Chen - S1

I've been really enjoying playing Chen a lot lately.  Playing him near exclusively has increased my mmr by 800 points in the last 6 weeks.  With that said, I will be diving in on and off about all the random things I have been noting and taking advantage of with Chen.  My style definitely breaks abit from the meta, but theres some sound logic behind where things are atypical.



Chen can make plays at level 1 and has a kiting ability that many don't realize he has due to his low play. 

Chen has a 650 attack range, which is above the average 600.  Only three other heroes outrange him at the early levels of the game (techies, ancient apparition, lina).  He has a 310 movespeed as well, which allows him to outrun a majority of the cast.  His attack speed is not notable, nor is his health pool.  Early game, this is offset though by the plethora of creeps that aid him. 

Theres many roaming things I'm still learning to take advantage of - but typically I will occupy a side lane, just behind the treeline of the main travel path in either the long or short lane.  Dota's creep placement gives Chen a wide enough selection of creep for him to have options between heavy and light camps.  The top of the map actually gives Chen slightly more options, since a medium camp is just on the opposite side of the light camp.

To start, with chen my initial items going in will be at the least:
-1 observer ward
-1 sentry
-poison orb.


From here, Chen has 150 gold.  In an ideal situation, I would buy another sentry and courier.  There is the occasion that the mid player may need a tango, or a smoke is desired for an early gank.

The most atypical thing that most will notice is that there are zero sustain items and much money is spent on that poison orb (275). Poison orb is substantially weaker on ranged heroes, but nonthaless, it adds to Chen's dps and kiting & chasing ability.

Due to his attack and movement speed and his reliance on creep, I use these perks of Chen to offset the lack of tangos or health potion.  Chen has a 1.7 hp regen and that's typically enough for him to hold out for the first minute(for the first creep spawn).

More to come