When Faceless Void won the Model Update vote in last year’s Compendium for The International, we admit we were a bit unsure about how to proceed. After exploring a number of different directions, we ultimately weren’t confident that the community would be happy with a significant redesign, since it seemed like a lot of people enjoyed the general idea of the existing model. When we turned to the community, we learned that for the most part people were not looking for drastic design changes.

So instead, we decided to give old Faceless a facelift. We rebuilt the hero from scratch, using largely the same design, but with better model execution and texture quality. We added more detail, adjusted the face design, and gave him a new set of legs (it turns out Time Walk is tough on the ankles).

However, some of the early redesign concepts were pretty interesting:

Faceless Elf

Pro: Attractive. Chiseled abs. Great-looking hair.

Attractive. Chiseled abs. Great-looking hair. Con: No one would want to play as any other hero

Faceless Rex

Pro: Would be popular with sought-after archeologist demographic

Would be popular with sought-after archeologist demographic Con: Is large purple dinosaur — too lovable?

Faceless Lobster

Pro: Adds exciting new Lobstoid race to Dota lore

Adds exciting new Lobstoid race to Dota lore Con: Looks too much like Dragon Knight

Awesome-to-11-year-olds-in-the-1980’s Void

Pro: Combines best parts of every animal

Combines best parts of every animal Con: Too subtle

Facefull Void