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Riki
Strength attribute symbol
Agility attribute symbol
Intelligence attribute symbol
18 + 2
30 + 2.4
14 + 1.3
Level 0 1 15 25 30
Health 120 516 1132 1836 2100
+2.5 +4.3 +7.1 +10.3 +11.5
Mana 75 243 459 759 855
+0 +0.7 +1.61 +2.86 +3.29
Armor 0 5 10.6 16.6 18.93
Magic Resist 25% 26.4% 28.22% 30.72% 31.57%
Damage Block 16 (50%)
Damage

27
31

57
61

90
94

126
130

140
144

Attack Rate 0.53/s 0.71/s 0.9/s 1.12/s 1.2/s
Attack Range Melee 150 (600)
Attack Speed ▶️ 90 (1.7s BAT)
Attack Animation 0.3 + 0.3
Projectile Speed Instant
Move Speed ▶️ 315 (Nighttime 345)
Turn Rate Takes 0.175s to turn 180°. 0.6
Collision Size 27
Bound Radius 24
Vision Range (G) 1800 (Nighttime 800)
Gib Type Default
Internal npc_dota_hero_riki
Remains permanently invisible until the moment to strike.
Leaving his past life behind, Riki escaped the royal grounds using his own Cloak-and-Dagger methods. Stealthy and fond of killing from behind, Riki throws down a dense Smoke Screen, blinding and choking foes as he takes them by surprise with Blink Strike. Intruders who enter his turf is greeted with twin daggers, flashes of steel that slash simultaneously at every turned back while the master himself remains unseen. How this feat is accomplished remains a mystery, for the Stealth Assassin is not one to divulge his Tricks of the Trade.
Smoke Screen
Smoke Screen
Blink Strike
Tricks of the Trade
Tricks of the Trade
Cloak and Dagger
Roles: Carry Carry Escape Escape Disabler Disabler
Complexity: Hero Complexity
Adjectives: Bearded, Blue, Horns, Nose
Legs ( 2 )


Bio[]

Riki minimap iconRiki, the Stealth Assassin
▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see."
Riki was born middle child to the great dynasty of Tahlin. With an older brother groomed for the throne, and a younger brother coddled and kept, Riki, the small middle son, seemed born for the art of invisibility. It was an art he cultivated, and one which ultimately saved his life on the night that his people were betrayed and his family slaughtered. Of all the royal line, he alone escaped—small and agile, unassuming, using smoke as cover. He cut his way out of the royal grounds, using the advantage of surprise, quietly slitting the throats of one enemy warrior after another. Now free of his royal responsibilities, Riki uses his talents in service to a new trade: Stealth Assassin. He silences his enemies, sharpening his skills, hoping to one day take revenge on those who killed his family and robbed him of his birthright.
Aliases:
SA, Stealth Assassin

Abilities[]

Smoke Screen
Smoke Screen icon
Affects
Enemies
Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing enemies, and causing them to miss attacks.
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 550
Effect Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 425 (Talent 475)
Miss Chance: 30%/45%/60%/75%
Duration: 6
Aura Linger Duration: 0
With Aghanim's Shard Armor Reduction: 5
Cooldown symbol
 20/17/14/11 (Talent 17/14/11/8)
Mana symbol
 65/70/75/80
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
Enemies caught in the smoke screen have their armor reduced by 5 and cannot be targeted by their allies.
Partially pierces debuff immunity.
Does not pierce debuff immunity.
Upgradable by Aghanim's Shard.
Armor reduction does not pierce debuff immunity, but the untargetability does.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_riki_smoke_screen_thinker
Undispellable
modifier_riki_smoke_screen
Death
Since his escape during the night of his betrayal, Riki has valued the use of a simple smoke screen to confuse his opponents.

  • All effects of Smoke Screen are provided by an aura and its debuff lingers for 0 seconds.
    • The debuff is also applied to ally heroes, granting Riki assists when ally heroes are killed while being affected by Smoke Screen. However, the ability effects do not affect allies in any way.
  • Successive casts do not update the current ability values but refresh its duration.
    • However, Smoke Screen of different sources works independently of each other.
  • Although the debuff lingers, its effects instantly stop if the target turns invulnerable and hidden.
  • While channeling Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade, Smoke Screen has an Instant Cast Animation (DOTA_ABILITY_BEHAVIOR_IMMEDIATE) instant cast time and does not require facing the target area to cast, as long as the targeted point is within cast range.
    • The channeling itself does get interrupted, but the ability continues with its effects.
    • In this state, new Shift-queue orders cause Tricks of the Trade to get completely canceled.
    • However, with ▣ Channeled Abilities Require Hold/Stop enabled, Riki cannot cast Smoke Screen while channeling Tricks of the Trade.
  • Enemies within the Smoke Screen radius are now untargetable and unselectable by their allies. Therefore, affected enemies also cannot be attacked by their allies.
    • Does not prevent the affected enemies from self-casting and ↓↓ Double-tapping any abilities.
    • Any attack or ability targeting the enemy units from their allies that are already in its attack or cast animation gets canceled.
    • Does not remove the affected targets' hitbox.
    • Does not prevent Spell Reflection from reflecting abilities back at them.
    • Does not disjoint projectiles.
    • Certain abilities can bypass unselectability conditionally, while almost every other ability cast by their ally treats the affected enemy targets as if they were invisible.


Blink Strike
Blink Strike icon
Affects
Self / Enemies
Teleports behind the target unit, momentarily slowing them and striking for bonus damage if it is an enemy.
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 600/700/800/900
Self Attack Animation Bonus: 50%
Damage: 40/55/70/85
Enemy Move Speed Slow: 100%
Slow Duration: 0.4
Charge Replenish Time
 25/21/17/13 (Talent 21/17/13/9)
 2
Cooldown symbol
 0.1
Mana symbol
 50/55/60/65
Blocked by Linken's Sphere.
When reflected, the caster first blinks next to the target, then the target blinks next to the caster.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_riki_blinkstrike
Death
modifier_riki_blinkstrike_slow
The Stealth Assassin's agile movement makes him impossible to escape.

  • Riki gets all 2 charges immediately upon learning Blink Strike.
  • Blink Strike always teleports Riki behind the target.
    • Does not disjoint projectiles upon teleporting.
  • Can be cast on allies without damaging them.
    • Although it does not break Cloak and Dagger icon Cloak and Dagger's invisibility, the ability effects can be seen by enemies.
  • When cast on an enemy target, Blink Strike first applies the slow debuff, the bonus magical damage, then the instant attack.
  • The instant attack can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally, with cleave being an exception. They do not have True Strike, but completely ignore disarms.
    • The instant attack of Blink Strike breaks Cloak and Dagger's invisibility.
  • The hidden buff upon the instant attack grants the following effects:
    • The instant attack also applies an ensured Cloak and Dagger icon Cloak and Dagger backstab hit based on its current level, regardless of the target's facing angle, even when the target manages to turn around before Riki's attack hits.
    • Cloak and Dagger damage notes fully apply. If it is not learned, the backstab damage is not applied.
    • Reduces the attack point of the next attack to 0.15+0.3.
      • The buff does not reduce the attack backswing of the next attack.
  • The hidden buff lasts for 1 attack, or for up to 1 second, whichever happens first.
    • The buff is used up upon Riki's attack point, not upon landing the attack, so canceling or missing the attack wastes it.
    • Since the buff has a duration, the ensured backstab damage may be dealt to other units than the Blink Strike target.
  • Blink Strike has a 0.1-second cooldown to prevent accidental double-casts on the same target.
  • Only instant attack the secondary target. Other ability effects are applied to both the primary and secondary target, Riki minimap icon Riki appears behind the primary target.


Tricks of the Trade
Tricks of the Trade icon
Affects
Self / Enemies
Riki phases out of the world while striking random enemy units from behind in an area around him.
Cast Range: Affected by Cast Range bonuses. 400 (With Aghanim's Scepter 700)
Max Channel Time: 2
Radius: Affected by AoE Radius bonuses. 450
Attack Targets: 1 (With Aghanim's Scepter 2)
Attack Count: 4 (With Aghanim's Scepter 5)
Self Agility Bonus: 70%/80%/90%/100% (Talent 100%/110%/120%/130%)
Instant Attack Damage: 40%
Cooldown symbol
 18/16/14/12 (Talent 15/13/11/9)
Mana symbol
 45/55/65/75
Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Increases cast range, number of attacks and allows you to target an allied hero, hiding inside them for the duration. Each attack hits an additional target.
Partially disabled while rooted or leashed.
Root Notes:
Cannot be cast while rooted or leashed.
Talent
Can be cast while rooted or leashed.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_riki_tricks_of_the_trade_phase
Death
Ability Draft Notes
Ability Draft Notes:
Cloak and Dagger icon Cloak and Dagger must be drafted as well for it to get applied.
The Stealth Assassin is not afraid to fight dirty, and specializes in attacking his opponents from behind.

  • Tricks of the Trade applies a basic dispel and disjoints projectiles upon cast.
  • Certain items abilities which do not cancel channeling (e.g. Shadow Blade icon Shadow Walk or Shiva's Guard icon Arctic Blast) do cancel Tricks of the Trade.
    • While channeling, Smoke Screen icon Smoke Screen has an Instant Cast Animation (DOTA_ABILITY_BEHAVIOR_IMMEDIATE) instant cast time and does not require facing the target area to cast, as long as the targeted point is within cast range.
    • The channeling itself does get interrupted, but the ability continues with its effects.
    • In this state, new Shift-queue orders cause Tricks of the Trade to get completely canceled.
    • However, with ▣ Channeled Abilities Require Hold/Stop enabled, Riki cannot cast Smoke Screen while channeling Tricks of the Trade.
  • Causes Riki to perform instant attacks on 1 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 2) enemies within range in 0.67 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 0.5)-second intervals, starting immediately upon cast, resulting in 4 (Upgradable by Aghanim's Scepter. 5) instances.
    • These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally. They do not have True Strike, but completely ignore disarms.
    • Since the damage comes from a regular attack, it counts as attack damage and not as spell damage.
    • Fully affect enemy Animal Courier Radiant minimap icon Couriers.
    • This means it is affected by damage block, unaffected by spell damage amplification, and cannot spell lifesteal.
  • Tricks of the Trade first checks Riki's total Agility attribute symbol agility and grants the agility bonus, and then reduces his main and bonus attack damage.
    • This can be defined as
      expr
      (29 + ΣAgi × 1.7/1.8/1.9/2 (Talent 2/2.1/2.2/2.3) + BonusAtk) × 40%
    • The agility bonus lasts as long as the channel time, and only the ability can use it.
    • Does not reduce conditional attack damage bonuses (e.g. Monkey King Bar icon Pierce or Silver Edge icon Shadow Walk).
    • Stacks additively with other total attack damage reduction sources.
    • TALENT
      The agility bonus increasing Talent talent does not update the current active instance.
  • During Tricks of the Trade, Cloak and Dagger icon Cloak and Dagger based on the current level triggers on every attack, regardless of the enemy's facing angle.
    • Cloak and Dagger damage notes fully apply. If it is not learned, the backstab damage is not applied.
  • The instant attacks do not break Smoke of Deceit icon Disguise and Cloak and Dagger's invisibility, although Cloak and Dagger visually go on cooldown.
  • The visual effects indicating Tricks of the Trade's attack radius are visible to both allies and enemies.
    • The attack radius is always centered on Riki and follows him even when he gets moved (e.g. with Glimpse icon Glimpse).
    • However, a part of the radius indicating visual effects on the ground does not follow Riki, and stays at the cast location.
  • Riki reappears at the center of the ability after the max channel time.
    • ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically moves Riki to the targeted location within the cast range.
  • Trick of the Trade now attacks 2 enemies at once, resulting in up to 10 attacks over the same intervals and duration.
    • Can be cast on an allied hero, including illusions and clones, excluding creep-heroes.
    • Fully ignore ally Animal Courier Radiant minimap icon Couriers.
    • Riki and all of Tricks of the Trade's effects are centered around and follow the allied hero. Riki still remains hidden.
    • The ability does not end when the target dies and continues at its corpse's location. It is still bound to the ally, so when it reincarnates, it follows it still.


Cloak and Dagger
Cloak and Dagger icon
Ability
Passive
Affects
Self / Enemies
Damage
Physical
Riki fades into the shadows, becoming invisible. Every time Riki strikes his enemy from behind, he deals bonus damage based on his Agility. When Riki attacks, he becomes visible. Grants bonus experience for hero kills and assists.
Fade Delay: 4/3/2
Back Angle: 105°
Hero Damage per Agility: 0.8/1.2/1.6 (Talent 1.1/1.5/1.9)
Creep Damage Multiplier: 2
Kill Experience Bonus: 150/250/350
Assist Experience Bonus: 100
Talent Move Speed Bonus: 8%
Disabled by Break.
Break Notes:
Immediately disables invisibility despite the buff being only dispellable by Death.
Disables the experience bonus per kill and assist component.
Partially usable by illusions.
Illusion Notes:
Invisibility is fully functional.
Triggers the ability sound effects, but does not apply the conditional attack damage bonus.
Buff/Debuff
Modifiers [?]
modifier_riki_backstab
Undispellable
modifier_invisible
Death
Riki comes for you.
Riki Cloak and Dagger angle

Cloak and Dagger's angle visualized. The red represents a valid angle for backstab, the green represents the front.


  • The fade delay is shown visually as the ability's cooldown whenever the invisibility is broken, it is neither affected by cooldown reduction nor cooldown reset sources.
    • Although both Time Dilation icon Time Dilation and Chakra Magic icon Chakra Magic affect the cooldown visually, it does not interact with the fade delay in any way.
  • Attacking breaks the invisibility and either reset the fade delay or the fade delay takes effect.
    • As long as Cloak and Dagger is not affected by Break, Riki will keep turning invisible.
  • Grants the following effects while fully invisible:
    • No longer auto-attack enemies.
    • Can turn, pick up, drop or use items without breaking the invisibility.
    • Can cast abilities without breaking the invisibility.
    • Grants self movement speed bonus.
  • Invisibility sources with fade delays use the same modifier and do not stack with other invisibility sources of the same type — Cloak and Dagger will always override the shorter one.
  • Backstab damage is considered as a conditional attack damage bonus.
    • Although the attack damage bonus values are not displayed in the HUD, it is still considered and directly added to Riki's attack damage.
    • The attack damage bonus is considered by lifesteal, crit, and cleave, and it can be reduced only by flat reductions (e.g. damage block).
    • Since it is considered bonus attack damage, it is not affected by percentage-based attack damage bonuses or reductions.
  • During Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade, the Agility attribute symbol agility bonus effectively increases Cloak and Dagger damage per agility to the following values:
    • LEVEL 1
      1.36/1.44/1.52/1.6 (Talent 1.87/1.98/2.09/2.2) damage per agility.
    • LEVEL 2
      2.04/2.16/2.28/2.4 (Talent 2.55/2.7/2.85/3) damage per agility.
    • LEVEL 3
      2.72/2.88/3.04/3.2 (Talent 3.23/3.42/3.61/3.8) damage per agility.
  • The sound effect plays at the start of the attack, but the damage is applied on the attack hit.
  • Grants flat experience bonuses for both hero kills and hero assists.


Talents[]

Hero Talents
Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade Applies a Basic Dispel25-3 Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade Cooldown
-4s Blink Strike icon Blink Strike Replenish Time20+0.3 Cloak and Dagger icon Backstab Multiplier
-3s Smoke Screen icon Smoke Screen Cooldown15+30% Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade Agility Increase
+8% Cloak and Dagger icon Cloak and Dagger Movement Speed10+50 Smoke Screen icon Smoke Screen Radius

Recent Changes[]

Main Articles: Changelogs, Old Abilities and Hero Lore
Version
Description


Recommended Items[]

Starting items:

  • Tango icon Tango or Healing Salve icon Healing Salve regenerates health so Riki can stay longer in lane and reach level 6 sooner.
  • Iron Branch icon Iron Branch gives cheap attributes and builds into Magic Wand, or Riki can use it with Tango to get more health.
  • Slippers of Agility icon Slippers of Agility increases agility for Riki to last hit; it builds into Wraith Band later on.

Early game:

  • Magic Stick icon Magic Stick replaces your consumables with an alternative source of recovery, and is particularly useful if the enemy team includes heroes that rely on abilities.
  • Boots of Speed icon Boots of Speed provide movement speed, allowing Riki to keep pace with fleeing heroes while Blink Strike is on cooldown.
  • Orb of Venom icon Orb of Venom helps secure kills with its movement slow and helps compensate for Riki's own horrible movement speed.

Mid game:

  • Power Treads icon Power Treads give Riki increased attack speed as well as a further bonus to attributes, which help increasing Cloak and Dagger's damage output.
  • Diffusal Blade icon Diffusal Blade provides a way to slow fleeing heroes, keeping them in Smoke Screen, as well as burning mana from casters for extra damage. It also boosts agility which will increase Cloak and Dagger's backstab damage.
  • Skull Basher icon Skull Basher provides increased damage and strength, which is always nice on a right-click hero that gets close for kills, like Riki. In addition, the Bash is useful for keeping enemies inside the Smoke Screen.

Late game:

  • Butterfly icon Butterfly provides a huge increase in both survivability and damage, as well as attack speed. It also boosts your agility which scales well with Cloak and Dagger's backstab damage.
  • Abyssal Blade icon Abyssal Blade allows Riki to cancel channeled spells with its stun and bash, as well as continuing to lock-down opponents once they have acquired Black King Bar icon Black King Bar.
  • Nullifier icon Nullifier's movement speed slow keeps enemies inside Trick of the Trade. Furthermore, the mute and dispel complements Smoke Screen's silence and miss to disable enemies further, countering and preventing them from using defensive abilities and items like Ghost Scepter icon Ghost Scepter.

Situational items:

  • Drum of Endurance icon Drum of Endurance is a good early to mid game pickup, as it makes everyone faster and gives Riki attributes and mana regeneration.
  • Black King Bar icon Black King Bar allows Riki to effectively fight in team-fights and get kills against opponents that have strong disables.
  • Eye of Skadi icon Eye of Skadi gives attributes across the board as well as a flat health and mana pool bonus, allowing Riki to take more hits, deal more damage and use more abilities. It also gives a powerful, spell immunity piercing slow that will prevent your target from escaping.
  • Blink Dagger icon Blink Dagger allows Riki to initiate using Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade, then safely blinking away just before Tricks of the Trade finishes.
  • Manta Style icon Manta Style can be used to dispel debuffs. However, it will not dispel Dust of Appearance icon Dust of Appearance if you remain inside the AoE radius of the dust. The illusions could serve as decoy instead. Riki can use the illusions to scout, and as targets for Blink Strike when escaping.
  • Battle Fury icon Battle Fury can proc with Tricks of the Trade and Backstab, and gives Riki much needed Mana regeneration.

Dota Plus Progress[]

Main Article: Hero Challenges

Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.

Relics Voice Lines
Relic Rare icon
Three Hero Smoke Screen icon Smoke Screens
Relic Rare icon
Blink Strike icon Blink Strikes Leading To Kills
Relic Rare icon
Backstab Kills
Relic Rare icon
Tricks of the Trade icon Tricks of the Trade 3x Successive Hits
Relic agility icon
Heroes Killed Inside Smoke Screen icon Smoke Screen
Relic agility icon
Gem of True Sight icon Gem Carriers Killed
Relic agility icon
Enemy Hero Mana Burned
Relic agility icon
Animal Courier icon Courier Kills
Relic agility icon
Spells Disjointed
Relic agility icon
Bashed Enemies
Relic agility icon
Triple Kills
Relic agility icon
Mega Kill Streaks
Relic agility icon
Kill Assists
Relic agility icon
Kills
Plus Hero Badge 1
Bronze
Plus Hero Badge 2
Silver
Plus Hero Badge 3
Gold
Plus Hero Badge 4
Platinum
Plus Hero Badge 5
Master
Plus Hero Badge 6
Grandmaster

Equipment[]

Trivia[]

  • In DotA, Riki was named "Rikimaru" (力丸), a reference to one of the main characters in the Tenchu video game series. The name is carried over to Riki's official Chinese hero name.
  • Riki's fun/alternate name was Riki Martin, which is a pun on Ricky Martin, a famous Latino pop singer.
  • ▶️ "Good assassins never die… they just fade away.", is a reference to a quote by General Douglas MacArthur, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
  • ▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see." is a reference to a proverb: "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
  • ▶️ "I speak softly, but carry a sharp knife." is a reference to the West African Proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick.", popularized by U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.

Gallery[]

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