Riki/Counters

Bad against...

 * Axe can disable Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with, which forces Riki to attack him at a very bad angle.
 * 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, totally ignoring Smoke Screen.
 * Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki players generally do not buy lifesteal, causing you to kill yourself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.


 * gives Riki a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities.


 * The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
 * Riki still gets damaged by Bristleback's while invisible, and it can be hard to deal with in lane.
 * Bristleback is not too bothered by Smoke Screen. Though he cannot use Quill Spray manually inside it, it still procs passively when he takes damage from the back. The movement speed from allows him to get out of the area easily.
 * Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal carrier.
 * Riki rarely buys to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.


 * Another great threat to Riki since her forces him to fight from the front and expose him for the entire duration, almost always guaranteeing an easy win (unless Riki has allies helping him).


 * Root is a deadly threat to Riki, disabling both Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade while making him fully revealed, making a good ability against him.
 * Smoke Screen may not be able to silence all the Meepo clones.
 * 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.
 * instantly purges the slow from, while also providing a large amount of survivability for his victim.
 * can hinder Riki's positioning tactics and put a heavy toll on Riki's already poor movement speed.
 * Omniknight can easily save his allies by using in combat.


 * drains away your damage while keeping your location revealed for its duration, allowing his team to accurately land detection or area-of-effect skills.
 * procs on invisible heroes, making him aware of Riki's presence near him.


 * works much like Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed bonus, it instead melts Riki's armor and Slardar can use  to catch up to him.
 * Slardar's Aghanim's Shard, causes Slithereen Crush to apply Corrosive Haze even if Slardar does not have vision over you.


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


 * prevents Riki from casting Blink Strike or Tricks of the Trade.
 * reduces Riki's damage.
 * can be used to harrass Riki in lane.


 * 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 health pool. With the talent applied, he can't even blink to safety or hide with Tricks of the Trade.
 * 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 risky for Riki to get last hits and can make the laning phase difficult for him.


 * Zeus' and  provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
 * Zeus' Nimbus can be placed directly on top of Tricks of the Trade, potentially causing him to be damaged, stunned, and revealed the instant he becomes targetable again.

Items

 * Items with True Sight are always a threat:
 * is a traditional item to counter heroes like Riki, discourage him to go alone and force an investment in detection for his own team.
 * not only reveals Riki, but also slows his movement speed which put him in a very vulnerable state since he cannot turn off Cloak and Dagger. This will force him to invest on a.
 * is a nightmare for Riki, heavily discouraging him to go roam in dark area or follow an enemy.
 * 3, although rarely used, is a very large threat to Riki and can easily zone him out of combat if left unanswered. A Level 3 Necronomicon Warrior can deal a considerable damage to both his health and mana pool if Riki manfight him alone.
 * , an upgraded neutral item Necronomicon can also be a threat as its summons have bonus stats aside from the Necronomicon Warrior's true sight.
 * nullifies Cloak And Dagger, taking away half of your damage and your invisibility, making Tricks of the Trade halfway useless in the process. Still if you are able to detect Riki and land the Silver Edge in the first place, you are already on a great advantage.
 * can push the user or their allies out of Smoke Screen or Tricks of the Trade's area. Keep in mind that Riki's Blink Strike has 2 charges so he can instantly catch you up. Try to force into the highground, or instantly follow with other disable/escaping skills.
 * is another great item to escape, as it prevents all physical damage from Riki and set up a safe windows to TP away.
 * can be used as a mean of escape, but Riki can easily counter it with Dust of Appearance, further securing the kill.

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.


 * is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.


 * Smoke Cloud prevents Queen of Pain from using any of her offensive and defensive spells, rendering her unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
 * It's easy to dodge by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.


 * 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.
 * However, if Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.


 * 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 helpless against Riki.
 * is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.

Others

 * Frail heroes who lacks mobility:, , ,.
 * Smoke Screen can be used to interrupt channelled abilities on early to mid game:, ,.

Items

 * Riki isn't much hindered by because nearly all of his spells pierce spell immunity.

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