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. Get a point in at level 2 and don't skip the value point of at level 4 as the armor reduction it provides can make a huge difference for kills.

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 good midgame item that will disassemble for an optimal and slightly-less-optimal. and provide the most stats, the latter enabling you to keep your armlet always toggled. and also work well with your illusions, the latter hugely improving your chances to get a critical strike (though the illusions won't benefit from the damage, only the crit).

and make you less reliant on your ultimate.

Support/Roaming Chaos Knight
Chaos Knight makes for a formidable roamer 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, and have one point in each of your abilities by level 3. The armor reduction from immensely increases a gank's potential should you be lucky enough to get it off.

Since your stun is unreliable at best, you may want to max out first, as it considerably lowers the cooldown and increases the pull distance, and gives some guaranteed damage on hit. If you're protecting 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, a or an  will help you.

is undoubtedly your best bet. 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 chance to get off a , making your ganks much more likely to succeed. provide decent stats at a fair price with a good build-up, they're more suited for a support/roaming CK than a carry CK.

As a support/roamer, buy wards and detection as needed.

General

 * In most situations, max and  first, since the critical damage from your Chaos Strike is negligible in the early game (except the armor reduction), and you will not have enough mana to summon the Phantasm(s) with your ultimate.
 * Always activate your before using your ultimate, since the illusions also gain bonuses from it.
 * By buying a, you will be able to disassemble it later and build a and a . You may buy the first item if you need more survivability, since it gives you more health, some evasion and a reliable disarm; buy Manta Style first if you farmed really well, and you wish to confuse your enemies even more. It also grants additional increases to attributes.
 * 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 an enemy owing to the fact that Medusa's Stone Gaze destroys 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  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.


 * Though Chaos Bolt's damage is average, it's not to be underestimated. A 275 nuke can make a difference.
 * 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 he has a way to dodge it...
 * ... Unlike and  however, CK can use  to get in melee range of an enemy and make it a lot harder to disjoint your stun...
 * ... But Rift's cast time is possibly even worse than your stun and it will not complete if you lose vision of your enemy as he jukes through the trees for example.
 * All in all, it makes CK 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.


 * Chaos Strike works with every CK illusion you can find, both the damage and the armor reduction. Though it only has 10% chance to proc, if you surround an enemy with 4 illusions from a lucky, 2 from a and 2 more from an , odds are it will proc very quickly. Granted, any hero surrounded by an army of CK should die pretty quickly regardless of armor reduction.
 * The armor reduction doesn't stack with itself, another proc will only refresh the duration.
 * Since Chaos Strike has only 10% chance to proc, it actually mingles nicely with a . You will only have a 3% chance to proc both at once, wasting the proc of the Daedalus (since it's proc damage is lower than a maxed out Chaos Strike). Comparatively, two daedali (daedalae? daedaluses? Seriously, what's the plural?) have 9% chance to proc together.
 * 5 armor reduction is huge in the early game. Get a value point at level 3 or 4.
 * If you're really behind on farm, you can argue it's better to level up stats than more points in Chaos Strike. But don't skip it entirely.


 * 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 cd. 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, 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 cd well after you've respawned. However, like and  it does provide a short instant of invulnerability that can help you disjoint spells, even 's.
 * 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.
 * will solve most of Chaos Knight's mana problems.
 * gives some armor and health regeneration. It builds into.

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.
 * provide useful attribute bonuses for a cheap price, which is nice as it helps increase Chaos Knight's tankiness and bolster his weak mana pool. It also provides extra mobility which helps Chaos Knight move around between uses of Reality Rift.
 * 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.

Situational items:
 * 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.
 * is a very strong pickup, giving Chaos Knight much needed armor and 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 if there are one or more strong right-click heroes on the enemy team, or when it's picked up after CK has started to fall off and another carry on his team is the primary damage dealer.
 * 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, they triple your chance to apply the armor reduction and 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.
 * is a decent item to pick up on Chaos Knight if it is finished early and you intend to build both Heaven's Halberd and Manta Style by disassembling this item.
 * 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. Like Phantom Lancer, an army of Chaos Knights can deplete enemy's mana very quickly. Its active ability can also be used to ensure that enemies do not escape Chaos Knight's army after Reality Rift, if Chaos Bolt is unavailable.
 * is the most cost-effective stat item in the game and give the highest DPS for him; 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. At max level, it is even possible to use after Phantasm, immediately cast Phantasm again, and still have a reasonably large amount of mana to work with.