Abilities, roles and builds with an explanation for every purchase.
HERO GAME PLANI look for a vulnerable target, restrict it with Smoke Screen, and get out before heavy counter-disables land.
Riki stalks the battlefield, unseen by the enemy. He chooses his moment carefully and bursts forth in a puff of silencing smoke, stabbing at his foes before they even know he's there.
My recommendation is a starting point. We choose another position together with the team and for its needs.
I need protected farm, my item window and damage on important targets.
I contribute through laning, control and movement. I adapt the expensive core route to my budget.
This is an editorial starting plan based on hero mechanics. It is not presented as a match I have already tested or a popularity ranking.
Here is my initial plan: I do my role's job first, then choose the items the team needs. I adapt the order and expensive purchases to the opponent.
Provide attack speed and switchable attributes for farming and managing my resources.
Adds mana burn to attacks and helps stick to the chosen target.
Provides illusions for pressure and a separate dispel. This item cannot help you wait out or remove every disable.
Adds a chance to stun on attack, making it harder for the target to get out of melee range.
Builds on the Diffusal route and adds flexibility for movement and dispels.
Abyssal Blade ↗Provides a targeted disable when slows and attacks are no longer enough.
Black King Bar ↗Provides a window for my actions against eligible magical damage and disables. I check effects that pierce the protection.
Aghanim's Shard ↗Unlocks or upgrades Smoke Screen. The exact effects are shown below in the abilities section.
I do not assign one ‘correct’ minute to every purchase. I look at my gold, the next fight and the problem: am I missing mana, target access, control or protection? If an expensive slot will arrive too late, I get a useful answer earlier.
Original Valve icons and descriptions. Cooldowns and mana are shown by level from the data snapshot; talents and upgrades can change the values.
Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing enemies and causing them to miss attacks.
Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing enemies and causing them to miss attacks.
The smoke screen reduces victims’ armor by 5 and prevents other enemies from targeting them.
Teleports behind the target unit, momentarily slowing them by 100% and attacking them with bonus damage if it is an enemy.
CHANNELED - Riki phases out of the world and periodically strikes 2 random enemy units from behind in an area around him. He has fixed attack damage while phased out.
CHANNELED - Riki phases out of the world and periodically strikes 2 random enemy units from behind in an area around him. He has fixed attack damage while phased out.
Increases cast range to 500. Allows an ally to be targeted so the hero can hide inside them for the duration, increasing their movement speed by 15%. When cast this way, the ability lasts 1 sec. longer and the number of attacks increases by 2.
Riki fades into the shadows, becoming invisible until he attacks. Hero kills and assists grant additional experience.
These abilities are not necessarily available at the same time. I check the condition beside the name: innate ability, another form or an Aghanim purchase.
Every time Riki strikes his enemy from behind, he deals additional bonus damage equal to a multiple of his Agility.
Every time Riki strikes his enemy from behind, he deals additional bonus damage equal to a multiple of his Agility.
These are fields from the official source. The hero's final values in the client account for attributes and other active mechanics.
Items, slang and real episodes help connect abilities with what happens in a match.
