Tips on playing Void?

So I'm quite new to playing faceless void.. I think it is a fun hero to play, but I find it hard to find the right moments to pop Chrono during team fights. So I'm hoping you guys have some tips for me =) During mid game and late game (with okay farm) in team fights with at least 3vs3 or more. Initiate? Who to chrono ideally?

Thanks!

First off all: if you use chronosphere, try to capture as few of your teammates in it as possible...first of all it puts them at risk of receiving damage, and secondly their damage cant be used during the teamfight. Its ok to capture 1 or 2 of your teammates if you really manage to also get the entire enemy team, but you should at least keep in mind, that a bad chronosphere can do more harm than good.

and yes: Chronosphere should be used for initiation imo. Its a long-duration, huge-aoe, non-breakable "stun" after all. Also its just so much more difficult to use it, once your entire team is in the fray.

Item build: Void has amazing kill potential in a 1v1 scenario once his Time Lock is maxed...even in the early stages of the game, as Time Lock does double damage, if proccing under the chronosphere. A mix of IAS and Raw-damage items is usually the preferred way to go, if you want to maximize your dps under the Chronosphere. Mjolnir, Monkey King Bar, Daedalus or even an Assault Currias tend to work quite nicely. Even Mask of Madness - which usually is a terrible item on basically any hero - works pretty good on Void, as you can utilize the advantages of its active under a sphere without really having to worry about the disadvantages.

as said.....just try to avoid things like this:

This ^

It's the most important aspect of Void that you have to get right, a badly placed Chronosphere can lose a Teamfight that your Team could have otherwise won.

Don't worry too much about getting all 5 enemies in the Chronosphere, getting their Carry and maybe 1 or 2 other people in is usually good enough, especially if those outside the Chronosphere can't do much to help their allies.

Agreed, use it at the start of a Teamfight, not after everyone has already jumped in, unless they've landed something like a Reverse Polarity and you can easily get into position to follow up with a well placed Chrono.





These are good starting Items, enough Regen to last you for a while, Stats and the almost-always-needed Stout Shield. Don't start with a Quelling Blade, if you're having trouble getting Last Hits, get your Support(s) to chase the Offlaner(s) away. If you don't have Supports and are playing Void anyway, prepare to suffer.



Based on how well you and your Team are doing, pick one of these Items to speed up your Farm. Hand of Midas is hands down the best choice for Faceless Void, but if you can't get it before 8:00, it's worthless! You should know whether you can afford it by then by around the 5:00 mark. It's amazing because not only is it the cheapest Farming Item available, but it gives you Exp for a faster lvl 16 and thus earlier access to the lower Cooldown on Chronosphere.

Battle Fury is a common pickup on Void, but I'm not too keen on it. Yes the Cleave is nice when you get opponents that are clumped up together like fish in a barrel, but this only really happens against low-skill opponents, and paying out 4350 Gold for a Farming Item seems pretty ridiculous to me. Still it is a choice, just don't bother getting it after 15:00 or you'll be cost the Team the game, becuase if you can't get your Battle Fury by 15 minutes, you can bet that your Team will lose 4 vs 5, leaving you wide open to be repeatedly Ganked while you try to Farm.

Maelstrom is the Item you want if you couldn't get a Hand of Midas, there's no time limit to build this, and you can even skip a Farming Item all together if you couldn't get Midas, but it's rather nice on Void. You can even choose to build this Late Game for more Attack Speed. Remember though, it's an Orb so be careful what other Orb Items you get, e.g. you can't Lifesteal and Proc lightning at the same time.



Next up, you'll want 1 or 2 of these. Black King Bar is needed on Void, because you will get Focused by the other Team, so this is mandatory in oder to stay alive. You don't have to get it straight away, but get it after your Farming Item, and one of these other Items...

Hyperstone is my favourite 1st Item on Void, pure unadulterated Attack Speed for more Time Locks, and it builds into an Assault Cuirass or Maelstrom.

Mask of Madness is a debatable Item, on the one hand, Backtrack will mitigate some of the extra Damage you receive from this Item, but don't rely on that, especially when Hexes come into play. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it in most games, but it is a viable option.

From there, there are lots of good Items: Butterfly, Mjollnir for more Attack Speed, or Monkey King Bar to deal with Evasion, or Daedalus if you have enough Attack Speed and just want more Damage. Having HP trouble? then consider a Satanic if you don't have an Orb, or a Heart of Tarrasque if you do. Maybe even a Desolator depending on the situation.

]-> ->Backtrack

I know most people advocate maxing Time Lock first, but you're going to be Farming for a while, and will most likely have the least Damage output on your Team even if you do Max it by lvl 7, so I would Max Time Walk first, as the 50% Slow and massive Range will give you better chances of survival early on, not to mention, the Slow will make it easier to get Kills with your low Attack Speed as well as more of a chance to land a Time Lock. Take an early level of Backtrack at lvl 2 or lvl 4 depending on how you fell the Lane is going, then leave it till last, 10% chance to dodge anything is pretty OP early on, you won't need more than that.

Thank you for your responses! =) The skill and item builds I am fairly comfortable with, depending how each game goes/lane opponents.

At all costs try not to get any friends in the Chrono, that is a obvious one :p But I sometime find myself in the earlier stages of the game trying to land the Chrono on supports rather then carryes (if it is right click carries without stuns etc). I think this is reasonable no? When you only have 1 farm item and before your BKB. As I often have quite low DPS by this time, wont be able to DPS down the carry in time, and enemy supports often have spells to ruin your effectiveness during the Chrono. (rubick/pugna etc) Getting rid of supports is always nice and makes it easier for your team do deal with the carries.

But again thanks, gonna go practice now =)

The most important thing you need to know when playing Faceless Void is knowing how to farm: if you can't farm well, Void is not the Hero for you. With "knowing how to farm" not only I mean being good at last-hitting, but also switching from lane to jungle when you feel like you're going to get ganked, teleporting for teamfighing if needed (i.e. when you know you can get at least 1-2 kills or assists) and following a good item progression depending on the game. It mostly comes with experience, but watching competitive games with hard carries like Anti-Mage or Luna also helps.

As for the skill and item build, I agree with Xyrus even though I've been testing a Drums + BKB + Mjollnir (or Drums + BKB + Manta, but I still have to test it) early game build. Seriously, the active from the Drums does so much inside the Chrono; big late-game items ( Daedalus, Mjollnir, Butterfly...) are still overall better though.

Knew I was forgetting something... Drum of Endurance is pretty awesome on any Hero, and if you're not going for a Hand of Midas, it's a good idea to pick this up instead.

I don't have a problem with farming, as mentioned I'm having a bit of trouble picking the right moments to Chrono in big team fights. I am aware that Void is pretty useless if you are not able to farm properly. =)

I highly recommend getting Maelstrom instead of the commonly seen Battlefury, much better DPS compared to BF. Although you won't have the regen from BF, the MS lets you farm just as fast as BF while doing more overall damage and cheaper to get.

Depending on the game I'll get Midas but other than that the build is usually

Poor Man's Shield > Power Treads > Maelstrom > either Mask of Madness or save and upgrade to Mjollnir. If I'm really have a bad time, I'd rush a Black King Bar after Maelstrom.

Tips on landing Chronosphere? Just try to hit at least 2 people if you're in teamfights, that's an effective 4-5 second disable on two heroes. YOU need to be the one to initiate and if you happen to catch your teammates, try not to catch more than one ally in your chrono.

Thanks for the tips there!

But: When not getting Battlefury (and thus not getting ring of health in lane), what do you use to regen HP after initial tangos? Often you are a spundge to harass in lane, and if not then you'd want better regen for jungling later on.

My 2 cents on void:
Not necessarily the friendliest hero to learn in pubs, he needs a bit of help in lane to really get going. He is utterly devestating, and it's damn near impossible to beat him late game with his items up.
First off, I've generally started Quelling Blade Stout Shield tangos almost always. Being farm reliant as hell, the extra damage vs creeps always helps, shield mitigates damage from harassment, and tangos are quite obvious.
The regen from battlefury nor the dps from the item are the main reason you get it, it boosts your farming ability with the cleave, simple: cleave kills waves and camps faster. Maybe it's a crutch of mine, but I highly recommend getting the item more often than not. Also, consider, late game, it's not the damage boost, but the cleave, a 6 slotted void with cleave wipes teams quickly, stack it with Maelstrom/mjolnir orb effect for silly cleave damage.
Butterfly is the one item luxury wise, that is an absolute must , the 35% evasion chance stacks with the 25% dodge from backtrack. It averages to 51% evasion essentially, and it's a large dps boost, and armor boost.
Mjolnir as Nubtrain said, Maelstrom is awesome, and builds to this, massive attack speed, and great orb effect, big dps boost.
Power Treads give void optimal survivability and dps output.
Hand of Midas dark terror is a hard carry, dominates the late game, Midas boosts your long term farming, slows you down a bit, being a large investment early on, but the attack speed is also quite beneficial for early kills. Don't always default to this, but if you're doing well early, go for it, 8 minute mark is pushing it, and if you're going for battlefury with Midas, realize you will be hampering your mid game potential quite a bit.
Mask of Madness can be great, but realize two things, nukers will kill you if you don't chrono them with MoM activated, and you're not always going to want this item, if you go midas for example, it's a waste of gold, you'll get more out of investing in your bigger items. Reidorating this: MoM vs Nukers, just don't do it
Black King Bar more often than not, this will benefit you, in a perfect world, 5 man chronos happen all the time, in pub dota half of your teammates will derp into your chrono, while 2 enemy nukers sit outside and blow you up.
Plenty other situational items, but those are what are the most commonly seen IMO, and most beneficial, Assault Cuirass deserves a good look too, since it's pure awesome on melee carries, but I'm going to reiterate the importance of landing a GOOD Chronosphere. It's a very powerful ultimate, it can also lose you a game, place it responsibly, but realize it's a pub, and half of your teammates will just walk into it anyway.
Happy hunting