General DiscussionLet's discuss riki

last sentece says it all alrdy, nothing to add

you can't play duo mid in pubs if u don't have 5k+ mmr , ppl gonna bitch so hard about their precious midlane in lower tiers

You really don't need a brain to play this hero

riiki is dead lol forget him, its nt even bout nerf its just everyone is used to him now

I can almost never win against Riki however hard I counter him with vision, dust etc. The motherf..ker always slips out of control at some point.

How come I can't use the word motherfuker anymore on this forum???

Didn't they rebuff his backstab damage back to where it was before the rework? As far as i know the only things he lost was the HP regen from invis, the charges on Blink Strike and a lot of stats. The only reason its harder to get kills is because youre much squishier and you cant repeatedly blink onto someone for stupid amounts of damage. They made the hero actually take a bit of skill to play.
He's too squishy to be played as a carry or offlaner now. Only viable as a support who can give huge map control by never showing on the map and being able to ward the enemy jungle without being seen.

no Riki doesn't suck. he's much better than before. just the survivability alone is worth so much now that's why it is viable in competitive scene.

the key now is patient, you can't just gank anyone with full health and mana before your diffusal blade with your endless jumps. At this point in the game, if you play position 4 or 5, you just harass and support and hopeful for kills during this time. if you play position 3, try to stay on your lane until you get 2 blade of alracity, boots, oov and shield before leaving your lane. you can now gank solo and after 1 or 2 kills, you can get your diff blade.

if you just walk around trying to gank without at least of what i have listed, you won't get any kill and fall behind. instead of walking around, you harass and team fight will be much better choices. Riki can snowball really really fast, he doesn't need much. when i get boots, shield, oov, diff, yasha and TP, i'm good until late late game. you can throw the smoke, purge, jump in and out of fights, and aoe and then clean up running heroes.

he is now the hardest hero to counter even if i pick first. there is just no easy way to counter riki but spend most of their resources on him and if you are playing position 3-5. you are just really costly for the other team just by being there.

He's not squishier, he lacks lane sustain cus he lost the hp regen. But his ult makes him very hard to kill now. Don't use him as a carry, he is a supporter, don't try to solo gank, gank lanes and team fight. His smoke and ult are so good in team fights. You pick off back line heroes like invoker and ember. Even if you can't kill them disrupting what they try to do with smoke will win fights. Riki doesn't need many items to be effective, just diffusal and that's it. Also go phase or tranquil boots now not treads.

My main problem with him, is that you need to get tranquils or some sort of lifesteal, i like to play as a solo offlaner, cause now you will need the xp, to sucessfull gank and get kills.
And yes, if you dont get some early gold advantage with him the game will probalbly hard, but even if you get a difusal at 24, you can still kill almost any hero solo if you are smart.
Difusal makes him goes from weak early game > strong mid game.

if he doesn't suck could you explain ur 47% winrate ? ik its vhs games but still

also you can't deny he got nerfed in pubs ( maybe not in pro scene since its a different game ) or else how did my winrate drop from 75% to 65% since the new patch , or maybe im just still trying to play him the old way & trying to get kills solo

1. pick riki vs. jungle lc
2. find lc in jungle on 2 hp 45 sec in
3. kill lc
4. ???
5. profit/win

@suomi, the reason was the MM system.

idk dude, I think the issues in your last couple matches were picks. The one I can't tell who is offlane, offlane riki is pretty bad. You need to roam. Usually you just pick off mid a couple times with your mid, or go gank their offlane for your safelane.

Try phase boots too. Not sure why you have such hp issues, don't be afraid to ferry tangoes out from the courier if you need to.

i don't really understand the concept of roaming ( not saying its bad i just don't know how to do it ) i feel like i will be doomed to be under lvled if i just roam around & even worse if make nothing happen ( fail kills ) , some games i try to bottle snipe enemy courier @ around 2 min , i just need tips i guess in how to play a roamer riki , what r the starter items? Oov sentry tango? i like buying wind lace at start then pick up a Oov at side shop idk also i played alot of games with phase boots but most those games i went for vlads for sustain , but now i feel its a waste of gold

Everyone sayng riki is easy and suck, but in most of thecases people like that suck ordont play riki at all. Its very weak hero at early stage of game, well build and good last hitting makes this hero godlike.
I played this hero both safelane and offlane and offlane is much better, always have sentrys in ur pack and lasthit creeps untill u get something.
As for people saying this hero got very much nerfed I say its totall bulshit, might be this hero is not thta powerfull like in old days, but now with its aoe ulti its kinda good with teamfights.
As for items, as for me I adore echo sabre for double backstab dmg, 2nd care item is diffusial, rest is very optional however mostly I got for desolator that grants me more dmg and armor reduction and crystalys.
Echo sabre is very loved and hated item especially on riki, but once u try it u will love it.
As for this hero - people says its shitty, mostly because they suck at it. Played well, rikimaru is really good and cool hero to play for solo hunting and for teamfights.

Ps. That was a post from NS player to NS player. Rest of the butthurt HS and VHS players please remain calm and move on.

thanks bro for the insight , im glad there is other riki's out there who also think desolator with echo sabre & daedalus is so much dmg on this hero

I prefer new Riki , can change outcome of all 3 lanes roaming plus can team fight now . In team fight unless they lock you down you can tricks of trade and usually by its end you either won team fight or if not decent chance of blink striking to safety . Over 70% winrate with Riki this month . http://www.dotabuff.com/players/144084132/matches?date=month&hero=riki&enjoyment=any&timezone=America%2FChicago

In NS Riki can be a total shitstomper with good items, especially if he is ahead... Just stack as much agility as possible.

Like, Diffusal2, Abyssal(or just basher), Butterfly/Ethereal, Skadi, Manta, Treads(Travels), is enough to have solid right click damage to kill off most non-durable heroes with similar net worth in smoke.

You don't have to get kills roaming to have an impact either. Harassing mid out of lane is worth, making them feel uncomfortable is worth. You make them so worried about not knowing you are there they play cautiously even when you're in other lanes so your mid can free farm. Same with offlane, go gank their carry so they can't farm. A lot of what riki does early is psychological. Make supports blow money on sentries too. Delay a junglers blink dagger timing.

You can also place good sentries in lane first, make supports waste their sentries by dewarding what they place, and go gank mid XD

ye umh never picking riki ever again in solo ranked , last game its like we had no fucking carry , faceless void shit farm & their PA & AM got fed , AM was tri lane & they spammed sentry wards so i went roaming other lanes to try & get kills but jk PA in mid was always safe at her tower cuz WR was pushing the lane all the time.

The result another lose with riki & im here tilting hard , this hero is making me tilt so bad now im done with him, ik it sounds cliché & cheesy but it seems everytime enemy team pick riki there is nobody to ward or gem or anything but when i pick him i get trilanes & tryhards who spam sentry from minute 1 & my team carry farm for shit.