I A-M HoT PRC Chaos [In-Depth Guide]

1. The Armlet-Diffusal Chaos.

2. The Evasion Chaos.

3. The Diffusal-Evasion Chaos.

4. The Pure Diffusal Chaos.

I call pushfarming, PF (or selective pushing) the action of trying to last hit when pushing (I'm sure everybody did it at some point in time, now I simply put a name to that).

This means that you hit an enemy creep not focused by your other creeps, while keeping an eye on the HP of the (most) focused enemy creep, in order to honor him/her/it a last hit.

Pushfarming has three main advantages:

(1) Farming, therefore earning gold and experience

(2) Pushing, therefore obtaining a positional advantage over your enemy

(3) And last but not least, on the fly HP regen when paired with lifesteal items

That can be extended to smart farming (SF), when you have your second eye on denying your creeps in a mid lane, solo lane or with a deadweight lane partner. This adds the advantage of denying your opponent's experience (and gold), while being prone to loosing some of your gold (and experience, if the enemy denies it from you), as you can't last hit and deny simultaneously, if the situation occurs.

Smart farming is usually an early game process, as it doesn't push the lane. Best split on advanced players' lane in carry farming and support denying.

Strictly regarding the early item build, this guide will allow you to skip the 1775 Drum of Endurance that does nothing else than delaying your core, which is your Armlet of Mordiggian, by the way, not your Armlet of Mordiggian and Drum of Endurance. Excepting the early Power Treads and Magic Wand duo present in almost any other Chaos Knight core, which is nevertheless a good thing, add a Morbid Mask and a Town Portal Scroll scroll and the core is done:

Power Treads>>> Magic Wand>>> Null Talisman>>> Morbid Mask>>> Town Portal Scroll>>> Armlet of Mordiggian

Now what do I have against Drum of Endurance?

I almost sold it every time in about 10-15 minutes after I bought it and furthermore, its benefits don't quite worth the money. You can have two Null Talismans for the 940 amount of gold that will boost your STATS to +6 STR, +6 AGI and +12 INT, not like the 1775 Drum of Endurance's gold spent on +9 STR, +9 AGI and +9 INT.

Note:

Q1: How about that very good aura?

A1: Well, with this signature build, you can forget about that as you'll have the level 3 Reality Rift at hero level 5 and the level 4 Reality Rift at hero level 7 AND enough mana to abuse this spell.

Let's compute the necessity of such aura: 5% of MS increase means a total of 375*1.05=393 MS. The 10% (when active), means extra 38 MS to stack with the 393 MS for a total of 431 MS. That's 431-375=56 MS increase (for 6 seconds for a maximum of 4 times with a 30 seconds cooldown).

But I HAVE THE MANA TO ABUSE Reality Rift which will reduce the gap between me and my enemy for 550/600/650/700 each 24/18/12/6 seconds! Compared to a Drum of Endurance, that yields a 22.92/33.33/54.17/116.67 equivalent MS increase! Not 56! Not only for 4 charges, but when you have 70 mana! Not to mention that you are now cutting his retreat path, which adds another 25 to him getting out of this fight the way he wanted before you Reality Rifted him.

How about having them both? Sure, for 1775 gold, so DON'T!

I found a cheaper way to do this: buy a Null Talisman and follow the 2301 to 2401 build.

Q2: Come on, Reality Rift is quite good when you SEE the enemy, but what if you DON'T see him? And what if you don't have mana for casting it?

A2: But I have the mana for it. And with two Null Talismans I overtake your +9 INT boost coming from the Drum of Endurance STAT gain for a little over half the price of the Drum (940/1775=53%).

Suppose you have no mana, the enemy left your sight/is out of Reality Rift range and you know which way he went.

Suppose even he didn't blinked away (so he can't do it again) by himself (maybe he was Force Staff-ed out) and that his MS is by this time of the game, say a rather average 350 compared to your boosted 431.

The difference of 81 MS over 600 range will be covered by you in 600/81=7.4 seconds. Come on, do you really want to chase a guy for 7 seconds? He can get close to the other tower by then and if your HP are a bit more than his, trying to towerdive to get him will surely get YOURSELF killed in the process.

And considering your Endurance buff lasts just 6 second, you'll actually get to him in

6 seconds + [600-6*(431-350)]/(393-350)=6+2.6=8.6 seconds

Not to mention the possibilities of him:
- running towards his mates
- getting healed in the 8 seconds span you get to him
- blinking away (again) and leaving you wandering around wondering if your biggest fail in this was buying the Drum of Endurance in hoping to better 'chase' the enemy or deciding to go after him in the first place.

No, just don't buy it; ever again. Not to mention you only have 4 charges of +10% boost.

Q3: But isn't that good for the team, anyway?

A3: To some extent, yes. But don't you go buy it 'for the team'.

Even considering that you are the most able-to-chase-a-fleeing-hero (which is almost true, except for the cases you have a blinking/Force-Staff-ing/max speed mate - maybe like rune-boosted or Bloodseeker) due to your Drum of Endurance +18 MS (18.75) and 38 MS (37.5) boost, you still won't get to him that quick, but in more than 8 seconds. So leave the chase to blinkers and go buy a Null Talisman for the team, because the 70 mana needed to rift him closer to your team is better than spending 1775 gold for that piece of junk, anyway. The idea here is not allowing the enemy to flee in the first place by constantly Reality Rifting him in.

See what I did here? I found something cheaper than a mainstream Chaos Knight core item that is even better for him! In addition, you'll get to your true core faster and the money you saved plus the money you'll gain by doing that will even 'snowball' you to your Armlet of Mordiggian core!

But to totally destroy the Drum of Endurance and therefore any other old or new builds based on it, I'll remind you one of the two main disadvantages that make me sell the Drum of Endurance in maximum 15 minutes after I buy it: not being able to upgrade it (the other one being that it really did sh!t in helping out at 'chasing').

I'll even find another alternatives to it.

Aside one or two Null Talismans that are 26-53% of its price!

(1) The immediate gold-superior alternative to it is a 2050 gold Yasha which has a +10% permanent MS increase and to cut a long story short, upgrades to a Manta Style which is definitely core-like right after Armlet of Mordiggian.

(1') A 2100 Ultimate Orb. Bad parts first: you can't buy it in parts, it's more expensive than the Drum of Endurance and there's no (freaking!) aura to it. We'll leave this for later, as this is a bogus item right now.
But together with Yasha, it builds into a Manta Style, which is always good.

(2) The following superior alternative to it are the 2450 gold Boots of Travel. Not only it gives you an additional +50 MS increase which is 77% more than the +18 MS the Drums of Endurance gives you after you use all the charges, but it is a permanent increase and not a 6 second boost!

Furthermore, the Boots of Travel are a great addition throughout the game by giving you the ability to push when there are no friendly standing towers to reduce the gaps between you and your creeps and even get in the first line of pushing, not having to run for another half of the map (from the tower to your creeps).

Not to mention it doesn't cost another 800 gold after the first 4 'charges'. This is one of the main reasons these little suckers are a core in the Chaos Knight pusher build and furthermore the synergy with Hyperstone is tremendous: Lategame you can loose the +30 AS coming from your Power Treads in exchange to early global (friendly) presence and an extra slot!

But in simply pushing, the trio Boots of Travel + Hyperstone + Vladmir's Offering will work wonders added to your initial pre-core of Power Treads, Null Talisman and Magic Wand.

(3) 2700 gold Necronomicon (I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT!) is the next item that silences the looong Drum of Endurance story on Chaos Knight once and for all.

Although it doesn't improve any of his AGI and lowers the STR by 1 compared to what the Drum of Endurance has to offer, it offers a boost of +6 on his INT which again means additional mana for Reality Rift. 15/9 INT comparison between the two means Necronomicon gives 66% more INT for 44% more gold than a Drum of Endurance - a bargain I'll always take. And get this: Using the Necronomicon, the Necronomicon Archer it summons has an Attack Speed and Movement Aura of 3/3% which is 60% of the Swiftness Aura of the drum.

Not to mention the effect it has on having two additional summoned units around in a teamfight or when pushing, working in perfect synergy with Yasha or Hyperstone to fill the AGI gap and send you thinking about the next two good items to buy: Manta Style and Assault Cuirass.

Another thing: IT CAN BE UPGRADED, the level 3 Necronomicon Warrior having a built-in 1000 True Sight radius while the level 3 Necronomicon Archer has a 9/9% Attack Speed and Movement Aura that lasts for 40 seconds (or until the summoned unit dies) instead of 6 seconds and it can be cast again after its (quite large) 80 second cooldown at no extra cost.

There are great other things to say about Necronomicon like the Necronomicon Archer's Mana Burn skill which is enormous, the 1300 sight vision of both warriors that even increases with leveling, the 400/500/600 damage coming from Necronomicon Warrior's Last Will and add in the barely-noticeable size of the warriors (smaller than creeps) and you have one of the best items for Chaos Knight right here.

Go check Necronomicon up righ now!

While (1) and (2) are MS increase replacements for the drum and (1') and (3) are (almost) on-par attribute replacements, I have another pair for you right here:

(4) 1100 gold Vitality Booster is anytime welcomed on Chaos Knight as it gives the best bang for the buck when it comes to mid-game HP items: 1100 gold/250 HP=4.4 gold/HP. Similarly, an Ogre Club pays 5.26 gold/HP, an active Armlet of Mordiggian pays 5.47 gold/HP and our infamous drum 10.96 gold/HP - by the way - but considering the drum actually gives +9 to all stats, the drum gold/STAT (not HP) is actually 3.65 (if we consider only a third of the drum price yielding the HP).

The thing here is that I'm actually not interested by the Agility it gives as +9 AGI means +9 AS and +9/7=+1.29 Armor, so basically the drum will rather 'go' for more.

Vitality Booster is actually great paired with Armlet of Mordiggian and lifesteal, boosting Chaos Knight's HP by a combined 725 HP when the Armlet is active, which is always nice. <3 And it's a Heart of Tarrasque component - nuff said.

(5) 2200 gold Blade Mail not only gives +10 INT which is good for (some of) his needs, but gives +6 Armor which accounts for +42 AGI when strictly talking about the Armor AGI gives. But wait, there's more: Blade Mail also gives +22 DMG and - here's the cherry on top - its active reflects ANY damage to the attacker(s) that dealt it! Both physical and magical!

In other words, you can go after enemies having lower HP than yours without worrying you'll either die or at least get hit: if he/she targets you, he/she'll die before you die even if you don't hit him/her at all, while if he/she chooses not to engage you, you are free to hit your not-engaging enemy (lol) for 4.5 seconds, and 4.5 seconds of attacking without being attacked is quite something. Ranged enemies will instantly get in melee range thanks to your Reality Rift, so good luck crushing those enemy skulls (uhh, and avoid being silenced :P ).

And for only 2200 gold with a 4.5 seconds 25 mana active with 17 seconds cooldown?!? This is a bargain you can't miss! Now why do I encourage this and NOT Black King Bar, as both put a target on my back, i.e. can single out me from my illusions? Simple: use this on 1-on-1 encounters you are out-DPS-ed ( Drow Ranger, Templar Assassin, Sniper, and so on - works great against non-BKB users like these) or when the enemy already found the real Chaos Knight among your mirror images in team fights: at least they'll pay for their 'finding', right? ^^

Other reasons being Black King Bar has a higher cool-down, attracts DPS-ers as bulb light attracts flies, being almost twice as expensive and serving a different purpose on (an illusion-built) Chaos Knight - if any (pertinent) at all.

Having these in mind, I'd expect gamepedia.com to change one of the descriptions of Drum of Endurance:

'Heroes whose default item build includes Drum of Endurance as a core item: Beastmaster, Brewmaster, Chaos Knight, Invoker, Magnus, Rubick, Treant Protector, Tusk.'

(http://dota2.gamepedia.com/Drum_of_Endurance)

at least with respect to Chaos Knight.

Because the Drum of Endurance is mainly a fleeing item on him and not one that is active in battle.

And with respect to his (5%!) increased movement speed when roaming that leads to a 2-3 seconds less total time for galloping from one corner of the map to another, buy a Town Portal Scroll or the Boots of Travel instead. Or wait the couple of seconds.

Oh, so you really wanted to check this spoiler, huh?

Well, as a brief note, I'll go for in-depth discussions of his skills while explaining WHY this skill build is the right way of building Chaos Knight.

I'll even add a bit of demolishing other skill builds for him (especially the 4300 build) like I demolished the Drum of Endurance from his item build here.

And as a bonus, you'll even get some advanced insights on WHY the Item Build that will follow is the right one.

So let's get the party started! ^^

4. Phantasm (This is a CHAOS guide, remember?)

By far, a good ultimate is a good-scaling ultimate and fortunately, Chaos Knight's ultimate, Phantasm, is one of them.

I started with it because Phantasm is the first part of your initiation combo, which is Phantasm and Reality Rift, not because I wanted to complicate this guide in a chaotic way, bare with me.

Phantasm creates an additional mirror of Chaos Knight for each of its three levels, therefore:

one point in Phantasm will create one Chaos Knight illusion,

two points in Phantasm will create two illusions of Chaos Knight and

three points in Phantasm will create three illusions of Chaos Knight.

For a cooldown of 140 seconds.

Now why is that a good-scaling ultimate?

Because:

(1) The enemy has a 50%/33%/25% chance of single-outing you, at least until he figures out which one is the real you, which looks like some sort of free 50%/67%/75% evasion to me.

(2) Your illusions are among the strongest illusions in the game, dealing full damage and taking double damage.

Only Dark Seer can add more to his illusions damage, but only by investing in a 4200 gold Aghanim's Scepter.

And the 'Most Durable Illusion' award goes to Morphling's Replicate, for 100% total damage received (normal damage received), while Shadow Demon's Disruption illusions are the runners up with their 150% damage received.

These three are also possible foes of Chaos Knight from this point of view.

(3) They synergize with two of your main abilities: Reality Rift and Chaos Strike.

The Reality Rift synergy will be explained in its immediate subchapter, while the Chaos Strike synergy is the following: your illusions benefit from the built-in critical strike to its full, because as I previously said, your illusions deal full damage.

(4) Chaos Knight's ultimate synergizes with other two main item categories: items providing HP increase and items providing evasion. Another thing working on illusions is Diffusal Blade's Feedback (to be discussed here).

The first category has more pretenders, among which one of them shines: the Armlet of Mordiggian.

The second category regarding evasion provides 'only' three contenders: Talisman of Evasion, Heaven's Halberd and Butterfly. We'll address both of the categories later on.

Does Phantasm have weak points? Yes:

(1) High cooldown (DON'T buy a refresher orb, though)

(2) Your illusions' damage benefit only from STR (STATS or items providing it).

When to use it?

(1) To initiate a PRC combo in a gank or not

(2) To initiate a PRC... combo

(3) Just to initiate (R 'combo'), for example when pushing/pushfarming

(4) To increase your escaping chances when having low health and no Armlet of Mordiggian

(5) To increase your escaping chances when being ganked

(6) For dodging projectiles in its 0.5 seconds Chaos Knight shell game

Will be leveled at 6, 11 and 16, respectively.

2. Reality Rift

This is the second part of your magic initiation (the R in PRC) and is as equally important in the PRC combo as your ultimate, Phantasm.

In synergy with Phantasm, casting Reality Rift after Phantasm will take you and ALL your illusion(s) within an 1400 range to meet your target at a random point between Chaos Knight and the (unfortunate) target (30 to 80 percent of the belligerent distance).

In addition, ONLY THE REAL Chaos Knight gains a 25/50/75/100 bonus damage for only one hit up to a period of 1.2 second after you cast it.

Now get this: other illusion(s) don't have that bonus damage, but are automatically issued an attack order against your target. How great is that? ^^

Casting Reality Rift without having any illusions in a 1400 range teleports you alone to your belligerent skull-crushing meeting, so when chasing, be careful to chase with ALL your illusion, by CTRL+clicking on or around the target before using Reality Rift or by issuing an attack/move command while holding the CTRL key.

Now remember we talked about which spells are more random at the 'Cons' section?

Phantasm has no randomness in it whatsoever, while the only random part in Reality Rift is the meeting point between (one or more mirror images of) Chaos Knight and his unfortunate victim. On the opposite, Chaos Bolt has both a random damage palette AND a random stun interval. Why should one max Chaos Bolt first?

Taking into consideration the 'slight' one-second stun improvement between a level 2 Chaos Bolt and a maxed out level 4 Chaos Bolt (together with 50 additional damage, though), two points in Chaos Bolt for increasing the stun by a mere one second are not justified early on. His mana requirements are twice of Reality Rift, too.

Coming back, Reality Rift is your only spell that is not based on a random damage but on a random distance and in addition, is your only spell affected by a cooldown reduction while leveling.

These characteristics together with the synergy with Phantasm makes it the best candidate to be maxed out by level 7 together with a point in Phantasm at level 6.

A bad way of using Reality Rift usually later on is by pulling a crowd-needing enemy AOE initiator right in the middle of your team.

Think about Slardar's Slithereen Crush, Centaur Warruner's Hoof Stomp and Double Edge, Puck's Waning Rift AND Dream Coil and if we're in the range of ultimates, let's consider Earthshaker's Echo Slam, Sand King's Epicenter and mother of all failed Reality Rifts, Tidehunter's Ravage; WITH Refresher Orb.

Be aware for AOE initiators: they usually wield a Blink Dagger or have built-in blinking abilities like Queen of Pain's Blink. Fear Shadow Blade initiators, too, for which Dust of Appearance or Sentry Ward come in handy as cheap alternatives of exposing them.

Reality Rift will be leveled at 2, 4, 5 and 7, respectively.

1. Chaos Bolt

Chaos Bolt is a random-duration, random-damage stun-type disable. Having a random duration and a random damage, its usefulness arises only when:

(1) You need it in your PRC combo

(2) You definitely need it in an (extended) PRCR or PRCR... combo

(3) You need a disabling spell offensively, other than your Reality Rift (mainly because Reality Rift is on cooldown)

(4) You need a disabling spell used defensively (you need a STUN to escape the situation, for example when dealing with Pudge)

Having a 140 mana requirement which is even costlier than your 125 starting Phantasm mana, you'll mainly use it as a prayer. Cast and pray. Mainly for increased duration. Increased duration to get your Reality Rift cooldowned while oozing in more hits. Or just increased duration to run like the wind.

Its main intended use comes in the level 6 PRC... combo for disabling the prey to get more hits in and in its upgraded level 7 starting PRC... combos to disabling your target (while even hitting him a few times, if possible) followed by another Reality Rift. Well, considering that its range is a 'mere' 500 compared to one of 550/600/650/700 of its 70 mana sibling spell, in a PRC combo you should use it:

(1) You Reality Rifted and landed a hit or two afterwards but he's not in melee range for more hits (he's trying to flee)

(2) Quickly disabling him/her after Reality Rift (and it's corresponding one hit per mirror image), as he/she is a nuker or AOE caster. This is the most useful in the level 6 PRC combo, because:

a. if his/her nukes are single-target ones he/she will nuke one of the two images and find the real you by one-shot nuking your image (a level 6 Lina casting her Laguna Blade will instantly damage/kill an illusion of you for 900 damage)

b. if his/her nukes are single-target ones he/she will nuke one of the two images and find the real you by targeting you (a level 6 Lina casting her Laguna Blade will instantly damage you for 450 damage)

c. if his/her spells are AOE spells, he/she can look at the two mirror images' health drop and find the real Chaos Knight as the one who has more HP afterwards.
Again, think of Lina's and her Dragon Slave or Light Strike Array, the latter being the most dangerous of the two, as it has a built-in stun. She can quickly find out the real you if not even nuke you quick.

Note:

Q: Lina is a real pain in the a** to play against, isn't she?

A: Yes, in the early game she is a strong counter for Chaos Knight, for not being 'receptive' to Chaos Knight's PRC combo. But nevertheless she can be (gang-)countered if she's low on mana, with the help of a disabler mate or trying to have your two mirror images on each side of her to at least cross the Dragon Slave out of the situation. She's even in the class of disabling her BEFORE you PR her.

(3) Quickly disabling a blinking-away target to prevent him/her from fleeing.

But for escaping, Chaos Bolt and Phantasm remain the two ability options and still, Chaos Bolt has a 10 seconds cooldown, so use it if you initiated with Phantasm and have the ultimate on cooldown or YOU NEED a stun-based disable (in escaping from Pudge, for example).

For offensive and initiation requirements, Reality Rift may prove to be the better option (lower cooldown, higher range, bringing the enemy closer to you and your mates) but for the times Reality Rift is on cooldown and your target is 300 HP away from death, you cast it as a good Chaos bringer that you are and hope for the best.

But for the times your Reality Rift is no(t) good, you'll have to do with your Chaos Bolt.

A discussion on Chaos Bolt with respect to its leveling must be done in accordance with Reality Rift AND Chaos Knight's build, as almost everybody else use the 4-3-0-0 build for Chaos Knight's first 7 levels.

Yes, it's a DISABLE and people stress the need of having a 2 seconds guaranteed stun, achievable if you put 4 points in it.

My 2-3-0-1 chances of getting a 2 seconds stun are 66%, as the two points I invest in Chaos Bolt offer me:

- 33% chance of stunning for 1 second
- 33% chance of stunning for 2 seconds and,
- 33% chance of stunning for 3 seconds

The 4-3-0-0 chances of getting a 2 second are, of course, 100%.

Buuut, let's look at a 4-point-stun-investment Chaos Bolt:

- 33% chance of stunning for 2 seconds
- 33% chance of stunning for 3 seconds and,
- 33% chance of stunning for 4 seconds

Which is a 'mere' +1 second to the level 2 stun Chaos Bolt!

Sure, there is a striking resemblance of '2 seconds' in level 2 Chaos Bolt and '3 seconds' in level 4 Chaos Bolt, which some may shout out it's a 33-100% increase! True. I agree. But in that ???% increase of 1 second, how many hits can you get? Another one, not more. With one Chaos Knight mirror image that is yourself. And no P in your _RC combo.

But in the 2-4-0-1 PRC combo, its level 2 value increases drastically.

Now having the 2-4-0-1 PRC combo, when you Reality Rift after Phantasm, you hit him TWICE already. Hit him some more if he holds his ground. If he gets out of melee range and Reality Rift is on cooldown, use Chaos Bolt to stun him for the time needed to get him in melee range again.

Basically, your MS SHOULD be bigger than his/hers, so he/she can't outrun you from the start. Considering some creeps get in between the two of you, you'll reach him/her again in 1-2 seconds. Hit again, if you are lucky. If you are painting while playing Dota 2 and he escapes again, brush a Reality Rift on and for sure this time there won't be any creeps between you and him/her.

For an assumed 80 Chaos Knight damage, that's a 100+2*80+100+2*80=520 damage without adding the 50-225 damage from Chaos Bolt and any other damage you might landed in between casting the spells, damage he receives in 6-7 seconds time, having him disabled or running away for most of this time, so therefore NOT ATTACKING YOU. Using my INT Power Treads + Null Talisman + 3 Iron Branches build will give you +17 INT boost at your already 23 INT coming from STATS, resulting in a mana pool of 520 mana at level 7, enough to cast a THIRD Reality Rift (a PRCRR combo) or almost enough to cast another Chaos Bolt (a PRCRC combo). The cheap fall-back build (244 gold farmed in 5-6 minutes aside the starting 625 gold) at level 7 will event grant the third Reality Rift for an extra 200 gold Magic Stick with 4 charges.

Now how much amount of damage you deal in 7 seconds? Assuming you hit once per second, 8 hits means 8*80=640 damage.

And he won't be impressed as his damage goes down slowly.

First of all, he/she won't admire you hitting him/her for so long, second, you don't even strike that fast! You might get honored with some slow and damaging spell and you'll stop damaging him as he strikes back, in the worst case scenario. In a better scenario, he might flee.

Hitting him with a PR combo, you instantly take 260 HP away from him! 260 DMG in a second, not in almost 3! Then another 160 if he's not careful! That's 420 HP loss in 2-3 seconds of standing next to him! 420/640=0.66 of the 'lucky' damage in 2/7=0.29 or 3/7=0.43 of the 'lucky' time. So you deal a bigger amount of damage in a smaller time interval. If I'd loose that much HP in 2-3 seconds, I'd try to land a disable (if I have one) and flee. Even considering I have my disable: which of the two mirror images I target now?

The PRC combo is based on three main principles:

(1) You deal double damage (two mirror images)

(2) You receive half damage (two mirror images to disperse enemy's attack), at least until he finds the real you.

(3) He/she will be disabled for a set amount of time, therefore not fighting back for some time.

Add another two and you have the perfect combo:

(4) It's a quick combination ( Pudge sends kudos)

(5) He/she might be fleeing or trying to flee for another period of time, so he/she might not even fight back at all...

Getting back to Chaos Bolt now: we already discussed Chaos Bolt cooldown doesn't decrease with leveling when opting for the 2-4-0-1 build instead. So why do people like to max this out first? Do they even need it in the 4-3-0-0 build?

Let's look at the two builds: the old 4-3-0-0 build and the 2-4-0-1 signature build (this one).

Well, the first thing that may strike out is the level the 4-3-0-0 build has its first Phantasm: 10 (with level 9 being devoted to STATS). So no PRC... combo until then.

So what CAN I do now with a level 4 Chaos Bolt (and a level 3 Reality Rift?

Well, in 5 seconds I can hit my target, stun for 4 seconds and hit for another 5 times! Wow! Really? Won't you get a 275 max Chaos Bolt damage, too?
OK, considering you do that amount of damage:
80+275+5*80=755 damage.
Impressive! And no skill needed whatsoever! Nor the tiniest grain of luck! You should definitely write a Chaos Knight one- Chaos Bolt guide! o.O

Now seriously, Chaos Bolt at level 4 will grant you a 2-4 stun, 100-275 damage and you WILL NOT hit once each second for a total gold build of 869 (including the starting 625 gold).

The maximum AS increase for that buck comes by combining your Gloves of Haste for 500 gold and two Slippers of Agility for 150 gold each, that together with the 12 AGI STAT increase coming with leveling to 7, will lead to a 33 increase in his AS. Won't hit in a second or less with that, not to mention your build was pretty much fuNked-up by not having any regen items to start with and will for sure be fuNked-up starting right now.

Factor in a 33% chance of stunning for 4 seconds and a random damage within 100 to 275 range and you're closer to hitting for 3 times, maybe 4 if you're lucky, going to a total damage of 340(420)-595 damage. Quite a range! Luck shines in favor of your opponent...

Now if had my 2-4-0-1 build and I would have been as lucky as you, I'd Phantasm, hit him twice, without Reality Rifting, stun him for 3 seconds (my level 2 Chaos Bolt chance of getting a max stun is 33%, identical to your 33% of getting a level 4 Chaos Bolt stun of 4 seconds, right?) in which I'll hit him for 4 times with each mirror image, for 10 hits at 80 damage and a maximum level 2 Chaos Bolt damage of 225. We're on the same side of luck, remember? I have a total damage of:
800+225=1025
which is still a 36% increase over your 755 damage of your 4-3-0-0 build.

So one point of Phantasm and two points in Chaos Bolt for your level 7 Chaos Knight are enough for a 36% increase in your 'lucky damage output'.

I indirectly proved that a level 4 Chaos Bolt does less 'lucky' damage that a level 1 Phantasm and a level 2 Chaos Bolt.

And following by build, you'll have enough mana for both of those.

Now I'll give you 8 other good reasons to forget the old 4-3-0-0 old build in a more quicker way:

(1) Phantasm + 2 level 4 Reality Rifts SECURE 4 hits of 80 damage each and an additional 2*100 bonus damage, to a total of
4*80+2*100=320+200=520
RELIABLE damage which is pretty close to the 595 'lucky' damage threshold of the previous 340(420)-595 damage interval.

(2) Add a level 2 Chaos Bolt giving a minimum 50 damage and you're up at 570 RELIABLE damage

(3) The Chaos Bolt gives an additional time interval of 1-3 seconds to have another 0-2 hits

(4) You can have another 0-4 hits after each of your two 6-seconds-apart Reality Rifts

(5) The Chaos Bolt fits perfectly in the 6 seconds span between two Reality Rifts

(6) You have two images of you, so the enemy finds it harder to focus you. About 50% harder, and until he does, you stun him to deliver some optional damage. There is a high chance (66% for a 2 seconds or more stun) that your mirror images will each hit him once to make a total of 2*80 damage during this interval or even a 33% chance to land a 3 seconds stun and kindly administer him 4 hits for a 320 'lucky' damage, adding up to a damage range of 570-1210+ damage:

- 100% chance for 570 RELIABLE damage
- 66% chance for 730 RELIABLE damage (each mirror image hits once after a 2 seconds Chaos Bolt stun)
- 33% chance for 890 RELIABLE damage (each mirror image hits twice after a 3 seconds Chaos Bolt stun)
- <33% chance for 1210 MAXIMUM damage if you get a 3 seconds Chaos Bolt stun and one additional hit per mirror image per Reality Rift, which some may achieve by proper micro and a bit (33%) of luck.

Take that, 765 maximum level 7 damage Meat Hook + Rot + Dismember Pudge!

And keep in mind that your target is dazzled, disabled or not fighting for the best part of your combination (because he/she is fleeing), while you and another mirror image of you are free to roam around, hit or do whatever you want, well, at least until you get disabled. Then Reality Rift the courageous ba*tard in!

Pudge has a quicker (3 seconds) combo, but he:
- must have proper skills to land his Meat Hook while your Reality Rift is a piece of cake
- will take 180 damage from his own Rot (unless he has some form of damage reduction and that costs him 550 gold for 15% reduction early on, going to a 'decreased' damage intake of 153)
- and his Dismember is channeled so
a. he can take damage during it (but not directly from his target)
b. he can be disabled (not by his target) and his ultimate stopped, inflicting less damage
c. he has only one mirror image of him, being 100% targetable (but not by his target)
d. he is standing still during the process, not roaming around, dodging something
e. by the way, if Pudge tries to combo you and he misses the Meat Hook, he's dead
f. if not, your full HP alone can take that punishment, so stun him and just run away afterwards

This is what makes Pudge one of the best gankers/roamers: the ability to finish the job quick and leaving before somebody else tries to help the poor target.

You can be as dangerous as Pudge by just doing it the fastest way you can, and/or with a bit of luck.

But to land a proper Meat Hook you need skill. Taking into consideration that your MS is the greatest on the map early on and the fact that your Reality Rift is very easy to cast in comparison to Pudge's Meat Hook, you can PRC... for some couple hundreds more than the minimum 570 guaranteed damage, thus coming close to Pudge's 765 damage combo.

(7) The advantage of having three available spells instead of two

(8) I indirectly prove that level 4 Chaos Bolt is not the better choice at level 7 by factoring a level 1 Phantasm in. Now why isn't a level 3 Chaos Bolt better for a 3-3-0-1 build?
I'll quickly demolish that by factoring in now the level 4 Reality Rift compared to a level 3 Reality Rift:
- 6 second cooldown for the level 4 Reality Rift (2-3 casts in a PRCR(R) combo)
- 50/75 extra RELIABLE damage (2/3 casts) compared to a level 3 Reality Rift and
- 25 extra RELIABLE damage compared to a level 3 Chaos Bolt
althoug there is no direct RELIABLE damage difference between a 3-3-0-1 Reality Rift + Chaos Bolt combo and a 2-4-0-1 one (75+75 compared to 50+100), there is:
- a slight 9% chance increase up to 75% that the stun will last 2 or more seconds (25% for the 2 second stun, 25% for the 3 second stun and 25% for the 4 second stun)
- the possibility of stunning for 4 seconds
- an additional 25 UNRELIABLE damage increase

Choose 10 seconds cooldown for 140 mana over 6 seconds cooldown for 70 mana. Geeze!

At 6 to 10 levels, it is definitely the most mana-intensive spell in the PRC combo, only to be leveled by two Reality Rifts in the PRCR combo and surpassed by three of them in the PRCRR combo, that by the way, deal MORE RELIABLE damage.

Note:

Q1: How many times can I Reality Rift within a PRC... combo?

A1: At level 7, as Phantasm has a 24 seconds non-hindered illusions' existence, you can Reality Rift for up to 4 times, considering the next Reality Rift to be without your illusions, therefore outside the PRC... combo.

Q2: So what are all the PRC... combo variations?

A1: For the 2-3-0-1 going to 2-4-0-1 signature build it depends on the level you're at:

level 6:
PRC for 335 mana
PRCR for 405 mana
PRCRC for 545 mana
PRCRCC for 685 mana

level 7-25:
PRC for 335 mana
PRCR for 405 mana
PRCRR for 475 mana
PRCRC for 545 mana
PRCRRR for 545 mana
PRCRCR for 615 mana
PRCRRC for 615 mana
PRCRCRR for 685 mana
PRCRCRC for 755 mana
PRCRCRCR for 825 mana

As you can see (if you can, I think I need 5 minutes of eyes relaxation aftel all that R and C), the PRC... combos are quite a few and judging by the amount of damage they do from your increasingly AS, increasing STATS, better items, your level 11 extra mirror image and again an extra mirror image at level 16, these combos also SCALE up in synergy with Chaos Knight which is the point of this guide.

Nevertheless, having a late PRC... combo has two major drawbacks:

(1) it's very lengthy: no lategame fight will last 24 seconds ever! Or maybe a few 5-10% percent of them; nor you(r illusions) will last that long, taking into account the high DPS output in a lategame clash.

(2) some of these combinations are very mana intensive. Take for instance the level 6 PRCRCC combo for 685 mana. It's very hard to cast, as landing 3 Chaos Bolt stuns means already an interval of 20 seconds. Add a couple of seconds for the Phantasm + the first Reality Rift and you're quite near the illusions' life span, not to mention you'll squeeze in another Reality Rift at some point in time. So although the combination is possible, it's not probable due to the need of having 685/13=53 total INT that early on (22 INT coming from STATS alone implies you have to have items worth 31 INT at such an early 6 level) or having an extended mana pool coming from a simple Magic Stick / Magic Wand (even Soul Ring)- but careful! - you must have at least 11 charges at your disposal! Ore one magic charge and another 800 gold spent on the Soul Ring, adding to a total of either 2419/3219 gold (with Magic Stick / Soul Ring).

The most important drawback in having a 475 mana PRCRR at level 6 is the 12 seconds cooldown limitation of the level 3 Reality Rift, so what spell will you upgrade at level 7?...

Some (95% of you) might say: 'You have no mana for casting all the three spells, let alone for a level 6 PRCRC combo.'

But I have the mana, just go read my guide.

A cheap 869 gold item build (including the starting 625 gold) consisting of:

Null Talisman>>> Healing Salve>>> Tango>>> Iron Branch>>> Iron Branch>>> Iron Branch

makes my mana pool go 403 wich ables me to cast a level 6 PRCR worth 405 mana, as my mana will regenerate its 2 more needed mana until I finish casting my combo.

For an intermediate STRING of 1669 total gold (considering I used/thrown away the previous regen items):

Null Talisman>>> Robe of the Magi>>> Magic Stick>>> Iron Branch>>> Iron Branch>>> Iron Branch

my level 6 mana will be 481.

And for the recommended STRING of 2419 gold (1400 for INT Power Treads and 200 for a Magic Stick):

Null Talisman>>> Power Treads>>> Magic Stick>>> Iron Branch>>> Iron Branch>>> Iron Branch

my level 6 mana will be 520.

Now, helping the latter two builds with some Magic Stick charges (5 charges for the intermediate STRING and 2 charges for the recommended one), I can even cast my PRCRC combo at level 6!

But my target has a very high chance of being dead by then.

At least once.

And now, at level 7 and up, having maxed out Reality Rift, I can cast my PRCRR combo! ^^

Too bad Reality Rift can't be maxed out at level 5.

Now... why MAX OUT a random-damage, random-duration stun spell first?

Chaos Bolt will be taken at levels 1, 3, 8 and 9, respectively.

3. Chaos Strike

His Chaos Strike passive provides a 10% fixed-while-leveling critical strike chance of dealing a total damage of 1.5/2/2.5/3 times his normal damage.

Having it on level 4 makes the 3 times multiplier the closest built-in-critical-strike-like passive to Phantom Assasin's Coup de Grace, although Chaos Knight's critical strike is not an ultimate ability. But nevertheless, its chances are lower, of 10%, giving a total of 20% average DPS increase.

In case of Phantom Assassin's Coup de Grace, the average DPS increase is a whooping 52.5%.

Buuut!...

...starting the moment he has a level 4 Chaos Strike and attacks with all his 3 Phantasm-created 24 second lasting illusions, his DPS increase skyrockets to a staggering 80%! Take that, Phantom Assasin!

Nevertheless, averaging 80% over 24 seconds and 20% over the remaining 96 seconds we get an 'average' DPS increase output of (0.80*24+0.20*116)/(24+116)=42.4/140=0.30=30%, considering you spawn your Phantasm each and every time it 'cools down' and provided all your illusions will live for their 24 second ephemeral existence.

On the other hand, a Daedalus on a no-crit hero improves his average DPS output by 35%.

So a Daedalus on a Chaos Knight without any point in Chaos Strike that doesn't spawn his Phantasm every now and then will increase his total DPS output to 35%.

Now let's take into account only his Phantasm-spawned illusions affected by its level 4 Chaos Strike alone: [(0.6*24+0*24)+(0*116)]/(24+116)=0.10, translating into 10% DPS output coming from all 24 out of 140 seconds illusions' lifetime, which verifies the 30% overall increase I computed earlier (20%+10%=30% here, having no other Critical Strike items).

So basically having a Daedalus is even better than both his round-the-clock- Phantasm spawning AND Chaos Strike combined! For no mana cost!

Buuut!...

...by any means, having three extra illusions to deflect single-target enemy fire 'theoretically' increases his survivability for the 24 second span by 300% (150% as the Phantasm illusions take double damage).

So adding up, Phantasm + its free built-in Chaos Strike NOT ONLY LEADS to an 80% DPS increase over a 24 second controlled period, but to a 150% increase in survivability to deal the same 80% DPS increase. Factoring those and assuming my math reasoning is correct I got:

[0.8*100+1.5*(0.8*100)]/100=[0.8*100*(1+1.5)]100=0.8*100*2.5/100=200/100=2=200% DPS increase

So basically factoring that and when fighting against no AOE casters and no cleavers, on the 24 second span he has his all his level 3 Phantasm illusions up, he's a totally bada** hero that deals exactly (strange coincidence, huh?) the total amount of damage given by his level 4 Chaos Strike critical: 300% instead of 100%.

That's why Chaos Knight is not quite a 100% efficient pick against AOE casters (Hi, Warlock and Tidehunter!) nor against cleavers ( Sven, Kunkka). Even if their AOE spells they cast may have an longer cooldown than your Phantasm, if you initiate and they counter you with it, it's not that good as not countering you at all, due to two reasons:

(1) They might have already found out the real Chaos Knight among all you mirror images as the one that took less damage, so they'll start focusing you

(2) The fight won't last for another 140 seconds to have an advantage in casting your Phantasm again

Both of these can be countered BY YOU (at this point or a couple of seconds before) in four ways:

(1) with magic immunity/damage reflecting/evasion items: Black King Bar / Blade Mail / Talisman of Evasion, Heaven's Halberd, Butterfly.

(2) with disarm/silence/disable items: Heaven's Halberd / Orchid Malevolence / Scythe of Vyse (maybe even an Eul's Scepter of Divinity).

(3) intelligently choosing the order of focusing them: a smart choice would be to initiate on the dangerous AOE casters like Warlock first. The reason why in most of the games Warlock has more wins over Chaos Knight than the other way around is actually this: Warlock isn't focused in lategame teamfights!

(4) a proper build, proper skills and proper teamwork: you can't have all the four previous item at once due to slot and gold limitations but you can have the Heaven's Halberd both to evade damage and disarm the enemy DPS-er while focusing the AOE caster. Although this can be a complicated process to micro, it's still better than having all of the four previous items ( Black King Bar, Blade Mail, Talisman of Evasion and Orchid Malevolence to micro: three have an active casting requirement; Blademail even lasts for 4.5 seconds so if you initiate with it then use the others' active ability, you might not be better off than if teaming up with Silencer, which is a great addition to ANY teamfight initiator.
From these, one can learn something else of great value: clearly Heaven's Halberd stands out as a lategame item for Chaos Knight as good additions are Blade Mail and Black King Bar, too.
In a way, Blade Mail is better than Black King Bar because it makes Chaos Knight 'visible' for just 4.5 seconds while being on cooldown for another 12.5 seconds, but the active can be achieved by a Black King Bar that have been (dummy-)used before to achieve now an active time of 4-5 seconds.
Unfortunately, Blade Mail doesn't work on enemy heroes having their Black King Bar on, so you can do just this thing:
Initiate with Phantasm, pop a (dummy-used!) Black King Bar and disarm the opponent's carry. Now being 'visible' for 4 seconds, (different yellowish glow than other mirror images of yourself), they'll rush to target you, but as the enemy supports are too weak, they can't deal too much damage (and the enemy DPS-er is disarmed). After your magic immunity wears of, together with the enemy disarm, they'll probably still know where you are among your illusions. If not, deliver some damage. When they finally find you, eventually pop your Blade Mail / Manta Style and you won half of the team clash by yourself.

That's why Chaos Knight doesn't go Daedalus but Manta Style.

That's why evasion items are such a good lategame investment.

That's why is good to have a second item disable in addition to your Chaos Bolt ability.

That's how Heaven's Halberd and the Styg-used Black King Bar shine.

Now, going back to critical strike items...

Do you still want to improve that average DPS increase? Think Crystalys' average DPS increase is 15%, for 2150 gold that you could buy a Helm of the Dominator and Dominate an Alpha Wolf to share his +20% DPS increase aura with you.

In addition, Helm of the Dominator synergyzes with Armlet of Mordiggian, which in turn synergizez with his Phantasm and any other illusions he might spawn (I'm looking at Manta Style right now). See what I just did there? ^^ Now you have 5/6 (83%) of the item build hands down, considering your boots of choice to be the INT Power Treads.

Add an evasion item and maybe ditch that lifesteal one for a Black King Bar and you're all set.

Did I even mentioned your Phantasm illusions also fully benefit fron Chaos Strike?

And the Manta Style ones with a .33 multiplier? Now that's just Chaotic!

Due to the exquisite 2-3-0-1 signature build which will turn into a 4-4-0-1 build by level 9, Chaos Strike will be leveled at 10, 12, 13 and 14, respectively.

Simple.

Take a look at this.

Still not convinced? Read on!

While Drum of Endurance gives +9 STR, +9 AGI, +9 INT and +3 DMG together with a 5% passive MS increase and 5 AS increase (careful, not 5% AS increase!) and a 10/10% active extra AS/MS for 1775 gold, a 900 gold Morbid Mask allows you to stay on the lane even after a successful gank and recover your HP while pushfarming with lifesteal.

This gives both gold and HP regen. Not to mention experience.

Look what happens in a minute (60 seconds):

Your starting DMG was 64 (49-79 averaged). Add +6*2.9 (you're at least at level 7 now) and you get +17.4 DMG. Add +9 DMG coming from your Null Talisman (+3 STR and +3 DMG) and 3 Iron Branches for a total of 64+17+9=90 DMG. For the sake of simplicity, we'll consider it 100 so the discussion can be looked at DPS increase (%).

So 15% out of 100 is 15.

With Morbid Mask (for an assumed hit each 2 seconds, 30 hits/min) without Chaos Strike:


With Morbid Mask (for an assumed hit each 2 seconds, 30 hits/min), with Chaos Strike - 10% means 3 out of 30 hits:


Note:

(540-450)/450=90/450=0.2

By the way, this is exactly the DPS increase a maxed out Chaos Strike yields, 20%. ^^

So theoretically, your total LS with a 15% feedback will be (15+0.2*15)% which is 18%!

Synergy, remember?

Now let's see what a Helm of Iron Will gives (3 HP/sec):

Total HP gain: 3*60=180 HP/minute
Total HP loss: Depends

Note:

You have to take into account the DAMAGE YOU TAKE. While 450 HP/minute or more IS desirable, if you get hit for more than 270 damage in a minute, your advantage is lost. HoIW works under the shade, too, not only in the HEAT of action. 270 is an average to high nuke that everybody maxed out by now and you're going to recover less than 450 HP, by the way, as we considered we hit for 100 damage instead of 90.

You can rush the Armlet of Mordiggian now by buing a Helm of Iron Will instead, but you won't get the 450 HP/min regen. And if you don't LH for extra gold (and experience!), you bought it for nothing.

So it's a better option to have the Morbid Mask first after you killed your lane enemies because there will be nobody else around to nuke you for 270+ DMG. If a more powerful enemy TP-s in, TP to the lane he came from and pushfarm that lane! ^^

Lifesteal with Armlet of Mordiggian is even better!

Remember how everybody says: 'Always toggle on your armlet before casting your ulti/using your Manta Style active, then you can toggle it off.'?

Well, having lifesteal around will allow you to keep your armlet on. Until the end of the fight. From basic lifesteal, 450 HP/min=7.5 HP/sec which is even more than the 7 HP/min regen the armlet gives you.

But taking into account an activated armlet will give +25 STR and +31 DMG bonus, our 100 DMG we started from will receive now a 56% (25+31=56) increase which translates into an extra 0.56*7.5=4.2 HP/min added lifesteal.

So adding up, 7+7.5+4.2= 18.7 HP/min out of a Morbid Mask + active Armlet of Mordiggian damage-wise.

We'll take a look now on what HP regen we'll have from his base health regen and the one coming from STR.

Chaos Knight's base HP regen is 0.25. Starting level 7 he'll have 20+6*2.9=20+17.4=37.4 STR from STATS alone. Add +6 from a Null Talisman and 3 Iron Branches together with the +25 coming from your active Armlet of Mordiggian for a total of

37.4+6+25=68.4 STR

which means extra 68.4*0.03 which is a bit over 2.05. Add the base 0.25 and the lifesteal + armlet DMG-wise 18.7 and you get a total of

0.25+2.05+18.7=21 HP/sec.

Your armlet drains 40 HP/sec when active, but taking into account you'll get 21 HP/sec back as regen, it actually drains you 19 HP/sec. Dividing the 475 bonus HP that it gives you when active at 19 HP/sec we'll get exactly 25 seconds!

That means that even if you are not a pro that toggles his Armlet of Mordiggian like a magician, just keeping it on in a teamfight won't have a bad impact on you until the first 25 seconds.

But your Phantasm illusions last 24 seconds! And Manta Style ones 20!

And your illusions benefit from the STR bonus and not from the health drain!

Furthermore, while YOU benefit from lifesteal, your illusions will NOT, but WILL display the effect! So why toggle your armlet off?!? Keep it on for increased DPS output and even more confusion!

Toggling your armlet off will take the 56% DPS increase away from you together with its 4.2 corresponding HP regen from bonus lifesteal. Having no lifesteal at all will even diminish the golden 21 with 7.5 HP/sec more. Your armlet now on gives 'just'

21-4.2-7.5=9.3 HP/sec regen

which translates to 30.7 HP drain and to

475/30.7=15.5 seconds before it starts affecting you.

So having a basic lifesteal + Armlet of Mordiggian for your core delays the time threshold you need to toggle off/on your armlet from 15.5 to 25 seconds! 9.5 out of 15.5 is a 62% increase! Not to mention you'll deal 56% more DMG for additional 62% time (1.56*0.62=0.96) which is a 96% DPS increase from YOU ALONE. Factor in a level 6 illusion or two level 11 ones and you can easily see while you wreck havoc among those immortals.

So lifesteal + Armlet of Mordiggian is the CORE way to go. Null Talisman and INT Power Treads make up for a perfect start to make you a feared presence on the battlefield from early to midgame.

Just activate your Armlet of Mordiggian (ulti if not on cd) and start (PRC...) crushing enemies.

Don't flee and don't toggle off your armlet, as it will single out you from your illusions aside for the other bad things we talked about above.

And next time you'll get out of a battle with under 475 HP, thank Armlet of Mordiggian and my guide for sharing its lifesteal synergy with you.

Now you may ask 'What the fuNk these two AGILITY items have to do with a STRENGTH based Chaos Knight?', which is understandable.

Manta Style is an item (ab)used by AGI carries like Anti-Fun Anti-Mage, Drow Ranger, Sniper, Luna, Viper or even Phantom Lancer (to further increase the rate of illusion spamming, especially when he doesn't have any other illusions spawned).

Now why do AGI-based heroes buy Manta Style? Simple:

1. it gives them +26 AGI that translates into +26 DMG AND + 26 AS

2. it gives them a separate instance of +15 AS for a total of +41 AS

3. it gives them additional +10 STR and +10 INT

4. it gives them +10% bonus MS

5. I saved the best for the end: its active spawns 2 illusions which last 20 seconds and attack for 33%/28% of the hero's damage (only from STATS) while receiving 350%/400% damage, if the hero is melee/ranged.

And 1-4 applies to the illusions it creates, too!

Another thing here: this is achievable for 165 mana, removes negative buffs, mingles you with your illusions in a 0.1 second casting time (which is not that good for dodging missiles, though) and has a cooldown of 40/55 seconds for melee/ranged heroes.

Wow! For 5050 gold it's a bargain!

The bad part to it is that is not that easy to farm because it has an Ultimate Orb (2100 gold) as a component.

Diffusal Blade bears much some resemblance to Manta Style:

1. it gives 22/26 AGI and 6/10 INT for 3300/4150 gold

2. and the active, Purge, slows an enemy hero for 4 seconds, while removing his buffs.

3. but wait! It has another passive effect: if you attack a target that has mana (heroes, creeps), it burns an amount of mana (20/36) AND deals the same amount in bonus DMG to that unit! Wow!

4. it's not over yet! It even works on melee illusions! With no reduction at all!

Oooh, so that's why Phantom Lancer melts down armies alone, yes...

OK, let's take a look at Phantom Lancer and his army of illusions:

Basically, Phantom Lancer has a great AGI increase per level (the greatest, actually: 4.2) and together with a 23 starting AGI and a 56 (averaged) starting DMG, so at levels 6 and 11 he'll deal:

56+5*4.2=56+21=77 DMG from STATS alone at level 6

56+10*4.2=56+42=98 DMG from STATS alone at level 11.

Check the table below:







We'll simplify the reasoning to consider Phantom Lancer deals 100 DMG, which is not a great difference from the 98 one version.

And the explanation of the table is simple:

His Spirit Lance illusion deals 20% DMG while taking 400% damage and lasts 8 seconds.

His Doppelwalk illusion is the same: deals 20% DMG while taking 400% damage, only to last for 20 seconds (150% more).

Any illusions created by his Juxtapose passive deal again 20% damage while taking 450% damage (a bit more). They also last for 20 seconds.

And Manta Style illusions deal the 33% DMG shown in the third column.

The percentages shown in round brackets represent the percentage of damage dealt by an illusion with respect to PL's damage, so a level 6 PL will deal 100 damage and any kind of illusion spawned using his skills will have a DMG of 20, while a level 1 Diffusal Blade will add another 20 DMG to that, which is 100% increase to illusion damage!

So basically, if PL has one point in Juxtapose until level 6 (when he'll deal the 100 DMG we talked about) and he is lucky enough to have 1 illusion around (2 total mirror images), he'll deal additional 20 DMG (a 20% DPS increase) for a total of 120% DPS output.

But if he (somehow steals or) manages to have a level 1 Diffusal Blade at this point, his actual DPS output would be 140%!

And for a PL with 4 points in Juxtapose for 7 illusions and one PL will give:

100 + 7*20 = 240 DMG output (240% DPS output)

But for a level 1 Diffusal Blade squeezed in, he'll get:

100 + 7*40 = 380 DMG output (380% DPS output)

And

100 + 7*56 = 492 DMG output (492% DPS output)

for a level 2 Diffusal Blade upgrade of merely 850 gold!

Which scale down while his DMG increases, but not that much. Let's see what happens for 200 DMG:

200 + 7*(0.2*200+36) = 200 + 7*76 = 200 + 532 = 732 DMG output (366% DPS output)

But here's the best part: here's where Manta Style kicks in!

For 200 DMG and each illusion given by Manta (which have a 33% DPS output), he'll get:

(0.33*200+36) = 102 DMG (compared to the previous 76, it's a 34% increase!)

And having a Manta Style further increase your mirror images to 10, or... wait for it...

According to gamepedia, PL's ultimate, Phantom Edge, works in synergy with (any) illusion/s, giving Manta illusions the ability to create illusions:

'Secondary illusions created by an illusion is the exact same copy of it.'

But Manta illusions:

1. Deal more damage (33% compared to 20%) than his skill-created illusions

2. Receive less damage (350% compared to 400-450%) than his skill-created illusions.

while lasting at least or even more than them.

So initiating with Manta Style's active gives 2 STRONGER illusions from the start and adding to that, the illusions coming from these 2 stronger ones are as strong as themselves, which in turn are stronger than the ones Phantom Lancer creates with his active and passive skills!

So if all your illusions would be Manta-like, the DMG/DPS output will be:

200 + (0.33*200+36) = 200 + 714 = 914 DMG (457% DPS output)

And when we talked about DB and Manta in the table above, I didn't even mentioned the AGI increase these two items bring to PL!

The good thing is they increase both his DMG and his AS, therefore increasing the chances of PL creating an additional illusion.

Not to mention AGI increases his Armor, too, therefore making him more durable.

Furthermore, both give INT and Manta gives STR, too.

And increasing the DMG the real PL does, they also increase the DMG that his illusions deal!

20% out of 22/26 AGI is 4.4/5.2 while 33% of 22/26 AGI is 7.3/8.6.

On the other hand, if PL doesn't invest in his third skill until level 9, thus sacrificing 120-160-200-240% DPS (corresponidng to 100 DMG) output (for a level 1-2-3-4 Juxtapose), it's not such a bad thing, as he probably couldn't even afford a Diffusal Blade until now.

But after he has a Diffusal Blade, his Juxtapose will synergize with it giving him a maximum of

140-220-300-380% DPS (corresponding to 100 DMG) output for 3300 gold and

156-268-380-492% DPS (corresponding to 100 DMG) output for extra 850 gold!

That's why Phantom Lancer snowballs after his Juxtapose and snowballs again after his Diffusal Blade! One can consider the snowball after Manta Style 'not that great' in comparison with the previous two, but if PL doesn't have any illusions around and he needs/wants to initiate, he has two options:

1. Without Manta Style:

- cast Spirit Lance for 140 mana
- cast Doppelwalk for 60 mana
- add himself and he has 3 mirror images for a

2. With Manta Style:

- cast Mirror Image for 165 mana
- add himself and he has 3 mirror images for a

- for 35 mana less and giving him the possibility of nuking/evading with his unused skills
- but Manta Style gave him 130 additional mana, not to mention AGI!

3. With Manta Style and his first two skills:

- cast Spirit Lance for 140 mana
- cast Doppelwalk for 60 mana
- cast Mirror Image for 165 mana
- add himself and he has 5 mirror images for a

- Manta Style giving him 130 additional mana, not to mention AGI

So Manta Style is a cheaper (mana-related) way of initiating with the benefits of creating STRONGER illusions. And you can even increase your Juxtapose chances by using your first two skills or save them for times of need. ^^

Just two great items on Phantom Lancer!



But coming back to our knight now: why are they good on Chaos Knight?

Well, let's see.

Manta Style:

1. gives him +26 AGI that translates into + 26 AS (but no more +26 DMG)

2. gives him a separate instance of +15 AS for a total of +41 AS that passes on to his illusions

3. gives him additional +10 STR and +10 INT (which give +190 HP and +10 DMG to his ulti illusions)

4. gives him and his ulti illusions 10% bonus MS

5. And yes, it allows him to create 2 illusions (with its active) which last 20 seconds and attack for 33% of the hero's damage (only from STATS) while receiving 350% damage.

And this is achievable for 165 mana, removes negative buffs, mingles you with your illusions in a 0.1 second casting time (which is not that good for dodging missiles, though) and has a cooldown of 40 seconds.

That low cooldown is great compared to the 140 seconds one of your ulti! You can spawn Manta Style illusions for 3.5 times in a 140 seconds span!

And here's the icing on the cake: Manta illusions WORK with Reality Rift!

Note:

AS coming from a different instance aside from 1 on 1 AGI increase will not be transferred to illusions. Buy a Hyperstone, ulti and you will see for yourself.

The exception is given by Yasha, Sange and Yasha, Manta Style, and auras providing AS, but I really don't know if Yasha's +31 total AS stacks with Manta Style's 41 AS, for example. I considered it to stack in the discussions below, though.

How about a Diffusal Blade on Chaos Knight?

1. a DB will give any hero 22/26 AGI and 6/10 INT for the price of 3300/4150 gold

2. (8 charges) 'Purge' active

3. 20/36 passive mana burn (feedback) with each attack and the same burn in HP damage that

4. works only on melee illusions, but hey, CK is melee!

We'll basically follow the same reasoning as for our elusive PL friend.

Chaos Knight has at levels 6 and 11 a damage of:

64+5*2.9=64+14.5=78 DMG at level 6 from STATS alone

64+10*29=64+29=93 DMG at level 11 from STATS alone

We will use the 100 DMG value for CK too.

But we have no Juxtapose-like skill to give us illusions with 20% damage! So we'll compare a 3300/4150 gold Diffusal Blade to items that are used as core or core extensions (even some luxury ones) in different CK item builds (including mine):

1. Power Treads - 1400 gold (on STR)

2. Diffusal Blade - 3300 gold (only against units with mana)

3. Diffusal Blade - 4150 gold (only against units with mana)

4. Drum of Endurance - 1775 gold (Welcome again! How could I ever forget you?)

5. Armlet of Mordiggian - 2600 gold (only for 15.5/25 seconds of non-interference)

6. Yasha - 2050 gold

7. Sange - 2050 gold

8. Sange and Yasha - 4100 gold

9. Heaven's Halberd - 3850 gold

10. Manta Style - 5050 gold

11. Mjollnir - 5300 gold

12. Skull Basher - 2950 gold

13. Abyssal Blade - 6750 gold

14. Heart of Tarrasque - 5500 gold

15. Satanic - 6150 gold

16. Eye of Skadi - 5675 gold

17. Assault Cuirass - 5250 gold

18. Butterfly - 6000 gold

19. Divine Rapier - 6200 gold

20. Daedalus - 5550 gold (OK, let's take a look at this item, too)

21. Desolator - 4100 gold (fine, let's check this out, too)



I placed three Manta columns in the tables below to address Manta Style-created illusions, not the item itself. That's why we will talk about what Manta Style gives both to Manta illusions (the three columns in the tables) and to Phantasm ones.

1. Power Treads - 1400 gold

---

2. Diffusal Blade - 3300 gold

---

3. Diffusal Blade - 4150 gold

---

4. Drum of Endurance - 1775 gold

---

5. Armlet of Mordiggian - 2600 gold

---

6. Yasha - 2050 gold

---

7. Sange - 2050 gold

---

8. Sange and Yasha - 4100 gold

---

9. Heaven's Halberd - 3850 gold

---

10. Manta Style - 5050 gold

---

11. Mjollnir - 5300 gold

---

12. Skull Basher - 2950 gold

---

13. Abyssal Blade - 6750 gold

---

14. Heart of Tarrasque - 5500 gold

---

15. Satanic - 6150 gold

---

16. Eye of Skadi - 5675 gold

---

17. Assault Cuirass - 5250 gold

---

18. Butterfly - 6000 gold

---

19. Divine Rapier - 6200 gold

---

20. Daedalus - 5550 gold

---

21. Desolator - 4100 gold

---

In conclusion, the best items that help your Phantasm and Manta Style illusions deal more damage for the invested gold will be shown in the two tables below.

1. PHANTASM

---

Conclusions:

1. The best item for Chaos Knight is Armlet of Mordiggian followed close by Diffusal Blade (level 2) then at a more greater distance by Sange and Heart of Tarrasque.

While AoM, Sange and HoT were perhaps sure guesses, a level 2 Diffusal Blade might sure appeal shocking. In fact, it is not shocking at all, if we look at its damage output: 36 compared to 40 coming from a more expensive HoT.

So why isn't Diffusal Blade used in Chaos Knight item builds?

Oh, but this guy does use it.

Maybe the answer for it's usage lack lies in the facts below:

- it is an AGI item and it's expected to be chosen by AGI heroes

- does not give STR at all

- does not work on units without mana

Yes, it does not give any STR that will 100% pass to CK's ulti illusions, but it will give them +36 DMG regerdless. Not to mention it is the only one in 'Top 4' to give a hefty 26 AS to ulti illusions as well! And it even gives +10 INT to cast spells worth 130 mana.

On the other hand, it's lack of STR means your ulti illusion will not receive bonus HP.

And the last, that it works only on units with mana (or until that unit depletes its mana) is not that bad, after all.

Remember we talked about CK focusing the supports? Supports usually have more mana than HP unless they make intense use of their mana to cast spells. But CK should kill a support with his illusions up in couple of seconds, therefore it's not advisable to pick CK against AoE nukers/casters/disablers. But we already discussed that.

How about the ones having (much) more HP than mana? Well, after you deplete their mana, it's not that effective against them. Actually, it's not effective at all, the only bonuses active being the +26 AS and the +10 INT, which indeed makes the 4150 Diffusal Blade a bit pricey.

Not that much, though, as you can buy an Eaglesong for 3300 gold that doesn't give +26 AGI and +10 INT, but only +25 AGI instead.

And here's the interesting part: knowing why I'd buy a Diffusal Blade, why would I buy an Eaglesong?

Simple: to upgrade it. But its' only upgrades are the 4900 gold Ethereal Blade and the 6000 gold Butterfly. And while Butterfly provides (top) 35% evasion,

an Ethereal Blade gives 10-40-10 STATS and the Ether Blast active, which converts you and your target into ethereal form. What does that do? Well, it will stop both of you from being attacked, deal damage to the enemy target and slow him (80%) for 4 seconds. But hey, that's what the Diffusal Blade does with its Purge active, except the damage. Ad taking into consideration you'll want to hit your target after you slow him, well here's the bad part: you can't! You'll mainly use the Ethereal Blade to exit sticky situations when you are targeted by DPS-ers. But you should be beefy enough to have that covered by a cheaper Blade Mail and get an extra kill (or more) out of that.

Butterfly, on the other hand, provides unmatchable evasion (35%), 30 AGI, 30 extra AS and 30 DMG. That extra AS and DMG won't pass to your illusions, but the evasion will.

So if you want to go for an item providing 35% evasion and 30 AGI to you and (any of) your illusions, a Butterfly is the perfect choice, for 6000 gold.

But what if I don't want to spend that money on an item providing evasion? The answer is simple: buy a Talisman of Evasion for 1800 gold and 25% evasion.

A 4150 gold Diffusal Blade and a 1800 gold Talisman of Evasion will thus have a 5950 price tag, but will take up two slots.

A wise choice would be to upgrade your Talisman of Evasion to a Heaven's Halberd for additional +20 DMG and +390 HP per ulti mirror image for the additional Sange price of 2050 gold for a total two-item bill of 8000 gold.

But with 7800 gold I can fill two empty slots with a Butterfly AND a Talisman of Evasion since now (6.79) evasion stacks diminishingly to a total of

Considering CK's HP are 4000 now, 51.25% evasion will take those HP to 8205! Which is the equivalent of having 4 Additional HoT for 22000 gold. Good! But only against physical damage, as magic will 100% hit him. Buy a BKB for another slot.

In comparison, having a 8000 gold Diffusal Blade + Heaven's Halberd combo after 4000 HP, CK's HP will actually be 4390 and and factoring the 25% evasion in, it will lead to 5853 'physical' HP, which is almost good: almost two HoT for the price of... almost 2 HoT. ^^ Actually, the DB+HH combo will 'pay' 5.94 gold/'physical' HP, while a combo of two HoT will yield 5.19 gold/true HP.

So buy two (additional) HoT instead of having a DB+HH combo.

The drawback is mainly the 3000 extra gold difference for the 2*HoT combo, but the rewards are great:



Adding another Talisman of Evasion to the 8000 DB+HH combo, we'll get the same 4390 HP but with 43.75 evasion for a total of 7804 'physical' HP. But for 3 slots and only 56 DMG (36+20).

So against magic damage, defend yourself with Heart of Tarrasque. Lots.

Against disables, defend yourself with Black King Bar / Repel.

And against DPS-ers, defend yourself with Heart of Tarrasque, Blade Mail, evasion or Guardian Angel. Or a combination of HoT and Blade Mail or HoT and evasion.

You see the pattern here? ^^ FARM Heart of Tarrasques 24/7! Or have Omniknight around. ^^

So what is Diffusal Blade for, anyway?

(1) A cost-effective midgame item.

(2) A cheap fall down late farming item.

(3) Adding up, an item to remind you SUPPORTS are your main dish and that you SHOULD END THE GAME BEFORE IT REACHES TO LATEGAME.

2. The items that aren't shown in this table are the ones having 'infinite' gold/DMG equivalent. Although they are not recommended for a Chaos Knight play based on increasing the damage output of his illusions, they can be picked in various combinations (BKB + Mjollnir + Daedalus) for a substantial increase in damage output but that won't be reflected by a similar increase in the damage his illusions deal.

3. Maybe you are wondering what is the gold/DMG equivalent of Black King Bar or how did I compute those.

Well, BKB increase the damage CK does with 10. 10 for his ulti illusions too, while for Manta ones, that scales down to 3.

Dividing the cost of 3975 gold to 10 DMG results 397.5. Spreading that over 3 maximum Phantasm illusions, we get 397.5/3=132.5, say 133. That places BKB in the table after SnY and before Skull Basher.

4. Before I'll move on to Manta Style, let me give you some goodies under the form of early cost-effective gold/DMG items:

PHANTASM (early items)

---

I sure hope you enjoyed that! Let's get to Manta Style now:

2. MANTA STYLE

---

Wow! That Diffusal Blade holds both first and second place now! How can that even be possible? Well, it is. Keep in mind the three facts we discussed when talking about Phantasm early on (AGI item, no STR, no mana = not working) and you'll be fine.

Basically, it's not that effective against creeps, so its only good part there is the +26/+22 AGI (AS and Armor) but against heroes, it melts them like butter!

In our friend's ( Phantom Lancer's) previous case, being an AGI-based hero, he benefits from even more DMG, but the hard part is done by Feedback, anyway.

So that's why Diffusal Blade is core on PL.

Paired with a Manta Style, it can be core on CK, too. Or can't it?

'842' gold/DMG for Manta Style says it can't... Really? Could that be true? NOT EVEN BY FAR!

Keep in mind that in comparison to Phantasm, you can summon Manta Style illusions 3.5 times faster! Dividing the gold/DMG of the previous table following this new assumption, we get:

2. MANTA STYLE (the real deal)

---

And that brings the equivalent gold/DMG of the items here very close to the 'goodies' ones before.

Actually, the only item as cost-efficient for a Manta Style illusion as Gauntlets of Strength is for a Phantasm illusion, is, you 'guessed' it,

the level 2 Diffusal Blade,

making it the best item to work on Manta Style illusions. That's it!

So having a Manta Style in CK's inventory is not a red herring anymore, not even a Diffusal Blade, because Diffusal Blade works wonders on Chaos Knight's ultimate while helping his AGI (for AS and Armor) and INT, too.

And Manta Style WITH Diffusal Blade give even more AGI and INT.

And more and quicker (support) kills.

The only thing you have to be careful about now is that Diffusal Blade is an Unique Attack Modifier and if you really want it to work with lifesteal, the only lifesteal it will work with is Vladmir's Offering.

Sure you can go the easy (and recommended) way of having one or more HoT in addition to items providing AGI (for AS and Armor). That's why Heart of Tarrasque goes so well with Butterfly, providing DMG, AS, Armor, HP and evasion to both you and your illusions.

But both have expensive components like Reaver and Eaglesong that sell for 3300 gold, so you can't rush them unless you have a very good kill streak/farm (midgame).

And it would really be a waste not having an early Armlet of Mordiggian for your core, as it behaves as good in early and midgame as in lategame.

But Armlet of Mordiggian had a great synergy with the cheapest lifesteal, Morbid Mask. Now that Diffusal Blade is the second UAM, it's obviously mandatory to upgrade MM to Vladmir's Offering which gives a lot of good auras, nevertheless.

One thing that striked me, though, is the Power Treads sixth place in both the Phantasm and the Manta Style charts that furthermore emphasizes its importance throughout the game.

And our infamous Drum of Endurance is still on a respectable 8 out of 14 place.

But check what's behind it: mainly lategame items or items at least two times more expensive (except the 2950 Skull Basher).

And before it: Power Treads, Armlet of Mordiggian. There are even cheaper items that you've seen in the 'goodies' section that are more better than Drums of Endurance!

Some of these are: Bracer, Urn of Shadows, Null Talisman, Magic Wand.

While the Bracer holds a higher position than a Null Talisman, an early Null Talisman that doesn't need any farm will allow CK to use his PRC(R) combo and kill his lane enemies starting level 6, therefore snowballing faster!

The high Urn of Shadows position makes it a great candidate in replacing CK's in-combat 900 gold lifesteal with an item giving additional +6 STR and +50% mana regeneration, together with a 7.5 times faster healing (60 seconds/8 seconds) than pushfarming with lifesteal that can even be used to help an ally or nuke (for 150 DMG, though) a fleeing enemy.

Getting back to the cocky build above, after what we discussed, an alternative (Diffusal or DMG-based) build would consist of (by developing the core):

DIFFUSAL BUILD

---

Overall Cost: 15385 gold Having this item build now allows CK to deal a lot of damage in teamfights, if he manages to keep his illusions alive more time. Use the Armlet of Mordiggian + lifesteal trick that delays AoM's next toggle with over 9 seconds and focus on going around the enemy in aiming for those delicious and easy to kill supports that stay behind while hiding among your Manta Style illusions if your ulti is on cooldown. Your Power Treads, active Armlet of Mordiggian, Manta Style and Diffusal Blade give you now an AS of 122 (30+25+41+26), while your illusions benefit from 67 AS that is quite enough for the moment. If all goes well, you should aim for a Reaver now to replace your Vladmir's Offering or the more courageous slot of your Town Portal Scroll. Aim for a Heart of Tarrasque and you'll be just fine. Maybe add a pair of Boots of Travel to free an additional item slot for a second Heart of Tarrasque, a Satanic, a Butterfly or an Assault Cuirass / Desolator / Black King Bar. You maybe are wondering why don't I encourage the replacement of all items with Heart of Tarrasque, after all our earlier discussions.

Sure, you can replace all your items with (additional) Heart of Tarrasque in the following order of selling them:

1. Vladmir's Offering / Town Portal Scroll

2. Town Portal Scroll / Vladmir's Offering

3. Armlet of Mordiggian / Diffusal Blade

4. Diffusal Blade / Armlet of Mordiggian


for an item build of 28450 gold



or this one, for 29500 gold


Two questions:

Q1. Why still keeping Manta Style?

A1. Because it's the only remaining item providing both AGI and INT and furthermore it allows CK to spawn additional 40 second cooldown illusions.

Q2. Assault Cuirass? Desolator? After you banished them?

A2. They have their own importance in lowering the enemy's armor, therefore increasing the DPS you and your illusions deal. There should be at least one Assault Cuirass and one Desolator within each team, so if you lack it, go buy one of them. Assault Cuirass is better as it negates 5 Armor to an AoE such that you don't need to attack everybody once to reduce their Armor for 15 seconds (like a Desolator wielder), you just need to be around. In addition, Assault Cuirass gives you a total of +15 Armor, too and +5 Armor and +20 AS aura to allies.

Q3. Aren't there better options than 4 Heart of Tarrasques?

A3. Sure. Remember that each game is situational. Maybe sometimes you'll need a Satanic + Black King Bar combo to stay alive under heavy fire/AoE (I'm thinking of Enigma now), otherwise you go for lifesteal or evasion and disable ( Chaos Bolt) against Lifestealer, that can quickly bring you to your knees with his Feast (or against Huskar's Life Break).

Basically, having illusions to deflect enemy fire and dealing additional damage is the purpose of this guide and I think this guide serves that purpose pretty well.