
Penitence
Damages enemy unit, forces it to move slower and lets allies attack it more quickly.
- DURATION
- 5 / 6 / 7 / 8
- MOVEMENT SLOW
- -12 / -18 / -24 / -30%
- BONUS ATTACK SPEED
- 20 / 40 / 60 / 80
- DAMAGE
- 50 / 100 / 150 / 200
Intelligence · Ranged
Converts creeps to his cause, building an army

Win rate
45.9%
D across all ranks
Pick rate
0.4%
of public matches
Public picks
13.9K
in the sample
Pro scene
0
0 bans · 0% win rate
Bars start at 50%. Sample sizes: Herald 365 · Guardian 1.2K · Crusader 2.2K · Archon 3.1K · Legend 3.3K · Ancient 1.9K · Divine+ 1.7K.
Last 6 days
46.5%
Bought before the horn
Iron Branch
Tango
Blood Grenade
Sentry Ward
Smoke of Deceit
Observer and Sentry Wards
The first minutes
Boots of Speed
Arcane Boots
Core items
Drum of Endurance
Guardian Greaves
Vladmir's Offering
Solar Crest
The full build
Pipe of Insight
Guardian Greaves
Aghanim's Scepter
Vladmir's Offering
Solar Crest
Glimmer Cape
Most-bought items for Chen in OpenDota’s sample of parsed public matches (1,164 purchases counted). Bars compare each item with the most-bought one in its phase. The percentage is the win rate in games where Chen bought the item by minute 30 (green or red when it is clearly above or below Chen’s average). Teams that are ahead buy items sooner, so a high number shows the item goes with winning games, not that it causes the win. Items with fewer than 100 games show no percentage. Cheap components are hidden from the mid and late game.
55
Use: Plant Tree: Targets the ground to plant a happy little tree that lasts for 20 seconds.
90
Use: Devour: Consumes a target tree to gain 7 health regeneration for 16 seconds. Consuming an Ironwood Tree doubles the heal duration. Comes with 3 charges.
50
Use: Throw Grenade: Throw a grenade at the target area. Enemies in the area will take 50 damage on impact, and be slowed by -15% and take 15 damage every 1s for 5…
10s
Use: Throw Grenade. Throw a grenade at the target area. Enemies in the area will take 50 damage on impact, and be slowed by -15% and take 15 damage every 1s for 5 seconds. Radius 300.
50
Use: Plant: Plants a Sentry Ward, an invisible watcher that grants True Sight, the ability to see invisible enemy units and wards, to any existing allied vision within a…
1s
Use: Plant. Plants a Sentry Ward, an invisible watcher that grants True Sight, the ability to see invisible enemy units and wards, to any existing allied vision within a 1050 radius. Lasts 7 minutes. Does not grant ground vision. Hold Control to give one Sentry Ward to an allied hero.
50
Use: Disguise: Turns the caster and all allied player-controlled targets in a 1200 radius invisible, and grants 15% bonus movement speed for 45 seconds.
1s
Use: Disguise. Turns the caster and all allied player-controlled targets in a 1200 radius invisible, and grants 15% bonus movement speed for 45 seconds. While the caster is still disguised, any allies that come within 300 range of them will also get the buff applied to them. Each smoke can only be applied once to allies. Attacking or moving within 1025 range of an enemy hero or tower, will break the invisibility. Disguise grants invisibility that is immune to True Sight. Smoke of Deceit is usable from the backpack and has no cooldown when swapped into the main inventory.
50
Use: Plant: Plant the currently active ward. Double-Click to switch the currently active ward.
Use: Plant. Plant the currently active ward. Double-Click to switch the currently active ward.
500
Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.
1,500
Active: Replenish: Restores 150 mana to all nearby allies. Radius: 1200
55s
Active: Replenish. Restores 150 mana to all nearby allies. Radius: 1200
Passive: Basilius Aura. Grants 1 mana regeneration to allies. Radius: 1200 Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.
1,625
Active: Endurance: Gives +35 attack speed and +13% movement speed to nearby allies for 6 seconds. Radius: 1200
45s
Active: Endurance. Gives +35 attack speed and +13% movement speed to nearby allies for 6 seconds. Radius: 1200
Passive: Swiftness Aura. Grants 15 movement speed and 2.5 health regeneration to allies. Radius: 1200
4,450
Active: Mend: Restores 325 health and 200 mana to nearby allies, and removes most negative effects from the caster. Radius: 1200 Dispel Type: Basic Dispel
45s
Active: Mend. Restores 325 health and 200 mana to nearby allies, and removes most negative effects from the caster. Radius: 1200 Dispel Type: Basic Dispel
Passive: Guardian Aura. Grants 2.5 health regeneration and 1.5 mana regeneration to allied units. If the wearer's health falls below 25%, their health regeneration is increased to 14.5. Radius: 1200 Movement speed bonuses from multiple pairs of boots do not stack.
2,200
Passive: Vladmir's Aura: Grants 20% lifesteal, 18% bonus damage, 1 mana regeneration, and 2 armor to nearby allies. Radius: 1200
Passive: Vladmir's Aura. Grants 20% lifesteal, 18% bonus damage, 1 mana regeneration, and 2 armor to nearby allies. Radius: 1200
2,575
Active: Shine: When cast on an ally, grants them 5 armor, 60 attack speed, 15% movement speed and a 350 physical damage barrier.
16s100
Active: Shine. When cast on an ally, grants them 5 armor, 60 attack speed, 15% movement speed and a 350 physical damage barrier. Does not grant bonus armor, movement or attack speed if used on self. Duration: 7
3,725
Active: Barrier: Gives a magic damage barrier that absorbs 425 damage to all nearby allies. Lasts 8 seconds. Radius: 1200
60s150
Active: Barrier. Gives a magic damage barrier that absorbs 425 damage to all nearby allies. Lasts 8 seconds. Radius: 1200
Passive: Insight Aura. Gives allied units 8% magic resistance. Radius: 1200
4,200
Passive: Ability Upgrade: Upgrades the ultimate, and some abilities, of all heroes.
2,150
Active: Glimmer: After a 0.5 second delay, grants invisibility, 20 movement speed and a magic damage barrier that absorbs up to 375 damage to you or a target allied unit…
15s125
Active: Glimmer. After a 0.5 second delay, grants invisibility, 20 movement speed and a magic damage barrier that absorbs up to 375 damage to you or a target allied unit for 5 seconds. Can be cast while channeling.

Damages enemy unit, forces it to move slower and lets allies attack it more quickly.

Chen takes control of an enemy or neutral creep and receives a percentage of its bounty. Its maximum health is set to 400. Converted creeps will have increased movement speed and bonus damage. Chen may globally target his own creep if it has not taken damage in the last 3 seconds to unsummon it.
Aghanim’s ShardAllows Holy Persuasion to target Ancient creeps. Can control up to 1/2/3 Ancient creeps based on Hand of God's level. Additionally levels up some abilities of creeps by 1 level.

Passively provides an aura that grants increased health regeneration. Can be cast on allies to provide them with bonus armor and increasing the healing and health regeneration they receive. If cast on Chen, all units controlled by Chen receive the buff.

Whenever Chen respawns, he is joined by a Zealot, a melee warrior creep with the ability to sacrifice itself to heal or deal damage to an enemy. The Zealot receives Holy Persuasion's benefits and scales up with other lane melee creeps as game time increases and gains extra base damage. The Zealot respawns next to Chen. Zealot may be activated to teleport a unit under your control to Chen after a 6 second delay. If Chen is targeted, it will teleport all units you control. Taking damage from enemy heroes or their units will cancel the teleport.

Heals all allied heroes on the map as well as all units under Chen's control. A large heal is applied at first and a slow heal over time is applied for 10 seconds afterwards.
Aghanim’s ScepterDecreases the cooldown of Hand of God to 40s and it becomes a channelled spell that lasts for up to 6 seconds. The initial heal happens at the start of the channel, and while channeling other nearby allied units become debuff immune with 60% magic resistance and the power of the heal over time is increased by 200%.
Hand of God applies a Strong Dispel
25Hand of God Fully Heals Chen and His Creeps
+15% Divine Favor Heal Amplification
20+1300 Holy Persuasion Minimum Health
+12% Holy Persuasion Damage
15+15% Penitence Slow
+75 Penitence Damage
10+25% Zealot Health/Damage
Born in the godless Hazhadal Barrens, Chen came of age among the outlaw tribes who eked out an existence in the shimmering heat of the desert. Using an ancient form of animal enthrallment, Chen's people husbanded the hardy desert locuthi, a stunted species of burrowing dragon that melted desert sands into tubes of glass where twice-a-year rains collected. Always on the edge of starvation and thirst, fighting amongst their neighbors and each other, Chen's clan made the mistake, one fateful day, of ambushing the wrong caravan. In the vicious battle that followed, Chen's clan was outmatched. The armored Knights of the Fold made short work of the enthralled locuthi, who attacked and died in waves. With their dragons dead, the tribesmen followed. Chen struggled, and slashed, and clawed, and perished--or would have. Defeated, on his knees, he faced his execution with humility, offering his neck to the blade. Moved by Chen's obvious courage, the executioner halted his sword. Instead of the blade, Chen was given a choice: death or conversion. Chen took to the faith with a ferocity. He joined the Fold and earned his armor one bloody conversion at a time. Now, with the fanaticism of a convert, and with his powers of animal enthrallment at their peak, he seeks out unbelievers and introduces them to their final reward.
Win rates come from public Dota 2 matches (OpenDota), 3.4M matches counted, refreshed Oct 24, 2026. Tiers use the win rate in the chosen rank: S 52.5%+, A 51%+, B 49%+, C 47.5%+, D below; heroes with too few games are left unrated. Hero data and patch notes are Valve’s. Builds Forge is an unofficial fan site, not affiliated with Valve.