Picking this Chen build makes use of the massive passive healing of the level one talent Stormstout Secret Recipe and several talents that buff his Flying Kick in order to make him a very mobile disruptive brawler. However, picking this build WILL sacrifice some of his 1v1 dueling capabilities.

The most popular chen builds always seem to revolve around Eye of the Tiger and accumulating flames but I find it difficult to get good value out of these talents. The brew soaked state from Keg Smash expires too quick for comfort and I hate feeling pressed to force in auto attacks during this small window. Chen needs to be flexible and weave in Fortifying Brew while repositioning constantly with Flying Kick. If enemies run from you or get any peel from a tank you will feel forced to put yourself into a bad position to try and squeak in autos to get value out of Eye of the Tiger. Chen is all about being flexible and I do not like being forced to try and auto a target after soaking them in brew. Taking Stormstout Secret Recipe allows you to be extremely flexible and fluid and get some health back just for using your abilities which makes it a much better all around talent at level 1.

I strongly recommend picking this chen build in order to play him as a disruptive OFF TANK. Chen will not be the teams main tank with this build. He is meant to dive the backline and wreak havoc!

-Try to reposition CONSTANTLY with Flying Kick in teamfights. Always be looking to jump on an exposed squishy or to slip away from the damage that is coming your way. You have insane mobility in a fight, use it to dance around the battle and avoid trouble while being a nuisance.

-Do not underestimate Stormstout Secret Recipe. If you land a Flying Kick, Keg Smash and then a Breath of Fire on one target that is 10.5% of your max health that you just got back! This only becomes more powerful if you hit more targets with your AOE abilities. Landing a Flying Kick then a two person Keg Smash and a 2 person Breath of Fire gives you back 17.5% max health...and so on and so forth. Combine this with Chen's Fortifying Brew and his low CD's on Flying Kick, Keg Smash and Breath of Fire and you can start to get an idea how tanky the panda can be.

- Stormstout Secret Recipe is especially good against Samuro Nova and any other Hero that can make a clone of themselves. You regain health when you hit their clone just like you would against a normal hero. That means, that if you can hit Samuro and his 3 clones with Keg Smash and Breath of Fire you will regain a total of 28% of your max health from Samuro alone.

-You need to understand how Chen does damage to be effective. If you play my recommended build Chen will have low burst damage but medium-high sustainted damage for most of the game. If you play like a bursty assassin...you will find him lackluster. Play the long game in teamfights and be patient while having good target selection.

-Use Stagger and Storm, Earth, Fire together to mitigate a crazy amount of damage. Anything that you absorb with Stagger will be erased when you split into the three pandas. This can allow you to soak an absurd amount while being crazy disruptive. Be careful though because if you are CC'd during the channel of Storm, Earth, Fire you will likely die soon after.

-Use Flying Kick to maneuver around the battle and be disruptive. You can jump into the backline with ease and their tank will either have to turn around or you will drive the squishies right out of the fight. Whenever you feel you are drawing too much attention and need to escape, just Flying Kick back out after soaking some damage. Then lurk around the edges and get ready to do it all again.

-While teamfighting use Fortifying Brew to stall for time and give yourself a shield before diving back in. You can easily draw attention, soak some damage with Fortifying Brew and then leap clear across the fight with Flying Kick to attack from another angle.

-Certain heroes can cancel your Flying Kick mid flight. Lúcio's Soundwave, Raynor's Penetrating Round or E.T.C. for example. Be careful of this because it can really mess up your flow and leave you vulnerable.

-You do not need to stick on one target until they die! For most of the game Chen's burst (not sustained) damage is relatively low. Because of your insane mobility with Flying Kick you can hop around the fight, attacking the enemy where they are weak and capitalizing on mis positioning enemies. If you dive into the backline and draw too much attention, focus on getting out and attacking from another angle. Your team should hopefully follow up on the disruption you have caused.

- Flying Kick will place you BEHIND your target. This makes Chen and excellent body blocker, especially when paired with Pressure Point

-Try not to use Fortifying Brew when you have the attention of 3+ enemy heroes. The shields will not be able to keep up with their damage and you will immobilize yourself making yourself into a very easy target.

Eye of the Tiger- I do not understand the hype around this talent! Every other Chen guide seems to love this talent....but I just find it so hard to get value out of. The fluid and flexible way that Chen fights makes it every hard to get enough value to make this talent worthwile. The only time I would take this talent is if you KNOW that you will be 1v1ing for most of the game.

Freshest Ingredients- A decent talent. The Extra healing is very nice for the early game and once maxed out, the shields become very useful. However, I still think it is out performed by Stormstout Secret Recipe

Stormstout Secret Recipe- A seriously underrated talent. The health that you get back from this talent cannot be underestimated. It will keep you alive in teamfights just by doing what Chen does best. I take this in 90% of my games.

Deadly Strike- I do not LOVE this talent but find it to be the most useful on this tier. Removing the brew cost from Flying Kick has saved my life more than once and whenever I don't take this talent I find myself spammming q and not moving because I didn't realize I was out of brew. The extra burst damage can be nice for diving on squishies as well.

Accumulating Flame- Another overhyped talent in my opinion. Just like Eye of the Tiger I find this so hard to get good value out of. I would only ever take this if you have taken Eye of the Tiger and you know you will be 1v1ing for most of the game. Under those specific circumstances it can be quite powerful.

Withering Flames- This talent is pretty bad. I would not recommend taking it unless you are somehow against a Jaina Gul'dan and a Kael'thas in the same game...and even then I would seriously think hard before taking it.

Gift of the Ox- This is not a bad talent, it is just out performed by the other talents at this tier. If you really like this one and feel it does well for you, go for it.

Brewmaster's Balance- a really great talent that I take often. It passively gives you benefits which come in handy quite often during the ebb and flow of a game. The extra health regen is great between teamfights and the movement speed can help you get to safety after blowing your CD's and brawling. If the enemy team is not heavy on auto attacks I would strongly consider this.

Elusive Brawler- Another really great talent. If you are against an Illidan Raynor Tracer or some other auto attack heavy comp...this talent will save your life. The movement speed on demand cannot be underestimated either.

Wandering Keg- A pretty decent heroic. I pick this in maybe 10% of games where I feel like making a pick on a squishy is vital to winning the game. It can be used in conjunction with Flying Kick to get behind a target and bump them back into your team. However, I have found that since Chens rework, enemies slip off the side of the hitbox ALL THE TIME which makes bumping them straight back a real pain.

Storm, Earth, Fire- Boy oh boy this ability is AMAZING. Using this ability at the correct times will make Chen an incredible pain in the *** that is almost impossible to peel or deal with for certain comps. If you use Stagger before transforming, you can effectively erase thousands of points of damage while drawing multiple enemies attention. Mastering the timing of this ability and learning when to use it is key to being effective. Also, you must remember that the last ability you use while in this form will be EMPOWERED....learning when to empower which ability takes practice but will be so rewarding when you get it down.

Pressure Point- This slow is very useful for increasing your disruptiveness and for picking off squishies. I guarantee you that their backline mage will NOT like an unkillable Panda leaping onto their face and slowing them by 80% every 5 seconds or so and then drinking away all their damage.

Touch of Honey- A pretty meh talent....pick it if you really like it, but there are much better choices on this tier.

Ring of Fire- This talent is....ok. It can help you with your waveclear and can give you some passive damage while you are in the middle of a teamfight. If you have gone all in on a Eye of the Tiger Accumulating Flame build this talent is pretty good...but again I would only ever pick that build under very specific circumstances

Enough to Share- This talent is actually growing on me! The extra burst of shields for yourself is no joke and it can stack shields pretty quickly on your allies as well. If you find yourself brawling with other divers like Sonya Artanis etc, consider picking up this talent to be a little more of a team player.

Flying Leap- the extra range gives you more engaging power and the reduced cooldown will make you slippery as all get out. Once you pick up this talent you will be next to impossible to pin down which makes brawling and disrupting that much easier

Celerity- I need to do some more testing with this talent. It has potential to be paired with Pressure Point and Keg Smash for great effect.

Combo Strikes- This is a very strong talent and I like it a lot...BUT I think that it only fits into certain types of games. If you feel like you have been getting good consistent autos off and are not under an intense amount of pressure when diving then I would pick this talent up. It also pairs very well with Eye of the Tiger and Accumulating Flame so if you picked those talents this is a good one to pick as well.

Untapped Potential I rarely pick up Wandering Keg because it is not as good as Storm, Earth, Fire. If you did pick up keg then I suppose this is a decent talent.

Elemental Conduit- This is a pretty good talent and can make you a real powerhouse when you are in your ult. I pick this in probably 30% of my games. I don't think this will ever be a bad pick.

Purifying Brew- This talent comes too late in my opinion and is not worth a very valuable level 20 slot. It might be good vs an extremely heavy CC comp....but if you are standing there tanking CC to the face as Chen you are playing him wrong.

Energizing Brew- an amazing talent that makes you do a LOT more damage and makes you become a LOT more tanky. This is when the hyper mobile brawling build transforms into a hyper mobile, hyper tanky, hyper damage diving assassin build. Seriously, this talent is amazing...just remember to keep it up as often as you can.

This is where this build excels. A typical teamfight will go something like this.

-Wait for you Main Tank to engage

-Pick a squishy and Flying Kick onto them

-Land your Keg Smash and a few autos while you wait for them to turn and focus on you.

-As soon as you feel the damage about to hit you, use your Stagger and focus on escaping if you are drawing too much heat.

-Soak damage with Stagger and then Flying Kick back out to safety by targetting a distant enemy of structure.

-Once you have some space channel Fortifying Brew to mitigate the damage you just absorbed.


Once teamfights start getting more and more chaotic you can weave these abilities together more effectively and be flexible with when and how you use Stagger and Fortifying Brew.

Heroes that are able to survive on their own and deal damage without needing to be babysat by a tank. Heroes like

Thrall Mephisto Tyrael Li Li Artanis Mal'Ganis Illidan Zarya Sonya Blaze and Varian

Chen Also pairs well with Heroes that can capitalize on the distraction that he makes with AOE or sustained damage. Heroes like

Genji Tracer Maiev Greymane

Chen has a hard time protecting his backline because his entire kit revolves around buffing HIMSELF. (unless you took Enough to Share.

Chen will be unable to peel divers off of immobile squishes like Jaina Gul'dan and Ana