How to play on Faceless Void in Dota 2

Faceless Void is a melee hero of agility. Most often acts as a carry. He has good survivability and the ability to disable several opponents at once, but he requires good positioning, resource management, the right choice of moments to use ultimates, and depends on items.

When to pick Faceless Void:

Faceless Void's key ability is his ultimates, which is a great control. Before picking Void, make sure you have heroes on your team that can effectively implement this control by dealing massive damage under ultimate, such as Jakiro with Macropyre or Invoker with a huge arsenal of abilities, including Sunstrike boosted with Aghanim's Scepter. On its own, Darkterror is good against heroes with low health, which he can quickly kill with Chronosphere or Time Zone (with the adding of the innate ability Faceless Void became strong against ranged heroes, especially on lane, as he can easily deny creeps, and in the game overall Distortion Field will allow you to buy time to apply Time Walk). But against survivable characters (e.g. Wraith King, Morphling, Spectre) and heroes with abilities to save allies from Void's ultimate (Oracle, Pudge, Io), it is extremely uncomfortable for him to play (more about Faceless Void's counterpicks here).

Faceless Void Features:

• With Time Walk, you can dodge projectiles. To do this, you need to apply the ability in the direction of the projectile. Thus, you can avoid, for example, stun from Homing Missile Gyrocopter, Charge of Darkness Spirit Breaker, or damage from an attack with a modifier that deals high damage, such as Impetus Enchantress.
• The level 25 talent “Universal Evasion with a 20% chance” will allow you to avoid damage from both attacks and targeted abilities, including Lion and Lina Ultimates.
• If Rubick steals Chronosphere, it has no effect on Faceless Void, but stuns his allies.

What to buy on Faceless Void:

• Mask of Madness and Maelstrom/Mjollnir are the most popular items to farm on Faceless Void. They will also allow you to deal impressive damage under Chronosphere, which is why they are favored over Hand of Midas or Battle Fury.
• Black King Bar/Linken's Sphere - defense items.
• Nullifier - Against save from Faceless Void ultimate such as Aeon Disk and Ethereal Blade.
• Silver Edge - useful mostly against survivable characters to disable their passive abilities.
• Eye of Skadi+Refresher Orb - Refresher is taken for the opportunity to use two ultimates, but Darkterror, as he agility hero, has a small manapool, so before buying Refresher Orb, players purchasing Eye of Skadi, as it's one of the few manapool boosting items that looks good on Faceless Void.
• Monkey King Bar/Daedalus/Satanic/Butterfly/Manta Style/Sange and Yasha are situational items that are only purchased when needed in specific game situations.

How to play Faceless Void

Early game:

Your task early on is to focus on farming and acquire Mask of Madness and Maelstrom as quickly as possible. The skill build should be chosen depending on the difficulty of the lane: if it`s hard, you should max. Time Walk, if the lane is easy and there is an opportunity to play aggressively - max. Time Lock. Time Dilation should be taken at level 3-4 and left at the first level, giving preference to stats (taking attributes in the talent tree). It is extremely important not to die, especially before acquiring items for farming. Don't waste Time Walk for nothing so that you always have a chance to escape from an attack and keep an eye on the enemy midlaner movements.

Mid-game:

With the ultimate gained, you should start keeping an eye on what's happening on the map and look for opportunities to implement them. But don't wander around the map looking for a victim for Chronosphere. Focus on farming and join the team only if you are sure that you will realize your ultimates. Having Black King Bar, Mask of Madness, and Maelstrom/Mjollnir is your peak of power (if you haven't lost tempo and acquired items with good timing). Ideally, use your ultimates by CD and farm actively while it`s recharging. If the situation is going well for your team and enemies can't start playing aggressively until you don`t have Chronosphere - it can be spent on a single kill to increase your farming.

Late Game:

Keep play around the ultimates' cooldown. Although if you have a significant advantage, with Eye of Skadi and Aghanim's Scepter Faceless Void has enough control to deal with weaker enemies without Chronosphere. However in hard games rely on ultimate and your team. Keep an eye on your enemies' builds to acquire situational items like Nullifier or Monkey King Bar in time.

Basic Game Principle:

The key to a successful game on Faceless Void is the proper use of Chronosphere and Time Walk. It is important to farm, not to die in early game and to join fights in time. Proper use of abilities and items will greatly increase your chances of winning.