Riki/Guide

General

 * Riki is one of the best support killers in the game.
 * 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, so they cannot punish you with detection items.
 * Riki is an attribute-based carry, thanks to 's backstab damage. This means that it continues to get stronger and stronger as the game goes on, as long as you continue to farm, gank, and purchase the right items.
 * Because of this, should be your first core item completed, it gives everything Riki needs: the agility scales well with and the active Purge helps you in many applications, purging  from you, removing strong protections like,  from enemies and purging them while inside of , which is your main ganking combo. Always use all the charges before buying the recipe again and search to do the best use of them.
 * Do not walk straight up to enemies and deep into enemy territory and expect never to die. If they have any kind of detection (e.g. ), then Riki dies very quickly.
 * As a result of this, make a habit of constantly checking the enemy's inventory for revealing items.
 * Be wary around more durable enemy heroes. Spell Immunity from allows enemies to ignore  and fight Riki, ignoring his backstab damage.
 * 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 it is wise to pick him as a counter pick to many heroes like, , , or . However, be careful of enemies carrying escape items, like , ,  or /.
 * Always scout the enemy jungle once in a while, you may encounter some enemy farming alone for an easy kill, also help high mobility heroes like or  to set up a gank.
 * Do not be afraid of enemies carrying, track down their movement and wait, sooner or later they are going to end up alone and when this happens do not hesitate, use the fog of war and approach them from the sides, go for the kill and recover the Gem.


 * Smoke Screen provides a powerful Silence and gives enemies a high miss chance, as well as slowing them down.
 * If Smoke Screen targeted properly, it can hold an enemy down long enough to finish them off.
 * A good strategy is to throw a Smoke Screen in the enemy's path, rather than where they are presently.


 * Blink Strike can target allies and enemies. Jumping to a friendly unit can be useful in case Riki needs to escape.
 * Blink Strike is unit targeted, not point targeted, and as such cannot be used unless there are units around.
 * Blink Strike helps catch up with fleeing enemies, jump into fights quickly, and escape from situations by targeting allies.
 * Blink Strike pairs well with the backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger, as it teleports Riki behind the enemy.


 * If Riki's enemies do not have any form of detection, the invisibility will let 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.
 * You can take as your first skill point and easily take the first  in either side of the river, unless the enemy has any form of detection.
 * Cloak and Dagger also enables him to deal incredible damage from behind based on a multiplier of his agility.
 * Since good supports always stay behind, you can flank the enemy team coming around from there and catching the supports as soon as a teamfight begins and the enemy team is so busy fighting yours that they do not realize that their supports are already dead. This strategy also applies to enemy initiators with game-breaking ultimates like or, as a good interruption can set victory in critical situations.
 * A well-organised team will often buy to keep vision of Riki. You may want to take it upon yourself to de-ward your lane if needs be; if you are without a support, or so that your support can concentrate on other items.


 * Tricks of the Trade pairs well with large AoE disables such as, , and.
 * Later in the game, you can use Tricks of the Trade after Blink Strike to initiate, then safely Blink Strike again to escape enemies waiting for you.
 * Tricks of the Trade may be combined with cleave from or  to devastate closely grouped enemies.

Items
Starting
 * s and compensate for poor starting HP, allowing you to stay in the lane longer and reach level 6 sooner.
 * and three es to increase early damage and both health and mana regeneration, while the slippers prepare for the shield and the branches set up for the wand later.

Early Game
 * replaces your consumables with an alternative source of recovery, particularly if the enemy team includes heroes that rely on abilities.
 * provide movement speed, allowing Riki to keep pace with fleeing heroes while Blink Strike is on cooldown.
 * gives Riki damage block, aiding escape from attempted ganks or providing the defense to land one last hit on an almost dead opponent.
 * helps secure kills with its movement slow and helps compensate for Riki's own horrible movement speed. Remember that neither Orb of Venom nor are UAMs, so they stack with other ones.

Core
 * give Riki increased attack speed as well as a further bonus to attributes.
 * is an obvious upgrade from the and es purchased earlier, freeing up inventory slots while retaining the attribute bonuses and healing ability.
 * provides a way to weaken heroes receiving bonuses from buffs, as well as slow fleeing heroes and burn mana from casters. It can also counter the use of a by purging himself. And using purge on an enemy under  allows for a long silenced duration in which you can backstab them or just fight them while they have an increased chance to miss.

Situational
 * provides a huge increase in both survivability and damage, as well as attack speed. It also boosts your agility which scales well with 's backstab damage.
 * is a good early/mid game pickup, makes everyone faster and gives you stats, coupled with Orb of Venom for a better chasing power.
 * allows Riki to effectively fight in teamfights and get kills against opponents that have strong disables.
 * give great attribute bonuses, as well as an alternative slow method to save charges on, or use in place of a drained Diffusal Blade.
 * allows Riki to cancel TPs with a lucky bash and continue to lockdown opponents once they have acquired a BKB, and upgrades into which allows for more reliable stuns.
 * gives stats across the board as well as a flat HP and mana pool bonus, allowing Riki to take more hits, deal more damage and cast more spells. It also gives a powerful, BKB piercing slow that will prevent your target from escaping.
 * allows Riki to initiate using Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade, then safely blinking away just before Tricks of the Trade finishes.
 * can be used to dispel debuffs, including, saving charges to slow enemies or purge powerful buffs from them.