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Animal Courier
Observer Ward
Tango
ClarityClarity
Iron BranchIron Branch
Sentry Ward
Magic Wand
Boots of Speed
Headdress
Arcane Boots
Tranquil Boots
Force Staff
Blink Dagger
Mekansm
Pipe of Insight
Eul's Scepter of Divinity
Rod of Atos
Scythe of Vyse
Shiva's Guard
Veil of Discord
Aghanim's Scepter
Drum of Endurance
Removed Item
Lotus Orb
Octarine Core
Solar Crest
Boots of Travel 2
Glimmer Cape
Dagon 1
Orchid Malevolence
Observer Ward
Sentry Ward
Smoke of Deceit
Dust of Appearance
Town Portal Scroll
Flying Courier
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1 | 12 | 13 | 14 |  |
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2 | 3 | 5 | 8 |  |
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4 | 7 | 9 | 10 |  |
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6 | 11 | 16 |  |
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15 | 17 | 18 |
Any mage can cast a spell or two, and a few may even study long enough to become a wizard, but only the most talented are allowed to be recognized as a Magus. Yet as with any sorcerers circle, a sense of community has never guaranteed competitive courtesy.
Already a renowned duelist and scholar of the grander world of sorcery, it had never occurred to Rubick that he might perhaps be Magus material until he was in the midst of his seventh assassination attempt. As he casually tossed the twelfth of a string of would-be killers from a high balcony, it dawned on him how utterly unimaginative the attempts on his life had become. Where once the interruption of a fingersnap or firehand might have put a cheerful spring in his step, it had all become so very predictable. He craved greater competition. Therefore, donning his combat mask, he did what any wizard seeking to ascend the ranks would do: he announced his intention to kill a Magus.
Rubick quickly discovered that to threaten one Magus is to threaten them all, and they fell upon him in force. Each antagonist's spell was an unstoppable torrent of energy, and every attack a calculated killing blow. But very soon something occurred that Rubick's foes found unexpected: their arts appeared to turn against them. Inside the magic maelstrom, Rubick chuckled, subtly reading and replicating the powers of one in order to cast it against another, sowing chaos among those who had allied against him. Accusations of betrayal began to fly, and soon the sorcerers turned one upon another without suspecting who was behind their undoing.
When the battle finally drew to a close, all were singed and frozen, soaked and cut and pierced. More than one lay dead by an allys craft. Rubick stood apart, sore but delighted in the weeks festivities. None had the strength to argue when he presented his petition of assumption to the Hidden Council, and the Insubstantial Eleven agreed as one to grant him the title of Grand Magus.
Telekinesis - Rubick uses his telekinetic powers to lift the enemy into the air briefly and then hurls them...
This ability is a very nice disable. This disable will not only give time for teammates to heal and damage the enemy hero, but also allow for re-positioning of yourself, your teammates, and most importantly the enemy hero as you can move him to a radius of 375 in the direction you last clicked. In 6.81 it was patched to where he could now not throw onto higher ground that is inescapable. This means areas such as the high ward grounds or areas above Roshan's pit you are not able to throw to. If you attempt it the enemy will simply fall to the ground right near the ledge. You are able to throw to higher ground if it is accessible. For example if you are in the river and an enemy is coming at you, you can throw him onto the high ground that runs along the river. This ability also does not lift Roshan, but will instead stun him for the designated time. Trees are also destroyed upon the landing area so you cannot throw into the forest.
Fade Bolt - Rubick creates a powerful stream of arcane energy that travels between enemy units, dealing...
This is your primary nuke. Not only is this ability a good damage dealer to multiple heroes, but it also lowers their primary physical damage, which can be tremendous in harass and denying possible farm as well as incoming damage as last hitting becomes difficult. Careful about pushing out the lane however.
Null Field - Rubick's mastery of the arcane protects nearby allied heroes against weaker magics, granting them magic resistance.
The ability that makes Rubick the Grand Magus. This passive is a blessing to have on the field. It will increase your magic resistance as well as your teammates.
This is the great ability Rubick is chosen for. This grants a magic buff to everyone on your team that increases their resistance towards magic. You must remember that the resistance buffing works multiplicatively. To explain how it works do this:
Take 1 minus the resistance, for each resistance you are stacking, and then multiply them together, and subtract that number by one.
Example:
Base magic resistance = 25%
Null Field = 20%
1- {(1-.2)*(1-.25))= .4 so Rubick naturally has a 40% magic resistance when leveled up with level 4 null field, as do his teammates when near him :).
Spell Steal - Rubick studies the trace magical essence of one enemy hero, learning the secrets of the last spell the hero cast. Rubick can use this spell as his own for several minutes or until he dies.
Rubick's most notable ability. This let's you steal an enemy's ability and use it as your own. It is very useful depending on a variety of situations. Usually you will use it to grab an ultimate if you can with high levels of disable such as tidehunter's 
Ravage
During early game you are going to buy as follows: Tango, two Clarity, Observer Ward, two Iron Branch and Animal Courier. Throughout the match you will always be buying Town Portal Scroll for teammates that have died and need to get back into lane, Observer Ward to give vision onto the map to prevent/set-up ganks and watch for runes, Sentry Ward to help find invisible heroes and remove enemy wards, Smoke of Deceit to help your teammates get into Roshan or set-up kills, and Dust of Appearance to help kill invisible enemies. You will then give one of the wards to your hard lane hero(es) and go to the safe rune to contest. If your team doesn't believe they will be able to contest (they have four heroes all with stuns at one rune for example) then instead go to the safe lane and creep block.
The best way to creep block currently is to wait at your tier 2 tower and then as they are coming towards you, walk in a zigzag motion towards the t1, doing the zigzag motion as the creeps begin to walk adjacent to you.. This will result in the creeps blocking each other and prevent you from getting behind them, leading you you not being able to block them. Depending on how far in you want your lane to be, you may also let your range creep escape from you while you keep blocking the melee creeps. This will result in an easily deny-able range creep and will also push your lane in quicker.
During this time it is also smart to place a ward and pay attention to the enemy supports in an attempt to see where they ward. This way you can de-ward them while also pay attention to certain areas where there might be potential ganks or roaming occuring as heroes tend to stay near their areas of vision. You can also use it to warn your allies where to not go.
Try to save up your money between all of the basic purchases I have listed to first finish your Magic Wand, then grab Boots of Speed, and hopefully by midgame have a Headdress.
As 5th position you will have four objectives: stacking, denying creeps, harassing, watching your carry to prevent his deaths while also owning a tp encase your top needs a quick rotation, and warding/de-warding.
Once you are done blocking the creeps, make your way into the jungle (make SURE mia's are accounted for encase of roaming heroes that could kill either you or your carry), as you are going to immediately stack either a medium size camp if you are on the radiant or the small camp if you are on the dire. To stack/pull simply walk up into the group of creeps at around 52 seconds(this is much safer as some neutrals will not be pulled if you attack them due to abilities) and then walk out towards your tower/lane.
Use this guide to refer to wards and the pulling camps:
MAP KEYS:
Yellow: Initial stacking areas for right after you are done blocking your creeps in lane. CAREFUL! No one can be near them during 0:30 for them to spawn.
Red: Camps to stack when moving to ward or rotate for ganking.
Beige: The ancients
Cyan: Smart areas for warding (many of these aren't super common places too, which is good to prevent de-warding!)
Purple: Good areas to de-ward common ward locations.
So if you notice on the Radiant side, the camp I have you stack first is actually towards the river, and not the small camp. The reason for this is that I am going to teach you how to do a full pull. A common issue in pubs is that people will pull without stacking, which surges the lane and pushes it out farther while also giving the enemy more exp and gold, or they stack the small camp only which results in a loss of potential gold and exp for your team. To solve this we do a what is called a full pull, where we stack a camp to the point where if we pull, every ally creep dies. This results in the lane being pushed back towards the tower and the denying of exp and gold to the enemy.
To do this, on the radiant side after you have stacked the medium camp after blocking the creeps, you are in a strong position to do a quick pull. Simply pull into the small camp like normal by walking into the small camp and then out into your lane creeps to get them dragged in. Then use a tango to break one of the trees lining the back of the small camp. When you are on your last small camp creep, attack the stack in the medium camp and walk towards your creeps. The pull from the medium to the small camp takes about 3-4 seconds so be sure to watch your timing. ALSO NOTICE THAT IF THE ENEMY HAS SOMEONE LIKE AXE, YOUR CAMP MAY BE STOLEN WHEN STACKED SO WATCH YOUR PRACTICE AS A MATCH BY MATCH BASIS.
Q: So why don't we stack the large camp on the Dire side and do the same thing there? It's possible right?
A: Yes, while it is possible, the reason we don't do it is because they are actually able to use a Tango on the tree lining near the lane's side and then do a pull of their own, making it detrimental as you are feeding the other team gold.
Q: So why do we stack the medium size camp instead of just doing the small camp only? Stacking the small camp would be safer!
A: It would be safer! But by stacking the medium camp you are allowing for a quicker pull to occur as the creeps die fastly, and you are also letting more potential exp occur as you can kill the medium camp and a bit of the small camp for gold if your carry or fourth position are passing up on the gold. Also when the laning phase is done that is a free camp stacked for your carry. That means $$$ and exp.
As every minute comes to a close, you should be trying to stack the medium size pull camp whenever possible. The more the stacks the more the gold. Your wards also last about seven minutes, so as the wards are running out you should buy more observer wards and buy more sentry (because you should have been paying attention still to the enemy's movements! REMEMBER: Watch which runes mid goes to, that is where they have it warded most likely!). Along the way you can stack the camps I have marked in red as you will almost surely be passing through them. Why not give even more gold to your carry?!
Q: One of our lanes is having a hard time, should I rotate?
A: Yes you may rotate, but you have to keep it short. Your offlane needing you to tp in real quick to save him is one thing, but you are in the match to help your carry farm. A fourth position should be the main rotation hero, not you. You are a very squishy hero so you have to be careful of attempting ganks, as they may easily backfire since you will most likely be underleveled. That being said, it is always smart to have smoke on you for this reason alone as you will need it if you do have the need to rotate (which I would suggest be mid if anything, as that is much easier to kill as rubick since you can grab the enemy if they are in the middle of the river and throw them back towards you and your mid hero).
Hopefully your match is going well right now. You should be moving to place another set of wards up and get another camp stacked. Your carry will still need to be watched, which is alright, but you are slightly more free to roam right now to participate in team fights and pick-offs. Hopefully you will also have a Headdress finished sometime during now, which you can then either build into a [[Mekansm or a Pipe of Insight as you see fit after choosing and acquiring a positioning item such as Force Staff or Blink Dagger. Being 5th position, your main goals are still as follows: warding and de-warding, providing support in team fights, caring for your carry, and buying needed items such as smoke. You'll notice that you are probably under-leveled at this point, which is normal. Rubick is a hero that isn't very reliant on gold, and only scales so much with levels; this makes him the perfect 5th position hero.
For team fights you are a hero that needs to be careful. Rubick is along the lines of 
Crystal Maiden in that he is very, very easy to pick off and kill during team fights. Because of this, you will be playing very much like 
Drow Ranger. Rubick does the orchestrating of team fights. You are not a hero in the front, you are a hero way in the back.
Being so squishy, but having a very useful aura will have you be the farthest in the back out of all of your teammates most of the time. This will help keep your aura prolonged, and your ability to use your ultimate to grab the abilities of the enemy and use them against them while also lowering their damage. If an enemy hero comes near you or your team, if the hero is squishy you will lift him and throw him towards the back (near you, aka towards your base in most cases so that he is surrounded or in poor positioning to escape) so your team can quickly kill him or if it is a tankier enemy, hold him in the air and then throw him hopefully away from your team. There is no point in throw a centaur back towards your team as you don't want to be agroing the tank as a team. There is also a slight delay on your ultimate when you go to get a spell, this can be quite aggravating but there are ways to get around it. If you see an enemy such as shaman use their ultimate, there is usually a delay in animation, or if you see someone with no animation delay such as juggernaut, you can try this regardless: use your stun to hold them in place and THEN steal the spell. This results in a much safer way to get the spell from them as most heroes will use a throw away spell (a normal spell right after using their ultimate) to prevent you from getting their strongest. So pretty much just keep spamming your spells (nuke and stolen) from the back of the team fight to apply damage, stay alive to keep your aura up, and use your disable to either put the enemy out of positioning or to save a teammate if they are going hurt (you can lift up one enemy and use him to stun the rest, that is vital).
If you can't get an ultimate, go for a disable instead. Having two disables is vital and really helps you during pick-offs even with sketchy team compositions. This video helps show what having mobility and proper spells can do for you.
So to summarize:
-Stay in the back
-Throw your Fade Bolt out to nuke and lower their damage
- Use Telekinesis to stun the whole enemy team, remove a problem hero from their group, or pull a squishy hero back towards your team.
-Stay alive for your Null Field to work.
Please note: In a lot of cases you might not be able to finish into Pipe of Insight or Mekansm, and that is alright. You are 5th position so only getting basic movement up is more than normal.
4th position Rubick requires gold. Im not going to lie. If you aren't getting gold then you are probably going to be swapped out and put into 5th position. That being said, it doesn't mean to farm; you should be getting gold passively and from rotating, not from creeps. That being said, if your 5th position is low on cash and cannot buy basic items such as wards, a Town Portal Scroll for a dead teammate, or anything else that might be needed, it is up to you to step up and buy it. You are still support.
. That being said you want to start off with two Iron Branch, two Clarity, a Tango, and a Town Portal Scroll and also buy an Animal Courier or Observer Ward if your 5th position refuses to, if he does buy them then go for an 
Ring of Protection instead. If you have a hero on your team that is going to go for a 
Ring of Basilius then instead go for a soul ring to keep you sustained. You can save your money and buy a 
Ring of Regen or start off with buying Smoke of Deceit, it is up to you.
During your early game you will want smoke and sustainability items. You will mostly be hovering in your lane for a good while to get a few levels (usually up to level 2 or 3) and finish very, very basic items to help you transition between lanes. Performing ganks with Rubick is very tricky. Your position has to be spot on as the tables may turn very quickly onto you if you aren't positioned well. You aren't 
Earthshaker, you can't run around with your totem simply blocking off paths and taking 50000 damage before dying. If you get targetted and you are too far out, you are dead. That being said, I will try to guide you through safe ganking procedure.
You need to be in a safe place where you can run if need be, but also close enough that you can perform Telekinesis to disable the opponent. This map shows good positioning areas for Rubick to gank from based on the respective team.
Red = Good positions for Dire
Green = Good positions for Radiant
In each case you will be throwing back towards your tower/back towards your lane for your teammates to kill. You might have to use smoke to get into position depending on where the creeps are in your lane and where they have the map warded.
When ganking it is standard procedure to:
1) Lift up the enemy and auto attack during his lift period
2) Throw the enemy back towards your tower/lane/teammate for them to kill
3) Nuke using Fade Bolt to lower the damage your teammates will receive from him fighting back and to help make the kill more quick.
It won't be amazingly uncommon if you have to go back to the fountain once or twice between ganks. Rubick's spells cost a lot of mana, and it can be hard to manage his massive mana amount that is needed during rotations. Use your clarity sparingly.
During midgame your main objective will be to protect towers, set-up ganks, and participate in team fights. Your team fighting will not be that different as mentioned in the chapter "5th Position Mid Game (13 minutes - 28 minutes) with team fight overview". You will be trying to keep yourself alive to be able to use the items you have amassed and to keep your aura and nukes/disables up. You will mainly be coordinating with your team in terms of strategy. It is smart to get a Eul's Scepter of Divinity as it will help you move around the map and give you a disable as well as keep your mana regeneration up. If you are having an issue with acquiring the gold for it get a 
Sage's Mask first, if not then get a 
Void Stone and then go into a 
Staff of Wizardry after you acquire one of the two. Always buy the recipes last. You should try to get this after your boots are finished and after your Blink Dagger or Force Staff is acquired.
Please note: You might not be able to finish all of the items I have listed on time, and that is fine. I have a good scenario listed, and if your game isn't going good then things might get slower or adjustments may need to be made. Not every match is the same!
Congratulations! You have made it to late game! Hopefully your draft actually wants that to happen, if not, sorry to hear that! Regardless we now have a bit more leeway in our gold. You will still be using the basic team fight procedure I listed in "5th Position Late Game Mid Game (13 minutes - 28 minutes) with team fight overview ". Despite what many people say, you should also keep up with wards, even if your 5th position isn't helping and you are a 4th position Rubick, as pick-offs in late game can be a game changer as it opens up pushing into their base and lying uncontested Aegis' much more often.
Let's look at a luxury item overview:
- This is an interesting item, with many people not even considering it a core support item (which I believe it is). This can be a very smart pick-up to help position yourself for using Telekinesis or to turn a channeler such as 
Enigma when he is using 
Black Hole invisible. The added magic buff also can help with carries when they are going into fights and have BKB down or to help heroes escape due to the insanely low cool down. Definitely a good pick-up if you can.
- This item is actually pretty strong on Rubick. Rubick has long cool downs on his normal abilities compared to other casters, but not only that he also has the long cool downs of whatever ability he steals. The 25% reduction of cool down time is only going to help you, in the short and long run and the life steal is just an added plus.
- A smart choice if you were planning on Mekansm and/or Arcane Boots regardless. It will help keep your team sustained longer and yourself by providing an HP healing and mana restoring active ability of 250 and 160 respectively, while also giving a terribly strong aura when your allies get below 20% hp.
Upgraded Boots of Travel - A luxury of the luxury. This is smart depending on how far late game you are and how much gold you have been accumulating, especially if you decided not to go Guardian Greeves. Use it to help backdoor and restore your positioning if you die.
- A good item for you to get for your carry. The armor provided helps Rubick greatly and so does the mana and hp regeneration. Smart depending on if you are going against an enemy such as Outworld Devourer.
- Another strong pick-up item for your carry, you can use it to either buff your teammate with a 30% evasion rate and 10 armor, or debuff an enemy for a 30% miss rate and -10 armor. The cost isnt exorbant so definitely a good item to pick up if you are going against a heavy physical damage hero such as 
Phantom Assassin.
- A great item on Rubick. It reminds me of 
Invoker's Aghanim's Scepter upgrade as it gives you an insanely low cool down on Rubick which can be used to pick off multiple spells during team fights for huge potential damage from grabbing multiple ultimates or even stun locking from grabbing multiple disables. Not only is the cast range also increased so you can stay farther in the back where it is safe and adjust your positioning even more when needed, but you also get the upgraded version of the enemy's ability if they have an Aghanim's Scepter upgrade for that said ability. Huge game-changing behavior, and a highly regarded pick-up. A great choice any time of the match.
- A great item to provide aura debuff to the enemy and slow the enemy's movement speed via the active affect. This can help you with changing the enemy's positioning and help with your mana pool and let you survive longer. A heavy lategame item, but one that provides a lot of impact mid-game if possible in picking-up.
- A perfect item for Rubick. It helps fix your movement speed issue and provides another disable that can be used to remove channeling abilities such as [witch Doctor]]'s 
Death Ward, while also removing possibly pesky enemies who have their BKB on cool down or have no BKB at all. A very strong midgame item you should go for if possible.
- Gives you: HP, tons of intelligence which translates to damage, a larger mana pool, and faster mana regen, and lastly gives you an active effect to hex an enemy. This item is heavily recommended if you are going against enemies that may have blur like Phantom Assassin or 
Faceless Void as hexing removes their ability to dodge damage, which is especially useful against void. A lategame item for sure, don't try rushing this or you will be letting your team down in terms of other possible items that could help more during mid-game. Very luxury.
- Again another good positioning item. The amount of intelligence and HP given by this item is insane (25 and 350, respectively). The distance you are able to slow is also absolutely massive AND the cool down is very, very low. A VERY underrated pick-up item that can be used to prevent enemies from retreating or prevent them from re-positioning during team fights. A very strong item midgame and lategame.
- An amazing pick-up item for Rubick that will give him even more magic resistance as well as provide HP regeneration and a magical barrier that blocks 400 incoming magical damage for your whole team if properly buffed that lasts 12 seconds.
This item tends to help out more during midgame so try for it a bit earlier.
- Usually preferred to by a midgame item pick-up, but do-able if you aren't getting much gold for anything else in late game. It provides 250 HP regeneration immediately and an armor and HP regeneration area buff. Usually better items to pick up late game so try for this item earlier.
- A great item for providing armor, basic regeneration, stats, and a nice 25% magical resistance AOE reduction as an active effect. A strong midgame item.
- A very strong item that makes Rubick more tanky and more sustainable. It can allow you to suicide and let you have short respawn times. It is a very greedy item however, and only recommended for fourth position Rubick and not 5th as there could be better items to get. Only consider in more rare situations.
- This item helps solve two issues Rubick: HP and movement speed. Rubick is a naturally slow hero and the drums will increase movement speed to him and around him in a 900 radius by 5% as well as increasing their attack speed by 5%. His HP will also be increased by 171 and the Drum of Endurance has an active affect that will further increase movement and attack speed in a 900 radius by 10% respectively. A great item for your team that can be picked up if your semi-carry is going for it.
What I don't recommend:
- Why don't I recommend this? Because Rubick is a positioning hero. The silence and extta physical damage is great, but with a range of 900 you are going to have to get out of your normal positioning to use it. You also are giving up sustainability items for your team in exchange for mainly unneeded attributes like attack speed. There are just better items to get.
Dagon - A strong burst item, but one with low cast range and a huge cost. You are going to be spending too much gold to acquire this item (at level 5 it is the most expensive item in the game) and you are going to be ruining your positioning in team fights to use it. You also aren't good at moving around the map or soloing heroes so you can't use it to pick-off that well. There are better items to get.
This is a bit tricky as Rubick is such a versatile hero that really anyone can be a friend and anyone can be a foe. That being said, we'll look at the heroes he should be best and worst against just based on abilities and positions.
Friends:
- Skywrath Mage is a great hero that focuses on an insanely heavy nuking ultimate, the 
Mystic Flare, to get kills. Because the radius on this ultimate is low and the damage is taking over time as long as the enemy remains in the nuke, he needs a very long stun or slow to assure the kill is given. Rubick is able to use Telekinesis to hold the enemy in place long enough for full damage to be given and then some. Skywrath Mage is also naturally squishy, so the added buff from Null Field is smart to help keep him alive and in lane.
- Legion Commander is a hero that needs kills. She takes on brinkmanship to its max by putting herself against another hero in her ultimate 
Duel that decides who will receive a permanent damage boost based on who wins. Because of this she must avoid taking damage at all costs. Using Fade Bolt you can help lower the damage she will be receiving, as well with Null Field which can help if enemy heroes are in the area as well. Stunning using Telekinesis can be used to pickup an enemy hero nearby and throw him either towards a large group of enemy heroes in an attempt to stop their damage until the battle is done or towards the enemy that is in duel in an attempt to stop the damage from there. You can even use Telekinesis to stop the dueling hero overall so that legion can freely pick-off that hero.
- Axe is a hero that pulls in agro towards himself while raising his armor by 40 in an ability called 
Berserker's Call. This can result in heavy damage to himself depending on the heroes he is against however, which makes Rubick the perfect compliment. When Axe uses Blink Dagger to initiate and call in agro towards himself, use Fade Bolt to lower the attack damage of all the enemies attacking him so that while he is still being agroed and giving damage from his 
Counter Helix, he will take less damage. Axe is also a popular target for magical damage simply because he tends to get high armor and hp, which makes your Null Field a heavenly gift for him.
- Visage is an underplayed hero who excels in trilanes especially. Visage actually has the lowest base magic resistance in the game however, at 10%. This means that Null Field can result in him having 14.5%, 19%, 23.5%, and 28% respectively based on Rubick's levels in Null Field. This can be a massive help for a hero constantly harassed by magical nukes.
- You can actually use your massive disable time in Telekinesis to help hold an enemy hero in place for mirana to line up her 
Sacred Arrow. This will result in an even longer stun time for the enemy hero AND massive damage taken. She is also naturally squishy so using Fade Bolt and Null Field to lower the potential damage she may take is always nice.
- Carl the Invoker isn't a hero you would normally pair with Rubick, right? But Rubick can very early on actually use Telekinesis to not only hold an enemy in place long enough for a GUARANTEED 
Sun Strike, but also move an enemy hero away from things like creeps that would potentially ruin the damage sun strike would give. All you have to do is talk and coordinate together and it results in very easy kills and damage given.
Foes:
The foes Rubick generally faces result from early 
Black King Bar pickups and strong right-click potential.
- Rubick is very, very squishy, and very, very slow. Phantom Assassin's 
Stifling Dagger is not only pure damage that can crit, but also a massive slow to your already slow movement speed. Add in the fact that by midgame her melee critical damage is most likely a one or two shot to you and you are in for major issues. Not to mention the fact that she is a regular early Black King Bar pickup hero. The best way to live is to try to teleport out using a Town Portal Scroll (don't forget to pray).
- Traxex the Drow Ranger is a very strong right-click hero. She picks up Black King Bar early on which puts Rubick at a disadvantage and she has a long silence called 
Gust that can result in him being picked off very easily. The best way to live is to try to teleport out using a Town Portal Scroll.
- Lycan is a strong hero that is, as you guessed it, another early Black King Bar pickup hero. He has high physical damage output early on, cannot be slowed, and runs at max movement speed meaning your already slow body cannot run. A very nasty hero to go against as Rubick. The best way to live is to try to teleport out using a Town Portal Scroll.
- This might actually surprise you. I'm sure you're going Pudge? But he has 
Rot AND 
Dismember which are both magical damage! How could Rubick be bad against him given he has Null Field?! Rubick has very low hp, one of the lowest starting HP's in the game that actually scales quite horribly, and one can't forget his low movement speed. Pudge's 
Meat Hook is a pure damage ability that will hit you for usually around 70% of your HP depending on the items you have and the level of his Meat Hook. Since you are slow you are also a very easy target to hit. Overall it is very easy to feed Pudge as Rubick. You just won't survive.
- Lanaya the Templar Assassin is a hero that thrives on very high damage output and armor debuffs. Her 
Refraction skill is able to give her 80 bonus damage for six hits within a 17 minute duration while also negating any six instances of damage she receives in that duration as well. Add in the fact that her 
Meld ability adds in a 200 bonus damage while reducing armor by 2,4,6, and 8 respectively based on its level for a whole 10 seconds with all of this being physical damage, and you are just dead in about one or two seconds. Not to mention Rubick has very low armor gain because of his low agility attributes and she has a slow called 
Psionic Trap that she can spam every 11, 8, and 5 seconds and it is just .... don't try this. Please.
- Another early Black King Bar pick up hero, he is able to give a massive stun using 
Storm Hammer that lasts a full two seconds and has a 100%,150%, and 200% damage increase from 
God's Strength. You. Will. Die. Your best bet will be to either A). Bait out his BKB and hope that when it finishes you can use Telekinesis while teleporting away. B) Bait out his Storm Hammer and hope you have enough HP and distance to teleport away using a Town Portal Scroll once it is finished. or lastly C. Hope that due to his low mana pool, he doesnt have enough mana for Storm Hammer and just try to teleport away to begin with. None of those are bright looking options.
- A hero with the potential to pick-up an early Black King Bar if he so decides. The main issue with sniper lies in his range. He is the biggest kiting hero in the game and you cannot teleport from him because of his headshot ability, nor can you run from him based on 
Shrapnel which allows three different times of use based on patch 6.83c. You can't even disable or nuke him because of the range 
Take Aim gives him. And while 
Assassinate and Shrapnel magical damage, it is not a primary use of sniper given all of the potential physical damage he is able to do. A total counter to Rubick.
Your main goal is to grab ultimate abilities in most cases, that being said it is difficult due to the prior mentioned throwaway abilities the enemy will try to use right after they ult, so you can to be quick!
Enigma's Black Hole - A great ability that can disable a whole enemy team. Because it is a channeling ability, assuming you are not caught in it, it is also a very easy steal. If you are caught in it sadly, you are have at least reduced the damage your team has taken via Null Field and you will be in range to directly steal it after the channeling is finished. Be quick!
Faceless Void's 
Chronosphere - THIS COMES WITH A HUGE WARNING PLEASE READ. Even though you stole his Chronosphere, if you use it he is not affected by it. So A.K.A do NOT steal it and then place it on any of your teammates as void will nine times out of ten just use it as a way to kill them and consider it a free refresher. Instead steal the ultimate and then use it to disable HIS team excluding him. This can result in really good pick-offs based on your team's positioning.
Juggernaut's 
Omnislash - This can be a bit tricky to grab. There is virtually no animation time during the period when omnislash starts and when it ends, nor is there much animation time during the time he uses 
Blade Fury. That translates to a hard as hell to grab ultimate. That being said, if you do grab it, it can help a lot. Try to be quicker than he is, if you can.
Kunkka's 
Ghostship - This is actually a fairly easy ability to grab. Kunkka has an animation time to where he puts towards the designated area he is ultimating, allow for a good amount of time to steal. He also tends to try to use 
Torrent about one second after using his ultimate so he may be preoccupied to the point where you can steal no worries.
Lina's 
Laguna Blade - A high powered nuke that has a fairly long animation time to it as she directs (points) towards the enemy she is attacking. Assuming you don't die by it or another hero is hit by it instead of you, it is a very easy steal, especially since her other abilities have slow start-ups too and this tends to be the last ability she casts in order to gain maximum attack speed via 
Fiery Soul.
Lion's 
Finger of Death - A high powered nuke that has a decent animation time in which during, you guessed it, he lies there pointing. You do have to be quick however, as his other three abilities have very quick start up cast times and can result plenty of ability throwaway bait.
Luna's 
Eclipse - An ability that is almost similar to being channeled. It lasts for 2.4, 4.2, and 6 seconds respectively based on its level. It also has a slight cast animation in which she is pointing towards the sky. Given that her only throwaway ability would be [Lucent Beam]], which she actually tends to use to get into a better position for Eclipse, you should have around 5-6 seconds to get a steal.
Outworld Devourer's 
Sanity's Eclipse - A strong AOE damage nuke that does the more damage based on the difference in intelligence between the heroes. Given that Rubick has a strong intelligence gain compared to most heroes, and he has Null Field, you will probably be taking less damage as a team compared to the enemy once you steal it and use it against them. The period in which you should steal is when he points towards the sky, it is a short animation time but the only real time to steal as he will most likely have 
Astral Imprisonment ready to throwaway based on its low animation time.
Phoenix's 
Supernova - Probably one of the most fun abilities to grab. Your Null Field will actually persist outside of the ultimate once you steal it so you will be taking less damage as a whole compared to the other team. Note: You cannot steal while Supernova is being cast so instead back off away from the teamfight and then blink in after it is finished to steal (ASSUMING YOU CANNOT GET THE KILL AGAINST IT)). This is smart because if any teammates were caught in the stun duration of Supernova you are effectively turning the agro away from them and onto you.
Queen of Pain's 
Sonic Wave - A strong ability that results in an AOE nuke. There is a pretty long cast time on this actually that you can steal from, but you have to be smart as she has two throwaway abilities: 
Scream of Pain and Blinl so as she uses her ultimate, have the reflexes to grab it and use it against the team. Again, your team as a whole will take less damage from it given Null Field is leveled compared to them.
Shadow Shaman's 
Mass Serpent Ward - A very strong pushing ability that can also be used to move team fights, it can be tricky to grab. Shaman has three throwaway abilities that he can use right after, but there is a period during his ultimate in which he flicks his hand up that you MIGHT be able to grab it. Surviving will be rough however as he may disable you and have his wards kill you given the situation.
Ancient Apparition's 
Ice Blast - A hero Rubick is very strong against. He has an animation period in which he lifts up his arms to throw the ball, which will be your cue time to steal. He does have three throwaway abilities with short animation times on each though, so be quick.
Elder Titan's 
Earth Splitter -There is actually a long period in which he smashes the earth to open it up when you can steal. His other abilities also tend to be on cool down, so he won't have much of a throwaway given that they tend to be used before Earth Splitter as a way to set up for it. Just try to not be disabled by 
Echo Stomp
Other abilities that are note-able are 
Sand King's 
Epicenter, Tide Hunter's Ravage, Skywrath Mage's Mystic Flare, Earthshaker's 
Echo Slam, 
Death Prophet's 
Exorcism and a few others that are useful to grab but tend to be near impossible given the throwaway spells after them or the range the enemy hero has.
You may find it strange that this section is so short, but the reason is is because I am not going going into huge amounts of detail because every hero Rubick helps counter is for the same reason: magic resistance. Rubick's Null Field can result in taking a lot less damage than you normally would against these heroes in most cases. So that being said, here is a simple list of heroes that Rubick is a good choice against: Skywrath Mage, Outworld Devourer, 
Zeus, 
Storm Spirit, Crystal Maiden, Lina, 
Necrophos, Invoker, 
Keeper of the Light, Queen of Pain, 
Bane, 
Puck, 
Tinker, Earthshaker, Tide Hunter, Phoenix, 
Earth Spirit, 
Gyrocopter, 
Ogre Magi, 
Disruptor, 
Jakiro, Ancient Apparition, 
Pugna, Enigma, Lion, and lastly Elder Titan.
I'm a Dota 2 player for quite a few years now. I don't have any specific laning that I do, which makes me an all around player. I have about 3000 games at the moment and Im smurfing my current account to hopefully about 4.5k before making it my new main. You can add me, the name is simply smurf and my steam profile is HERE.
I'm always up for a few matches or if you have questions :).
Please feel free to leave me feedback or a +1! It is greatly appreciated!
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