Riki: The Ultimate Assassin

I don't really have anything to say to this. It is just like every other rikki guide- made by someone who pub stomps with him and then suddenly they think they have the knowledge to write a guide.


XcALibuR: While true that Zues, Crystal Maiden, Lion, Lina, Bane, Shadow Shaman, Keeper of the Light all get hurt by rikki's smoke, only one of these I would argue couldn't beat him 1v1 in the early game (aka before he is fed)

What you often see in pubs is a rikki Blink Strike + Smoke Cloud a support hero out on it's own. And what normally happens in low/medium level pubs? They freak out seeing themselves use 100/200 health in 1 hit and they attempt to run away. I mean, their right clicks miss, they can't cast spells- the logic with support heroes being silenced is usually go get out of the fight until you can do something.

Riki is one of those heroes that needs some knowledge about how he works to counter him. No, Sentry Wards do not counter SA. Right clicks do. If a Crystal Maiden gets caught out and combo'd, assuming the riki isn't fed, the Crystal Maiden should right-click the SA in the cloud. No, it wont hurt Riki, but it will allow you to wait out his backstab damage for the smoke to end, at which time a Frost Bite + Crystal Nova will destroy him.

I always get this skill first as it gives you extra damage - 30/60/90/120.
If you have a team mate nearby, you can easily kill almost any character.
This is how I get my early kills, if you prefer to get Backstab first instead, then I am happy for you to do so.

But like I said, it gives extra damage and helps you when chasing damaged heroes (which again, gives you early kills).

Apart from that, thank you for your feedback/comment.

-PoP Assassin

you just failed at the starting items...you can try to buy a stout shield, a tango, a salve and 3 branches and on early game why you don't get a vladimir instead of that yasha. also a manta is better because you don't really need that slow from sange if you have the difussal,

I quite agree with you. If your level 1 is going passive/smoothly, I would get Back Stab. It all depends on the situation. If I want to gank at level 1, Smoke Screen can and will be considered to take.

Pretty sure level 1 backstab with his items give Riki close to 100 damage to creeps.

And you're supposed to farm early on anyway, so why blink strike?

Is an etheral blade a good thing for riki? better off getting a butterfly, then something else entirely -

max blink strike always first - for the faster cd and dmg.
get 1 level of smoke for the silence.. situational, but you could also max this before back stab - but not recommended.

backstab isn't great early - as you agi is still quite low..

How is Blink Strike more important than Backstab? Blink Strike rarely gives early kills, it's just your chasing/escape mechanism - Backstab gives you really good last hit abilities AND heightens the chance of an early kill. And it's why Riki hits hard. Personally I consider THIS to be Riki's true ultimate because his last skill really isn't useful late- but this is useful. All the time.

Riki's ult is what characterizes him but it's far from OP, really weak even, if the opponents are even slightly good.

Diffusal Blade is evidently not considered, but you should at least count it in situational. It's really good.

I think there are a lot of unexplained details, unmentioned factors and a lot of stuff to polish on this guide. Won't rate it for now, but you should listen to the other suggestions and make this a good guide.

The build is pretty good, I like a few of your item choices. I might try them out sometimes, but there are a few things that I would disagree.

Firstly, at least one level of Smoke Screen during early-game helps a lot if you want to grab early kills with your lane mate. You can open up with a smoke, then when the smoke is about to end, your partner follows up with a stun, OR you open up with smoke, then your partner directly uses a slow, so that the enemy won't get away.

Going down to the item list, I think Vladimir's Offering deserves a special mention. It gives you lifesteal aura, and it also increases your damage by a PERCENTAGE, which will be useful during late-game.

Another item is Skull Basher. You already hit so fast, if you get this, it would be a stun-lock, and your enemy won't have time to get out of your Smoke Screen to retaliate. Plus, it can be upgraded to Abyssal Blade.

For Riki's food, you might want to add slow-moving heroes and those who are reliant more on their spells rather than auto-attack (i.e, Crystal Maiden, Zeus, Lion) for a few reasons:
1) Smoke Screen silences any enemy inside it.
2) It slows their movement speed as well.
3) Their attacks will miss most of the time.

And about ranked plays, you need to warn your supports to grab some Sentry Wards to counter the enemies', because in ranked plays, the supports are much more active to ward-up.