Chaos Knight/Guide

Carry/Pushing Chaos Knight
Carry Chaos Knight is the usual way to play Chaos Knight. It's most appropriate against line ups that have too little AOE to deal with your army in the late game.

You'll usually want to max out first as the increased stun duration (and guaranteed 2 sec stun at level 4) can allow you to burst almost anyone down. Odds are you won't want to skip at level 6 as you can use it to quickly push a tower, perhaps after bursting the offlaner. Skip, the lifesteal won't matter in a safe lane and does too little damage early game.

It's unlikely none of the enemy heroes will have no AOE, but if it's only magical burst, don't forget your considerable strength gain per level and your desire to build strength items can help your army survive even through full-blown wombo-combos. It's not uncommon for a Chaos Knight army to survive an even while clumped up, and move forth unscathed.

There are few scenarios where you'll want to skip as it synergizes perfectly with Chaos Knight. Don't forget to turn it on before using. Otherwise, you'll mainly want to build stats. is a common replacement but it is sub-optimal, can be built into. and provide the most stats, the latter enabling you to keep your armlet always toggled. and also work well with your illusions. to prevent getting chain disabled and you can turn on BKB and ult once the aoe has been used.

Support/Roaming Chaos Knight
Generally, it is a waste to go full support when playing Chaos Knight as so not recommended to play positions lower than 3. Chaos Knight makes for a formidable roamer and semi-carry thanks to his excellent base damage and speed, and it might make your opponents try too hard to counter you with AOE abilities that might have too little impact for your team's 'real' carry.

As a roaming CK, you'll want to start with a point in for the stun however max out  first as it considerably lowers the cooldown, increases the pull distance and armor reduction. If you're letting another hero your carry in lane, don't hesitate to repeatedly cast it and cancel the animation as it can make the enemy very fearful and make him waste a spell or item.

Since Chaos Knight's mana pool is so low and its cooldown is so long, you may opt to skip your ultimate at level 6, especially since your illusion(s) won't hit that hard without any strength-boosting items.

If you're roaming, a or an  can do wonders to net you kills, and you should probably skip a  since your starting speed is already good enough. You'll want some items to keep your mana up during and after ganks,, and   will help you. is really good for roaming, CK can easily get kill and will be able to utilize the regen and extra damage.

is still the most efficient item and works well with urn as you can afford to leave armlet activated for longer. is also a good choice if toggling armlet is an issue. It gives good strength to boost up you and your, good int and mana regen to keep your supply up, and the active, although it doesn't work with your illusions, give you a good burst with making your ganks much more likely to succeed.

provide decent stats and much need movement speed but comes at a price, is sub-optimal on carry CK.

As a support/roamer, buy detection as needed but let full supports do the warding.

General

 * In most situations, max and  first, since the critical damage from your Chaos Strike is negligible in the early game.
 * Always activate your before using your ultimate, since the illusions also gain bonuses from it.
 * is sub-optimal even for ganking CK, better of finishing Heaven's_Halberd_icon.png Heaven&#x27;s Halber if you have the mana.
 * If you manage to farm a you gain two additional albeit somewhat weaker illusions that serve to wreck havoc among enemy ranks, Manta Style illusions much like Phantasm and rune illusions are pulled to your target with Reality Rift. You can often use this to block your target in a swarm of illusions they will not be able to escape from. The ultimate orb from Manta Style also boosts your mana pool just enough to allow you to cast illusions together with your ultimate ability.
 * It is not entirely advisable to pick Chaos Knight against enemies that can easily clear illusions such as, , owning to the fact that they can clear illusions regardless of their stats and given that your illusions are produced by your ultimate ability with a rather long cooldown you cannot afford to have them destroyed easily like ,  and Phantom Lancer who can produce illusions much more frequently.
 * You may also want to be careful against an enemy that drains mana such as  focused . Given Chaos Knight's dismal mana pool and intelligence gain Invoker's  can completely drain him of mana even in later stages of the game and without his active abilities Chaos Knight is not nearly as potent.


 * Although Chaos Bolt's damage is average, it's not to be underestimated. A 275 nuke can be the difference between killing an enemy.
 * Chaos Bolt, like and  is easy to predict and disjoint, even easier due to CK's poor cast animation. Try to use it as close to an enemy as possible if they have a way to dodge it.
 * Unlike and  however, Chaos Knight can use  to get in melee range of an enemy and make it a lot harder to disjoint your stun.
 * Due to the unreliability of the spell, it makes Chaos Knight a poor initiator if he's in vision of the enemy, and it's better to let your support do the jump. If you're roaming, try to come from behind, hide in the trees, or use a to increase your odds of landing a spell.
 * Chaos Bolt has two value points: one at level 1 where it's a 'guaranteed' one second stun, and another at level 4 where it becomes a 'guaranteed' two second stun. If you already have three points in it, you'll want to get the fourth point ASAP.


 * While ganking in the early-mid game, use Reality Rift to get close to the enemy, then hit him once with your bonus damage and use Chaos Bolt to stun. If you are lucky, you could even get more than 2 hits while he's stunned.
 * will reduce your target's armor by a flat value, making your auto attacks stronger overall.
 * Due to being a flat value, this reduction falls off late game.
 * Illusions benefit from the armor reduction.
 * This ability will place you and your target at a random position between the distance of both characters. This can result in Chaos Knight and his target to become trapped within trees or elevated terrain.
 * will not only teleport Chaos Knight, but any illusions active when the ability is cast, including illusions from . Consider this before using this ability.
 * level 4 usually is much better than level 4 as the cooldown makes it a viable chasing skill.


 * Since Chaos Strike has only 12% chance to proc, it is an unreliable form of damage. In comparison to other crit passives, such as 's, it has a lower chance of occurring but also comes with 65% lifesteal on each proc.
 * Against enemies that can easily kite, you should focus on his other abilities rather than . Also, if there is uncontested farm in lane skip until level 11.


 * If you know for sure a fight is about to start, it's sometimes better to use your ultimate before it even starts off. The illusions have a very long duration and if you can find a good target to it can immediately turn a fight in your favor. Be mindful not to use it under enemy vision as they may immediately back away.
 * Also, if your enemies have huge teamfight AOEs, they may be specifically waiting for you to cast Phantasm in the middle of the fight to jump on you.
 * However, if all their abilities are meant to counter your army, it could be wise to keep it until they've blown some of them on different targets.
 * If that would be the case, it could be safer to use your illusions only to push towers, keeping your hero and the rest of your team safely behind. The illusions long duration should even enable you to split push a bit to make counter the enemy's teamfight strategy.
 * Your illusions pack a huge punch. They will automatically attack whoever you're pulling with Reality Rift. This target may instantly blow up. Don't forget to micro-manage your illusions while that target is dead and Rift is on cooldown. The same is true if you're dead. If you're confident with your micro-management skills, the best strategy is probably to send one after every enemy hero, similarly to 's or try killing off supports, and against their buildings if you still have some left to spare.
 * Phantasm has a very long cooldown. It is generally unwise to use it as a last-ditch effort when you're about to die since it would still be on cooldown well after you've respawned. However, like and  it does provide a short instant of invulnerability that can help you disjoint spells, such as 's.
 * The potential to disjoint spells can have an incredible impact on teamfights and the game overall, allowing you and your illusions to survive for longer and deal more damage.
 * Phantasm boasts the most powerful illusions in the game, creating an army that can boost Chaos Knight's damage output for up to 400%. When used in conjunction with Reality Rift and Chaos Bolt it is often possible to destroy the target before they get a chance for retaliation. Given that your illusions do full damage and are far more durable than illusions produced by any other hero always remember that even if your main hero dies your illusions still pose a very serious threat.

Items
Starting items
 * es are very cheap and give small attribute bonuses.
 * and a, along with a allow to take a bit of damage while going for last hits.

Early items
 * give a nice movement speed boost.
 * provides instant mana and health during battles.
 * gives some armor and health regeneration. It builds into.
 * Enchanted Mango icon.png Enchanted Mango will solve Chaos Knight's mana issues and also provides health regeneration before it is used.

Core items:
 * are easily the strongest boot on Chaos Knight, as they provide tankiness, which transfer to his illusions, and allow him to tread switch if he has a source of regeneration.
 * most cost effective item for Chaos Knight. It provides a very large amount of strength, which will transfer to his illusions if it is activated before Phantasm is used. As Chaos Knight's main source of damage is his illusions, this allows them to stick around much longer.
 * makes Chaos Knight and his illusions very durable, and gives them a nice damage boost. This also enables you to keep Armlet of Mordiggian permanently on, as the heart will regen faster than the health loss, resulting in a large amount of bonus strength, damage, and attack speed at all times.

Situational items:
 * is a very strong pickup, giving Chaos Knight and the illusions armor and the much needed attack speed.
 * provides a bit of tankiness and a bit of damage on top of much prized magic immunity. As magic immunity does not transfer to illusions, this is best when picked up against teams that can easily isolate the real CK and either lock him down for a long period of time or burst him down with single target magical damage.
 * is a strong pickup for Chaos Knight late game, if there are strong right-click heroes on the enemy team, or when sange was brought instead of armlet
 * is a strong pickup on Chaos Knight if the enemy team does not have a way to clear out your illusions. They take more damage and deal less damage than the illusions made by Phantasm. However combined with a level 3 Phantasm, Reality Rift will completely surround and trap any enemy that does not have the ability to blink away, phase through, or instantly kill an illusion; this often guarantees a kill. Do not rush this item, Chaos Knight does not have enough health to ensure that the illusions will last and will just waste mana.
 * gives strength and armor, which increases durability. Its active ability allows Chaos Knight to stay in the fight much longer. Note that illusions do not lifesteal.
 * will give Chaos Knight's illusions Manabreak, however unlike Phantom Lancer need diffusal's manabreak for damage, Chaos Knights does not need it for damage as a carry CK's illusion usually will kill the target instantly after a . Only get it to counter heroes like.
 * is the most efficient stat item in the game, second only to ; It makes you and your illusions far stronger by giving you 25 strength and 25 agility, and with 25 intelligence it almost single-handedly fixes any mana issues Chaos Knight could have by giving nearly 600 points of raw mana and some regen.
 * will provide Chaos Knight with early game regeneration and will allow to be skipped until level 11. Should be core on a ganking Chaos Knight.
 * to counter heroes with evasion.