Rubick
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Rubick, the Grand Magus, is a ranged intelligence hero best known for his ability to copy the spells of his enemies and use them as his own. Although he is mostly played as a support and is extremely fragile the entire length of the game, he can still prove to be one of the most influential heroes if he utilizes good positioning and well-timed usage of his ultimate, Spell Steal. Spell Steal allows Rubick to cast an enemy hero's most recently used spell, giving him supreme versatility throughout the game. By stealing the right abilities, the Grand Magus can aid himself and allies by casting crippling disables, applying curses, unleashing powerful nukes, disorienting the enemy team, supporting his allies with buffs, escaping from rough situations, or even enhancing his own physical attacks. His other abilities are just as worthy of a Magus: Telekinesis lets Rubick magically lift an enemy into the air, rendering the target helpless and vulnerable, before hurling the lifted enemy to the ground up to a short distance away and stunning nearby foes on impact. Fade Bolt blasts enemies with a stream of arcane energy which bounces to all enemies nearby, dealing damage and reducing their attack damage. Arcane Supremacy is a passive ability, which increases cast range and amplifies the spell damage of Rubick's stolen spells. Rubick's versatile ability-set and his infamous Spell Steal make him a flexible and powerful hero that can work in any lineup although he does suffer from long cooldowns and the surfacing predictability of his ultimate.
Contents
Bio[edit]
Already a renowned duelist and scholar of the grander world of sorcery, it had never occurred to Rubick that he might perhaps be Magus material until he was in the midst of his seventh assassination attempt. As he casually tossed the twelfth of a string of would-be killers from a high balcony, it dawned on him how utterly unimaginative the attempts on his life had become. Where once the interruption of a fingersnap or firehand might have put a cheerful spring in his step, it had all become so very predictable. He craved greater competition. Therefore, donning his combat mask, he did what any wizard seeking to ascend the ranks would do: he announced his intention to kill a Magus.
Rubick quickly discovered that to threaten one Magus is to threaten them all, and they fell upon him in force. Each antagonist's spell was an unstoppable torrent of energy, and every attack a calculated killing blow. But very soon something occurred that Rubick's foes found unexpected: their arts appeared to turn against them. Inside the magic maelstrom, Rubick chuckled, subtly reading and replicating the powers of one in order to cast it against another, sowing chaos among those who had allied against him. Accusations of betrayal began to fly, and soon the sorcerers turned one upon another without suspecting who was behind their undoing.
When the battle finally drew to a close, all were singed and frozen, soaked and cut and pierced. More than one lay dead by an ally's craft. Rubick stood apart, sore but delighted in the week's festivities. None had the strength to argue when he presented his petition of assumption to the Hidden Council, and the Insubstantial Eleven agreed as one to grant him the title of Grand Magus.
Abilities[edit]
Target Unit

Notes:
- The lift duration consists of 0.5/0.9/1.3/1.7 seconds static air time and 0.3 seconds landing time.
- The lifted unit is stunned while in the air and is not affected by the area stun upon landing.
- The stun modifier is always placed as a debuff, while the main modifier is based on the alliance of the target.
- With Aghanim's Shard, the stun can be dispelled with strong dispels when casting on allies or self, while the lift itself cannot.
- Since the lift itself does not disable the target, allies can attack, turn, and cast abilities and items during the lift if the stun gets dispelled.
- Uses the reduced cooldown when targeting self or allies, and the regular cooldown when targeting enemies.
- ↓↓ Double-tapping automatically targets self.
- The stun modifier is always placed as a debuff, while the main modifier is based on the alliance of the target.
- While in the air, other units may pass below the lifted unit.
- When the lift ends prematurely, the lifted unit instantly lands and applies the area stun.
- Destroys trees within 325 radius of the lifted target upon landing.
- Cannot lift Roshan, he will be stunned for the lift duration instead.
- Casting Telekinesis on units affected by Black Hole, Chronosphere, or Duel does nothing, wasting the mana and cooldown.
- Has a cast range of 650/725/800/875 with each level of Arcane Supremacy.
Target Area
Enemies
Notes:
- Replaces Telekinesis when it is cast on an enemy, and stays until the lifted unit lands.
- Allows Rubick to determine where the lifted enemy will land after the lift duration. Does not prematurely end the lift.
- Targeting further than the maximum allowed throw distance throws the enemy 375 (
615) distance towards the targeted point.
- The center of the targeted area is marked with green particles, which are visible to allies only.
Target Area
Enemies / Allies
Notes:
- Requires Aghanim's Shard to be unlocked.
- Replaces Telekinesis when it is cast on an ally or on self, and stays until the lifted unit lands.
- Allows Rubick to determine where the lifted ally or himself will land. Reduces the remaining lift duration to 0.5 when used.
- Targeting further than the maximum allowed throw distance throws the ally 693.75 (
1137.75) distance towards the targeted point.
- Cannot be used while silenced, hexed or prevented from acting.
- Rubick cannot ⇧ Shift-queue this ability.
- The center of the targeted area is marked with green particles, which are visible to allies only.
Notes:
- Fade Bolt has no bounce limit. Bounces in 0.25-second intervals. Each bounce decreases the bolt's current damage by 8%.
- Does not bounce on invisible units or units in the Fog of War.
- Can never hit the same unit twice per cast.
- The hidden modifier is required for Fade Bolt to bounce.
- Only reduced base damage and that given by the primary attribute of the targets. Raw bonus damage is not reduced.
- The level 10
talent causes Rubick to gain as much damage as the hero targets lost.
- Each hit enemy hero creates a new buff on Rubick. The buffs always use the default duration, no matter how long the debuffs on the enemies actually last.
- Only counts heroes, including clones, excluding illusions and creep-heroes.
- The level 10
- This is how much damage the first 10 bounces on each level deal (before reductions):
- Level 1: 100 / 92 / 84.6 / 77.9 / 71.6 / 65.9 / 60.6 / 55.8 / 51.3 / 47.2 / 43.4 damage, 659.8 total damage, 57 bounces to reach 1 damage.
- Level 2: 175 / 161 / 148.1 / 136.3 / 125.4 / 115.3 / 106.1 / 97.6 / 89.8 / 82.6 / 76 damage, 1154.6 total damage, 63 bounces to reach 1 damage.
- Level 3: 250 / 230 / 211.6 / 194.7 / 179.1 / 164.8 / 151.6 / 139.5 / 128.3 / 118 / 108.6 damage, 1649.5 total damage, 68 bounces to reach 1 damage.
- Level 4: 325 / 299 / 275.1 / 253.1 / 232.8 / 214.2 / 197.1 / 181.3 / 166.8 / 153.5 / 141.2 damage, 2144.3 total damage, 71 bounces to reach 1 damage.
- The bolt first applies the damage, then the debuff.
- Has a cast range of 900/950/1000/1050 with each level of Arcane Supremacy.
Passive
Self
Notes:
- Fully stacks with other sources of spell damage amplification.
Target Unit
Enemy Heroes / Self
Notes:
- This ability is not available in Ability Draft.
- A full list of unique interactions with Spell Steal can be found here.
- The stolen ability travels as a projectile towards Rubick at a speed of 900. Rubick gains the new ability and loses the previous stolen ability as the projectile reaches him.
- Cannot steal passive abilities, item abilities, or active attack modifiers (except for Walrus PUNCH!). Can only steal from heroes (including clones, excluding illusions).
- Cannot steal the following abilities: Stone Remnant, Quas, Wex, Exort, Invoke, Mischief, Morph, Minefield Sign and Stone Form.
- Cannot steal the following Aghanim's Shard upgraded abilities: Divine Favor, Rip Tide, Hunter in the Night, Essence Flux, Dispersion and Gravekeeper's Cloak.
- The stolen ability's level is based on its level on the enemy as it was stolen. The level only updates upon stealing it again.
Talent bonuses to any abilities are not copied.
- The cooldown of all stolen abilities used by Rubick is saved. When re-acquiring a lost ability which was used recently, it will not be instantly ready to use again.
- However, it refreshes Spell Steal's 180/240/300 spell duration. The cooldown of the stolen ability is not affected.
- Cooldown reseting effects have no effect on the cooldowns of abilities Rubick currently does not have.
- Rubick has a cast time of 0.15, except for the spells listed in here.
- Cannot have more than 1 stolen ability at a time. Sub-abilities from abilities are automatically acquired and cannot be manually stolen.
- Sub-abilities are abilities which do not do anything on their own. The 3 Shadowrazes or the two Whirling Axes are not sub-abilities.
- This also goes for abilities granted by Aghanim's Scepter or Aghanim's Shard (e.g. Eyes In The Forest, Unrefined Fireblast and Sleeping Dart).
- With Aghanim's Scepter, the stolen ability is upgraded to its scepter level. Since the above-mentioned abilities are not upgrades to existing abilities, but rather just extra abilities granted to the hero, they are treated as their own abilities by Spell Steal.
- For example, Rubick with an Aghanim's Scepter will not get both Fireblasts from Ogre Magi by stealing one of them, but he can steal Unrefined Fireblast and cast it without having Aghanim's Scepter.
- The debuff duration amplification only affects the duration of debuffs of stolen abilities placed on enemies.
- A debuff is identified by the red border on the status icon. Follows the same rules as status resistance.
- The spell damage amplification
talent only amplify the outgoing spell damage of stolen abilities.
- Stolen abilities are lost upon death.
- Has a cast range of 1100/1150/1200/1250 with each level of Arcane Supremacy.
Talents[edit]
Hero Talents | ||
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+40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells | 25 | -12s Telekinesis Cooldown |
+240 Telekinesis Land Distance | 20 | -4s Fade Bolt Cooldown |
+100 Base Damage | 15 | +0.6s Telekinesis Lift Duration |
Fade Bolt Borrows Hero Damage | 10 | +175 Telekinesis Landing Damage |
- This attack damage talent is added as base attack damage, so it does benefit illusions, and is affected by every percentage-based damage increasing or reducing effects.
Recent Changes[edit]
- Increased Telekinesis stun duration from 1/1.25/1.5/1.75 to 1.2/1.4/1.6/1.8.
- Reduced Telekinesis cooldown from 34/30/26/22 to 28/26/24/22.
- Aghanim's Shard upgrade:
- Increased Telekinesis max throw distance bonus from 60% to 85%.
- Talents:
- Level 10 right talent changed: +150 health ➜ +175 Telekinesis landing damage.
- Level 15 right talent changed: +100 cast range ➜ +0.6s Telekinesis lift duration.
- Increased Arcane Supremacy cast range bonus from 75/125/175/225 to 100/150/200/250.
Recommended Items[edit]
Starting items:
- Tango regenerates health lost to enemy harassment.
- Healing Salve also restores health to Rubick.
- Clarity allows Rubick to utilize his spells more than a few times, as they are very costly in the early game.
- Iron Branch gives Rubick some much-needed attributes, especially to his strength. He can sell them later, or build into Magic Wand.
- Observer Ward gives your team map vision. Having knowledge of the enemy's movements allows you to identify which spell they last cast, giving you forearmed knowledge of what you will get when using your ultimate.
Early game:
- Boots of Speed are important to get early on as Rubick, as Telekinesis is a powerful disable that requires Rubick to get close enough to cast.
- Magic Wand gives Rubick stats, and more burst HP and mana regen with up to 300 instant replenishment for both. Even in the late game, this can be all that is needed to cast one more game-changing stolen spell in a fight.
- Town Portal Scroll is important on Rubick because of his ability to steal and use enemy spells. Due to this flexibility, he can save a teammate using a stolen spell, or bring a huge teamfight ultimate to a fight.
Mid game:
- Arcane Boots are useful on Rubick due to his ability to steal the enemy's spells. They increase the size of his mana pool and allow him to replenish his and allies' mana as needed.
- Blink Dagger is a crucial item to purchase on Rubick, and should be rushed if possible. Being able to instantly reposition himself greatly increases Rubick's survivability, as well as his ability to jump in and use Spell Steal, or any spells stolen by it, when the opportunity presents itself.
- Force Staff serves a very similar purpose to Blink Dagger for Rubick with the added benefits of more Intelligence and HP regen. It is much easier to build, and can serve either as a supplementary repositioning tool after Blink Dagger, or a cheaper substitute if you are having trouble farming. Also unlike Blink Dagger, it can be used on teammates to give them additional mobility for initiation or escape, and can be used on enemies to disposition them or break their Linken's Sphere before casting a disable on them.
- Glimmer Cape is a situational item that mainly provides utility, but can be very strong if used properly. The active can allow Rubick to initiate by walking in invisibly instead of using his Blink Dagger, or can be used to shield himself or an ally from enemy magic nukes (or to help them escape). It can be particularly useful for utilizing stolen channeling spells, as it helps to prevent easy interruption.
Late game:
- Aether Lens is a strong purchase that can be easily acquired by disassembling Arcane Boots for the Energy Booster component. Besides the increased mana pool, it increases the cast range of all of Rubick's spells, particularly Telekinesis and Spell Steal, giving him increased disable range and allowing him to safely steal spells from far away (as well as utilize any successfully stolen spells from greater range).
- Aghanim's Scepter drastically increases Rubick's teamfight contribution, as he can potentially steal an enemy spell every 2 seconds and use it against them. The increased stats buff up both Rubick's health and mana pools, and the increased cast range can give him the ability to steal a spell safely without using his Blink Dagger. As well, he can utilize the upgrades granted by Aghanim's Scepter to any stolen spells.
Situational items:
- Faerie Fire can be a strong consumable to purchase as mid Rubick. It grants a small amount of bonus damage, increasing last-hitting power, and can be consumed as a last-second life-saver in the event of an enemy gank.
- Null Talisman is beneficial on a mid Rubick as a starting item, giving him more last-hitting power to allow him to compete against the enemy mid.
- Bottle can be crucial to purchase early on as a mid Rubick as well. It allows him to replenish his HP and mana to go toe-to-toe against his lane opponent, using his spells to disable and nuke as needed. Past the laning stage, it can fuel Rubick's mana pool to allow him to utilize stolen spells to their utmost.
- Sentry Ward denies the enemy map vision, giving you leeway for initiating on them and stealing their spells.
- Urn of Shadows can serve as a useful utility and survivability item when playing as a roamer. The extra strength and armor gives you more survivability while the mana regen bonus helps to maintain your mana pool. The item's active adds another damage nuke to the mix, or can be used to heal yourself or teammates after successful ganks.
- Tranquil Boots are generally not very strong on Rubick, but can be situationally built as a support or roamer. The passive HP regen helps to give Rubick survivability, and the increased base movement speed allows him to position himself for casting his spells more easily.
- Drum of Endurance gives Rubick stats across the board, most importantly Strength and Intelligence.
- Ghost Scepter is a useful item to purchase on any support, and is no exception for Rubick. Being able to become immune to physical damage can buy Rubick more time in the face of the enemy's carries to steal or cast stolen spells in order to change the course of a teamfight.
- Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a comparatively cheap item that will give you great mana regen, a bigger mana pool, more movement speed for mobility, as well as a useful disable. The active can also be used on yourself to disjoint enemy spells you wish to grab, or remove debuffs such as silence from yourself.
- Veil of Discord can be a useful utility item to purchase. It provides a large amount of intelligence to boost Rubick's mana pool, additional HP and armor, and the active ability can work alongside Arcane Supremacy to increase his nuking power. It can be useful depending on what types of spells can be stolen from the enemy, as well as if your team also has a plethora of magic nukes.
- Solar Crest is a strong support item that can greatly benefit Rubick's team. By itself, the item grants mana regen as well as survivability due to a combination of armor and attributes. The active allows Rubick to manipulate the armor, attack speed, and movement speed of target allies and enemies in ganks.
- Rod of Atos greatly improves both Rubick's health pool and mana pool, allowing him to do more in teamfights. Furthermore, the active ability can be used to root an enemy from a very long distance away, helpful for fleeing from single enemies or catching foes out of position for further disables.
- Pipe of Insight is a good utility support item to pick up, as it can outright shield allies from magic damage. The increased HP regeneration helps Rubick to maintain his health pool somewhat, while the increased magic resistance (from the item as well as the aura) gives him and his teammates further survivability against magic nukes.
- Scythe of Vyse allows Rubick to instantly disable an enemy, adding to his already powerful arsenal of disables. It also greatly increases the size of his mana pool and gives him a hefty amount of mana regeneration, greatly increasing his ability to cast mana-expensive stolen spells.
- Shiva's Guard increases the size of Rubick's mana pool, and gives him great survivability against physical damage. As well, the active can be helpful while initiating, as it can slow enemies down long enough for you to get within range of them to disable or steal their spells.
- Bloodstone can be built by disassembling already-purchased Arcane Boots. Rubick's mana pool is normally strained to the limit in any situation, but may be more so if he intends to steal highly expensive or spammable spells such as Mystic Flare, Crypt Swarm, and so on. Bloodstone gives Rubick both mana and HP, enhancing his survivability as well as giving him a regenerating source of mana for continuing to cast spells.
- Refresher Orb is a very situational item to purchase, and should depend on if the enemy has a major teamfight ultimate that can benefit from it. However, as with a Refresher Orb purchased on any hero with a major teamfight ultimate, it can mean the difference between victory and defeat in the right situation.
Gameplay[edit]
Roles: | Support Disabler Nuker |
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Complexity: | ★★★ |
Playstyle: | A renowned duelist among sorcerers, Rubick ascended to the title of Grand Magus through the careful elimination of his rivals. Accustomed to assassins, Rubick reacts by lifting attackers off the ground, then throws them across the room with Telekinesis. His Arcane Supremacy amplifies his every spell, while enemy arms falter being struck with Fade Bolt. No magic is beyond the reach of the Grand Magus. Rubick replicates enemy specialties with Spell Steal, deciphering their secrets before turning them back towards their owners. |
Audio[edit]
History[edit]
Equipment[edit]
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Trivia[edit]
- In both DotA and Dota 2, he is the son of Aghanim. He also possesses an imitation of Aghanim's scepter as one of his cosmetic items.
- Upon using Walrus PUNCH!, Rubick launches a projectile of himself, spinning and with head ahead, towards the target. When his target is Tusk, the overhead text on the target reads "Sucker Punch!" in green colors. The text reads "Stolen Punch! on other targets.
- Rubick is named after Ernő Rubik, the Hungarian inventor who designed the "Magic Cube" (now more commonly called as the "Rubik's Cube"), a popular combination puzzle. His response, ▶️ "Now, where's my cube?", and his cosmetic item, Staff of Perplex, are also references to the Rubik's Cube.
- In DotA, Rubick couldn't steal several spells due to several reasons:
- Transformation spells caused various issues, so they all could not be stolen. The following abilities are transformation spells and thus unstealable in DotA:
- Besides transformation spells, several other spells could also not be stolen due to either engine errors or other coding conflicts:
- Since DotA only uses legacy hotkeys, he could not steal any spell which uses the hotkey X, Z and Q. The following abilities could not be stolen due to hotkey conflicts:
- Abilities with hotkey X: X Marks the Spot, Shadowraze (Medium), Tornado, Exorcism
- Abilities with hotkey Z: Shadowraze (Near), Alacrity
- Abilities with hotkey Q: None
- Due to Rubick's nature of using spells of other heroes, he has many custom animations for a lot of spells. He has custom animations for all spells of the following heroes, and for the following individual spells:
- Anti-Mage, Crystal Maiden, Dark Willow, Earthshaker, Lina, Monkey King, Nature's Prophet, Omniknight, Queen of Pain, Shadow Fiend, Sniper, Storm Spirit, Sven, Ursa and Venomancer.
- Culling Blade, Brain Sap, Fiend's Grip, Firefly, Wild Axes, Primal Roar, Wall of Replica, Black Hole, Blade Fury, Omnislash, Earth Spike, Mana Drain, Finger of Death, Leap, Void, Crippling Fear, Darkness, Shield Crash, Rolling Thunder, Meat Hook, Dismember, Life Drain, Burrowstrike, Charge of Darkness, Nether Strike, Ravage, Tree Grab, Tree Throw, Viper Strike, Shackleshot, Powershot, Windrun, Arctic Burn and Death Ward.
- All other spells share 2 generic animations and 1 generic channel animation.