Riki

	Death Ward
	150px
Creep
This unit has no health.
This unit has no mana.
Notes	Unit type: ward; Only attacks heroes

Riki 17 + 2 34 + 2.9 14 + 1.3
	Grants the following bonuses per point of attribute:
	+22HP and +0.1HP regeneration
	+0.17 armor and 1 attack speed; +1 main attack damage
	+12MP and +0.05MP regeneration; +0.1% base magic resistance ;
L0	Base Hero Values
L1	⤷ + Base Attributes
L15	⤷ + Attribute Gain
L25	⤷ + 6 levels of Attribute Bonus
L30	⤷ + 7 levels of Attribute Bonus
	All values shown are without talent bonuses.
Attack Animation	0.3 + 0.3
Gib Type	Default
Internal	Not Provided

Riki the Stealth Assassin is a melee agility hero that uses stealth in order to surprise enemies and quickly kill them. His trademark ability, Permanent Invisibility, allows him to sneak into the shadows to hide and slip by without giving himself away. This allows him to close in on the enemy and drop his devastating Smoke Screen, which cripples fighter and spellcaster alike. Blink Strike allows Riki to chase with impunity, and Backstab makes running from him even more dangerous.

Bio

Riki, the Stealth Assassin

▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see."

Lore:

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.

Voice:

[[Voice actors#|]] (Responses)

Gameplay

Riki's invisibility is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. On one hand, it makes him able to surprise enemies and farm with very little concern. On the other hand, without invisibility he has no real defense. He still has to watch out for revealing items such as Dust of Appearance and Gem of True Sight, as well as abilities that prevent him from going invisible. If he stays alive and picks off lone enemies, he can quickly get out of control.

Smoke Screen provides a powerful Silence and gives enemies a high miss chance, as well as slowing them down. If targeted properly, it can hold an enemy down long enough to finish them off. However, enemies must stay in the area to be affected. A good strategy is to throw a Smoke Screen in the enemy's path, rather than where they are presently. Blink Strike is Riki's chase and escape ability. It operates like other Blink abilities, in that it allows Riki to teleport to a target quickly. However, Blink Strike must target a unit. It helps catch up with fleeing enemies, jump into fights quickly, and escape from situations by targeting allies. Blink Strike pairs well with Backstab, because it teleports Riki behind the enemy. Backstab causes any attack from behind to deal additional damage, and allows you to absolutely flatten weaker enemies. If they turn to run, Riki suddenly hits for much more. Finally, Riki's Permanent Invisibility allows him to go completely invisible after a short delay. If Riki's enemies don't have any form of detection, this lets Riki escape with ease and roam freely. If they do, Riki has to rely on his cunning and speed in order to get the drop on enemies, and get out alive.

Abilities

Smoke Screen

▶️QC

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing and slowing enemy units in an area while causing them to miss on most attacks. Lasts 6 seconds.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 550

Effect Radius: 250/275/300/325

Move Speed Slow: 25%

Turn Rate Slow: 30%

Miss Chance: 40%/50%/60%/70%

Duration: 6

11

75/80/85/90

Since his escape during the night of his betrayal, Riki has valued the use of a simple smoke screen to confuse his opponents.

Silence, slow and miss chance are all provided by an aura at the targeted area.

The debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds after leaving the area.

Permanent Invisibility

WE

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Riki fades into the shadows, becoming invisible and gaining additional health regeneration. If Riki attacks an enemy, he will become visible.

Fade Delay: 8/6/4/2

Invis Health Regen: 4/5/6/7

Riki comes for you.

Riki won't auto attack enemies while invisible.

Riki turns instantly invisible after respawning, causing him to be not visible right after using Aegis of the Immortal.

Restores health in form of health regeneration, so it regenerates 0.4/0.5/0.6/0.7 health in 0.1 second intervals, which makes 4/5/6/7 health per second.

Can restore up to 240/300/360/420 health in one minute.

The regeneration is disabled whenever he breaks out of his invisibility, not when he is revealed.

Casting spells or using items does not break the invisibility.

The ability icon will show a cooldown whenever the invisibility is broken, to show the player when he turns invisible again.

Backstab

▶️EK

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Physical

If Riki attacks from behind, bonus damage is applied based on his current agility.

Agility as Damage: 50%/75%/100%/125%

The Stealth Assassin is not afraid to fight dirty, and specializes in attacking his opponents from behind.

Backstab damage is applied when attacking and denying allies.

A unit's back is considered to be within 105 degrees from the back.

Riki can lifesteal the damage dealt by Backstab. However, it cannot crit or cleave.

The damage can be reduced by, for example, Enfeeble or Static Link. However it cannot be amplified by e.g. Empower or the Double Damage rune.

The sound effect plays at the start of the attack, but the damage is applied on hit.

Blink Strike

▶️RB

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Units

Damage
Magical

Teleports behind the target unit, striking for bonus damage if it is an enemy. Blink Strike charges restore every 35 seconds.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 800

Damage: 40/70/100

Number of Charges: 4/5/6

Charge Restore Time: 35

40

The Stealth Assassin's agile movement makes him impossible to escape.

When learning the 1st level of Blink Strike, Riki instantly has the 4 charges. However, leveling it up does not instantly grant the 5th or 6th charge.

The bonus damage is independent from Riki's attack damage and is instantly dealt to the target.

Teleports to the back of the target, guaranteeing an attack with Backstab if the target can be attacked.

Riki is ordered to attack the target if it's an enemy.

Can be cast on allies without damaging them.

Can be cast on couriers.

Recommended Items

Template:Recommendeditems

Equipment

Riki/equipment

Tips

Riki is a attribute-based carry, thanks to Backstab witch means that he will get stronger and stronger as the game goes on, as long as you being capable to farm, kill and get the right items.
- And because of that, Diffusal Blade should be your first core item completed, it gives the basic of Riki needs, the agility scale well with your Backstab, and the active Purge you help you in many applications, purging Dust of Appearance from you, removing strong protections like Repel, Guardian Angel from enemies and purging them while inside of Smoke Screen, that will be your main ganking combo. Always use all the charges before buying the recipe again and search to do the best use of them.
Don't walk straight up to enemies and deep into enemy territory and expect never to die. If they have any kind of detection Sentry Ward, then Riki dies very fast.
- As a result of this, make a habit of constantly checking the enemy's inventory for revealing items.
His trademark skill Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Permanent Invisibility". is the key that allows Riki to be one of the best support killers in the game,since good supports will always stay behind you can flank the enemy team coming around from there and catching the supports as soon as the teamfights begin,the enemy team will be so busy fighting yours that will not realize that their supports are already dead. This strategy also applies to enemy initiators with gamebreaking ultimates like Enigma or Magnus a good interruption as this can set victory in critical situations.
Riki is exceptional at ganking lone heroes and picking them off one by one. He can snowball easily through just getting lots of kills even without farm. Try to get kills before the enemy starts grouping up however, because Riki falls off late-game as enemies purchase detection items.
Blink Strike can target allies and enemies. Jumping to a friendly unit can be useful in case Riki needs to escape, also you can target the enemy courier, allowing for an easy kill.
Heart of Tarrasque can be a good item for Riki; his Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Permanent Invisibility". allows him to slip away and let the passive regenerate him without fear of interruption.
An early Orb of Venom will give Riki a good slow that may help with early kills. Remember that since 6.83 patch Diffusal Blade is no longer UAM so it will stack with other ones.
Drum of Endurance is good on Riki if you can buy it yet in the lane phase, he has an average low movement speed of 340, Drum will you help you with that, making your speed into 357. Coupled with Orb of Venom you will have a better chasing speed, and the stats are always good.
Manta Style gives good stats and allows Riki to remove debuffs such as Dust of Appearance without using Diffusal Blade charges.
Due to the nature of Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Permanent Invisibility"., a well-organised team may be efficient with buying Sentry Ward to keep vision of you. You may want to take it upon yourself to 'de-ward' your lane if needs be; if you're without a support, or so that your support can concentrate on other items.
Save the early Orb of Venom and once the game reaches later stages you can upgrade to Eye of Skadi for one more reliable slow that penetrates BKB.
You can take Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Permanent Invisibility". as your first skill point and easily take the first Bounty Rune in either of top or bot sides of the river,so the enemy won't have any forms to detect you.
Riki is a key hero to catch slippery foes and heroes that are heavily reliant on their own active skills since he can approach without detection and use smoke to prevent them from using escape spells,so its wise to pick him as a counter pick to many heroes like Slark, Juggernaut, Anti-Mage, Weaver, Storm Spirit, however, be careful of enemies carrying escape items,like Force Staff, Glimmer Cape, Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade/ Silver Edge
Be wary around more durable enemy heroes. Spell Immunity from Black King Bar allows enemies to ignore Smoke Screen and fight Riki, removing his Backstab advantage.
Always scout the enemy jungle once in a while,you may encounter some enemy farming alone for a easy kill, also help high mobility heroes like Spirit Breaker or Nature's Prophet to set up a gank.
Don't be afraid of enemies carrying Gem of True Sight,track down their movement and wait, sooner or later they're going to end up alone and when this happen don't hesitate, use the fog of war and approach form the sides, go for the kill and recover the Gem.
In some situations the enemy team may have a lot of casters/disable heroes, in that case don't skip the Black King Bar, you can farm one right after finishing your Diffusal Blade, it will give you a bigger opening in big teamfights to cut down enemies.

Trivia

In DotA, Riki was called "Rikimaru"; Rikimaru is also the name of a main character in the Tenchu game series.^[1]
Riki's fun/alternate name was Riki Martin, which is a pun on Ricky Martin, a famous Latino pop singer.
Riki's line upon dying, ▶️ "Good assassins never die… they just fade away.'" is a reference to the General Douglas MacArthur quote, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
Riki's line ▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see." is a reference to "A christmas Carol" where a blind woman says, "I am not so blind as those who will not see.".
Riki's line ▶️ "I speak softly, but carry a sharp knife." is likely a reference to the West African Proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick.", popularized by U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.
Riki has the highest base stat of any hero.
In the early versions of DotA, Witch Doctor's Death Ward was actually Riki's ultimate ability which did not require any channeling and allowed him to place the ward anywhere to attack enemies. Riki's skill set also included a regular blink ability and a critical strike instead of the current Backstab and Blink Strike.

Update History

Template:Update History

Balance changelog

Template:Update History

Replaced abilities

Blink Strike

▶️WB

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Units

Damage
Magical

Teleports behind the target unit, striking for bonus damage if it is an enemy.

Cast Animation: +

Cast Range: 700

Damage: 30/60/90/120

20/15/10/5

50

The Stealth Assassin's agile movement makes him impossible to escape.

This ability got reworked into the current Blink Strike the 6.82 gameplay patch.

The bonus damage is independent from Riki's attack damage and is instantly dealt to the target.

Teleports to the back of the target, guaranteeing an attack with Backstab if the target can be attacked.

Riki is ordered to attack the target if it's an enemy.

Can be cast on allies without damaging them.

Permanent Invisibility

RE

128x128px

Ability
N/A

Affects
Self

Riki fades into the shadows, staying permanently invisible except while attacking. While silenced, Riki will be visible.

Fade Delay: 3/2/1

Riki comes for you.

This ability got reworked into the current Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Permanent Invisibility". the 6.82 gameplay patch.