Riki counter and synergy picks

Riki makes great use of Dark Seer's Ion Shell by Blink Striking an enemy hero and staying on top of them of to do damage along with his right clicks. This makes up for Riki's weak laning phase and lets him be a threat on enemy heroes. Later in the game, Dark Seer's Vacuum into Wall of Replica combo clumps together multiple enemy heroes and slows them for Riki to silence them with Smoke Screen and do damage with his right clicks and Tricks of the Trade.

Enigma's Eidolons make up for Riki's lack of damage and threat on the early levels to maintain some level of lane control and secure creeps. Later in the game, Enigma's Black Hole controls multiple enemy heroes who are clumped together for Riki to follow up with his Smoke Screen silence and do damage with his right clicks and Tricks of the Trade.

Riki makes great use of Grimstroke's Ink Swell by Blink Striking an enemy hero and staying on top of them with the extra movement speed to lock them down and do damage. This lets Riki follow up with Tricks of the Trade and Smoke Screen on an immobile target. Grimstroke's Soulbind also leashes two enemy heroes together in a small area, which lets Riki silence them with Smoke Screen and kill both of them with the Aghanim's Scepter upgraded Tricks of the Trade.

Riki makes great use of Lich's Frost Shield by Blink Striking an enemy hero and staying on top of them with the added movement speed slow around him. Lich's Sinister Gaze and Frost Blast also keeps an enemy hero inside Riki's Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade longer for more damage and control.

Riki's invisibility and instant jump on an enemy hero through Cloak and Dagger and Blink Strike makes him the perfect vehicle for Lifestealer with his Infest. This lets Riki jump an enemy hero and gets Lifestealer immediately on top of them to do damage with his right clicks while they cannot get out of Smoke Screen because of the movement speed slow from Open Wounds.

Magnus' Empower boosts Riki's right click damage and makes up for his lack of threat on the early levels to have more impact in the laning stage. Later in the game, Magnus' Reverse Polarity locks down and clumps together multiple enemy heroes for Riki to follow up with his Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to silence and do damage to them.

Riki likes to roam and scout the map for enemy heroes, and burst them down inside Smoke Screen with his right clicks. Nature's Prophet can join him anywhere with his global Teleportation and Wrath of Nature, and keep enemy heroes in place with Sprout so they cannot get out of Riki's Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade. This massively boosts the kill threat of both heroes on the map.

Riki makes great use of Ogre Magi's Bloodlust to stay on top of enemy heroes with the movement speed boost after Blink Striking them, as well as dish out more damage with the added attack speed. Ogre Magi's Fireblast and Ignite also help keep an enemy hero inside Riki's Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade longer to silence them and do more damage.

Riki likes to roam and scout the map for enemy heroes, and burst them down inside Smoke Screen with his right clicks. Storm Spirit can easily join him with his long range mobility through Ball Lightning, which lets both heroes get quick pickoffs with their collective damage and control through their spells and right clicks. This lets both heroes snowball through the game with the gold and experience earned from kills.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy and immobile Ancient Apparition and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down as he has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase makes killing Ancient Apparition even easier with the movement speed slow. Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade also let Riki avoid the Cold Feet freeze and the Ice Blast impact by jumping away or hiding himself.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Anti Mage to disallow him from Blinking away. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Anti Mage even more by keeping him inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. Riki can also use Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to get away when jumped by Anti Mage to avoid dying himself.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy and immobile Arc Warden inside his Magnetic Field and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down as he has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase makes killing Arc Warden even easier with the movement speed slow. Riki can also use Tricks of the Trade to avoid taking damage from Spark Wraiths that have latched onto him by hiding himself when they are about to hit.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy and immobile Chen and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down as he has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase makes killing Chen even easier with the movement speed slow. Riki's Exterminator facet also lets him do extra damage to Chen's creep army with Tricks of the Trade.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Clinkz to disallow him from becoming invisible with Skeleton Walk or jump away with Death Pack upgraded by the Engulfing Step facet. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Clinkz even more by keeping him inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy and immobile Crystal Maiden and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst her down as she has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase makes killing Crystal Maiden even easier with the movement speed slow. Riki's Smoke Screen on top of a stationary Crystal Maiden also cancels her Freezing Field channel instantly.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Drow Ranger to disallow her from pushing him away with Gust. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst her down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Drow Ranger even more by keeping her inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. Being in close vicinity of Drow Ranger with Blink Strike also disallows her to proc her ultimate on right clicks.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Io to disallow him from Tethering away, as well as stops the Relocate channel. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. Riki can also throw a Smoke Screen on the spot where Io Relocated to disallow him and his Tethered partner to immediately silence them. Riki can also do the same on the spot where Io relocated from to kill him with Tricks of the Trade during the Smoke Screen silence upon his return.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him close the gap on a slow and squishy Invoker and do massive backstab damage. Blink Strike along with Tricks of the Trade also let Riki dodge Invoker's EMP and the rest of his spell combo to keep the upper hand in the matchup. Later in the game, Invoker is always an easy kill for Riki with Diffusal Blade, Blink Strike, and Smoke Screen.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence Juggernaut to disallow him from using Blade Fury or Omnislash. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Juggernaut even more by keeping him inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. Riki's Tricks of the Trade and Blink Strike also let him avoid the Blade Fury and Omnislash damage by jumping away or hiding himself.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy Keeper of the Light and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down as he has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase counters Keeper of the Light's high movement speed by slowing him down. Riki's Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade also let him dodge the Illuminate damage by jumping away or hiding himself, while the Blinding Light miss chance doesn't affect Tricks of the Trade attacks.

Riki's Smoke Screen silences Kez in its AoE and prevents him from moving around or dealing damage with his spells, effectively nullifying him completely. Once Riki gets Diffusal Blade, it becomes easier to keep a squishy Kez inside Smoke Screen and burst him down while he cannot get away.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence Lifestealer to disallow him from using Rage. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Lifestealer even more by keeping him inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. Riki's Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade also let him kite Lifestealer during Open Wounds by jumping away or hiding himself.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Mirana to disallow her from Leaping away. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst her down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Mirana even more by keeping her inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade also make it really difficult for Mirana to ever land a Sacred Arrow on Riki.

Riki's mobility with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade easily lets him dodge the damage from Monkey King's Primal Spring and Boundless Strike. The same spells also let Riki get away and prevent the buildup of Jingu Mastery stacks. Once Riki becomes invisible with Cloak and Dagger, he can wait for Monkey King on creep waves, and silence him inside Smoke Screen to prevent him from getting away, which leads to easy kills.

Riki's Blink Strike into Smoke Screen lets him get on top of a squishy Queen of Pain and silence her to prevent her from Blinking Away and burst her down with his right clicks and Tricks of the Trade. The matchup gets even worse for Queen of Pain once Riki becomes invisible through Cloak and Dagger and purchases a Diffusal Blade, which lets him easily keep Queen of Pain inside the Smoke Screen AoE to burst her down.

A Disruption save for a teammate of SD can easily turn into set up for an enemy Riki as he can preemptively place Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade on top of it. Tricks of the Trade can be timed to avoid the damage of Demonic Purge and Shadow Poison.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy Skywrath Mage and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down as he has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase counters Skywrath Mage's high movement speed by slowing him down. Riki can also use Tricks of the Trade to dodge the Rod of Atos root and Concussive Shot damage, as well as use Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to avoid the Mystic Flare burst damage.

Riki's Blink Strike lets him get on top of a squishy and immobile Sniper and follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down as he has no natural ability to get out of the Smoke Screen AoE. Riki's Diffusal Blade purchase makes killing Sniper even easier with the movement speed slow. The Smoke Screen silence also disallows Sniper to jump away using Concussive Grenade once he has Aghanim's Shard. Tricks of the Trade also lets Riki dodge the Assassinate damage by hiding himself when its about to hit him.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Storm Spirit to disallow him from using Ball Lightning. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki burns Storm Spirit's precious mana on right clicks, and slows him down to keep him inside the Smoke Screen AoE. Tricks of the Trade and Blink Strike also let Riki avoid the Static Remnant damage by moving away from its burst radius.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence Ursa to disallow him from using Enrage or Earthshock. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Ursa even more by keeping him inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. The miss chance from Smoke Screen also stops Ursa from fighting back with Fury Swipes stacks on his right clicks.

Riki's Smoke Screen from invisibility through Cloak and Dagger lets him silence a squishy Weaver to disallow him from using Shukuchi or Time Lapse. This lets Riki follow up with Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to burst him down. The Diffusal Blade purchase on Riki enables killing Weaver even more by keeping him inside the Smoke Screen AoE with the movement speed slow. Riki can also avoid letting The Swarm beetles latch onto him by using Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to get out of their path.

The taunt from Axe's Berseker's Call makes Riki attack him by force and not remain invisible through Cloak and Dagger, or use Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade to do more damage or get away. Axe can also proc Counter Helix through the Smoke Screen silence once it reaches enough attack counters. Axe's high HP pool and tanky item purchases also makes it extremely difficult for Riki to ever burst him down, even after he gets Diffusal Blade.

Bounty Hunter's Track reveals Riki through his Cloak and Dagger invisibility, which is his main asset of roaming and setting up kills. Until he purchases a Manta Style or gets to level 25 for the Dispel talent on Tricks of the Trade, Riki has no way to take off Track and finds it extremely difficult to play around it. Bounty Hunter's high armor also makes him relatively tanky against Riki's physical damage.

Bristleback takes reduced damage when getting hit from the back because of his passive Bristleback ability. This massively counters Riki as his Blink Strike lands him behind Bristleback for right clicks, and his Tricks of the Trade also strikes enemy units from behind in its AoE. Bristleback also releases Quill Spray or Viscous Nasal Goo from the Bristleback damage threshold, depending on the facet he selected, which reflects damage back to Riki or deters him from fighting because of the armor reduction.

Centaur Warrunner's high HP gain and tanky item purchases make it extremely difficult for Riki to ever burst him down, even after he gets Diffusal Blade. Centaur's Retaliate still reflects damage inside the Smoke Screen silence to do damage back to Riki, unless he is hidden with Tricks of the Trade. If Centaur isn't the Smoke Screen target, he can use Stampede to get his teammate out of the AoE of Riki's spells and save them as Diffusal Blade does not slow movement speed during Centaur's ultimate.

Chaos Knight and his Phantasm illusions can divide the damage of Riki's Trick of the Trade and tank it together because of their high HP pool. Once a squishy Riki comes out of Tricks of the Trade, Chaos Knight and his illusions easily burst him down during the Chaos Bolt stun and Reality Rift pull. The Chaos Strike procs on right clicks from Chaos Knight still provide lifesteal and heal him up inside the Smoke Screen silence.

Dragon Knight's Dragon Blood innate provides him massive armor and HP regen with levels to go with his naturally high HP pool to tank Riki's physical damage. This makes it extremely difficult for Riki to ever burst him down, even after he gets Diffusal Blade. Dragon Knight is also not bothered too much by the Smoke Screen silence, as long as he is in Elder Dragon Form, and can simply stand his ground to fight against a squishy Riki.

Legion Commander's Duel forces Riki to attack him and not remain invisible through his Cloak and Dagger. Riki also right clicks Legion Commander from the front during Duel, which massively reduces his damage output and gives Legion Commander the upper hand in the fight to get easy Duel wins and accumulate damage throughout the game. Legion Commander's Moment of Courage also procs on right clicks inside the Smoke Screen silence.

Meepo's Earthbind root latches onto Riki even when he is invisible through Cloak and Dagger, revealing him and making him unable to cast Blink Strike and Tricks of the Trade. Meepo and his clones can chain Root a squishy Riki in this way and burst him down easily with Poof and right clicks. Meepo and his clone can also tank Tricks of the Trade together to not get bursted down by Riki inside the Smoke Screen AoE.

Nyx Assassin's Nyxth Sense innate reveals Riki through his Cloak and Dagger invisibility when the two heroes are close to each other. This puts Riki at a major disadvantage when Nyx Assassin scouts him while he is invisible himself through Vendetta. As such, Nyx Assassin can surprise and kill a squishy Riki with his Vendetta hit and follow up spell combo. A well timed Spiked Carapace can also stun Riki if he uses Blink Strike on Nyx Assassin, which doesn't let him follow up with Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade.

Slardar's Corrosive Haze reveals Riki through his Cloak and Dagger invisibility, which is his main asset of roaming and setting up kills. Until he purchases a Manta Style or gets to level 25 for the Dispel talent on Tricks of the Trade, Riki has no way to take off Corrosive Haze and finds it extremely difficult to play around it. Slardar's high HP pool also makes him relatively tanky against Riki's physical damage, and he can still proc Bash of the Deep inside the Smoke Screen silence.

Spectre's Spectral Dagger can hit Riki through his Cloak and Dagger invisibility, which reveals him but doesn't make him targetable. This makes it extremely difficult for Riki to hide or run away, and gives an easy opportunity to Spectre's team to Dust and kill him. Spectre can also proc Desolate on right clicks inside the Smoke Screen silence, while her Dispersion returns a lot of Riki's damage back to him to threaten his life, unless he is hidden during Tricks of the Trade.

Atrophy Aura reduces BASE attack damage and Riki loves stacking Agility as it scales with Backstab. Pit of Malice reveals invisible units making it a potent counter to his core mechanic Cloak and Dagger. Pit of Malice and Firestorm can be placed on top of Tricks of the Trade to instantly root and damage Riki as he exits it, also preventing him from using Blink Strike. Agility stacking means high armor making Firestorm quite effective against Riki's high armor but low HP pool.

Viper's attack speed slow through Nethertoxin and Corrosive Skin, which isn't silenced inside Smoke Screen, makes it difficult for Riki to dish out his physical damage after he Blink Strikes on top of him. This makes Riki rely on Tricks of the Trade for damage, which is not enough on its own to finish off a tanky Viper. Viper's Viper Strike also breaks and reveals a squishy Riki through his Cloak and Dagger invisibility, which makes him susceptible to dying to Poison Attack stacks.

Zeus' Lightning Bolt provides true sight in a small area, and can latch onto an invisible Riki if he is close enough to the spot where Lightning Bolt was originally casted to do massive damage to him. This puts pressure on Riki to Blink Strike and silence Zeus inside Smoke Screen, which can possibly be avoided if Zeus jumps away quickly with Heavenly Jump before getting silenced. Once Zeus gets Aghanim's Scepter, his Nimbus becomes a global tool to reveal Riki alongside Thundergod's Wrath.