EPTPros and Cons of Chen
Chen is one of the best junglers, pushers, and gankers in the game. Chen can nearly guarantee a kill using a Centaur, Ursa, or Troll Warlord, farm a fast Mekansm with a Wildkin or Satyr, and destroy a tower with any of those five creeps mentioned. And I mean it when I say destroy. I've killed Rax in 25 minutes due to a quick Mekasm and a 5 man push. Sometimes a team can literally do nothing to stop a creep army, Mekasm, your ultimate, and a decent team behind you. While Chen does not scale well in the late game, he is still relevant by offering an ensnare that goes through magic immunity (Troll Warlord), a 30% base damage aura (Alpha Wolf), 12% speed aura (Kobold Taskmaster), a near replica of Lich's Ice Armor (Ice Ogre), a bonus 3 armor aura (Wildkin), and a 15 attack speed aura & potential aoe stun (Centaur). With decent coordinated aggression (usually in a pub, you will need to be the leader), a Chen will outright win a game.
However, Chen is a momentum based hero, is immobile, and has a luck aspect to the hero. If Chen dies, usually all of his creeps will die with him. This makes Chen ineffective at team fighting, pushing, and farming for a period after resurrection. Without creeps, you can only offer a random damage nuke in a teamfight*, you cannot offer much to a push, and you need to go amass another army in the jungle to farm fast again. Recently, I carelessly died and had a 10 minute Mekansm (from two or three ganks) go to a 16 minute Mekansm. From one death! That is what I mean by momentum based hero. Chen is immobile because your creeps cannot TP counter gank with you. You should still carry a TP early on to escape & to counter gank if no one else will. However, you should always let someone else TP in first, and make a decision to push Mid/Safelane if the enemy Mid/Hardlane is absent instead. And Chen does rely on a bit of luck because Mud Golems. Not only because Mud Golems, but if you play Chen often, some games you will have shit creep luck. Some games, you just won't be able to find an Alpha Wolf late game and no ganking creeps at all early game. Your nuke is also random damage. There will be situations when you will just have to take an Ursa late game because your team cannot wait for 3 minutes for the perfect creep combination. All of these negative aspects are somewhat offset by your ultimate. No matter if you have creeps or if you're completely across the map, your ultimate will have the same effect of a global heal. No luck involved either. You'll find that your ult is not enough because you can use it in almost any situation. Teamfights, helping your team tower dive/gank, and helping your team escape, your global heal will always have a use, and unfortunately, its cooldown is too long to use it for everything, and you shouldn't really save it either.
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*I didn't mention Penitence because the momentum applies mostly to the early game before it is skilled enough to make a difference.
Stats
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uQOvpZv.png)
Yea, I'm lazy
The somewhat low strength growth doesn't really matter as you cast your spells and try to stay in the back of teamfights. The nice intelligence growth allows you to sustain yourself on Arcane Boots and one mana item (Ring of Basilius, Medallion, or Urn) for the whole game. After Ultimate Scepter, you may have mana problems with spamming your ultimate, but other Arcane Boots and a little patience will deal with it. The 300 movement speed can let you ignore boots for a little longer than normal if there is absolutely no need to chase, dodge hooks, run away from Juggernaut spins, ect. Since you're letting your creeps do all of the work after your two spell casts, there isn't a huge need to get that movement speed up. Everything else is normal.
Abilities
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/I0gTAFv.png)
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Typically, you'll skill the last. Unless you have a lineup with ridiculous damage and have no need for your pure damage nuke, skill this last. The usage of this skill isn't difficult, but be sure not to waste it. In small engagements, use it on whoever is getting focused, but in 5v5 teamfights, be sure not to waste it on enemy supports who'll get cleaved down. Save it for high priority targets, and make sure if they have a BKB, to use it after their BKB wears off (unless they're getting chain stunned of course). Even though the damage is physical, it is still dispelled by BKB and purges.
