New Bloom Festival 2014

New Bloom Festival 2014 is an event lasted from January 29th to February 2nd, 2014. It features numerous rewards, as well as a new game mode where players must battle Nian, the mighty Year Beast.

Currency
Two currencies were introduced for this event.


 * Flamesalt Ingots are earned by playing public matchmaking games, and are used to obtain in-game items later in the event game mode. Longer matches reward more currency.
 * Jade Tokens are earned the same way, but requires players to have an active Fortune's Favor or Abundant Fortune's Favor booster. Players can also earn Jade Tokens by playing the event game mode. These tokens can be redeemed for the following rewards:

Currency Boosters
Two boosters can be bought from the Dota 2 Store to increase the amount of Flamesalt Ingots and Jade Tokens earned. Players who own a booster also grant all other players a smaller, stacking bonus drop rate. These boosters only increase currency earned after matchmaking games, not the event game mode.

Drops
In addition to currency, players also have a chance to receive a Crimson Parcel after playing matches.

Game Mode
In this game mode, five players must attempt to inflict as much damage as possible to the Year Beast. The higher the damage achieved, the greater the reward.



Fighting the Year Beast

 * The Year Beast is split into 3 parts. The Body, the Tail, and the Horn.
 * The Tail, the Horn, and the Body all have separate HP values for which only the Body has very extreme health regeneration - the Tail and the Horn do not regenerate over time and are able to be destroyed. When one of these parts is destroyed, the Beast tumbles over for 10 seconds (needs verification), vulnerable to attacks. After that the Beast stands up and continues fighting without its body part; the body part will revive after some time. Players should opt to use this time wisely to deal as much damage to the beast as possible or to resurrect fallen allies. Each time a body part is destroyed, that body part's maximum health pool will increase, becoming harder and harder to destroy each time.
 * The Horn has a very small hitbox.
 * Players have 25 minutes to deal as much damage as possible to the Year Beast.
 * As time passes, the Beast will move and attack faster and the amount of projectiles it casts during Roar increases. The Beast will cast Roar in its strongest form during the last 10 seconds before it flees.
 * The Year Beast has True Sight.
 * The Beast does NOT target invisible heroes such as unless that hero gets within 1100 range of the Beast. Players should opt to abuse invisibility to revive fallen allies.
 * The Year Beast randomly drops and  potions when damaged.
 * Potions cannot be sold.
 * The Fountain does NOT restore Bottle charges.
 * The Tail and Horn will grow back after 1 minute (needs verification).
 * Dead players can buyback once per game with 1 gold.
 * Dead players can be revived by an ally or 's golem(s).
 * The more players/golem(s) reviving an ally, the faster the revival.
 * The game is over when all players are dead.

Tips

 * Many nukes with an area-of-effect damage radius (such as ' or 's ) do up to 3 times the normal damage, as there are 3 body parts of the Year Beast. This may make it viable for nuke-based heroes to be effective in DPS, despite their lack of scaling with gear.
 * 's must be manually activated since the Year Beast deals more than 400 damage per hit.
 * 's slowing effect has no effect against the Year Beast.
 * ’s can bounce between the Year Beast's body parts.
 * 's sometimes does not appear to hit all three parts, but bounces at least once between the two closest body parts.
 * 's Ultimate,, does not work against the Beast, but can be used against all 3 body parts.
 * ’s have no effect against the Year Beast.
 * 's familiars from, 's golems from , and other summoned units are not targeted by the Year Beast.
 * ’s does not work when battling the Year Beast.
 * ’s has no effect against the Year Beast.
 * Abilities that target Heroes only, like 's, 's , or 's , fail to do any effect, since the Year Beast is not considered a Hero.

Strategy

 * Players should focus their attacks on a body part depending on their damage type; Physical damage should be used on the Body as to deal more damage and for the Year Beast to drop Salves and Clarities and Magical damage should be used on the Horn or Tail, whichever has less health, as the damage is not reduced by their high, innate Physical Resistance, leading to less potential damage being wasted as well as stunning the Year Beast more often.
 * The projectiles during Roar has no effect on 's golems. During this phase, position the golems as close to the Year Beast as possible to absorb projectiles in order to create a safe area for you and your allies. This is especially useful if you need to revive someone. Move the golems away from the Year Beast after the Roar phase so that they cannot be killed by a possible Tail Spin.
 * Melee Heroes should opt to buy to heavily reduce damage dealt by the Year Beast and for a great amount of Health Regeneration.
 * Please note that Crimson Guard does not work with Heroes with ranged attacks who cannot benefit from the damage reduction.
 * may be used on yourself to negate the Year Beast's Waterballs and Charge, although Charge is the better instance to use it for as the Waterballs are easily dodged.
 * Try to resurrect your teammates during a special phase of the Year Beast, such as during his Hurricane attack or his Charge attack when it is consuming an ally. It is not optimal to revive allies during the Normal Phase as it comes down to chance for if the Year Beast decides to Leap on you and interrupt you.
 * If you are the last player standing and your allies do not have a Buyback, do NOT focus on reviving allies or dealing damage. Simply run away in a straight line, using to make 90-degree turns and  for when the Year Beast decides to Charge you. Revive allies during his Hurricane phase, using items such as Force Boots or  to reach allies if the wind is pushing you away.
 * If you stand right under the beast's body when the beast has aggro on you, his attacks do not hit you. This includes his claw swipes and his tail spin. However, his other spells like Hurricane, Roar and Waterballs can hit you, so dodge those once you see the animation start.
 * can be used to interrupt Beast's Charge, but only when used as the Beast catches up to you and tries grabbing you, therefore this requires precise timing.
 * Using during Hurricane stops you from being blown away.

Ingot Tiers
In this game mode, players will have their Flamesalt Ingots converted into in-game gold, which can be used to purchase special items to assist players in fighting the Year Beast. During the Year Beast's second sighting, any unspent reliable gold is lost.


 * 1 Flamesalt Ingot = 40 Gold.

Players can select a matchmaking tier that determines the amount of Ingots that each player will spend and the reward they will earn. This feature was added from the Year Beast's second sighting onwards. Selecting tiers in Practice mode require no Ingots.

Rewards
Players are assigned a ranking based on the amount of damage their team dealt to the Year Beast. Different rankings grant different rewards. There are no rewards for Practice mode, but players still start out with varying amounts of gold depending on the tier selected.

This chart shows the maximum possible amount of Jade Tokens earned (100%) at each rank. During the Year Beast's second sighting, playing at different Ingot Tiers only rewards with the corresponding percentage of maximum possible Jade Tokens.

Example: A team that achieves Rank A while playing at Ingot Tier 3 will earn: '''2750 (Rank) * 40% (Tier) = 1100 Jade Tokens. '''

Couriers
Players who rank highly in amount of damage dealt to the Year Beast will receive exclusive custom couriers in Genuine quality.

In-game items
Unique items have been introduced for this game mode. Item details are available on their individual pages. and all items which give lifesteal are unavailable for purchase. Also, was removed at the Year Beast's fourth sighting and onward.

Year Beast Sightings

 * February 5th, 2014 at 8:00 PM (GMT) - Duration: 24 hours
 * February 8th, 2014 at 12:00 AM (GMT) - Duration: 26 hours
 * February 12th, 2014 at 12:00 AM (GMT) - Duration: 27 hours
 * February 15th, 2014 at 12:00 AM (GMT) - Duration: 50 hours
 * February 18th, 2014 at 10:00 PM (GMT) - Duration: 47 hours

Item Offering
Players can place any unwanted cosmetic items into the Offering panel, and get a number of rewards depending on the items offered in return. Offerings are collected a total of 2 times.


 * Once an item is offered, you cannot retrieve it.
 * Certain items cannot be offered.
 * Untradeable items
 * Undeletable items
 * Player cards
 * Items of Cursed, Corrupted, Auspicious, Unusual, Frozen, Genuine or Elder Quality
 * Items of Immortal Rarity

Rewards
Two gifts are available in exchange for offering items. Players who made greater offerings will receive multiple rewards.

Lore
''Every child knows the tale. Each year, as the dark and cold of winter turns back from its peak, wild energies that have slumbered through the long months begin to twist and pool. From this mire of eldritch power, as the first flowers begin to bloom, the Year Beast takes form to bellow its savagery and its hunger. Yet the same source that imbues the creature with terrible power also covers its being in rare materials, ready to be crafted into unique armaments if they can be pried from its body.''

''The comings and goings of the Year Beast are cyclical by nature. It is a mysterious creature, flighty and prone to long patrols of its strange, unknowable territory, dispersed across both space and time. For days it may disappear, perhaps tracking its predecessor across the veil of time, only to reappear refreshed and renewed, as if no time had passed at all. Those who hope to defend against the Year Beast must be both vigilant and patient, striking at those rare times when the creature chooses to reveal itself.''