Better than the Arsenal Magus!-A guide to Rubick [6.84]

Introduction

Hello! I am SatomiCappucino and this is my guide to Rubick! I started playing Dota 2 before about 1 year so I may not seem like the most experienced player. I myself think I am a good player. So Rubick! He is a very interesting hero able to fill many roles (solo offlane, support, ganker-mid). Offlane he is not that good like Puck for example, but he is pretty okay. Anyway this guide is about a support or a midlaner Rubick. He has one of the best spells in the game too- Spell Steal. I will note that this is my first guide so feel free to tell anything good/bad about it in the comments!
So lets go to the guide...

Pros / Cons

Pros:
+Can get someone stuck on the cliffs near the rune spots from level one with Telekinesis
+Can have practically every(almost every) spell in the game
+Has a disable, nuke and an aura which tanks up his team against magic damage
+Counters big initiators using their own initiation. Ex: enemy Enigma uses Black Hole. You are not sucked in it-you steal it and trap their team eventually wining the teamfight.

---

Cons:
-Mana hungry
-Squishy
-You need to know the enemy heroes's spells so you end with a good initiation ultimate and not with a useless(for you) steroid.
-Without Telekinesis or a good stolen escape skill can be easily ganked
-Low base movement speed

When to pick Rubick

Pick Rubick when:
+Your team lacks supports.
+Enemy team has big initiators like Tidehunter and Enigma
+Their team's spells are worth stealing.
+You need a farm-independant midlaner who can gank constantly.

---

Do NOT pick Rubick when:
-You have too many supports.
-If theirs AND your team lacks initiators, because without good initiation spell Rubick cannot initiate so it is better to pick someone else like Centaur Warrunner or Earthshaker for this job.
-Your team lacks hard carries

Abilities

Telekinesis

This is Rubick's first ability. You will mostly use it for pulling your enemies out when you and/or your carry are low and need to get out alive. Also this can help early game for initiating a 2v2 fights or 2v1. Almost every carry do not benefit from the aggressive part of this skill, because carries are tend to have power late game, but if you are laning with a carry which is powerful even early game ( Ursa and maybe Drow Ranger after six)
Note that enemies can be still attacked while in the air.
When you cast the spell on someone, it will be replaced with a subaility which is called Telekinesis Land. This spell lets you decide where the flying will land after the stun ends. If you are skilled enough you can get someone stuck on a cliff!

This is maxed second. Why would you ask? Well extra stun is always better than damage, but the stun scales really bad with levels:
LVL1 Telekinesis- 1 sec stun LVL1 Fade Bolt- 70 dmg
LVL4 Telekinesis- 1.75 sec stun LVL4 Fade Bolt- 280 dmg

---

Fade bolt

This is Rubick's nuke which bounces on nearby enemies and reduces their right-click damage-it is painful early game for their carries. The best part is that their is no limit of the bounces which can occur. Ex:
You stacked a camp about 5 times for your carry. You have Fade Bolt level 4-if you use it you are going to leave every creep on about half health (if not ancient ofc) thus making farming this camps easier for your carry. In another scenario this can be used to finish of fleeing enemies because if you use on the creep wave it will bounce and maybe kill your enemy. The range is quite long and the damage is moderate too.
This skill is maxed first as Telekinesis scales bad with levels and null field is good only with sufficient amount of hp.

---

Null field

Null field

This ability is a simple magic resistance-granting aura. It is useful against magic damage enemy comp.
As of 6.84 patch it also affects creeps! This is nothing major. Can help in the push a little bit though.
You will max this last and maybe not take any points in it before level 10. I recommend getting early points if you are playing vs Zeus, Invoker or another heavy magic damage nuker.

---

Spell steal

Cast it on someone and steal the spell they casted last! So with this spell you can have practically every OTHER spell in the game (exceptions: Invoker's orbs and ult, your own spells, passives, auras). Note that you can use your enemies's spells for a duration(or until you die) and NOT forever ;_;

Must steal:

Morph agility gain Morph strength gain
This is an amazing example of a "must steal". You can use this to convert all of your agility into strength an become more tanky. If you are able to do this in the very early game you will have over 1000 health in no time.
(NOTE:You steal both spells regardless of which the enemy Morphling casted!)

Meat Hook
This is Pudge's hook! Use it to displace their carries so you can kill them easily. Best part: it has 0.1 cast time. This means that you will be very hard to predict.

Black Hole, Ravage, Epicenter, Reverse Polarity, Echo Slam etc.
This is pretty simple. Nice initiation skills securing you the teamfight. If their team happens to cast one immediately try to steal. However good Tidehunter will cast something else right after his ult so you end up with a Anchor Smash. Every good initiator will cast another spell right after their game-breaking ultimates so be aware of this.

Fiend's Grip
This is one of the most broken spells in the game. It disables (even through magic immunity), damages AND STEALS MANA. Nuff said.
It is pretty easy to steal as long as you are not the target because it is channeled.

Rearm
No cooldowns as long as you have mana.
This is easy to steal as it is channeled(exception is tonker permahex).

Finger of Death, Laguna Blade, Mystic Flare
Nukes which will one-shot those squishy carries. Be aware of the amazing mana costs.

Doom
One of the most annoying spells ever. The silence and damage are amazing. If you get Aghanim's Scepter you will disable passive abilities making you an extreme threat for the enemy team.

Teleportation
Teleport anywhere!
Great for split pushing and escaping heroes without stun.

Track
You will be able to reveal Bounty Hunter and his friends. The coolest part is that this spell lets you snowball your team out of control as they will gain bonus gold for every kill!

Eyes in the Forest
Enchant the trees and make the map yours! With the extreme vision you get there will be really no need for wards(except if yours or their team has Timbersaw). If you are able to get this use it on every cooldown! The vision is just too damn good.
Read it:
Faceless Void is immune to Rubick's Chronosphere and can freely act inside it, but does not gain the movement speed boost and other units under his control are not immune. Rubick and units under his control do not become immune to Faceless Void's Chronospheres while having Chronosphere stolen and only gain the movement speed boost in his own Chronosphere(copy-pasta from wiki).
With this I mean to not steal Faceless Void's Chronosphere, because he will be able to go inside it and wreak havoc. Faceless Void is often a primary target thanks to his damage so not disabling him is not a good idea. I just do not recommend stealing this.

Items

Starting items:

So your starting items will be:
2x Tango to sustain your hp pool.(you can switch one of the tangoes with a salve)
Gauntlets of Strength and a Circlet which later are built into Bracer.
And finally a Clarity to regenerate a little bit of your mana.

If you are playing the team's support hero your starting items will be:
An Animal Courier(optional, if someone else got it).
An Observer Ward.
Gauntlets of Strength which are later built into Bracer(if you didn't get courier).
2x Tango and 2x Clarity for sustaining health and mana pools
If your carry wants tango you are you going to give some as a good support.

Early game items:

IF you are going in the mid lane you are going to get Bottle first. You NEED the extra mana and heal as Rubick is very squishy and mana dependant. Be sure to control the runes too.
Getting early Boots of Speed is recommended because you have low movement speed. If you are playing vs Pudge even earlier than Bottle so you can dodge his hook.
The last early game item is Bracer which is built from 2(or 1...or 0 lel) of your starting items so it will be pretty easy to get it because you won't need much gold. You can stack 2-3 Bracers or later build it in Drum of Endurance.

Core items:

Before starting to buy any of these items upgrade your boots!
Aghanim build:
First you are getting a Force Staff. So with this thing you are going to regenerate health a bit faster and you will have 10 int more. Also with the active ability of this item you can push yourself or your allies out of danger or help them get a kill. Careful while using this on enemies as you can help them escape.
The second item is Aghanim's Scepter or the scepter of your father (yeah Rubick is son of Aghanim). This item will give you +10 to all stats aswell as 200 hp and 150 mana. The best part is that it gives you the upgraded version of every stolen ultimate (or Tinker's Q and W). However it will not give any aghanim exclusive spells the but you can still steal them.
And of course Town Portal Scroll. I have listed this because you ALWAYS have to carry one so you can help your team or escape in any time!

Eul's build-support
These are not that expensive cores. Again Force Staff is here to regenerate you a bit faster and to give you some mobility and int. With Eul's Scepter of Divinity you are not going to worry about mana and you will move very fast. The active can be used for setting up stuns with cast times( Light Strike Array) or for buying some time for escaping.

High stats build
The most expensive cores. Scythe of Vyse gives stats and mana regeneration. The active is amazing for locking down one target or for preventing an enemy Faceless Void from killing your team inside his Chronosphere if you aren't caught in it. Aghanim's Scepter gives stats and a passive which upgrades the ults you steal. Also reduces cooldown of Spell Steal to 2 seconds and improves the range to 1400.
I recommend getting these cores when not playing support and when you are ahead. Do not even think of getting these when you had a bad early game.

Mobility build
The difference between this and the other cores are the Blink Dagger which lets you move around more quickly to avoid danger or to chase someone. If someone else got drums you can skip them and get something else.

Luxury and situational

Bloodstone
Mana regeneration, health regeneration, health and mana. Also an active which lets you deny yourself so the enemy team is not getting any gold for killing you. IMO Rubick cannot get the full potential of a Bloodstone as he will not be able to get it early enough to snowball... but still the "infinite" mana regen it gives are very good for Rubick.

Shiva's guard
Amazing item providing you with armor and int. The attackspeed slowing aura also counters carries and the active lets you finish off fleeing enemies and initiate fights.

Necronomicon
If you are planning to push this item is for you. The mana burn and true sight are nice for revealing and killing this rampaging Wraith King.

Pipe of insight
The shield from this item is effective against heavy magic damage ( Lich, Zeus). Only buy it if you are having trouble against magic damage-dealers. If they have only rightclickers this item will be useless.
The offlaner should get this most of the times, but you are still a good candidate for buying this item.

Mekansm
This item is amazing for every team. If there aren't heroes who buy this as a core ( Io, Razor) you can buy it if you are playing as a support. I myself do not like mek on Rubick for just one simple reason. He does not have the flat mana pool to cast all of his spells + Mekansm. The item is good, just get it after something that boosts your intel. or mana.

Guardian greaves
If you got Mekansm, upgrade it to greaves. Just do it. The aura, heal and mana regen are very useful for teamfights.

Soul ring
Provides you with some mana and hp regen for a small price. Be careful when you are using the active as you may help their team. A good combo is Soul Ring- Mekansm. This way you are not using up health and not that much mana. But don't do it in 1v1 situations. Only in teamfights.

Black king bar
Do not hesitate to buy if you are getting chain-stunned.

Lotus orb
Put it on someone(or yourself) and see how your enemies think twice before casting a spell. The damage,armor, hp and mana regen are nice too.

Boots:

Tranquil boots
If you are getting harrased early and want the extra health regen and armor. The movement speed is amazing and the boots are very cheap.

Arcane boots
Most times I get these, because of the extra mana and the instant mana boost to you and your team. For me these are better alternative than Soul Ring. Still more expensive but do not cost health.

Phase boots
Before ancient times I thought these boots suck on Rubick. Well, they are not that bad if you want to build some right click. The movement speed is amazing for chasing and running away. You can deal a considerable amount of dps, because of your low BAT.

Boots of travel
When it is lategame and you do not have enough place in the inventory for tp scrolls. But the tp scroll does not offer teleporting to creeps,wards etc. With these boots you can backdoor, splitpush and outrun most supports with low ms.

Power treads
They give nice stats and allow you to tread switch, but the attack speed is wasted. Better get something that will benefit more to YOU or YOUR TEAM.

Friends and foes

Friends:

So basically Rubick is good at the safelane with a carry. He can be an amazing babysitter with the harass from Fade Bolt and he is able to save his carry with the knockup and area stun from Telekinesis. The heroes listed above are with spells that can be chained with Telekinesis or heroes with illusions which benefit from Null field.
Special mentions:

I love this guy. So basically most times you are going to score a first blood if your Kunkka is not bad with his torrents. I mean:
1.You Telekinesis
2.Kunkka Torrent
3.You both rightclick
4.Kunkka gets a kill


This is almost the same as Kunkka. You Telekinesis and Juggernaut Blade Fury. This almost always gurantees a kill(bladefury does 300 dmg at lvl 1 considering magic resist!)

---

Foes:

Yeah, everybody hates this guy. Why? Because he counters everybody including you (maybe not everybody). If he dooms you .you.are.ded. His spells are actually worth stealing. With his Devour you can get some extra money and with Scorched Earth you can sustain yourself. The things you need to steal will be Doom and LVL? death. Doom will be nearly impossible to steal if you are playing vs a good Doombringer so good luck.

Say hello to one of the most annoying heroes in the early game. He will orb walk and harass you out of lane. If he is smart he will gank like hell. The only thing you can steal from him is Viper Strike. It is not worth using this against him, considering his magic resistance. Try to avoid picking Rubick if you are going to lane against him.

He will harass you and then finish you off with Assassinate if you aren't aware. This will be a problem early game when you don't have high levels in Null field. In the late game the real problem will be his right-clicks. Stealing Shrapnel early will be very good at small skirmishes and ganks. If you are able to get Assassinate do not use it to killsteal. Use it to soften someone up so your carry is able to get the kill!

A good ally and a bad enemy. When he hits six and gets some lifesteal he will immediately go Roshan so make sure you warded it. If he is still able to get it he will gank for some multikills until his aegis is down. You cannot really steal something good from him. His spells are all steroids making them useless for you.


If she is fed, be prepare to be one-shotted. In the early game she will last hit and harass with her Stifling Dagger. When she has gotten her farm you gotta keep an eye on her. Stifling Dagger is a good spell for ensuring kills for your carry because of its slow. The bad thing is that your stolen dagger cannot crit. Her Phantom Strike is good only for escaping.

**** this guy. You cannot harass him, because of Return returning a bit of the damage(and late game probably more of it). Double Edge deals so much damage early game you can't even imagine aand it is not worth stealing, because of the fact that you are damaging yourself. Hoof Stomp will be hard to steal unless you are not caught in the radius, but it is pretty useful spell to have. Stampede gives speed and slows enemies, yeah BUT you do NOT deal much damage with it due to your poor strength. If you are facing a skilled Centaur Warrunner offlaner prepare for a challenge.

Heroes with mana burn will be your worst nightmare. They will just hit you until you have no mana... and hp. Try to avoid them. A good pickup against them is a Bloodstone because they will not be able to burn your mana fast enough. This is an item effective for countering Anti-Mage because the lower your mana is the more damage he will deal with his ult. PL does not have a spell which burns mana or something, BUT almost every Phantom Lancer builds Diffusal Blade.

Gameplay

Early game

Your early game depends of the role you are playing. If you are going mid your goals are to outlane your enemy, control the runes, gank other lanes. Always try to give the kills to someone more item dependant like your carry.
If you are playing as the main support(safelane) you are going to protect your carry, deny enemy offlaner from farm and exp, harass, pull, stack. If your carry is doing well you can go and gank some lanes. At all times try not to steal kills or farm.

Mid game

At the mid game you will try searching for some teamfights. Always try to steal big teamfight spells. Remember to position yourself so your enemies are focusing your initiator/tank as Rubick is relatively frail. Cast Telekinesis on those who want to kill your carry. Always prioritize the carry before yourself as it is generally more important. After a successful teamfight either go roshan or push a tower ot two.

Late game

Okay it is late game. Anti-Mage is fed and tripleshots people(at least best scenario). You role at the late game is to help winning teamfights and push as much as you can. Actually your role is similar to the midgame one-not much to explain here. After you have won a teamfight push as much towers and rax as possible. And ofc the ancient.

Flying Rubick

Rubick with a stolen Firefly.

Conclusion

So you got to the end of my guide? Okay then time for you to play this hero! Thank you for reading and I hope you can get something from it. I will do another guides in the future, if I get better at writing them. I am telling you again that this is my first guide so if you get to write enough comments I can improve it etc.
Enjoy The Grand Magus!