Riki

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Riki
18 + 1.9 30 + 2.5 14 + 1.3
Level Base 1 15 25 Health 200 560 1080 1460 Health regen 3 4.8 7.46 9.36 Magic res. 25% 26.08% 27.68% 28.82% Mana 75 243 459 615 Mana regen 0 0.7 1.61 2.26 Spell dmg 0% 0.98% 2.25% 3.16% Armor 1 5.8 11.4 15.4 Att/sec 0.59 0.76 0.97 1.12 Move sp amp. 0% 1.5% 3.25% 4.5% Damage 21‒25 51‒55 86‒90 111‒115
Movement speed 290 Attack speed 100 Turn rate 0.6 Vision range 1800/800 Attack range 150 Projectile speed Instant Attack animation 0.3+0.3 Base attack time 1.7 Collision size 24 Legs 2  Gib type Default

Riki, the Stealth Assassin, is a melee agility hero that uses stealth in order to surprise enemies and quickly kill them. His trademark ability, Cloak and Dagger, lets him sneak up on his enemies from behind and deal massive backstab damage, and then quickly escape. This enables him to close in on the enemy and drop his devastating Smoke Screen, which cripples fighters and spellcasters alike. Blink Strike allows Riki to chase with impunity, while Tricks of the Trade makes quick work of his enemies during teamfights.

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:

Tom Chantler (Responses)

Abilities

Smoke Screen

▶️

Q

C

Ability
Target Area

Affects
Enemies

Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing enemies, and causing them to miss most attacks, as well as slowing movement.

Cast Animation: 0.2+0

Cast Range: 550

Effect Radius: 325

Move Speed Slow: 8%/12%/16%/20%

Miss Chance: 10%/30%/50%/70%

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Duration: 6

17/15/13/11 ( 10/8/6/4)

90

Although the debuff lingers, it does nothing when the target turns spell immune.

Modifiers

Smoke Screen: Undispellable.

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

Notes:

• Silence, slow, blind and vision reduction are all provided by an aura. Its debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

• Reduces affected enemy units' vision to 200.

• Although the debuff lingers, it does nothing when the target turns invulnerable.

Blink Strike

▶️

W

B

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
Magical

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

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: 500/600/700/800 ( 1200/1300/1400/1500)

Damage: 75/90/105/120

10/8/6/4

50

Modifiers

Blinkstrike: Undispellable.

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

Notes:

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

• Always teleports Riki behind the target.

• Does not disjoint projectiles upon teleporting.

• When targeting an enemy, Riki receives the Blinkstrike buff.
  • This buff makes his next attack apply an ensured backstab hit with Cloak and Dagger, regardless of angle.
  • This means when the target manages to turn around before Riki's attack hits, it still applies the backstab.
  • The buff lasts for 1 attack, or for up to 1 second, whichever happens first.
  • The buff is used up upon starting an attack, not upon landing it, so canceling or missing the attack wastes it.
  • The 1 second duration allows Riki to use the ensured backstab against other units than the Blink Strike target if quick enough.

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

• Can be cast on allies without damaging them.

• Cannot be cast on couriers.

Cloak and Dagger's angle visualised

Cloak and Dagger

▶️

E

K

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.

Fade Delay: 7.5/6/4.5/3

Back Angle: 105°

Backstab Damage per Agility: 0.4/0.6/0.8/1 ( 0.7/0.9/1.1/1.3)

Invisibility part works for illusions. Illusions play the backstab sound upon attacking from behind, but do not deal any bonus damage.

Modifiers

Invisible: Undispellable.

Riki comes for you.

Notes:

• Riki does not automatically attack enemies while invisible.

• When respawning or reincarnating, Riki starts off invisible and does not need to go through the fade delay.

• Casting spells or using items does not break the invisibility.
  • When the talent is chosen, attacks do not break the invisibility either, so that only True Sight can reveal him.

• The ability icon shows a cooldown whenever the invisibility is broken. However, this has only informative purposes.
  • This means that using Refresher Orb does not refresh it.
  • This also means it is not affected by the Cooldown Reduction of Octarine Core and Arcane Rune.
  • Time Dilation and Chakra Magic affect the cooldown visually, but do not affect the fade delay in any way.

• Backstab damage is applied when attacking and denying allies.

• The bonus damage is dealt in one instance together with the attack damage, and counts as attack damage as well.
  • It can be lifestealed off of, and is considered by crit or cleave.
  • It is not affected by percentage-based attack damage bonuses or reductions, but can be reduced with flat reductions.

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

Tricks of the Trade

▶️

R

E

Ability
No Target
( Target Unit) / Channeled

Affects
Self / Enemy Heroes

Riki phases out of the world while striking random enemy heroes from behind in an area around him.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: 0 ( 1000)

Max Channel Time: 4/4.5/5 ( 8/9/10)

Radius: 450 ( 750)

Attack Interval: 0.6/0.55/0.5

50/45/40

75

Increases duration and allows you to target an allied hero, hiding inside them for the duration.

Modifiers

Tricks Of The Trade Phase: Undispellable.

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

Notes:

• Tricks of the Trade disjoints projectiles upon cast.

• Certain items which do not cancel channeling spells (e.g. Shadow Blade or Shiva's Guard) do cancel Tricks of the Trade.

• Riki is invulnerable and hidden during Tricks of the Trade, turning him to an invalid target for every spell.

• Riki is phased during Tricks of the Trade, so that other units can pass through.

• Causes Riki to perform instant attacks on a random enemy unit within range on each interval, starting immediately on cast.
  • The instant attacks can proc any attack modifier or any on-hit effect like regular attacks.
  • If Riki is blinded, the attacks can miss, unless he has True Strike. They can also miss to evasion.
  • The instant attacks completely ignore disarms, so Riki still attacks normally during Tricks of the Trade.
  • The instant attacks do not break Cloak and Dagger's invisibility, although it visually goes on cooldown.
  • The instant attacks of Tricks of the Trade do not break Smoke of Deceit's invisibility.
  • The instant attacks completely ignore attack immune enemies.

• The instant attacks always trigger a backstab from Cloak and Dagger, based on its current level.
  • On each instant attack, Riki's facing angle is changed to match the target's direction, which causes the backstab to apply.
  • This means once Tricks of the Trade ends, Riki's facing angle is not the same as it was upon cast, but matches the last target's angle.

• Can perform up to 7/9/11 ( 14/17/21) instant attacks over the full duration.

• The attacks prioritize heroes over creeps. Treats creep-heroes and illusions as creeps.

• Does not affect invisible units, but does affect units inside the Fog of War.

• The visual effects indicating Tricks of the Trade's attack radius are visible to both allies and enemies.

• The radius is always centered on Riki and follows him even when he gets moved (e.g. Glimpse).
  • However, the radius indicating visual effects on the ground do not follow Riki, and stay at the cast location.

• When upgraded with Aghanim's Scepter, Riki can target an allied hero with Tricks of the Trade.
  • Riki and all of the spell's effects then follow the allied hero. He still remains hidden.
  • Does not end when the target dies. The ability continues at its corpse's location. It is still bound to the ally, so when it resurrects, it follows it still.
  • Cannot target creep-heroes. Can target illusions.

Critical Strike

Ability
Passive

Affects
Enemies

There is no description for this ability.

Proc Chance: 20%

Critical Damage: 150%

Red critical numbers are before illusion and armor reduction.

Notes:

• Increases attack damage by an average of 10%.

• The proc chances of multiple crit sources stack.
  • If two sources of critical strike proc at the same time, the higher multiplier has priority.

• Critical Strike uses pseudo-random distribution.

• Does not work against wards, buildings, and allied units.

Talents

Hero Talents
Cloak and Dagger Doesn't Reveal	25	+300 Tricks of the Trade AoE
+700 Blink Strike Cast Range	20	+0.30 Backstab Multiplier
-7s Smoke Screen Cooldown	15	+20% Critical Strike (1.5x)
+8 Agility	10	+6 Health Regen

Notes:

• The agility talent effectively grants Riki 1.28 armor, 8 attack speed, 0.4% movement speed and 8 attack damage.

Recommended items

Starting items:

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

Early game:

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

Mid game:

• Power Treads give Riki increased attack speed as well as a further bonus to attributes, which help increasing Cloak and Dagger's damage output.
• Magic Wand, upgraded from Magic Stick, gives better attribute bonuses and healing ability.
• 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.

Late game:

• 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 allows Riki to cancel TPs with stun and bash, as well as continuing to lock-down opponents once they have acquired Black King Bar.
• Nullifier's movement speed slow keeps enemies inside Trick of the Trade. Furthermore, the mute and dispel complements Smoke Screen's silence to better disable enemies, countering and preventing them from using defensive abilities and items like Ghost Scepter.

Situational items:

• Drum of Endurance is a good early to mid game pickup, makes everyone faster and gives you stats, coupled with Orb of Venom for a better chasing power.
• Black King Bar allows Riki to effectively fight in team-fights and get kills against opponents that have strong disables.
• Sange and Yasha give great attribute bonuses, as well as attack damage.
• 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 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 can be used to dispel debuffs, including Dust of Appearance. Riki can use the illusions to scout, and as targets for Blink Strike when escaping.
• Mjollnir can proc with Tricks of the Trade, but only up to once per strike due to the item's internal cooldown of 0.2 seconds.
• Aghanim's Scepter allows Riki to use longer duration Tricks of the Trade inside an ally, boosting survivability and damage output.

Gameplay

Roles:	Carry Escape Disabler
Complexity:	★☆☆
Playstyle:	The soldiers came for his father, and his brothers, but not for Riki. For once, it was good to be the neglected middle child. Leaving his past life behind, Riki escaped the royal grounds using his own methods of Cloak and Dagger. 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 are 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 Riki is not one to divulge the Tricks of the Trade.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio

Responses

Sounds

History

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment

Riki Equipment (expand sets) Sets Arms of the Bladebreaker Order Set Covert Saboteur Cunning Corsair Frozen Blood Gelid Touch Highborn Reckoning Set Implements of the Tahlin Watch Set Monstrous Reprisal Rightful Heir Tahlin Occult Set The Subtle Demon Set Weapon Pack Arms of the Bladebreaker Dagger Pack Piercing Umbrage Pack Riki's Sange and Yasha Shadowshards The Subtle Demon's Blades Wrath of the Highborn Pack Weapon Tahlin Hookblade Off-Hand Tahlin Hookblade Off-Hand Head Crimson Edict of Shadows Edict of Shadows Golden Edict of Shadows Shoulder Golden Shadow Masquerade Shadow Masquerade Taunt Taunt: See Me Now

Trivia

• In DotA, Riki was named "Rikimaru", a reference to one of the main characters in the Tenchu video game series.
• 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 a quote by General Douglas MacArthur, "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 proverb: "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
• Riki's line ▶️ "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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  Splash artwork

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  Trading card art

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  Old model and icon

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  Ability icon progress

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  Hero icon progress