Dota 2: Core Chaos Knight revived in meta

Chaos Knight was one of the heroes that benefited the most from patch 7.21. This hero currently has a nearly 54% win rate in 5k+ pub games and is a popular pick among pro players. The reason for CK’s sudden rise is pretty clear – the hero was heavily buffed in 7.21, while the slow meta allowed CK to return. This article will analyze how to promote this hero in pubs and why Chaos Knight is stronger.

THE POOR TERRORBLADE VERSION?

7.20 has one distinct feature – the game moves extremely fast and the armor system has been reworked, and turret HP has been adjusted so that the team can push earlier than before. We’ve seen teams use lineups that can push turrets early at the Major and they rarely work.

Stronger teams when facing a non-push team, focusing on teamfight will avoid direct confrontation, push towers faster to invest more reasonable time. Terrorblade was one of the heroes that was extremely good in this area in the previous patch.

TB takes turrets, farm very quickly, even though the cooldown of Metamorphosis is very long. TB has weak periods in teamfight and is easy to die, but if he knows how to play, TB can use this time to farm.

Chaos Knight can’t do that. This hero’s farming speed is much slower, compared to other carries. Pushing turrets with Chaos Knight without the ultimate is also very difficult, since the DPS boost has no effect on turrets. However, this hero is still among the most popular and successful heroes in high-rank pubs.

META CHANGES

The meta in this patch is a bit slower. There is less gold in the early game and with Chaos Knight that means the game will last longer, enough for me to be useful without using my ultimate.

Strength heroes are usually not as strong as Agility when it comes to DPS in the late game, due to Agility plus damage and attack speed. Therefore, strength heroes aren’t usually strong when the game lasts more than 45 minutes, but they have more potential strength in early game encounters.

Farming creeps is still better for gold, but the difference between successful farming and ganking is now not as much of a difference as before. Early game cores can play more aggressively, pressuring opponents, harassing opponents to farm and control the map by catching odd and teamfight (rather than pushing turrets). These heroes can still take out turrets pretty quickly, but usually only do that after making sure the enemy isn’t farming or their turrets are under attack.

MAKING META METHODS

There are many ways to build this hero currently. Many players still trust Armlet, sometimes trying their luck with Midas early and then going straight to Echo Saber for more mana and more damage.

We don’t really need to win Echo Saber – despite the abundance of mana, but without Armlet, the amount of damage is not enough for a successful gank early game. With the reworked Chaos Strike, CK doesn’t have the incentive to hit 2 hits at once (from the Echo Saber), since you’re guaranteed to jump every 4 seconds.

From that, we draw the conclusion that one is Armlet or Midas after gaining Power Treads. Both are good choices and often depends on the situation of CK in the game – how good of a start and how greedy you want to play without sacrificing your strength early game. Note that, while Midas isn’t a very effective DPS item, it still adds quite a bit of attack speed – something a lot of Strength cores lack.

In the later stages, Strength bonuses are often the best choice, as you want to maximize the damage and longevity of the shadows (illusions). That means you can go straight to Heart of Tarrasque, but most of the time, you have to go to BKB or Manta Style to be more effective.

Interestingly enough, the Blink Dagger build isn’t as popular as it once was. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to catch heroes or the duration of the ball is shorter, making hiding in the bushes and waiting for a few seconds to catch the enemy is no longer effective. One potential cause for this is the “farm” race: spending up to 2k gold on items that don’t help push towers or farm is a loss.

HOW TO UP SKILL

Chaos Knight skill is also quite complicated. Gamers usually maxed out one of their skills at level 7 with equal frequency. We will go through each selection.

Elevate Chaos Bolt maximum so that CK focuses on highly flexible objects. It doesn’t optimize DPS or farm speed, but it does help CK kill these enemies. In general, you shouldn’t go this route – supports will usually take care of that for you to finish the enemy, and be the core, so CK needs to prioritize damage and farm speed as much as possible. Depending on the situation, you can max out this move or the other two.

Elevate Reality Rift maximum for teamfight and odd catch. The 3 second attack speed slow (-90) with 5 second cooldown is really great for the early game, before going to BKB. Slow movement speed also helps while ganking or chasing enemies. This move optimizes CK’s skill set without the ultimate, allowing continuous pressure on the opponent. The big weakness of Reality Rift is that it doesn’t help heroes farm and stay long. It is usually raised after maxing out Chaos Bolt and is best suited for creating space for his mid core farms, instead of carrying the whole game on his own.

Finally, max lift Chaos Strike is currently the most popular and probably the most successful build in high pub rank. It optimizes the hero’s farming speed and burst damage, allowing the hero to give one-hit buff heroes to the board, and sometimes some core champions with ultimate support. If the opponent doesn’t have AoE moves, you can max out Reality Rift afterwards, jumping from one object to another with illusions, however maxing out Chaos Bolt is usually a better choice, as it gives You have the advantage when playing against the other core.

In terms of talent, increasing the most stats should be your main priority for the first 15 levels. Phatasm illusions need health to live as long as possible and the extra 400 HP from level 10 and 15 talents can help them live for one more hit and make a transformation.

Depending on the situation, you can choose +150 GPM or Spell Immunity-piercing Reality Rift at level 20, however the latter is clearly stronger. The level 25 talent is too obvious, the -2 second Chaos Strike cooldown is too strong and helps this hero stay long in teamfight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqQC–eYcL4

EPILOGUE

Core strengths are completely lagging behind core Agility in the last patch, but it seems like these heroes are making a comeback. The early game is more favorable and the ability to play actively while the enemy carry still has to farm is a big plus. Hopefully Chaos Knight and Lifestealer aren’t the only Strength champions present in the meta.

From here, we can believe that CK will not be nerfed, or even if it is, it will not be heavy. Chaos Knight is a good pick, neither too strong nor too popular to disappear from the meta. If you need time to learn this hero, now is the time!

According to Dotabuff