My Guide to Riki

As one of the easiest hero to master, I rarely saw people play Riki the wrong way. But, I often found players who builds wrong items on Riki, like Manta Style, or Ethereal Blade??? I can't comment on their item builds, but I don't feel right afterwards, so I think I should make this guide.

"Everything can work."

"Everything can work."

You called?

My stand on Riki Ethereal Blade is that it is situational (duh). We can find out when and when not to get it by studying the following scenario.


Rikis nowadays usually play as number 3 offlaners. In this case, the farm allocation does not go to Riki, and should be ganking once he gets level 6. This money could be used to fund a traditional Diffusal Blade, but I find the new Riki to be more flexible in terms of his item build (if we're talking about a utility Riki), so perhaps items like Orchid Malevolence, even dagon and Ethereal Blade, may have some relevance in the game. Right now, we'll just be looking at Orchid and Eth blade. Sometimes, it's difficult for Riki to get a kill against good teams, even with diffusal. And in all balanced teams, there will be heroes that deal magic damage, usually the supports or the mid. With Orchid and/or Eth blade, you can greatly amplify your team's damage while still doing a significant amount yourself.

Some may question Orchid's usefulness, since Riki already has a silence, but to kill particularly elusive heroes like Puck who constantly build Force Staffs, it is sometimes necessary. With a teammate's (especially Skywrath Mage) help, the Diffusal slow is probably not as necessary. The Orchid's attack speed and damage boost also makes up for the agility not gained when skipping the Diffusal (though your backstab damage won't be as high).

For Eth blade, it is good in my opinion on a utility Riki if it complements your team line-up. For example, if your team has a Lion or a Skywrath Mage or a Pugna (i.e. Heroes that deal a lot of magic damage in a short period of time), then an Eth blade pickup might help them destroy enemies.


In conclusion, I'm not saying that Diffusal is ****, nor am I saying that Orchid or Eth blade are game-changing items on Riki. I'm just saying that every item has its place, and that sometimes we should base our items on what suits our team line-ups (especially for utility heroes, whose purpose is, well, for utility). I am also advocating number 3 offlane Riki because it's good and it works well with the new Permanent Invisibility.



EDIT:
Also, Dagon + Ethereal Blade is a ****py KS build that deprives your teammates of gold and ruins your already-bad scaling with an item that doesn't go through BKB (you can still use Eth blade on yourself to avoid being hit by physical damage, so its still useful). You should never go this build unless trolling. Not even when you're stomping. You'll throw the game.

Actually, i dont mid fighting with pory.

Nice guide, I think you should add Lycan to the list of enemies. With the necro 3 and his ultimate, he will simply chase you down and tear you to shreds. Also, I may be out of date here, but isn't Smoke Screen one of the best aoe spells in the game???! I don't really see a reason to max out permanent invisibility first, as Smoke Screen combined with Backstab will set you up with a lot more early game potential.