Dota 2 Overview : Chaos Knight

Chaos Knight is one of the most feared and powerful strength based carries in the game. Not only does he scale well into the later parts of the game, he also possesses a stun as one of his basic abilities that rivals other heroes’ ultimate abilities. In addition his own ultimate, Phantasm, provides massive right click dps and is also a potent pushing ability. Not to say the hero is without weaknesses, but if these weaknesses can be overcome, Chaos Knight becomes an unstoppable monster to face off against.

Stats & Skill Overview

Chaos Knight is a carry and as such is almost always run in a safe lane with a support. Unlike a lot of carries however, Chaos Knight is very flexible in terms of laning and can contribute pretty decently in the early parts of the game. Chaos Knight has a high base damage, a powerful stun in Chaos Bolt, and can use Reality Rift to pull enemies closer to him. Chaos Knight would actually be an amazing laner if not for his one downfall – a small mana pool. Regardless, CK is still a very survivable laner and can be run as a dual lane in any of the three lanes including middle, or as a tri lane facing off against a dual lane or solo.

The most notable aspect of CK in the early parts of the game (although it certainly matters throughout) is that he has the ability to stun enemies for 4 seconds. 4 seconds is an incredibly long time for a basic ability to disable for, and is really only hindered by his low mana pool. Before he has any major damage items, Chaos Knight tends to be played more as a ganker due to his incredibly powerful Chaos Bolt, and therefore he builds items to make sure he has the mana to stun on a consistent basis. To remedy this, Power Tread stat switching is incredibly important in conjunction with some other item like a Drum of Endurance or a Bottle. A Magic Wand should also strongly be considered.

As Chaos Knight enters the mid game, and has solved his mana issues, he will start the transition into a more carry oriented role. Having a built in critical strike already, Chaos Knights item choices tend to focus on making him tanky by getting armor or strength items, and increasing the dps of his illusions. The illusions created by CK’s ultimate do more damage based on how much base damage Chaos Knight has. Therefore strength items are extremely desirable on him as they have an increased effect. Armlet of Mordiggian is an incredible item for Chaos Knight and is probably the one item that would be considered core on him. Armlet not only makes him tankier, do more damage, and attack faster, it does all of these things for his illusions as well! Once CK picks up an armlet, you’ll find he will already be doing incredible amounts of dps and be very hard to kill. Late game items are more situational pickups including a Black King Bar if CK is having trouble staying in the fight, a Heart of Tarrasque or Assault Cuirass for damage/tankiness, or a Heaven’s Halberd if evasion is needed. Manta Style can also be an interesting pickup to allow even more illusions to be present on the battlefield.

The skill build for Chaos Knight is pretty static. His Chaos Strike while a good ability is of little use in the early parts of the game and thus should be skilled lastly. His Chaos Bolt in contrast is by far his best ability and should always be skilled primarily. The only real decision is when to start picking up his ultimate. Its high mana cost makes it somewhat undesirable at level 6, and should probably be picked up around level 9 once Reality Rift and Chaos Bolt are maxed out. Chaos Bolt > Reality Rift > Phantasm > Crit > Stats.

Chaos Knight is a pretty simple hero for people to grasp as well as being very strong even without much farm. As far as carries go it’s easy for someone to feel useful without having to do much farming to get there. His skills are very simple, but do require some forethought on their use and some mana management in the early parts of the game. (5/10)

Chaos Knight Tip of the Day

Reality Rift may seem like a retooling of Riki or Phantom Assassin’s Blink Strike ability, but there’s a key difference to note. Reality rift also move’s the enemy from his position, meaning you can do clever things like pull enemies into/out of the river or up cliff sides. Be careful not to get yourself stuck too though.