Part 5a -- MiniGame 

There are four new mice. All are attracted to the new Pecan cheese, but one will only show after you've blasted through the comet.   CLICK HERE for the mice attraction table, credits to Beth Martino.

Advent calendar gifts you might have missed out on:

Each time the snowman comes back, he'll bring with him a firecracker. Each layer takes that many firecrackers to blast through.  e.g. To get to the second layer, you need two firecrackers.  Layer five will need five. 

All told your golems will have to gather 55 firecrackers, which means sending them out numerous times.  This is where upgrading the golem becomes critical to trying to speed your way through this area. 

Once you've gotten through all 10 layers, (Yes, you must blast layer 10) you'll reach the nougat center, where the next hunt is the boss  Nougat Mouse and earn yourself a nugget of nougat. Upon this catch, the comet will (somehow) magically reset and you've got to do it all over again!!  

Thankfully, though, you get to keep the golem level where its at. After two or three trips through the core, you should have all three golems maxed out -- so that's 30 firecrackers each 25 hunts. 

ROUND ONE: 30 firecrackers = 28 for layers 1 through 7. (leaving 2 left over)

ROUND TWO: 32 firecrackers = 27 for layers 8,9, 10 (leaving 5 left over) 

So basically, that's one Nugget per day once you're fully upgraded on all three Snow Golems. But that will take you a few days to get there. 

Part 3 -- New Traps, Bases, Charms

Part 10 -- Change Log

Each time the snowman comes back, you'll get a firecracker, some loot from the area traversed, and if you've got the lucky golden shield, you'll get some bonus charms as well.  Also, if you've donated, found, or gifted a Magical Hat, you can get some bonus loot.  There's a breakdown on its return as to which treasure you received and why, but it only flashes for a moment and is gone.  Magical hats have been shown to drop loots such as Ultimate Charms.

A word on upgrading the snow golem.  As you blast through the layers of the comet, you'll get "Reinforcing Ice Shards".   You can upgrade each golem so they will bring back more and better loot.   I got 2 shards for blasting through layer 2.    (Likely we'll get them elsewhere too...?!)

Because the snow golem brings back firecrackers equal to his level, you'll want to spread the upgrades out during the early levels.   For example, 3 snowmen at level 3 would all bring back 9 total firecrackers every round.  If you only upgrade one, then you might get him to level 10 faster for better loot, but it'll take extra time to break through the levels.    You'll have to balance how much DHU you get in body part drops, but you can max your chances using "Let it Snow" charms. 

Level        # of shards               Level     # of shards                  Level      # of shards

1               Starting                        6         15                                     11         150

2               2                                   7          25                                     12         210

3               3                                    8         40                                     13        ?

4               5                                    9         65                                     14

5               10                                 10       100                                     15

Part 2 -- New Mice

11/7/17 -- Template set up.

12/11/17 -- Added Advent Calendar

12/12/17 -- Launch Day!

12/15/17 -- Updates

12/17/17 -- Updated Golem upgrade costs

Part 5 -- Overall Mechanics

Part 8 -- Miscellaneous Trivia

November 29, 2017   Advent Calendar

December 12, 2017  Great Winter Hunt 

Part 6 -- Advanced Tactics

Part 4 -- New Potions, Loot, Collectibles

Getting in is easy, just travel to the GWH area. 

A word on Golem parts.  Most likely, you'll find yourself out of sorts when building golems. Perhaps you have too many heads, or you're short that one spare leg.   You can take your hammer, and *SMASH* these excess parts, and convert them into animated snow.

Use this snow to build the part you need! Simple as that.  Of course, the trade-off is never in your favor, but that's the way of the world, isn't it?

Smash a head and receive 2 animated snow.

Smash a torso and receive 2 animated snow.

Smash a limb and receive 1 animated snow.

Trade in 3 animated snow for one Head

Trade in 3 animated snow for one Torso.

Trade in 2 animated snow for one Limb.

So basically, you can't just smash a body and build a head.  You've got to throw in a little extra too.  Useful in a pinch when you've got to run out the door and you want to send the golem on its way first!

A truly Advanced Tactic:   Stagger your golems.  That way, as they return, you can smash layers and use the ice shards to upgrade your golems that are still out. If they all show up at once, you won't be able to upgrade them to get the rewards as quickly.

TIP:  The snow golem can be upgraded at any time.  Go ahead and upgrade it on Hunt 24 or Hunt 2....you'll still get the bonuses for the new level!

​TL; DR (Too Long; Didn't Read

One of the easiest ways to get free stuff!   Every day, click on the advent calendar, and you can get a piece of Advent Chocolate.  However, if you open it *THAT* day, you can get a special bonus loot!    Spend the chocolate in the store during the GWH for exclusive limited edition items.

• Hunt using last years' winter cheese to get Pecan cheese.
• Hunt using Pecan to gather snow golem parts.
• Build a golem, send it into the wilderness.
• Use the loot when they return (firecrackers) to blast through the layers.
• Use layer loot (ice shards) to upgrade all 3 golems to level 3, then focus on one to max level. 

The wiki is nicely up to date pretty quick this year....go check it out! 

You'll come across a good amount of Snowball Charms here. When you use it, it could roll up into a larger charm, which can roll up again, and again, and again -- each charm more powerful than the last.

In one example listed on the forums:

200 Snowball charms  -->  50 Super Snowball --> 8 Extreme Snowball --> 1 Ultimate Snowball 

The adventure guide lays out the mechanics pretty clearly. Hunt with gouda, SB, or use up last years' holiday cheese to gather Pecan Pecorino.   Use the Pecan cheese to gather snow golem parts, and send him off to different areas.

Part 9 -- Feedback Friday Releases

TIP:  The snow golem is gone for 25 hunts, regardless of where you send him.  Choose your location wisely for the loot you want. 

This is your Golem. Notice it shows his current level (3), as well as how many Ice shards it will take to upgrade him (5), as well as where he is going right now, and when he'll be back. 

The area does contain Naughty/Nice treasure maps, which can both be upgraded to Rare.

A rare nice chest has been shown to contain:

22,000 gold

24,000 points

12 ancient charms

5 Let it Snow charms

10 Pecan Pecorino cheese

5 Animated snow

1 Advent Chocolate

If you need help finding a specific mouse,  CLICK HERE for the mice attraction table, credits to Beth Martino.

Part 1 -- How to Get In

There's a lot of stuff this year, so let's break it down....

BASES

One new base, the Festive Winter Hunt Base. Nothing special, just an LE base.

Two bases returning from last year. (Gingerbread, Candy Cane.) 

NEW TRAPS

Harrowing Holiday Harpoon Harp  at 5,000 Draconic power makes it a force to be reckoned with.

Christmas Crystalabra Trap, at 1,200 Rift power makes it a decent entry level for people not deep into the Rift yet.

Christmas Cactus Trap, at 1,800 law is also a good middle-level law trap for people not done with the Meteor yet.

TRAP UPGRADES

The GoldFrost Honing Crystal will upgrade the Interdimensional Bow into a Goldfrost Crossbow, a 5000 power Shadow trap

the Frozen Galaxy Event Horizon Module, with a lot of other items, will get you an Infinite Winter Trap, for 6,000 Arcane.

RETURNING TRAPS

You can also get the gingerbread house surpise, which is 2200 tactical so nothing special, but I like it for my Chessmaster runs. It's got just enough power to not catch chessmaster, but is strong enough to get the Kings.  

SKINS

About a dozen to pick through, all the old ones plus a few new ones. Skins can be bought with Advent Chocolate or real cash.

Welcome to the Great Winter Hunt 2017!   

Needless to say, SPOILERS AHEAD!!!  

Last updated 12/17/17 at  9:00 am PST

Part 7 -- Treasure Maps

One of the left-overs from last year is Throwable Snowballs, and the minigame that comes with it.  You also get throwable snowballs every day with your daily rewards.   Similar to the Halloween game, it's a game of finding the hidden shapes within a grid.  Some of the prizes you can win by revealing them are:

Small gift:  3 Kings Credits

Large gift: 3 Pecan Pecorino

Candy Cane: 5 Winter charms

Cozy Scarf: 1 Festive ULPC

Yule Log: 31 Festive ULC

Holiday Tree: Golem part

Complete a board: 5 SB+

These prizes were all consistent for me across five boards. 

Reinforced ice shards will likely be hard to come by.  Early results show it's going to take a LOT of sharrds to fully upgrade the snow golem.  As mentioned above, I suggest spreading the upgrades around during the early levels, and then after all three snow golems are level 3, then pick one to focus on upgrading to the max level 10.  

MISCELLANEOUS TRIVIA:   The upgrade cost on the Golem is close to (but not quite) the Fibonacci sequence, a math formula that always adds the prior two numbers.

1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89   (for example, 5+8=13, and then 8+13=21)