Note: This guide is out of date. I will perhaps update it at a later time, but for now I'll just leave it as it is. The most viable playstyle as of now differs abit from what this guide describes.
Chen is a warrior hero with a unique resource to fuel his abilities : Brew.
At first glance, Chen hits hard right off the bat with a whooping 50 base damage on his basic attacks. However, his attack damage progression is very low, and eventually you won't really be able to bat anything down with your stick alone.
On the other side, all of Chen's basic abilities share a very low cooldown of 5 seconds. This makes Chen a very ability based hero, and although it initially may seem like it, it's not just mash-to-win. As you progress into deeper levels, Chen will not be much of a damage dealer like certain other warrior Heroes such as Arthas, but he becomes very good at sticking at a target and dealing quite some heavy hits to him/her. The build in this guide will focus on Chen's ability to stick to a target and remain in the fight while still being a threat to the other team.
All of Chen's abilities have really good synergy with each other, so let's take a look at each one of them in the next chapter.
So, how do we play Chen properly? Well, let's try to take it bit by bit.
Fortifying Brew
This skill can make or break Chen's game. Whenever you're out of Brew, you're pretty much useless, so try to stay at full Brew before any engagement with enemy heroes occurs.
In the laning phase you'll pretty much be at full Brew whenever you want. At this point, Fortifying Brew becomes important
to prevent incoming damage. There is no real set-in-stone of how or when to use it to soak damage, but in general enemy heroes will try to either run away or damage you the moment they react to an initiation by you, which usually means after a Flying Kick. You can also drink before they initiate on you, but it's a bit harder to predict, especially if they have roamers.
Because the shield duration is really low, this means you often have to channel it while your enemy is whacking at you. That means a couple of things to us. In order to make Fortifying Brew effective, you thus need to
- learn your enemy's playstyle so you can predict when they intend to damage you
- have good map awareness for incoming ganks against you during the laning phase to prepare
- learn good positioning (the skill won't save you if you're alone and channel it in the midst of nowhere among 4 enemy heroes...)
Once you've gotten control on when to use Fortifying Brew, you can more effectively initiate AND counter-initiate when needed. In addition, it makes you a real damage sponge in big fights if the enemy focuses you, however keep in mind
it won't outshield the damage a team can do to you (would be pretty funny and overpowered if it could though, wouldn't it?).
So how much exactly
can Fortifying Brew shield you from? Well...it depends on your enemy, but there are a couple of pointers you can follow:
- A fully stacked shield (while you keep channeling) can absorb the ability combo from most heroes
- While channeling, you will be able to shield yourself entirely from any auto attacking hero that doesn't use cooldowns (you'll shield yourself from 3 healers or 3 warriors easily, but probably not 2 assassins).
In addition, there's the team fight perspective. You WILL need to refresh your Brew in team fights, and if you have nothing else to do at the moment, casting Fortifying Brew is often better than moving (especially if you're slowed) or auto-attacking unless you're chasing someone particular.
Do not take this to the letter, though. OF COURSE you want to be moving in a fight, so unless you're getting focused you never want to drink for any longer than it takes to fill your Brew bar. The point is a little bit of shields now and then in the midst of a fight will go a LONG way in reducing incoming damage from AoE sources.
If you do get focused, however, it might be a good idea to channel Fortifying Brew for a longer period of time, especially if you have a healer. This allows your DPS to whittle down the enemy team while you soak up damage that could have been used to kill your DPS instead. If you find yourself without support, then don't think Fortifying Brew will save you for long. You might buy your team some time, but you will eventually die (then again, who wouldn't...d'oh...). Using Fortifying Brew to soak damage in a fight is alot about brinkmanship, so try to practice it a bit and get a feeling of how much shielding you need.
Laning phase
Chen fits very well in a lane. He can stay in a lane for a long time, and his pushing potential is moderate. We'll discuss that later.
In the laning phase, your short cooldowns and mana independence allow you to spam your abilities alot. This can help you push the lane fairly easily, but you're still not an awesome pusher like for example Zagara. Most of the time you'll use Keg Smash and Breath of Fire to harass your enemies, and whenever you see an opening you can start off with a Flying Kick. Keep in mind, however, that a Flying Kick will often put you behind an enemy creep wave, making it more difficult to escape if the tables are turned. Keep in mind Flying Kick can also be used on the other team's minions to get you out of a pickle if you're behind enemy lines. Thus, it is often a great advantage if there is someone or something you can Flying Kick
back to after you've blown your load on the enemy.
A full combo for Chen (without Heroic ability) costs you a total of 60 Brew. This means that unless you go for Bottomless Keg,
you can't execute a full combo twice without drinking. Whenever you want to initiate on someone, this is the rotation you optimally want to use (in case you're new to Chen):
--->
--->
--->
After this, you got a few options. If you're up against a solo laner you may want to chase a bit and then whack the enemy hero one or two more times with your stick before pulling back. Try to read your opponent's moves, however. Chances are they have their abilities ready to go, and many players will return fire once they see you jumping in. This can be countered somewhat if you use Fortifying Brew BEFORE you Keg Smash your opponent and let them blow their load in your shields. Then Keg Smash and use Breath of Fire on them.
Because of Chen's somewhat clunky auto attack animation it might be tempting to skip the Auto Attack and continue to spam the rest of the combo.
Do not make this a habit. Once you get Combination Attack, you WANT to get in that auto attack after a Flying Kick as it deals more damage than the rest of the combo.
If you're laning against a lone enemy hero, you're pretty much safe unless you get ganked by 2 additional heroes. So if a lone enemy approaches you and try to whack you? Well, start chugging down, take the incoming beating and whack him back. Trades like these are easily won by Chen against lone heroes. If it's a 2v2 lane you can probably scare off an enemy hero by doing a full combo on him, but you won't do much damage after the combo is executed and so, if the enemy you initiated on was healthy, you probably want to pull back after you've burned your combo. Drink up to refill your Brew and go for another round, or Keg Smash/Breath of Fire the creep lane.
Repeat is the keyword here. Your combo doesn't hurt too much yet, but you can execute it OFTEN. Do your thing, pull back, then do it again. Whittle your enemy down bit by bit.
Things to look out for in the laning phase :
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As mentioned in one of the earlier sections, you will NOT win a duel against this guy. He usually picks up Envenom and can heal himself as well. Not only that, but he will also slow you to a crawl if you stay in melee range of him. Becomes EXTREMELY dangerous if he is accompanied with Kerrigan, which is probably well-known to many of the more experienced HoTS-players.
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In the laning phase, this girl is a real pain. She will often roam between the lanes and set up kills. Your shield is very strong as the game progresses, but not very strong at the first levels. It starts out as a 120 (+72) when fully stacked, so it's easy to see that the shield becomes riddicilously strong when you reach the 10s. However, it is not very strong NOW, and good Novas know to exploit their hidden presence when your shields are down anyway. A real pain in the first 10 minutes maybe, but do not get discouraged if you die a few times to her. Unless your team is way behind, at level 16 there SHALL be a reckoning... in the form of furry paws and enough booze to give King Kong hangover.
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Pushing
While he's no Zagara, Chen can still push somewhat. His short cooldowns on his abilities allows him to clear creep waves quite easily, and it also helps to whittle down towers and gates.
One thing to note is that if the enemy heroes have left their lane, Fortifying Brew can be used to soak up tower shots. This will waste their ammo which could be better spent on the creep wave. Add this in combination with his decent AoE damage, and you have yourself a decent pusher. I personally haven't played AoE builds very much on Chen however, so I can't say for sure how well it will work against skilled opponents.
Ganking and roaming
Chen is a decent ganker, but not of the best. His damage output is not of the best, and his chasing potential doesn't get THAT awesome until he hits level 7. At this point, however, it becomes pretty good.
How effective ganks will be also depend abit on the map. For example, Blackheart's Bay is well suited for ganks once you reach level 7 AND you control the watch tower between the two top lanes. It is rarely worth it to gank bot lane as the distance between bot and mid lane is very big and the enemy team will have plenty of time to warn their bot laner of your approach.
Team Fights
The team fights goes pretty much the same every time when I play Chen. You jump on a target to get the enemy's attention and prepare yourself to get a can of whoop-*** in return. A good thing we're a jolly panda, then.
In order to be effective in your role, you have to play offensively whenever you can. This means you also need to use Fortifying Brew offensively, and it is also the purpose of this build.
You have to convince your enemy that you should not be ignored. This protects your team as well as exploits the full potential of your skillset.
Until you reach some later levels (specifically 16), hitting other warriors with Chen is pretty much useless. Chen does not have the damage potential of other Warriors like Arthas, so he can't really apply pressure to high HP enemies in general. Therefore, you need to quickly storm the enemy ranks and get behind their line of warriors where their squishies reside. Get your Pressure Point applied to a target and whack him once, slow everyone around him with Keg Smash and give them a warm welcome with Breath of Fire. At this point, you probably want to drink for a second, then start chasing your target while your team enters the fray as well.
If you initiate for your team and have your Wandering Keg ready (should you pick it), you can quickly start a fight that will soon be in your team's favor. Pick out a target that has no escape mechanisms such as Blink, Dwarf Toss and the like. Then use Flying Kick on that hero, get on the opposite side so that you have him between you and your team (this is where Pressure Points REALLY helps) and then activate Wandering Keg. Smash the Hero into your team. Whenever you have your ultimate ready, it really doesn't matter if you choose to initiate on a Warrior; the important thing is that the target can't escape you, because if they do, you just wasted your ulti. It's also safer to pick a target in the front since if you're going for the back line you'll not only take alot of damage (and possibly die in the attempt), but the keg can be destroyed before you have returned to your ranks with the unfortunate target. I love to use this on heroes such as Arthas, as he is not only beefy with no escapes, but also a big part of the enemy damage dealing ability. Smash him into your team, then jump on him 5v1 like true sportsmen. It is also usually safe to initiate if you got Storm, Earth, Fire as you will rarely die before you get to activate it, but keep in mind if the enemy team has a lot of stunners.
After the initiation, you or your target will probably be toast, so let's hope for our sake that you got the better trade (and you do very often). At this point, your team is likely to have taken some damage too, so you'll have a couple of choices of what to prioritize next. You're a good chaser, but your skillset also makes you a great peeler. Thus, you'll probably have two choices:
- if they have a badly injuried assassin or healer, chances are you can kill them. Chen is very difficult to escape, so you can chase your enemy quite far into their territory before they can shake you off.
- if you have a badly injuried ally, chances are you can peel that hero off your ally, especially once you reach level 7. A 1 second root into a 2.5 second slow is no joke when you consistently take damage, and no longer than 1.5 seconds after that slow you'll be able to root the target again.
Jungling
Like most warrior heroes, Chen has the ability to solo-jungle, but his ability to do so is considerably weaker than most others. To not lose health means you have to channel your Fortifying Brew alot while waiting for your cooldowns, which means the time it takes to clear camps is WAY too long for him to be any effective jungler early on.
A push-build can help as it increases his AoE damage output, clearing camps faster. It still won't make him a good solo jungler like Sonya or Gazlowe, so try to bring an ally whenever you want to clear camps early on in the game. Due to his Fortifying Brew he can soak damage easily, so your teammates have no worries about taking damage from the creeps while you're around.
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