Chou is not the easiest roamer, but he is the most rewarding. One good kick changes a teamfight. Two good kicks in a row and your team wins the Lord for free. He's been a fixture in M7 picks and continues to dominate Mythic-tier roam selections into the current season.
The problem most players have is treating Chou like a damage dealer when they're on roam duty. If you're chasing kills instead of creating picks for your carry, you're wasting his best quality. This guide covers the roam-first approach: build, combos, and rotation logic that works at Mythic Immortal and below.
Check out the full Chou hero profile on MLBBHub for current stats and tier placement.
#Why Chou Is a Meta Roamer Right Now
The current ranked meta rewards aggression around the first Turtle. Teams that can create a pick before the objective spawns almost always win the contest. Chou does exactly that.
His kit has three things no other roamer bundles together as cleanly:
- Displacement on demand. The Way of Dragon kicks one priority target out of position. No skillshot required. If you connect the first phase, the second phase follows.
- CC immunity on a short cooldown. Shunpo gives you a brief window where you cannot be stopped. You can dash through Nana's Molina, through Eudora's stun, and through Chou mirrors if you time it right.
- Reset potential. Landing the third hit of Jeet Kune Do on a hero resets Shunpo. A good Chou chains mobility for far longer than enemies expect.
Against the current meta of Yi Sun-shin, Claude, and Pharsa, there are always squishy targets worth kicking. Chou punishes exactly that kind of backline.
#The Roam Tank Build
This is your default build for solo queue. It keeps you alive long enough to make plays instead of feeding shutdown gold after one bad engage.
| Slot | Item | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Boots | Tough Boots | Ranked is full of CC. The tenacity is non-negotiable. |
| Item 2 | Dominance Ice | Anti-heal, attack speed reduction, armor. Strong against sustained carries. |
| Item 3 | Athena's Shield | Protects you from burst mages on dive-in. |
| Item 4 | Immortality | Second life after deep kicks. Removes the risk of a clean combo. |
| Item 5 | Blade Armor / Antique Cuirass | Blade Armor vs crit marksmen. Antique Cuirass vs skill-based physical damage. |
| Item 6 | Radiant Armor | When the enemy mage deals sustained damage, not burst. |
Your roam blessing depends on your team composition. Conceal if your squad needs surprise angles. Encourage if your carry needs more objective speed. Avoid Dire Hit on roam Chou unless you're genuinely playing a hybrid role with a real frontliner already on the team.
Emblem: Tank emblem. Prioritize the talent that gives you a damage proc when you close gaps. Movement speed nodes matter because your rotation speed determines how many picks you get.
Spell: Flicker. Always Flicker. It makes your ultimate's angle unpredictable, which is what turns a guessable kick into a confirmed pick.
#The Core Combo
Getting the kick to land on the right target is the most important skill on Chou. The combo below is what you're working toward in training mode.
Standard pick combo:
- Jeet Kune Do (first hit)
- Jeet Kune Do (second hit)
- Shunpo (dash through or behind the target)
- Jeet Kune Do (third hit, knocks airborne)
- The Way of Dragon (first phase, kick them into your team)
- Shunpo (reset from third hit proc)
- The Way of Dragon (second phase, follow-up damage)
The Shunpo before the third hit of Jeet Kune Do is what separates average Chou players from good ones. It repositions you behind the target so the airborne kick sends them toward your team, not away.
Flicker variation (harder, higher reward): After the second Jeet Kune Do hit, instead of Shunpo, use Flicker to teleport to a position the enemy doesn't expect. Then land the third hit from that angle. This combo is devastating against carries who've stepped too far forward.
Practice the standard combo until the third hit connects 9 times out of 10. Then add Flicker.
#Rotation Logic
The biggest mistake roam Chou players make is wandering randomly. Every rotation has a purpose.
Level 1-3: Start near your gold laner or mid laner depending on which needs the early vision. Your job at this stage is preventing cheese kills, not hunting them.
Level 4 (after ultimate unlocks): Now you become a threat. Prioritize ganking mid or the enemy gold laner when they overextend. The standard gank angle comes from behind the target, cutting off their retreat path toward their turret.
First Turtle window: Arrive before your jungler does. Control the pit entrance bush. If the enemy jungler or carry shows up early, this is your prime pick opportunity. A successful kick into your team before the Turtle spawns makes the objective free.
Between objectives: Shadow your jungler on their rotation path. Don't roam alone into fog. Even with a tanky build, you can be caught and deleted if you walk into a stacked bush without vision.
#Gank Angles That Actually Work
Approach from a direction that pushes the target toward your team, not toward their tower or their backing path.
If you're ganking the gold lane from the top side bush, you want the target to get kicked downward, toward mid or the river, not up toward their base. Walk around the bush first, position correctly, then engage.
Against mobile targets like Benedetta or Lancelot, hold Shunpo until they use their escape tool. If you dash in immediately, they escape. If you wait, they panic-dash into you and the third hit connects cleanly.
Against immobile carries like Layla or Hanabi, the standard combo is enough. Close the gap with Jeet Kune Do, lock them down, and kick them into your team before their support can react.
#What Counters Chou and How to Play Around It
Esmeralda: Her shield absorbs the burst from your combo. Kick her into your team and let your mage deal with the shield. Don't try to solo delete her.
Freya and Paquito: Both can interrupt your second phase with their own CC if timed correctly. Against these two, save Shunpo as an escape route instead of committing all-in.
Strong burst mages: If Eudora or Valir can delete you before you execute the kick, build Athena's Shield earlier in your rotation. Some games require item order changes.
#Common Mistakes at Every Rank
Epic: Chou players here engage without checking if teammates are in range to follow up. A perfect kick into an empty zone is just a free death. Before you engage, confirm your nearest teammate can close the gap within two seconds.
Legend and Master: Players use Shunpo to chase instead of reposition. Shunpo is not a chase tool. It is a positioning and evasion tool. Dash behind the target to set up the third hit, not forward to follow a retreating enemy.
Mythic: Roam Chou players go full damage emblem. The Tank emblem's movement talent and HP give you the survivability to make a second play in the same teamfight. Going Assassin emblem on roam means one good combo then one death. The math doesn't work.
Chou's ceiling is one of the highest in the game. His floor is also low, which is why bad Chou games feel so painful. The gap between the two comes down to combo consistency, kick angles, and rotation discipline. Nail those three and you'll understand why pros kept reaching for him across all of M7.
See the current MLBB tier list to see where Chou sits across all rank brackets this patch.