed.

Multiple instances of Speed Path have independent cooldowns for Stampede, and independent chances to proc Refresher Aura.
Heroes like Warlock, Zeus and Lich can benefit greatly the from Year Beast's level 3 Speed Aura, allowing them cast multiple abilities in a short amount of time.



Combat pathway
- Level 1
Bash: The Beast gains a 12% chance to stun attacked enemies for 1 second.

- Level 2
Spiked Carapace: If 2 or more heroes are within 500 range of the Beast, the Beast will stun and reflect damage if attacked. Berserker's Call: If there are 2 or more heroes within 300 range of the Beast, they will be forced to attack it for 2.5 seconds.

- Level 3
Greater Hex: The Beast unleashes a magical smoke that expands outward in a 1000 radius, turning enemy units into harmless pigs for 4 seconds.

Multiple instances of Combat Path have independent chances to proc Bash, and independent cooldowns for Berserker's Call, Spiked Carapace, and Greater Hex.

Points

Points can be used for upgrading the Year Beast and using it's abilities.
Remember to use your Ability Points! They are replenished after each Brawl.

How to get points
- Purchase from the store.
- Daily bonus points (keeps changing amount)
- Participating in the Year Beast Brawl (100 points, win or lose).
- Winning regular matches (100 points if you own the arcana, 25 if a team mate does).
- Purchasing the Crystal Maiden Arcana (2400 points).
- Recycling 10 items (50 points).


Daily points are temporary points. They will be there for the next match but they will not be permanently added to your point collection. They help get the people who don't have a lot of points more involved. The amount for the daily points keeps changing.

Playing Tips (which work great for me)

- The beasts will spawn 5 minutes into the game so picking late game heroes will usually hinder your team. It's a good idea to have only/mainly early-mid game heroes on the team to push hard as soon as the beast spawns. Games will sometimes go into the late game but often they will end between the 20-40 min mark.

- See what points everyone has. If someone has enough points to buy the upgrade 10 minutes into the game then have others control the beast and use it's abilities. The upgrades are worth it.

- Have at least some crowd control. The 4 or 5 push strategy is very common so make sure you have some AoE. I recommend heroes like Earthshaker and Sand King. Crystal Maiden also isn't bad but her ultimate is much easier to stop, and when the beast gets to lvl 2 combat it will also stun stop her ultimate. I personally haven't tried any of the others but I think that heroes like Veno and Disruptor also won't be bad.

- Have someone who can kill the beast on your team. Sniper and Windrunner are great at taking out a Year Beast. There are more who can do this job like Huskar and Troll but those 2 seem the best so far.

Hero Choices

All heroes have their own use but there are some which work better than others in this mode. I'm gonna tell you about some of my favs.

Note: The picking system for the event is the same as Ranked All Pick matches.

Supports

Earthshaker
- Good AoE to stop those 5 man + beast pushes. Fissure is also really handy to block the beast/heroes away from a fight while the other gets picked off.

Sand King
- Same as EarthShaker, great AoE. Sandstorm isn't very useful though since most beasts will be upgraded to lvl 2 support which grants true sight.

Warlock
- Fatal bonds + chaotic summoning will help quickly wipe out a 5 man push. He is great paired with another AoE hero like SK and Shaker.

Dazzle
- His ult and healing in a team fight can make a huge difference + he can use shallow grave to either allow the beast to fight for longer, or to stop him from dying so he can TP out.

Crystal Maiden
- Her ult is a great crowd clearer and Frostbite also works on the Year Beast. However, she is very ult reliant in the big fights and a lvl 2 combat beast (or Nyx assassin) can easily stop her ult with spiked carapace.

Undying
-Tombstone is a great ability for helping stop the pushes. The slow it has also greatly helps the beast kill it's targets.

Omniknight
- Not the best hero in this mode, but Guardian Angel + beast global silence will really help win team fights. Repel can also be cast on the beast to make it magic immune.

Enigma, Disruptor
- Both have great AoE lockdowns and good damage spells for multiple targets.

Winter Wyvern
- Her ultimate affects the beast so either make the beast kill it's team or make the enemy team kill their own beast. The heal is also crazy good for on the beast since it regenerates a % of hp.

Techies
- A beast will not stop walking if it sees mines. It will keep walking and can quickly be killed with them.

Bane
-Enfeeble works on the beast.

Lich
- His ultimate is great for the crowd control + ice armour works on your own beast.

Io
- Not a common pick but using tether and over charge on the beast will greatly increase it's attack speed and survivability.

Lion
- Hex works on the enemy beast, his stun doesn't but is really good vs enemy heroes and his ult with ags is a great crowd clearer. It is also very affective vs single targets of course.

Carries

Troll
- His ult and his passive help him quickly kill off year beasts and his ultimate also affects the friendly beast. Troll is an especially good pick if you have a ranged right clicker carry like Sniper.

Sniper
- Considered a 'noob' hero by many, Sniper is a great pick in this mode. Shrapnel's slow helps your year beast kill it's targets easier while your massive attack range makes taking out a beast quite easy (especially a high lvl beast).

Gyrocopter
- A stun is always useful in this mode but his ultimate and other abilities are great crowd clearers.

Magnus
- Good crowd control + empower can be used to give the beast cleave.

Bloodseeker
- Good AoE silence + bloodrage works on the Year Beast, giving it more damage and healing it when it gets last hits.

Invoker
- Hurtful spells for enemies grouped up plus he can use alacrity on the beast.

Tanks

Axe
- Doesn't need much explaining. Blink, taunt and kill. He's not the best for the mode though.

Bristleback
- Not the most common pick but he can be an overall great tank to draw attention from the beast.

Honourable mention:
Necrophos
- In a fast paced game like this Necro Scythe on a main carry can make a big difference. Biggest problem with Necrophos is the use of his ultimate on the beast. Yes it does kill the beast a lot more easily but the added respawn time is wasted, and once the enemy team is dead the beast is usually an easy pickoff anyway.

My personal fav line-up
- Warlock
- Zeus
- Sniper
- Undying
- BB/Omni

Rewards

Apart from getting 100 points per brawl there are other rewards. Winning a Year Beast Brawl will give everyone on the team a random set as well as a trophy. There are also 3 couriers and a loading screen to be won.

Couriers:
Redhorn - Win 3 Year Beast Brawls
Jadehorn - Win 10 Year Beast Brawls
Goldhorn - Earn 8,000 ability points (daily points to not count!)

Loading Screen:
Win 1 Year Beast Brawl

Trophies:
Year Beast Brawl Victories - Awarded for your victories during the Year Beast Brawl event (1, 5, 20 and 50+ wins).

*PLEASE NOTE*
There seems to be a problem going around so that even if you win you get no items. There are so many items being handed out that it overloads the server and it can take weeks before the bundles are given out to the winners.

Item Recycling

During the event, cosmetic items can be recycled in the Armory. Recycling ten items will grant 50 ability points and a Charm of the Crucible Jewel. The charm can be used to predict victories. Three consecutive victory predictions will award a Treasure of the Crucible Jewel, as well as a small chance of receiving an Arcana item. Making two incorrect predictions will grant one to three Charm Fragments.

http://dota2.gamepedia.com/92_-_Treasure_of_the_Crucible_Jewel

Screenshots

Videos

Sorry about the bad quality. My video editing programme always makes it blurry.

History

February 20th 2015
Fixed Towers denied while in the fog of war taking too long to disappear

Year Beast Brawl:
Refresher Aura is now tracked per-ability and has a slightly greater chance of initially triggering, but a diminishingly lower chance of triggering for each subsequent proc
Tower Flak shots now apply Skadi
Teleport cooldown reduced from 60 to 30 seconds
Teleport channel duration increased from 3 to 4.5

February 18, 2015 Patch
The active abilities can now be used independent of the Year Beast being alive.
Added on-hover tooltips for the active abilities in the Year Beast panel.
Added two new active abilities: Tower Flak Cannon, and Glyph
Tower Flak Cannon - 250 Ability Points - For 10 seconds, friendly towers will attack all enemy units within 1000 range each time they attack; 60 second cooldown. Glyph - 250 Ability Points - Your buildings become invulnerable for the next 5 seconds; 360 second cooldown. Global Chakra cooldown reduced from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.
Hand of God cooldown reduced from 240 seconds to 160 seconds.

February 16, 2015 Patch
- Normal and Ranked Matchmaking games can now be found while the Year Beast Brawl is active.
- Increased the Year Beast Brawl matchmaking window from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.
- The time of the next Year Beast Brawl event is always shown.
- Fixed a rare issue causing Refresher, Resurrection, and True Sight auras to not always work correctly.
- Fixed double-spending bug that would occur in the Year Beast Brawl if the Upgrade button was pressed multiple times in quick succession.
- Fixed Year Beast icon being sometimes missing on the minimap.

February 14, 2015 Patch
- Recycling Ability Points increased from 25 to 50 Ability Points.
- Changed Year Beast Brawl join window from 10 minutes to 20 minutes.
- Changed event countdown timer from one hour to one and a half hour.
- Replaced Year Beast Aegis ability with Global Chakra ability.
- Reduced Year Beast's Thunderwrath, Global Silence and Hand of God ability point cost from 1000 to 750.
- Lowered requirements for New Bloom trophies.

Quick tip to increase your connecting chance to a server

Make sure you are completely read when the final countdown starts and hit the search button as soon as it appears. Making any changes to your party within the last few minutes will often cause Dota 2 to act up and not let you onto the server.

This doesn't always work but it does seem to increase the chance.

It is also harder to find a match in 5 stacks.

Hope this helps some people.

Sources:

http://www.dota2.com/newbloom/part4

http://dota2.gamepedia.com/New_Bloom_Festival_2015#Year_Beast_Brawl

I will keep updating my guide as info get's released. If you notice something isn't right feel free to leave a comment. It might be something I missed or I may not have checked the info pages for a while. =)

Please guys

Don't post comments about server complaints, etc because there is nothing I can do about that. I'm not Steam, I just wrote a guide. I am going to delete all new posts which are complaints about the mode's servers since I asked people to stop posting them in the comments several times already. The commenting section is for pointing things out, asking questions, etc, it's not a rage thread. Thanks.

[The one]

2016 no beast brawl?

[strikerromanov]

had 49 wins :C people called me best winter wyvern ever

[Kimber Prime]

@GET OUT OF MY FACE
Are you counting the daily points as your 8,000? Cause they don't count towards it.

[Oliphant]

[GET OUT OF MY FACE] Because it isn't the points that need to be 8K8+ it's the reserve

[ATOZOID]

why i can't get the goldhorn even if i have enough points

[Kimber Prime]

@♥Cuddly Wabbit♥
This is a very confusing thing about the beast. For some things he's considered a hero and for others he's a creep. For example:
With Doom's Devour he's considered a Hero.
With Mystic Flare he's considered a creep.
It's different per ability whether he's considered a hero or a creep. I don't know which it is for every single ability.

[Slaener]

@Kimber Prime

Is the year beast considered to be a hero? I tried sky wrath in yearbeast but his ult doesnt affect him, so hes a creep? or Hero?

[Kimber Prime]

@♥Cuddly Wabbit♥
All heroes 'work' but some are just better for this mode. Dark Seer wouldn't be a bad option since Surge works on the beast and everyone will group us for Wall of Replica. Haven't personally seen SD being played in the mode. I don't think he'd be a very good pick though.

[Slaener]

@Kimber Prime
Does Shadow demon work in year beast? or Dark seer

[Kimber Prime]

@piscina de la muerte
Since the enemy left it doesn't count as a 'victory' (there was no opposing team left). So yes it's working like it should.