2

I havent seen Riki in team battles (Captain mode).

Is it possible to play it in the top teams?

Improve this question
3
  • 6
    Not sure how this is an opinion based question. 'Is x hero viable in competitive play' is 100% valid and statistically verifiable.
    – Decency
    Commented Jun 1, 2014 at 1:30
  • 1
    @Decency thank you. If you think its not an opinion based one - please vote to reopen it. Or edit if you can make it better
    – MikroDel
    Commented Jun 1, 2014 at 9:22
  • 6
    Is the reason you haven't seen him because he's invisible? :p
    – Comic Sans Seraphim
    Commented Jun 1, 2014 at 11:56

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
9

First, you can use this site to see some recent professional games using Riki: http://www.dotacinema.com/vods ... simply go to Heroes, scroll to Agility, and select Riki. He's not incredibly popular, but here's a game from just 5 days ago where Alliance used him effectively: http://www.dotacinema.com/vods/8990#game1

The hero has been played 13 times (6 wins) in Patch 6.81, which notably buffed his backstab damage against allied units, making him able to heavily deny enemies in lane. You can see a list of games here: http://www.datdota.com/hero.php?q=Riki, or search for 6.81 specifically here: http://www.datdota.com/match_finder.php

So, Riki's primary strengths:

  • Massive midgame physical damage due to backstab
  • Stupidly high base armor and health regeneration
  • Invisibility

The main things in mind for me here are that you want to pick Riki alongside strong teamfight initiation so that people feel forced to run away. He's also strong against mobility like QoP, Storm, and Puck due to his silence plus Lifestealer and Anti-Mage for the same reason. With the typical Diffusal Blade pickup, he does well against mana-reliant heroes as well (such as Wraith King, as seen in the linked game above).

Because Riki is an invis hero, he almost definitely needs to be last picked to prevent counterpicks of silences or detection abilities. Making supports spend money on dust and sentries ties in to the greedy laning phase you usually pick along with him. The longer that supports can be kept from getting up Force Staff the scarier Riki is as a hero. After that point, he loses a lot of effectiveness and probably will need help to carry the game.

Improve this answer
0
4

He was seen a number of times combo'd with Wisp/Io before tether got nerfed, in that he would blink strike a target and they would instantly be stunned.

since tether got changed he has fallen off the radar a bit, but every hero is viable in the right circumstances.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.