Chaos Knight/Counters

Bad against...

 * 's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm and negates Reality Rift's debuff.
 * and 's splash damage quickly destroy illusions.
 * will deal 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.


 * 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.


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


 * heals a teammate targeted by Reality Rift and heavily damages Chaos Knight and his illusions.
 * prevents pick-offs via Reality Rift (barring level 25 ) and Chaos Bolt.
 * blocks Chaos Knight's damage output.


 * 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.


 * turns the target ethereal, protecting them from Reality Rift.
 * instantly destroys illusions. It can effectively negate Phantasm when upgraded with.
 * quickly clears out illusions and can harass Chaos Knight in lane.


 * Sven's shorter cast time allows him to Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
 * 's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
 * and devastate Phantasm illusions.
 * damages and disables Chaos Knight's army.
 * deals respectable area damage at early levels and debuffs Chaos Knight's damage.
 * removes Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift while providing protection from damage.


 * Strong area damage, particularly from, lets Timbersaw clear out illusions quickly.
 * quickly builds stacks against Phantasm illusions, making Timbersaw hard to kill.
 * allows Timbersaw to escape while surrounded.


 * 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.

Others

 * Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions:, ,.
 * Heroes that can instantly destroy illusions greatly reduce Phantasm's effectiveness:,  ,  ,.
 * 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.
 * and allow 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.

Good against...

 * 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.
 * 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.

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.