Rubick/Counters

Bad against...

 * Rubick deals little damage on his own, so Bristleback can simply shrug off all his spells and chase you down with his spells and attacks.
 * requires multiple casts and close range to add up stacks. Because Rubick does not stay in the front lines, it's generally not a good spell for him to steal.
 * will slow Rubick down even further and reduce his armor, making him vulnerable to Quill Spray and the damage bonus from.


 * and Broodmother's auto-attacks allow her to gank Rubick easily before Rubick has a chance to retaliate, especially if Broodmother obtains.
 * Broodmother loves buying, which drains Rubick's low supply of mana, preventing Rubick from spamming his abilities.
 * Though is a great spell to steal, Broodmother's untargetable nature and her low cooldown spells makes it a difficult spell to steal.


 * Considering Rubick's abysmal armor, Rubick is a squishy target for Clinkz to gank. None of his spells are useful except for.
 * Clinkz usually builds, which disables Rubick's ability to retaliate.
 * Vast numbers of s are needed to deal with Clinkz because of, making it harder for Rubick to buy more expensive and more useful support items like or.


 * Legion Commander's spells are relatively useless to Rubick, as isn't suitable for someone as squishy as Rubick.
 * can be useful, but its high mana cost will leave you with little mana.
 * only does damage and gives a movement speed bonus, Rubick can't do much with the extra move speed.
 * Generally, you will be a prime target for Legion Commander's s, as Rubick is relatively frail.


 * allows Phantom Lancer to dodge and dispel Fade Bolt's damage reduction debuff.
 * allows Phantom Lancer to dodge the stun from an incoming Telekinesis when he is not the primary target.
 * Phantom Lancer is a common carrier leaving Rubick no mana to spam abilities from Spell Steal.


 * Riki has high damage and invisibility, meaning he can easily gank Rubick and kill him before Rubick has the chance to react.
 * Almost all of Riki's spells are useless to Rubick.
 * is the only of Riki's spells that can be of some use to Rubick.
 * Similar to Clinkz, Rubick has to buy a large amount of Sentry Wards to keep track of Riki due to, preventing Rubick from getting better items.
 * Riki is a common carrier leaving Rubick no mana to spam abilities from Spell Steal.


 * On his own, Rubick can't do much to Shadow Fiend. However, Shadow Fiend can easily run Rubick over with his right-clicks and multiple s.
 * lowers Rubick's already low armor even further.
 * can be somewhat risky to use if stolen, as two of them require Rubick to get up close, which is something Rubick doesn't like doing.


 * While many of Silencer's spells are a great steal for Rubick, Silencer effectively neuters Rubick's excellent counter-initiation potential thanks to.
 * Rubick's relatively low intelligence for such a heavy caster means that losing Intelligence to will make your mana pool even smaller.


 * and together with some attacks can gank Rubick down quickly. Rubick can seldom retaliate because of the strong dispel of . What is more, Rubick is the type of squishy support that Slark exactly wants to gank.
 * Though is a great spell to steal, Slark's untargetable nature and his low cooldown spells prevents Rubick from stealing it.
 * Slark usually builds which can prevent Rubick to cast his abilities from Spell Steal.

Items

 * prevents you from doing anything to a hero other than stealing spells, unless you have stolen a spell that can pierce spell immunity.
 * prevents stealing a spell but Rubick may use his failed steal or other spells to break the Spellblock.
 * will wear down Rubick's mana pool, preventing him from spamming his abilities, as well as any stolen spells.

Guidelines

 * As a counter-initiating spell caster, Rubick relies on teammates to grant vision of the enemy and soak up damage for Rubick to successfully steal spells. Rubick's greatest strength relies on constantly watching enemy's moves, and joining a squishy lineup with no front-liners can make his game hard in most cases.
 * Rubick usually positions in the back of a team. Heroes who can sneak up and assault Rubick (e.g. ) or damage Rubick from great distance (e.g., ) should be treated cautiously, as otherwise the matchup usually ends up badly for Rubick.


 * As a rule of thumb, the value of Spell Steal against the enemy lineup can be evaluated with the following three principles:
 * Whether their abilities helps with Rubick's farm capability;
 * Whether their abilities extends Rubick's gank presence with extra lockdown or nuke damage;
 * Whether their abilities grants Rubick the chance of acquiring powerful ultimates that can turn the tide of a teamfight.
 * Heroes that belongs to the category above are usually heroes, yet certain  and  spell casters fits in as well,

Enemy heroes that help with farm capability

 * is a great farming ability as a handy short-cooldown nuke.
 * and gives Rubick extra lockdown potential in ganks and teamfights.
 * , should Rubick steal, serves as a powerful source for teamfighting, pushing, and acquring Roshan.
 * allows Rubick to cast and  at a further distance, which keeps Rubick at a safer position compared to.
 * Rubick can interrupt by casting.


 * and are all great wave-clear abilities.
 * can silence, disabling all her abilities including.
 * is a powerful teamfight ultimate that leashes enemies and disables their movement.
 * As an elusive hero who requires constant repositioning, is greatly countered by her own ultimate as it disables all her mobile abilities and items (especially ), forcing  to either stay in the danger zone or latches and stuns for a long time.
 * Although does not provide extra damage or lockdown on its own, it does grant Rubick invulnerability, and enables him to use  with full duration similar to 's escaping combos.
 * Rubick can initiate on relatively fast as  only has a 0.15 second cast animation.


 * is easy to steal, and provides Rubick with a useful nuke.
 * serves as a cheap nuke as well as a crowd control ability.
 * Rubick uses the fixed 0.15 second cast time when casting, much faster than herself.
 * Rubick can gurantee a stun by throwing the victim into the area with, extending the overall lockdown duration.
 * is an awesome ultimate that gives huge burst damage.
 * (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to a whopping 660/882/1134(830/1162/1494) (and even more so with ), without considering spell amplification from items.
 * is an intelligence hero with no regen ability, and casting back to Lina can result in her unexpected sudden death, or severly hinder her presence in the rest of teamfight. Nevertheless, the skill can also be cast on other squishy heroes or help bursting down enemy carries.
 * and has a short cast range, and Rubick can extend its range thanks to.


 * provides Rubick with a short cooldown nuke.
 * Note that Rubick uses a fixed 0.15 second cast time for the skill, much shorter than the 0.6 second cast time for Grimstroke.
 * is an unique ability with extra silence and damage.
 * is a great initiation/counter-initiation ability for frontliners.
 * With, Rubick can grant extra duration for 's phantom latch, or throw an enemy within the area covered by.
 * , as a powerful ultimate, gives Rubick extra crowd control and sows chaos among enemies.
 * Both and  are single-target abilities, and can be applied twice on the enemy. The damage of  is effectively doubled as the bounce is very likely to happen as the bound heroes must walk together.


 * helps on farming while applies an area slow.
 * extends Rubick's lockdown duration while providing extra damage, also serves as a farming ability.
 * deals much greater damage thanks to in teamfights.
 * is a channeling ability and therefore can be stolen easily.
 * has no innate ability to interrupt, though it may not be the case for her teammates; Yet a well-times lift or drop can interrupt.
 * Consider build items that strengthens, such as , and  to reach its full potential.


 * is a great ganking and farming skill.
 * serves as a flexible ability for pushing, ganking, farming and scouting. The innate also works on the stolen  with half the damage.
 * , if stolen and cast, puts a huge damage-over-time debuff on the enemy team, even greater than Venomancer himself with the help of.
 * has a greater cast distance than the effect area of, allowing Rubick to steal the spell while staying at the back.
 * suffers from mana pool problems, while Rubick has relatively high intelligence gain and can cast the same set of spells at ease.


 * In the mid to late game, the physical attack from can be painful to go through as . However with the help of Rubick's teammates, the abilities of  can turn against his team.
 * is a great wave-clear ability, and helps with scouting the area.
 * already has a long cast range, and together with Rubick can put constant damage on  while he stays at back.
 * , if stolen, can be cast to assist a gank while Rubick stays at a range that can merely be found in the area, damaging heroes in the backline including.
 * (combined with Level 25 talent +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells, as of 7.31c) increases its damage before reduction to 406.2/611.1/819(531.2/805.1/1079) without considering any further amplification source.
 * With, becomes an ability with a reliable 1.5 second stun, massive damage, short cooldown and over 3000 cast range which should not be made light of.
 * is used frequently and can be easily stolen; has a long cast animation for Rubick to forsee the chance to steal.


 * looks like a carry that can hardly manfight, and it is surely the case that Rubick needs the assistance from his team to overwhelm the hero. However, his skills can be of great use for Rubick if used at the right occasions.
 * is a great farming ability with low cooldown. What is bizarre about this ability is that it grants Rubick spell immunity and constant damage around him (movement speed buff with ). In early to mid game when all heroes has relatively low physical damage, the spell allows Rubick to become a temporary tank that enemy needs to run away from, extending Rubick's early killing potential.
 * can throw a victim in range to eat up the damage from.
 * can be stolen and used in a pinch to negate the damage from of . Note that with  Juggernaut can still deal damage to Rubick.
 * , if stolen, serves as a magnificant healing tool within or after a teamfight. The constant area-of-effect healing helps greatly when your teammate is manfighting the enemy or escaping in a bad situation, and can even turn the fight around.
 * is melee and cannot target an enemy easily unless he is in the midst of battle. Also, Juggernaut is not directly controllable during  and cannot attack.
 * is possibly the least useful spell Rubick can steal from Juggernaut. Although it is a good damage source in the early game, as a hero who seldom bulk up his physical damage, falls quickly as the game goes on.
 * It is worth mention that could be used as an escape ability for Rubick with the help of.
 * grants invulnerability at the midst of a fight. With quick reflex and judgement, Rubick can possibly dodge lockdowns and area disables, even steal a new spell when is still on the fly.


 * As a frontline tank, the abilities of is surprisingly spell-cast heavy, and is often great for Rubick to steal.
 * is a great ability for farming, pushing and serves as a useful teamfight damage source, and even more so when its damage is amplified by and.
 * It is worth mention that has no visible effect on heroes other than damage, and the enemy team may easily mistaken the ability as casted by, resulting in unexpectedly soaking up more damage.
 * is a great area control ability in teamfights, capable of trapping multiple heroes in a hazard area.
 * has no immediate reposition ability, and since he usually stays at the front, he can be an easy target for Rubick's.
 * , if stolen, grants Rubick's team great versatility around the map. Creating a surprise gank or appear as a group at the enemy backline during skirmish, escaping as a team from bad situations, or even taking Roshan or enemy highground unexpectedly, the possibility are endless with careful communication among Rubick's team.

Enemy heroes that extend Rubick's gank presence

 * is a great crowd control ability for Rubick to use, extending his lockdown potential.
 * Rubick can caught enemy at greater distance due to.
 * The spell also helps with Rubick's farming, however the affected area of is limited to a straight line, making it harder to clear the creep wave.
 * is one of the strongest single-target lockdowns in the game, and works exactly the same when casted by Rubick.
 * Though does not directly provide damage or lockdown, it does solve Rubick's mana regen issue in the early to mid game.
 * is one of the best magical nukes in the game, increases Rubick's ganking potential greatly.
 * Note that the stack of is lost when Rubick lost the spell.
 * With, Rubick can clear creep waves and flash farm with the boosted if stolen, assuming Rubick has enough mana pool to hold.


 * is a solid damage source and lockdown that fits nicely with Rubick's kit.
 * Rubick also acquires the secondary with.
 * can be used to scout an area to prevent juking or initiate with, as well as reducing the armor of enemy team during a teamfight.
 * does what it does - saving an ally from danger, initiating on an enemy, or helping with caughting a fleeing hero.
 * With, Rubick can lift himself up and drop quickly to a place of safety after the swap. Note that Rubick can only choose to either disable the enemy or save himself at one time with.


 * is a great area-of-effect ability on Rubick primarily for farming.
 * is a great reposition and damage ability on the hands of Rubick.
 * Note that Rubick does not have, so the ability might be less effective as a source of damage.
 * may build items such as or  to add up attack multipliers to the ability, and Rubick can choose to build similar items should he choose the route.
 * is a unique ability that allows Rubick to jump in the center of teamfight while protected by Spell Immunity, creating chaos and possibly chain stun the enemy team.
 * negates the collision damage and stun from Pangolier's.
 * Rubick uses the fixed 0.15 second cast time when casting, making it faster than himself.
 * Rubick can still use his abilities during - throwing an enemy en route by casting  can be a good idea.
 * The decision to steal should be made quickly as Pangolier cast  very often during Rolling Thunder.


 * One of Jakiro's weakness is his long cast animation, which gives enemy team extra time window to react. Rubick uses his fixed 0.15 second cast time for all Jakiro's stolen abilities, making the spells much easier to target.
 * is a solid damage-over-time that is good for farming and helps with ganking.
 * is the go-to spell for Rubick to steal in teamfights - a sudden long range 2.5 second area stun is of no joke, especially if being casted out of vision. The control time is extended combined with.
 * is a solid damage source (an area to avoid at least) for Rubick's side, and the damage benefits from, even further with.
 * It is not uncommon that the enemy team mistakenly treated the ground effect as that of Jakiro's, and has already taken a lot of damage before they noticed their significant HP loss.
 * Combined with Rubick's Level 15 talent (-25% Stolen Spells Cooldown, as of 7.31c), can be used to clear creep waves and camps with ease, increasing his farming progress if a fight is not imminent.


 * A hero that cannot reliably kill in most cases,  is deceptively vulnerable to  in teamfights.
 * can kite by casting  should  stays alive after first wave of skirmishes.
 * {{{A|Fade Bolt|Rubick}} negates damage from 's skeletons.
 * is a spell very easy to stolen even for new Rubick players if is on the other side.
 * A 2 second stun with a 8 second cooldown (6 second with Rubick's Level 15 talent -25% Stolen Spells Cooldown, as of 7.31c) is already far enough to lockdown Wraith King to a crawl, as he does not have much mobility on his own and can be easily targeted.
 * may sound insurmountable, but the extra 3 second delay already grant about half the cooldown duration for a stolen.
 * Rubick has sufficient mana pool to cast multiple times.
 * Although not the best option, can be casted after Rubick gained enough last hits to summon skeletons for pushing and farming.

Enemy heroes with powerful ultimates

 * 's signature can be devastating if being stolen and dropped on multiple heroes.
 * requires channeling. Since Enigma has no other ability to replace his last casted spell during channeling, Rubick can steal relatively easily if he stays back.
 * Rubick can interrupt from Enigma, even with an activated, by casting the spell with Enigma in range with regards to the extra cast range granted by.
 * can be interrupted by in the early game, giving enough time window to steal the spell.
 * Beware that an experienced Enigma will purchase and  at the same time to prevent Rubick from stealing the spell, yet the extra  will delay Enigma's power spike, so use it to Rubick's advantage.
 * It is advised to build items around as Rubick.,  ,  and even  are all legitimate item choices.
 * is a decent source of damage and stun that helps with ganking. If stolen, it can be used to interrupt as well.
 * helpes with pushing and farming for Rubick.
 * effectively negates damage from Eidolons and helps with counter-pushing.
 * is a solid skill for farming and teamfight damage, which is further amplified by and talents.
 * Unexpected enemy may take the effect of as that of Enigma's and soak up damage while unrealized.


 * As a hero with uncommon traits, 's abilities require more health than mana. It is advised for Rubick to purchase health regeneration items such as, or  to keep up with the HP loss.
 * 's signature, if casted successfully, can turn a teamfight around if being stolen.
 * The initial lift and the following crowd control from the drop of can protect the egg from being attacked if casted right before  with quick fingers.
 * A successfully reborn refreshes the cooldown of  as well as, so don't hesitate to spam both of them before  with the reasons mentioned above.
 * has a stun range of 1200, which requires Rubick to have Level 3 at least to exceed its range. Consider buying  or  to help with positioning.
 * It is not possible to cast (as of 7.31c) with 's extra  even with both spell stolen, since  takes up two stolen ability slots.
 * is a useful repositioning ability for scouting, initiation or escaping.
 * aids with Rubick farming given enough HP regeneration. In early skirmishes, the stolen ability can slow the attack speed of the enemy team to a crawl.
 * Combined with, both the attack damage and attack speed of the enemy team are reduced if they have no source of dispel, effectively nullifying their physical attack damage.
 * thrives in and after a teamfight by damaging enemy heroes and healing allies at the same time.
 * Rubick can interrupt both and  by casting.


 * Despite most Kunkka players depending on their immense physical damage, his spells provide a lot of utility for Rubick:
 * is very easy to land when paired with Telekinesis.
 * can potentially be more effective in Rubick's hands due to his tendency to increase his cast range with his talents and items.
 * , paired with Telekinesis, allows Rubick to land it very easily without requiring or.


 * 's iconic is a perfect spell for Rubick to output high damage.
 * requires channeling which makes Witch Doctor a clear tagret for stealing. Rubick can steal the spell outside of Death Ward's attack range most of the times.
 * Note that an skilled player can cast  to disrupt their last spell for Rubick to steal.
 * can interrupt a channeling . With 's high burst damage, combining and  to hold enemy in place can result in a solo kill in the early game.
 * provides an additional disable. The ability also helps moderately with farming.
 * provides some utility by healing Rubick and his team.
 * is a damage-over-time nuke that amplifies the damage enemy taken.
 * can reposition the enemy within the range of.


 * 's allows Rubick to output enormous crowd damage and control to the enemy team.
 * has an effective range of 1000. can steal the spell out of the fear range with any level of  learned.
 * has a significant cast animation which allows Rubick to predict the steal timing, since Shadow Fiend usually positions at the center of battlefield.
 * can lift a unit right on top of Rubick with no collision size, forcing the victim to absorb all damaging lines of from Rubick, possibly resulting in a one-shot kill.
 * Note that from Rubick still uses the original 1.67 second channeling time.
 * It is advised to build to jump in and cast  given the opportunity.
 * The three abilities are decent for farming and extra damage output.
 * Note that, and  are considered three separated abilities, only one is stolen per spell steal cast.
 * It could be troublesome to cast immediately for damage output immediately after stolen since it is hard to react and recognize which of the three is stolen.
 * 's right click damage together with his ability damage may hurt Rubick bad. Consider items like and, together with wards to avoid being picked up.


 * , if stolen, can counter-initiate 's team and put them at a huge disadvantage.
 * Magnus himself is positioned at the center of teamfight after casting, and will be stunned by Rubick's stolen one most of the times.
 * Beware that Magnus usually casts or  after he casts the ultimate, so the time windows left for steal can be short.
 * allows Rubick to farm fast, and also deals decent AoE damage in teamfights.
 * can be casted on the carry (especially affective if melee) on Rubick's team to accelerate their farm or amplify their damage in fights.
 * could be used to displace enemy or escape from danger. ccan relocate the enemy in front of Rubick for.
 * With Quick Cast enabled, Rubick can stop the enemy Magnus with careful prediction to interrupt -  combo.


 * can be stolen to counter-initiate the enemy team in skirmishes.
 * provides vision over the enemy around, use this to Rubick's advantage for more spells.
 * Since is melee and has low attack speed, the tombstone can be hard to taken down by Undying himself.
 * provides Rubick with increased Health pool and a powerful attack modifier.
 * can apply the debuff much more easily as a ranged hero.
 * is a decent damaging ability, making Rubick somewhat tankier in teamfights.
 * can be used for extra heal or burst damage.


 * All his abilities is decent in Rubick's kit:
 * allows Rubick to harass and constantly slow down enemies.
 * increases Rubick's as well as his allies' and tower's survivability to physical attacks.
 * A well-timed can be devastating to the enemy team.


 * is a solid magic nuke.
 * can cause massive damage if cast in the right time.
 * Rubick has a good chance to steal Eclipse for Luna has only two cast abilities.
 * greatly increased the effectiveness of the ability, including more damage as well as longer cast range. In addition, it allows him to cast it on another hero so Rubick doesn't have to get close to the enemy team in teamfights.


 * Morphling's abilities can cause unique interactions on their own:
 * is a damaging pseudo-blink, giving Rubick much needed mobility.
 * is a great ability for Rubick:
 * The changes done by it are permanent even after losing the ability. Pumping all the agility into strength makes him much tankier. The armor loss due to reduced agility can be mitigated by cheap items like or.
 * The extra strength allows Rubick to survive Morphling's -  combo.
 * Beware when using ! Unlike Morphling, Rubick does not gain damage from it, since agility is not his primary attribute.
 * is a long-ranged stun.
 * The true power of this ability is revealed when has been stolen previously: it gives a 4 second ranged stun every 10 seconds, which greatly counters heroes with mobility, such as Morphling himself.
 * All of Rubick's abilities break, a core item for Morphling.


 * All Omniknight's abilities are perfect to steal:
 * can heal allies as well as damage enemies under the right circumstances. It is extremely useful since Rubick has no heal of his own.
 * gives a strength bonus, status resistance, and health regeneration, which can help an ally or Rubick survive longer.
 * can turn the tide of battle by negating all physical damage, which is especially useful if the opposing team has physical attackers.


 * All of Winter Wyvern's spells are generally good for Rubick to steal:
 * provides bonus attack range, night vision and burn.
 * makes farming and pushing efficient while also slowing down the enemies.
 * can heal an ally and protect them against physical attacks.
 * can be stolen by Rubick and use it against herself or her own team.

Others

 * Heroes with strong team-fight abilities (especially ultimates) like, , , etc.
 * Abilities that grant mobility gives Rubick an advantage in ganking or escaping:, , etc.
 * Rubick has three abilities to break . Furthermore, makes Spell Steal a 2 seconds cooldown tool to pop.

Works well with...

 * Their roles on a team are complimentary, on top of being synergistic laning partners: Rubick can support Alchemist by providing harass and not requiring lane farm.
 * Telekinesis is a great setup for a solid-timed stun.
 * The buff of Rubick turns him into a far more potent, active, and safer teamfighter; and having a hero that is much better at farming for it like Alchemist build it for him can be a blessing. With Aghanim's out of the way, Rubick has the freedom to buy many other helpful items like  or  and would have the slots to do it, as the gifted Aghanim's Scepter Synth is simply a buff rather than an item slot.


 * is one of the best solutions out there to Rubick's constant mana issues, especially after he expands his mana pool with and a  or.
 * Rubick has some very good hard crowd control in Telekinesis, something that benefits Crystal Maiden greatly; it's invaluable in saving the incredibly squishy Crystal Maiden from ganks and other such nonsense, and keeps enemies off of her while she's channeling.


 * allows Morphling and Rubick to potentially "steal" enemy abilities twice (except for ultimate abilities).
 * With the Morph Targets Allies talent, Morphling can turn into Rubick, keeping his stolen spell, allowing the pair to use any stolen ability twice.
 * This can be particularly effective if Rubick has stolen an ultimate spell, as Morph does not copy ultimate abilities.

Others

 * Heroes with abilities that require set up, such as 's, 's , 's , etc

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

Rubick/Противостоящие