Introduction
Chen, the Holy Knight, is a very versatile hero who can contribute greatly in almost any game as a pusher, early game ganker, and mid game hard support. He is listed as a Tier 1 hero on ESFI World, a hero that is picked or banned almost every game in competitive play. Despite that impressive reputation, Chen’s play stats reveal he is one of the least played heroes in matchmaking. The reason for this disparity is likely the fact that Chen is a difficult hero to play. It would appear that any player who wants to successfully play Chen must know how to micro multiple units, which can be especially difficult for inexperienced players. However, I believe that Chen’s power is great enough that even players at lower skill levels would benefit from considering him in their games.
Chen is a jungler who is particularly powerful in three areas: early game ganking, mid game hard supporting, and pushing throughout the game.
Abilities
Penitence is an ability that will slow an enemy and will amplify the damage it receives. This is a great skill for ganking and to use in team fights. I usually only put one point in this spell until all my other skills are maxed.
Test of Faith is an ranged nuke spell that will deal a random amount of damage to an enemy. To get the most out of this spell use it on a target that you have just used penitence on. I usually max this skill out after holy persuasion.
Holy Persuasion is the ability that allows Chen to permanently control creeps. It can also be used to teleport friendly heroes back to the fountain after a short delay. The best times to do this are when they are about to die, or when they are going back to base anyways. If the situation is not urgent it is nice to ask a teammate’s permission before sending them back to base. I usually max this skill before all others.
Hand of God, Chen’s ultimate, is a global heal. It will heal all friendly heroes and will restore any creeps under your control to full hp. This spell is very strong and should be used any time one or more of your teammates is taking a lot of damage in a fight. The scepter upgrade will cut the cooldown immensely and allow for multiple uses in a single fight. This spell has quite an expensive mana cost and necessitates the use of mana regeneration items.
Here is the skill order I usually use: 3,1,3,2,3,4,3,2,2,2,4,1,1,1,S,4,S... which follows my recommendations above.
EDIT: I have received a lot of feedback suggesting that the ideal opening is 3,1,2,3,3 due to the fact that persuade will not allow you to get an additional unit until 3rd rank.
If you find yourself having trouble microing all your units, I would recommend focusing on using Chen primarily and trying to dominate creeps with passive abilities.
Neutral Creeps
Chen will live in the jungle for most of the early game and the creeps that spawn will dictate his play style. The main four creeps I recommend trying to get are:
Dark Troll Warlord: Trolls are ranged creeps with a ranged targetable snare and the ability to create skeletal warriors from corpses. This creep is very good for ganking and pushing. The snare is great because it can go through Black King Bar. The skeletal warriors are quite weak but having them in a mass of pushing creeps can really bulk up a push and discourage the opponents from defending.
Centaur Khan: Centaurs are moderately tanky melee creeps with an aoe stun similar to Slardar’s stun. They are very good for ganking. Try to come out behind the enemy heroes so they have to run through your Centaur’s path to get back to their side.
Wildkin Warchief: Wildkin is a moderately tanky melee creep with an armor aura and a spell that creates a tornado that deals damage over time to nearby enemies. Wildkin is a very useful creep during early game because they can harass enemy heroes in lane quite well. If you encounter a wildkin early on you can dominate it and send it to a lane to help. Simply hide it in the trees near the lane, and then use its tornado. Select the tornado and move it onto the enemy hero you wish to harass. The tornado will slowly but surely move towards the enemy hero, causing them to have to constantly avoid it or take a lot of slow damage. This will greatly increase your team’s chances of winning the lane. Later on in the game the Wildkin can be use to bolster a pushing army with its aura.
Ursa Warrior: Ursa is a tanky melee creep with an aoe damaging slow, very similar to the one used by the hero Ursa. He is a strong pusher and can help in a gank. His clap can be used in a push for extra damage, as well as when farming neutrals. In team fights and ganks he can slow enemy heroes as well.
There are also a few other useful creeps:
Kobold Taskmaster: Kobold is a low hp melee creep who has a movement speed boosting aura. He can be quite useful in ganks and team fights as movement speed boosts are always useful.
Alpha Wolf: Wolf is a melee creep with a crit chance and a damage increasing aura. The aura is very nice to have for any right click damage based heroes on your team.
Ogre Magi: Ogre is a low hp melee creep with an ice armor buff. The ice armor is nice to have when facing any right click damage based heroes.
There are many more creeps in the jungle to use as well, with their own abilities and strengths. Don’t be above grabbing the enemies basic lane creeps to fill any slots in your army when not in the jungle. The melee creep has more hp but the ranged creep does more damage.
Items
I almost always build Chen the same way. The fact that he is so mana dependant and has multiple units to worry about gives him a very clear item progression.
Starting Items: Ring of Basillius, Tango or Healing Pot
The ring will grant him enough mana regen to use holy persuasion as often as needed, and the armor aura will allow your creeps to tank more damage.
Early Game Items: Arcane Boots, Wards
Arcanes are necessary on Chen and I usually speed them out as fast as possible. Having mana will allow Chen to use his heal often which is a very good thing. The more you heal the less your team will die. Wards are also necessary, as you will need vision to avoid any ganks coming your way. If the other team is good they will try to gank you.
Core Items: Mekansm, Aghanim’ Scepter
Mekansm should be your first item after arcane boots. Having the second heal will enable your team push to last longer and push harder. Try to use the mekansm heal first in a fight because of the armor buff it also grants. You will usually be able to use mekansm twice and your ultimate once in a fight before you are faced with cooldowns restricting your healing. Try to hit as much as possible with your mekansm. After that you can build your scepter which will give you insane mana and survivability. This item is pretty much Luxury but it is such an amazing pickup I consider it core. Once you have scepter, you can use your ult as often as you want. Save the mekansm heal for when you start a team fight or are pushing towers.
At this point Chen starts to lose power. As heroes’ levels increase his creep armies become relatively less powerful, and his heals scale back in power as well. You should try to end the game before this point by pushing hard early on.
Strategy Overview
Early Game: Chen should jungle, and use creeps he finds to put pressure on nearby lanes. Keep wards up to avoid ganks.
Mid Game: As soon as you can have three creeps in your army you should fill it with strong pushers and start taking towers. Try to get your team to push all together and you will overwhelm the enemy. Use your abilities and items to support your teammates in fights with disables and heals. Add extra damage if you have the mana.
Late Game: Try to push their barracks before 40 minutes. As late game arrives you will lose a lot of power. Focus on building items the team needs and doing your best to support your teammates. Before late game you will dictate the flow of the game, after it arrives you will not.
I hope this guide has convinced you to give Chen a try, he is a great hero that can be used to great effect with a little practice.
