Dark Moon

Event

 

Hero Mechanics

 

Unit Mechanics

 

Building Mechanics

 

Reward Wheel

 

This article is about the Dota 2 event. For other uses of "moon", see Moon (Disambiguation).

Dark Moon was an event that ran from January 26 to February 6, 2017. Players defended Selemene's temple from waves of invaders, and earned special event points that could be traded for rewards.

Gamemode

The minimap

• A team of 5 players defend against an onslaught of hordes for 15 rounds. Different enemies spawn each round with the spawns becoming harder every round.

Gameplay

• 5 players defend the Temple at the very north against waves of enemies that spawn from four lanes, which are scattered in all other directions.
• Almost each round has small units which come in masses and a few big units with special abilities.
• Two of the rounds are bonus rounds meant to gain an economic advantage, while additional 2 are boss rounds.
• Experience is gained by killing units (globally shared) and can be gained while dead.
• Gold is gained by picking up gold bags which enemies can drop upon getting killed. Each round has its gold cap. The bags can be picked up by walking over them.
• Enemies may also randomly drop instant health or mana restoring potions, which can be picked up by walking over them as well.
• Between each rounds, players have 30 seconds time to regroup and buy items before the next round starts.
• The game ends prematurely if the Ancient is destroyed, or if all five players die before round 15.

Buildings

• For the details about the buildings, see here.
• The Temple is located towards the north of the map. It is part of the objective and must be kept alive.
• Eight towers defend the Temple, four external ones and four internal ones.
• Towers that survive until the end of a round earn the team extra gold.
• Three shrines are found on the map, each with a 180 second cooldown.
• All towers and shrines respawn at the end of each round.
• Two shops are located on the map. One in the middle, and one near the top, next to the Temple.

Reviving

• On death, a tombstone is left where the player died. Living teammates can right click on the tombstone to revive the player. This takes a channel time of six seconds.
  • The more players that channel on the same tombstone, the quicker it will go.
• Buyback can be used, but it has a cooldown.
• All players are revived with full health and mana at the end of each round.

Available heroes

• Only a few heroes can be picked for this event.
• Some heroes have altered abilities made specifically for this event.
• Click on a hero's icon to view its stats, modified/unique abilities and mechanics for this event.

Attribute	Heroes
Strength	[[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Axe]] Dark Moon/Axe [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Bristleback]] Dark Moon/Bristleback [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Legion Commander]] Dark Moon/Legion Commander [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Phoenix]] Dark Moon/Phoenix [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Tiny]] Dark Moon/Tiny [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Treant Protector]] Dark Moon/Treant Protector [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Tusk]] Dark Moon/Tusk [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Underlord]] Dark Moon/Underlord
Agility	[[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Ember Spirit]] Dark Moon/Ember Spirit [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Gyrocopter]] Dark Moon/Gyrocopter [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Juggernaut]] Dark Moon/Juggernaut [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Medusa]] Dark Moon/Medusa [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Phantom Assassin]] Dark Moon/Phantom Assassin [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Sniper]] Dark Moon/Sniper [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Shadow Fiend]] Dark Moon/Shadow Fiend [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Venomancer]] Dark Moon/Venomancer
Intelligence	[[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Dark Seer]] Dark Moon/Dark Seer [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Disruptor]] Dark Moon/Disruptor [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Leshrac]] Dark Moon/Leshrac [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Nature's Prophet]] Dark Moon/Nature's Prophet [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Storm Spirit]] Dark Moon/Storm Spirit Dark Moon/Techies [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Winter Wyvern]] Dark Moon/Winter Wyvern [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Witch Doctor]] Dark Moon/Witch Doctor [[No results|110px|link=Dark Moon/Zeus]] Dark Moon/Zeus

Rounds

• There is a 30 second intermission in between every round.
• For the details of the units and their abilities, see here.

Round	Enemies	Stats	Notes
ROUND 1 A Way With Worgs	Worg Alpha Worg	270 Worgs and 36 Alpha Worgs 40 gold bags, 25 gold per bag, 1000 gold total 3 experience per enemy, 918 experience total	All worgs have Critical Strike. The Alpha Worg also has Packleader's Aura an attack damage boosting aura.
ROUND 2 Don't Count Your Chickens	Tamed Wildwing Acolyte of Dezun	130 Tamed Wildwings and 36 Acolytes of Dezun 40 gold bags, 27 gold per bag, 1080 gold total 6 experience per enemy, 996 experience total	The Acolytes of Dezun have Shadow Wave, which heals his allies and damages enemies around the healed allies. Has a long cast time. Shadow Wave is only used when an Acolyte has less than 50% health and when 2 enemies are within range. They also cast it on the hurt Wildwings, but only if the previous mentioned conditions are met.
ROUND 3 Nyx Nyx Nyx	Hellbear Zealot Scarab	144 Hellbears and 18 Zealot Scarabs 40 gold bags, 30 gold per bag, 1200 gold total 9 experience per enemy, 1458 experience total	Zealot Scarabs have Impale, a linear AoE stun and nuke, with a slow traveling projectile. The Zealots only cast this when at least 2 enemies are within its range. They always launch it towards the closest enemy.
ROUND 4 It's Morphlin' Time	Lesser Elemental Greater Elemental	147 Lesser Elementals and 28 Greater Elementals 40 gold bags, 32 gold per bag, 1280 gold total 10 experience per enemy, 1750 experience total	Greater Elementals have Waveform, a linear AoE nuke pseudo-blink. The Elementals only cast this when at least 2 enemies are within its range. They always launch it towards the closest enemy.
ROUND 5 Party Fowl	Rooster	1 Rooster 100 gold bags, 20 gold per bag, 2000 gold total 0 experience	The Rooster runs randomly around the map at high movement speed and ignores most movement-impairing effects, including stuns. Some disables may still affect it (see tips). The Rooster cannot attack and cannot die. Dealing damage to it causes it to drop gold bags worth 20 gold. The Rooster teleports away 60 seconds after spawning.
ROUND 6 From My Black Grimoire	Enthralled Golem Demon Charmer	84 Enthralled Golems and 28 Demon Charmers 40 gold bags, 35 gold per bag, 1400 gold total 16 experience per enemy, 1792 experience total	Enthralled Golems are weak units on their own, but get heavily boosted by the Demon Charmers. Demon Charmers have Shadow Word, which they selfishly only cast on themselves when hurt. Demon Charmers also have Upheaval, which they cast on single enemies' locations. Finally, Demon Charmers have a Health Aura, which affects the Enthralled Golems only. Multiple instances do not stack. The aura increases nearby golems' health eightfold and doubles their attack damage and model size.
ROUND 7 We're Falling Apart Without You	Berserk Zombie Enraged Devourer	252 Berserk Zombies and 21 Enraged Devourers 40 gold bags, 37 gold per bag, 1480 gold total 8 experience per enemy, 2184 experience total Berserk Zombie Torsor neither drop gold bags, nor grant experience	Berserk Zombies need to be killed twice, as they come back as Torsos when killed once. As Berserk Zombie Torsos, they have higher attack damage and movement speed, and very high magic resistance, but much less health. The Enraged Devourers have Rage, which they cast when near an enemy. The Enraged Devourers also have Feast, which passively heals them on each attack and causes them to deal more damage, both based on the target's health.
ROUND 8 A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats	Recruit Captain Fleet Admiral Krill-eater Shark-eater Whale-eater	48 Recruits, 48 Krill-eaters, 12 Captains, 12 Shark-eaters, 3 Fleet Admirals and 3 Whale-eaters 40 gold bags, 40 gold per bag, 1600 gold total 18 experience per enemy, 2268 experience total	Recruits have no abilities. Captains have Torrent. Fleet Admirals have Torrent, X Marks the Spot and Ghostship. Torrent is cast when an enemy is nearby, onto the enemy. They do not try to hit as many enemies as possible with it. Ghostship is cast when 2 enemies are close together so that it would hit both when not moving away. The visual indicators of Torrent and Ghostship are visible to everyone. Since none of the units are actual heroes, the Ghostship does not apply the Rum on any one of them. X Marks the Spot is always cast on a nearby enemy. They do not manually return enemies, so they do not combo it with their other spells. Krill-eaters have no abilities. Shark-eaters have Gush. Whale-eaters have Gush, Kraken Shell and Ravage. The Gush works like the default Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Gush, with an added knockback. Gush is cast when an enemy is nearby, onto the enemy. They do not try to hit as many enemies as possible with it. Ravage is cast when at least 3 enemies are within its range.
ROUND 9 Numerous Launches Detected	I'm a Creep Chaotic Hurler Trapper	70 I'm a Creeps, 70 Trappers, 14 Chaotic Hurlers 40 gold bags, 42 gold per bag, 1680 gold total 16 experience per enemy, 2464 experience total Summoned Creeps and Trappers neither drop gold bags, nor grant experience	Chaotic Hurlers have a Ground- Attack ability, launching a projectile onto enemy locations, dealing heavy damage and knocking them back. They do not reugularly attack heroes. Their attacks have a very high down time, and they only use it to hit buildings. Choatic Hurlers can Disembark additional Creeps and Trappers. Trappers have Earthbind, which they use to root enemies in place
ROUND 10 Flock-a-doodle-doo	Baby Roshan	60 Baby Roshans 6000 gold bags, 7 gold per bag, 42000 gold total 0 experience	Despite their names, they are actually small chickens, and not baby Roshans. The chickens run randomly around the map at high movement speed and ignore most movement-impairing effects, including stuns. Some disables may still affect them (see tips). The chickens cannot attack and cannot die. Dealing damage to it causes it to drop gold bags worth 7 gold. The chickens die 60 seconds after spawning.
ROUND 11 On The Hunt	Soulstealer Hunter The Abyss	240 Soulstealers, 20 Hunters and 6 The Abysses 40 gold bags, 45 gold per bag, 1800 gold total 9 experience per enemy, 2394 experience total	Hunters have Blinding Gloom, a cone-shaped AoE nuke which slows enemies and heavily impairs their vision. The projectile travels slowly. Hunters also have Hunter in the Night, moving and attacking faster. Since it's permanent night, this ability is always active for them. The Abyss has Black Hole. Black Hole is only used when at least 2 enemies are within its range.
ROUND 12 Attack Of The Cat Ladies	Tiny Moon Rider Nightsilver Prowler	108 Tiny Moon Riders and 26 Nighsilver Prowlers 40 gold bags, 46 gold per bag, 1840 gold total 20 experience per enemy, 2680 experience total	Tiny Moon Riders have Moon Glaives, which makes their attacks bounce between enemies. Nightsilver Prowlers have global vision, revealing the entire map for them, making it impossible to juke them. The Prowlers also have Sacred Arrow, which they launch towards enemies whenever ready.
ROUND 13 Albert Was A Chemist	Al, the chemist	6 Al, the Chemists 6 gold bags, 47 gold per bag, 282 gold total 467 experience per enemy, 2802 experience total	The Chemists have Acid Spray, Unstable Concoction, and Chemical Rage. Acid Spray is cast onto single enemies. The chemist does not try to hit as many enemies as possible. Always casts Unstable Concoction when ready, and attempts to launch it about 1-2 seconds before blowing up. Launches the concoction early when it thinks it has to (e.g. intended target runs away). Casts Chemical Rage when missing a chunk of health. Always uses Shiva's Guard and Phase Boots.
ROUND 14 It's A Techies Convention	Bomber Hurtler	104 Bombers and 48 Hurtlers 40 gold bags, 50 gold per bag, 2000 gold total 20 experience per enemy, 3040 experience total Land Mines neither drop gold bags, nor grant any experience	Bombers have Land Mines, a high damage mine which detonates after being placed with a short delay. Only cast it close to enemies. They do not attempt to hit as many enemies as possible with it. Hurtlers have Blast Off, a high damage AoE nuke pseudo-blink which also hurts the caster. Blast Off is cast when an enemy is nearby, onto the enemy. They do not try to hit as many enemies as possible with it.
ROUND 15 Who Threatens Our Concentration?	Scholar of Koryx Mind of Tornarus Agent of Gallaron The Dark Magus	1 Scholar of Koryx, 1 Mind of Tornarus and 1 Agent of Gallaron 3 gold bags, 666 gold per bag, 1998 gold total 1067 experience per enemy, 3201 experience total The summoned Dark Magus neither drops gold bags, nor grants any experience	Scholar of Koryx casts the following spells: Tornado, Ice Wall, Cold Snap and Deafening Blast. Items owned: Linken's Sphere, Blink Dagger, Power Treads (never switches attributes), Octarine Core, Aghanim's Scepter, Scythe of Vyse. Mind of Tornarus casts the following spells: EMP, Tornado and Alacrity. Items owned: Linken's Sphere, Blink Dagger, Phase Boots, Octarine Core, Aghanim's Scepter, Force Staff. Agent of Gallaron casts the following spells: Sun Strike, Ice Wall, Chaos Meteor and Forge Spirit. Items owned: Linken's Sphere, Blink Dagger, Boots of Travel (never teleports), Octarine Core, Aghanim's Scepter, Eul's Scepter of Divinity. The Dark Magus does not spawn like other enemies. Instead, it gets summoned once Koryx, Gallaron and Tornarus die. The Dark Magus is summoned right in the middle of the map and does not make any action unless engaged by a player. Thus, the players have the time to make preparation to defeat The Dark Magus. The Dark Magus casts all of the previously named spells cast by Koryx, Tornarus and Gallaron. Additional, he has a very powerful passive ability, Ghost Walk, which wreaks havoc on the map, applying Cold Feet on enemies, spawning Tornadoes, summoning Chaos Meteors and sending Sun Strikes onto his enemies. The ability also has auras which slow, blind and damage enemies based on the current phase. Periodically summons Forged Spirits around himself passively. This is independent from the Forge Spirit ability. Items owned: Linken's Sphere, Blink Dagger, Scythe of Vyse, Octarine Core, Aghanim's Scepter, Eul's Scepter of Divinity. Each Invoker drops a Gold Bag worth 666 gold each.

Items

Dark Moon uses the default Dota 2 items, with a few tweaks. A couple of items are completely disabled, while a very few received modifications. Three new items are added as drop-only items.

Disabled items

The following items cannot be bought in Dark Moon.

Tango / Tango (Shared)	Animal Courier	Flying Courier	Smoke of Deceit	Divine Rapier	Helm of the Dominator

Modified items

These items have been modified.

Item	Modification
	Fully sharable with allies and stacks in the inventory with that of allies.
	Fully sharable with allies and stacks in the inventory with that of allies.
	Fully sharable with allies.
	Gold cost increased from 200 to 500.
	Total cost increased from 500 to 800, due to Quelling Blade cost increase.
	Total cost increased from 4500 to 4800, due to Quelling Blade cost increase. Cleave damage reduced from 35% to 20%.
	Maximum health-based health regeneration reduced from 7% to 1%.

Item drops

There are 4 different items that can be dropped by enemies, from which 3 are new. Dropped items last for 15 seconds on the ground before they despawn.

The most common drop are gold bags. Picking up a gold bag grants the entire team based on which round it is. A gold bag is automatically picked up when getting within 100 range of it. However, while spell immune, they have to be picked up manually by right-clicking on them.

Enemies also occasinoally drop health potions and mana potions. They have a [ Info Needed ]% drop chance. Health potion instantly restore a portion of the hero's maximum health and mana potion instantly restore a portion of the hero's maximum mana upon getting picked up. Just like gold bags, health and mana potions are automatically picked up when getting within 100 range of them. However, while spell immune, they have to be picked up manually by right-clicking on them.

Enemies may also drop Town Portal Scrolls, with a [ Info Needed ]% drop chance. Unlike the other 3 drops, the scrolls can only be picked up by directly right-clicking them. They also land in the inventory, instead of being instantly activated.

Image	Item	Description
	Gold Bag	Grants gold based on the round (see Round section for details)
	Health Potion	Restores 20% health.
	Mana Potion	Restores 20% mana.
	Town Portal Scroll	Grants a Town Portal Scroll.

Tips

Heroes

Click on the hero names to view their Dark Moon ability and hero stats details.

File:Dark Moon/Underlord minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Underlord

• Firestorm is very strong at dealing with early level mobs. Simply kiting enemies around its AoE will be able to deal with massive groups in the early game.
• Atrophy Aura's damage reduction can be very useful, and helps you and your team soak up more damage.
• Vanguard is particularly useful on Underlord, as well as a Battle Fury later on in the game.

File:Dark Moon/Sniper minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Sniper

• Assassinate is useful in taking out big enemies from a distance. It also have the ability to scatter its damage to the enemies behind targeted enemy.

File:Dark Moon/Dark Seer minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Dark Seer

• Wall of Replica can be used to block off choke points, and help aggro enemies away from buildings.
• Ion Shell deals a great amount of damage to the Rooster in Round 5, especially when it is cornered. It also does great work against the chickens in round 10.
• Vacuum pulling effect ignores disable immunity, so it can disable and pull the Rooster on round 5 and the chikens on round 10.

File:Dark Moon/Disruptor minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Disruptor

• Kinetic Field holds large groups of enemies together for effective nuking. Also effective against Rooster in Round 5, chickens in Round 10.
• Taking cooldown reduction talent and purchasing Octarine Core can allow Kinetic Field to almost permanently hold enemies in place. It also reduces Static Storm's cooldown, so that it's on the same level as Tiny's Avalanche.

File:Dark Moon/Medusa minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Medusa

• Medusa acts as a great scaling AoE damage dealer, thanks to Split Shot and a great tank the longer the game goes, thanks to Mana Shield.
• Mystic Snake petrifies enemies just like Stone Gaze, but lasting longer than Stone Gaze's petrify (as a trade-off, it has maximum targets while Stone Gaze does not).
• However, since the petrify effect turns enemies immune to magical damage, it should be used with caution when having allies who try to nuke enemies down, as it will completely negate their damage.

File:Dark Moon/Phantom Assassin minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Phantom Assassin

• Stifling Dagger launches a flurry of daggers. It can be used to kill multiple targets at once from save distance, or kill or heavily damage a big target by concentrating them all on it by standing close enough.
• Phantom Strike increases Phantom Assassin's survivability, due to the added evasion, and damage output, due to the chance of counter-attacks she can do.

File:Dark Moon/Winter Wyvern minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Winter Wyvern

• Splinter Blast is useful in taking out large number or enemies in an area. While its damage diminishes its deadliness overtime, it can still apply slow debuffs to large crowds of enemies, and its range can let the player lure the enemies away from an area while using Arctic Burn to safely navigate through terrain if the player gets cornered.
• Cold Embrace can help your team last longer from larger creep waves. Note however that this will render the target immobile, leaving them helpless from magical damage or skills done by the enemy creep-heroes and siege tanks.
• Arctic Burn can be cast on your teammates and can help them get out any creep waves that have trapped them from every side. The spell also increases the attack range of any ranged hero as well as letting them apply frost burn.
• Winter's Curse is a great crowd control skill that can help kill any special enemies of the player's choice. This spell's stun however does not work on the chicken of Round 5.

File:Dark Moon/Gyrocopter minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Gyrocopter

• None of Gyro's abilities have been modified for this mode making him a very weak pick.

Techies

• Techies' high defensive ability can often carry the team through a round.
• Lay down mines as early as possible to keep Towers defended.
• Can plant a lot of mines ( Remote Mines) and use Ethereal Blade, dealing a lot of damage to The Dark Magus.

File:Dark Moon/Zeus minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Zeus

• Easily clears wave of high HP creeps with his passive, as well with Arc Lightning.
• The Dark Magus has 0% Magic Resistance, so File:Dark Moon/Zeus minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Zeus can be useful.

File:Dark Moon/Phoenix minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Phoenix

• Can unleash huge AoE DPS, as well heal his teammates.
• Supernova does take damage from the creeps, but takes much more attacks to get destroyed. Therefore, it needs some planning to cast, as a mob of creeps can easily take it out.
  • Consider getting a Aghanim's Scepter to take an ally with you.
• The attack speed reduction from Fire Spirits greatly diminishes their damage dealt.
• Fire Spirits has 25% Spell Lifesteal.

File:Dark Moon/Ember Spirit minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Ember Spirit

• Battle Fury or Mjollnir are perfect choices for File:Dark Moon/Ember Spirit minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Ember Spirit in combination with Sleight of Fist.

File:Dark Moon/Tiny minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Tiny

• Craggy Exterior is replaced by Trample, an active ability, which gives File:Dark Moon/Tiny minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Tiny bonus movement speed and ability to stun and damage enemies that Tiny move through. The damage is based on his attack damage.

File:Dark Moon/Tusk minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Tusk

• Walrus WALLOP! can be useful in Round 6 against Demon Charmers and Enthralled Golems, as it spreads the golems around, potentially putting them out of the Demon Charmer's health aura range.

File:Dark Moon/Treant Protector minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Treant Protector

• Living Armor can be used on buildings.
• Living Armor's protective layers have been increased tremendously for this map setting, having a maximum of 25 instances at skill level 4. Be wary that although it grants a lot more instances, the huge number of creeps in every wave can still chew through it very quickly.
• Overgrowth fully affects the chickens that spawn on Round 5 and 10. Be sure to cast the spell whenever you can to buy a few seconds worth of additional hits.

File:Dark Moon/Axe minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Axe

• Berserker's Call works on bonus rounds, giving your team precious seconds to farm more gold.
• Battle Rage has been reworked for this gamemode, giving a percentage of lifesteal base on skill level on targeted allies hero.
• A Cut Above has the ability to leap forward and deal damage in a small area of effect.

File:Dark Moon/Legion Commander minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Legion Commander

• Only her ultimate has been changed.
• Overwhelming Odds is great in the first few rounds. It will instantly kill groups of cluttered mobs. The move speed boost is also helpful to collect gold bags left lying around.
• Press the Attack is a good heal and damage per second boost. It also helps File:Dark Moon/Medusa minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Medusa to hit faster in round 10 (baby roshlings).
• Moment of Courage scales well as Legion gains damage. Because there are a lot of mobs, it triggers often and provides significant regeneration.
• Duel has been replaced with Gladiators, Unite!, an ability that temporarily sets up an arena inside which every hero deals increased damage. The more heroes inside the arena, the more damage for allied heroes.

File:Dark Moon/Bristleback minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Bristleback

• Information needed.

File:Dark Moon/Venomancer minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Venomancer

• Venomancer's range of abilities can help lessen the burden for the carries of your team to finish off large groups of enemies without fear of getting completely overwhelmed.
• Venomous Gale's range can slow down a line of enemies, making escaping and luring easier despite his low base movement speed.
• Poison Sting by you and your wards can severely cripple the movement speed of high-ranking creep-heroes.
• Venomancer in this mode is given two warding skills, featuring the regular Plague Wards and the Scourge Wards. These Scourge Wards can use their own Venomous Gale at a lower range and without the slow debuff. These gales can stack with your own Venomous Gale, allowing the enemies to suffer twice the poison. Note however that multiple Venomous Gales from different Scourge Wards will not stack, and will simply refresh the poison timer.
• Poison Nova is a devastating AoE skill that can slowly lay waste to enemies from every direction. Note that enemies suffering from the Nova cannot die from it alone as it will stop damaging the units once they reach 1 HP.
• Using Plague Wards, Venomous Gale and Poison Nova on chicken levels will maximize the gold drop rate as the poison effect will be very effective in triggering it.
• Despite the poisonous advantage, Venomancer's skills diminish in effect against creep-heroes with HP regeneration, especially those regenerating for more than +30 HP/S, making his skills near-useless against Alchemist and Invoker.
• Also take note of Venomancer's early disadvantage of being soft, slow and mana-reliant.

File:Dark Moon/Shadow Fiend minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Shadow Fiend

• The Shadowrazes are cheap AoE nukes which can quickly clear waves. All razes combined can even take down the bigger enemies of the waves.
• Since there are so many enemy units in Dark Moon, Necromastery is basically guaranteed to be always at maximum souls, granting Shadow Fiend a great attack damage boost throughout.
• Presence of the Dark Lord is basically a free Assault Cuirass effect on enemies. Stacking armor reduction effects is very effective against big enemies like the Chemists and the 4 Invoker. Together with Desolator, Solar Crest and Assault Cuirass, enemies lose a huge amount of armor.

File:Dark Moon/Juggernaut minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Juggernaut

• Blade Fury is a very strong wave clearer on the early rounds thanks to its high damage, and a great survivability booster on later waves, as it grants Juggernaut high evasion.
• An early level Blade Dance significantly boosts Blade Fury's damage, as its damage can crit based on Blade Dance's level. In the lategame, Blade Dance greatly bosts Juggernaut's attack damage.
• Healing Ward is a very powerful heal. Since it comes from a ward, enemies usually do not attack it as long as a hero is within range. Its heal is also percentage-based, so that it scales very well as the game goes on.
• Secret Blade, which replaces Omnislash, allows Juggernaut to position himself while also dealing damage to enemies in a line. The invulnerability of it can be used to dodge enemy attacks and spells.

File:Dark Moon/Storm Spirit minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Storm Spirit

• Storm Spirit has a lot of magical damage burst with Static Remnant which allows him to clear early waves quite fast. The biggest advantage Static Remnant has is that it can be cast on the run, Storm Spirit neither needs to turn, nor to stop to cast it
• Overload grants Storm Spirit a second area damage spell, which also heavily slows enemies for a short while. On top of that, Overload's effects are applied to Static Remnant, hitting all enemies hit by the Remnant's damage, meaning the remnant effectively deals more damage and slows enemies.
• Electric Vortex is a very strong AoE disable which ignores enemy disable immunity. This means it can stop and pull Roosters and Chickens.
• Since Electric Vortex pulls enemies towards the center, it can serve as a poor man's Black Hole, creating combos with allied spells. Especially on the 10th round, it can pull and disable multiple chickens.
• Ball Lightning is the best mobility spell available in Dark Moon. It allows Storm Spirit to quickly travel the map, while also dealing area damage around him. With the right items, he can roll over enemies and instantly kill smaller mobs while also damaging the bigger ones. Due to its lack of cooldown, he can avoid damage quite easily even when standing between enemy masses.
• Storm Spirit's items should include high intelligence items, like Scythe of Vyse, Bloodthorn and Octarine Core. Scythe grants an additional disable which is always useful, while Octarine Core allows Storm Spirit to cast Electric Vortex more often, on top of healing him from the damage his spells deal.
• Bloodthorn is great on Storm Spirit for the same reason why it is great on him in default Dota. On top of this, Bloodthorn is extremely powerful in Dark Moon, making it the best item pick-up for Storm Spirit.

File:Dark Moon/Nature's Prophet minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Nature's Prophet

• Nature's Call summons very tanky treants which can take care of a lane on their own, although they cannot usually kill the waves, they can lure them for long enough to keep the tower alive
• The treants are ignored by spell-casting enemies, they only cast them on heroes. This makes them perfect for tanking enemies with disables while carries pick them off from afar.
• Since Sprout does not technically disable enemies, but traps them so they cannot move, it one of the very few abilities able to stop Roosters and chickens.
• The typical self-sprout + Teleportation combo allows Nature's Prophet to escape sticky situations in which other heroes most likely would have died.
• Moving right on top of an allied grave and casting Sprout on self allows Nature's Prophet to safely resurect allies.
• Wrath of Nature hits many enemies and deals decent damage, but is still a rather weaker nuke as compared to other spells. However, once having Aghanim's Scepter, it becomes very powerful as it pumps the map full with treants. Greater Treants do not spawn though, since none of the enemies are considered heroes.

File:Dark Moon/Leshrac minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Leshrac

• Leshrac's massive area magic damage output makes him an excellent pick, as he can effectively damage an enormous amount of enemies, and also can deal with single big enemies on his own.
• Leshrac consumes large amounts of mana and is not too resilient. Therefore, players will usually include items that make up for this, such as Solar Crest or Eul's Scepter of Divinity.
• Scythe of Vyse and Bloodthorn quench Lesh's glutton mana pool while providing helpful disables for alchemist and invoker rounds.
• Pulse Nova is highly effective. It quickly tears through mobs. When facing the final boss, it is a perfect quell for the large number of fire minions.
• Pulse Nova works on round 10 roshlings. The fact Leshrac can move while it is active is an advantage when compared to File:Dark Moon/Medusa minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Medusa.

File:Dark Moon/Witch Doctor minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Witch Doctor

• Paralyzing Cask has a low cooldown, so it can be spammed quite a bit. It aloso has a long stun duration against the smaller enemies, making it a decent gap creator for Witch Doctor, allowing him to resurrect allies more safely.
• Voodoo Restoration is a potent heal, which can be kept active permanently with the right items.
• Maledict can potentially deal insane amounts of damage, especially against bigger targets. Since its damage scales exponentially and is based on how much damage the target took, it can quickly kill big enemies like Whale-eaters.
• Against the Dark Magus, Maledict has to be timed right. The best time to use it is immediately as the fight begins, and always directly after his tornado/sunstrike meteor spams end. If timed wrongly, Maledict may lose ticks due to the invulnerability the Dark Magus gets while spamming tornadoes/sun strikes and meteors.
• Death Ward has very high dps and is able to attack multiple targets. Positioning is very important to cast this, since it is a channeled ability. Combined with Maledict, Witch Doctor can quickly kill big single targets even on his own.
• Since Witch Doctor soley relies on his spells, he needs mana regeneration. Octarine Core is very strong on him, as it allows him to keep Voodoo Restoration active during whole rounds, and allows him to cast his other spells more often. Maledict and Death Ward have an above average cooldown time, so that Octarine Core has a greater effect.
• In order to be able to safely channel Death Ward, a Glimmer Cape may be required.

Items

• An early Magic Wand can help keep heroes alive, as many charges are gained from enemy abilities.
• Healing Salve and Clarity are highly beneficial in early levels when you urge life or mana during the fight.
• Aura based items such as Vladmir's Offering, Shiva's Guard, Crimson Guard, Assault Cuirass and Guardian Greaves will benefit your team a lot more than single target / burst items.
• Bloodthorn is the best single target item against wave bosses. The crit is distributed to the whole team and grants true strike.
• Maelstrom and Mjollnir are good for clearing large waves on physical attack heroes which lack area damage otherwise.
• Mobility items such as Wind Lace, Force Staff and Blink Dagger play only a minor role. Nonetheless they can be useful to regroup and help out at other fighting fronts.
• Solar Crest is very useful item on tanks like File:Dark Moon/Underlord minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Underlord or File:Dark Moon/Treant Protector minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Treant Protector

Others

• Sacrificing Towers may be acceptable, as all Towers respawn at the end of each round.
  • This also means that whenever an outer tower is destroyed, it refreshes glyph.
• Regeneration and Lifesteal items are crucial in sustaining your team.
• Remember to use Town Portal Scroll to quickly intercept oncoming waves across the map. Buy extra scrolls if necessary.
• Bottle charges cannot be refilled.
• All enemies are considered creeps.
  • This means regeneration items like Healing Salve and Heart of Tarrasque will not be interrupted.
  • Subsequently, items such as Bloodstone and Urn of Shadows do not gain any charges.

Points

The reward wheel

• Points are acquired by playing.
• Daily bonuses are given for the first game played each day. Every daily bonus gives players 35,000 points plus 6 times the points they earned in the game.
  • Daily bonuses are only given if players pass beyond Round 5.

Round	Points	Total
Round 1	48	48
Round 2	60	108
Round 3	72	180
Round 4	88	268
Round 5	0	268
Round 6	100	368
Round 7	118	486
Round 8	136	622
Round 9	158	780
Round 10	0	780
Round 11	180	960
Round 12	208	1168
Round 13	236	1404
Round 14	262	1666
Round 15	3000	4666

Rewards

• A special Dark Moon Emoticon is awarded to players who beat all rounds of the event.
• 35,000 points can be spent to spin the reward wheel once.
• A random cosmetic item is rewarded from the wheel.
• For a full list of possible rewards, see the Dark Moon drop list.
• The Dark Moon Baby Roshan is unique to this event, and can be obtained from the wheel at a very low chance.

Dark Moon Baby Roshan

Recycling

• Treasures can be recycled in the Armory for 20,000 Dark Moon points.
• Items received from opened chests cannot be recycled.

Trophies

Main Article: Trophy

Three Trophies are available for the Dark Moon Event

Lore

Dark Moon
About
Associated With
Heroes	Luna
Factions	Dark Moon Order Dark Moon Horde
Places	Nightsilver Woods Temple of Mene Shrine of Selemene
Gods	Selemene

For millennia, the warriors of the Nightsilver Woods have stood vigilant against vile forces intent on the advent of a Dark Moon, earning both title and divine charge in sacred defense of the Goddess Selemene. But now, as the night of the new moon falls, Selemene’s chosen lie helpless behind her temple walls, victims of an arcane slumber that has left the temple grounds undefended. With Selemene’s influence at its weakest, and twisted shades of the familiar creeping across her domain, the Moon Goddess beckons five new protectors to stand in the stead of her champions against the corruption of the Dark Moon Horde. Will you be one to answer the hallowed call?

The Dark Moon is a cataclysmic event of unknown consequences. This apocalyptic events appears to inspire two factions. The first is the Dark Moon Order, a group of warriors sworn to the service and protection of Selemene, of which Luna is a member. The second is the Dark Moon Horde, who seek to attack Selemene and bring about the Dark Moon. In the conflict between these two factions, outside champions are sometimes recruited to defend against the Dark Moon Horde. The latest battle took place at the steps of the Temple of Mene, after the order's defenders were lulled to sleep by some unknown arcane power.

Trivia

• This event is categorized as New Bloom 2017 in the game files.
• The title for Round 4 is a play on "It's Morphin' Time", a phrase uttered by the main characters on the Might Morphin Power Rangers franchise.
• The title for Round 9, "Numerous Launches Detected", is possibly a play on "Nuclear Launch Detected", a phrase spoken whenever a Ghost unit launches a nuclear strike in Blizzard Entertainment's Starcraft series.
• The title for Round 14, "It's a Techies Convention" is a play on the Star Trek fandom, where the fans are commonly known as 'Trekkies', who are known to hold conventions dedicated to the series.
• File:Dark Moon/Axe minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Axe, File:Dark Moon/Legion Commander minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Legion Commander, File:Dark Moon/Juggernaut minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Juggernaut, File:Dark Moon/Shadow Fiend minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Shadow Fiend, File:Dark Moon/Venomancer minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Venomancer, File:Dark Moon/Storm Spirit minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Storm Spirit and File:Dark Moon/Witch Doctor minimap icon.png Dark Moon/Witch Doctor, who were added to the Dark Moon hero pool on the January 31, 2017 Patch, appeared in the same form in Frostivus 2013/Heroes with the same modified spells. All other heroes in this event were not present in Frostivus 2013.

External links

• Blog announcement

References

Miscellaneous Lore Lore overview Atniw Azure Dragons Celestarr Chaos Clazemere Treaty Crepuscular Sigil Dark Moon Eki Bukaw Elvish Gondar's Language Gorroth Mighty Leviathan Minotaur Nemesis Stones Nemestice Nezzureme Oracular Visage of Garthos Order Ozkavosh Qezh Spark Tang-Ki Marci The Cataract The Five Pillars The Great Wheel The Impurities Umbral Pact Vloy Yoy and Oyo

Events Diretide 2012 2013 2020 2022 Frostivus 2012 2013 2017 2018 2019 New Bloom 2014 2015 2016 2019 2020 Season Pass Winter 2016 Fall 2016 Winter 2017 Special Nemesis Assassin (2014) Dark Moon (2017) Siltbreaker (2017) The Underhollow (2018) Wrath of the Mo'rokai (2019) Aghanim's Labyrinth (2020) Nemestice (2021)