Riki from a top 100 perspective. 6.87.

I'm surprised you say that Phaseboots are a terrible pickup on Riki. I looked at your dotabuff and you have played 42 games with phase with a 76% winrate meanwhile you have only a 60% winrate with treads (admittedly with a lot more games). I switched going from treads to phase with the most recent update and have a 74% win rate this month. While you lose attack speed, you gain a fantastic chasing and escape active. The damage between the two items is essentially comparable. I'd recommend trying a few more games with PB, because they really changed the game for me.

I'd also add linken's sphere as a situational pickup. I've found that stuns are generally the best counter to riki, and linkens can really help alleviate that issue.

Very concise and well written. One complaint tho is that it is lacking divided up chapters which really help the readability and allows the reader tos kip around to whatever section they need rather than havign to search for it. Really good guide overall.

Nice guide - clear and concise - well explained +1

Smoke is used mainly for the silence and slow. Maxing it early will be useless due to increased mana cost. Riki has mana issue if you gank constantly.

Bottle is good mainly due to rotation as well. You can get runes easily. Urn is decent but I have yet to get it. Nonetheless I don't see much use for it since you get more mana regeneration from bottle.

Blink strike is good but prioritizing it over cloak and dagger will greatly increase your risk of death. Also, Riki May not be able to kill with level 4 blink and level 1 cloak. Fade time plus significant increase in dps for level 4 cloak justifies my built.

Lastly, ultimate is prioritized over smoke and stats mainly due to personal preference and the fact that increased duration can stall time.

Interesting to see a guide on the new Riki. A few things about the content :

- Skill build. There is absolutely no reason to skill Tricks of the Trade at levels 11 and 16. The skill is good with only one point in it, so leaving it at level 1 and maxing all your other skills, and taking stats, is always better. Smoke Screen is super good and it's always better to max it asap.

- Also, you want Blink Strike always maxed at level 7. 4 second cooldown, 'nuff said. Also good damage.

- Bottle...if we were still in 6.84 I'd say sure. But bottle is literally dumpster tier in this patch. 3 bottle charges heal you 270 HP. Compare this to the 400 HP that you heal from ONE charge of Urn of Shadows. And urn gives 120 HP on top making you much tankier. And urn helps with ganking. Urn of Shadows >> Bottle no contest.

- Where is Eye of Skadi? Seriously the best Riki item ever. Gives him everything he needs and slows in an AOE during his ult.

- Riki is not picked competitively right now...because he's not in captain's mode! And yes the hero is super legit since his rework.