Is Trouble Brewing? Introduction Fresh, Cool Ale Here! Abilities Combos Name Your Poison! Level 1 Level 4 Level 7 Level 10 Level 13 Level 16 Level 20 I Bring Pandamonium! Quick Tips For Pandaria! Hearty Brew! Slopping Brew! Hoppy Brew! Fiery Brew! Fortified Brew! Silly Brew! Competitive Brew! You Seem A Little Parched Advanced Tactics I'll Put It On Your Tab Chen In Hero League Conclusion Guide Changelog Credits

Guide Status: Incomplete
New Patch! To see how it affects Chen, See: Below! Or view the [Eternal Conflict / Butcher] Patch Notes directly!

Why read this guide? You shouldn't. It's too long and not very useful.

Top Chen Builds is a better place to start.

This guide will try to examine Chen in terms of tactics. The guide will also show some interesting Game Mechanics for advanced players. For the more adventurous, this guide will also delve into the strengths of choosing less efficient or less popular Talents.

Rambling, theorycrafting walls of text ahead. You have been warned.

If I am wrong, prove me wrong and I'll credit you.

New:

What's New! Perfect Body Block! (See: Storm, Earth, Fire Tactics) or (Straight to Video!) Added Actives section. Added Quickcast section. Bonus: Alt-cast Over The Wall Juke Revisited (Flying Kick Tactics) Quick Tips Updated - (Q) to dodge enemy skillshots, Ctrl + # to level Talents (Click Here!) Wandering Keg Collision Revisited (See: Talents) Fortifying Brew ability and bug added (Here and in Game Mechanics, Interactions, Bugs) Old News Thoughts on Breath of Fire Full Damage Build and explanation for Hero League (Click Here!) Storm, Earth, Fire more forgiving in Hero League (Click Here!)

Works In Progress:

Works In Progress! Ability Combinations with Other Heroes Threats/Matchups Pictures Chen Base Stats and Role Maps Old News Chen in Hero League / Team Composition Advanced Tactics

Needs Testing:

Things That Need Testing! Relentless applies to elemental spirits. Split Up interactions. Brewmaster's Balance stacks with Summon Mount (shows 140% on character screen) or diminishing returns (visually) Amplified Healing works with Hearthstone (500 hp) What cc affects Wandering Keg Amplified Healing interaction with Regeneration Globes Old News Stunlock multiple enemies. (possible)

How YOU Can Help:

How To Help! Provide pictures or visual media (you'll be credited). Tell me what you want to see! Tell me what you want to know that isn't explained. Most importantly, argue! Discuss! Debate! The more people talk about Chen, the more exploration will occur. Talk to your friends about Chen (not about this guide). Write your own guide or comment on this one.

Patch: [Eternal Conflict / Butcher Patch]

Patch Breakdown For Chen Eternal Conflict/ Butcher Patch Overall the changes are a huge nerf for Wandering Keg users since it is now a daze instead of a stun (does not interrupt channels). Regeneration Master changes are a nerf to Chen's early game but a buff to his late game regen. Instead of 4 hp/s + 4 hp/s per 3 Globes, Chen now gains 1.5 hp/s from every Globe with no base. Comparing the two, the cut even point is at 24 globes where both provide 36 hp/s. The new change to Regeneration Master quickly becomes better after this point. In addition the change allows for hp/s gain with every Globe instead of waiting for 3 to trigger the next level. Regeneration Master was already weak on small or short maps (like Haunted Mines), but the change makes this Talent look less feasible from a mathematical point of view. The only way this Talent would be viable on those maps is if you jungled and pushed lane the entire time (not recommended, since your team would be at a numbers disadvantage). Chen's survivability took a hit with the removal of short, unintended periods of Unstoppable from his Flying Kick. You can view the Patch Notes to find out more information.

Imperative Reading:

• Table of Contents + Everything that is BLUE is clickable.
• Do Not Use any of the names I've given outside of this guide. The names (builds and combos) presented here are only a convenience. If you use them, nobody will understand anything you're saying.
• You can navigate by clicking on the Table of Contents.
• Italics mean the information presented could be incorrect. These are usually things that need to undergo more testing.

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Abilities Flying Kick(Q) Cost: 10 Brew Cooldown: 5s Your kick takes you to the other side of the targeted stationary enemy unit or structure. Use Flying Kick to dodge skillshots. In lane, time your kick to dodge ranged abilities. You will waste their mana and you can trade back. Use this ability to chase enemies down or escape from trouble. You can jump over walls and terrain with this ability. If you are on the other side of a Mercenary Camp and you have vision, you can leap across the wall or trees and make your escape. See: Flying Kick Tactics Keg Smash(W) Cost: 20 Brew Cooldown: 5s Slows enemies within its radius. Don't forget that this ability causes damage. If all your other abilities are on cooldown and Keg Smash is off cooldown, it can give you a little range to stop a Hearthstone or Summon Mount. With the increase in range from Keg Toss, tossing the keg beyond the normal range will have travel time: it takes longer to impact. Take some time to learn how to aim and time this ability. At normal range, the ability is applied instantly. Use ths ability to reveal invisible enemies or destroy invisible objects (Abathur's Toxic Nest or Zagara's Creep Tumor). Breath of Fire(E) Cost: 30 Brew Cooldown: 5s Damages in a cone. This is your main defense against a shoving wave and your main offense for pushing a wave. Combos with Keg Smash for a little damage over time. Use ths ability to reveal invisible enemies or destroy invisible objects (Abathur's Toxic Nest or Zagara's Creep Tumor). Wandering Keg(R) Cost: 30 Brew Cooldown: 90s Rolling around in a huge barrel, knocking back enemies, what else could you want? Great for disruption in a team fight. No longer interrupts channels as of the Eternal Conflict / Butcher patch. Dazes (stun without interrupt) instead. See: Wandering Keg Tactics. You do not get stunned or cc'd by enemy abilities (needs confirmation). Storm, Earth, Fire(R) Cost: 10 Brew Cooldown: 100s You retain the amount of health at the time of activation, so be careful you don't stay too long. If you need to leave one behind, don't hesitate. See: Storm, Earth, Fire Tactics Fortifying Brew(D) Cost: None Cooldown: 5s Makes you imbibe heartily from your barrel of ale. You are immobile for the duration. Drink in a safe place since this Trait ability can be interrupted. Activatables Bolt of the Storm Cost: None Cooldown: 40s You instantly teleport to a targeted location within a certain radius. This active is great for chasing and escaping. The only downside is you can't use it during Wandering Keg or Storm, Earth, Fire so you can only make plays while in panda form. You can also use this active as an instant Triple Attack in order to body block enemies. Flying Kick + Bolt of the Storm allows you to travel across a large distance in a very brief amount of time. Hardened Shield Cost: None Cooldown: 60s You take 75% reduced damage. Activate before incoming burst damage. If the enemy has an ability that applies Vulnerable (e.g. Tyrande, Jaina, Nova), it is advisable to take this to survive.

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How to Chain Your Abilities Please do not use these names, in or out of the game, ever. But for the sake of simplicity in this guide, I will give names to certain combinations. I hope they are intuitive enough to grasp after a few examples. If you want to give these names, let me know and I'll credit you if it catches on. Quick Swig: Fortifying Brew -> Move to interrupt. Drinking makes you stand still. If you need just a little more Brew in order to use an ability, hit D and immediately issue a move or ability command to get 5 Brew and continue your chase/escape. If your character pauses, keep practicing until the Brew gain and movement is instant. This move gives you 5 Brew, sometimes 3 I bumped this to the top of the list. You can Quick Swig into any basic ability (except for Summon Mount, you have to move slightly then hit (Z)). In fact, you can instantaneously issue move or basic ability command at any point during the channel. Very useful. Flying Keg: Flying Kick -> Keg Smash Gap closer to apply slow. Flying Keg Breath: Flying Kick -> Keg Smash -> Breath of Fire Gapclose to land slow and damage combo. This is a staple. Keg Breath: Keg Smash -> Breath of Fire Damage combo to utilize burn and dot ( Consuming Flame). Your character automatically starts autoattacking within range unless you (H)old so an auto will come immediately after without needing to right click or a click. Keg Breath Kick: Keg Smash -> Breath of Fire -> Flying Kick Lay down your damage before chasing. Keg Kick: Keg Smash -> Flying Kick Mainly used to take advantage of Brew Strike and shave 1 second off of Flying Kick's cooldown. All of Chen's basic abilities have 5 second cooldowns. With the Brew Strike Talent, this combo should allow both abilities to come off cooldown at the same time. Keg Kick Fire: Keg Smash -> Flying Kick -> Breath of Fire Another combo that takes advantage of Brew Strike. This combo can be enhanced with both Consuming Flame and Brew Strike.

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Ability Combinations and Synergy with Other Heroes Chen works well with any crowd control. Below is a list of more interesting ability pairings. (Work In Progress) Abathur Abathur's Symbiote is a boon to Chen. While Abathur's combo with Melee Assassins like Illidan are deadly, Abathur's combo with Chen can also be formidable. The reasoning behind this is Chen's innate tankiness and slows. As a hero who can stand in the middle of the enemy team Chen is as viable a target as melee assassins. Even though Abathur needs to prioritize heroes with his shield, Chen will allow Abathur to get off his damage abilities on as many enemies as possible. Li Li Li Li's Blinding Wind is an upgraded form of your Swift Reflexes talent. Chen is an ideal target for Cloud Serpent since he is often in the middle of the team fight. Wandering Keg and sit on Li Li and soak all the enemy cc's so she can safely channel a Jug of 1,000 Cups.

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Level 1

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Talents Bottomless Mug Pros Boosts your Max Brew to 150. In heavy harass/stun lanes, you have more Brew to utilize without getting pressured out of lane from them denying your Fortifying Brew. You exert more pressure from enemies seeing your Brew Bar (no bar, not scary; more bar, more wary). Cons You need to channel (sitting duck) for longer to reach 150 Brew. This can be mitigated by taking Chug. Weak shield when it's the strongest (Level 1). Synergy Chug Deeper Look Best Talent to get for level 1 skirmishes. If your team groups to contest vision on the map, the extra Brew is best for chasing and securing kills. The extra rotation of abilities gives more damage and utility than the extra duration slow from Full Keg Good for long chases: you can do two full rotations of ? Flying Keg Breathwith 30 Brew to spare for an extra ? Flying Keg. No Fortifying Brew needed. Good for shoving lane on the move. 3 full rotations of ? Keg Breath without needing to imbibe. Full Keg Pros Increases a 25% slow from 2.5 seconds to 4 seconds. Synergizes with A Touch of Honey from Tier 5 for a combined 40% slow for 4 seconds. Cons You can miss. Synergy Keg Toss A Touch of Honey Deeper Look Can apply Breath of Fire during the extended duration. This gives you more leeway to chase, since applying both Keg Smash and Breath of Fire both have a slight cast time and prevents you from moving. With the extended duration you can run around to the other side of the enemy and Body Block them and apply Breath of Fire during this time. Recommended Build Path: Slopping Brew! Consuming Flame Pros Extends burn from ? Keg Breath to 5 seconds. Can permanently apply the burn effect due to the extended duration. Cons You need to land the Keg Smash and Breath of Fire or this Talent won't proc. Synergy Deep Breath Deeper Look At level 1, burn damage increase from 39 damage to 65. At level 10, burn damage increase from 120 damage to 200. At level 20, burn damage increase from 210 damage to 350. With Consuming Flame, the combo costs 50 Brew and does a total of 119 damage at level 1, 380 at level 10, and 670 at level 20. Recommended Build Path: Fiery Brew! Regeneration Master Pros Collecting Regeneration Globes already gives you health (and mana, but not Brew), but this Talent gives you a bonus: stacking hp/s regen. Cons It does nothing for you at level 1. 4 hp/s base regen is a meagre amount. With the Eternal Conflict / Butcher Patch, it does absolutely nothing at level 1. Synergy Amplified Healing Deeper Look 2 waves are spawned by 0:35 and another wave spawns approximately every 30.3 seconds after that. If you just stay in a single lane and grab all the Regeneration Globes, you would get around 40. This is a very conservative estimate (you can get Regeneration Globes from 2 lanes, neutral camps, etc). Regeneration Master gives 1.5 hp/s for every Globe. With 40, you get approximately 60 hp/s from the Talent and ~12 hp/s from base regen at level 20 = 72 hp/s. Even lowballing it, this number is unscoffable. With 72 hp/s and a base of 5600 hp at 20, it will take ~39 seconds to regen half your health, ~78 to regen completely. Not too shabby. Just roamining around the map will bring you back to healthy form. You can tank Mercenary camps no problem with your shield and gain health. At level 1, you have a measly base of 2 hp/s. Even if have a 192 strength shield from Fortifying Brew, you only get 64 shield/s, about 1 auto attack per second. Getting your channel interrupted further detracts from your survivability at level 1. Unless you have a team to back you up, do not skirmish at level 1 with this Talent. Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE!

Gameplay Before Minions Spawn: Stick with your team! At best you can pick someone off, at worst you can outrun them. Do not facecheck. You are not tanky enough to withstand burst at this stage. After Minions Spawn: Roam! You can make great picks with your kit and some ally crowd control. Make an effort to pick up all the Regeneration Globes you can from adjacent lanes. Come from behind and use ? Keg Breath in between autos if they have no escapes. Save your Flying Kick until after they use their blink or escape then stick to them. If they are far away, use ? Flying Keg Breath to start your damage.

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Level 4

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Talents Swift Reflexes Pros Great for guerilla fighting versus auto attackers. Go in for a ? Flying Keg Breath and retreat outside their auto attack range. Rinse and repeat. Cons Does not mitigate burst. Deeper Look This Talent has a chance of being really good or mediocre at best. If you are lucky, you can negate an entire auto attack (or crit) from the enemy assassin. If the ale is not flowing in your favor in your particular match, this ability will be eaten up by a weak tank's auto. For this reason, Swift Reflexes is good for dueling heavy auto attackers in short bursts. It can be argued that Amplified Healing can provide the necessary regen in order to cover the damage incurred from the blocked attack. While that is true, Swift Reflexes gives a higher effective health pool since the lost health does not need to be regenned. Don't forget that Fortifying Brew lasts for 5 seconds. In the space of an entire drink you can negate two autos and regen health the entire time. In most situations, Amplified Healing outshines this Talent because the healing bonus affects Fountain and Base healing. Deadly Strike Pros Increases damage on your Flying Kick. Cons Flying Kick damage is gated by cooldown and Brew. If using Flying Kick to escape, the damage is lost on priority targets. Synergy Brew Strike Combination Attack Pressure Point Deeper Look Flying Kick has a base damage of 85 at level 7. With this Talent, the damage increases to 127.5 . If you go the route of taking every Talent that enhances Flying Kick, this Talent will add to your burst. At level 20, this Talent will give you 367.5 damage on your Flying Kick. Recommended Build Path: Hoppy Brew! Amplified Healing Pros Increases regeneration from Regeneration Master, base regeneration, heals from allies, Regeneration Globes <- Needs testing. Cons Missing burst heals if your team does not have a healer. Synergy Regeneration Master Deeper Look Increases Regeneration Globe heal from 12 hp/s for 8 seconds (120) to 20 hp/s for 8 seconds (160). <- Needs testing. I think Regeneration Globes scale throughout the game, not sure. Increases Fountain healing and Base healing. Do not underestimate these two. Need to test to see if it works with the health given from Hearthstone. Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE! Deep Breath Pros This Talent allows you to Breath of Fire and damage an entire wave. Cons Still difficult to aim versus flanking enemy Heroes. Synergy Consuming Flame Deeper Look This Talent lets you Breath of Fire an entire wave easily, even larger waves that build up. It gives you slightly more range than the outer radius of Keg Smash, but is significantly shorter than the Keg Toss bonus. With or without Keg Toss, you can dish out some long range free poke with this enhancement. Recommended Build Path: Fiery Brew!

Gameplay Laning: Collect as many Regeneration Globes as possible if you chose Regeneration Master. Fortifying Brew in bushes or out of sight if you can't outshield enemy harass. Stay within exp range. If you have no enemies in your lane, a ? Keg Breath Kick + 1 auto to a Wizard Minion (the one that drops a Regeneration Globe) should net you the Globe and free you up to roam. Against a melee lane opponent, harass them with ? Keg Breath until they get low enough for you to all in. Against squishy, mana-based enemies, don't be afraid to go in for a spell rotation and drink to soak their damage and waste their mana. Zone melees to deny experience. If they roam, shove the wave in and roam. If you have a free lane, go past your minion wave and tank 1 turret with Fortifying Brew. When your shields can handle the damage, you can drink on cooldown to tank the tower. This wastes the ammo of the turrets. Repeat until your allies warn of incoming enemies or until you need to group for objectives. Roaming Try to roam through safe paths unless you are traveling as a pack. Cut them off from behind and if you're going for the kill, save Flying Kick to chase them down.

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Level 7

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Talents Keg Toss Pros Increase the range of Keg Smash by a moderate amount. Longer range ? Keg Breath harass. Can interrupt Summon Mount or Hearthstone from safety. Cons The keg takes a longer time to land the further away you toss it. Travel time only exists if you toss in the extended range. Synergy Full Keg A Touch of Honey Deep Breath Deeper Look Deep Breath combine with this Talent makes you a long range harasser on a 5 second cooldown. The empowered Keg Smash distance is greater than the range of Deep Breath. Ring of Fire Pros Burning damage in a radius around you. Cons You have to be close enough for enemies to receive the burn. Synergy Pressure Point A Touch of Honey Full Keg Deeper Look Any Talents that can keep you within range of enemies to burn them will supplement this one. If you choose to build towards ? Fiery Brew!, remember you will be very squishy. The option of choosing this Talent but taking tank Talents in every other tier is a possibility. However, Ring of Fire has poor scaling so you'll have to rely on other abilities and autos for real damage in team fights. Gives you a little extra damage for Mercenary Camps. Great for taking buildings. For gates, turn on Ring of Fire and tank the ammo shots from turrets. Make sure your burn applies to both turrets. Great for waveclear. Recommended Build Path: Fiery Brew! Combat Stance Pros Good for extending a long drink into a long shield. Cons 2 seconds is not a very long extension. The shield could dissipate without being used. Synergy Bolder Flavor Deeper Look This Talent is deceptively useful as a buffer. At level 7, your shield has a maxmimum strength of 624. The shield will be charged to max after 3 seconds of drinking. It will last for 4 full seconds after you stop drinking. With a base health of 2480 hp at level 7, you will effectively have ~25% more health for the duration. Drink up and charge in I say. At level 20, you will have a shield of 1560 for 4 seconds, ~27% more effective health (base of 5600). If you're given berth to drink unimpeded during a battle, you can maintain your vigor for a while longer as you give chase or flee. Brewmaster's Balance Pros Versatile: movement speed and regeneration are both excellent for Chen. Cons You need to manage your Brew for either effect. Brew of 50 or below, +20% movement speed. Brew of 51+ gives bonus regeneration. Synergy Amplified Healing Deeper Look Always manage your Brew level. You can see it in the lower left corner, it is the blue bar. You gain noticeable speed with a Brew Bar of 50 or below. The speed bonus is additive to Summon Mount for a total of 140% movement speed. If you are running, keep your Brew low. If you are low, keep your Brew high. At 51 Brew and above, you get 20.5 hp/s at level 7. This is roughly equivalent to Regeneration Master after picking up 14 Regeneration Globes. Effectively quadruples your base hp/s at level 7 without Regeneration Master. With Amplifed Healing (and without Regeneration Master, you will have an extra 6.15 hp/s from this Talent alone at level 7 (51+ Brew). Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE!

Gameplay Laning: Same as level 4. Roaming Same as level 4. Mercenary Camps With Ring of Fire, you have decent clear for Mercenary Camps. Keep the burn up and drink to mitigate damage and refill your Brew Bar for the next spell rotation. See: Mercenary Camps Tactics

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Level 10

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Talents Wandering Keg Pros Excellent at disruption. Protect your damage dealers by knocking assassins away from them. Interrupt enemy channels. No longer interrupts channels as of the Eternal Conflict / Butcher patch. Dazes (stun without interrupt) instead New Does not avoid unit collision. Upon collision with a unit, the barrel is slowed. In fact, upon contact with terrain (targetable and some non-targetable walls), you will have reduced speed on your barrel. Relentless is good for "protecting" this Heroic ability (so you don't waste time getting cc'd as long). Needs more testing. You move slightly faster than your regular speed. You move considerably faster with Untapped Potential Cons You don't have any extra survivability from using this ability. If you were squishy before, you'll be squishy after. And during. You ignore enemy crowd control while in the keg (needs confirmation). You can't Bolt of the Storm with Wandering Keg active. Synergy Untapped Potential Bolt of the Storm Deeper Look Wandering Keg can be used to herd enemies even if you don't knock them back. You can use this to your advantage to force people into certain positions. Just by occupying a space, you will make people hesitate before walking into you. Potential to dazelock enemies in corners. More risk averse if taking this with a tanky build. Otherwise you need good positioning or rolling skills to dodge enemy skillshots and damage. Good for dodging ranged enemy stuns and cc if you activate it as the stun particle is traveling towards you (needs confirmation keg ignores enemy cc). Bolt of the Storm behind a high priority enemy target and push them back into your team. Use Wandering Keg to force enemies off of capture points such as Mercenary Camps, Boss Camps (See: Zone in Wandering Keg Tactics), Sky Temple, and Dragon Shire. Storm, Earth, Fire Pros Splits you into 3 elemental spirits, each with 50% of your max health. In effect, you have a total of 150% health to burn through before you revert to your health prior to the time of activation. Each of the elementals has a unique attack ability. Earth slows with each attack, but very slow attack speed. Storm launches ranged attacks. Fire attacks rapidly. Can escape with Triple Attack and Split Up. These two abilities can reach over walls. Cons You can't control the individual spirits. If you activate this ability with low health, you will be in danger if you stay in the middle of the fight after the duration is up. There is a 1 second channel. Every time your channel gets interrupted, you get a 9 second cooldown penalty. Synergy Elemental Conduit Deeper Look See: Storm, Earth, Fire Tactics Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE!

Gameplay Grouping: After you get your Heroic Ability, group with your team to take down mercenaries and contest map objectives and push. Laning should be close to over by this point. Team Fighting If you are the primary tank, stand in front of your damage dealers and absorb enemy cooldowns for them while having yourself a nice Fortifying Brew. Use your Brew to harass before a team fight. Hold a full Brew Bar for the beginning of the fight. If the enemy has assassins that jump on your back line, use Keg Smash to peel ( Flying Kick is a better ability to peel when you get it at Tier 6). The longer you can keep your damage alive, the more damage they will do. Even if you don't have a stun, a 2.5 second 25% slow can be enough to give them enough time to kill the diving enemy. If your team's primary engage dives their back line and your squishies are not under pressure, dive with them. Pushing From this point forward, tank Turrets, tank Towers, tank Keeps, tank Forts. Let them waste their ammo on you while you take no damage. This requires you to be ahead of your minion waves because these buildings will reacquire targets to hit minions (priority over Heroes). At level 10, you have a base of 280 shield/s. So yeah, tank those ammo shots. Be careful if you are getting focused by enemy heroes. You are still too squishy to stand up to concentrated fire.

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Level 13

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Talents Brew Strike Pros Reduced cooldown on Flying Kick means it will be up more often. Essentially a free Flying Kick since the Brew cost will be refunded. Cons 1 second reduction is not very impressive. Synergy Full Keg Keg Toss Deadly Strike Combination Attack Deeper Look While at the outset this Talent seems lackluster, it can actually provide a boost to your damage while chasing. If used on cooldown, this Talent will net you 1 extra Flying Kick every 20 seconds (5 Flying Kick vs 4 Flying Kick). At level 13 without Deadly Strike, 5 kicks gives you an extra 175 damage over 4. With Deadly Strike you'll be doing an extra 262.5 damage per 20 seconds. If you take Talents enhancing Flying Kick, the bonus damage could add up over time as you go on long chases. Also slightly increases your dps vs buildings. This Talent applies as long as the duration of Keg Smash holds. Breath of Fire does not stop the effect of Keg Smash so you can ? Keg Breath KickKeg Breath Kick ? Keg Kick Breath without worrying about the effect vanishing. Recommended Build Path: Hoppy Brew! A Touch of Honey Pros Slow from Keg Smash to 40%. For an Area of Effect slow, it's not too shabby. Cons You need to land Keg Smash. Keg Toss can help by extending the range. Synergy Full Keg Deeper Look That honey must be sticky. Combined with Pressure Point, you have 1 second of 90% reduced movement speed + 2.5 seconds of 25% slow. If you opted for Full Keg as well, your Flying Kick will be up in time to apply another 90% slow since they'll be slowed for 40% for 4 seconds. Wow. Recommended Build Path: Slopping Brew! Enough to Share Pros Shields allies around you for a smaller amount. Gives you an awesome Paw Print Aura (pictures pending) and a cool flipping animation after you finish Fortifying Brew. Must have! Cons You need to stand still to channel Fortifying Brew. Can be interrupted. Synergy Hardened Shield Deeper Look At level 13, shields allies for 88 shield/s. A full channel for 5 seconds gives 1 ally 440 shield, 4 allies get 1760 total shield. Of course, in the heat of battle getting shields on all 4 allies for the full duration is highly unlikely, but the possibility of shielding them for long enough for the to survive is not far-fetched. At level 20, 130 shield/s for 5 seconds gives an ally 650 total shield. Recommended Build Path: Fortified Brew! Relentless Pros Reduces CC against your hero by 50%. Cons If the enemy has little to no CC, this won't be that useful. Deeper Look Drink up, me hearties! Tank all the stuns and cc for your team with this Talent. With the reduced duration, you can pop a Fortifying Brew and regen all the health with the shields providing you a buffer. Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE!

Gameplay Team Fights: If you pick up Enough to Share, your positioning for drinking is VERY important. You can mitigate 440 damage on a full channel. Versus an assassin, that shield combined with Keg Smash and your damage can dissuade them from diving your back line in a jiffy.

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Level 16

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Talents Combination Attack Pros Boosts your auto damage by 100% after a Flying Kick. Cons You need to use Flying Kick which may put you in a bad position to proc this Talent. Synergy Brew Strike Deeper Look Chen's base damage at level 16 is 155. This Talent makes it double - 310. This is on a 5 second cooldown. It will be up sooner if you elected to choose Brew Strike. May provide a little extra damage vs buildings. Can be used to add a little burst damage to your spell rotation. Recommended Build Path: Hoppy Brew! Chug Pros You gain Brew twice as fast. You can drink for more Brew Bar and chase very swiftly. Cons Your damage abilities are gated by cooldowns. Synergy Bottomless Mug Deeper Look For super long chases without the opportunity to drink (or very slim opportunities), Bottomless Mug + Chug is your best bet bar none. Just keep chasing, no need to drink, and if you do, it will take less than 2 seconds to achieve Max Brew. Remember, this Talent does not affect shields, just doubles the Brew production. Recommended Build Path: Silly Brew! Pressure Point Pros Slows for 1 second by 90%. This is your main cc for any build. This Talent is a must have at this tier. Cons Need to be close enough to land Flying Kick. Synergy Brew Strike Deeper Look Your best crowd control ability. Even though it only lasts for 1 second, going at 10% of your previous speed is slogging through molasses in quicksand. Excellent Talent. This Talent is a must have for any build. Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE! Bolder Flavor Pros Shield generation and max shield up by 40%. Cons Fortifying Brew can be interrupted. Does not affect Enough to Share. Synergy Combat Stance Deeper Look At level 16, base shield/s is 424 and max shield is 1272. Bolder Flavor increases those numbers to 593.6 shield/s and max shield of 1780.8. The increase might not seem like much until you look at a perfect scenario where you can channel for a full duration while taking damage. You can mitigate 593.6 * 5 = 2968 damage. Without this Talent, the max mitigation is 2120. Don't you wish you took this Talent and Combat Stance and just rode your steed into battle? Recommended Build Path: Hearty Brew! & Slopping Brew!

Gameplay Team Fights: Pressure Point everybody. Assassins diving on your ranged carries? Nope. Enemy mages or damage dealers running you down? Nope. None of them are safe from you after you get this Talent.

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Level 20

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Talents Untapped Potential Pros Extended duration. Fun! Increased speed for enemies hit? More fun! Cons Without practice, the increased movement speed is difficult to control. Super fun though. Synergy Bolt of the Storm Deeper Look See Enemy Hero, Bolt of the Storm Behind Them, Barrel Roll, Reach own Core. If you suspect the enemy are taking a boss, just drive right up to them with super speed and steal the boss by knocking them away. You can traverse huge distances with your increased speed. You can use this to travel around the map and contest objectives, but you would lose out on the capture/protection aspect of Wandering Keg. Elemental Conduit Pros "Ghost" spirits to fight for you. Cons Enemies can run away from their range. Deeper Look See: Storm, Earth, Fire Tactics Hardened Shield Pros 75% damage reduction for 4 seconds on a 60 second cooldown with no cost? What on earth... Cons You must be drunk. If you use it when nobody is attacking you. Deeper Look Great for mitigating burst damage if you time this ability correctly. Can provide defense while you are channeling your shields or tanking enemy buildings. If enemy has an ability that applies Vulnerable, picking this talent is highly advisable. Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE! Bolt of the Storm Pros A free teleport on a 40 second cooldown. The range is just a hair longer than the Keg Toss empowered Keg Smash range. Pretty big range basically. Cons Could be short cooldown. Deeper Look Teleport in, teleport out, run, chase, hide, juke, dive, drink, mount, hearthstone, there are an infinite number of uses for this ability. You can reach the enemy back line with your main initiator with this ability. You can Bolt of the Storm behind enemies and push them into your team. Recommended Build Path: EVERY ONE!

Gameplay Drink. Kegs. Kicks. Fire. Barrels. Elemental Spirits. Party so hard that even the enemy E.T.C. will moove aside for you. Tank the buildings. Tank the enemies. And for the love of Pandaria, drink that ale!

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Quick Tips Movement Drink before you Summon Mount. (Don't do this in real life.) With Brewmaster's Balance, keep your Brew Bar below 50 for a noticeable movement speed increase while running. Gives you 140% movespeed on your mount, but I have not noticed any significant extra speed. Will do more testing. Have a habit of Summoning your Mount. Roam. Laning Check your map and communicate with your team before you engage with (Q). Have an exit strategy. Keep track of everything you can (Q) to get out of there. Battle Animation cancel your auto attacks by moving after each auto attack (same with other MOBAs). Auto attack between each ability to maximize your dps. Use your abilities immediately after your autos to shave some time off the auto attack animationm. If you hop over the enemy with Flying Kick, Body Block them so your team can catch up. Your hit box is big enough that they have to walk around you. Very important. Use Flying Kick to dodge enemy skillshots. Very important. Peel for your squishies with Pressure Point if they are in danger. Dive with your primary engagers to Pressure Point enemy squishies. Don't walk through or stand in AoE damage. Be careful: your Flying Kick moves you in a straight line. Fortifying Brew is safest to use after the enemy uses all their stuns ( Relentless gets you back to drinking even quicker!). Move immediately after your auto to reduce the downtime from animation and to slightly reposition so you can follow them better or prepare to retreat. Do not tank Mercenaries while fighting the enemy team! If you are on a map where neutral enemies are attacking you, path around them so the enemy takes the hit instead. Your abilities do damage to buildings! Don't forget! General Adapt your build to supplement your team and become a hindrance to the enemy team (e.g. Utility Talents/Damage Talents if your team already has several tanks). Fortifying Brew out of sight (e.g. in bushes) when you can, especially during early game laning. Stay within exp range. Level up your Talents with Ctrl + #. The first Talent from the top is 1 and the ones below follow order. Saves you time. Memorize your Talents and practice this!

Hearty Brew! Recommended Build Path: Hearty Brew! Be the heart of the party! A stacked Regeneration Master with Amplified Healing can afford you the moxie to wade into the enemy team and have them waste their cooldowns on your Fortifying Brew channel. With the party going strong, you will keep on drinking and laughing and regenning all that health. Cheers! (Take Swift Reflexes if they have several heavy auto attackers) Chen Withering Flames Storm, Earth, Fire Enough to Share Combo Strikes Purifying Brew View Build

Slopping Brew! Recommended Build Path: Slopping Brew! Stay back, slow for your team with your long range, empowered Keg Smash and Breath of Fire. Elemental Conduit will increase your ranged damage. Chen Freshest Ingredients Gift of the Ox Storm, Earth, Fire A Touch of Honey Combo Strikes Elemental Conduit View Build

Fiery Brew! Recommended Build Path: Fiery Brew! A decent build with Ring of Fire for clearing Mercenary Camps at level 7. You will permaburn the camps with 100% uptime from Consuming Fire and Ring of Fire. Even though you take Pressure Point for the utility, grabbing Bolder Flavor at level 16 will help with your survivability (alternatively). Remember to stay in the back, and ask your team to kite back with you unless the team fight is turning in your favor. You will be squishier with this build. Since your abilities do damage to buildings, turn your Ring of Fire on with a Breath of Fire and tank the turrets and buildings while doing damage passively. Chen Stormstout Secret Recipe Brewmaster's Balance Storm, Earth, Fire A Touch of Honey Combo Strikes Elemental Conduit View Build

Hoppy Brew! Recommended Build Path: Hoppy Brew! While prioritizing Talents that enhance Flying Kick to its highest damage potential, you'll also be picking up several survivability Talents along the way. With this build, you can potentially dispense of Breath of Fire in your combos if you need the extra Brew when you're chasing. Since your Flying Kick will be the majority of your damage, sometimes the delay from using Breath of Fire or drinking will be more detrimental to your damage output. If you aren't in range to land the Keg Smash to get the cooldown reduction from the Brew Strike Talent, Flying Kick to your target, wait a little over 2.5 seconds, then apply Keg Smash. By the time your Flying Kick cooldown is back up, you can start the ? Keg Kick rotation. If you have the Full Keg talent, wait 1 second after your initial Flying Kick to apply your Keg Smash. Since it lasts 4 seconds, Flying Kick will be available again at the end of the duration. ? Keg Kick or ? Keg Kick Breath will be your staple damage source. You can also ? Keg Kick exclusively for higher mobile dps (less time spent drinking = more time chasing). This build is exclusively for small skirmishes. In team fights the lack of survivability is detrimental to your damage output. However, in short skirmishes with 1 to 2 squishies, you can burst them with your (Q) and empowered auto. Chen Accumulating Flame Storm, Earth, Fire Pressure Point Flying Leap Purifying Brew View Build

Fortified Brew! Recommended Build Path: Fortified Brew! If you love drinking, this path is for you! Shields, shields, and more shields! You'll even have Enough to Share for your allies to have some fun too! Hardened Shield will tide you over when your Fortifying Brew constantly gets interrupted, but for this build, use all your abilities and then drink in the middle of the fight with your friends benefitting around you! Chen Eye of the Tiger Deadly Strike Elusive Brawler Storm, Earth, Fire Ring of Fire Purifying Brew View Build

Silly Brew! Recommended Build Path: Silly Brew! According to HotSLogs (see Popularity column), this is the build with the most unpopular individual Talents. You have a little utility, but you'll be very squishy. Bolt of the Storm to get away! Chen Withering Flames Wandering Keg Enough to Share Purifying Brew View Build

Competitive Brew! Recommended Build Path: Competitive Brew! If you switch from All Leagues to Master on HotSLogs, the most competitive builds are rather similar. Some use Hardened Shield instead of Bolt of the Storm to be super tanky for a short while. Master players often pick up Elemental Conduit when they opt-in for the Storm, Earth, Fire Heroic Ability. Both Heroic Abilities have their uses. See Level 10, Storm, Earth, Fire Tactics, and Wandering Keg Tactics for more details on both abilities. Some competitive builds below: Chen Withering Flames Wandering Keg Enough to Share Combo Strikes Purifying Brew View Build Chen Withering Flames Storm, Earth, Fire Enough to Share Combo Strikes Purifying Brew View Build

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Flying Kick Tactics If the enemy is in motion, it will take you to the other side of the enemy at their position when you initiate this ability. This means if they are running you will find yourself in the middle or behind them. If they are out of range when you land your kick, you will not deal damage (they will not dismount if on a mount) and the slow from Pressure Point will not be applied. Sometimes when using (Q) on a stationary target at a large enough distance, you will hop to the same side and not make it over. Juke with Flying Kick by walking into a bush and when they follow you in, hop over them and run. If they are not veterans, this is often unexpected. Tell your teammates not to destroy the walls that are left over from destroying a gate (after the gate and the turrets are gone). The walls on each side of the broken gate gives you a target to hop. The walls will help you either run or set up for a play or ambush. If you are in the enemy's base and the walls are all up, enjoy your magical journey. During laning phase, you can walk up and auto the enemy laners past their wave and (Q) out to: a Wizard (after you bring it low enough to grab the Regeneration Globe), a Melee minion if you need to reach your own minions (they can body block for you), or a Ranged minion if you are overextended. If you are running through the map between lanes, don't be afraid to (Q) to enemies in the Bruiser Camp or Siege Camp to extend your lead. Use enemy summoned units (think Abathur's Locust) to close distance for a Keg Smash or to create distance for an escape. When sieging a building versus a lone melee enemy, Flying Kick over the building to do some damage and force them to run around it. Over The Wall Juke - Similar to jumping to Mercenaries over the wall if you have vision of them (Siege Camps on Haunted Mines after capturing the Watchtower), you can make the jump in the other direction as well. If you are standing with an enemy close enough to a structure (wall) or terrain (trees), when you use (Q) on them, you will jump over the structure or terrain as well. Maneuver enemies into a position next to a bunch of trees and jump over them and the trees. You can practice this on the Siege Camp Mercenaries on the Dragon Shire map.

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Wave Manipulation Wave manipulation doesn't make a difference until super late game (Melee minions too squishy and spawn times too long) and maps are so small that rotations from the enemy make it more efficient for you to be grouped. Old News Like the other large MOBAs out there, the lane minions can be manipulated. However, this can only provide slight advantages because of the pace and size of the map. During late game, the effects of lane manipulation are more pronounced. In general, shoving = good because Towers, Forts, and Keeps all have limited ammo. Destroying enemy bases will open up the map and give you more pressure (not necessarily control) over larger swathes of area. Unlike Dota 2, there is no denying lane minion mechanic. HotS is about pushing. However, similar to League of Legends, there are ways to manipulate the minions in your favor. Waves crash against each other in the middle of the lane. If you kill enemy minions, your wave will have the numbers advantage and the lane will shove. Ranged minions do more damage than melee minions. If you walk past your minions and stop the enemy wave, the enemy lane will shove because their minions will arrive at that spot faster than yours and outnumber your minions. If you kill just the Ranged minions, your wave will build - the enemy Melees will soak damage but your wave won't take damage. Over time, this will build up a larger wave because of your minion numbers advantage. The above does not work early game. The Melee minions are too flimsy to stop a wave and build up a push. This can work late game when there's a need to contest objectives elsewhere on the map (but you are there already, aren't you? You should be!). To get a good push going, you're going to need to kill the back row and wizard(?) minion for at least 2, maybe 3 waves. Please just pop a ? Keg Breath Kick to pick up the Regeneration Globe (if you have Regeneration Master and group. Destroy the gate turrets but leave the gate and roam. You'll build a slight wave with this.

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Wandering Keg Tactics Retreat First and foremost, you can use Wandering Keg to run away. If you are in trouble, use it. The movement speed can jet you out of there. You are unaffected by enemy cc in keg form so activate as enemy targeted stuns are cc are flying to you to dodge them (needs confirmation keg prevents enemy cc). Zone As mentioned in the Deeper Look of Wandering Keg, you can use this ability to zone your enemies. If you barrel in place (without moving), they will be knocked back a good deal when they walk into your hitbox. You are a rolling zone machine for the size of your hitbox. Use it in fights to force the enemy to maneuver around you. Sometimes aiming for the enemy is more risky because of their mobility. If you miss, you waste the duration of your Wandering Keg. Stand on top of your squishies with Wandering Keg if an assassin blinks to them. Let's see Illidan or Zeratul 1-shot them now. Capturing Objectives Bump them away to control those capture points! Stunlock Dazelock Using your knockback, force them against walls to daze them permanently. Since the hitstun on contact is almost half a second, you can permanently apply the knockback, making it impossible for them to move or take any actions (outside of channels). You can dazelocklock with a sideswipe, using the end of your barrel's hitbox instead of barreling straight into them. In some situations, you have more control with this method. Corner A more guaranteed method of dazelocking is against a corner. For example, the corner of the ruins of a broken gate wall and the environment wall. This is the easiest way to perform a dazelock. Theoretically possible to do this for multiple enemies, but I need proof. Perfect Stunlock I've never seen this or done this, but theoretically, if you position and time it right, you can smash an enemy against a wall while applying every tick of Wandering Keg's damage. Miscellaneous Notes You can't Bolt of the Storm during Wandering Keg so you have to teleport before.

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Storm, Earth, Fire Tactics Storm, Earth, Fire You "control" (or your Hero's focus) is like order of the name. If Storm dies, when you center the screen, it will be on Earth. If Earth dies, Fire. This is exactly like in Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne (the nostalgia, and where I got my name). Keep track of which one you "control," and where, so you don't end up reappearing where you least expect. Elemental Conduit Each ability spawns a different "ghost" spirit to fight for you. They do not take damage and are untargetable. Storm does ranged damage when you (Q) to a target. Earth slows in a larger radius than Keg Smash (when you use Keg Smash) every attack (attacks are very slow, 1 attack per the 4 second activation). Fire attacks quickly for little damage and follows the target when you Breath of Fire. At the end of the 4 second duration, you will see an orange 400 number. I assume this is their health. It doesn't mean anything since they are untargetable. It just pops up on their despawn. Body Block In enclose spaces, you can cut enemies off and body block with the combined hitboxes of the 3 elemental spirits. Since you can't micro, you have to Triple Attack to group them then position them. Remember to auto in between repositioning. Storm is ranged so you'll have that guaranteed damage. Perfect (Body) Block I've never seen this or done this, but theoretically, just as it is possible to dazelock with Wandering Keg it is also possible to completely box someone into an enclosed space either by Triple Attacking on an enemy in a narrow corridor like the tiny bushes in Garden of Terror or by trapping them in a corner like the Wandering Keg stunlock. New I stand corrected! Video proof from user dreamstate, his Perfect Body Block you can trap an enemy hero without using any other units or walls. Split Up I'm still doing experiments on this, but from what I can tell, if you use this ability in the middle of the group, they will all jump back and will converge on your next order as best they can. If you use Triple Attack after they split, they will group again. You can use Split Up to "bump" spirits over walls. If you perform this correctly, you can bump the spirit in "control" over walls so you will reappear in a safe place. You can sometimes nudge spirits in different directions when you Split Up on different sides of the group. Still undergoing testing. Split Up only works when there is at least 2 elemental spirits alive. Nothing happens when you use this ability with only 1 spirit. Escaping Split Up and Triple Attack to the further side of the elemental spirit that is furthest away from the enemies. All of your elemental spirits will jump to the targeted location no matter the distance. Remember you can do this over walls, but it gives you a lot of distance even in open areas.

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Mercenary Camps Tactics Maximizing Damage Combos for Mercenary Camps Auto -> ? Keg Breath -> Flying Kick -> Auto -> Fortifying Brew (at same time as auto) -> Auto when you reach Max Brew to cancel drink. Bruiser Camps When soloing the Bruisers, lay down a ? Keg Breath on as many as you can, then Flying Kick to the Sorceror/Mage in the back. Do not move! Keep autoing the Sorceror/Mage and ? Keg Breath as many of the others as you can. The Melee bruisers on the other side of you will path around the rest until they reach you. At this point, reposition yourself so your Flying Kick will land you on the other side of the Sorceror/Mage and the Bruiser on the end will make the trek back. You will take no damage After the Sorceror/Mage is dead, a Bruiser will take it's place, just rinse and repeat until there are only 2 left. Then finish them off however you want. Remember to drink between spell rotations. After you get full Brew Bar, you can stop drinking and continue autoing to maximize dps. Ring of Fire will help your dps as well. If you are not taking any damage from the camps, do not use the above method. Just make sure your abilities hit as many people as possible and cancel your drink when you reach Max Brew. Siege Camps Just remember to stand between the two Mercenaries if you chose Ring of Fire and make sure you hit both of them with your abilities

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Game Mechanics, Interactions, Bugs Hidden Global Cooldowns (GCD) After casting any basic ability, there's a GCD of ~0.5 seconds for Chen (basic abilities). Surprisingly, this makes Combat Stance slightly more effective, but there's not a lot of applications for this knowledge. GCDs are pretty common, but this does decrease your dps slightly. If you spam Keg Smash -> Breath of Fire as fast as you can, you'll see the cooldown numbers lag behind each other slightly. There seems to be ~1 second GCD on Fortifying Brew You can cancel your drink with any basic ability. However, if you try to Summon Mount or Hearthstone, you will not interrupt your Fortifying Brew. You need to cast an ability or move slightly before casing either of those "spells." If you issue either of those two commands, they will cast immediately after your drinking ends. Weird, huh. Fortifying Brew You regain 40 Brew/s but it does not come in a lumpsum. Your Brew rises in increments of 5 (and sometimes 3). If you interrupt your drink by moving you will see you are sometimes at numbers with a 3 or 8 in the single digits place. This brings me to an actual bug. If you cancel your drinking with a Flying Kick or Keg Smash, the Brew Bar will show that it cost 7 for (Q) and 17 for (W). For example, if you are at 100 Brew and (Q) out of the channel, your Brew Bar will show 93. Your Brew Bar will show 83 if you do the same for (W). This unfortunately does not work with (E). I do not know if this is a visual bug or you actually get reduced costs. Spotlight (Centering the Screen - Spacebar (default)) If you hold spacebar at certain points during a Flying Kick, the spotlight will be stuck at an angle instead of shining down on you directly. Just a visual mechanic, not sure if it was intended or a bug.

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Quickcast Efficiency Quickcasting is definitely more efficient in terms of reaction time and speed for many games. By reducing the number of inputs needed (e.g. Q instead of Q -> Click Target), your ability to react to new visuals on the immediate screen is enhanced. If you are unused to the action of Quickcast, HotS gives you the option of Quickcast "On Release". I find this to be more comfortable than Quickcasting because it allows me time to decide whether I want to take the action as I hold down the button. If I want to cancel, I right click and the command is rescinded. I personally do not use Quickcasting because attack-move is also Quickcasted. I find it easier to be able to keep the attack cursor with the A button and select the target with Left Mouse Button. If HotS had some sort of smartcasting (key modifier for quickcast) I would definitely use that. TL;DR Learning to use Quickcasting should be helpful in reacting faster if you can get used to it (I don't use it because of lack of familiarity). If I had to choose I would use "On Release" for more control. Alt-cast If you hold Alt (I don't know the key for Macs, if anyone knows, tell me and I'll credit you), and cast a {W} or (E), you will immediately cast the ability. For (W), it is a point blank cast (or PBAoE). This will probably only be useful if used immediately after you (Q) to a target that hasn't moved too far from the position when you initiated the Flying Kick. For (E), it will spew fire in the direction your Hero is facing. You will have to aim Chen before you Alt-cast this ability. Using Alt-cast will definitely be much faster, but it seems to be a niche use as of right now.

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Chen's Role You'll find the majority of players actively embrace the meta of 1 Tank, 1 Healer, 1 Ranged Assasin, and a Flex (Mage or Melee Assassin) in Hero League (See: HotSLogs Team Compositions). There are off-meta compositions where Chen can thrive, but the meta compositions are relatively successful. Chen is best used as a tank with a little cc / utility from Pressure Point. Because Chen has no hard cc, choosing a Hero with a stun is preferred if no other members of your team has any hard crowd control. Chen can perform well as an off-tank in a Double Tank team comp to soak up the damage for Heavy Hitters. Chen can fill the role of an off-dps but he does not excel at that role due to being gated by cooldowns and slow attack speed.

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Draft Because there's a draft in Hero League, the first decision you will make is: Should I pick Chen? Does your team have a lot of damage? Does the enemy team have many stuns or interrupts? Does your team have lots of cc? Be the tank. Does your team already have a tank? Does your team already have a healer? Does your team already have two damage dealers? Be the off-dps or off-tank. Two tanks, two heals? Old News Don't choose Chen. He doesn't provide reliable burst as a damage dealer. If you choose to go ranged poke with ? Fiery Brew! ( Breath of Fire focus) your damage over time can be healed up. If you choose to go bursty with ? Hoppy Brew! ( Flying Kick focus) you put yourself in danger because you need to be in the middle of team fight. Be the bigger person and choose another damage dealer. Old News (Unless you're going for a Triple Double Tank and Heal Composition. On paper it seems good for contesting capture points). If you communicate with your team, you can try and go for a Double Tank team composition where Chen can soak damage and crowd control. You will need a couple heroes with heavy damage in the backline doing damage for this to be more effective.

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Builds Main Tank You will be going ? Competitive Brew! the majority of the time. Because your resource is "free" (Brew) your most precious commodity is health. This makes healers or supports with shields your best friends. Along with Amplified Healing, you will be a force with which to be reckoned. If you opt for Storm, Earth, Fire, take Elemental Conduit if you aren't taking that much damage and need something a little extra yourself. Chen Withering Flames Wandering Keg Enough to Share Combo Strikes Purifying Brew View Build Chen Withering Flames Storm, Earth, Fire Enough to Share Combo Strikes Purifying Brew View Build Fire Damage Chen's damage is not sufficient to be the only damage source on a team. If, however, you choose to go full damage, and you have heals on your team, it is a good idea to take Amplified Healing. Play safe in the back with ? Fiery Brew!. New If you already have a healer and a tank, you can build ? Fiery Brew! with Pressure Point instead of Bolder Flavor. You have great 1v1 early levels. Your team fight capabilities are abysmal (your abilities have long cooldowns, damage over time can be healed or regenned), but later on, you still have decent damage versus squishies. In team fights, try to stay back and spam your abilities. Tell your team to kite back, because this build is not for all-ins unless your team is already winning the team fight. Flank the enemy damage dealers or get a pick on them with your team. The majority of the time this build will be inefficient because of the high rate of team fights. You can clear waves and clear jungle faster with this build to roam. Reminder: You are squishy, so positioning is key! Caveat: With this build you will play pretty safe and wait for your cooldowns (5 seconds). Because of this playstyle, you won't be in the thick of things. Sometimes you will do more damage with a tank build just because you can survive the fight longer and land more abilities and auto attack more. Chen Stormstout Secret Recipe Withering Flames Brewmaster's Balance Storm, Earth, Fire A Touch of Honey Combo Strikes Elemental Conduit View Build Kick Damage If you choose to use ? Hoppy Brew!, do not team fight. Look for skirmishes or picks. If you must team fight, avoid the AoE, dive after your tanks, and hope your healers can find you during the ruckus. In the modified build below, you take Pressure Point to stick on enemies and Bolt of the Storm to follow squishies with the same ability or to extricate yourself from a dangerous situation. Chen Accumulating Flame Storm, Earth, Fire Pressure Point Combo Strikes Energizing Brew View Build New If Wandering Keg is a little too much for you to handle I'm finding Storm, Earth, Fire more forgiving and in general a better pick for many team compositions. Use it at full health and you can dive with your primary engage on the enemy backline. Replace Hardened Shield with Elemental Conduit if you have no trouble tanking enemy damage and want a little bit more dps for Mercenary Camps or buildings. Chen Withering Flames Storm, Earth, Fire Enough to Share Combo Strikes Purifying Brew View Build

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Build Adjustments Build Adjustments for ? Competitive Brew! Tier 1 Adjustment for quick games, or small maps where you don't get many opportunities for Regeneration Globes: Full Keg in for Regeration Master. Reason: Utility Tier 2 Adjustment for lack of healer: Swift Reflexes in for Amplified Healing. Reason: No healer, Can Negate a Crit Tier 3 Adjustment for heavy enemy push: Ring of Fire in for Brewmaster's Balance. Reason: Waveclear Caveat: Brewmaster's Balance better in almost every situation. Old News Edit: Even on tank builds, I'm beginning to take Ring of Fire for Mercenary Camp and waveclear over Brewmaster's Balance if I'm very ahead or extremely behind. You will be losing out on a lot of hp/s so take this if you're an off-tank. Read: If you are the only tank, always take Brewmaster's Balance. You will need the movespeed. Edit: With the nerf to Regeneration Master in the Eternal Conflict / Butcher Patch, unless you are the only waveclear or jungler, Brewmaster's Balance is highly preferred. Tier 4 Personal preference. Both are good for escaping and cc ( Storm, Earth, Fire is used to Body Block + Earth slow). In general, Wandering Keg provides more utility from the knockback and zone (for back line and objectives) and Storm, Earth, Fire provides more damage. Elemental Conduit gives you extra damage tacked onto your basic abilities and an additional slow with Earth on your Keg Smash. Edit: The Eternal Conflict / Butcher Patch nerfed Wandering Keg so unless you can utilize it perfectly (e.g. capturing points by knocking enemies away or isolating enemies to pick them off) then I owuld recommend Storm, Earth, Fire. Tier 5 Adjustment for heavy ally pushing team: Enough to Share in for Relentless. Reason: Enemy Has No Stuns, Mitigate Stray Poke For Backline Tier 6 Adjustment for strong mid-game ally team: Bolder Flavor in for Pressure Point. Reason: Tank Towers, Keeps, Forts, Core Caveat: Pressure Point better in almost every situation. Tier 7 Adjustment for lack of intiation: Bolt of the Storm in for Hardened Shield. Reason: Provide Initiation With Wandering Keg Caveat: Hardened Shield better in many situations. Also unlikely to have team comp with no initation. Bolt of the Storm is viable competitively since it is a pickup on other Heroes. If they bolt, bolt after them. Use this to chase or to escape and wait for regen. If you are the tank and have an off-tank or vice versa, you'll have some time to get your health back.

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Questions, Comments, Suggestions? Let me know! Good or bad. Don't like the layout? I'm wrong? Found an error? I'm all ears. Leave a comment.

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Guide Changelog
Version 1.0 - Initial publication!
Version 1.1 - Updated with formatting help from user: tempesti
Version 1.2 - With Hero League
Version 1.3 - Updated with video proof of Perfect Body Block from user: dreamstate
Version 1.4 - An even Deeper Look by request of user: Mermeoth
Version 1.5 - Updated for Eternal Conflict / Butcher Patch

Note: Guide is constantly being updated behind the scenes. The changelog is for certain milestones commemorating input from users or big discoveries. For a more up-to-date look, check out the New section!

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Credits:
BBCode from Launch Guides
Random Brewmaster Image
New Template: Guide Table of Contents
HotSCounters: Chen

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