DOTA 2 News: Nemesis Assassin Event Attracting Tons of Players

"The Alliance" (L) battles "Natus Vincere" (R) during "The International" Dota 2 video game competition in Seattle, Washington August 11, 2013. Sixteen teams from 12 countries battled for some $2.9 million in prize money, with Swedish team "The Alliance" claiming the top prize of $1.4 million after defeating Ukraine's "Natus Vincere" in a final watched by an audience of 1700 at Benaroya Hall and streamed live on the Internet. REUTERS

During the weekend, game developer Valve unfolded its latest event for Defence of the Ancients (DOTA) 2, Nemesis Assassin Event. The event focuses on sending out a contract for one of the playable characters in the game, Phantom Assassin, to complete a contract to kill a fellow character. The team that accomplishes the mission gets to have bundled sets as rewards and points for their arcana items as well.

"Each day during the event, Oracle will tally his killers to compile a list of nemeses," Valve said in its update on the Dota 2 website. "If Phantom Assassin faces one or more of these nemeses in a match where any player on either team owns the Manifold Paradox Arcana, Phantom Assassin will automatically receive a contract to kill an opposing nemesis hero."

The move seems to be a way to appease some e-sports enthusiasts after it was announced earlier in the year that there will be no Diretide event, an annual event that gives a ton of items to players through a series of quests. Instead, the developers are focusing on the development of the story behind Oracle and Mortred. Oracle is new playable character event who according to the story gave Phantom Assassin a powerful weapon called the Manifold Paradox and hired her to dispose all opponents who will try to kill the Oracle in the future.

The said storyline is translated in the game with the appointment of a character that Mortred will have a contract to kill. Whoever gets the first kill among the two characters will merit the win for the team and guarantee non-tradable item drops at the end of the match. The initial condition is that one of the players must choose the Phantom Assassin character in the game and that player must have purchased the Mortred arcana.

Given that players of the winning team (presumably that they also carried out the contract) can all win items in during the event, the Phantom Assassin arcana owners are given more chances to get more item drops. The Manifold Paradox is also upgradable for two times max. The said event will run through Dec. 7 when players will be allowed to accumulate points for their arcana for anytime they win a Dota 2 game with any hero. Beyond that date, the points gained dwindle to 1 on the condition that they win the match using the Phantom Assassin hero.

Watch the available sets from the drops given in this event inbelow preview: