Chaos Knight/Counters

Bad against...

 * Dragon Knight has huge amounts of armor thanks to, which will greatly reduce the damage he takes from you and your army right clicks. If he's farmed enough, he will also make quick work of your clumped up army thanks to the splash attack of his.
 * will deal colossal amount of damage to your army, as will before you considerably tank up.
 * The AOE stuns enabled by will always slow down your illusions, since they can't have magic immunity.
 * Consider removing Aftershock through purchase of a.


 * usually catches Chaos Knight will all his illusions.
 * deals a huge amount of damage to Chaos Knights illusions due it being based on their max health.


 * If you choose to Rift any other enemy than Jakiro, you just set yourself up for a perfect and.


 * Using with your army up sets you up for a . Though its damage is very moderate, he will follow with a  and a.
 * Combined with any melee carry, the cleave provided by will crush your illusions for the entire game, provided he can get a good RP off.


 * can potentially save a teammate in case they get surrounded by Chaos Knight illusions, also damaging the army and revealing the real Chaos Knight.
 * can prevent unless Chaos Knight picks the spell-piercing talent, forgoing the 20% cooldown reduction.
 * isn't very good on Chaos Knight, and Chaos Knight has no natural purges, meaning that is very powerful against Chaos Knight.


 * Caustic Finale makes Phantasm and Manta illusion deal large damage to CK's team. If Sand King has Scepter, Burrowstrike is good for initiating with CK while he doesn't have Black King Bar.
 * Epicenter instant destroy illusions.


 * Sven's cast time is slightly better than CK's, so if you both run at each other, odds are he will get his off first, also stunning your phantasm army if you clumped up.
 * Sven can also provide a huge amount of armor to his team with.
 * And Sven can obviously cleave through your army with, which is especially devastating since CK relies on his illusions to be effective.
 * will deal colossal amount of damage to your army, as will before you considerably tank up.
 * The AOE damage reduction debuff of Anchor Smash, combined with allows Tidehunter to shrug off your army in the early to mid game.
 * Consider removing Kraken shell through purchase of a.


 * All of his damage skills deal strong AoE damage, especially his ultimate.
 * Due to their number, Phantasm's illusions will give Timbersaw maximum amount of stacks nearly instantly.


 * Auroth can protect whomever you choose to Rift with the undispellable.
 * A good can spell doom for you or an ally as you hit it with your own army.
 * deals decent AoE damage to Phantasm illusions.
 * deals damage based on a percentage of max health, making it good against strength heroes.

Others

 * Heroes with strong AoE damage, examples: (due to the many illusions,  will proc very often) and, both also like to buy  (see below).
 * Heroes that can kill illusions fast like with  and  (perhaps even an upgraded ), with his  (he also likes to build Shiva's Guard, see below) or  with his , especially if he got an  (with  he also got an Ethereal, see below).
 * Any hero with built-in evasion is at least half decent since CK does not like to build . Be careful not to focus too much on evasion as you may force him to get it eventually, countering your own strategy.
 * Although you need AOE to deal with CK, CK has no AOE of his own, making any kind of summons and illusions rather good versus him. A may cause him to waste a  on an illusion, examples are, ,  and.
 * If CK has become too strong to fight through, consider split-pushing as he has little mobility besides his high movement speed. In these scenarios however, be careful not to lose your base solely against his army as he can leave it behind while teleporting back to protect his own.
 * If he went for the build instead of the magic damage build, 's  can potentially kill all your army at once and deal extra damage to your team due to of the number of units hit. He will die very quickly though if you manage to catch him out.

Items

 * will considerably reduce the DPS of your illusions, both through attack speed loss and extra armor, while causing 400 damage to them. Don't rely too much on armor however as a farmed CK will always have enough physical DPS to go through any layer.
 * Any item that requires a is at least half decent since CK does not like to build.
 * and other Ethereals will provide a good tool versus his army. Bad CK players will often choose to wait it out since you could be surrounded by the army, instead of switching targets.

Good against...
With a potential 4 second stun (on a low 10 second cooldown) and the highest physical DPS in the game, CK can be good against everything. Your problem will be to actually get the stun off and not be immediately focused by all the enemy team.


 * Phantasm or Manta Style purges Track.
 * Bounty Hunter can't fight with many heroes so his illusions can make BH has wrong Track.
 * Reality Rift may kill BH in a hit until he is clever enough to buy Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere.


 * Due to to Chaos Knight's high physical burst, he can kill Huskar almost instantly before he can properly utilize Berserker's Blood or Inner Vitality.
 * Huskar must also be weary of jumping Chaos Knight with Life Break as CK can easily counter-initiate with Phantasm and Reality Rift. Furthermore, the stun from Chaos Bolt may be the only thing necessary to burst down Huskar before he can properly do anything.


 * You can always use to get behind the  and attack the hero. Also the spirit bear will die quickly to your right clicks in the late game, possibly making the opponent afraid to split push with his bear.


 * will very likely be blocked by a Phantasm illusion.
 * 's damage doesn't harm Chaos Knight too much because of Chaos Strike's lifesteal mechanic.
 * Chaos Knight is maybe the only hero in the game that can can kill a Pudge with many stacks in less than one second. because of his Phantasm illusions.
 * Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift both interrupt with a comparatively low cooldown.


 * CK naturally builds a to purge off, and he can always use Phantasm before the fight begins.


 * is not a very good ability for attempting to dispatch s. Slark doesn't have good innate AOE and will seldom build nor.
 * can be completely counteracted by and Chaos Knight can kill Slark in a matter of a second if Slark gets surrounded by illusions. Furthermore, Reality Rift can be used to escape the Pounce leash.


 * Phantasm Illusions can be used to push towers if you are afraid that Techies has lots of mines around. The Techies player might use up their Remote Mines, either accidentally by assuming the real hero is among the illusions, or are forced to do so to stop the push. Your team can then safely push knowing that most, if not all the Remote Mines are used up.
 * The illusions can also remove all Land Mines from an area since the mines are triggered by any unit that walks near it.


 * Ursa already has a hard time dealing with illusions in general, and ignoring the Phantasm illusions leads to a fast death.
 * Chaos Bolt's long stun uration does not leave Ursa opportunity to.
 * Chaos Knight is maybe the only hero that can match Ursa in terms of physical burst damage.


 * Viper already has a hard time dealing with illusions in general, and ignoring the Phantasm illusions leads to a fast death.
 * Viper's many slow are useless against Reailty Rift.

Others

 * Any other hero that wishes to man-fight the enemy carry 1v1, for example, or . At equal farm levels, you cannot man fight through.
 * A slight exception goes to as the AOE miss chance from  may allow him to man fight your entire army before you get a.
 * Any hero that has little AOE to deal with your, and that don't want to waste a precious spell on an illusion. , , , , ,  to name a few.
 * Squishy heroes are also easy pickings for CK, as a Reality Rift into his army of illusions will almost insta-kill such heroes. Examples of such heroes include,, to name a couple more that fill different roles.

Works well with...

 * helps Chaos Knight survive sustain in the early game, and the cost and low cooldowns of his spells ensures the aura stays relevant late game.
 * and provide a decent set-up for Chaos Knight's spells in lane.
 * A 4 second stun goes a long way to get a half decent  going.


 * The enemy team will have to be very well coordinated to deal with Chaos Knight's army and an angry Huskar, as they have opposite weaknesses. Chaos Knight is dealt with mostly with AOE magical damage, while you need strong single-target physical or pure damage to go through Huskar's


 * Although they are opposites lore-wise, Keeper of the Light is arguably Chaos Knight's best lane partner. Initiate with . Either the opponent will run away and be out of mana, in which case you can just harass them with right clicks with little fear of retaliation, or Chaos Knight can follow up with, removing at least a bit of his mana anyway.
 * solves all of Chaos Knight's mana problems, enabling him to spam, which can serve as a good set-up for a charged up.
 * Equipped with an, the heal from during day time will help keep the  army alive while it sieges a tower.


 * His will create two extra illusions, almost as strong as your own Phantasm, to help you take down enemies and towers alike. It's also a good set-up to get up close and personal with slippery targets like  who could otherwise easily dodge your stun.

Others

 * Any armor reduction considerably boosts Chaos Knight's DPS, especially AOE abilities since a single target can die almost instantly anyway versus CK. or  to name a couple.
 * Any hero that can make good use of 's stun. and  to name a couple more.

List of heroes that counter Chaos Knight, and list of heroes that work well with Chaos Knight.