Riki
From Liquipedia Dota 2 Wiki
(Redirected from Tricks of the Trade)
Riki
18 + 2
30 + 2.4
14 + 1.3
| Grants the following bonuses per level: | |
|
+44HP and +0.2HP regeneration |
|
+0.4 armor and 2.4 attack speed +2.4 Main Attack Damage |
|
+15.6MP and +0.065MP regeneration +0.1% base magic resistance |
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Instant Projectile Speed
| ||
90 (120)
(1.7 BAT) | ||
0.3 + 0.3
| ||
0.6
| ||
Default
Gib Type | ||
2011-10-13
Released | ||
2004-02-03
(0.60) | ||
Competitive Span
2011-10-13 — 2015-12-16 2016-04-25 — Present | ||
Version Control This article has been updated to the latest version (7.40b) and is mostly accurate. |
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| Remains permanently invisible until the moment to strike. | |
|---|---|
| Leaving his past life behind, Riki escaped the royal grounds using his own Cloak-and-Dagger methods. Stealthy and fond of killing from behind, Riki throws down a dense Smoke Screen, blinding and choking foes as he takes them by surprise with Blink Strike. Intruders who enter his turf is greeted with twin daggers, flashes of steel that slash simultaneously at every turned back while the master himself remains unseen. How this feat is accomplished remains a mystery, for the Stealth Assassin is not one to divulge his Tricks of the Trade. | |
      | |
| Roles: |  Carry  Escape  Disabler |
| Adjectives | Bearded, Blue, Horns, Nose Legs ( 2 ) |
Cutthroat
This facet doesn't do anything. Riki is still looking to avenge the House of Tahlin...
Upgrades
[edit]Aghanim's
[edit]
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade:
Enables casting Tricks of the Trade on allied units, Riki hides within and moves along with the unit-targeted allied unit with movement speed bonus upon cast.
Casting on an allied unit increases the max attack targets, the number of instant attacks, and its max duration.
Increases cast range.
Casting on an allied unit increases the max attack targets, the number of instant attacks, and its max duration.
Increases cast range.
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade:
Causes enemy units to be untargetable by their allies, while reducing armor of all enemy units caught within the Smoke Screen.
Talents
[edit] | ||
|---|---|---|
| +500 Blink Strike Cast Range | 25 | -1.25s Cloak and Dagger Fade Delay |
| -1s Blink Strike Cooldown | 20 | +0.3 Backstab  Agility Factor |
| -3s Smoke Screen Cooldown | 15 | x0.15 Tricks of the Trade Instant Attack Damage Bonus Factor |
| +10% Cloak and Dagger Move Speed | 10 | +50 Smoke Screen Radius |
| ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ ▃ +2 All / / Attributes | ||
Bio
[edit]There are none so stabbed as those who will not see.▶️Riki, the Stealth Assassin
Aliases:
SA, Stealth Assassin
Lore:
Riki was born middle child to the great dynasty of Tahlin. With an older brother groomed for the throne, and a younger brother coddled and kept, Riki, the small middle son, seemed born for the art of invisibility. It was an art he cultivated, and one which ultimately saved his life on the night that his people were betrayed and his family slaughtered. Of all the royal line, he alone escaped—small and agile, unassuming, using smoke as cover. He cut his way out of the royal grounds, using the advantage of surprise, quietly slitting the throats of one enemy warrior after another. Now free of his royal responsibilities, Riki uses his talents in service to a new trade: Stealth Assassin. He silences his enemies, sharpening his skills, hoping to one day take revenge on those who killed his family and robbed him of his birthright.
Voice:
Backstab
[edit]
- The red circular segment represents the valid Backstab angle, with point
being the affected enemy unit.
- The red circular segment represents the valid Backstab angle, with point
- Backstab is a bonus conditional attack damage source and has the following properties:
- The self- agility to enemy hero bonus attack damage values are directly added to Riki's attack damage in the combat log and not displayed on the HUD, and is defined as:
- EXPR
DmgBonus = (AgiBonus × (0.6 + 0.3)) + AgiBonus × 0.05 × RikiLVL
- Considers
clones, 
illusions, and 
creep-heroes as heroes.
- The self-
- Does not interact with the following sources:
- Interacts with the following sources:
Allied units.-
Lifesteal sources.
Critical strike sources.
Cleave sources.
Damage block sources.
- Although the ability's sound effect plays at the start of the attack, the bonus conditional attack damage is applied on the attack hit.
- Backstab is a bonus conditional attack damage source and has the following properties:
Non-functional.
Howver, the ability sound effects are played for camouflaging purposes.
Howver, the ability sound effects are played for camouflaging purposes.
Disables the ability.
modifier_riki_backstab
Hidden modifier
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_PREATTACK_BONUS_DAMAGE_PROCMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_LANDEDMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_DEATHMODIFIER_PROPERTY_TRANSLATE_ACTIVITY_MODIFIERSMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACK_FINISHEDHero Model
[edit]
Details
Hidden Innate Abilities
Tap on the 
innate abilities for more details.
innate abilities for more details.Abilities
[edit]Smoke Screen
[edit]
Area
Affects
Enemy Units / Self
Throws down a smoke bomb that blinds and silences enemy units.
Cast Animation: 0.2 + 0
Cast Range: 
550
550 Effect Radius: 
425 (
475)
425 ( 475) Miss Chance: 30%/45%/60%/75%
Silence Duration: 6
Aura Linger Duration: 0.05
Armor Reduction: ( 5)
5) 
Smoke Screen has an instant cast time while channeling Tricks of the Trade.
Cast Animation: 
0 + 0
0 + 0
Aghanim's Shard Upgrade
Causes enemy units to be untargetable by their allies, while reducing armor of all enemy units caught within the Smoke Screen.
Causes enemy units to be untargetable by their allies, while reducing armor of all enemy units caught within the Smoke Screen.
17/15/13/11 (
14/12/10/8)
14/12/10/8)
65/70/75/80
Since his escape during the night of his betrayal, Riki has valued the use of a simple smoke screen to confuse his opponents.
- Can affect enemy units at max 975 ( 1025)-distance away with the cast range and effect radius.
- Can affect enemy units at max
riki_smoke_screen- Creates a non-lingering negative aura at centerpoint
that applies the following ability effects within the radius upon cast:
- Recasting the ability do not update the current ability values on already affected enemy units, but refreshes its duration.
Silence
- Blind uses
pseudo-random distribution. - Stacks additively with other blind sources and multiplicatively with
evasion sources.
- Blind uses
- Smoke Screen of different sources works independently of each other.
- Multiple overlapping Smoke Screen radius do not stack.
- Does not affect the following units:
Hidden units.
Invulnerable units.
- Enemy units within the Smoke Screen radius are now
untargetable by their allies.
- Any attack or
unit-targeting abilities of their allies that are already in its attack or cast animation is canceled. - Does not affect the following properties of the enemy units within the radius:
Selection box.- Does not prevent
Spell Reflection sources. - Does not disjoint incoming
projectiles for enemy units. - Certain abilities can bypass unselectability conditionally, while almost every other ability cast by their ally treats the affected enemy targets as if they were invisible.
- Any attack or
- Creates a non-lingering negative aura at centerpoint
- While channeling Tricks of the Trade, Smoke Screen has the following ability effects as long as the
area-targeted location is within the cast range:
- Has an instant cast time.
- Does not require
facing the area-targeted location to cast. - Except with
▣ Channeled Abilities Require Hold/Stopenabled, Riki cannot cast Smoke Screen while channeling Tricks of the Trade.
- Has an
- While channeling Tricks of the Trade, Smoke Screen has the following ability effects as long as the
modifier_riki_smoke_screen_thinkerOn Hidden Entity
modifier_riki_smoke_screen
Smoke Screen: Silenced. Vision Reduced. Missing x% of attacks. Move Speed slowed.
MODIFIER_STATE_SILENCEDMODIFIER_PROPERTY_MISS_PERCENTAGEMODIFIER_PROPERTY_PHYSICAL_ARMOR_BONUSMODIFIER_PROPERTY_DODGE_PROJECTILEMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_HERO_KILLEDBlink Strike
[edit]
Teleports behind the target unit, momentarily slowing and striking them with attack damage bonus if it is an enemy.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0
Move Speed Slow: 100%
Slow Duration: 0.5
Instant attacks and applies Backstab of the corresponding level on the unit-targeted enemy, regardless of the enemy's facing angle.
Instant Attack Factor: 1
Attack Damage Bonus: 15/30/45/60
Buff Duration: 0.1
Does not break the Cloak and Dagger invisibility component upon cast in certain conditions, but not other invisibility sources.
13/10/7/4 (
12/9/6/3)
12/9/6/3)50/55/60/65
The Stealth Assassin's agile movement makes him impossible to escape.
- This ability explicitly does not proc Counterspell-based abilities' Spell Reflection component.
-
- Does not break Cloak and Dagger's
invisibility upon cast, but not other invisibility sources.
- Does not break Cloak and Dagger's
- The ability effects are applied as follows:
-
- Teleports Riki a random angle behind the unit-targeted enemy.
- Cannot be cast on the following units:
Buildings
Couriers of all factions.- Hidden units.
- Invulnerable units.
Ward-type units- Does not disjoint incoming projectiles.
- However, Blink Strike's ability effects are still visible to everyone.
- Teleports Riki a random angle behind the
- Applies the
movement speed slow. - Applies Backstab of its corresponding level.
-
riki_blinkstrike
- Grants self a 15/30/45/60-second buff that applies the following ability effects:
- Applies an ensured Backstab agility as bonus conditional attack damage instance of its corresponding level, regardless of the enemy unit's facing angle.
- Breaks Cloak and Dagger's invisibility upon applying the instant attack component.
- The instant attack with a flat
physical 
attack damage as one damage instance within the combat log.
- Does not procs
attack modifiers. - Does not have
True Strike. - Not affected by
disarm sources. - Has the following interactions with Riki's base attack time:
- Does not apply the instant attack component if Riki casts Blink Strike between attacks.
- Does not procs
- Applies an ensured Backstab
- Grants self a 15/30/45/60-second buff that applies the following ability effects:
Upon the Spell Reflection source proc, Riki first teleports next to the unit-targeted enemy, then the target teleports next to Riki.
teleports next to the unit-targeted enemy, then the target teleports next to Riki.
Applies the instant attack component on the secondary target when unit-targeted on the primary target.
Other ability effects are applied to both the primary and the secondary target.
Riki then appears behind the primary target.
instant attack component on the secondary target when unit-targeted on the primary target.Other ability effects are applied to both the primary and the secondary target.
Riki then appears behind the primary target.
modifier_riki_blinkstrikeHidden Modifier
modifier_riki_blinkstrike_slow
Blink Strike: Movement speed reduced by x%.
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_PERCENTAGE-
- The Spell Reflection mechanic is based on
Spell Block, and it resolves before the ability procing does.
- For abilities like Blink Strike, a
lotus_orb_delaywas added to Spell Reflection sources on the first
server tick to remove itself. - This effectively allows Blink Strike to resolve first, to prevent the Spell Reflection source from teleporting to Riki.
- For abilities like Blink Strike, a
- The Spell Reflection mechanic is based on
Tricks of the Trade
[edit]
Phases out of the world while striking random enemy units from behind in an area around him.
Cast Animation: 0.3 + 0
Effect Radius: 425
425 Max Attack Targets: 2
Max Channel Time: 2
Max Instant Attacks: 4
Spell Damage Bonus: 25/50/75/100
Instant Attack Damage Factor: (
0.15)
0.15) Applies an ensured Backstab bonus attack damage, regardless of the enemy's facing angle.
Does not break the Cloak and Dagger invisibility component upon cast, but not other invisibility sources.
Aghanim's Scepter Upgrade
Enables casting Tricks of the Trade on allied units, Riki hides within and moves along with the unit-targeted allied unit with movement speed bonus upon cast.
Casting on an allied unit increases the max attack targets, the number of instant attacks, and its max duration.
Increases cast range.
Enables casting Tricks of the Trade on allied units, Riki hides within and moves along with the unit-targeted allied unit with movement speed bonus upon cast.
Casting on an allied unit increases the max attack targets, the number of instant attacks, and its max duration.
Increases cast range.
Ally Max Channel Time: ( 3)
3) Max Instant Attacks: ( 6)
6) Ally Move Speed Bonus: ( 15%)
15%) 21/18/15/12
65
The Stealth Assassin is not afraid to fight dirty, and specializes in attacking his opponents from behind.
- Has the following targeting functionalities:
Doubletap automatically casts the ability at the 
point-targeted location.-
-
- Can affect enemy units at max 825 ( 1125)-distance away with the cast range and effect radius.
- Doubletap automatically casts the ability at the point-targeted location.
- Can affect enemy units at max
-
- Enables Tricks of the Trade casting on allied units.
- When unit-targeted, all ability effects are now centered on the unit-targeted ally, follows it as it moves, and continues at its
death location upon death.
- Other ability effects affecting Riki still apply.
- Considers clones, illusions, and the Spirit Bear as heroes; ally Couriers and other creep-heroes as creeps.
- When unit-targeted, all ability effects are now centered on the unit-targeted ally, follows it as it moves, and continues at its
- Enables Tricks of the Trade casting on allied units.
- The ability cast and channeling component applies the following ability effects as follows:
- Grants a 2-second 450-radius flying vision centered around the targeted location.
- Disjoint incoming projectiles.
-
- Has the following properties while channeling:
- Hidden
- Invulnerability
Phase movement.- Untargetable
- Smoke Screen has the following ability effects as long as the area-targeted location is within the cast range:
- Has an instant cast time.
- Does not require facing the area-targeted location to cast.
- Continues with all ability effects even when the channeling is interrupted.
- However, newly
shift-queue orders now interrupt and cancel Tricks of the Trade.
- However, newly
- Has an
- The following item abilities specifically interrupts the channeling component:
- Reappears at the center of the radius after when the channeling is interrupted in any way.
- Has the following properties while channeling:
- Applies Backstab of its corresponding level, regardless of the affected enemy unit's facing angle.
-
- Instant attacks in 0.667 ( 0.6)-second intervals on enemy targets within the radius, starting immediately upon cast, over its duration.
- The instant attack damage is defined as:
- EXPR
InstantAtk = 25/50/75/100 + ((BaseAtk + ΣAgi + BonusAtk) × 0 OR 0.15) - Learning the base attack damage as instant attack damage bonus talent does not update the current active instance.
- Considers the following attack damage sources:
- Proc any attack modifiers and on-cast effects as per normal.
- Do not have True Strike.
- Not affected by disarm sources.
- Specifically do not break the following invisibility sources:
- Disguise-based abilities.
- Cloak and Dagger, regardless of the visual cooldown on the HUD.
- The instant attack damage is defined as:
- Affects the following units:
- Does not affect the following units:
- Invisible units.
- Instant attacks in 0.667 (
-
- The increased instant attack instances and increased duration only applied to an allied unit cast.
- The increased
modifier_riki_tricks_of_the_trade_phaseHidden Modifier
MODIFIER_STATE_ATTACK_IMMUNEMODIFIER_STATE_OUT_OF_GAMEMODIFIER_STATE_INVULNERABLEMODIFIER_STATE_UNSELECTABLEMODIFIER_STATE_NO_UNIT_COLLISIONMODIFIER_STATE_NO_HEALTH_BARMODIFIER_PROPERTY_INVISIBLITY_LEVELMODIFIER_PROPERTY_DISABLE_AUTOATTACKMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ORDERMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_DEATHMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_HERO_KILLED
s modifier_riki_tricks_of_the_tradeHidden Modifier
MODIFIER_EVENT_ON_DEATH modifier_riki_tricks_of_the_trade_speedTricks of the Trade: Riki is hiding in your pocket! Movement speed is increased.
MODIFIER_PROPERTY_MOVESPEED_BONUS_PERCENTAGE-
- The ability visual effects indicating the instant attack radius are visible to everyone.
- However, a part of the radius indicating visual effects on the ground does not follow Riki and stays at the cast location.
- The ability visual effects indicating the
-
- If Riki turns while casting the ability, Riki changes his direction each time he attacks the affected enemy unit within the radius.
- After each attack, Riki turns back to the original direction until the next attack.
Cloak and Dagger
[edit]
Passive
Affects
Self
Riki fades into the shadows, becoming invisible. When Riki attacks, he becomes visible again.
Fade Delay: 4/3/2 (
2.75/1.75/0.75)
2.75/1.75/0.75) Move Speed Bonus: (
10%)
10%) 
Enemy hero kills and assists grants Riki additional experience.
Kill XP Bonus: 
130/260/390
130/260/390 Assist XP Bonus: 100
100 Riki comes for you.
- This ability has two main components:
- Riki will keep turning invisible as long as he is not affected by
break sources.
- Immediately turns Riki invisible in the following conditions:
- Upon
reincarnation sources proc. - When Riki respawns.
- Upon
- Immediately turns Riki invisible in the following conditions:
- During the fade delay, the affected unit can still attack and cast abilities.
- Grants bonus movement speed while fully invisible.
- Does not grant phase movement.
- Sources with fade delays utilize the
invisiblebuff.- Buff sources of the same modifier do not stack, the longer duration buff takes precedence when the same modifier is applied.
- Riki can pick up, drop items, or toggle itmes
/ 
without breaking invisibility. - The invisibility breaks upon attack point, or the abilities' cast point.
- Riki will keep turning invisible as long as he is not affected by
- This ability component is an
on-death effect, and does not grant Riki the bonus experience when the dying enemy hero has reincarnation sources. - Considers Meepo Clones as heroes; other clones, illusions and creep-heroes as creeps.
- This ability component is an
Only the invisibility component is fully functional.
invisibility component is fully functional. modifier_invisibleInvisible
MODIFIER_STATE_INVISIBLEMODIFIER_PROPERTY_INVISIBILITY_LEVELMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_ATTACKMODIFIER_EVENT_ABILITY_EXECUTEDMODIFIER_EVENT_ON_BREAK_INVISIBILITY-
- The fade delay is shown visually as the ability's cooldown whenever the invisibility is broken, it is neither affected by cooldown reduction nor cooldown reset sources.
- The following sources affect the cooldown visually, however, it does not interact with the fade delay in any way:
- The fade delay is shown visually as the ability's cooldown whenever the
Recent Matches
[edit]Main Article: Riki/Matches
| Date | Tier | Tournament | Picks | Score | vs. Picks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 7, 2026 - 16:00 SGT | Qualifier |   | SEA OQ2 DreamLeague S28 |      |  | 0 : 1 | |      | |
| January 4, 2026 - 15:00 CST | Qualifier |   | OQ1 ESL Challenger CN |     | | 0 : 1 |   |     | |
| December 27, 2025 - 20:10 MSK | Tier 4 |  | STORM CUP Season 1 - Playoffs |   | | 0 : 1 | |      | |
| December 27, 2025 - 15:10 MSK | Tier 4 |  | Bidask Dota 2 Winter Cup - Playoffs |   | | 0 : 1 | |     | |
| December 24, 2025 - 21:15 CET | Tier 3 |   | CIS Battle 4 - December 24 |     | | 0 : 1 |   |  |
Recent Changes
[edit]Description
- Rescaled Tricks of the Trade attack damage bonus from 30/50/70/90 to 25/50/75/100.
- REMOVED the following facets:
- Contract Killer
Exterminator
- CHANGED Backstab ability operations:
- CHANGED from applying conditional attack damage to apply a separate damage instance within the combat log .
- This component no longer levels up with Cloak and Dagger .
- Rescaled agility to damage factor from flat 0.55/0.9/1.25/1.6 to 0.6 + 0.05 * HeroLvl .
- Increased allied unit damage factor from 0 to 0.25.
- CHANGED from applying
- Blink Strike
- No longer deals 40/55/70/85 magical spell damage.
- Now deals one instance of 15/30/45/60 attack damage.
- No longer has 2 charges with a 25/21/17/13-second restore time.
- Increased cooldown from 0.1 on each level to 13/10/7/4.
- Tricks of the Trade
- No longer grants 55/70/85/100 self- agility bonus.
- No longer has a 0.4 instant attack factor.
- Now grants 30/50/70/90 instant attack damage bonus.
- Reduced effect radius from 450 to 425.
- Increased max attack targets from 1 to 2.
- Increased cooldown from 18/16/14/12 to 21/18/15/12.
- Rescaled mana cost from 45/55/65/76 to 65 on each level.
- No longer grants 55/70/85/100 self-
- Cloak and Dagger
- Now grants 130/260/390 experience bonus per hero kill.
- Now grants 100 experience bonus per hero kill assist.
- Aghanim's Scepter upgrade:
- Tricks of the Trade
- No longer increases max attack targets by 1.
- Enables allied creep unit-targeting.
- Increases max channel duration by 1 when unit-targeted on an allied hero.
- Increases max instant attack instances by 2 when unit-targeted on an allied hero.
- No longer grants the ability upgrade bonuses when targeting non-allied hero casts.
- Grants the targeted ally hero 15% movement speed bonus.
- Tricks of the Trade
Talents:
- LVL 15 +50 Tricks of the Trade agility ➜ +0.15 Tricks of the Trade base attack damage as damage.
- LVL 20 -4s Blink Strike restore time ➜ -1s Blink Strike cooldown.
- LVL 25 Tricks of the Trade dispel ➜ +500 Blink Strike cast range.
- LVL 15 +50 Tricks of the Trade
- Increased Blink Strike slow duration from 0.4 to 0.5.
Dota Plus Progress
[edit]Main Article: Hero Challenges
Relics track a hero's actions and statistics, and display in-game notifications when a milestone is reached. They are only available to Dota Plus subscribers.
| Riki's Relics | Voice Lines | |
|---|---|---|
 Backstab Kills  Courier Kills Spells Disjointed Bashed Enemies Triple Kills Mega Kill Streaks Kill Assists Kills |
 Bronze |
|
 Silver |
||
 Gold |
||
 Platinum |
| |
 Master |
| |
 Grandmaster |
| |
Equipment
[edit]| Sets | |
|---|---|
| Weapon Packs | |
| Weapon | |
| Off-Hand | |
| Head | |
| Shoulder | |
| Taunt | |
 | "Template:Navbox/old" is deprecated! Please use Template:NavBox instead. |
Trivia
[edit]- ▶️ "Good assassins never die… they just fade away.", is a reference to a quote by General Douglas MacArthur, "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
- ▶️ "There are none so stabbed as those who will not see." is a reference to a proverb: "There are none so blind as those who will not see."
- ▶️ "I speak softly, but carry a sharp knife." is a reference to the West African Proverb "Speak softly and carry a big stick.", popularized by U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt.
- Riki's model is based on the Satyr, a goat-like humanoid creature from greek mythology.
- Warcraft 3 similarities:
- Riki uses the model of the Satyr Trickster, a small neutral creep.
- Smoke Screen is inspired by and based on the Dragonhawk Rider's Cloud.
- Backstab's original iteration was a basic Critical Strike, identical to the Blademaster's Critical Strike.
- Blink Strike's original iteration was a basic Blink, identical to the Warden's Blink.
- Permanent Invisibility's original iteration was a identical to the Shadow Wolves' Permanent Invisibility.
- In DotA, Riki's name is "Rikimaru" (力丸), a reference to one of the main characters in the Tenchu video game series.
- On the Perfect World client, Riki still is named Rikimaru.
- Riki has a 1/10 chance to spawn in with the name "Riki Martin", which is a reference to the Latino pop singer Ricky Martin.
Gallery
[edit]
Splash artwork
Trading card art
Old model and icon
Ability icon progress
Hero icon progress
Bone Harvest sprite - alive
Bone Harvest sprite - dead
