Everything Can Work - Position 3 Chen Edition
Image by [AG]LaughingSkyPig
Another article, another pub game ruined. This time, your core is the one who will ruin your game. Next up in this series are traditional support heroes who could make an impact by playing as cores.
Offlane 
Chen has been around for some time and isn’t a totally new concept but recently, Chen in the offlane has been winning games at an absurd rate. In this article, we’ll look at the idea around offlane Chen, and if it’s a viable pick.
Pro scene
In the pro scene, 33 has been the one leading the charge for this hero as a position 3. 33 is known for his play on micro intensive heroes and there aren’t many heroes that require more micro than Chen. 33 is also an offlane player so putting 33 on Chen in the offlane seems like a combination that just makes sense.
In recent memory, 
Alliance played offlane Chen at MDL Chengdu Major. In Alliance’s opening game of the group stage, they picked Chen for 33 and they won in this game. The next time they picked Chen was in game one of the first round in the playoffs in this game. Alliance won that game and then 
TNC Predator first phase banned Chen the rest of the series which they then won.
Chen was first phase banned against Alliance for the rest of their tournament run before they got eliminated in round three of the lower bracket.
Chen is a common hero picked often in pro games though mostly as a support. What Alliance and 33 have shown though is that Chen is also viable as an offlaner in the hands of the right player.
Pub scene
In the Dotabuff hero meta page when sorting by offlane roles, Chen is ranked #1 in win rate percentage in Divine/Immortal games with an absurd 59.04% and a 1.57% pick rate.
In Ancient games, Chen has a 54.28% win rate with a 0.61% pick rate, good for 6th best.
Of course, these numbers could mean that Chen is being played as a position 4 rather than a 3 but if Chen is being played as a support then it’s more likely that he’s being played as a 5.
When else have we seen a 59.04% win rate on any hero in any lane? This is an absurdly high number and it’s being seen on Chen in the offlane. So obviously there’s something going right when considering this hero and role.
Offlane Chen gameplay
Position 3 Chen shines in the early game and rides that advantage into the late game.
At level one, you can control an enemy range creep or jungle creeps to get an advantage in the last hit battle. You also have an ability that provides bonus health regeneration which is always helpful in lane.
Offlane Chen also gets levels faster than support so you’ll be able to control neutral creeps like Centaur Conquerors before 10 minutes. If you can get a few of these creeps, they’re very difficult to deal with in the early game. A few two second AoE stuns is huge at all stages of the game but in the early game they’re especially difficult to deal with.
Offlane Chen can also farm ancient creep stacks better than most carry heroes. If you have several high level neutral creeps under your control and have a Vladmir's Offering for lifesteal, then you should be able to take multiple ancient stacks easily.
When it comes to offlane heroes, most players expect a hero that can tank and initiate. Chen provides that but in a different way. His Centaur creeps can initiate and tank while Chen stays in the backlines and summons allies or prepares heals and slows. In this sense, Chen fulfills the traditional role of an offlane hero just not with his body.
This works well until the mid to late game. Centaurs and Satyrs won’t be able to equip items so they don’t scale like heroes do. You’ll have to get an Aghanim’s Scepter and control Ancients for your creeps to scale well into the late game but even then, heroes will of course scale better.
So the strong points of offlane Chen are his abilities and normal gameplay coming online faster than the enemy expects. In the mid to late game, seeing a few Centaurs coming your way can easily be dodged with a blink dagger or force staff but before 15 minutes, not many heroes will have high mobility items.
Some weak points of Chen offlane seem obvious but are important to point out.
One is the tilt factor. When you pick offlane Chen, your position 4 might dismiss you and try to take the last hits, thinking that the farm would be better suited on their 
Pudge rather than a position 3 Chen. You might end up in a last hit battle with your enemy and ally, leaving your lane supportless.
Chen also can take a while to “come online.” You need to find creeps in the jungle that fit your needs and that forces you to rely on random chance. If you die or your creeps die, a large part of what you offer to your team disappears and that provides an opening for your enemy.
Final thoughts
In the right hands and with the right team, offlane Chen brings a lot to the table that can be overwhelming to deal with. If you are being charged at by four centaur creeps with five enemies behind it, you probably want to turn around and run for your life.
Chen is one of the most micro intensive heroes in the game so that eliminates a large portion of the player base from playing him. But if you’re open to the challenge or already good at him, it can be something new that the enemy isn’t used to dealing with and that in itself can be a significant advantage.
Has anyone seen an offlane Chen in their game? If you’re a position 4 and your offlaner picked position 3 Chen, would you steal their farm?
FIRST COMMENT LET'S GOOO
Currently, the Enchanted Mango has a 41.38% win rate. This is a tragedy. We've all had moments where that extra mana boost saved your ally with a clutch nyx stun or a sudden reincarnation turns the teamfight. It is our duty as fellow gamers and members of the DotA 2 community to rise up and give this item the respect it deserves.
(Also does anyone know the interaction between Lycan Aghs and Chen? I am curious if Chen's creeps would get the haste buff)
These are starting to really get on my nerves. Next thing I'm gonna see is: how to win games in 2020: run down mid and feed.
As someone who has really been diving into mid dazzle, I'd love to see a piece on his core data. Flexibility in his dps aghs build or his CDR grieves build gives him a lot of flexibility depending on the draft spread (like pos 4 wr and pos 5 invoker).
Good article. Although I think you miss some very important keys on why chen offlane is very strong
First off. Chen offlane has this timing with helm of domi which you should use to get tier 1 towers (preferably enemy safelane and mid) which helps to get map control on their jungle. After getting enemy safelane T1, with 5 creeps online you can basically stay in the enemy jungle and play around there as YOU'RE THE STRONGEST HERO IN THE GAME AT THIS POINT around 7-15mins ( no joke). You can basically fight anybody as long as you are not severely outnumbered (depending on enemy draft). Enemy team at this point would most likely to avoid fighting against you which you should use this to your advantage to try and make them rotate towards you.
Second thing, the reality is offlane chen doesn't really stay at 3. When late game approaches you actually turn into a pos 4 as you cannot provide anything else aside from powerful buffs and heals which is often overlooked. The way you play lategame chen is getting aura creeps(cloack centaur/hellbear,wolf aura etc.) and the ice ogre while ditching the big centaur which i think you overrate too much. People saying lategame chen is walking creep are dumb and don't actually play the hero.
""His Centaur creeps can initiate and tank while Chen stays in the backlines and summons allies or prepares heals and slows. In this sense, Chen fulfills the traditional role of an offlane hero just not with his body. This works well until the mid to late game. Centaurs and Satyrs won’t be able to equip items so they don’t scale like heroes do. You’ll have to get an Aghanim’s Scepter and control Ancients for your creeps to scale well into the late game but even then, heroes will of course scale better.""
At lategame this is actually the opposite. You actually should NOT HAVE a centaur(the big one) at lategame and should put all your creeps at the backlines because the creeps you should have at this point is the ones with auras and ice ogre which are pretty squishy. Also don't get agahanims, too much waste for a 4200 gold.
Just my feedback.
Thanks for acknowledging tilt factor. Go POS 3 Chen and your pos 4 is going to take your LHs, your team is going to flame you, and then win/lose you're going to get a bunch of reports.
Shit could only work in a 5 stack, regardless of MMR or Behavior Score level.
Chen pos 3. gg ff gl next
it's very good guys chen in offlane = gg trust me i played in last game
it's very good guys chen in offlane = gg trust me i played in last game
"Of course, these numbers could mean that Chen is being played as a position 4 rather than a 3 but if Chen is being played as a support then it’s more likely that he’s being played as a 5."
Most likely 4s.
Please delete all these horrible articles and don't write anymore in this series. You have done so much damage to pubs, make it stop.
Chen 3 are almost impossible to play against early, and top 500 players admit it you can see by your own eyes on any stream currently with 8000+
But this articles really shitty and don’t catch real threat etc.
He can't do more damage to Dota tbh. I think this game is dead already. Actually dead for quite some time now. Players that remind are some frustrated people looking to dispose of their anger. This is not near the dota when it was released. Everyone that liked this game I think already quit it and just decided to let it go. I mean its ok to lose games ofc you cant win all of them thats the point to teach you that you can always do better. But how many games in a row you lose because you have people that play to lose. Its worse than ever really. There is no more teamwork there is only crying and toxic behaviour. Valve implemented the matchmaking based on that. What else to say really. There are no more players for ranked i think. Now you get players based on behaviour score. 8 Mil players global in month. Whats there more to talk about. your write articles about chen pos 3. Who you think will play that even tell us honestly. There are 100 000 games with chen totally. Even classic long forgotten heroes are ignored, now everyone want to be carries or supports that will be toxic towards them :). I think there is only luck if you get good teammates. Not to mention amount of boosters and boosted accounts. Thats whole new world really. So you tell me how many people actually remained to play this game. I say not much. So actually go and write more of these articles so people can leave Dota in even greater number. I encourage you to do that. Keep up the awesome work.
Oh and I almost forgot to add amount of players this year. Last year same time there was above 11mil players. now barely 8mil and falling . There was smile spike during corona thou :). Anyway people are playing less and less this game its a fact. Valve constantly tries to change things but only for the worse. So many changes that I think even they lost in translation tbh.
No one cares about your rant you Ivcha shithead. Last year same time we had TI. Let's see.. what did every TI do? Oh yeah seasonal player who joined the euphoria of watching their favourite player and wanna share the experience of playing dota in their own bracket. That's fine. Totally fine. What's not fine is idiot like you comparing numbers of the year we literally have pandemic and the year everyone and their dog watching TI.
you're hopeless. I don't think no one would ever able to explain Chen as pos 3 to you