Riki/Counters

Bad against...

 * Axe can disable Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with, which forces Riki to attack him.
 * 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. ignores your armor and goes straight for your tiny HP pool, taking large chunks of it each time Axe spins.


 * gives Riki a hard time, he will be forced to dispel it with.


 * The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with.
 * Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's 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 also evens out the slow.
 * Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal carrier, the only item-based source of True Sight Riki cannot deal with.
 * Riki really doesn't like buying a to break Bristleback because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.


 * 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 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.


 * Luna can push very fast, which Riki cannot deal with well.
 * Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.


 * Meepo can easily counter Riki's invisibility with, while not leaving any hope of escape because Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade are disabled by the root as well.
 * Smoke Clouding a single Meepo doesn't prevent all other Clones from Poofing in to help.
 * Meepo naturally builds attribute based items, increasing his armor and health pool and thus countering Riki's high damage from Cloak and Dagger.
 * Riki has no true area damage, as Tricks of the Trade's damage is distributed between all Meepo clones, so he cannot effectively fight Meepo or deal with his strong ability to push.


 * Riki takes a lot of damage from while ganking Omniknight's allies or himself.
 * Omniknight can save allies during when Riki uses his Tricks of the Trade.
 * can hinder Riki's positioning tactics.


 * 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.
 * procs on invisible heroes making him aware of Riki presence near him when activetes when no one is around.


 * 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.


 * follows Riki even after he goes invisible and even stays on him through Tricks of the Trade.
 * grants Spectre the ability to damage Riki with right clicks regardless of Smoke Cloud's blind.
 * Riki relies on his high damage to kill is opponents, which is countered by.
 * can find Riki globally.


 * 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 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 embarrassing death to his cleave, kite him and keep your distance from your teammates to avoid getting hit by his 's radius.
 * Viper's disables Cloak and Dagger, negating Riki's invisibility and much of his damage. It also makes him more vulnerable to magic damage, which does not go well with Riki's low strength.
 * makes it hard for Riki to chase Viper and attack him due to the attack speed slow.
 * stays on Riki even after he goes invisible.
 * makes it hard to stay in lane and makes last hitting risky, as Riki exposes himself and is vulnerable to Poison Attack.
 * Viper's many slows make it hard for Riki to get out of Sentry Wards' range, Gem of True Sight's area and other dangerous zones.


 * Zeus' and  provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki.
 * pushes lanes very fast, and Riki has no innate area damage to counter it.

Others

 * Heroes that can push early with their team, as Riki has no area damage to counterpush and does not like early teamfights: Broodmother, Dragon Knight, Leshrac, Lone Druid, Lycan and Terrorblade.

Items

 * is a nightmare for Riki if not agile.
 * traditionally used to maintain sight of invisible units.
 * 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.
 * nullifies Cloak And Dagger, taking away half of your damage and your invisibility, making Tricks of the Trade halfway useless in the process
 * 3 can also reveal Riki.
 * will allow you to escape quickly from Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade. You can also use it to save your allies.
 * should be considered when playing support, as it prevents all physical damage from Riki;
 * can be used as a mean of escape, but you can easily counter it with Dust of Appearance, further securing your kill.
 * negates both movement speed slow and miss chance from Smoke Screen.

Good against...

 * Anti-Mage can use neither nor  to escape from Smoke Cloud.
 * Even if he activates a, his illusions will still be blinded by Smoke Cloud.
 * Riki has a very small mana pool and generally doesn't buy many items that increase it, making ineffective.


 * 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, who can stun you outside of Smoke Screen and ruin your attempt at Chen's life.


 * Smoke Cloud prevents the use of, and , so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
 * It's hard to gank Riki as you have to find him first.


 * Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell:.
 * Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.


 * With Blink Strike, Riki can get close to Drow Ranger and disable her, and Smoke Screen will prevent her from using.


 * Lifestealer cannot use, or  when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and  cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
 * Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.


 * Smoke Cloud prevents Storm Spirit from using any of his offensive and defensive spells, rendering him unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.


 * Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
 * Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy


 * 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 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 damage until 's slow is gone.


 * Smoke Cloud prevents and, leaving Weaver defenseless against Riki.
 * is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes them beetles.

Works well with...

 * Have Riki use Tricks of the Trade first, then . This will cause succession of all Tricks of the Trade strikes on the enemies within Chronosphere.


 * Lifestealer can 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.


 * can keep enemies in the area of Smoke Screen or Tricks of the Trade longer.


 * on Riki is like having an invisible Radiance which will greatly annoy the lane, especially against double melee lanes.
 * 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.


 * will bring enemies up close together; Making use of and/or Battle Fury on Riki's Tricks of the Trade will bring down enemies caught by the.


 * 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 for Smoke Screen.

List of heroes that counter Riki, and list of heroes that work well with Riki.

Riki/Противостоящие