Frostivus 2018

Frostivus 2018 was a winter Frostivus event that ran from December 19th, 2018 to January 3rd, 2019. It featured the Frosthaven game mode, which is similar to the Dark Moon event. The event was released at the same time as 's, The Magus Cypher.

Game Mode

 * A team of 5 players defend the Frostivus Tree against an onslaught of hordes for 15 rounds. Harder enemies spawn with each passing round.
 * Enemies spawn from four lanes, which are scattered in various directions.
 * Most rounds have small units which come in masses and a few big units with special abilities.
 * There are two rounds to collect bonus gold, and a final boss round.
 * 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.
 * Enemies may also randomly drop TP scrolls, but these can only be picked by clicking on them.
 * Between each two rounds, players have 30 seconds to regroup before the next round starts.
 * The game ends prematurely if the Frostivus Tree is destroyed, or if all five players die before finishing the game.

Map

 * The Frostivus Tree is located at the bottom right of the map. It is part of the objective and must be kept alive.
 * Eight towers defend the Frostivus Tree, four external ones and three internal ones.
 * Towers that survive until the end of a round earn the team extra gold.
 * Five shrines are found on the map, three external ones and two internal ones, each with a 180 second cooldown.
 * All towers and shrines respawn at the end of each round.
 * The shrines' cooldown timers do not refresh when a round is passed.
 * Two shops are located on the map: one in the center, and one at the far bottom right of the map, next to the Frostivus Tree.
 * One rune spawn spot is located near the center of the map.

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 the revival happens.
 * 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.

Rounds

 * There is a 30 second intermission between each two rounds.

General Strategy

 * Since buildings respawn before every round, losing towers is acceptable as long as your team can clear all the enemies.
 * It is considered better to sacrifice a tower than to die protecting one, since dying will be more costly for your teammates.
 * Use to quickly move across the map and save besieged towers. It has a shortened cooldown timer.
 * Gold bags will disappear after a period of time. Prioritize picking them up since gold is a limited resource, capped at each wave.
 * Most enemies do not have magic resistance. This makes spell nukes effective at clearing waves of smaller enemies.
 * You can leave 1 enemy alive by kiting him around while waiting for your team's buybacks to come off cooldown.
 * Buy less expensive items if you are struggling in the early game. Don't waste too much gold on basic items since gold is limited.
 * AoE items like or  can help clear swarms of enemies.
 * Try to have at least three heroes with powerful AoE abilites to clear waves quicker.
 * Lifesteal items like can help heroes survive waves. A  on the team might also prove useful for your teammates.
 * Try to prevent large enemies from stacking up, as this makes them much harder to take down.
 * Focus several heroes on a single lane if necessary, and move on to the next when it's clear.
 * Avoid this strategy specifically at wave 3, in which Pyrexae Vexers will only use if they meet multiple heroes.

Special Consumables

 * Four special consumable items are available for Frosthaven. Each provides a special ability to help players in-game and has a limited number of charges.
 * Consumables appear on top of the in-game abilities panel, and do not count as visible items.
 * Consumables can be obtained by gaining reward levels, or by purchasing a Frosthaven Consumables Bundle from the Dota Plus store for 1,500 shards.
 * Each consumable has a regular version that players can use in normal (non-event) matchmaking. These versions are purely cosmetic and do not affect game mechanics.
 * Frosthaven versions come with 5 charges, while regular versions come with 20 charges.
 * All Frosthaven consumables have a 30 seconds shared cooldown.

Disabled items
The following items cannot be bought in Frosthaven.

Modified items
These items have been modified.

Item drops
There are 4 different items that can be dropped by enemies, of 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 occasionally drop health potions and mana potions. They have a 3% 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 s, with a 1% 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.

The final enemy in each round may also drop one of the four exclusive consumable ability items at a 10% drop chance, which increases by 0.5% each round.

Rewards

 * During Frostivus, players can earn levels and rewards, similar to a Battle Pass. 1,000 Frosthaven points are needed to gain a level.
 * Players are awarded points for playing Frosthaven.
 * Players who make it past Round 5 will earn a daily bonus of 1,000 Frosthaven points, plus 8x the amount that game normally awards.

Lore
''Swept up in the zeal of unraveling and reshaping arcane energies, Grand Magus Rubick marches a mob into Frosthaven, intent on uprooting the original Frostivus tree to explore the mysterious font of power beneath it. To stop the misguided magus, five heroes must rise to the defense of the ancient tree—and fight to keep the Spirit of Frostivus alive!''

Trivia

 * Frosthaven's event map is similar to Dark Moon's event map.