Chen/Guide

General

 * While Chen is a force to be reckoned with in the early game, he loses much of his potency in the late game. Because Chen depends on the strength of his creeps to overpower enemy heroes and push down towers in the early game, his greatest weakness is to allow the enemy to get enough farm and levels to easily deal with his creeps, rendering them useless. As such, Chen must attempt to gain a powerful early lead for his team, and try to crush the enemy before they become strong enough to simply farm his creeps and turn them into a liability.
 * Chen is usually played as a jungler, as Holy Persuasion allows him to convert a neutral creep to do his bidding. The creep can be used to farm other neutral camps, using its auto-attacks and abilities to kill other neutrals while tanking their attacks to keep Chen safe. As well, the neutral creep can use its active ability to assist Chen in ganking the enemy, on top of adding its attacks to deal more damage to the gank target.
 * Using Holy Persuasion on an enemy creep in conjunction with the teleport part of Test of Faith it is possible to send an enemy hero teleporting to that creep into your fountain.


 * applies a debuff to the target enemy unit, slowing them while inflicting them with damage amplification.
 * Depending on team composition, Penitence can be a strong debuff to cast on an enemy during a gank. It can stack alongside other slows, preventing the target from easily escaping, while also increasing the amount of damage the target takes from allied attacks and nukes.
 * An early level of Penitence can help increase the odds of a successful kill when Chen rotates to gank enemies with the help of his creeps, as it as a very long cast range and the slow and damage amplification can make a big difference. However, keep in mind that since it is a percentage-based debuff, it is not as effective in the early game. Early skill points should be put into Test of Faith and Holy Persuasion in order to allow Chen to do more in the early game.
 * In teamfights, try to cast Penitence on high-priority enemies, since the slow can hinder their positioning and the damage amplification can help make them easier to focus down by your teammates. At max level the spell has a 72% up time, allowing it to greatly hinder enemies at all times during prolonged engagements.
 * While the slow is not very strong compared to those possessed by other heroes, Penitence can be cast as a slow debuff to aid escaping teammates. The spell's long cast range allows it to be used from relative safety, and can hinder enemies that are trying to pursue a weakened teammate.


 * is a random-damage nuke that allows Chen to deal Pure damage to enemies.
 * While it is generally not reliable, Test of Faith should be Chen's second-priority spell to max out after Holy Persuasion. Being able to contribute an additional damage nuke during a gank can make a big difference, and the spell's level also affects the effectiveness of the teleport sub-ability.
 * Remember that Test of Faith is a Pure damage nuke, and thus interacts differently from most other damage nukes. While it cannot take advantage of magic resistance debuffs such as or, it also ignores enemy magic shields and any abilities that provide them with bonus magic resistance, making it strong against abilities like ,  and.
 * Test of Faith is best used in conjunction alongside Penitence, as Penitence will amplify the power of all damage types, including Pure. As well, beware Test of Faith's long cooldown, which prevents it from being used more than once or twice in a gank or teamfight.


 * allows Chen to send an allied unit back to his team's fountain, with a delay when sending a hero back. It also allows Chen to summon all converted creeps to his side after the same delay.
 * Test of Faith's teleport is mainly used to save teammates that are in danger of being killed by the enemy. If an ally's life is threatened, immediately casting Test of Faith on them can increase their chances of surviving, only requiring them to evade the enemy for a few more seconds.
 * Using Test of Faith to send Chen's creeps back to his team's fountain has many uses. Saving a creep and sending it back to base can allow Chen to continue to use it, as certain creeps can be hard to find in the jungle. As well, returning a creep to base can be a useful way to re-position it, as it can then walk to its destination more safely and possibly faster than if it began its journey from Chen's location.
 * Beware Test of Faith's heavy mana cost. Because Chen is so reliant on casting spells in order to be effective, it can be hard to ensure that Chen has enough mana to cast all of his abilities, particularly his ultimate.
 * When cast on himself, Test of Faith allows Chen to summon his congregation to his current position after a short delay. This can be important for gathering his creeps to prepare for a gank or push, or to prevent the enemy from farming them for gold and experience.


 * is Chen's signature ability, allowing him to convert non-friendly creeps, whether they are enemy or neutral, to fight by his side. It also increases the converted unit's maximum HP if it is below the spell's threshold.
 * Taken at level 1, Holy Persuasion is what allows Chen to be one of the strongest junglers in the game. Given a source of mana replenishment, Chen can farm safely and reliably in order to get levels and gold to become effective. It is the best spell to max out first as Chen, as each additional level allows Chen to control more creeps simultaneously and increases the survivability of weaker creeps.
 * The key to playing Chen effectively is to be active immediately from the start, using converted creeps to farm, stack neutral camps, harass the enemy in-lane, scout enemy movement, and disable enemies during ganks. In the laning phase, neutral creeps can be much stronger than heroes, and when massed together or using their abilities can be a force to be reckoned with.
 * Assigning command groups to converted creeps allows them to be micromanaged and issued individual commands or moved as a group. Proper management of Chen's creeps is crucial for playing the hero effectively.
 * Remember that creeps can not only provide attack power and abilities in fights, they can be used to body-block enemies to prevent them from chasing or running away as effectively. If the opportunity presents itself, try to use your creeps to hinder the enemy's movements.
 * Like other controllable units, creeps can provide very strong benefits to Chen's team no matter their abilities or survivability. They can be moved around to scout enemy movement and provide vision, extremely useful at night, or can be used to safely check inside Roshan's pit. As with body-blocking enemy heroes' movements, they can also get in the way of enemy spells as well, such as, and.
 * Conversely, beware of enemies that can take advantage of the creeps' numbers and turn them against him. An or  can deal heavy damage to allied heroes by using the creeps as additional multipliers,  can absorb additional attack damage and movement speed for Elder Titan,  can deal large amounts of cleave damage if Ember Spirit has a, and so on. Beware of what abilities enemy heroes have that can counter your creeps, and plan accordingly.
 * While creeps from small camps have small health pools, they can be quite powerful if their abilities are used properly. However, the existence of only one small camp in each jungle makes obtaining a specific creep unlikely, on top of the small creep camp usually being used to pull lane creeps.
 * The Kobold Foreman from the Kobold Camp or Hill Troll and Kobold Camp can be a useful utility creep to provide increased movement speed to Chen and his creeps. The aura can help initiation creeps to close the distance faster, or allow them to traverse to their destination more efficiently.
 * The Hill Troll Priest from the Hill Troll Camp is a useful utility creep for the early game. Its mana aura can help keep Chen and his creeps' mana topped up, as well as that of teammates, and the heal can be extremely helpful for keeping Chen's congregation alive and for healing Chen himself and his teammates, increasing their survivability in the laning stage.
 * The Ghost from the Ghost Camp can inflict a slow on its target, reducing their movement speed and potentially allowing Chen and his team to catch up to fleeing enemies and hit them with harder disables.
 * The Harpy Stormcrafter from the Harpy Camp possesses the ability, which deals a surprising amount of damage at low mana cost and cooldown. It is an extremely powerful harasser and pusher, as it can apply a large amount of magic nuke damage to an enemy and force them out of the lane. The nuke can also be used to farm neutral camps or push lanes to take towers.
 * Each jungle has two medium camps, which contain some useful creeps with strong abilities.
 * The Centaur Conqueror from the Centaur Camp is one of the most well-rounded creeps, as its high HP makes it a beefy fighter and allows it to stun enemy heroes for 2 seconds each. Amassing multiple Centaur Conquerors allows Chen to push very strongly, or to chain-stun an enemy with consecutive stomps.
 * The Alpha Wolf from the Wolf Camp can be a strong creep to obtain in the mid and late game. Its can greatly boost your carry's damage output based on their base damage, giving your team an advantage in fights.
 * The Satyr Banisher from the Satyr Camp and Large Satyr Camp is a surprisingly strong creep that possesses a strong utility ability. Converting the Banisher will more than double its HP, negating its low natural health. Its purge can be used either to remove debuffs from Chen's allies or Chen himself, or to greatly slow an enemy every five seconds while also removing buffs.
 * The Satyr Mindstealer from the same neutral camps is a useful harassment creep. While its has a respectably long cooldown, it costs very little mana to cast, allowing to be used to whittle down an enemy's mana and HP repeatedly, forcing them to return to base.
 * The Ogre Frostmage from the Ogre Camp is a very useful defensive creep that can be useful depending on both teams' lineups. Its Ice Armor ability (not to be confused with that of ) provides additional armor to allies and reduces the effectiveness of enemy melee attacks due to the attack speed slow. It can be a powerful creep to have if your team has several heroes that can benefit from additional armor such as and, or if the enemy has melee carries that depend on their right-clicks to win fights. As well, the armor can make pushes more effective by providing lane creeps and Chen's flock with additional armor to tank creep attacks and tower hits.
 * Mud Golems from the Golem Camp provide beefiness and a short-interval disable. Mud Golems can inflict enemies with a short-duration stun at long range, useful for cancelling channeled enemy abilities or for hindering a foe long enough to hit them with a longer duration disable. The Mud Golem can also split into two Shard Golems, which can further disable an enemy with the same disable.
 * Large camps contain the most powerful creeps short of ancient creeps, many of which can be utilized to great purpose.
 * The Satyr Tormenter from the Large Satyr Camp is a useful nuking and harassing creep. While it is very slow, its can be used to harass down enemies during the laning stage, and can also be used to nuke down creep waves and neutral camps. As well, its  can be a very strong pushing aura, as it provides HP regen to Chen, his congregation, and any nearby lane creeps attempting to take a tower.
 * The Hellbear Smasher from the Hellbear Camp is a beefy fighter that can be useful as a disabler and pusher. Its can be used to slow gank targets, making them easier to chase and hit with unreliable disables, or as a damage nuke to farm or push. Its  increases the attack speed of allied units, allowing lane creeps to deal more damage during a push.
 * The Wildwing Ripper from the Wildwing Camp can be used as a nuker, harasser and pusher. By channeling a, Chen can either slowly whittle down a neutral camp that has been stacked multiple times, harass an enemy with an invulnerable tornado, or work down lane creeps during a push. The Wildwing Ripper's Toughness Aura also provides armor to all nearby creeps, increasing their physical toughness.
 * The Dark Troll Summoner from the Troll Camp is a well-balanced disabler, farmer and pusher. Of all neutral creeps, it possesses one of the strongest disables, as is a ranged single-target disable that can root through spell immunity, making it a powerful ganking spell. It can also summon minions with, allowing Chen to jungle more effectively or provide extra pushing power.
 * Ancient creeps can only be converted if Chen possesses an Aghanim's Scepter, and even then only based on how many levels of Hand of God he has, however they can provide strong pushing power under the right circumstances.
 * Unlike other neutral camps, ancient creeps are spell immune (excluding the Ancient Black Drake). This makes them unable to be affected by most enemy nukes, and they ignore many other spells anyways due to possessing the Ancient status. As such, bringing ancient creeps to a fight can provide a powerful advantage since the enemy will be unable to kill them as easily, if at all.
 * The Ancient Black Dragon from the Dragon Camp can be used as a powerful pusher, as the splash damage from its attacks can make short work of creep waves, while its Dragonhide Aura can give nearby allies an armor bonus.
 * The Ancient Granite Golem from the Large Golem Camp possesses one of the most powerful auras available to Chen, increasing the maximum health of all nearby units by 15% with its Granite Aura. Applying the aura to Chen's teammates can make them much harder to kill in teamfights.
 * The Ancient Thunderhide from the Thunderhide Camp can be a formidable pusher. Its increases the physical damage output of all nearby allies through bonus damage and attack speed, and it can cast  to further boost its own attack speed, allowing it to make short work of enemy creeps.
 * Always remember that Chen's creeps do not always have to be at his side, and that they can still be controlled even if Chen himself is dead. Be sure to take advantage of this in order to accomplish as much with the creeps as possible.
 * Remember that Holy Persuasion increases the maximum HP of smaller creeps, giving them more survivability in fights and ganks. It can be worthwhile to convert small creeps with special abilities, as they can accomplish more due to their increased HP.
 * If possible, try to avoid allowing the enemy to kill Chen's creeps. Not only does this provide the enemy with gold and experience, but Chen will be forced to find another creep to convert, wasting time and mana. Each of Chen's creeps must ultimately serve a purpose for his team, so losing them to the enemy can set him back considerably depending on its role.
 * Be especially wary of certain heroes that can make short work of Chen's creeps. Heroes that can instantly destroy them like, ,  can remove them from play virtually instantly, and benefit from killing the creeps as well. As well,  can simply take control of Chen's creeps and use them against him, and  can render them impotent by removing their mana pool.
 * During the jungling phase, it can sometimes be worthwhile to convert weaker creeps to Chen's side rather than the largest one available. Keep in mind that a converted creep provides no gold or experience for Chen, and while it can be better utilized for farming, converting it also denies Chen the maximum possible gold and experience gain from that camp.


 * is a global healing spell that is capable of restoring health to all of Chen's allies as well as completely revitalizing his converted creeps.
 * Hand of God's greatest strength is its ability to heal all teammates, no matter where they are. This allows Chen to save teammates that are being ganked across the map, as well as heal his team without having to stand directly next to them in teamfights.
 * Beware Hand of God's long cooldown, as using it once will render Chen unable to use it for at least two minutes. Use it wisely, as casting it to heal a teammate who is being ganked may end up wasting it anyways if they are in a hopeless situation.
 * Keep in mind, Hand of God is Chen's most costly spell, so be sure to keep Chen's mana pool up so that he can cast it if it is needed.
 * During a push or teamfight, do not be afraid to push Chen's creeps to the limit, as Hand of God will restore their health too. Timing creep aggressiveness with the health of Chen's teammates is the key to making maximum use of the spell.

Items
Starting items:
 * and give Chen the ability to sustain his HP. Generally converted creeps should be used to tank neutral camps while jungling, however, so HP regen can be skipped for other items.
 * is useful for replenishing Chen's mana pool, which is important given how frequently Chen must cast while jungling. Keeping Chen's mana up allows him to jungle continuously.
 * gives Chen armor, useful for giving him physical survivability if he must tank creep attacks occasionally. It can be upgraded into a Ring of Basilius later.
 * is important to buy as a support. Since Chen can jungle fairly independently with only mana as a requirement, he is a good candidate for purchasing the courier.

Early game:
 * give Chen more movement speed, crucial for moving between jungle camps faster, as well as for extra mobility while rotating for ganks with his creeps. Getting within range to cast on an enemy hero can slow them enough for follow-ups, and the same applies to being able to nuke them with.
 * is a good jungling item and pushing. It gives Chen additional attack damage as well as a mana aura, allowing him to maintain his mana pool more easily. The Basilius Aura also gives his creeps more armor, increasing their tankiness, and provides them with mana regen as well, allowing them to recover any mana expended while casting spells. The armor aura can be very powerful for pushing down early towers since allied creeps will survive for longer against tower hits.
 * is a useful early-game intermediary item to purchase. Its HP regen aura can allow Chen's creeps to recover their HP, allowing them to jungle more easily and ensuring that they are at full HP when used to gank enemies. Like Ring of Basilius, it is also a strong pushing aura that allows allied creeps to survive for longer during a tower siege.

Core items:
 * allow Chen to replenish his and his creeps' mana pools, ensuring that spells are always ready to be cast. As well, keeping allies' mana pools topped up allows them to use their abilities more often, useful when pushing towers.
 * , purchased early enough, allows Chen to push down towers very quickly as he can heal his creeps and teammates to prevent the enemy from easily defending. In teamfights, it gives Chen an additional ability with which to heal his team, on top of.
 * are crucial to purchase regularly as Chen, both as a support and as a pusher. Providing map vision to his team allows Chen to keep an eye on enemy movements, which in turn allows him to position himself and his creeps to best meet the threat, or to push an undefended tower.

Situational items:
 * Chen gains the ability to cast Holy Persuasion on ancient creeps, which can bolster his pushing ability as well as set him up for the late game.
 * is a strong teamfight and pushing aura that greatly benefits Chen's creeps. The armor aura greatly increases his creeps' survivability against physical attacks and tower hits, and the mana aura lets them recover mana more readily for casting spells. The lifesteal can allow creeps, both converted and allied lane creeps, to maintain their HP during pushes and become a bigger threat against towers.
 * gives Chen all-around attributes and greatly increased casting ability. The Hex gives Chen a targeted instant hard-disable which is very powerful in teamfights and ganks, as it can set up chain-disables with Chen's creeps.
 * gives Chen yet more minions to control, greatly increasing his pushing, teamfighting and ganking power. The summons can be used to push towers, hinder enemies during teamfights, add more damage output during a gank, and at level 3 provide True Sight when needed. The item also provides bonus strength for increased HP, and bonus intelligence for more attack damage and casting ability.
 * gives Chen all-around attributes, increasing his survivability and giving him a larger mana pool. The aura gives him yet another way to strengthen his converted creeps, and the active can allow Chen and his creeps to move more swiftly to chase down a gank target or escape enemy pursuers.
 * allows Chen to temporary ignore physical damage, crucial for enhancing his survivability in fights. The inability to attack is of little hindrance to Chen, since he relies on casting his spells and using his creeps' abilities more than on his auto-attacks.
 * is important to purchase for your team in the early game, in order to give it the mobility it needs to quickly deliver items to your teammates.
 * is crucial to have on Chen at all times, since he must be constantly active in the early game while he has the advantage. Moving himself around the map to participate in ganks and pushes allows him to make his presence felt by the enemy.
 * can be powerful to carry on Chen all the time. It can provide invisibility to himself and his creeps, as well as a movement speed boost, allowing them to quickly and stealthily traverse the map in order to set up a gank on the enemy in a different lane.
 * should be purchased regularly alongside Observer Wards in order to deny the enemy map vision. As well, it may be necessary to purchase these to remove any enemy wards that may be blocking Chen's neutral camps, preventing him from farming during the laning stage.
 * allows Chen to apply an armor debuff on the enemy from range, stacking alongside Penitence to increase a target's vulnerability to damage. It can be further upgraded into a to further amplify its effects.
 * gives Chen yet another way to protect his teammates from the enemy, cloaking them in invisibility while also increasing their magic resistance. The active can also be cast on a converted creep to help it get closer to an enemy to initiate with a disable.
 * is very powerful in Chen's hands. It gives him more intelligence and HP regen, allowing Chen to cast his spells more readily. The active can quickly re-position Chen either to initiate or escape, and do the same for allies. The active can also be cast on a creep to give it a quick burst of movement to get within range for a disable.
 * allows Chen to push and gank much more effectively. By teleporting to friendly creeps or even his own, Chen can get in position to gank an enemy, further helped by the item's increased movement speed, or to push an undefended tower, using Test of Faith's teleport on himself to summon his flock to aid him as needed.
 * is a cheap mana item that gives Chen some powerful benefits. The increased intelligence and mana regen help Chen to cast his spells more frequently, and the bonus movement speed helps him with mobility for ganking, chasing and escaping. The active also allows him to make himself temporarily invulnerable if jumped on by the enemy, can remove debuffs from himself, or can be cast on an enemy to disable them long enough for a creep to disable them further.
 * is a powerful teamfight item. It grants increased magic resistance to Chen, while providing an aura that gives his team and his creeps HP regen and magic resistance. The active can be used to protect his congregation, preventing the enemy from instantly bursting them down with magic nukes.
 * is a survivability and support item that gives Chen increased utility. The extra HP and evasion help Chen to survive against enemy attacks more easily, and the active allows him to disarm the enemy from range, preventing them from attacking his teammates without dispelling the debuff.
 * gives Chen a powerful teamfight aura while also giving him powerful benefits. The bonus intelligence greatly increases the size of his mana pool, while the armor helps with his survivability against physical damage. The aura reduces the effectiveness of enemy attacks, and the active ability can slow their movement speed and apply a damage nuke to them.
 * can be upgraded from Mekansm and Arcane Boots, giving Chen yet another inventory slot. The aura gives Chen's team a survivability advantage in fights, while the active can heal them, restore mana, and remove debuffs from Chen that may be preventing him from supporting his team.