Riki

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Riki 18 + 2.4 18 + 1.4 14 + 1.3
Level 0 1 15 25 30 Health 200 560 1220 1940 2220 +2.5 +4.3 +7.66 +11.26 +12.66 Mana 75 243 459 759 855 +0 +0.7 +1.61 +2.86 +3.29 Armor 3 6 9.27 13.6 15.1 Damage Block 16 (50%) Magic Resistance 25% Status Resistance 0% Damage 41‒45 59‒63 78‒82 104‒108 113‒117 Attack Rate 0.59/s 0.69/s 0.81/s 0.96/s 1.02/s Attack Range 150 (600) Attack Speed ▶️ 100 (1.7s BAT) Attack Animation 0.3+0.3 Projectile Speed Instant Movement Speed ▶️ 320 Turn Rate 0.6 Collision Size 24 Vision Range (G) 1800 • 800 Legs 2 Gib Type Default Ability Upgrades Tricks of the Trade Sleeping Dart

Riki, the Stealth Assassin, is a melee agility hero that uses stealth in order to surprise enemies and quickly kill them. Usually being played as a carry, his trademark ability, Cloak and Dagger, lets him sneak up on his enemies from behind and deal massive backstab damage, and then quickly escape. This enables him to close in on the enemy and drop his devastating Smoke Screen, which cripples fighters and spellcasters alike. Blink Strike allows Riki to chase with impunity, while Tricks of the Trade makes quick work of his enemies during teamfights. A sneaky and agile assassin, Riki ensures that none of his foes can get away or catch him with each passing opportunity.

Bio

Riki, the Stealth Assassin

▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see."

Lore:

Riki was born middle child to the great dynasty of Tahlin. With an older brother groomed for the throne, and a younger brother coddled and kept, Riki, the small middle son, seemed born for the art of invisibility. It was an art he cultivated, and one which ultimately saved his life on the night that his people were betrayed and his family slaughtered. Of all the royal line, he alone escaped—small and agile, unassuming, using smoke as cover. He cut his way out of the royal grounds, using the advantage of surprise, quietly slitting the throats of one enemy warrior after another. Now free of his royal responsibilities, Riki uses his talents in service to a new trade: Stealth Assassin. He silences his enemies, sharpening his skills, hoping to one day take revenge on those who killed his family and robbed him of his birthright.

Voice:

Tom Chantler (Responses)

Abilities

Smoke Screen

▶️QC

Ability
Target Area

Affects
Enemies

Throws down a smoke bomb, silencing enemies, and causing them to miss attacks.

Cast Animation: 0.2+0

Cast Range: 550

Effect Radius: 300/325/350/375 ( 475/500/525/550)

Miss Chance: 30%/45%/60%/75%

Aura Linger Duration: 0.5

Duration: 6

20/17/14/11 ( 16/13/10/7)

75

Although the debuff lingers, its effects instantly stop if the target turns spell immune.

Modifiers

modifier_riki_smoke_screen_thinker: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_riki_smoke_screen: Dispellable with death only.

Since his escape during the night of his betrayal, Riki has valued the use of a simple smoke screen to confuse his opponents.

Notes:

• All effects of Smoke Screen are provided by an aura. Its debuff lingers for 0.5 seconds.

• Although the debuff lingers, its effects instantly stop if the target turns invulnerable.

• Can be cast during Tricks of the Trade without interrupting it, as long as the targeted point is within cast range.
  • During Tricks of the Trade, Smoke Screen has a cast point and backswing of 0 and does not require facing the targeted point to be cast.
  • The channeling itself does get interrupted, but the ability continues with its effects.
  • In this state, new ⇧ Shift-queue orders causes Trick of the Trade to get completely canceled.

• Smoke Screen's blind uses pseudo-random distribution.

Blink Strike

▶️WB

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
Magical

Teleports behind the target unit, striking for bonus damage if it is an enemy.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: 600/700/800/900

Self Attack Animation Speed Bonus: 50%

Damage: 40/60/80/100

Number of Charges: 2

Charge Replenish Time: 25/20/15/10 ( 21/16/11/6)

0.1

50

Modifiers

modifier_riki_blinkstrike: Dispellable with death only.

The Stealth Assassin's agile movement makes him impossible to escape.

Notes:

• Riki gets all 2 charges immediately upon learning Blink Strike.

• The bonus damage is independent from Riki's attack damage and is instantly dealt to the target.

• Blink Strike always teleports Riki behind the target.
  • Does not disjoint projectiles upon teleporting.

• Can be cast on allies without damaging them.

• Riki is ordered to attack the target if it is an enemy.

• When targeting an enemy, Riki receives a hidden buff.
  • This buff makes the next attack apply an ensured backstab hit with Cloak and Dagger, regardless of facing angle.
  • This means if the target manages to turn around before Riki's attack hits, it still applies the backstab damage.
  • The buff lasts for 1 attack, or for up to 1 second, whichever happens first.
  • The buff is used up upon starting an attack, not upon landing it, so canceling or missing the attack wastes it.
  • The 1-second duration allows Riki to use the ensured backstab damage against other units than the Blink Strike target.

• Cannot be cast on Couriers.

Tricks of the Trade

▶️ET

Ability
Target Area
( Target Unit) / Channeled

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
Instant Attack

Riki phases out of the world while striking random enemy units from behind in an area around him.

Cast Animation: 0.3+0

Cast Range: 400 ( 700)

Max Channel Time: 2

Radius: 450

Attack Targets: 1 ( 2)

Attack Count: 4 ( 5)

Agility Bonus: 55%/70%/85%/100%

Instant Attack Damage: 40%

21/18/15/12 ( 17/14/11/8)

50

Increases cast range, number of attacks and allows you to target an allied hero, hiding inside them for the duration. Hits 2 targets per attack.

Modifiers

modifier_riki_tricks_of_the_trade_phase: Dispellable with death only.

Ability Draft Notes:

Cloak and Dagger must be drafted as well for it to get applied.

The Stealth Assassin is not afraid to fight dirty, and specializes in attacking his opponents from behind.

Notes:

• Tricks of the Trade disjoints projectiles upon cast.

• Certain items abilities which do not cancel channeling (e.g. Shadow Blade or Shiva's Guard) do cancel Tricks of the Trade.

• Riki is phased, invulnerable and hidden during Tricks of the Trade.

• Causes Riki to perform instant attacks on 1 ( 2) random enemy units within range in 0.67 ( 0.5)-second intervals, starting immediately upon cast, resulting in 4 ( 5) instances.
  • These instant attacks can proc any attack modifiers and on-hit effects normally. They do not have True Strike, but completely ignore disarms.
  • Since the damage comes from a regular attack, it counts as attack damage and not as spell damage.
  • This means it is affected by damage block, unaffected by spell damage amplification and cannot spell lifesteal.

• Tricks of the Trade first grants the agility bonus, increasing his main attack damage, then the main attack damage is reduced by the instant attack damage multiplier.
  • This can be defined as (43 + ΣAgi × 155%/170%/185%/200%) × 40%
  • Therefore, attack damage based attack modifiers (e.g. critical strike, lifesteal, cleave) include the bonus base damage granted by the agility as well.

• During Tricks of the Trade, Cloak and Dagger based on the current level triggers on every attack, regardless of the enemy's facing angle.
  • The instant attacks do not break Cloak and Dagger's and Smoke of Deceit's invisibility, although Cloak and Dagger visually goes on cooldown.

• Does not affect invisible units, but does affect units inside the Fog of War.

• The visual effects indicating Tricks of the Trade's attack radius are visible to both allies and enemies.
  • The attack radius is always centered on Riki and follows him even when he gets moved (e.g. with Glimpse).
  • However, a part of the radius indicating visual effects on the ground do not follow Riki, and stay at the cast location.

• Riki reappears at the center of the ability after the max channel time.
  • ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically moves Riki to the targeted location within the cast range.

• With Aghanim's Scepter, Trick of the Trade attacks 2 enemies at once, resulting in up to 10 attacks over the same intervals and duration.
  • Can be cast on an allied hero, including illusions and clones, excluding creep-heroes.
  • Riki and all of Tricks of the Trade's effects are centered around and follow the allied hero. Riki still remains hidden.
  • Does not end when the target dies. The ability continues at its corpse's location. It is still bound to the ally, so when it reincarnates, it follows it still.

Sleeping Dart

▶️▶️▶️DD

Ability
Target Unit

Affects
Enemies

Damage
Magical

Fires a dart at the target enemy, putting them to sleep for 4 seconds or if they take 200 damage. At the end of the duration, the target wakes up and takes 150 damage, and is slowed by 30% for 4 seconds. Cast Range: 1000

Cast Animation: 0.2+0.57

Cast Range: 1000

Wake Up Damage Threshold: 200

Damage: 150

Move Speed Slow: 30%

Slow Duration: 4

Sleep Duration: 4

12

75

Blocked upon impact.

Modifiers

modifier_riki_dart: Dispellable with strong dispels.

modifier_riki_poison_dart_debuff: Dispellable with any dispel.

Ability Draft Notes:

Requires drafting Cloak and Dagger to be unlocked.

Notes:

• Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.

• The projectile travels at a speed of 1600.

• Applies sleep on affected units, preventing them from acting, until woken up.
  • The target wakes up only after cumulatively taking 200 damage.
  • The counter counts damage after all reductions.

• Sleeping units are never automatically attacked, regardless of auto attack settings.
  • This means that sleeping units are never attacked by lane creeps, neutral creeps, towers and fountains.
  • Players can still force an attack order on the target ( Right Click or A).

• The damage and slow are applied upon losing the sleep debuff, no matter how.
  • This means dispelling it applies the effects as well.
  • The debuff first applies the slow debuff, then the damage.

Cloak and Dagger's angle visualized

Cloak and Dagger

▶️RE

Ability
Passive

Affects
Self / Enemies

Damage
Physical

Riki fades into the shadows, becoming invisible. Every time Riki strikes his enemy from behind, he deals bonus damage based on his Agility. When Riki attacks, he becomes visible.

Fade Delay: 4/3/2

Back Angle: 105°

Backstab Damage per Agility: 1.4/1.8/2.2 ( 1.9/2.3/2.7)

 Move Speed Bonus: 8%

Grants a new ability: Sleeping Dart.

Invisibility part works for illusions. Illusions play the backstab sound upon attacking from behind, but do not deal any bonus damage.

Modifiers

modifier_riki_backstab: Undispellable. Persists death.

modifier_invisible: Dispellable with death only.

Riki comes for you.

Notes:

• Riki does not auto-attack enemies while invisible.

• When respawning or reincarnating, Riki starts off invisible and does not need to go through the fade delay.

• Casting abilities or using items does not break the invisibility.

• The ability icon shows a cooldown whenever the invisibility is broken. However, this has only informative purposes.
  • The cooldown is not affected by any cooldown reduction and cooldown resets sources.
  • Both Time Dilation and Chakra Magic affect the cooldown visually, but do not affect the fade delay in any way.

• Backstab damage is applied when attacking and denying allies.

• The bonus damage is dealt in one instance together with the attack damage, and counts as attack damage as well.
  • It can be lifestealed off of, and is considered by crit or cleave.
  • It is not affected by percentage-based attack damage bonuses or reductions, but can be reduced with flat reductions.

• The sound effect plays at the start of the attack, but the damage is applied on hit.

• The movement speed talent is only granted while invisible (i.e. when the ability is not on cooldown).

Talents

Hero Talents
+175 Smoke Screen AoE	25	-4 Tricks of the Trade Cooldown
-4s Blink Strike Replenish Time	20	+0.5 Backstab Multiplier
-4s Smoke Screen Cooldown	15	8% Cloak and Dagger Movement Speed
+20 Attack Speed	10	+8 Strength

Notes:

• The strength talent effectively grants Riki 160 health and 0.8 health regeneration.

Recent Changes

Main Article: Riki/Changelogs

Version

Description

7.30d

• Increased Smoke Screen miss chance from 20%/35%/50%/65% to 30%/45%/60%/75%.

7.30

• Increased Blink Strike damage from 25/50/75/100 to 40/60/80/100.
• Reduced Tricks of the Trade damage per attack from 50% to 40%.
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
  • Now also increases Tricks of the Trade number of attacks to 5.
• Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
  • Sleeping Dart
    • Reduced cast range from 1200 to 1000.
    • Reduced mana cost from 85 to 75.

7.29

• Blink Strike now increases Riki's attack animation speed by 50%.
• Tricks of the Trade
  • Now increases agility by 55%/70%/85%/100% for its duration.
  • Reduced damage per attack from 70%/80%/90%/100% to 50% on each level.
• Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
  • Sleeping Dart
    • No longer turns the target invulnerable for the duration.
    • The target now wakes up from the sleep after taking 200 accumulative damage.
    • Increased sleep duration from 3 to 4.
• Talents:

Level 10 right talent changed: +6 health regen ➜ +8 strength.

Level 15 right talent changed: +20 attack damage ➜ 8% movement speed bonus during Cloak and Dagger invisibility.

Level 20 left talent changed: +475 Blink Strike cast range ➜ -4s Blink Strike charge replenish time.

Level 25 left talent: +125 Smoke Screen radius increased to +175.

Recommended Items

Starting items:

• Tango regenerates health so Riki can stay longer in lane and reach level 6 sooner.
• Healing Salve restores health as well.
• Iron Branch gives cheap attributes and builds into Magic Wand, or Riki can use it with Tango to get more health.
• Slippers of Agility increases agility for Riki to last hit; it builds into Wraith Band later on.

Early game:

• Magic Stick replaces your consumables with an alternative source of recovery, and is particularly useful if the enemy team includes heroes that rely on abilities.
• Boots of Speed provide movement speed, allowing Riki to keep pace with fleeing heroes while Blink Strike is on cooldown.
• Orb of Venom helps secure kills with its movement slow and helps compensate for Riki's own horrible movement speed.

Mid game:

• Power Treads give Riki increased attack speed as well as a further bonus to attributes, which help increasing Cloak and Dagger's damage output.
• Magic Wand, upgraded from Magic Stick, gives better attribute bonuses and a better healing ability.
• Diffusal Blade provides a way to slow fleeing heroes, keeping them in Smoke Screen, as well as burning mana from casters for extra damage. It also boosts agility which will increase Cloak and Dagger's backstab damage.
• Skull Basher provides increased damage and strength, which is always nice on a right-click hero that gets close for kills, like Riki. In addition, the Bash is useful for keeping enemies inside the Smoke Screen.

Late game:

• Butterfly provides a huge increase in both survivability and damage, as well as attack speed. It also boosts your agility which scales well with Cloak and Dagger's backstab damage.
• Abyssal Blade allows Riki to cancel channeled spells with its stun and bash, as well as continuing to lock-down opponents once they have acquired Black King Bar.
• Nullifier's movement speed slow keeps enemies inside Trick of the Trade. Furthermore, the mute and dispel complements Smoke Screen's silence and miss to disable enemies further, countering and preventing them from using defensive abilities and items like Ghost Scepter.

Situational items:

• Drum of Endurance is a good early to mid game pickup, as it makes everyone faster and gives Riki attributes and mana regeneration.
• Black King Bar allows Riki to effectively fight in team-fights and get kills against opponents that have strong disables.
• Sange and Yasha give great attribute bonuses, as well as attack damage.
• Eye of Skadi gives attributes across the board as well as a flat health and mana pool bonus, allowing Riki to take more hits, deal more damage and use more abilities. It also gives a powerful, spell immunity piercing slow that will prevent your target from escaping.
• Blink Dagger allows Riki to initiate using Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade, then safely blinking away just before Tricks of the Trade finishes.
• Manta Style can be used to dispel debuffs, including Dust of Appearance. Riki can use the illusions to scout, and as targets for Blink Strike when escaping.
• Battle Fury can proc with Tricks of the Trade and Backstab, and gives riki much needed Mana regeneration.
• Mjollnir can proc with Tricks of the Trade, but only up to once per strike due to the item's internal cooldown of 0.2 seconds.
• Aghanim's Scepter doubles the duration of Tricks of the Trade and allows him to cast it on an allied hero, increasing his potential in teamfights.

Gameplay

Roles:	Carry Escape Disabler
Complexity:	★☆☆
Playstyle:	The soldiers came for his father, and his brothers, but not for Riki. For once, it was good to be the neglected middle child. Leaving his past life behind, Riki escaped the royal grounds using his own methods of Cloak and Dagger. Stealthy and fond of killing from behind, Riki throws down a dense Smoke Screen, blinding and choking foes as he takes them by surprise with Blink Strike. Intruders who enter his turf are greeted with twin daggers, flashes of steel that slash simultaneously at every turned back, while the master himself remains unseen. How this feat is accomplished remains a mystery, for Riki is not one to divulge the Tricks of the Trade.

Strategy & Tips

Counters &
Matchups

Audio

Responses

Sounds

History

Lore

Old Abilities

Changelogs

Equipment

Riki Equipment (expand sets) Sets Arms of the Bladebreaker Order Set Covert Saboteur Cunning Corsair Frozen Blood Gelid Touch Highborn Reckoning Set Hunger of the Howling Wilds Implements of the Tahlin Watch Set Monstrous Reprisal Rightful Heir Tahlin Occult Set The Subtle Demon Set Whirling Talons Weapon Pack Arms of the Bladebreaker Dagger Pack Piercing Umbrage Pack Riki's Sange and Yasha Shadowshards The Subtle Demon's Blades Wrath of the Highborn Pack Weapon Tahlin Hookblade Off-Hand Tahlin Hookblade Off-Hand Head Crimson Edict of Shadows Edict of Shadows Golden Edict of Shadows Shoulder Golden Shadow Masquerade Shadow Masquerade Taunt Taunt: See Me Now

Trivia

• In DotA, Riki was named "Rikimaru", a reference to one of the main characters in the Tenchu video game series.
• Riki's fun/alternate name was Riki Martin, which is a pun on Ricky Martin, a famous Latino pop singer.
• Riki's line upon dying, ▶️ "Good assassins never die… they just fade away.", is a reference to a quote by General Douglas MacArthur, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
• Riki's line ▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see." is a reference to a proverb: "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
• Riki's line ▶️ "I speak softly, but carry a sharp knife." is a reference to the West African Proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick.", popularized by U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.

Gallery

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  Splash artwork

• 

  Trading card art

• 

  Old model and icon

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  Ability icon progress

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  Hero icon progress