Dota 2: How to play Chen offlane position 3

In this article, instead of support breaking the game, you will now be the core. In this section, we will talk about traditional support heroes becoming cores.

Chen Offlane has been around for a while and it’s not a new idea. But lately, Chen offlane has an extremely high win rate. In this article, we will analyze Chen offlane and see if this playstyle is possible.

PROFESSIONAL Arena

In the professional arena, 33 was the first to lead the way in Chen position 3. 33 is famous for its microphone heroes and there is no other hero that needs microphones as much as Chen. 33 is also an offlane player, so letting 33 hold Chen in the offlane can be considered a reasonable formula.

In recent matches, Alliance played Chen offlane at the MDL Chengdu Major. In the opening match of the group stage, the team picked Chen for 33 and won that game. Next, Alliance picked Chen in game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. ALliance won that game and then TNC Predator gave the first Chen for the rest of the series.

Chen was then banned in his first pick/ban when the teams faced Alliance for the rest of the tournament before Alliance was eliminated in the 3rd round loss.

Chen is a popular hero pick in the professional scene mainly as a support. What Alliance and 33 demonstrate is that Chen can also be an effective offlaner if he knows how to play.

IN PUB

According to the Dotabuff hero meta page in the offlane role, Chen ranks 1st in win rate in Divine/Immortal rank. Hero achieved 59.04% win with 1.57% pick rate.

At Ancient rank, Chen has a win rate of 54.28% with a pick rate of 0.61%, reaching 6th place.

Of course, these numbers can also mean that Chen plays in position 4 instead of 3, but if Chen is playing as a support, it is highly likely to be support 5.

Have we ever seen a hero with 59.04% win rate in any lane? This is a very high number and it is seen in Chen offlane. Therefore, this is something worth considering about this hero as well as the offlane role.

HOW TO PLAY CHEN OFFLANE

Chen position 3 shined in the early game and took advantage of that all the way to the late game.

At level 1, you can control your opponent’s ranged creeps or jungle creeps for a last hit advantage. You also have a healing bonus, which always comes in handy during the laning phase.

Chen offlane also levels up faster than support, so you can control neutral creeps like Centaur Conqueror before the first 10 minutes. If you get a few creeps like that, the opponent will have great difficulty in the early game. A couple of two second AoE stuns will have a big impact in all stages of the game, especially early game.

Chen Offlane can also farm stacks of ancient creeps better than most carry heroes. If you have a lot of high level neutral creeps and have Vladmir’s Offering for lifesteal, you can eat a lot of ancient stacks easily.

When talking about offlane heroes, most players think that it will be a hero that can take hits and initiate team fights. Chen delivers on that too, but in a different direction. Centaur creeps can initiate teamfights and take hits, while Chen stands behind and summons allies, or ready to heal/slow. In this way, Chen fulfills the traditional role of an offlane hero, just without taking himself out.

This works well for the mid and late game. Centaur and Satyr can’t hold items so they’re not as strong as heroes. You have to go to Aghanim’s Scepter and control the Ancient to make your creeps strong in the late game. However, the heroes are always stronger.

So, Chen offlane’s strong point is his skill set and broadcasts faster than the opposing hero thinks. In the mid to late game, opponents easily dodge Centaur with blink or force staff, but the first 15 minutes of the game don’t have many high mobility items.

Chen offlane has several weaknesses that need to be pointed out:

The first is “tilt”. When picking Chen offlane, the team’s position 4 may look down on you and take the last hit, thinking their Pudge will take advantage of the position 3 Chen. You may have to engage in a last hit fight with your opponent and even teammates, causing my lane to have no support.

Chen can also take a long time to “air”. You need to find creeps in the jungle that suit your needs and that’s pretty bad luck. If you die or the creeps die, most of the power you give the team is also gone and that creates an opening for the enemy.

EPILOGUE

If falling into the right hands of the right player and the right formation, Chen offlane will bring a lot of things to the team, making the opponent unable to turn back. If you get four Centaurs rushing with 5 enemy heroes behind, then you should probably run away to save your life.

Chen is one of the hardest micro heroes and that is the big limitation of most gamers in the game. But if you are willing to challenge yourself and play well with Chen, then this may be something the opponent has never faced and this is also considered a great advantage.

Did you see anyone play Chen offlane in your match? If it’s position 4 and offlaner picks Chen position 3, will you steal your offlaner’s farm?

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