What Are Facets in Dota 2?

Dota 2’s 7.36 patch introduced one of the most polarizing updates, adding Facets and Innate abilities to the game. While Innate abilities are more fixed in the sense that you don’t have to choose anything, Facets makes you choose between two things before the match even starts. So, before making the decision, you need to learn more about Facets and what they bring to the table in Dota 2.

How Do Facets Work in Dota 2?

Facets are build-defining effects that are available for every single hero in Dota 2. Each hero will have two Facets to choose from. These Facets are chosen before the game starts or during the picking and strategy time phase. Once the Facet has been chosen and the game starts, you cannot change your Facet anymore.

When you pick a Facet during the picking and strategy time phase, the enemies cannot see your Facets nor can you see theirs. All the Facets will be revealed at the start of the game. This means that you cannot play around an opponent’s pick because you aren’t sure what they’ll Facet they will be picking.

This is a big deal because some heroes completely change based on what Facet they are using. For example, the Phantom Assassin has the Veiled One and the Methodical Facets. The former causes Phantom Assassin’s Blur to no longer be dispelled on attack, and while Blur is active, mana costs are reduced by 30%. If the Blur is dispelled, all abilities and items have no mana cost for 5s.

The latter is more focused on improving Coup De Grace, further increasing Phantom Assassin’s Critical Damage bonus from the skill. Apart from that, Methodical causes your Coup De Grace to no longer be random. It’ll always trigger on the sixth attack when targeting the same hero or the fourth attack on the same creep.

Phantom Assassin can use the Veiled One to counter Anti-Mages who have true strike or Pangoliers who build Diffusal blades. Otherwise, if you want more damage without having anyone to counter, you would choose Methodical because you can play around with your crits.

These Facets are extremely polarizing to the game, and making crucial mistakes is much more punishable because of how every single hero got stronger in the 7.36 patch. Combined with the addition of Innate abilities, everyone has a lot of learning to do.