Rubick/Counters

Bad against...

 * Rubick can deal little damage on his own, thus Bristleback simply shrugs off all his spells and chases you down with his spells and attacks.
 * requires multiple casts and close range to add up stacks. Rubick doesn't usually stay at the front line and doesn't obtain, making a useless spell for Rubick 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 it's 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.


 * 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.


 * Rubick deals little damage to Shadow Fiend, as he shrugs off all his spells and chases you down with his spells and attacks.
 * and s are the only spells that can be of some use to Rubick.
 * tears through Rubick's low armor.


 * 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.


 * Wraith King's abilities are mostly passive (with regards to Spell Steal), so Rubick cannot steal most of them.
 * together with some attacks can gank Rubick down quickly.

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 spell but Rubick may use his fail steal or other spells to break the Spellblock.

Good against...

 * Everything she has is great in Rubick's kit:
 * deals crowd damage and slows enemies, also helps on farming.
 * helps Rubick locks down enemies, also is a decent farming ability.
 * is a channeling ability and therefore can be stolen easily.
 * Arcane Supremacy's Debuff Duration Amplification also benefits and  greatly.


 * has shorter cast time in Rubick's hands, making it a nice ability to either initiate or interrupt enemy ganks from a long distance.
 * Though isn't as powerful for the lack of  on Rubick, the damage can still be massive on enemies.


 * requires channeling, making it an easy steal for Rubick especially because he usually stays back in a teamfight and can hardly catch him inside.
 * Telekinesis can break Enigma's fairly easily.
 * Fade Bolt counters early push strategy of Enigma's waves of Eidolons.


 * All of Invoker's abilities scales with his level, thus Rubick possesses great potential in late game by owning any of Invoker's arsenal.
 * Fade Bolt counters early push from.


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


 * 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..


 * Rubick will find all Lina's abilities useful:
 * provides waveclear and allows Rubick to deal tons of magical damage in teamfights.
 * gives Rubick a solid area stun, which is easy to set up right after Telekinesis.
 * gives Rubick a massive damage boost and great solo kill potential.


 * Everything Lion has is great in Rubick's kit, further amplified by Arcane Supremacy:
 * adds a second bit of crowd control and some damage.
 * solves a lot of Rubick's mana issues.
 * is one of the strongest single-target lockdowns in the game.
 * And of course is one of the best nukes in the game.


 * is a solid magic nuke.
 * can cause massive damage if cast on 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.


 * Rubick can turn around entire teamfights if he manages to steal.
 * allows Rubick to farm pretty fast together with Fade Bolt, and also deals decent AoE damage in teamfights.
 * If Rubick steals, he can use Telekinesis to displace enemies very easily to Skewer.


 * Morphling's abilities can cause unique interactions on their own:
 * is a damaging pseudo-blink, giving Rubick mobility which he needs;
 * 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.
 * can dispell Telekinesis lift or reduce its duration.
 * can turn the tide of battle.

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