Chaos Knight - Niche or Finally Situational?
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Dota 2 has iconic hero pairs that have made a lot of impact in the pro scene, either because they became a meta standard or because a specific team dominated with it. We recently covered Visage, a hero that, for the longest time, was part of a pocket strategy with Drow Ranger.
Chaos Knight is also such a hero, and together with Io he was a strong pick to be reckoned with in 2013, though Io has long since moved on to become a support that doesn’t rely on niche combos. Chaos Knight on the other hand has been nothing but a niche pick since, though that may have changed now. At the recent MDL, Chaos Knight was picked 12 times and won 8 games. Is this the beginning of a trend or is he still just as niche as before?
Too RNG
The hero’s concept is implied in the name, as all spells have a factor of RNG (random number generator, more on RNG mechanics in Dota here) in them. Be it the damage, dealt, the stun duration, the amount of illusions spawned or even the distance at which Chaos Knight will Reality Rift to, all of his spells have a factor of uncertainty with them.
Of course that in itself isn’t a reason for Chaos Knight’s lack of popularity, after all 
Phantom Assassin is another hero who heavily relies on RNG and is much more situational . While that is true, she doesn’t solely rely on RNG to be effective. Her slow and escape mechanism are quite reliable in fact, whereas Chaos Knight is RNG incarnate.
Icefrog realized this too and over the past few years, the RNG factor in Chaos Knight’s abilities has decreased quite significantly, or at the very least it’s been improved. 
Chaos Bolt’s damage and stun duration now work inversely, so that when the damage dealt is low, at least the stun duration is high. Before, a player could technically deal 1 damage and stun for only 1 second. 
Chaos Strike used to be a simple crit ability, similar to that of Juggernaut, but it has been experimented with to improve it, adding an armor reducing ability to it, though only to take it away and replacing it with lifesteal. The armor reducing ability has instead been transferred to Reality Rift.
All in all, Chaos Knight has received significant buffs over the past years, all abilities have been improved significantly and as a Strength hero, Chaos Knight has been buffed by many other global changes as well, which was then further emphasized with buffs to his Base Strength and Strength gain. Then Valve introduced Mangos, an item which is vital on a mana starved hero such as CK, as well as the fact that Clarities don’t get cancelled by creeps anymore. Chaos Knight has become a much more sustainable carry, who can be left alone in lane and can farm quite reliably.
When a hero has been continually buffed like this, it’s only natural to assume that the hero will eventually make his professional comeback and sure enough, Chaos Knight did succeed at the recent MDL. So how does he fit into the meta?
Natural Fit for the meta
LGD's Ame prioritizes Echo Sabre as a 2nd item, here vs. Newbee.
The current meta favors a lot of mid game carries who do well in the laning stage without much assistance, but still have killing potential early on, especially when paired with supports. Favorites such as Drow Ranger or Bristleback are often banned, leaving the pool wide open for other heroes to fill the role. Venomancer has been a popular pick for a while, but Chaos Knight has edged himself in at MDL.
A very obvious reason for Chaos Knight’s popularity is that he pairs well with a lot of currently popular supports. Out of all the heroes that were picked at least 10 times, Ancient Apparition had the highest win rate at MDL (82%), and he and CK are an excellent lane combination. Any support that has a reliable lockdown (or in AA’s case a lockdown that is made reliable with the help of CK) is a good fit for CK as a laning partner, as he deals sufficient damage with just his attacks. He also pairs well with defensive supports such as Oracle or Dazzle, where he can get the most out of his life and his Armlet in a teamfight.
Chaos Knight is also an excellent hero to take objectives with. His 
Phantasm illusions are among the tankiest with only 260% damage taken, they also last longer than most other illusions with a 42s duration and they deal 100% damage, rivaled only by level 4 Reflections from Terrorblade and a Dark Seer Wall of Replica with Aghanim’s Scepter. This means that, similar to a Terrorblade or a Dragon Knight, Chaos Knight can transition a successful teamfight into a tower push.
Despite having an ability that spawns illusions though, Chaos Knight isn’t as reliant on his illusions as other heroes. Yes, Phantasm is a strong teamfight and pushing ability, but Chaos Knight provides fighting prowess outside of his ultimate/illusions, something that doesn’t apply to heroes such as Terrorblade, Naga Siren or Venomancer, who are all dependent on either their illusions and/or long cooldowns on crucial abilities.
Sure, Chaos Knight has a lot of physical burst with his illusions, so much so that any other carry could melt within seconds, but with potent cores on his side, Chaos Knight can be a frontliner, initiator and overall big nuisance in teamfights. He is durable (9th highest Strength growth in the game, 13th highest base armor) and has strong teamfight controlling abilities. While he continues to have notoriously low mana, it isn’t uncommon to see two supports equipped with Arcane Boots and with Shrines, there is often sufficient amount of regeneration available.
Item Buffs
A lot of Strength heroes have become rather popular in the past year or so because of certain items. 
Echo Sabre almost single-handedly brought Sven back into the meta and 
Heaven's Halberd continues to become a more and more situational pick-up, making any hero that would pick it up all the more viable as well. 
Helm of the Dominator has also been improved and provides an aura now, perfect for an illusion based hero. Ultimately, Chaos Knight can pick up a variety of items. Surely, 
Armlet of Mordiggian is a core pick up, next to a 
Black King Bar, but other than that, CK can pick any item without dropping off significantly in impact. OG’s n0tail recently built a Diffusal Blade on the hero (twice), EG’s Arteezy opted for a Blade Mail and LGD’s Ame prefers Echo Sabre as a 2nd item.
Flexibility is an important aspect in Dota and often enough, the most popular heroes also tend to be the most flexible ones. Chaos Knight is far from being the most flexible, but the fact that teams feel comfortable to play the hero with rather different item builds should show that he is viable. There isn’t just one way to approach the hero, there are multiple ways to do it.
Much like Visage, this recent MDL stint may just be a fluke and as TI approaches, trends could very well still change drastically. Nonetheless, Chaos Knight has made a statement. He doesn’t need Io to be a successful carry, and he certainly isn’t too RNG for the game anymore.
well ck has even RNG attack at start
Hes also a sick 4position roamer at my pleb level mid 4k games :)
hotd carry ck EleGiggle nice post dude(no Kappa)
CK is the God when 6 slotted + moonshard.
random number generator, more on RNG mechanics in Dota here
^no link?
helm is a situational pickup for earlygame push strats. Honestly I prefer grabbing drums and letting someone else build the helm though.
CK is very snowball dependent. If they stop you early game, there ain't much you can do.
CK is the God when 6 slotted + moonshard.
^ for a carry that's more than functional with 3-4 dedicated carry items, a six-slotted ck is basically a gg
Nobody out carries chaos and his early game is strong. If you can just survive the midgame its GG.
His mount is really cool looking, but the Knight himself could use a little rework. He looks so tiny on that fiery horse. And his armor isn't too impressive either. Anyways, glad to see he's gaining popularity.
Better play safe lane.
i main offlane CK here in 2k, 75% winrate :D
one level in stun, new meta for sure
people talking about six slots....i just got carried by a ck that got a rampage 25 mins in with only treads armlet and halbred....hero is dumb broken when uncountered
@Vestile, much impressed, such wow, total 54 ck game, 70% winrate. in 2k, uh no 1k rank. -0- gitgud
sometimes even if you have a counter, ck will roll over you...i dont think there's a harder carry in the game than ck...the closest thing to a reliable counter i can think of is timber and even then you need to rek his mid game and finish off the game before 40 mins because if he gets his levels...gg
Aghs ult pa ally and watch em melt in single rift no krappa
No link provided, please add, thanks.
Tb presses q, rip ck ult.
Here's the post, an interesting one tho, which was perhaps the one intended to be linked.
Can someone please explain why a lot of the higher mmr players in the featured guides in dotabuff take 1 level of chaos bolt and then max out rift and crit?
Woooo I have that hats from Dark Moon
@Waaaagh!!11
they feel that crit is stronger in farm and fights and you don't use chaos bolt all that ofter and you still can roll 2 sec stun with lvl 4 and level 1
also manacost is crazy
personally i feel like max bolt after rift is a must because i'm not that lucky and in pubs it's better to dominate with your carry early on if you have a kit for it and CK is for sure one of those heroes
24th comment wohooooooooooooooooooooooo
If im not wrong you still not take the ulti level until level 11 right?
@Waaaaaaagh!!!
For early levels, CK needs more chasing/sustaining skills(his right click attacks are so good enough, so just focus on defensive) than lockdown, as you can leave that to your supports
Unless you're playing in 1k or 2k games. Kappa.
@Waaaaaaagh!!!
For early levels, CK needs more chasing/sustaining skills(his right click attacks are so good enough, so just focus on defensive) than lockdown, as you can leave that to your supports
Unless you're playing in 1k or 2k games. Kappa.
If only I knew what "niche" actually is :P
@Waaaaaaagh!!! Chaos Bolt requires more mana, which Chaos Knight lacks heavily, with more levels added to it. Also, CK's main damaging factor is his auto-attack, so you shouldn't rely on the unreliable damage done by Chaos Bolt. Chaos Bolt's main purpose is the stun, which grows with a minimum of 1/1/2/2 seconds per level of the skill (I can't remember the maximum time per level, but I'm quite sure at Level 4 it gives 4 seconds of maximum stun time, again it's RNG-based).
Reality Rift, however, costs a stable 50 mana across all skill levels. It also gives 1/3/5/7 armor reduction to the target; so a Level 4 Reality Rift will allow you to cause -7 armor for only 50 mana. Again, it syncs very well with Chaos Knight's main damage dealing method: his auto-attack, and does not trigger his primary weakness: his very low mana pool.
His passive is already a given, it allows him to have physical burst and lifesteal that are also shared by his Phantasms.
Personally, I max out Reality Rift first, with only one level of Chaos Bolt at Level 1, then max out 3rd and get my Phantasms at level 9, 10, or 11.
I also opt to go with an Orb of Venom during early game and either go Drums, Dominator, or Medallion/Crest come mid-game.
EDIT: AFTER the Armlet's done, of course.
@It is time to tip the scales "Niche" just means belonging to a very specific group or scenario. When you say a hero is a niche pick, it means the hero is only viable in pulling-off a certain strategy (i.e. Broodmother's split pushing strat, for one.); simply put, they're heroes with low flexibility with roles and/or item builds.
dunno why isnt pl more popular for the same reason. a fighting illusion hero that can farm fast and be good on lane (spirit lance deals a good amount of dmg) yea ik timber es and many others counter him but he could be a lastpick
I think sven is the better counter. because you should kill him fast and also have battlefury. or pick pa and magnus at the same time(don't recommend this). but i saw a lot sven against ck and there was more than 80% success
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finally full cancer hero
@it's a game sven takes considerably longer to come online and ,i have no clue where your bracket is, but if you're seeing a sven building battlefury outside of super late game to spread damage then you need to do some grinding.
@Vestile you arent in 2k
Well there isn't other options than to pick CK at last pick, at least in pubs. Pick CK early and you are destined to see other team pick sven/shaker. Also, a lot of magic AOE is also a pain in the ass, coz seriously, CK isn't strong without his illusions. And if CK isn't 6 slotted, illusions will die quickly.
Against shaker, don't use ulti until he goes down (this can be easy or difficult, depending on the initiation)
Against sven, you can build halbeard before he gets his bkb. You can then shut him down so that he is too far behind to catch up to you. If sven does get bkb, then you'll have to stun -> halbeard him and try to burst him with the ck illusions around him. If the illusions are around him, he'll have to move to cleave all of them.
Both of these heroes are much easier to deal with if teammates are helping you with these problems.
Against shaker, don't use ulti until he goes down (this can be easy or difficult, depending on the initiation)
Against sven, you can build halbeard before he gets his bkb. You can then shut him down so that he is too far behind to catch up to you. If sven does get bkb, then you'll have to stun -> halbeard him and try to burst him with the ck illusions around him. If the illusions are around him, he'll have to move to cleave all of them.
Both of these heroes are much easier to deal with if teammates are helping you with these problems.