Nemestice Guide – Tips and tricks to win at Valve’s new Dota 2 event

Nemestice is the newest Dota 2 event mode released by Valve alongside the 2021 Battle Pass. We've put together a Nemestice Guide just for you.  

While it can seem jarring and chaotic, it’s actually pretty straightforward and easy to jump into. Each match is pretty short, only lasting 15 to 20 minutes. Let’s hop right in to our Nemestice guide.

In Nemestice, the map is completely different from anything we’ve seen before. There are 4 “lanes” where creeps meet, each with a tower. Similar to plain ol’ Dota, these creeps give gold and experience. At the end of each of these lanes is a tower, totalling four towers for each side. These are the most important objectives in the game, as destroying all the opposing towers instantly wins you the game.

It wouldn’t be a seasonal event without a bit of chaos. In Nemestice, the centre of the map features a large crater where a massive meteor lands every three minutes. In addition, there are two more mini-crash sites on both sides of the map, where smaller meteors crash more frequently.

Similarly to Outposts, these meteors have to be channelled to harness their power. In doing so, you collect Nemestice embers, which make your hero increasingly powerful with every additional charge. Each Ember collected will add a stacking buff that boosts attack damage, spell amp and movespeed.

Carrying more than 3 Embers gives you an aura that zaps nearby enemies in an AOE. If you die in battle, you will drop a few of the Embers you were carrying, which can be picked up by friends or foes.

That’s not all - every tower taken down will not only make all other enemy towers stronger, but bring unique allies to your side as well.

The first tower kill will spawn three Kobolds per wave who have armour-reducing attacks. The second will spawn Troll Priests who cast a decent heal and have a mana regeneration aura. Finally, the third tower kill will spawn the big ol’ Hellbear Smashers who have an AOE clap which does a lot of damage.

Each tower has a shrine situated next to it to provide healing and mana regeneration after a short channel. 

Couriers are instantly maxed out, and can’t be killed in Nemestice, in addition to being really fast.

Just like in most other event modes, you start the game with an increased amount of gold, at 1000.

There are two main aspects in a game of Nemestice - taking down towers and securing Nemestice Embers. So, the ideal team composition will have a few heroes who push well and a few heroes who can fight and make space. 

Does your team lack push? Feelin’ a bit ratty? Here’s our top picks for pushing heroes in Nemestice:

Nature’s Prophet - There's no hero that encapsulates the spirit of ratting quite like NP. With his treants and global presence, you can get to fights easily and collect those Embers. Bonus point is that he can build a Meteor Hammer, which is nicely thematic and pretty effective.

Clinkz - The Skeletal Tower Demolisher is to no one's surprise a solid pick in this mode. Searing Arrows lets Clinkz melt towers, especially with Strafe. With a Desolator, even more so. He benefits greatly from the movespeed and attack damage from the Embers, and can use Skeleton Walk to sneak past an entire team and rat.

Leshrac - One of the instant bans across most of the Nemestice games, and for good reason. Tower taking, check. Immense amount of damage, check. Wave clear, check. Embers make this Disco Pony even funkier, and you best pray to GabeN he's either banned, or on your team.

Pugna - This one is for the connoisseurs. He's nowhere as straightforward, but who doesn't love playing Pugna? He requires quite a bit of finesse, but played right - you can take REALLY early towers. Which y'know, is the way to win in Nemestice. He's really squishy, so defensive items like a Glimmer Cape or Blink Dagger can really help.

Windranger - While she doesn't really contribute much to the early fights or towers, the random spattering of trees let you surprise opponents with Shackleshots they aren't used to. Of course, the main reason for picking her is the potential of BKB-Windrun into Focus Firing a tower down from 100-0. It's pretty nutty.

If you don’t want to spend all your time sneaking up on innocent towers - consider picking of these heroes to secure meteors and make space for the filthy rats in your team to do their business.

Axe - Nothing quite like a large shiny rock to make people group up in a tight spot. Axe likes that very much. The new Manta Build is also very effective at clearing waves, pushing lanes and killing heroes.

Puck - With 4 lanes, and 3 craters to get around to - Puck's mobility is a huge asset. With the hero's strong innate AOE control, Puck is incredibly effective in this game mode. Not to mention, this hero can clear waves without much risk too. An all rounder hero that's only downside is pushing towers, but you have the rats to handle that for ya.

Sand King - No one quite loves a clumped up teamfight like Sand King. The reliable instant stun from Burrowstrike lets you cancel Meteor channels and pick off wandering heroes. The increased amount of gold gain also allow you to get Aghanim's Sceptre very reliably, making your initiation range unfair, quite frankly. Bonus points for Sandstorm and Caustic both being great wave-clear tools!

Viper - The Netherdrake might feel a little slow in Nemestice, but his kit is still as obnoxious as ever. Nethertoxin is basically a "you can't go here anymore" zone, and Poison Attack, just like in normal pubs, can instantly win you a lane. Past the "laning stage" and early fights, Viper's shard can help with melting towers too!

While the strategies and heroes we’ve listed here are the best we found so far, the Nemestice “meta” might continue to develop in the coming days. Don’t let that stop you from experimenting though! One of the best parts about Dota is that anything can work, and yes that applies to Nemestice too.

Don’t forget that at the end of the day, as much as you can grind Nemestice for Battle Points, it’s just a seasonal game mode! What are you waiting for? Grab ya mates and get meteor hunting!

This guide was written by TCGDota and permasneeze.

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