This silent assassin has overthrown empires and obliterated his enemies. He is known to be quick and slippery, not all are blessed enough to see him. Riki is the ultimate carry hero. Riki is a threat if paired with the right support in the lane. He can snowball quite easily if fed off a few kills.
We bring you the Best 10 Counters to Riki in the current patch, these heroes are exceptionally powerful against Riki and can decimate this pesky goat assassin.
10. Bristleback
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Bristleback has been a thorn in the side for every other hero in the game in the recent meta. He takes no damage while dealing quite a ton of damage and neutralizing his foes! Often considered to be an obnoxious laner, he is hated with passion by millions of dota players all over the world! He is quite the fun hero to play since all he does is spam his spells, which he can do effortlessly as his insanely high armor backs him!
Why is Bristleback a great counter to Riki?
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.
Items to buy on Bristleback
Ethereal Shroud - Converts magical damage into mana upon usage and passively offers spell lifesteal
Kaya and Sange - Increased mana regen and overall stat gain
Octraine Core - Provides spell lifesteal and stats
Blademail - Reflects back Tiny’s damage upon activation
People often ignore and fail to understand the importance of a healer in their games. Omniknight is not only known to provide heals but he also can dispel most debuffs and provides himself and his allies with increased strength for a decent duration, which is exceptional against Gyrocopter. His ultimate is also the saving grace for his team, as it blocks physical damage for the whole team which is great for protection against the high damage inflicted by the nefarious Omniknight.
What makes Omniknight great against Riki?
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.
Items to buy on Omniknight
Aether Lens - Increased cast range
Guardian Greaves - Provides dispel and heals the entire team
Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape from Riki
Lotus Orb - Reflects targetted spells
Aghanim’s Scepter - Global Guardian Angel, can save allies from Void’s immense damage in the Chronosphere from anywhere on the map
Whenever there’s a Meepo in a pub game, chances are he is either a smurf or even better, someone, trying him out for the first time! Jokes aside, Meepo is an extremely powerful hero but there is a catch, he requires extreme amounts of practice and dedication. Everything from your map awareness to micro-skills needs to be on point, even your keybind setup! That’s the reason why this hero ranks number 1 on this list, Meepo isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
Why is Meepo a great hero counter to Riki?
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.
Items to buy on Meepo
Blink Dagger - Blink is exceptional to close the gap or chasing the elusive Riki
Eye of Skadi - Exceptional to reduce movement speed, while also offering stats and reducing Riki’s regen speed
Scythe of Vyse - Excellent disable that prevents Riki from escaping
Dragon Lance - Immense stats, great during the early game
Heart of Tarrasque - Increased HP, useful to survive the massive burst damage from Riki
The electrifying rage of Razor is quite unmatched in the new meta. Most melee heroes like Sven do not fare well versus this beast, this includes a lot of carry heroes as well. Having high movement speed and AoE damage ensures that he does not escape alive! Razor can also out farm Sven, giving him the upper hand. Razor quickly snowballs in under 15 mins with the right items. His high movespeed can prove to be fatal against slow movement speed heroes right from the early game.
Why is Razor a great counter to Riki?
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.
Items to Buy on Razor
Assault Cuirass - Immense armor gain, also reduces Riki’s armor at the same time
Refresher’s Orb - Can refresh spells and items and use them again in quick succession to delete Riki from the fight
Shiva’s Guard - Can effortlessly push lanes and provides increased armor which is essential against Riki
Aghanim’s Shard - Ultimate affects buildings and deals immense damage to heroes as well
Heaven’s Halberd - Can disarm Riki, making her unable to attack for a few seconds
Blademail - Reflects back Riki’s damage upon activation
Spectre is a melee carry, which is already a disadvantageous position to be in, despite all the odds, Spectre manages to triumph by naturally being a tanky hero and farming faster than her foes in the early game. The late-game potential to quickly solo kill squishy heroes and supports from anywhere on the map is unmatched by any other carry in the game! All you need is a few items to face against an entire team alone.
Why is Spectre a great counter to Riki?
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 his opponents, which is countered by Dispersion.
Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
Items to buy on Spectre
Blademail - Reflects back Riki’s damage upon activation
Radiance - Burn damage prevents Riki from blinking away, can also be useful in pushing lanes
Diffusal Blade - Slows Riki and burns his mana
Abyssal Blade - Can be used to quickly lock down Riki after blinking on top of him, allowing you to beat him down with the physical damage
The venomous Viper knows no bounds and is on the same list when it comes to the most hated heroes in the game. Most players can benefit from playing this hero as they get to know about the basic DPS mechanics along with the advantage of having multiple different item builds according to the game. Melee heroes despise him as he makes your presence and impact disappear from the game! The break applied from Nethertoxin quite literally ruins the game for most heroes with strong passives.
Why is Viper great against Riki?
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.
Items to Buy on Viper
Kaya and Sange - Increased stats and movement speed gain
Aghanim’s Scepter - Reduces ultimate’s cooldown, allowing him to be more offensive on Tiny, also pierces spell immunity.
Rod of Atos - Helpful to lock Tiny down, can also be upgraded into Glepnir later on.
Dragon Lance - Increased stats gain, Hurricane Pike can also be a viable upgrade
Blade Mail - Reflects back damage to Tiny if used on time
The almighty and resilient Underlord is relatively a new hero but he is highly notorious for being a tanky and a beefy boi. His high base HP and armor have made him a worthy hero on this list. His impressive skill set is just the cherry on top, allowing his allies to escape and trapping his foes in the Pit of Malice. It’s quite a treat to see a farmed and fat Underlord take no damage from the equally farmed enemy carry!
Why is Underlord such a great counter to Riki?
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 harass Riki in the lane.
Items to buy on Underlord
Blademail - Reflects back Riki’s damage upon activation
Lotus Orb - Reflects targetted spells hence can also be used to prevent spells
Shiva’s Guard - Can effortlessly push lanes and provides increased armor which is essential against Riki
Pipe of Insight - Provides immense magic damage block on activation, and affects the whole team.
Crimson Guard - Provides immense physical damage block, also affects the whole team
Rod of Atos - Allows him to lock Riki down and prevents him from using any spells
Doing immense physical damage right off the bat is quite unheard of in the early stages of the game, but Axe is one noble exception! A few Counter Helix spins and boom you’re dead! It gets messy to communicate with your team as you have more units around you, the more damage the Axe Call does. No matter how farmed you are as a carry hero, all it takes is one Axe Blink Call to get you down to 0 HP in no time.
Why is Axe a great counter to Mars?
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.
Items to Buy on Axe
Blink Dagger - Great for gap closing or initiating
Blademail - Reflects back Riki’s damage upon activation
Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity from all of Riki’s Smoke Screen, making you invulnerable in the fight
Force Staff - Another great tool to close gaps or escape from Riki
Crimson Guard - Provides immense physical damage block, also affects the whole team
Zeus proves to be one of the best mid laners regardless of your status as a new or experienced player, this is highly attributed to his extreme DPS spells and wave clearance abilities. He is a must-play hero as he is very annoying against his enemies right from the laning phase. He can dish out some serious damage with spells and constantly harass his opponents. He is also infamous for having the potential to solo kill enemies from miles away on the map with the right items and levels.
Why is Zeus a great counter to Riki?
Zeus's Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath provide a short duration of True Sight, revealing Riki while possibly dealing a heavy amount of damage.
Zeus's 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.
Items to buy on Zeus
Octraine Core - Provides spell lifesteal and stats
Refresher’s Orb - Can refresh spells and items and use them again in quick succession to delete Riki from the fight
Arcane Blink - Great for gap closing or initiating, low mana cost on spells and items on usage
Bloodstone - Increased mana and HP usage
Aghanim’s Scepter - Provides Nimbus which is essential for teamfights in the late game
Hailing from the deep seas in the menacing Slardar. His looks are quite enough to scare his foes away, his crushing spells and damage pierce through his enemies’ armor. Slardar is quite underestimated in the current patch, due to a few minor buffs but he is the right fit for league players as he is quite easy to play and his mechanics aren’t complicated either. He can escape with Sprint and initiate with Slithereen Crush, and even track his foes with Corrosive Haze, giving vision of their whereabouts and reducing armor under the track effect.
What makes Slardar a great counter to Riki?
Corrosive Haze works much like Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed bonus, it instead melts 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.
Items to buy on Slardar
Blink Dagger - Great for gap closing or initiating
Shadow Blade - Provides invisibility which can be used to escape or set up on Riki
Black King Bar - Provides spell immunity, making you invulnerable in the fight
Aghanim’s Shard - Slithreen Crush applies Corrosive Haze on usage
Assault Cuirass - Immense armor gain, also reduces Riki’s armor at the same time
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