Dota 2: Combing Chen and Witch Doctor

Dota has a wide variety of characters with an even greater variety of skills and items that can be combined to generate powerful interactions. One of the most fun is the combo between Chen and Witch Doctor.

In short, the combo consists of making the most of Doctor's ultimate, Death Ward, generating a true machine gun of damage capable of sweeping away the opposing team.

Chen

Chen is a support hero who has some very useful skills. All of his facets involve controlling a unit which will act under your command and grant certain advantages, but for the combo what really matters is the Penitence skill, which applies a debuff to the target, slowing it down, while Chen and his allies receive bonus attack speed upon attacking this target unit.

With this, the Doctor's Death Ward turns into a machine gun which will cause a lot of damage rapidly to the unit under the effect of Penitence, which normally results in a kill.

In addition to Penitence, Chen is an excellent creep accumulator which can control several units at the same time, creating a private army. Chen also has healing abilities that are very useful in combat, including a global heal, which is his ultimate.

Witch Doctor

I already wrote a detailed article about the Doctor that you can find here, but for the combo what matters most is his ult, Death Ward, and his Aghanim's Shard, Voodoo Switcheroo, with which the Doctor can target enemies under the effect of Penitence. His facet, Voodoo Festeration, allows him to deal extra damage to enemies around him while healing himself.

The Chen and Doctor duo should preferably be controlled by two friends who are on the same team or at least two players who are aware of what to do, how the combo works and who are in constant communication. Both should position themselves as supports, with Doctor as Pos4 and Chen in the safe lane with the carry.

Once Witch Doctor has access to his ult, the two can start walking together and ambushing enemies, the weaker ones are an excellent target at the beginning. The combo works with Chen casting Penitence first, Doctor can use his Maledict on the target and cast the ult afterward. These steps must be carried out quickly so that the opponent does not have time to escape or react, as the Doctor's ult is channeled, and he’s vulnerable while casting it.

With Aghanim’s Shard, Doctor gains access to a second machine gun with shorter range, but which can be used to compensate for the vulnerability of the original ult.

Important Items

The build can be a traditional one, but some items are of great help and others are mandatory for the combo, such as the Doctor's Shard and his Aghanim's Scepter, as well as Bloodstone and escape and protection items such as Glimmer Cape or Black King Bar. As for talents, you should prioritize Maledict and Death Ward to deal more damage and have a larger area of ​​effect with these skills.

Chen will make good use of any item that provides him with control and/or disables against the opponent. Rod of Atos or another item which prevents enemies from escaping the Death Ward, Scythe of Vyse or another disable item is extremely useful, especially against heroes with problematic abilities. Don't forget to pick up the talents to improve Penitence.