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Many hands make light work.
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Bad against...
- Axe has a very high HP pool, making it hard for you to kill him before you get big items - that is if you survive engaging him. Counter Helix ignores your armor and goes straight for your tiny HP pool, taking large chunks of it each time Axe spins; the cherry on top is Berserker's Call, which forces you to attack Axe without cover.
- Track gives Riki a hard time, he will be forced to dispel it with Manta Style.
- The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback.
- Riki can still damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray and is hard to stay in lane against if it is used repeatedly.
- Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when damaged from the back. The movement speed of Warpath also evens out the slow.
- Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier, the only item-based source of True Sight Riki cannot deal with.
- While Sven poses little to no risk to Riki by himself, he can be a nightmare to fight when his allies are close. Sven's Warcry gives you a harder time killing either Sven or his supports, and if he is given true sight over you, he can make quick work of you with his enormous damage output.
- Sven is also one of the few heroes that can accidentally kill riki during a teamfight, so unless you want to die an embarassing death to his cleave, kite him and keep your distance from your teammates to avoid getting hit by his Storm Hammer's radius.
- Riki has little HP and armor on top of the fact that he deals very little damage from up front, so it's no surprise you will almost always lose a Duel as Riki, unless you have allies covering for you. Even later in the game once you farm up your items Legion still poses a great threat so it's best to avoid engagements with her unless you know she cannot use Duel on you.
- Chronosphere will make Riki appear, and given your low HP and Void's high damage output he will most likely kill you before Chronosphere ends.
- Static Link drains away your damage, leaving you only with the one from Cloak and Dagger while Razor ends up hitting like a truck, forcing a retreat if you decided to engage him alone. Furthermore, Static Link will reveal your location for its duration, even when you are invisible, which ends up being pretty bad for you if his allies appear with detection.
- Corrosive Haze works much like Track, giving enemy team vision over Riki. It doesn't give movement speed but instead it melts Riki's armor and Slardar can use Sprint to catch him up.
- Zeus' Lightning Bolt and least necessary Thundergod's Wrath provides short duration of true sight, exposing Riki from being invisible.
Items
- Gem of True Sight is a nightmare for Riki if not agile.
- Sentry Ward traditionally used to maintain sight of invisible units.
- Dust of Appearance not only reveals invisible units, but also slows their movement speed. It hinders Riki a lot more than other Heroes with invisibility since Riki is unable to toggle off his Cloak and Dagger.
- Silver Edge nullifies Cloak And Dagger, taking away half of your damage and your invisibility, making Tricks of the Trade halfway useless in the process
- Necronomicon 3 can also reveal Riki.
- Force Staff will allow you to escape quickly from Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade. You can also use it to save your allies.
- Ghost Scepter should be considered when playing support, as it prevents all physical damage from Riki;
- Shadow Blade can be used as a mean of escape, but you can easily counter it with Dust of Appearance, further securing your kill.
- Black King Bar negates both movement speed slow and miss chance from Smoke Screen.
Good against...
- Smoke Screen prevents the use of Tempest Double and Flux. Blink Strike gets you close enough to Arc Warden to negate the evasion effect of Magnetic Field. Be wary of Flux though, as you will most likely be alone when searching for kills, which is exactly what Flux would require.
- Chen is basically your natural prey: he has little HP, low armor and relies on his persuaded creeps to fight, which in most situations will not save Chen from you. Just be wary of Centaur Conqueror, who can stun you outside of Smoke Screen and ruin your attempt at Chen's life.
- Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell: Freezing Field.
- Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.
- Riki can get close enough to Drow Ranger with Blink Strike to disable her Marksmanship, leaving her weaker vulnerable
- Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily finish Skywrath Mage.
- Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy Black King Bar
- Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which you can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
- Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
- Ursa cannot Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Enrage". when in Smoke Screen (Black King Bar will help though).
- Even if Ursa gets vision over him, Riki can Blink Strike away or use Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid all Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fury Swipes". damage until Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Earthshock".'s slow is gone.
- DO NOT maintain a direct solo engagement with Ursa for extended periods of time if he has Black King Bar if he gets vision on you follow the tip above and then either go away or call your teammates.
Works well with...
- Have Riki use Tricks of the Trade first, then Chronosphere. This will cause succession of all Tricks of the Trade strikes on the enemies within Chronosphere.
- Lifestealer can Infest on Riki for a Lifestealer Bomb. Even if the enemies end up getting detection, you can use the same strategy to give them a surprise.
- Ion Shell on Riki is like having an invisible Radiance which will greatly annoy the lane, especially against double melee lanes.
- Surge is an amazing spell when it comes to chasing down foes and running away from sticky situations since under the duration of surge, you will always move at max speed.
- Reverse Polarity will bring enemies up close together; Making use of Empower and/or Battle Fury on Riki's Tricks of the Trade will bring down enemies caught by the Reverse Polarity.
- While Black Hole has a huge cooldown, it also has a good duration; enough for Tricks of the Trade to hit the enemies caught with succession.
- Same effect with Magnus and Enigma, Axe brings enemies close together with Berserker's Call for Tricks of the Trade.