InviNsible RIKI

Could people PLEASE stop calling Riki a hard carry? Riki is as far away from a hard carry as you can get. Riki is a *ganker*, a ganker who has decent (semi)-carry potential, but a ganker first and foremost. He may be playable as a hard carry in pubs if you're playing against noobs, but that's because you're playing against noobs, not because of what Riki does. If the enemy team has the slightest idea of what they're doing, late-game Riki sucks.

Very few gankers in DotA have a good late-game. Because it would be pretty OP if some heroes could own both the mid-game and the late-game. That's why late-game Viper, Mirana, Huskar, Night Stalker, etc, are just really weak and drop off completely after a point. Some extremely rare heroes can be considered *both* carries and gankers becasue they can gank well and still have a solid late-game, like Templar Assassin, Chaos Knight, Clinkz or Phantom Assassin, and even these folks are not considered hard carries, just carries. And Riki isn't even one of them.

Why does late-game Riki suck? Because Riki has no teamfight, and late-game is all about pushing and teamfighting.

- His only contribution to a teamfight is Smoke Screen, but this is easily countered by getting Force Staff, Black King Bar and Monkey King Bar. In the late game the enemy team will have the items that counter you. Except if you're playing against noobs of course.
- Backstab is completely useless in teamfights because Riki will always be focused first.
- Necronomicon means that your shenanigans with invisibility in teamfights are over for good. There's no escape possible if you go in.

Essentially, Riki's skillset is really strong for ganking single targets but is terrible for teamfighting. The only thing a 6-slotted Riki can do is find solo pickoffs and he'll still feed in teamfights. The whole point of hard carries is to win teamfights, that's why Medusa, Spectre, Faceless Void and friends are hard carries, because they can win teamfights almost 1 vs 5. Riki can't. No matter how many items he gets he'll only be able to gank and not much else.

Best Riki counter... BRISTLEBACK!!!!!!! Though I never see BB in games, literally once I've played against a BB, and I've never played with him, his Bristleback ability would be one of THE MOST ****ING ANNOYING ABILITIES in the game against Riki... Just sayin' :D + 1 FROM ME. Lots of room to improve, in fact, my personal build may give some ideas :D http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=254439970, that's my personal Riki build, test it out, it may or may not work :D

I love those Tranquil boots especially in lane when u don't have a support with a heal or when u want to cover long distances of the map , u can spend less money on TP scrolls.
U should add an orb of venom as an early item because it allows u to attack and move easier at early levels.

well a riki guide, oh wait it wasn't written by a 5 year old yayyyy, pretty good guide and formatting for a first guide even if it is on riki. Alrightttyy:Ashwin everything you have said is utterly confusing, "rapier is a last ditch come back item" yes...in a way only of your reallly losing on a good carry like ember spirit or something. It is however quite viable if you are really far ahead and want to get the game over with.

I get a gem as core, or extension because if they can't get down sentries and you can blink strike away from dust then you are really hard to kill, also saves your supports from having to buy as many sentries. I don't think tranquils are a great item on riki, power treads are far better, however the certainly are not the worst boots you can get, as for skull basher being nooby, AHEM whoever said that, just be quite skull basher is a perfectly ok item.

On the other hand battle fury I really think is a huge waste of gold, illusions and what not...really. if your up against pl then get a gem and go after the invis one chilling behind the rest.

Finally, when I play riki I like to get other things when I am fairly far ahead, I get AC sometimes, -armor is great for taking down heavy armor enemies or even low armor(more damage, good) and makes you less squishy, I also like to get linkens sphere, more nice stats to keep me alive and of course the spell block stopping nasty hexes, stunlocks and all kinds of dastardly things

Riki is a hard carry, and you should have supports in your lane. Blink Strike is in no way a reliable escape mechanism. If your the enemy team 5 mans up to gank you, you're not going to escape without a supports help regardless of whether you pick up Blink Strike or not. That being said, Backstab can really help at level 1 in last hitting/denying like I said.



The miss change increase is significant. It nearly doubles at level 4. Having a 70% miss chance is great to have early on (since you are a squishy hero early game). Without agility boosting items, Backstab is really not that impressive, and you won't have those items before mid game. I'd much rather have the 70% chance to miss compared to a tiny bit of extra damage.



I'll not argue on this because I guess it's blind luck whether or not you catch supports in your smoke. Just keep in mind that one Finger of Death is almost enough to kill you straight up, and in teamfights, you will be the primary focus of enemy supports. If it's worth losing a teamfight on the off chance that an enemy support wasn't caught in your smoke, I guess skip it, but I wouldn't chance it. Any support that is caught outside your smoke can totally ruin you - Rubick can lift you and throw you out of the smoke screen, Shadow Demon can disrupt you, Disruptor can throw a static storm/kinetic field combo on you, even a random hero caught outside the smoke can stun you up. Not having a BKB on Riki is asking for trouble, in my opinion.



I understand your logic for the Battle Fury. I can't say I agree with it, but I guess it is a possible option if your team has no other way to clear out illusions. Note that this would be a heavy investment with a linear purpose though. The Battle Fury doesn't help you in any other way, since there are far better items you can get for the same price.

As for Divine Rapier, I still stand by my opinion. If you are winning a game, you don't need a Divine Rapier. If you are losing the game, and want a do or die item, Riki is possibly the worst hero you can grab a Rapier on. Carries like Luna or Gyrocopter are better suited with their Moon Glaives and Flak Cannon benefiting from the Rapier, and they are natural Satanic builders, giving them some survivability. Carries like a Faceless Void can grab a Rapier because he has 5-6 seconds of free time within his Chronosphere, and worst case, he can escape using the Chrono. Carries like Tiny can grab a Rapier since it really combos well with his cleave. However, grabbing a Rapier on a Riki a bad choice since you really aren't gaining a whole lot from the item (NONE of your abilities synergize well with a Rapier), and you are running the risk of giving it away.

Also your argument of



is possibly one of the cases where you absolutely should not get a rapier. The thing is, a Rapier isn't an item that you get when you are farmed more than the enemy and are already dominating them. A rapier is a last-ditch, come-back item. You get it when you are two rax down, and the enemy team is winning. In this situation, when you have nothing to lose, you grab a Rapier and go for a "Hail Mary" play. If you manage to teamwipe the enemy with a rapier, you win the game. If you die and feed the rapier, well, you were losing in the first place, so nothing has changed.

Getting a Rapier when you are ahead of the enemy team is the worst thing you can do for your team.

I would personally only take blink strike level one if I'm playing offlane or (for whatever idiotic reason) solo-lane (either offlane or mid). Otherwise, it's up to your support to protect you for the first 5-10 minutes so that you can farm.
Generally I pick up backstab level one because farming on Riki is your number one priority.
Treads is probably the best item on Riki in the early game because (as you mentioned) Tranqs don't give stats and unless your positioning is awful and/or your enemies can abuse you from long range (Lina, Lion, etc.) you don't necessarily need more regen than a set of tangos + a salve.
I personally like rushing Ring of Basilius sometimes before finishing Treads (brown boots are a first-item pickup for me just because positioning is so important for Riki) for the little pinch of mana regeneration for the early game for you to spam Blink Strike + Smoke Screen, but generally my item progression on Riki looks something like:
Starting items:
Tango, Salve, Ring of Protection, two gg branches
items:
Boots of Speed-> Ring of Basilius-> Power Treads-> Diffusal Blade->Agility booster (typically Butterfly)-> Vladmir's Offering(sometimes before Agi item depending on how hard the game is)-> GG

I sincerely disagree with Battle Fury on Riki at any point in time.
The regen is nice and bonus damage is always swell, but considering you have to be standing behind the enemy to get the bonus damage from Backstab I just don't feel the small cleave boost is worth expense. You're better off buying a gem and hunting the PL if you want him bad enough, and Diffusal is generally enough to deal with individual illusions, but Riki as a character is ill-designed to deal with a massive amount of enemies. He excels at 1v1 combat, and generally his role in most teamfights is to pick the most irritating character on the enemy team and just hack away at him/her under smoke while everyone else is busy dealing with your 4 other teammates.

@ashwinthegrim.... Thanks for your ideas mate.

1. I have justified the use of Power Treads in the "choice of boots" chapter. Its just i feel better with Tranquil Boots. I'm talking about the time before your support cud make a mechansm, especially in pub games where no one picks supports and there will be no mechansm or Pipe of Insight. In case if i were in top lane, and i tower-dove to kill someone, i will hav some 150 hp. And while i walk from there to mid lane or bot lane, i would have enough hp to initiate another gank. BUT I WILL STRESS Power Treads AS THE STANDARD ITEM.

2. About Backstab in first level, it's good for your farming, but what if your enemies plan an early firstblood gank. You DEFINITELY need an escape right from the first level. Smoke Screen can be a good skill to be taken at first level, but Blink Strike is just better.

Smoke Screen is a good skill, but it isn't worth getting more levels of it in the early game. Only the aoe and miss chance changes. 250 to 325 isn't a big gain of aoe to waste 4 levels. And you cannot gank the whole team in early game, so one level is sufficient. And all heroes hav less attack speed in early game, hence 40% miss is more than enough. On the contrary, Backstab scales up from 0.5x to 1.25x. Those extra 3 levels in smoke screen just prevents your enemy from taking 2 more steps, but the extra 3 levels of backstab, doubles your attack potential. The duration, cool down, slow all remain the same for all 4 levels of Smoke Screen

3. Black King Bar is a MUST item on all carries. But if you are really good at using your Smoke Screen well, U just have wasted almost 4k gold, which u could have used to get an Eaglesong. Smoke has a good aoe and more duration than BKB( 4 secs after u have used enough). At the most, the enemy will have 2 nukers, who will quite comfortably fit into your smoke if you use it properly. If they enemy have more than 2, go for BKB.

4. Thanks for pointing out the slow part. Somehow i missed to mention that

5. That's why they are in the "situational/luxury" tab. Battle Fury on riki is NOT for farming. It is extremely situational, if u have a Naga Siren or Phantom Lancer in the enemy team. yoU cannot actually find the real one when you are against 10 phantom lancers. If u have cleave, and observe closely, u can identify the real one in your first hit. And u can comfortably clear out all the illusions he can produce. And Divine Rapier is an extreme late game luxury item, that is viable on all carries. When you already have that Eye of Skadi and Butterfly you are not squishy anymore. And if u have them it just implies that, the enemy had fed you well enough and are underfarmed than you. OFCOURSE it is extreme noobness to go straight from power treads to divine rapier.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FEEDBACK

The problem though, is that, the newbs' way of playing Riki is also one of the most terrible ways of playing him. For example, banking way too much on his invis, ignoring Smoke Screen, going Mask of Madness + Skull Basher, etc..

I actually think we need proper Riki guides that make the hero viable at a reasonable skill level.


@Timminator: I still think BKB is core on the hero.. Reason being, in a teamfight, all it takes is about one to two maxed out nukes (one if you are already semi low on hp, two if you are high on hp).. And teams WILL focus Riki (since he is the hard carry, after all). In pubs, I agree that BKB isn't necessary since co-ordination is minimal, but in any serious match, Riki is way too squishy to ignore magic immunity.

Does this website really need Riki guides... I think plenty of noobs know how to play him

bkb is reallt good on riki and i will get it a lot, but its not as crucial as a gyrocopter or shadow fiend BKB.
i still agree with getting often it but i wont put it in ABSOLUTE core.

Here are my comments:

1. Tranquil Boots are a terrible choice, in my opinion. Riki is a hard carry, which means, you need to be farming all the time. This doesn't go well with Tranquil Boots which break when you are farming. All the time you are depending on Tranquil Boots for regen is time wasted that you could be farming. Instead, get yourself Power Treads and grab a salve or something to heal up. Power Treads is a great choice on Riki since he's mana hungry in the early game (his Smoke Screen + Blink Strike combo takes quit a bit of mana). When you don't need the mana, you can leave them on agility and enjoy the extra damage (and the bonus backstab).

2. I don't quite agree with your skill build. Backstab at level 1 is simply too good to pass up, especially since the change (which applies backstab on allied creeps), which makes lane control extremely easy with Riki. I do agree with maxing Blink Strike first, however, I'd rather put the earlier points into Smoke Screen rather than Backstab. The reason for this is that, since Backstab is based off your agility, it doesn't do much in early game. It only shines once you have a few agility items up. Compared to that, Smoke Screen is an awesome choice, for the reasons you outlined - great AoE disable, which is awesome in teamfights, and a miss chance that makes it nearly impossible to fight you inside the cloud when it is maxed. So, max Blink Strike and Smoke Screen with a point in Backstab for easier last hitting.

3. My eyes burn, not seeing a Black King Bar on Riki. People overestimate his Permanent Invisibility way too much. You might get away with this in low level pubs, however, even a semi-decent player will rip you apart without a BKB. Remember, your ulti is arguably your weakest skill (it is essentially a Skeleton Walk without a mana cost taking up your ulti spot). Also, you need to come out of invis when you attack. Combine this with the low HP pool of Riki, you'll get nuked down in teamfights before you can have an impact. Black King Bar is CORE on Riki. It's not optional; it's not situational. My item build is Power Treads --> Yasha --> Black King Bar --> Diffusal Blade --> Skull Basher --> Butterfly --> Abyssal Blade.

4. It's funny that you mention Aghanim's Scepter and Refresher Orb in Rejected Items. Anyone that even thinks about building those on Riki has serious medical problems, let alone, following a guide. Anyway, the reason I brought up the items was that, I really like your Diffusal Blade choice with its active. However, you missed out one of the most important aspects of the purge that the active gives you. It slows down enemies to a crawl, which keeps them in your smoke, making it easy for you to kill them really fast. This is actually significant against escape oriented heroes like Anti-Mage which makes Riki a viable counter to those heroes.

P.S: Diffusal Blade or Eye of Skadi are the only good UAMs on Riki. The others are weak in comparison. Special mention to the Mask of Madness + Skull Basher pub Rikis - when I usually get these on the enemy team, it's free kills. This combo doesn't work against any half-decent player. As soon as they see you with Mask of Madness, they will manfight you and win, and you are already at a disadvantage, since your Backstab is nullified automatically.

5. Battle Fury and Divine Rapier on Riki are bad choices. Battle Fury isn't needed since your Backstab gives you enough farming power. Divine Rapier is just a bad pickup on Riki. The reason is that, you are squishy and easily killed unless you are far ahead of the enemy. If this is the case, you shouldn't be buying a Divine Rapier in the first place. If you are behind the enemy, it's even worse since you'll pretty much be giving them a free Divine Rapier.

As the previous comments say, Tranquil Boots aren't perhaps the best choice for your build. The movement speed is not necessary for Riki, who has unnaturally high movement speed and agility to start with. As for the heal, it is helpful, but it breaks when you're under attack and many heroes will be able to take you out in three seconds. Also, most will have Dust of Appearance when they see Riki in a game and will use this when they know he's close by. The heal won't do anything for him once he's revealed.