Chen Build Guide “I bring Pandamonium!”

Last updated on Dec 17, 2023 at 10:53 by Elitesparkle 28 comments
General Information

Welcome to our guide for Chen, a Bruiser in Heroes of the Storm. Within these pages, you will find everything required to understand how best to play this hero, in both different map styles and team compositions.

1.

Chen's Overview

Chen is a durable Bruiser and a strong duelist as he can trade exceptionally well against many Heroes thanks to his solid damage output and high self-sustain, making him one of the best Offlaners in the game when played correctly.

2.

Chen's Strengths and Weaknesses

V Strengths
  • +Good survivability
  • +Decent mobility
  • +Solid damage output, especially against Heroes
X Weaknesses
3.

Chen's Talent Build Cheatsheet

Basic Attacks Build

Recommended
Level 1 Eye of the Tiger Icon Stormstout Secret Recipe Icon ?
Level 4 Accumulating Flame Icon Withering Flames Icon ?
Level 7 Brewmaster's Balance Icon Elusive Brawler Icon ?
Level 10 Storm, Earth, Fire Icon
Level 13 Ring of Fire Icon Enough to Share Icon ?
Level 16 Combo Strikes Icon
Level 20 Elemental Conduit Icon Purifying Brew Icon ?

Chen's Basic Attacks Build focus on increasing your damage as much as possible, mostly by empowering Basic Attacks. Paired with Chen's good survivability, the additional damage allows you to take down valuable enemy Heroes with little to no help from your team.

Combo Strikes Icon Combo Strikes at Level 16 is the signature Talent of this Build, heavily increasing your damage output especially when paired with Eye of the Tiger Icon Eye of the Tiger at Level 1 and/or Enough to Share Icon Enough to Share at Level 13.

Flying Kick Build

Advanced
Level 1 Freshest Ingredients Icon
Level 4 Deadly Strike Icon
Level 7 Elusive Brawler Icon
Level 10 Wandering Keg Icon
Level 13 Enough to Share Icon Ring of Fire Icon ?
Level 16 Flying Leap Icon
Level 20 Purifying Brew Icon

Chen's Flying Kick Build is designed to keep your damage high when you cannot rely on Basic Attacks that much, either because you are countered by enemy Heroes or because team fights will be relatively short.

Flying Kick Icon Flying Kick will deal more damage thanks to Deadly Strike Icon Deadly Strike at Level 4 and have less cooldown thanks to Flying Leap Icon Flying Leap at Level 16.

Stagger Build

Situational
Level 1 Freshest Ingredients Icon
Level 4 Withering Flames Icon
Level 7 Gift of the Ox Icon
Level 10 Wandering Keg Icon
Level 13 Enough to Share Icon
Level 16 Celerity Icon
Level 20 Purifying Brew Icon

Chen's Stagger Build focuses on increasing your survivability as much as possible, mostly by making Stagger Icon Stagger more efficient. Your damage output will be lower but living longer will help you create space for your team.

The combination of Gift of the Ox Icon Gift of the Ox at Level 7 and Celerity Icon Celerity at Level 16 makes Chen harder to kill. Withering Flames Icon Withering Flames at Level 4 and Enough to Share Icon Enough to Share at Level 13 can be used to peel for allied Heroes or to mitigate incoming damage.

ARAM Build

ARAM
Level 1 Freshest Ingredients Icon
Level 4 Deadly Strike Icon
Level 7 Elusive Brawler Icon
Level 10 Wandering Keg Icon
Level 13 Enough to Share Icon
Level 16 Flying Leap Icon
Level 20 Purifying Brew Icon

Chen's ARAM Build is designed to keep your damage high when you cannot rely on Basic Attacks that much, either because you are countered by enemy Heroes or because team fights will be relatively short.

Flying Kick Icon Flying Kick will deal more damage thanks to Deadly Strike Icon Deadly Strike at Level 4 and have less cooldown thanks to Flying Leap Icon Flying Leap at Level 16.

4.

Chen's Synergies and Counters

V Chen synergizes with

Chen likes to play together with Heroes that can empower his dive (such as Tyrael), dive with him (for example Abathur), provide waveclear (like Rehgar), clear Mercenary Camps (for example Greymane), and/or offer crowd control (such as Johanna).

X Chen is countered by

Whether team fighting or dueling, Chen struggles against Heroes who have access to crowd control effects that can interrupt Fortifying Brew Icon Fortifying Brew (for example E.T.C. with either Powerslide Icon Powerslide or Face Melt Icon Face Melt) because, without channeling it for at least 1 second due to a quick interrupt, he will not have enough Brew to use some of his Basic Abilities.

Speaking about team fights in particular, anything that can protect his target from a dive attempt makes Chen's plan more difficult to execute (for example a well-timed Sanctification Icon Sanctification by Tyrael or even a Sound Barrier Icon Sound Barrier by Lúcio).

If we consider the macro aspect of the game, primarily due to his low waveclear, Chen has a hard time when the enemy team has access to Heroes who can completely warp the game and allow the enemy team to play in a different way than usual (such as Abathur and The Lost Vikings).

5.

Chen's Maps

Chen's stronger maps
Braxis Holdout Dragon Shire Hanamura Temple Infernal Shrines
Chen's average maps
Alterac Pass Battlefield of Eternity Sky Temple Tomb of the Spider Queen Volskaya Foundry
Chen's weaker maps
Blackheart's Bay Cursed Hollow Garden of Terror Towers of Doom Warhead Junction

Being a good Offlaner, Chen performs better on Maps where being able to handle the solo lane with a single Hero is important (for example Hanamura Temple).

Due to his mediocre waveclear, Chen is not that good on Maps where double soaking is required (such as Towers of Doom), even if he can still provide good value in team fights thanks to his Heroic Abilities.

Chen is bad on big Maps (like Garden of Terror) because he does not offer anything in the macro department.

6.

Chen's Tips and Tricks

  • Flying Kick Icon Flying Kick can be used on any enemy unit, so you can target Minions or Walls to quickly go from danger to safety.
  • Always land a Basic Attack between Keg Smash Icon Keg Smash and Breath of Fire Icon Breath of Fire to maximize your damage output.
  • The damage over time from Stagger Icon Stagger can be mitigated with the Shield provided by Fortifying Brew Icon Fortifying Brew or completely negated by Storm, Earth, Fire Icon Storm, Earth, Fire.
  • Other than to escape from danger and contest a Control Point, Wandering Keg Icon Wandering Keg can be used to push a single enemy Hero towards your team and/or to push multiple enemy Heroes away from your team.
  • Immediately after casting Storm, Earth, Fire Icon Storm, Earth, Fire, you can quickly use Storm Icon Storm and Fire Icon Fire to empower Earth Icon Earth for a strong engage.
7.

Chen's Role in the Current Meta

Chen is a Bruiser that is only played as an Offlaner because he is a strong duelist with good sustain and not with the rest of the team because he cannot unleash his true potential while fighting in the early game, where he lacks some damage Talents and especially a Heroic Ability.

8.

Changelog

  • 17 Dec. 2023 (talents page): Guide reviewed.
  • 17 Dec. 2023 (this page): Guide reviewed.
  • 20 Sep. 2023 (talents page): ARAM Build added.
  • 20 Sep. 2023 (this page): ARAM Build added.
  • 28 Apr. 2023 (offlane matchups page): Page created.
  • 07 Jul. 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 07 Jul. 2022 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 16 Jan. 2022 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 16 Jan. 2022 (abilities page): Builds updated.
  • 16 Jan. 2022 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 25 Jun. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 25 Jun. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 14 Mar. 2021 (talents page): Builds updated.
  • 14 Mar. 2021 (this page): Builds updated.
  • 05 Nov. 2020 (talents page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 05 Nov. 2020 (abilities page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 05 Nov. 2020 (this page): Guide reviewed for the latest Balance Update.
  • 21 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build page updated.
    • Balance Update revision.
    • Minor fixes.
    • New layout.
  • 21 Aug. 2020 (abilities page): Abilities and Strategy page updated.
    • Balance Update revision.
    • Minor fixes.
    • New layout.
  • 21 Aug. 2020 (this page): Introduction page updated.
    • Balance Update revision.
    • Minor fixes.
    • New layout.
  • 12 Aug. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build fully revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
    • Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
    • New layout.
  • 12 Aug. 2020 (abilities page): Ability and Strategy fully revised to match new standards.
    • Tips and Tricks modified to add important tips that were missing and to remove obvious ones that were not worth mentioning.
    • Ability Descriptions modified to better explain how to use Abilities effectively.
  • 12 Aug. 2020 (this page): Introduction fully revised to match new standards.
    • Overview rewritten to better describe the Hero.
    • Strengths and Weaknesses modified to give a better idea about the Hero when being played right.
    • Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
    • Synergies and Counters modified to mention notable Heroes that were missing and to remove misleading Heroes that were listed.
    • Maps modified to focus on the main aspects of the Hero when evaluating a Map.
    • Tips and Tricks modified to list important tips that were missing before and to delete more obvious ones.
  • 09 Apr. 2020 (talents page): Talent Build partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build and Talent Build Cheatsheet modified to reflect the current metagame.
    • Talent Descriptions modified to better describe when to pick them.
  • 09 Apr. 2020 (this page): Introduction partially revised to match new standards.
    • Talent Build Cheatsheet updated to reflect the current metagame.
    • Role in the Current Meta modified to remove the unnecessary part about the now fixed Experience Globes.
  • 23 Jan. 2020 (talents page): Revised Chen's Guide due to the new Balance Update and found that no updates needed to be made for now. We'll keep an eye on Chen's further development.
  • 09 Dec. 2019 (this page): Added an entry about the current Anomaly to the guide.
  • 12 Jul. 2019 (talents page): Revised the guide and found it was still on par with the latest Balance Update.
  • 12 Jul. 2019 (abilities page): Guide reviewed.
  • 12 Jul. 2019 (this page): Guide reviewed.
  • 17 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Completely overhauled and updated Chen's talents and builds in accordance with the recent Hero Rework.
  • 17 Jun. 2019 (abilities page): Updated Chen's abilities in accordance with the latest Hero Rework.
  • 07 Jun. 2019 (talents page): Updated Chen's talents and builds.
  • 22 Sep. 2017 (talents page): Updated Chen's talents in accordance to the latest balance update.
  • 30 Aug. 2017 (this page): Updated Chen and moved guide to new format.
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