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Many hands make light work.
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Bad against...[]
- Axe can disable Cloak and Dagger's invisibility with Berserker's Call, 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. Counter Helix ignores Riki's armor and goes straight for his tiny HP pool, totally ignoring Smoke Screen.
- Axe is a natural buyer of Blade Mail and Riki generally does not buy lifesteal items, causing Riki to kill himself when attacking due to your tiny HP pool.
- Track reveals Riki while invisible and gives him a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities. This can force Riki to buy Manta Style to dispel it.
- The bonus Backstab damage from Cloak and Dagger is rendered irrelevant with Bristleback and hurts Riki more than him because of the passive Quill Spray.
- Riki can still get damaged by Bristleback's Quill Spray 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 Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
- Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal Gem of True Sight carrier.
- Riki rarely buys Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
- Another great threat to Riki since her Duel 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).
- Moment of Courage can become hard to deal with as it doesn't cease with silence.
- Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
- Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
- Even though Riki can evade Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
- Root is a deadly threat to Riki, disabling both Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade while making him fully revealed, making Earthbind 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 unless Riki has Battle Fury.
- Riki takes a lot of damage from Purification while ganking Omniknight's allies or himself.
- Heavenly Grace instantly purges the slow from Diffusal Blade, while also providing a large amount of survivability for his victim.
- Degen Aura 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 Guardian Angel in combat.
- Static Link drains away Riki's damage while keeping his location revealed for its duration, allowing his team to accurately land detection or area-of-effect skills.
- Storm Surge procs on invisible heroes, making him aware of Riki's presence near him.
- Corrosive Haze works much like Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed or gold bonus, it instead can melt Riki's armor and Slardar can use Guardian Sprint 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 him.
- Spectral Dagger follows Riki even after he goes invisible and stays on him through Tricks of the Trade, revealing his location.
- Desolate 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 Dispersion.
- Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
- Pit of Malice prevents Riki from casting Blink Strike. or Tricks of the Trade.
- Atrophy Aura reduces Riki's damage.
- Firestorm can be used to harrass Riki in lane.
- Viper's Nethertoxin 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.
- Corrosive Skin makes it hard for Riki to chase Viper and attack him due to the attack speed slow.
- Viper Strike stays on Riki even after he goes invisible.
- Poison Attack makes it risky for Riki to get last hits and can make the laning phase difficult for him.
- Zeus's Lightning Bolt and Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Thundergod's Wrath". provides a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
- Zeus's Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "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.
Others[]
- Riki doesn't deal burst damage.Durable heroes ( Axe, Tidehunter etc.) will usually survive a jump from him,move out of Smoke Screen and potentially retaliate.
Items[]
- Items with True Sight are always a threat:
- Sentry Ward is a traditional item to counter heroes like Riki, discourage him to go alone and force an investment in detection for his own team.
- Dust of Appearance 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 Manta Style.
- Gem of True Sight is a nightmare for Riki, heavily discouraging him to go roam in dark area or follow an enemy.
- Book of the Dead, an upgraded neutral item Necronomicon can also be a threat as its summons have bonus stats aside from the Necronomicon Warrior's true sight.
- Silver Edge 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.
- Force Staff 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.
- Ghost Scepter is another great item to escape, as it prevents all physical damage from Riki and set up a safe windows to TP away.
- Shadow Blade 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 Blink nor Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
- Even if he activates a Black King Bar, his Manta Style 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 Mana Void ineffective.
- Chen is basically Riki's 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 Riki. Just be wary of Centaur Conqueror, who can stun Riki outside of Smoke Screen and ruin his attempt at Chen's life.
- Smoke Cloud prevents the use of Death Pact, Searing Arrows and Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
- It's hard to gank Riki as Clinkz has to find him first.
- Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell: Freezing Field.
- 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 Marksmanship, and Smoke Screen will prevent her from using Gust.
- Lifestealer cannot use Rage, Infest or Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and Feast 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.
- Bulwark 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 Sonic Wave 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 Black King Bar.
- However, 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 Riki 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 Enrage 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 Fury Swipes damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
- Smoke Cloud prevents Shukuchi and Time Lapse, leaving Weaver helpless against Riki.
- The Swarm is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.
Others[]
- Frail heroes who lacks mobility: Crystal Maiden, Enigma, Dark Willow, Vengeful Spirit.
- Smoke Screen can be used to interrupt channelled abilities on early to mid game: Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Fiend's Grip"., Shackles, Freezing Field.
Items[]
- Riki isn't much hindered by Black King Bar because nearly all of his spells pierce spell immunity.
Works well with...[]
- Have Riki use Tricks of the Trade first, then Chronosphere. This will cause succession of all Tricks of the Trade strikes on the enemies within Chronosphere.
- Lifestealer can Infest 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.
- Earthbind can keep enemies in the area of Smoke Screen or Tricks of the Trade longer.
- Ion Shell on Riki is like having an invisible Radiance which will greatly annoy the lane, especially against double melee lanes.
- Surge 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.
- Reverse Polarity will bring enemies up close together; Making use of Empower and/or Battle Fury on Riki's Tricks of the Trade will bring down enemies caught by the Reverse Polarity.
- 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 Berserker's Call for Smoke Screen.