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Bad against...[]
- Abaddon could punish Chaos Knight for using his Phantasm and Reality Rift combo on him with Aphotic Shield. Additionally, it provides extra protection against Chaos Knight's potential to take Abaddon down quickly.
- Furthermore, Abaddon's Borrowed Time makes it utterly impossible to burst Abaddon down, effectively reducing the amount of targets Chaos Knight can threaten by 1 for the entire game.
- Anti-Mage commonly builds Battle Fury, which can deal with Phantasm illusions easily.
- Counterspell, if timed right, will turn Chaos Bolt against Chaos Knight, and can set up for a kill if he is not careful.
- Even if Counterspell is on cooldown, Blink can almost always dodge a Chaos Bolt because of its slow projectile.
- Mana Break will quickly drain Chaos Knight's low amount mana.
- However, beware 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 Counterspell, and retaliate once it's over.
- Berserker's Call allows Axe to lock down Chaos Knight and his illusions even through Black King Bar.
- Counter Helix combined with Blade Mail clears illusions out in no time.
- Dispel Magic from Storm can instantly kill Phantasms early on, and can still deal a lot of damage to them late game, revealing the real Chaos Knight.
- Dragon Blood's armor bonus greatly reduces the damage dealt by Phantasm.
- Breathe Fire and Elder Dragon Form's splash damage quickly destroy illusions and reduces their damage output.
- Echo Slam will deal a colossal amount of damage to your Phantasms, as will Fissure at lower levels.
- The area stuns from Aftershock will always stun Chaos Knight's illusions, since they can't use Black King Bar.
- However, Earthshaker should not attempt to fight a farmed Chaos Knight, since he will be completely obliterated by Chaos Knight's colossal damage output, even if he managed to land an Echo Slam
- Untouchable will significantly slow down Chaos Knight's physical damage with Phantasm.
- Impetus deals double damage to illusions, making it effective against Phantasm.
- Black Hole usually catches Chaos Knight with all his illusions.
- Midnight Pulse deals damage based on current health, quickly killing Phantasm illusions.
- With his AoE damage, Jakiro can easily kill Chaos Knight's Phantasm illusions.
- Chaos Knight usually doesn't buy a Black King Bar, making him vulnerable to an Ice Path into Macropyre combination.
- Lich's Chain Frost, especially after obtaining its respective talent that provides unlimited bounces, can take out all of Chaos Knight's illusions quickly.
- An Aghanim's Scepter-upgraded Sinister Gaze can hypnotize Chaos Knight and his illusions while also draining his already low mana pool.
- Using Reality Rift sets up a Reverse Polarity on Chaos Knight and his illusions.
- Shockwave and Skewer kill Phantasm's illusions quickly, as can Empower cast on a melee carry.
- Wukong's Command and Boundless Strike combo can easily cause havoc on Chaos Knight by destroying all of his powerful illusions.
- Chaos Knight without Phantasm cannot deal with Jingu Mastery at all.
- Purification heals a teammate targeted by Reality Rift and heavily damages Chaos Knight and his illusions in the process.
- Guardian Angel blocks all of Chaos Knight's damage for a long duration.
- Juxtapose allows Phantom Lancer to overwhelm Chaos Knight due to his single-target abilities.
- Phantom Lancer often builds a Manta Style, which can be used to disjoint Chaos Bolt or dispel Reality Rift.
- Doppelganger can be used to dodge Chaos Bolt.
- Diffusal Blade, another common item on Phantom Lancer, can quickly drain Chaos Knight's low mana pool, leaving him unable to cast spells.
- Puck's area of effect nukes in the form of Illusory Orb and Waning Rift clears Phantasm illusions from the early game to mid game.
- Phase Shift can be used to disjoint Chaos Bolt.
- Sand King's massive area damage output, particularly Epicenter, allows him to quickly take down Chaos Knight and his illusions.
- Sand King can also apply Caustic Finale to illusions with attacks for extra damage when they die.
- Storm Hammer's faster projectile speed and cast time allows Sven to stun Chaos Knight and his illusions before he can cast Chaos Bolt.
- Warcry's armor bonus counteracts Reality Rift's debuff and reduces Chaos Knight's damage output.
- Great Cleave and God's Strength devastates Phantasm illusions.
- Ravage damages and disables Chaos Knight and his illusions.
- Anchor Smash deals respectable area damage, especially to Phantasms and lowers Chaos Knight's damage output.
- Kraken Shell dispels Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift while providing protection from damage.
- Strong area damage, particularly from Whirling Death and Chakram, lets Timbersaw clear out illusions quickly.
- Whirling Death directly reduces Strength from both Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions, reducing both the damage output and raw health that the hero relies on.
- Reactive Armor quickly builds stacks against Phantasm illusions, making Timbersaw harder to kill.
- Cold Embrace protects targets affected by Reality Rift.
- Winter's Curse turns Phantasm illusions against Chaos Knight or a teammate.
- Splinter Blast deals decent area damage to Phantasm illusions.
- Arctic Burn's percentage-based damage quickly wears down Chaos Knight's high max health.
- Maledict cannot be dispelled by Phantasm, and can be used to tag the real Chaos Knight hiding within his illusions.
- If Witch Doctor has an Aghanim's Scepter, Death Ward will bounce between Chaos Knight's illusions, destroying them quickly.
- However, Death Ward is easily interrupted by Chaos Bolt until Witch Doctor buys Glimmer Cape or Black King Bar.
Others[]
- Heroes with strong area damage to destroy Phantasm illusions: Axe, Ember Spirit, Legion Commander, Phoenix
- Illusion-based and multi-unit heroes can take advantage of Chaos Knight's lack of area damage: Naga Siren, Phantom Lancer, Broodmother
- Heroes with Attack speed decreasing skills: Jakiro, Viper Lich
Items[]
- Shiva's Guard 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.
- Blade Mail is a great item when timed right to destroy all the illusions and it does a great job in countering Chaos Knight's high damage output in general.
- Butterfly allows the wielder to evade Chaos Knight's attacks, reducing his damage output.
- Ghost Scepter and Ethereal Blade prevent Chaos Knight from focusing down a target by turning it ethereal.
- Manta Style creates illusions that can make it difficult for Chaos Knight to initiate on the real hero.
- Linken's Sphere prevents Chaos Knight from using his targeted skills effectively.
- Battle Fury provides cleave damage, which is especially helpful to destroy Chaos Knight's illusions for melee heroes relying on attack damage.
- Lotus Orb can reflect Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift back to Chaos Knight if he impulsively uses it on a hero protected by it.
Good against...[]
- Phantasm's illusions make it difficult for Bane to target Chaos Knight with Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Nightmare"., Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enfeeble"., and Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fiend's Grip"..
- Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fiend's Grip"..
- Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Nightmare". can be transferred by Phantasm illusions.
- Phantasm dispels Track, 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 Glimpse and dispels Thunder Strike. 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 Reality Rift and Chaos Bolt.
- Other than Inner Fire, Huskar has no reliable area of effect ability to clear Phantasm illusions.
- Huskar likes to stay at low health to benefit from his Berserker's Blood, thus making him vulnerable to Chaos Knight's high burst physical damage.
- Level 20 talent allows Reality Rift to bypass spell immunity provided by Rage, thus negating the advantage Lifestealer has in his kit.
- The fact that Lifestealer lacks wave clearing and reliable lockdown makes it difficult to fight Chaos Knight's illusions.
- Feast is largely negated by Chaos Knight's high burst damage from Chaos Strike.
- 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 Meat Hook and Dismember.
- Chaos Bolt is a comparatively low cooldown tool to interrupt Dismember.
- Chaos Strike's lifesteal offsets Rot's damage.
- Dark Pact is minimally effective against Phantasm illusions, and Slark lacks area damage otherwise.
- Pounce can be counteracted by Reality Rift.
- Slark is naturally frail and dies quickly to Chaos Knight's burst damage before he can build Essence Shift stacks.
- Be aware, however, that Shadow Dance can make Slark hard to kill as he can't be targeted during its duration.
- Sniper is very fragile and has low movement speed, making an exceptionally easy target for Chaos Knight to initiate on.
- Sniper has no innate ability to deal with Phantasm or escape a Reality Rift and Chaos Bolt combo.
- In most cases, Sniper likes to stay far in the backline to deal damage, thus he is vulnerable if Chaos Knight manages to jump on him in the back line, which will usually spell a quick end for Sniper.
- 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 Enrage.
- As Viper focuses on single-target damage, he has trouble fighting off Phantasm illusions.
- Reality Rift counteracts Viper's slows and reduces his already low durability against physical damage.
Others[]
- Phantasm gives Chaos Knight a significant advantage against single-target damage dealers: Lifestealer, Wraith King, Night Stalker, Troll Warlord.
- Single-target disablers will have difficulty locking down a Chaos Knight with Phantasm active: Bane, Beastmaster, Bloodseeker, Clockwerk, Doom, Shadow Shaman.
- Innately fragile heroes will die almost instantly to Reality Rift while Chaos Knight has illusions active: Drow Ranger, Bane, Necrophos, Crystal Maiden.
Works well with...[]
- Arcane Aura helps sustain Chaos Knight's limited mana pool.
- Frostbite and Crystal Nova provide decent set-up for Chaos Knight's spells.
- A 4 second Chaos Bolt stun can render an enemy helpless against Freezing Field.
- Chakra Magic solves Chaos Knight's mana issues.
- Chaos Bolt provides setup for Illuminate.
- The heal from Illuminate helps keep Phantasm illusions alive.
- Chaos Knight gains a secondary source of lifesteal and damage with Sidekick, allowing him to shred his enemies and sustain himself further.
- An Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Phantasm can create an illusion of Phantom Lancer, which also benefits from Juxtapose and Phantom Rush.
- Reality Rift can completely trap a target with illusions. This is especially deadly against heroes that do not have any mobility skills to escape the onslaught.
- Disruption can create two extra illusions of Chaos Knight to inflict more damage on the enemy with Chaos Strike.
- Disruption and Demonic Purge make Chaos Knight's attempts to approach enemies with good escape methods easier.
Others[]
- Armor reduction considerably boosts Chaos Knight's damage output, especially area debuffs which allow Chaos Knight to pick off more enemies: Vengeful Spirit, Alchemist, Dazzle, Slardar
- Heroes that can make good use of Chaos Bolt's stun to land delayed or damage over time abilities: Skywrath Mage, Invoker, Jakiro
