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Tango
Stout Shield
Quelling Blade
Tango
Boots of Speed
Bottle
Hand of Midas
Drum of Endurance
Tranquil Boots
Rune of Illusion
Manta Style
Heart of Tarrasque
Eye of Skadi
Boots of Travel
Moon Shard
Armlet of Mordiggian
Black King Bar
Monkey King Bar
Shadow Blade
Silver Edge
Heaven's Halberd
Diffusal Blade
Desolator
Assault Cuirass
Medallion of Courage
Solar Crest
Skull Basher
Abyssal Blade
Scythe of Vyse
Radiance
Mjollnir
Battle Fury
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2 | 8 | 9 | 10 |  |
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1 | 3 | 5 | 7 |  |
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4 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
Why play Chaos Knight?
Chaos Knight is a fun, situational roaming ganker, pusher and semi-carry. Once a basic understanding is obtained of itemisation, his strengths and weaknesses, Chaos Knight is simple to use.
Other reasons to play Chaos Knight are the fact he has a big horse, runs fast and there is nothing more satisfying than watching an enemy hero disappear within a few seconds against a huge horde of Chaos Knight illusions when you cast Reality Rift on them. The other thing about Chaos Knight is that if the enemy don't pick a counter to him, and Chaos Knight gets decent farm, the game is usually over.
Chaos Knight is a very slow jungler compared with pretty much every other hero in Dota (the only slower hero I can think of is 
Io). If you want to spend most of the game hitting neutral creeps, then laying waste to the enemy late game, pick another hero. But if you want to be active mid-game, set up ganks and push with your team, this is the right hero for you.
Chaos Knight sees sporadic play in the professional scene. The most famous probably being The International 3 Grand Final Na'Vi versus Alliance Game 5 with Loda and EGM a Chaos Knight/ Io combination (also made famous for the Million Dollar Dream Coil). One of the most recent being EG vs Vega Squadron at Captain's Draft 3.0 presented by DotaCinema with Arteezy on Chaos Knight.
This is my third guide on Dotafire, other guides are linked below (somewhat dated but still mostly relevant):
Teleporting Ganking Drop Bear of Terror: A Guide to Ursa
All guns blazing with no escape, a guide to DPS Sniper
Strengths and Weaknesses
- strong ganker especially against single targets due to his skill set:
+ ranged reliable disable, up to 4 seconds ( Chaos Bolt)
+ cheap low cooldown gap closer and nuke that synergises well with illusions ( Reality Rift)
+ chance of critical strike and armor reduction from hero AND illusions ( Chaos Strike)
+ ability to produce up to 3-4 illusions dealing 100% damage ( Phantasm), and 8 illusions maximum ( Manta Style and illusion rune)
- can initiate and tank after level 11 if enemy has not picked a counter
- good strength gain (+2.9)
- good base movement speed
- modestly farm dependant
- Phantasm can be used to disjoint spells/ missiles
- somewhat (but not totally) reliant on illusions to be effective
- somewhat slow attack speed
- needs source of health regeneration as well to be efficient
- highly level dependant, especially levels 11 and 16 (level 2 and 3 Phantasm)
- unable to farm jungle efficiently
- serious mana problems (+1.2 intelligence gain)
- weak against area of effect (AOE) disables and nukes
- weak against illusion heroes
- weak against physical resistance/immunity
- needs high movement speed to avoid being kited
Chaos Knight is pretty much the slowest natural jungler in Dota 2
Chaos Knight major 'weakness' is that he lacks natural 'flash-farm' capacity. When farming jungle creeps, Chaos Knight only has a single slow attack with a low chance of proc'ing critical hits and armor reduction. Pretty much every hero, hard carry (eg. 
Anti-Mage, 
Medusa, 
Shadow Fiend), semi carry (eg. 
Mirana, 
Lina, 
Death Prophet) AND utility/support (eg. 
Axe, 
Enigma, 
Crystal Maiden, 
Witch Doctor) have innate skills and abilities that ensure a faster natural farming jungle rate.
What this means is that if you try to compete with the enemy carry by trying to out jungle farm them you will usually lose that contest. The enemy carry (eg. Battle Fury Anti-Mage with a low BAT and 
Blink) will farm double or triple your natural farming rate, you will fall behind in both levels and items, and will be out-carried by the enemy. This is why a Jungle Chaos Knight for extended periods of time usually = loss.
Roaming Chaos Knight = Profit & Fun
It is for this very reason I describe Chaos Knight as fun because he is not jungling for half the game like Anti-Mage or Medusa. Chaos Knight gets his farm from ganks, pushing lanes and towers. Chaos Knight has an extraordinary skill set to achieve this. He is an excellent team fighter and try to take the fight to the enemy when you can.
I understand that at normal skill level solo ranked and public games (which the majority of DOTA 2 players participate in) games can get disorganised and ganks/pushing may not necessarily be possible. In this situation my solution is to get a Hand of Midas, an item which allows you to continue roaming, allow your carry the majority of the jungle farm, and gives you a big experience gain boost which is more important than item progression, which will be explained later in the guide.
Pick Chaos Knight late in the draft, and think before you pick him
Chaos Knight is not a hero you want to pick early in a draft as the enemy can counterpick significant heroes who can deal with you quite well. Essentially consider picking Chaos Knight late in the draft, and consider how well the enemy draft counters you, how Chaos Knight might counter the enemy draft and his synergy with your team.
Source: http://orig06.deviantart.net/e2d5/f/2013/317/8/2/dota2__chaos_night_by_marikbentusi-d6u590y.jpg
Hero Counters
Certain unique aspects to Chaos Knight can be countered by the enemy with varying degrees of ease or difficulty:
Illusions (AOE disables and nukes):
- 
Earthshaker (
Fissure, 
Blink Dagger/
Echo Slam)
- 
Sand King (
Epicenter, 
Burrowstrike, Sandstorm)
- Enigma (
Black Hole, 
Midnight Pulse)
- 
Sven (
Storm Hammer, 
Great Cleave, 
God's Strength)
- 
Jakiro (
Ice Path, 
Macropyre, 
Dual Breath)
- 
Magnus (
Empower, 
Reverse Polarity)
- 
Invoker (
Tornado/
Deafening Blast/
Chaos Meteor combo)
- 
Kunkka (Ghost Ship, 
Tidebringer, 
Torrent)
- 
Ember Spirit (Late game 
Sleight of Fist)
- 
Lich (
Chain Frost, particularly with 
Aghanim's Scepter upgrade)
- Medusa (
Stone Gaze, 
Split Shot)
- 
Timbersaw (
Whirling Death, Timberchain, 
Chakram)
- Axe (Early game - 
Berserker's Call, 
Counter Helix)
- Hard carries using Black King Bar, Battle Fury and Mjollnir
Single target damage/disable/gap closer:
- Illusion heroes
- Black King Bar/
Repel
- 
Linken's Sphere
- 
Broodmother (early game laning phase)
Physical damage:
- 
Omniknight's 
Guardian Angel
- 
Ghost Scepter (your stun will deal magical damage and can affect enemies with Ghost Scepter active)
As you can see many heroes act as counterpicks to Chaos Knight. That being said if you see one or two enemy heroes listed above it doesn't mean you should avoid picking Chaos Knight as other teammates can hopefully deal with the difficult hero in question (and you will need to adjust your gameplay). But if you see 4-5 heroes on this list, you might find it better to pick a different hero, as you will have a very difficult game. This is why you don't first pick the hero.
Heroes Chaos Knight likes to play against
These heroes tend to form certain patterns:
- non-illusion based glass cannon heroes
- heroes focused on single target damage with limited or no AOE disables or AOE damage
- heroes without escapes
Examples are:
Carries:
Huskar
Viper
Lifestealer
Clinkz
Drow Ranger
Luna
Death Prophet
Doom
Supports:
Pudge
Skywrath Mage
Bane
Enchantress
Lina
Ogre Magi
Silencer
Vengeful Spirit
Oracle
Bounty Hunter
Zeus
Right-click Carries have the option of buying items such as Battle Fury/ Mjollnir and Black King Bar to try to reduce your influence. Chaos Knight can easily lose if they manage to outfarm you.
Hero synergies with Chaos Knight
These tend to form certain patterns:
- mana and health regeneration
- movement speed/mobility
- aoe disables
- aoe nukes
- low health high impact heroes who benefit from protection from Chaos Knight illusions
Supports/Utility examples:
- Io (helps with health and mana regeneration, movement speed and ability to teleport any pushed lane on map, take objectives and escape )
- Silencer (helps dominate lane with harass, 
Global Silence gives you time to eliminate difficult heroes (ie. Lich, Jakiro before they can use abilities)
- Crystal Maiden (has a slow/stun and mana regeneration. If they focus on Chaos Knight, this allows Crystal Maiden space to use 
Freezing Field both offensively to kill them and defensively to save you)
- 
Dazzle (
Shadow Wave and 
Weave affects your illusions, giving them extra health, armor and nuking enemies if they are near them)
- Enigma (They can't fight back if they are stunned by Black Hole)
- Axe (He can Berserker's Call problematic hero for you to eliminate quickly)
- 
Phoenix (They can't kill the egg if there are 9 Chaos Knight Illusions guarding it)
- Timbersaw (Again if there are a gazzilion Chaos Knight Illusions guarding him, he can cast his spells with ease)
Carry examples:
- 
Leshrac, Shadow Fiend, 
Sniper, Death Prophet, 
Troll Warlord, Zeus, Lina, 
Necrophos, Invoker, Mirana, 
Tinker, 
Tiny, 
Gyrocopter ('glass cannon' high damage low health type heroes who can deal their damage while protected by Chaos Knight illusions)
Be Flexible
With any build it pays to be flexible depending on the situation but it is good to have a standard game plan for your items and adjust accordingly.
Deal with your weaknesses
You want items that deal with significant weaknesses:
1. Give you health and mana regeneration, allowing you to stay in lane, continue roaming, ganking and pushing
2. Help you get gold and experience (ie. 'farming' item)
3. Give you movement speed
4. Allow you to create more illusions
5. Make your illusions stronger (they take at least double damage), survive longer and deal more damage
Consider the attributes of the enemy team
For example:
1. Do the enemy team use a lot of illusion heroes (
Phantom Lancer), or have the ability to spawn multiple creeps (
Nature's Prophet, Broodmother)? If so, AOE damage items such as Mjollnir and Battle Fury could be considered, although this is not ideal.
2. Do the enemy team have a lot of stuns or disables? Would a Black King Bar or Linken's Sphere help? Note I don't include Silence abilities or 
Orchid Malevolence carries, because they can be easily dealt with once you get Manta Style.
3. Do the enemy team have tanky, high armor heroes? In this sort of situation it may be worth putting higher preference to armor reduction items, rather than extra health on your illusions, if they are surviving long enough.
4. Do the enemy team have a lot of mana drain abilities? In this situation consider how you might deal with this, whether through Bottle, 
Enchanted Mango and 
Clarity potions, or whether you get mana regeneration items such as 
Ring of Basilius or 
Void Stone ( Void Stone can build into Scythe of Vyse, Battle Fury or Linken's Sphere).
5. Do the enemy team have a lot of AOE damage abilities? This is not ideal for you, but in this situation it might be worth considering delaying Manta Style until your illusions are stronger and tankier.
6. Do the enemy team have a strong focus on pushing? In this situation you will need to focus on early game items for stats so you can fight early. Examples being 
Urn of Shadows, 
Magic Wand, 
Bracer/Drums of Endurance.
7. Is there an Omniknight on the enemy team? In this situation you should prioritise Diffusal Blade early, perhaps before Drum of Endurance.
for EXP (and a little gold)
Hand of Midas Build and why I use it
My default build is a Hand of Midas build, if I can. I delay Hand of Midas by getting Bottle and Boots of Speed first, then Hand of Midas, then further items after that. The exception being if I am playing safe lane carry against a solo offlaner, and my supports can completely zone them out. Then I go Hand of Midas ASAP before Bottle and Boots. (I would add I would avoid playing position 1 Chaos Knight like the plague, as mentioned he cannot jungle well.)
Why Hand of Midas? The simple answer is the experience boost the item gives. Using Midas on a large creep such as a Hellbear Smasher or Wildwing Ripper (119 x 2.5 = 297.5 experience) grants you as much experience as an entire early to mid game creepwave (4-5 melee creeps, 1 ranged) pretty much instantaneously. This allows you to get a fast Level 11 (and later Level 16). My view is that a Level 11 Chaos Knight with a Hand of Midas is far stronger than a Level 9 Chaos Knight with Drum of Endurance (similar cost, about 2k gold) due to the extra illusion given by Phantasm and extra damage from his higher level skills. And the Midas Chaos Knight will continue to get stronger faster than a non-Midas Chaos Knight as the game progresses. The second comment I will make is that Chaos Knight will be roaming, and not spending large amounts of time jungling. Hand of Midas allows 'burst' farm, much faster than other farming items (
Maelstrom, Battle Fury), and Chaos Knight can continue roaming. The gold bonus is nice but not the main reason why I get the item. The attack speed bonus is also nice but not the main reason why the item is obtained. The item also acts as insurance if there are quiet periods where you cannot gank anyone (ie. enemy five-manning, playing defensively, your team is disorganised - not uncommon with solo-ranked or pub games unless you play at very high skill levels / professional level), allowing you to keep up with farm.
My usual build:
Initial items:
These items give regen, some protection from harass and makes it easier to last hit. 1 set of tangoes is generally not enough and you will need to buy more. Stay in the lane - you need the experience.
Early game:
*
* Hand of Midas if possible otherwise Urn of Shadows
You need boots for movement speed. I like to upgrade to Tranquil Boots as its cheap, gives fast regen and extra move speed roaming. Tranquil Boots on the ground is an option whilst farming neutrals if there are quiet periods but you have to be 100% you will not get ganked, or there are no invisible heroes nearby as you might lose your boots if you do. It also synergises well with Armlet of Mordiggian.
Other boot options are also good. The most popular boots in the meta are 
Power Treads. 
Phase Boots/
Arcane Boots or even keeping plain Boots of Speed all have merits.
Bottle is great to have for hp and mana regen. It can also store runes for you (especially illusion runes). Always good on a roaming hero.
Hand of Midas I think is a great item on Chaos Knight, if you can get it and I have discussed this previously. If you can't get it, then get Urn of Shadows instead for the extra strength, mana regeneration and urn charges.
Drum of Endurance gives extra stats, movement and attack speed. It gives you a movement burst. You will want this especially for the extra mana and movespeed.
Mid game:
Manta Style is perfect for Chaos Knight. Extra illusions at will, extra stats, extra movespeed. Counters silences such as Orchid Malevolence and Global Silence.
Heart of Tarrasque makes your hero and illusions super tanky and deal more damage. The passive regen out of combat is nice.
Late game:
*
* Moon Shard (consumed)
Eye of Skadi is great for extra stats and gives a slow. It gives extra attack speed, mana and armor which is why I like this over a second Heart of Tarrasque or 
Satanic. I think this item you should consider carefully exactly when you want to purchase it as you should consider other choices - armor reduction, true strike, Diffusal Blade before you buy it.
Boots of Travel combined with Drum of Endurance and Manta Style makes you very fast, frees up a slot, and gives you the option to rat - a good item to have.
Moon Shard (consumed) is always useful to have if you can spare the cash. It won't work on your illusions however.
Situational:
Armlet of Mordiggian
- this item is useful but not essential. If you're not good with toggling Armlet or prefer not to use it get another item instead (did I mention Drum of Endurance...)
- get this mid game if you get it. It is most useful to activate before using Phantasm / Manta Style. If you're skilled at toggling Armlet and they lack counters (particularly damage over time) then this is a good item choice.
- synergises well with Tranquil Boots and Heart of Tarrasque
Black King Bar
- get this if stuns or nukes are becoming a problem for you in teamfights
Monkey King Bar
- for 
Phantom Assassin, 
Windranger, 
Keeper of the Light, 
Riki etc to counter evasion, get after Manta Style
- your illusions can use true strike
Shadow Blade / Silver Edge
- gives you an initiation and escape. Silver Edge initial strike be used on certain passive heavy hard carries to excellent effect ( Phantom Assassin, 
Spectre).
Heaven's Halberd
- anti carry item, gives useful stats, chance of slow, and evasion
- evasion works on your illusions
Diffusal Blade
- good against 
Wraith King, Omniknight
- mana burn can be used by illusions
Desolator/ Assault Cuirass/ Medallion of Courage/ Solar Crest
- apart from further Strength and Agility increases, armor reduction is probably the most efficient way to increase Chaos Knight and his illusions' damage
- Assault Cuirass attack speed aura can be used by illusions but the base armor bonus and base attack speed bonus is not transferred
- Desolator doesn't stack with Eye of Skadi, get one of the others if you get Skadi
- Medallion of Courage and Solar Crest are great against heroes (but not buildings) but will involve additional micro to cast and will show briefly the real Chaos Knight
- evasion from Solar Crest can be used by your illusions
Mjollnir/ Battle Fury
- useful against illusion heroes such as Phantom Lancer
- also useful against Nature's Prophet's treants
- may be justifiable to purchase if you are position 1 just to put someone to occupy the jungle (consider skipping midas if you do this, it is not my preference but sometimes you have to do it) but remember these items are expensive and your team will need to defend until you get them (Battle fury = 4500gp, Mjollnir 5800gp)
- I like Mjollnir better for the active, larger range of effect and cheap build up via Maelstrom but to each their own
- Critical hits will be used by Battle Fury cleave
Skull Basher/ Abyssal Blade/ Scythe of Vyse
- this gives Chaos Knight further disables
- the passive ability on Skull Basher and Abyssal Blade, Bash, does not work with illusions, only on your main hero
- I like Scythe of Vyse better as it gives increased better stats for your illusions and helps substantially with mana regeneration
Interesting items:
Aether Lens
- gives you increased cast range of your abilities, extra mana and health regeneration
Octarine Core
- extra health, mana, mana regeneration and reduced cooldown on your abilities
- I've never needed to use this as the cooldown on Chaos Bolt and Reality Rift is naturally low anyway
- if you need mana regeneration, Scythe of Vyse could do the job for a similar price.
Items I personally avoid:
Lifesteal items: Mask of Madness, Vladmir's Offering, Helm of the Dominator / Satanic
- I have found lifesteal items very underwhelming on Chaos Knight. Chaos Knight is a high health moderate damage ('tank') hero and the benefits of these items are not as great as low health high damage ('glass cannon') heroes (such as Phantom Assassin, Phantom Lancer, 
Ursa or Anti-Mage)
+Damage items: Divine Rapier, Daedalus
- +damage does not transfer to illusions
- don't know if the +crit chance works with illusions, can anyone comment on this, I think it might...
Chaos Knight can be played as a very greedy position 4 support, my view it isn't as strong as many of the other supports out there but his skill set is still useful for this role, not to mention Chaos Knight can transition to a 4th core late game extremely well.
Initial items are:
Supports should always get Animal Courier and Observer Wards. Tango, Stout Shield and Enchanted Mango will help with health regeneration and to tank harassment from the enemy.
Early game items are:
You will need significant regeneration and mana to stay in lane. Continue warding. Try to help set up kills for your team with your gap closing ability/nuke Reality Rift and stun/nuke Chaos Bolt.
Mid game items are:
Aether Lens gives increased range to your abilities, extra mana and some basic health regeneration, it is a good item on a support Chaos Knight.
Mekansm, Guardian Greaves and Force Staff are some of the best support items in the game, get them if you team doesn't already have one.
Drum of Endurance gives you stats and movement speed, makes your illusions stronger and faster.
Rod of Atos is an underrated but powerful item that can be used to pop Linken's Spheres or seriously kite enemy melee carries (ie Ursa). The extra health can be used by your illusions and the extra mana is always helpful.
Late game you aim to transition to 4th core, items as described previously:
Manta Style and/or Armlet of Mordiggian, Heart of Tarrasque, Eye of Skadi, Boots of Travel, Scythe of Vyse
I wouldn't recommend Chaos Knight as a position 5 support as he is moderately item dependent.
I level Chaos Knight's skills in the following order of priority:
* >
>
>
>
*Some players will skill Phantasm at Levels 10 and 11
Chaos Knight's ultimate ability, Phantasm, creates additional illusions which deal 100% damage and take 200% damage. This ability is extremely weak at level 1, producing 1-2 illusions only, but much stronger at levels 2 and 3 where it creates 2-3 and 3-4 illusions. Purely due to the extra illusions from his ultimate Chaos Knight becomes very effective in the mid game when he hits that magic number level 11 (and later level 16). This is the reason why I describe Chaos Knight as highly level dependent, as he needs levels to get higher levels of Phantasm. Some players will delay leveling Phantasm until level 10 and 11 but I personally prefer level Phantasm as soon as I get it, and before teamfights pray to the RNG gods that I get that 50% chance for the extra illusion. To each their own.
Reality Rift is both a gap closer, ranged single target nuke and semi-disable (if you have enough illusions active). The mana cost is exceptionally low at 50. The cooldown is extremely low at 6 seconds. At maximum level it adds 140 damage to Chaos Knight's next attack and teleports each illusion to hit your target. This can do a LOT of physical damage to a single target (see below). This is easily Chaos Knight's strongest ability which should be spammed.
Chaos Bolt is a ranged stun and nuke that can disable an opponent for up to 4 seconds. (To put things into perspective, Enigma's Black Hole is 4 seconds). This is one of the best single target stuns in the game whose use is large limited by its relatively high mana cost. This is an excellent ability.
Chaos Strike is a passive ability that gives Chaos Knight a 10% chance to critical strike and reduce the enemies armor by 5. The critical hits can be proc'ed by Chaos Knight's illusions and this provides incredible synergy to his abilities. I like to get a value level in this skill at level 4 and ignore it until level 12.
Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afExcK1SbVE/U6O4lDEjvSI/AAAAAAAACI0/XoLlXOz2Jhg/s1600/Dota+2+beginer's+Build+Chaos+Knight.jpg
Why Reality Rift combined with Phantasm/ Manta Style is so powerful and why keeping your illusions alive is so important
If you cast Reality Rift at level 16 with a base damage of ~ 110, 3 Level 3 Phantasm illusions (100% damage each) and 2 Manta Illusions (33% damage each) and a critical hit chance (10% of 275% damage plus armor reduction - I haven't included armor reduction in this calculation) this is an approximately 750 damage single target physical damage ranged nuke for 50 mana on a 6 second cooldown ({110 x 466% + 140} x 275% x 10% = 766.8 damage). Add on top of this a 46.9% chance of -5 armor reduction from CK illusions, (5 illusions and hero hitting = 1-0.9^6). This is a lot of damage for a low cooldown, low mana cost ability. This is all conditional on keeping your illusions alive.
To put things in perspective, Lina's Level 3 
Laguna Blade deals 840 damage at 680 mana on 50 second cooldown, 
Lion's Level 3 
Finger of Death deals 850 damage at 650 mana cost, and Dagon Level 5 deals 800 damage at 180 mana cost. So if Chaos Knight manages to keep all his illusions alive in team fights, he is pretty much dealing a slightly inferior physical damage version of Laguna Blade every 6 seconds at a 13th of the mana cost. Add on top of this a ranged stun which lasts up to 4 seconds your enemies should be terrified of you and your illusions. Make your illusions tanky and keep them alive and Chaos Knight is indeed a handful.
Please note the radiant jungle has changed slightly in 6.86, will update this soon..
Middle Lane (position 2)
- get this for the fast levels and at least some guaranteed last hits
- aggro creeps to come closer to you so you can last hit them with less harassment (look this up if you plan to play melee carries, this is an essential laning skill)
- Stout Shield extremely useful against harass, Quelling Blade to compete for last hits
- definitely get Boots of Speed and Bottle, it allows you to stay in lane and help with rune control. Buy regen to stay in lane, your priority is fast levels
- especially look for illusion runes, getting this can lead to you solo killing enemy mid
- aim to get Hand of Midas and Bracer/ Drum of Endurance. I almost always am able to get these items in middle lane
- carry 
Town Portal Scrolls and look for counter ganks
Offlane (position 3)
- have a support come with you otherwise you will get no last hits
- Stout Shield to tank harass, Quelling Blade to compete with last hits
- consider 
Magic Stick / Magic Wand against certain heroes ( Silencer, Phantom Assassin, 
Bristleback)
- Bottle also useful to help with rune control/stay in lane
- leave lane to gank if you are not getting that much farm
- get Urn of Shadows instead of Hand of Midas if you didn't get many last hits at all
- again look for counter ganks during laning phase, carry a Town Portal Scroll
Safelane (position 1)
- with competent supports zoning out offlaner RUSH Hand of Midas. You can potentially skip both Stout Shield and Quelling Blade in that situation. Aim to get Hand of Midas, Boots of Speed, Drum of Endurance (and tier 1 tower if possible) before roaming
- if support is not strong or you face strong offlaners get Stout Shield and Quelling Blade and possibly Magic Stick/ Magic Wand
- if you can't get Hand of Midas get Urn of Shadows and hope another carry on your team has done well in another lane
Greedy Support (position 4)
- make sure area is warded to protect against ganks
- Stout Shield and Enchanted Mango is helpful to tank early game harass from enemy support/carry
- if you are offlane, look to gank enemy carry when support goes to pull creeps or gank another lane. Use Reality Rift then Chaos Bolt to stun them. If you can Reality Rift the enemy out of position to under your tower, and/or into a large creepwave, that can be very helpful. At low levels your stun is not very long. 
Orb of Venom might be helpful to slow them down.
- if you are safelane, look to pull creeps (to get you experience), control runes, or set up ganks as described above, stack camps
- you will be consume a lot of health and mana regeneration, itemise appropriately
Jungle
Not viable until mid game. Chaos Knight is naturally terrible at farming jungle.
Only really farms fast enough if you have Maelstrom/ Battle Fury, both of which are expensive, situational and do little to improve your illusions. Regeneration is also a problem unless you have Manta Style, Helm of the Dominator/
Vanguard.
As discussed I think it is best to use Hand of Midas periodically for fast experience and gold and continue roaming and creating space for another carry who can jungle faster than you.
The basics of teamfights with Chaos Knight:
Preparation for team fight
- Gank any counter heroes to you where possible. Get your team to help. Use 
Smoke of Deceit if you have to. Often these counter heroes are support heroes who need to help ward for the team. Believe me, if you start a team fight it is much easier if that Earthshaker isn't there to use his Echo Slam...
- Illusion and haste runes are the best runes to have before teamfights
Immediately before engagement
- Armlet of Mordiggian if you have it
- Phantasm, Manta Style, Bottle with Illusion Rune (if you have it)
- Deactivate Armlet of Mordiggian if you have it
- Activate Drum of Endurance
- CHARGE!!!
During engagement
- Reality Rift any remaining major counter hero to you (ie. Jakiro) that you weren't able to kill before the teamfight
- Chaos Bolt straight away to stop them casting anything
- Try to kill them
Your remaining counter hero should be dead now if you haven't been disabled or your illusions haven't been destroyed
- Use your movement speed to chase down attack the next support hero (ie. Lion)
- Reality Rift then Chaos Bolt when skills are active and you have mana
- Repeat until enemies are dead/fleeing (or you are low in health/dead)
If you go low in health
- Use Armlet of Mordiggian toggle to try to stay alive
- Use Satanic if you bought it (but as mentioned, I have found this underwhelming)
- Try to get teammates to Force Staff you out of trouble, you have high movement speed and might be able to escape
- Use Shadow Blade or Silver Edge if they don't have detection
- Pray for Io or Dazzle to save you
If you escape with low health and you have Heart of Tarrasque
- wait for health regeneration and return to fight!
Special situations:
1. The enemy have no direct counters to you (no aoe disable or nuke, no Omniknight)
Source: http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/011/296/success_baby.jpg
- the enemy are screwed if you get even half decent farm and levels (and you do not AFK jungle for half the game)
- Level 11 and above you MUST be at EVERY teamfight. Look to force teamfights before carries can farm up more counter items to you. If you can't find the enemy, take towers. You can do all the pre-engagement preparation as described above and just charge in all guns blazing with your team. Easy game, easy life.
- level 10 and below you shouldn't initiate as your ultimate is weak, unless you have an illusion rune. Others should initiate while you bolt and rift them.
2. The enemy have direct counters to you (ie Earthshaker, Enigma, Jakiro)
- This is a problem for you. You cannot simply charge in. You must play smart.
- The best way is to kill them before team fight starts, or get teammates to disable and eliminate them from the fight early.
- You cannot initiate, let others do that (ie. Silencer, Axe, Enigma)
- After others initiate, you must focus all your attention to eliminating problematic heroes first. Tell your team you need help dealing with them.
- Use Manta Style illusions to scout these heroes out and harass them
- If the counter to you (ie. Earthshaker Fissure/ Blink Dagger/ Echo Slam combination) gets their spells off on you while all your illusions are there, the fight is usually lost (unless team is hugely ahead in net worth)
- consider 'Rat Dota' if you think that any teamfight will be unsuccessful
Source: http://www.difficultyunlimited.com/images/RatCourierWIP04.jpg
3. Rat Dota
- you are choosing this strategy because you are not confident you can beat the enemy in a team fight
- go to a lane that is pushed and not occupied, the enemy is busy elsewhere and you cannot defeat them
- cast all your illusions as described before, start destroying buildings
- get the real Chaos Knight to run away (use Drum of Endurance to help) before the enemy gets back to defend, illusions can continue to deal damage to buildings/base/push lane
- Io is extremely helpful with this type of strategy
- but don't you wish you picked 
Lycan or Nature's Prophet instead????
Simple gameplay footage of Chaos Knight killing the enemy team (pretty much solo) and ending the game, please note the enemy did not pick a single hero who countered Chaos Knight late...
Chaos Knight Rampage to End Game
Pick Chaos Knight late in the draft, and only if there are not too many counters.
Fun hero. Be active, help take objectives, always be with your team.
Moderately item dependent but highly level dependent. Stay in the lane, buy more tangos/salves/bottle, whatever it takes to keep your levels up until mid-game.
Buy health and mana regeneration, stats, movement speed and Manta Style
I get Hand of Midas if I can primarily for increased level progression. it also helps with item progression. I avoid other farming items ( Battle Fury, Maelstrom) unless there is a specific reason to get it (ie. Phantom Lancer)
Leave the jungle to your carry, except to use Hand of Midas on large creeps. Chaos Knight is an extremely slow jungler.
Before battle, use Armlet of Mordiggian if you have it, create all your illusions ( Phantasm/ Manta Style/ Bottle with Illusion Rune), deactivate Armlet of Mordiggian if you have it, activate Drum of Endurance and charge in. The basic combo during battle is Reality Rift then Chaos Bolt. Target counters to you, then supports, then carry. Don't initiate if the enemy have a counter, let another teammate do this (ie. Silencer, Axe)
This is a guide in progress, expect further updates.
Hope this has been enjoyable and helpful. Most of the images aren't mine, acknowledgements have been placed where appropriate.
Upvote/like the guide if you have enjoyed it. Comments welcome.
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