IntelligenceRanged

Chen

Born in the godless Hazhadal Barrens, Chen came of age among the outlaw tribes who eked out an existence in the shimmering heat of the desert. Using an ancient form of animal enthrallment, Chen's people husbanded the hardy desert locuthi, a stunted species of burrowing dragon that melted desert sands into tubes of glass where twice-a-year rains collected. Always on the edge of starvation and thirst, fighting amongst their neighbors and each other, Chen's clan made the mistake, one fateful day, of ambushing the wrong caravan. <br><br>In the vicious battle that followed, Chen's clan was outmatched. The armored Knights of the Fold made short work of the enthralled locuthi, who attacked and died in waves. With their dragons dead, the tribesmen followed. Chen struggled, and slashed, and clawed, and perished--or would have. Defeated, on his knees, he faced his execution with humility, offering his neck to the blade. Moved by Chen's obvious courage, the executioner halted his sword. Instead of the blade, Chen was given a choice: death or conversion. Chen took to the faith with a ferocity. He joined the Fold and earned his armor one bloody conversion at a time. Now, with the fanaticism of a convert, and with his powers of animal enthrallment at their peak, he seeks out unbelievers and introduces them to their final reward.

Base STR

23 +2

Base AGI

15 +2.1

Base INT

19 +3.2

Move Speed

305

Attack Range

650

Base Armor

-1

Attack DMG

29–39

Projectile

1100

Innate Abilities

Zealot

Unit TargetInnate

Cooldown

10s

Mana

Whenever Chen respawns, he is joined by a Zealot, a melee warrior creep with the ability to sacrifice itself to heal or deal damage to an enemy. The Zealot receives Holy Persuasion's benefits and scales up with other lane melee creeps as game time increases and gains extra base damage. The Zealot respawns next to Chen after 60s.

Zealot may be activated to teleport a unit under your control to Chen after a 6 second delay. If Chen is targeted, it will teleport all units you control. Taking damage from enemy heroes or their units will cancel the teleport.

BONUS BASE DAMAGE:

Abilities

Penitence

Unit Target

Cooldown

20 / 17 / 14 / 11s

Mana

80 / 90 / 100 / 110

Damages enemy unit, forces it to move slower and lets allies attack it more quickly.

DURATION:

5 / 6 / 7 / 8

MOVEMENT SLOW:

-12 / -18 / -24 / -30%

BONUS ATTACK SPEED:

20 / 40 / 60 / 80

DAMAGE:

50 / 100 / 150 / 200

“

Although Chen's brand of animal enthrallment isn't quite strong enough to control the minds of enemy heroes, it still tests their resolve in combat.

Holy Persuasion

Unit TargetAghanim's Shard

Cooldown

15s

Mana

110 / 130 / 150 / 170

Chen takes control of an enemy or neutral creep and receives a percentage of its bounty. Its maximum health is set to 400. Converted creeps will have increased movement speed and bonus damage. Chen may globally target his own creep if it has not taken damage in the last 3 seconds to unsummon it.

MAX UNITS:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4

CREEP MAX LEVEL:

3 / 4 / 5 / 6

HEALTH MINIMUM:

400

PERCENTAGE OF BOUNTY:

25 / 50 / 75 / 100%

MOVE SPEED BONUS:

5 / 10 / 20 / 30

BONUS DAMAGE:

5 / 10 / 15 / 20%

Persuading a new creep above max unit count causes the oldest persuaded creep to die.
Can target Ancient creeps when Chen has Aghanim's Shard.
The health of creeps already under Chen's control does not update to the new level upon leveling Holy Persuasion further.
Fully restores the creep's mana upon converting.

“

Although they may not be knights, Chen incorporates beasts into the Fold in the same way he himself was converted.

Divine Favor

Unit Target

Cooldown

20 / 18 / 16 / 14s

Mana

Passively provides an aura that grants increased health regeneration. Can be cast on allies to provide them with bonus armor and increasing the healing and health regeneration they receive. If cast on Chen, all units controlled by Chen receive the buff.

REGEN PER SEC:

1.5 / 3 / 4.5 / 6

DURATION:

ARMOR:

5 / 10 / 15 / 20

HEAL AMPLIFICATION:

5 / 10 / 15 / 20%

“

Chen's zeal is infectious, blessing his allies with vitality and compelling them to his side.

Hand of God

No TargetAghanim's Scepter

Cooldown

150 / 130 / 110s

Mana

200 / 300 / 400

Heals all allied heroes on the map as well as all units under Chen's control. A large heal is applied at first and a slow heal over time is applied for 10 seconds afterwards.

INITIAL HEAL:

200 / 300 / 400

HEAL PER SECOND:

20 / 30 / 40

SHARD HOLY PERSUASION ANCIENTS:

CHANNEL RADIUS:

Can heal invulnerable and hidden/banished allies.

“

Using the mental link with his thralls, Chen calls down restoration and well-being to those who share his fanaticism.

Talents

+75 Penitence Damage

+25% Zealot Health/Damage

+12% Holy Persuasion Damage

+15% Penitence Slow

+15% Divine Favor Heal Amplification

+1300 Holy Persuasion Minimum Health

Hand of God applies a Strong Dispel

Hand of God Fully Heals Chen and His Creeps

Aghanim's Scepter

Hand of God

Decreases the cooldown of Hand of God to 150 / 130 / 110s and it becomes a channelled spell that lasts for up to 0 seconds. The initial heal happens at the start of the channel, and while channeling other nearby allied units become debuff immune with 0% magic resistance and the power of the heal over time is increased by 0%.

Aghanim's Shard

Holy Persuasion

Allows Holy Persuasion to target Ancient creeps. Can control up to 1/2/3 Ancient creeps based on Hand of God's level. Additionally levels up some abilities of creeps by 1 level.

Hero Performance

Median across all public matches · OpenDota

Form

45%

Win rate in recent matches

Performance

34%

KDA ratio (kills + assists / deaths)

Laning

15%

Last hits per minute over full game

Farm

41%

Average gold per minute

Fighting

11%

Average kills + assists per match

Experience

47%

Average XP per minute

Strategy

When to Pick Chen?

Pick Chen when your team needs a hero that can completely take over the early game and turn the enemy's jungle into a weapon against them—because that is exactly what this hero does when played correctly. He is situational, and I want to be crystal clear about that, because in the wrong hands or the wrong draft, Chen is just a guy running around the jungle doing absolutely nothing while his team dies in a 4v5. But when the conditions are right?

He is one of the most oppressive supports in the entire game. He is disgusting in lineups that can follow up on early aggression—Clockwerk, Skywrath Mage, Mirana—heroes that can punish the enemy the moment Chen shows up with three creeps and Holy Persuasion turns the enemy's own jungle against them. He thrives in metas where early towers matter because nobody pushes towers faster than a Chen with a full creep army backing him up.

He also pairs beautifully with carries that scale well but need a safe early game—Terrorblade, Medusa, and Spectre—because Chen buys them the time and space they desperately need to come online. Avoid picking him into heavy kill-threat lineups that can just dive on your carry and kill them before your creeps even arrive to help.

It also feels absolutely terrible when the enemy has a lot of AOE that wipes your creep army in one spell—Earthshaker, Enigma, or Jakiro will make your entire game plan evaporate in seconds. And if your team has zero follow-up and needs Chen to be the damage dealer? Just don't. That's not what this hero is here for.

Tips & common mistakes

People pick Chen and spend the first five minutes trying to get the perfect creep instead of just grabbing whatever is available and rotating immediately. Your value is in early aggression—a mediocre creep at minute three beats a perfect creep at minute six every single time.
Holy Persuasion gives your creeps bonus HP. This means you should always be prioritizing creeps with strong abilities—Centaur for the stomp, Dark Troll for skeletons, Satyr for the purge. Know your creep camp spawns before the game even starts.
Hand of God is one of the most underrated ultimates in the game, and people forget to use it. A global heal on your entire team in the middle of a teamfight can completely flip the outcome—stop saving it for "the right moment" that never comes.
Don't just sit in the jungle all game stacking creeps like you are playing a single-player game. Your job is to ROTATE, pressure lanes, and create advantages for your team. If you haven't shown on the map by minute four, you are already failing.
Test of Faith teleport is an escape tool for your teammates too—not just for yourself. If your carry is getting dove under the tower, teleport them out instantly. People completely forget this exists.
Stop sending your creeps into fights and then running away yourself. You need to be IN the fight directing everything—creeps without a Chen commanding them are just confused animals walking into their deaths.
Watch out for Diffusal Blade and mana burn heroes. Chen is incredibly mana hungry, and if you run out of mana in the middle of a fight, your entire creep army loses coordination and falls apart immediately.

Summary

Chen is a hero that demands more game knowledge than almost any other support in Dota 2 — you need to know the jungle, know the creep abilities, know when to rotate, and know how to translate an early advantage into actual objectives before the enemy scales past you. He is situational because he requires the perfect storm of draft, execution, and team coordination to truly shine. But when everything clicks?

There is no support in the game that can dominate the early game the way Chen does. Master the jungle, rotate constantly, and make the enemy team feel like they are playing against six heroes instead of five — because that's exactly what a good Chen feels like to play against.

Strong Against

Weak Against