Snowball Fights: It's Time

The hour draws near. The magic NPC who will usher me into a world of wintery and competitive fun should soon be strategically placed within easy reach. And I am more than ready to get my snowball on. I've got my character all rolled up, stack after stack of the candy shards and frozen ectos that I never bothered to use last year sitting in my inventory along with my pimp candy cane weapons and festival hats along with the weapons I'll actually use to fight with. It's all about getting into the holiday spirit and looking good when you load in, after all. But I'm going to be rocking a shield with reduced crippling duration and a halved casting and recharge one-hander. Armor studded out with runes and dyed a festive, seasonal blue. All I need is for the format to go live again. I will hopefully have a more detailed guide up some time soon or, at the very least, assembled from various posts as the event wears on but, for now, some basic snowball tips.

• Classes to use: Ritualist, Elementalist, Monk
• Classes to avoid: Ranger, Paragon, Necromancer
• My favored class: Assassin
• Your equipment matters. Not fort mods or armor bonuses or anything like but things like the reduced duration from condition runes and HCR (Although you want the ones that say "x% chance to halve skill recharge" not the ones that are attribute specific.)
• Mouse move is faster than the keyboard.
• DODGE!!!
  
• Don't focus on the kill.
• Don't focus on the present.
• Focus on being able to run the present.
• Running presents well is the best way to win.
• Avalanche is better than Yellow Snow but not by enough that it really matters, you can win with both sides.
• Don't rely on Snowcone to save you.
• Don't overlook the power of Snow Down the Shirt and Ice Fort.
• Don't forget to put up Hidden Rock when you rez in.
• Split off the starting bell. I prefer a buddy system - loose two person teams with each watching a pass that can collapse on the nearest present and support each other - but you can go with a 1/1/1/1, too, if you want.
• There are four locations where presents spawn along the central axis of the map. In the wooded areas up the hills and at both ends of the frozen river. Know them. Know how to get to them. Know how to get from them back to your base.
• Presents spawn every 30 seconds on the :15 and :45 marks.
• Don't pick up a fresh present unless you can survive it being a trap bomb and blowing up in your face.
• This should be obvious but you talk to the god's avatar to turn in your present and score points.
• Don't try to take on more than one opponent at a time. But don't be afraid to, either. Unlike the Costume Brawl your death doesn't put points on the enemy's scorecard so it's relatively painless. At times, you will need to man up and get into an unfair fight if only to stall your opponent and keep them from capping. It is perfectly acceptable to go down in flames in such a situation but it's just as acceptable to turn tail and run if you have to.
• You'll get better the more you play.
• Have fun.

And if you get stomped into the ground by "Dessert Topping", that's me. See you in game.