How to play on Chaos Knight in Dota 2

Chaos Knight is a melee strength hero, most often used as a carry. He has excellent survivability and excels at quickly eliminating single targets, dealing massive physical damage. However, he is vulnerable to AoE control and damage and is dependent on good starts and items.

When to pick Chaos Knight:

Chaos Knight benefits greatly from having teammates with high stat growth since he can create their illusions with Aghanim’s Scepter. CK is strong against both squishy heroes and tanky opponents who have low mobility and lack AoE damage abilities.

However, he struggles against heroes with heavy AoE damage and control. Like other strength heroes, CK suffers from abilities that deal percentage-based health damage, due to his high HP pool. Read more about Chaos Knight counterpicks here.

Chaos Knight Features:

• All Chaos Knight abilities include an random elements. Chaos Bolt stuns an enemy for a random amount of time and, with Aghanim's Shard, due to an innate ability, can summon an additional illusion, as well as Phantasm. Reality Rift, with Irrationality facet, applies one of three random debuffs: Break, Disarm, or Silence. And Chaos Strike, like other critical damage abilities, has a chance to trigger but also deals a random amount of damage.
• Using Phantasm, like using Manta Style, will allow you to dodge projectiles and dispel negative effects.

What to buy on Chaos Knight:

• Armlet of Mordiggian/Manta Style/Sange and Yasha/Butterfly/Satanic/Eye of Skadi/Heart of Tarrasque/Assault Cuirass - items to increase stats, enhance illusions.
• Echo Sabre/Harpoon/Diffusal Blade/Disperser/Orchid Malevolence/Bloodthorn/Skull Basher/Abyssal Blade - additional control and damage.
• Black King Bar/Linken's Sphere - items for save.
• Blink Dagger/Shadow Blade/Mage Slayer/Eternal Shroud/Nullifier/Hand of Midas - Situational items, only acquired when needed in specific game situations.

How to play Chaos Knight:

Early game:

Your goal early on is to focus on farming and acquire the first key items as quickly as possible, which will allow you to start earning kills. But with a strong support you can play aggressively already on lane, but still remember to farm and try not to die.

Mid-game:

In mid-game it is important to realize your timings. Orchid Malevolence or Black King Bar, for example, is a great reason to put up a fight. At the same time, try to avoid battles during ultimates or BKB recharge by switching to farming or pushing.

Late game:

At the late, it's also worth playing around your timings. Keep an eye on your and your allies' ability cooldowns, control Roshan and lanes. Don't forget about timely purchase of necessary items based on the enemy pick and artifacts they have acquired, and in a fight, control and kill the most dangerous heroes for you first.

Basic Game Principle:

Chaos Knight is dependent on getting off to a good start and gaining gold and experience quickly, so timely advantage realization is crucial on him. His abilities will allow him to do this perfectly. The key to CK's success is to use his ultimates wisely. You must assess the situation and decide when your “army” will be more useful in battle, and in which cases it is better to farm or push. Efficient farming, timely acquisition of key items and proper use of abilities will significantly increase your chances of victory.