Chaos Knight/Counters

Bad against...

 * Anti-Mage commonly builds, which can deal with Phantasm illusions easily.
 * , if timed right, will turn Chaos Bolt against the Knight, and can set up for a kill if he is not careful.
 * Even if Counterspell is on cooldown, can almost always dodge a Chaos Bolt because of its slow projectile.
 * will quickly drain Chaos Knight's mana.
 * Beware, however, Anti-Mage is fairly fragile and cannot withstand heavy incoming physical damage at any points in the game, which Chaos Knight excels at. A good player will bait out, and retaliate once it's over.


 * Abaddon could punish Chaos Knight for using his Phantasm and Reality Rift combo on him with . Additionally, it provides extra protection against Chaos Knight's potential to take Abaddon down quickly.
 * Furthermore, Abaddon's makes it utterly impossible to burst Abaddon down, effectively reducing the amount of targets Chaos Knight can threaten by 1 for the entire game.


 * Tinker's Aghanim's Scepter upgraded can blind him and all of his Phantasm illusions.


 * allows Axe to lock down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
 * combined with clears illusions out in no time.


 * is a real problem to Chaos Knight in the early game, considering his already low mana pool.
 * upgraded is an AoE ability, which can deal a tremendous amount of damage to his illusions.


 * from can instantly kill the Phantasm army early on, and can still deal a lot of damage to them late game, revealing the real Chaos Knight.


 * 's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
 * and 's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.


 * will deal a colossal amount of damage to your army, as will at lower levels.
 * The area stuns from will always slow down your illusions, since they can't have spell immunity.
 * Earthshaker should not attempt to fight back a full slotted Chaos Knight however, since he will be completely obliterated by Chaos Knight's colossal damage output, even if he managed to land an


 * usually catches Chaos Knight with all his illusions.
 * deals damage based on max health, quickly killing Phantasm illusions.


 * and punish Reality Rift with a long stun and heavy damage across all illusions.


 * Lich's, especially after obtaining its respective talent that provides unlimited bounces, can take out all of Chaos Knight's illusions quickly.
 * An -upgraded can hypnotize Chaos Knight and his illusions while also draining his already low mana pool.


 * Using Reality Rift sets up a on Chaos Knight and his illusions.
 * and kill Phantasm's illusions quickly, as can  cast on a melee carry.


 * and combo can easily cause havoc on Chaos Knight by destroying all of his powerful illusions.
 * Chaos Knight without Phantasm cannot deal with at all.


 * allows Phantom Lancer to overwhelm Chaos Knight due to his single-target abilities.
 * can be used to dodge Chaos Bolt.
 * can be used to harass Chaos Knight during the early game.
 * Since Phantom Lancer builds often, it can quickly drain Chaos Knight of all his mana, leaving him unable to cast spells.


 * heals a teammate targeted by Reality Rift and heavily damages Chaos Knight and his illusions in the process.
 * blocks all of Chaos Knight's damage for a duration.


 * turns the target ethereal, protecting them from Chaos Knight's and his illusions' attacks.
 * quickly clears out illusions and can harass Chaos Knight in lane.


 * Sand King's massive area damage output, particularly, allows him to quickly take down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
 * He can apply to illusions with attacks for extra damage.


 * 's faster projectile speed and cast time allows Sven to stun Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
 * 's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift's debuff and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
 * and devastates Phantasm illusions.


 * damages and disables Chaos Knight's army.
 * deals respectable area damage at early levels and lowers Chaos Knight's damage.
 * dispels Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift while providing protection from damage.


 * Strong area damage, particularly from and, lets Timbersaw clear out illusions quickly.
 * directly reduces Strength from both Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions, reducing both the damage output and raw health that the hero relies on.
 * quickly builds stacks against Phantasm illusions, making Timbersaw hard to kill.
 * allows Timbersaw to escape while surrounded.
 * Timbersaw should be careful if Chaos Knight manage to farm a however, as it can silence Timbersaw on a whim, rendering him useless for a lengthy duration.


 * protects targets of Reality Rift.
 * turns Phantasm illusions against Chaos Knight or a teammate.
 * deals decent area damage to Phantasm illusions.
 * 's percentage-based damage quickly wears down Chaos Knight's health.


 * cannot be dispelled by Phantasm, and can be used to tag the real Chaos Knight hiding within his illusions.
 * If Witch Doctor has an, will bounce between Chaos Knight's illusions, destroying them quickly.
 * However, is easily interrupted by Chaos Bolt until Witch Doctor buys  or.


 * Puck's area of effect nukes in the form of and  clears Phantasm illusions from the early game to mid game.
 * can be used to disjoint Chaos Bolt.

Others

 * Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions:, , ,
 * Illusion-based and multi-unit heroes can take advantage of Chaos Knight's lack of area damage:, ,

Items

 * provides armor and a negative attack speed aura, reducing the damage output of Chaos Knight and his illusions, and can slow and damage them with Arctic Blast.
 * is a great item when timed right to destroy all the illusions instantly and it does a great job in countering Chaos Knight's high damage output in general.
 * allows heroes to evade Chaos Knight's attacks, reducing his damage output.
 * and prevent Chaos Knight from focusing down a target by turning it ethereal.
 * creates illusions that can make it difficult for Chaos Knight to initiate on the real hero.
 * prevent Chaos Knight from using his targeted skills effectively.
 * provides cleave damage, which is especially helpful to destroy Chaos Knight's illusions for melee heroes relying on attack damage.

Good against...

 * Phantasm's illusions make it difficult for Bane to target Chaos Knight with, and.
 * Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt.
 * can be transferred by Phantasm illusions.


 * Phantasm dispels, and the illusions make it difficult to Track the real Chaos Knight.
 * Bounty Hunter is fragile and can easily be killed by Chaos Knight and Phantasm's illusions.


 * Phantasm removes and dispels . Additionally, the Phantasm illusions make it difficult to use Glimpse and Thunder Strike on the real Chaos Knight.
 * Disruptor's lack of mobility, combined with his lack of innate defense, sets him up for a Reality Rift and a beatdown by Chaos Knight and his illusions.


 * Huskar's low armor and movement speed make an easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on with and.
 * Beside, Huskar has no reliable AoE ability to clear illusions.
 * Huskar likes to fight at low health to benefit from his, thus vulnerable to Chaos Knight's high burst physical damage.


 * While Legion Commander has a decent nuke in her, Chaos Knight's tanky illusion can easily withstand the damage and retaliate.
 * Chaos Knight's long duration stun and massive single target damage output can easily kill Legion Commander before she can counter-initiate with.


 * Level 20 talent allows to bypass spell immunity provided by, thus negating the advantage Lifestealer has in his kit.
 * Lifestealer lacks wave clearing and reliable lockdown makes it difficult to fight Chaos Knight's illusion.
 * is largely negated by Chaos Knight's high burst damage in.


 * Reality Rift lets Chaos Knight bypass the Spirit Bear and jump onto Lone Druid.
 * The Spirit Bear's lack of scaling means it dies quickly to Chaos Knight during the late-game.


 * Phantasm's illusions make it difficult to land and.
 * Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt.
 * Chaos Strike's lifesteal offsets 's damage.


 * While Chaos Knight can land far away from Rubick due to, it can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
 * Phantasm dispels 's damage reduction debuff.
 * Rubick is fragile and can easily be killed by Chaos Knight and Phantasm's illusions, before he retaliates.


 * Casting Phantasm before a fight minimizes the disruption from.
 * Because Chaos Knight generally relies on attack damage, Silencer's spells won't be as effective against him.


 * is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
 * can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
 * Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build stacks.
 * Be aware, however, that can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.


 * Sniper is very fragile, along with his low movement speed, make an exceptionally easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on.
 * Sniper has no innate ability to deal with or escape a  and  combo.
 * In most cases, Sniper likes to stay far in the backline to deal damage, thus he is vulnerable if Chaos Knight manage to jump in the back line. This usually spells a quick end for Sniper.


 * Phantasm's illusions can be used to push towers and force Techies to detonate.
 * Phantasm's illusions can be used to sweep and s.
 * Chaos Knight can easily kill a lone Techies before they.


 * Ursa cannot effectively fight against Phantasm's illusions with his single-target damage.
 * Chaos Bolt's potentially long stun with Chaos Bolt gives Ursa little opportunity to.


 * As Viper focuses on single-target damage, he has trouble fighting off Phantasm illusions.
 * Reality Rift counteracts Viper's slows and reduces his durability.

Others

 * Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers:, , ,.
 * Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active:, , , , ,.
 * Innately fragile heroes will die almost instantly to Reality Rift while Chaos Knight has illusions active:, , ,.

Works well with...

 * helps sustain Chaos Knight's limited mana pool.
 * and provide decent set-up for Chaos Knight's spells.
 * A 4 second Chaos Bolt stun can render an enemy helpless against.


 * solves Chaos Knight's mana issues.
 * Chaos Bolt provides setup for.
 * The heal from  during daytime helps keep Phantasm illusions alive.


 * Morphling can take down stunned opponents with his fast attacks, and use through Chaos Knight illusions, hitting any foe in their midst.
 * Morphling can catch up to a running target and use his Adaptive Strike (Strength) to push them toward Chaos Knight, in range to use Chaos Bolt or Reality Rift.
 * With, Morphling can into another Chaos Knight, with his own Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift to use in conjunction with the original's. Morphling also commonly builds , which has good synergy with all of Chaos Knight's abilities.


 * An upgraded  can create an illusion of Phantom Lancer, which also benefits from  and.
 * can completely trap a target with illusion. This is especially deadly against heroes that do not have any mobility skills to escape the onslaught.


 * can create two extra Chaos Knight illusions to inflict more damage on the enemy.
 * and allow Chaos Knight's attempts to approach enemies with good escape methods easier.
 * 's nuke may bring enemies HP down low enough for Chaos Knight to finish the job with Chaos Strike and illusions.

Others

 * Armor reduction considerably boosts Chaos Knight's damage output, especially area debuffs which allow Chaos Knight to pick off more enemies:, , ,
 * Heroes that can make good use of Chaos Bolt's stun to land delayed or damage over time abilities:, ,

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

Chaos Knight/Neutralizações Chaos Knight/Противостоящие 混沌骑士/克制