Overview
It’s a short guide explaining the Faceless/Phantom hero.
FAQ
1. Why should I buy the Faceless?
He’s quite fun to play, having a unique play style and appearing as quite a presence on the battlefield.
2. Is he hard to play?
Yes, unlike other characters, the Faceless can be quite hard and appear rather useless when first picked up.
3. How do I defeat a Faceless?
Do not allow him to get kills early on, focus on him and once the game goes on, he shall not have the Prime to sustain his murderous intents
4. Who can take care of a Faceless?
The Brawler/Meijin are notorious enemies of the Faceless, their combos making quick work of him. As stated by OracleDelphi, the Duelist/Prince of Thieves (Bane of all Slayers) is also a great counter against him.
Introduction
First of all, let us begin with a short description of the Faceless. This character is an assassin based around the ability to land a critical strike and moving about the place to keep safe. He may appear rather difficult and has quite a harsh early game if pitted against certain characters, but as the game goes on his presence on the battlefield increases to the point where he can terminate any character if encountered on the battlefield, provided his ultimate is up, as well as ripping softer enemies to shreds, if he plays his cards well. Now then, let’s begin by taking a look at his abilities.
Talents
Deathblow is his innate passive ability, giving him the possibility to land critical hits with his class talents as well as the ability to instantly kill an enemy in case their HP is bellow a certain value after being hit by a Blade of Darkness. This is one of the trademarks of the Faceless, the ability to critical hit with his spells, making him the only hero with such an ability to date. After dealing a critical hit on Native Land, the Faceless will regenerate a small amount of health. That may seem like a very small and negligible boon of health, but it can save your life.
Blade of Darkness I is one of the main abilities that the Faceless dons, a thrown knife at a range that deals damage. This ability should be used to deter enemies from capturing flags or to poke back at those that think they should harass you. With an initial energy cost of 120 and a cool down of 11 seconds, this ability should only be used rarely when beginning as you may find lacking the energy early game to do so. Blade of Darkness will jump into a nearby enemy if cast on Native Terrain.
Shimmer I is the Faceless’ ability to blink to a location, dodging abilities that would be dodged by such a teleport, much like the Archer/Amazon’s Redeploy. When in laning phase, this ability should always be off cool down and only used defensively as the Faceless is brittle and any gank or tight situation should be avoided with Shimmer, lest you wish to take massive amounts of damage or even die.
Cutting Throw II grants the Faceless’ Blade of Darkness a slow of 40% for 3 seconds, a critical hit however increasing the slow’s duration to 6 seconds. Although you may have this ability, alone you do not benefit much from its slow early game as you are in no position to take down or chase down any enemy. It is however great to initiate a gank from your jungler, the slow giving your allies enough time to deploy their abilities, as well as land a couple of blows along with you.
Flash of Darkness II will enhance the Faceless’ Shimmer to deal a small amount of magic damage in an area around the blink as well as blind the enemy for 1.5 seconds. The blind is the most important part of this spell as it can save either your life or that of an ally by making your enemy miss. This is when you may jump in to help your allies with this blink as they’ll benefit from the advantage of having blinded enemies.
Mystic Slayer II is a passive talent that the Faceless can get. This talent will grant him a stacking buff which increases the critical chance of the Faceless by 5% per stack for 7 seconds. The increased critical chance is a blessing as it shall soon come into play once you get Shadow Dance III.
Face of Death III is the Faceless’ ‘ultimate’ ability, when activated stunning the enemy for 1 second and applying a debuff on them, making them vulnerable to the Faceless. This means that every hit or class talent that the Faceless uses on them will inflict critical damage. It is best to keep your other abilities off cool down when casting this ability, to make sure that you’ll get to toss a Blade of Darkness as well as the damage granted by Flash of Darkness, coupled with a few basic hits, leading to the death of your enemy.
Fun Fact: If an enemy dies with the buff applied by Face of Death III, the Faceless will be granted a stacking buff called Doombringer. Although this buff does not do anything, it serves as a count of how many consecutive enemies have fallen to his gaze. If the enemy lives through the ordeal however, the Faceless will be granted a debuff called Lost Soul, breaking the streak of Doombringer. As aforementioned, these do not affect the gameplay in any way.
Shadow Dance III will give the Faceless’ Shimmer a 50% cool down and energy cost reduction. If the Faceless takes damage while this Shimmer is on cool down, it shall take the original cool down in consideration. This allows the repeated usage of Shimmer, with a halved cool down and energy cost, always holding 3 stacks of Mystic Slayer.
Chilling Horror IV upgrades Face of Death III by resetting the cooldowns off the Faceless’ other abilities when Face of Death III is used. This allows the Faceless to toss a Blade of Darkness, Shimmer next to his enemy, use Face of Death, toss another Blade of Darkness and Shimmer, often leading to the death of the victim.
Tactics
Tip: Building a Faceless should be based around stacking intelligence talents on him, followed closely by cunning talents and a few health ones to keep him alive through any battle he may find himself in. You may wish to grab a few energy regeneration talents early on, but just one or two.
Tactics:
The Faceless should be played mid, early game being centered around grabbing as many last hits as one can and not entering any battle, his potential growing as time goes by. It is best to start with two health potion as to warrant survival in lane. Some enemies can easily tear through the Faceless’ frail robes and in term, you should always consider if the battle is worth going in to. Once you get Face of Death, you should be able to finish an enemy once they have been poked a bit to about half of their health or so. Upgrading Face of Death with Chilling Horror will allow you to engage in harder battles and finish off enemies at almost their entire health, the rest of the battles being fought through the usage of Blade of Darkness to poke enemies, disengaging or engaging with Shimmer as the case may be. Remember that defeating an enemy is not always why you would use your ultimate. Although it may seem like a waste, it can also be used to deal some extra damage or even just used for the stun. It’s not your goal to finish the enemy, but to deal he most damage you can, in term there may be times when using Face of Death may prove fruitful even if you do not finish the enemy during the debuff