Do you want to discover the secrets of How to Play Riki in Dota 2.
With the power of permanent invisibility, Riki is the perfect assassin and possesses all necessary tools. He can blink onto any targets and burst them down with his immense physical damage. Besides this, his high mobility and escape mechanisms are other reasons to learn How to Play Riki in Dota 2.
Though Riki does lack abilities that help him farm effortlessly, his damage output damage stays overwhelming throughout the game. In addition, high base armor and an above-average health regeneration make him hard to kill early on. Apart from this, his playstyle allows many item builds depending on the situation.
Not only this, but he can potentially carry the late game due to his ability to amplify damage with multipliers. Moreover, reaching his power spike earlier than most carries allows him to snowball and pressurize objectives easily. Riki also specializes in ganking other lanes, making it important to learn How to Play Riki in Dota 2.
Especially destructive against heroes lacking mobility, Riki easily catches and bursts down heroes. Some of these heroes include Sniper, Crystal Maiden, and Drow Ranger. Comparatively, Riki compliments heroes with lockdown and can hold enemies in place for him to burst down. Some key examples are Magnus and Axe.
Riki’s Abilities
Smoke Screen allows Riki to throw down a bomb of smoke, which blinds and silences any target units. Blinding enemies forces them into missing seventy-five percent of their attacks for six seconds. The smoke cloud also silences any enemy heroes in its 375 radius until they leave the target area.
His second active ability is Blink Strike, with which Riki jumps to any target up to nine hundred units away. Furthermore, it also grants Riki the power to strike enemies with extra force while also slowing them by 100%. Making this ability even more useful is its multiple charges and a little charge recharge time.
Tricks of the Trade is an AoE in which Riki attacks from another dimension and is intangible for the duration. In addition to gaining 100% bonus agility, he gets instant attack damage of 40%. Though it is impossible to control the target during one attack, Riki executes a maximum of four attacks in two seconds.
Riki’s signature ability and the ability behind his iconic invisibility are Cloak and Dagger. Though many think this spell only provides invisibility, it also has the added benefit of boosting his damage. The move has an extremely low cooldown of two seconds, thus allowing players to finesse and bamboozle enemy players.
How to Utilize his Abilities
Recognizing that Smoke Screen does not only silence heroes but also makes them miss their attacks is vital. Using this on cores in team fights can make it impossible for them to land hits. Another point worth considering is placing the Smoke Screen where one might go instead of where they are currently standing.
As the article states above, Blink Strike can is usable on all units. Consequently, it has multiple uses. Its main use is to catch and burst down enemies. However, it acts as an escape if allies are targets. Lastly, using Blink Strike does not break invisibility and is a great tool to secure last hits while hidden.
Tricks of the Trade has a large AoE and acts as a secondary escape for Riki. In combinations with items with cleave, Riki can easily burst down groups of heroes and illusions. He can also pick out the real hero from illusions, making this spell even more potent. Target-unit stuns and disables become extremely easy to dodge.
With his ultimate, Cloak and Dagger, the most important aspect to consider is always positioning. This can stem from the fact that enemies may use sentries to scout Riki and eliminate him first. As a result, dewarding lanes yourself and staying on the sidelines for the perfect opportunity is most important.
Item Build
As a core that needs to get an insane amount of farm, guaranteeing a good laning stage is extremely important. To perfectly secure this stage, items that increase stats like Slippers of Agility and multiple Iron Branches are essential. Perhaps most important is the Quelling Blade, which increases his already superior base damage.
When Riki starts rotating and ganking other lanes, buying fighting items and attribute boosters is optimal. Firstly, his boot choice can be between Phase Boots or Power Treads. However, most prefer Power Treads for their versatility. An item that augments fighting prowess is the Orb of Corrosion because of its armor reduction and slow.
The primary item choice of any Riki player, Diffusal Blade, is critical to how one plays the hero today. What Riki lacks is lockdown and possesses, in lieu of that, extremely overwhelming physical damage. Consequently, Diffusal both supplements his damage and slows enemies so he can easily eliminate them with just a few hits.
In the midgame, another item that has almost the same function as Diffusal Blade is the Skull Basher. Like Diffusal Blade, this item also provides lockdown and makes Riki tankier, which he desperately needs. Another benefit of this item is that it upgrades to form Abyssal Blade, which keeps enemies under control.
The late-game calls for many items depending on what the situation of the game has come to be. Consequently, some great choices are Black King Bar for spell Immunity and Butterfly for increasing evasion and enhancing damage. In addition, Daedalus is a substantial bonus to his ever-increasing critical physical damage.
Laning Stage and Gameplay
Though he has a smaller health pool, Riki can still hold his own in the lane. With Riki, players must be extremely cautious as any combination of stuns or burst damage can eliminate him. Moreover, spamming Blink Strike to secure last hits and promptly escape to avoid getting caught is most efficient.
Unlike many carries, Riki does not focus much on hitting creeps but is best off getting kills. To do this, he makes some basic items and groups up with heroes with lockdown to secure pickoffs. Though he has invisibility, smoking is still beneficial as it notifies one when enemy heroes are in range.
The most formidable aspect of Riki’s fighting potential is his backstab multiplier. Thus, the main goal is to use it in fights by sneaking up to cores and supports alike. Another part of this potential is positioning oneself near enough to use Blink Strike to get behind cores. Targeting supports with silence is beneficial.
Though a BKB is not necessary for most games, However, if against a multitude of stuns, it becomes compulsory. Besides this, Riki also suffers a lot when taking towers, so an early lead is extremely crucial. With this integral gold and XP lead, their cores suffer, and Riki keeps demolishing their lineup and gradually secures towers.
Riki, the stealth assassin, is one of the most iconic and interesting heroes in Dota 2. Riki has many aspects that make a core genuinely terrifying, from his escapes to his often staggering burst damage. This article discusses How to Play Riki in Dota 2 and how to win games with him.
