My Guide to Riki

About Me

Hi guys my name is Felix. I have been playing Dota2 for 2.6 years (If I'm not wrong) and you can find me on Instagram or Twitter (@felix_denz).

This is my first guide here, so i expect my elders to give me comments and help me fix my mistakes. If there is a sameness with other's guide, it is a pure coincidental and don't sue me for it.

About Riki

---

Riki is the stealthiest hero in Dota 2 and always full of surprises, shocks, and tricks. Due to his permanent invisibility, hit stealthiness increases even more.

Riki, the Stealth Assasin, has a high level of synergy with almost all heroes in Dota 2, like Riki+ Legion Commander, when Smoke Screen is used while Duel, and many more. He is very good in picking low health heroes, as well as fast-killing tanker heroes, like Pudge, Centaur Warrunner , or Chaos Knight.

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.

---

In this guide I will cover about these points:

(*)Pros and Cons
(*)Items
(*)Skill Build for each Build I cover
(*)Friends and Foes

Pros and Cons

Pros:
(*)High agility gain (2.9 if I'm not mistaken)
(*)High ganking chances thanks to permanent invisibility
(*)High regeneration rate in permanent invisibility mode
(*)High damage output thanks to Backstab
(*)Very stealthy
(*)Killing like a boss XD
(*)Pretty scary in mid-game
(*)Makes enemy waste their gold on Sentry Ward ( except if your enemy got a very good hard support, he has to waste his gold on wards XD)


Cons:
(*)Very squishy
(*)Countered by Gem of True Sight, Dust of Appearance, sentry wards, Necronomicon, Silence, and Duel
(*)Pretty low movement speed (290)
(*)Susceptible to ganks, since mid to late game Riki can be very lethal
(*)Wards will be put everywhere because of him
(*)Without Backstab, his damage is very low.
(*)STR and INT gain not so impressive

Items

This item synergize with Riki for its agility and stats gain. Upgradable to Ring of Aquila

Regen items, also useful for clearing trees in path
+1 all stats. Upgradable to Magic Wand
Blocks damage. Very important for lane sustaining. I prefer this to Quelling Blade since you can kill creeps faster from behind ( Backstab). Remember, survival is more important than kills.

---

Boots of choice. Some players still build Phase Boots. I will break these 2 boots into parts.

Power Treads +50 Movement Speed +30 Attack Speed +8 Stats Stat switching - Stats are useful for Riki since he lacks both health and mana. -Attack speed increases means more attacks, and if Riki is hitting from behind, enemy hero will die faster thanks to Backstab. -Lower movement speed compared to Phase Boots

Phase Boots +50 Movement Speed +24 Damage Active : Phase - +24 damage, which is good for Riki since he lacks base damage -Phase lets you go through creeps when you are chasing (riki's permanent invisibility doesn't provide Phase) - No stats gained, means no health and mana gain

So now you can see, Power Treads provides stats and attack speed, when Phase Boots provides damage and more movement speed. Both are viable, but I prefer Power Treads. Phase Boots doesn't provide stats, which are important for Riki. +8stats means +8agility, and also means more damage, even though you can't compare it with Phase Boots' +24damage. Phase isn't useful for Riki since Blink Strike lets you chase your enemy.

Upgraded from Wraith Band, for more stats and mana regen.
Provides damage, strength, and a 1.4s stun. This item synergize well with Mask of Madness, as increased attack speed means more attacks dealt and more stun chances. Upgradable to Abyssal Blade.
Riki's bread and butter. Provides almost everything Riki needs. STR and AGI, which means more health and armor, damage, attack speed, movement speed, and slow. ****!! Christmas package, dude. Also synergize with Mask of Madness, more attack speed and more chances to Maim.
As I say, Riki is a very squishy hero, even in late game. This item, minimize Riki's death rate. Provides invulnerability for 10/9/8/7/6/5 sec. Beware that some spell still goes through BKB.
One of the best items on Riki. Provides AGI, INT, Mana Burn, and Purge which slows your enemy for 4sec. Illusions are directly destroyed, while non-hero units are paused for 3s. Synergize very well with Riki. Doesn't stack with Anti-Mage's Mana Burn.

---

Provides attack speed, evasion, agility, damage, and active increase movement speed by 20% for 8sec. Countered by Monkey King Bar
One of the highest damage item in Dota 2. Provides damage and critical. Very useful when attacking from the front, as Riki's base damage is not the greatest. Backstab and Daedalus doesn't stack.
Upgraded from Skull Basher. Still stuns for 1.4sec, but added active that lets you stun for 2s. 2nd highest damage item.
Even non-Dota player knows this item.

SITUATIONAL

Provides armor, attack speed, and minus armor. This item is still viable for Riki, even though most player didn't buy this. I also don't recommend this item, but you can still buy this item.
After 6.82, permanent invisibility becomes more powerful with its extra regeneration. Which lets Armlet of Mordiggian kicks in. Damage, attack speed, HP regen, armor. What more can you ask? Not really recommended
dagon Very useful because of the damage burst and INT, since Riki starves mana. Recommended but not for beginners.
This is when dagon becomes very powerful. 75+(2xATT) isn't something to be laughed at on an AGI hero with high AGI gain like Riki. Also, since dagon burst damage is MAGICAL, it got amplified when hit an ethereal unit. Only recommended if you buy dagon.
Provides damage and -7 armor, which is badass on Riki with Backstab and Crystalys or Daedalus. Recommended.
One of Riki's classic items. Provides movement speed, mana and mana regeneration, which is good, and cyclone up your enemy for 2.5sec. Use this setup to put your Smoke Screen and kill.
Obviously, for the extra health and hp regeneration, since Riki is so squishy. Another alternative is Satanic
Another alternative from Heart of Tarrasque. Provides lifesteal, and active provides even crazier lifesteal for 3.5sec. Not really recommended.
Only buy this when you are facing Blur, Heaven's Halberd, backtrack, Rubick's Smoke Screen, drunken haze, Drunken Brawler, Heaven's Halberd, and Butterfly.
Upgraded from Orb of Venom, provides stats and slows, which is great for chasing enemy. Some player still buy this as an alternative from Sange and Yasha, including me XD.
Yasha + Ultimate Orb, This item provides MS, AS, Stats, DMG, and AGI. What more can you ask? Also can be used to dodge homing skills like magic missle and dispel buffs like Dust of Appearance

Skill Build

BUILD 1

First, maximize permanent invisibility. Maximizing Backstab first is also good, but try to get that invi to lv4. Backstab is upgraded second, and lastly Smoke Screen. Upgrading Backstab first is for the damage output, since lv4 Backstab means damage output increased by AGI x 1. So, if you already have Ring of Aquila, Power Treads, and Yasha at lv10, your damage output will be like 157-161 per hit!


Then upgrade smoke screen last. In this build, you are required to play safe until at least 2 levels on Smoke Screen. Then again, Riki is a roaming hero so there's no way you can stand still XD.

BUILD 2

Build 2 is a little bit weird, as you don't prioritize 1 skill. Instead, you balance all the skills. In the end, max Smoke Screen first, Backstab second, and permanent invisibility last. If you got 3 levels on all skill, it's not too much of a problem anymore.

Friends and Foes

This is my favourite chapter. Riki synergize well with many heroes, but as a glass cannon hero, he also has many foes.

---

FRIENDS

Heroes that lock the enemy in 1 spot:

Crystal Maiden
Lion
Ancient Apparition
Axe
Bane
Batrider
Chaos Knight
Lina
Mirana's Sacred Arrow
Shadow Shaman
And many more


Mana provider:

Crystal Maiden
Keeper of the Light


Silencers:

Drow Ranger
Death Prophet
Silencer
Orchid Malevolence
Bloodseeker
Disruptor
Doom
And many more.


FOES

Death Prophet
Drow Ranger
Silencer
Bloodseeker
Disruptor
Doom
Gem of True Sight
Sentry Ward
Necronomicon
Duel
Bristleback's passive, AWWW
Dust of Appearance
And many more.

Ending

Thanks for taking your time and read my guide, I'm sorry for every grammatical errors, English isn't my first language. Feel free to comment below, and please, ELDERS, write more comments so that I can fix myself.

Updates

Tue, 23 Dec 2014
- Removes Mask of Madness from item build
- Added Manta Style into item build

Mon, 22 Dec 2014
- Guide Published