* 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.
*
Axe can
Berserker's Call into a flock of Familiars, proccing
Counter Helix and killing them off.
* Familiars' very fast attacks will proc
Counter Helix, receiving full damage due to their low attack range.
* Riki can easily be caught in an Ice Path and Macropyre combo as he finishes
Tricks of the Trade, Jakiro just has to be careful about Riki's
Smoke Screen when dealing with Riki.
* Jakiro's area-of-effect abilities make him strong against heroes who rely on illusions and summons:
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Lycan,
Wraith King,
Visage.
* 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.
* Heroes that can overwhelm Visage by sheer number like
Chaos Knight,
Meepo,
Terrorblade and
Phantom Lancer.
* Corrosive Haze makes Riki completely vulnerable to Slardar and his allies, as Riki has no easy way of dispelling it.
* Slardar's physical damage with Slithereen Crush and Bash of the Deep amplified by Corrosive Haze can easily kill Riki.
Additional:
*
Corrosive Haze works much like
Track, giving the enemy team vision over Riki. While it doesn't give a movement speed or gold bonus, it instead can melt 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.
* Heroes with armor reducing abilities greatly hinder Visage's defense like
Slardar and
Dazzle.
* Riki doesn't deal burst damage.Durable heroes (
Axe,
Tidehunter etc.) will usually survive a jump from him,move out of Smoke Screen and potentially retaliate.
* Visage's Familiars cannot penetrate
Kraken Shell and will do almost no damage to
Tidehunter even with
Medallion of Courage or
Solar Crest.
*
Anchor Smash's bonus damage has the potential to kill Familiars.
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade
Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
Additional:
* Luna can push very fast with Moon Glaives, which is something Riki cannot deal with well.
* Luna is naturally very fast, making it hard for Riki to trap her in Smoke Cloud.
* Even though Riki can evade
Eclipse with his invisibility, smart Luna will always buy
Dust of Appearance, providing vision on Riki to her allies and herself.
*
Moon Glaives is very effective against Visage because not only it can easily destroy Visage's Familiars, but can also remove one instance of Gravekeeper's Cloak upon each hit to Visage, leaving him susceptible to damage.
* Once Visage's Familiars are picked off and all instances of Gravekeeper's Cloak are removed, Luna will be able to easily kill Visage with
Eclipse.
Additional:
*
Moon Glaives is very effective against Visage because not only it can easily destroy Visage's Familiars, but can also remove one instance of Gravekeeper's Cloak upon each hit to Visage, leaving him susceptible to damage.
* Once Visage's Familiars are picked off and all instances of Gravekeeper's Cloak are removed, Luna will be able to easily kill Visage with
Eclipse.
* All assassin-type carries in a one against one situation:
Meepo,
Phantom Assassin,
Riki,
Ursa. Luna's only chances are that she buys
Ethereal Blade or
Black King Bar to gain a slight edge against them, or both items if necessary.
* With
Aghanim's Scepter, Broodmother will gain access to
Spinner's Snare, which will allow her to create invisible lines on her webs from
Spin Web that will root, deal damage over time, and reveal enemy heroes if they unwittingly step on them. This allows Broodmother to keep her allies alerted on heroes who rely on invisibility-themed and movement-themed abilities and items to surprise enemy heroes and disrupt ganking attempts of enemy heroes:
Phantom Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Mirana,
Bounty Hunter,
Templar Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker,
Anti-Mage,
Tusk,
Ursa,
Nature's Prophet,
Enigma,
Void Spirit,
Magnus etc.
* Heroes with very little to no area-of-effect abilities will struggle greatly against Broodmother:
Sniper,
Phantom Assassin,
Nyx Assassin,
Bane,
Visage,
Bounty Hunter.
*
Venomous Gale,
Poison Sting and
Poison Nova deal damage over time and will chip away at Gravekeeper's Cloak in addition to slowing an already sluggish hero.
*
Venomancer's normal attacks deal
Poison Sting and will chip away at Gravekeeper's Cloak.
*
Reactive Armor will quickly stack up from Familiar attacks, making Timbersaw hard to kill.
* Visage's low mobility makes it easy for
Timbersaw to line up his abilities.
*
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 harrass Riki in lane.
*
Sand King's
Sand Storm damages familiars quickly whittling them down in health, rendering them vulnerable.
*
Sand King's
Epicenter quickly damages and destroys familiars.
*
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.
*
Scorched Earth can be used to engage Visage while removing Gravekeeper's Cloak charges.
*
Infernal Blade will deal tremendous amounts of damage over time due to Visage's high health pool.
*
Doom completely nullifies Gravekeeper's Cloak and prevents Visage from casting spells.
* Riki does little damage to Dragon Knight, as he relies only on physical damage with modest attack speed and lack of burst.
*
Phoenix's
Supernova cannot be damaged by Familiars.
* In the early and mid game,
Sun Ray won't deal enough damage to be reduced by Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Once
Sun Ray deals enough damage to protect Visage, a layer of Gravekeeper's Cloak is burnt every 0.2 seconds.
* Thirst detects Riki whenever his health is low.
* Rupture does large damage when Riki uses
Blink Strike.
* Phantom Lancer's illusions will quickly destroy multiple layers of
Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Visage has no mobility mechanisms, making him a prime target for
Phantom Rush.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova hit all units around Leshrac, making it very easy for him to kill the
Summon Familiars.
* Diabolic Edict and Pulse Nova also deal many instances of damage, nullifying
Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Split Earth and Lightning Storm makes it difficult for
Visage to kite Leshrac, even while under the effects of
Grave Chill.
*
Track reveals Riki while invisible and gives him a hard time, as it prevents much of his ganking capabilities. This can force Riki to buy
Manta Style to dispel it.
* 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. The movement speed from
Warpath allows him to get out of the area easily.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal
Gem of True Sight carrier.
* Riki rarely buys
Silver Edge to break Bristleback's passive because the invisibility aspect of it is redundant.
Additional:
* Quill Spray will hit Riki even when he is invisible.
*
Cloak and Dagger's bonus backstab damage is rendered irrelevant against Bristleback.
*
Smoke Screen does not stop Bristleback's passive from activating.
* Due to Bristleback's natural tankiness, he is an ideal
Gem of True Sight carrier, directly countering Riki's invisibility.
*
Centaur Warrunner's passive
Retaliate makes it so that the familiars cannot attack him without damaging themselves over time, in turn causing them to be destroyed.
* 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.
* With Dark Ascension and Gem of True Sight, Night Stalker can easily find and kill Riki. Riki will also find it harder to kill the tanky Night Stalker than he would many other heroes.
* Heroes with cleave or multi-target attacks can quickly take on Familiars and reduce Visage's firepower like
Gyrocopter,
Kunkka,
Magnus and
Medusa.
* Heroes that can overwhelm Visage by sheer number like
Chaos Knight,
Meepo,
Terrorblade and
Phantom Lancer.
* Any hero with a low HP pool is easy for Tinker to nuke down:
Crystal Maiden,
Enchantress,
Gyrocopter,
Lion,
Riki,
Techies,
Terrorblade,
Necrophos,
Invoker.
* Heroes with blink or movement abilities, which are disabled by Pounce's leash:
Anti-Mage,
Earth Spirit,
Faceless Void,
Magnus,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Pangolier,
Phantom Assassin,
Phoenix,
Puck,
Queen of Pain,
Riki,
Sand King,
Spirit Breaker,
Timbersaw,
Tusk.
* Heroes that rely on summons will suffer against Ion Shell, which kills them very quickly:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Enigma,
Nature's Prophet,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes with armor reducing abilities greatly hinder Visage's defense like
Slardar and
Dazzle.
* Heroes who are reliant on physical damage will be nullified by Decrepify:
Riki,
Wraith King,
Juggernaut.
* Heroes who rely on invisibility, such as
Bounty Hunter,
Clinkz,
Mirana,
Nyx Assassin and
Riki, as they will be revealed if caught by Chronosphere.
* Heroes with cleave or multi-target attacks can quickly take on Familiars and reduce Visage's firepower like
Gyrocopter,
Kunkka,
Magnus and
Medusa.
* Heroes with damage over time abilities can quickly eat through Gravekeeper's Cloak charges like
Huskar,
Jakiro and
Queen of Pain.
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like
Pangolier and
Lifestealer.
Additional:
* Pangolier's high mobility allows Pangolier to escape from Visage's ganking attempt. Keep in mind that his familiars can easily interfere with your ultimate during casting time if they are able to scout your position.
* Swashbuckle quickly burn away
Gravekeeper's Cloak charges.
*
Ensnare prevents using any kind of movement abiilties, Making Naga Siren good against heroes who rely on gap-closing abilities to escape:
Phantom Assassin,
Magnus,
Slark,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Storm Spirit.
* Heroes with cleave or multi-target attacks can quickly take on Familiars and reduce Visage's firepower like
Gyrocopter,
Kunkka,
Magnus and
Medusa.
* Heroes with summons and illusions can find themselves easily bested by Lina, like
Broodmother,
Nature's Prophet,
Chen,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Visage,
Wraith King,
Lycan,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman.
*
Blink Strike does not grant Riki a mobility advantage over Phantom Assassin, as her Phantom Strike serves the same purpose, but with a higher range.
* A Carry Riki usually has a hard time dealing with Blur, as a
Monkey King Bar or
Bloodthorn are unfavourable item picks for him (or, even more unlikely, a
Silver Edge).
* A
Black King Bar is a very common pick for Phantom Assassin, fully countering
Smoke Screen and
Diffusal Blade while activated.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can be hard for Phantom Assassin to deal with, as she lacks any AoE abilities to deal with them without items:
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Shadow Shaman,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Terrorblade,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Riki is known for being a successful support killer, something Shadow Shaman is very vulnerable to.
*
Smoke Screen is particularly devastating to Shadow Shaman. With neither his various disables nor a solid health pool Shadow Shaman is usually dead. This forces Shadow Shaman to buy a
Force Staff if he finds himself in this scenario and buy
Sentry Wards if you have the money.
* Due to their high attack speed,
Summon Familiars will destroy Mass Serpent Wards quickly, granting Visage a massive amount of gold.
* Visage can use
Stone Form of the Familiars to cancel Shackles.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Stone Form also allows Visage to use
Stone Form himself to cancel Shackles while restoring his health.
*
Grave Chill can make Shadow Shaman's bad movement speed and attack speed even worse.
* Visage is also a natural
Bloodthorn wielder, which allows him to silence Shadow Shaman and make him more vulnerable to damage.
Additional:
* Due to their high attack speed, Visage's Summon Familiars will destroy
Mass Serpent Ward quickly, granting Visage massive amount of gold.
* Chen is basically Riki's natural prey: he has little HP, low armor and relies on his persuaded creeps to fight, which in most situations will not save Chen from Riki. Just be wary of {U:Centaur Conqueror}, who can stun Riki outside of Smoke Screen and ruin his attempt at Chen's life.
*
Grave Chill can heavily slow down Chen and boost Visage and his familiars's attack speed and movement speed.
* Chen's
Holy Persuasion cannot convert Visage's familiars from
Summon Familiars at all, not even when upgraded with
Aghanim's Shard that allows Chen to use it on ancient creeps as Visage's familiars are treated as creep-heroes, which could put Chen in disadvantage against Visage if his creeps die.
* Skilled Visage can buy
Bloodthorn to prevent Chen from any chance of retaliating or saving himself with
Hand of God and
Gleipnir to clear waves of Chen's creeps and prevent them from escaping. This can get even better if Visage has access to
Silent as the Grave ability from
Aghanim's Scepter that will allow Visage and his familiars to be invisible, which they can use either to escape from Chen or to prepare a deadly surprise to him.
* Heroes with invisibility: (
Riki,
Clinkz,
Nyx Assassin.
* Nature's Prophet has no innate way to deal with
Gravekeeper's Cloak or kill {U:Familiar}s effectively.
* Familiars can fly over the trees created by Sprout. They can also use
Stone Form when Nature's Prophet is trying to use Teleportation.
*
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Stone Form alow allows Visage himself to stun Nature's Prophet whenever he is trying to use Teleportation.
*
Aghanim's Scepter gives Visage
Silent as the Grave ability, which allows him and his {U:Familiar}s to either escape from Nature's Prophet or give him a surprise attack.
Additional:
* Nature's Prophet has no natural method of dealing with Gravekeeper's Cloak and Familiars.
* Familiar's low base attack time can chip away Nature Prophet's health.
* Familiar's Stone Form destroys trees created by
Sprout.
* Familiars can scout woods and foggy areas where Nature's Prophet is trying to use
Teleportation.
* Heroes with a high degree of mobility and invisibility are hard to catch with Meat Hook:
Ember Spirit,
Riki,
Clinkz,
Queen of Pain.
* Pudge has a very hard time killing Familiars due to his melee range and low attack speed.
* Stone Form can quickly interrupt
Dismember.
*
Riki and
Disruptor:
Smoke Screen and
Static Storm, respectively, can be thrown wherever Puck used Phase Shift, making Puck an easy target if it doesn't have Blink Dagger or is on cooldown. Puck is also very susceptible to Riki's high attack damage when attacking from the back. Glimpse also prevents Puck from escaping altogether.
* Stone Form's long stun duration may prevent Puck from using escape abilities.
* Visage frequently builds
Rod of Atos for the root that will make Puck unable to move and use his escape abilities. Alternatively, Visage can also build
Bloodthorn to prevent Puck from using his escape abilities and make him more vulnerable to damage.
* Without Dust of Appearance or Sentry Wards, Riki is able to silence Witch Doctor with
Smoke Screen, and is likely to build a Diffusal Blade, leaving Witch Doctor without mana to cast Voodoo Restoration, as well as Skull Basher to interrupt Death Ward.
* Stone Form can easily interrupt heroes with long channeling spells, like
Crystal Maiden,
Bane,
Witch Doctor, or
Enigma.
*
Cloak and Dagger makes Sven unable to detect where Riki is until he shows or his team provides detection.
*
Smoke Screen will make Sven miss attacks before he has his
Black King Bar.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Frostbite will reveal invisible heroes for its duration, making it a good tool against any such hero (
Riki,
Bounty Hunter,
Weaver, or
Clinkz for example), or as a soft counter to
Shadow Blade, if it is used first. This can be an amazing tool to ensure that
Dust of Appearance is used on the unit in question, and not wasted in not catching anything.
* Smoke Screen effectively disables Crystal Maiden's channeling spell:
Freezing Field.
* Due to her low health and armor throughout the game, Riki can kill her easily.
*
Grave Chill will make Crystal Maiden's bad movement speed even worse.
*
Soul Assumption charges can easily be stacked up from Freezing Field, allowing Visage to nuke enemies multiple times throughout the fight.
* {U:Familiar}'s
Stone Form can also be used to interrupt Freezing Field, even while Crystal Maiden is under the effects of
Glimmer Cape. Crystal Maiden must purchase a
Black King Bar, which is far more costly.
* Heroes that can easily bypass Io's allies to get to Io:
Riki,
Tusk,
Clinkz,
Sniper,
Slark,
Phantom Assassin,
Void Spirit,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Lifestealer.
* Heroes with both illusions and summons, for Io has nothing to deal with multiple enemies at once outside from Spirits's weak area-of-effect:
Beastmaster,
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Lycan,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Shaman,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
* Riki can potentially catch an Enigma out of position and prevent him from properly blinking and initiating, thanks to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Before Enigma gets his
Black King Bar,
Smoke Screen can be used to cancel Black Hole. After Enigma gets
Black King Bar, Riki can also cancel Black Hole with Abyssal Blade, which is a common item built on him.
*
Tricks of the Trade renders Riki hidden and invulnerable, which in combination with Abyssal Blade allows Riki to cancel Black Hole with little to no worries of getting caught in it.
* Enigma's fragility during all stages of the game makes him extremely prone to Riki's ganking.
* Stone Form can easily interrupt heroes with long channeling spells, like
Crystal Maiden,
Bane,
Witch Doctor, or
Enigma.
* Smoke Cloud prevents
Shukuchi and
Time Lapse, leaving Weaver helpless against Riki.
*
The Swarm is ineffective against Riki because invisibility instantly removes the beetles.
*
Smoke Screen prevents Storm Spirit from using his abilities once inside the radius. Riki can utilize this ability to allow his team to fight around
Smoke Screen so that Storm Spirit cannot spam his spells to proc
Overload.
Additional:
* Smoke Cloud prevents Storm Spirit from using any of his offensive and defensive spells, rendering him unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
*
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 is opponents, which is countered by
Dispersion.
*
Haunt can find Riki globally at any time, negating much of his ganking potential.
* Riki's
Smoke Screen can make it hard for Spectre to escape or burst down Riki with auto attacks.
* Riki can build
Aghanim's Scepter and jump inside an allied carry or offlane tank with
Tricks of the Trade to do a lot of damage to Spectre while completely avoiding
Dispersion.
* Riki is great at destroying supports which are often needed to keep Spectre safe until she comes online. He can take them down quickly in team fights, which will leave Spectre alone against your whole team, a fight that she will most likely not win.
* While on
Tricks of the Trade, Riki does not take damage from
Dispersion.
* Familiars will be able to chase Spectre through the trees when she uses
Spectral Dagger, while Visage can keep blasting her with Soul Assumption.
*
Desolate will almost never proc because Visage will always have nearby Familiars.
* Even though Visage's Familiars from
Summon Familiars are fragile and can be killed quickly with Nyx Assassin's high burst damage, they can deal many instances of damage quickly, minimizing the effectiveness of Spiked Carapace.
*
Gravekeeper's Cloak and tanky item builds make Visage hard for Nyx to kill with his burst damage.
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Gravekeeper's Cloak also allows Visage to use
Stone Form to both recover himself and stun Nyx Assassin if he is close enough to Visage.
* Visage's long range on
Soul Assumption and
Grave Chill make him hard to escape from, and
Soul Assumption's low cooldown outmatches Spiked Carapace.
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot
Enrage when in Smoke Screen (Black King Bar will help though).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him, Riki can Blink Strike away or use Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid all
Fury Swipes damage until
Earthshock's slow is gone.
Additional:
* Riki can detect early Roshan attempts because of
Cloak and Dagger if he frequently checks the Pit.
* Ursa cannot Enrage when caught in
Smoke Screen and will miss his attacks (although Black King Bar will help with this issue).
* Even if Ursa gets vision over him and initiates with Earthshock, Riki can
Blink Strike away or use
Tricks of the Trade after Ursa's initiation to avoid Fury Swipes' damage until Earthshock's slow is gone.
* Riki can get on top of Ancient Apparition very easily with
Blink Strike. This can also double as a way to dodge Ice Blast, along with
Tricks of the Trade.
* Ancient Apparition will frequently resort to casting Ice Blast right before dying.
Smoke Screen can be used to prevent this, stopping Ancient Apparition from having any impact.
*
Smoke Screen combined with
Diffusal Blade leaves Arc Warden effectively useless for a while as he struggles to escape the silence with low mobility.
* With Arc Warden's low mobility,
Tricks of the Trade often deal decent damage to him before he moves out of it.
* Heroes with magic immune abilities can negate most of Visage's attacks like
Pangolier and
Lifestealer.
* Lifestealer cannot use
Rage,
Infest or
Open Wounds when affected by Smoke Cloud's silence, and
Feast cannot heal him effectively because of the blind, leaving him very weak both offensively and defensively.
* Infest ganks are harder when the enemy team has a Riki, as there are often only four heroes on the map that you can initiate on.
* Heroes with summons:
Lycan,
Broodmother,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Warlock.
* Riki has high damage and invisibility, meaning he can easily gank Rubick and kill him before Rubick has the chance to react.
*
Cloak and Dagger renders Riki invisible, which makes his spells hard to steal if not being initiated.
* Similar to Clinkz, Rubick has to buy a large amount of Sentry Wards to keep track of Riki due to
Cloak and Dagger, preventing Rubick from getting better items.
*
Blink Strike gets Riki close to Drow Ranger and disable Marksmanship.
*
Cloak and Dagger allow Riki stay close to Drow Ranger without her noticing him, which allows him to disable Marksmanship.
Additional:
* With Blink Strike, Riki can get close to Drow Ranger and disable her
Marksmanship, and Smoke Screen will prevent her from using
Gust.
* Smoke Cloud prevents the use of
Death Pact,
Searing Arrows and
Skeleton Walk, so Clinkz can neither defend himself against Riki nor fight back effectively.
* It's hard to gank Riki as Clinkz has to find him first.
* Riki usually buys
Diffusal Blade to initiate, which renders Enchantress' movement speed useless, and is usually followed with
Smoke Screen.
* Riki can effectively hit Enchantress by
Tricks of the Trade alongside with
Diffusal Blade and
Smoke Screen's initiation. For a hero like Enchantress, 3 to 4 hits from Riki is a big deal, unless Enchantress built
Force Staff earlier.
* {U:Familiar}s can spot Clockwerk, allowing Visage's allies to dodge or block Hookshot attempts.
* Familiars will not be damaged by
Blade Mail or Clockwerk's abilities, dealing dangerous amounts of damage to him.
Additional:
* Familiars can scout for Clockwerk's location allowing Visage to dodge or block
Hookshot attempts.
* Gravekeeper's Cloak greatly absorbs damage from
Hookshot.
* Riki is a natural
Diffusal Blade carrier, and it doesn't help that he's easily capable of sneaking up on Wraith King due to
Cloak and Dagger.
* Riki can use
Smoke Screen on top of Wraith King as he is reincarnating, making him a sitting duck for his second life. In addition, the blind prevents Wraith King from landing critical hits from Mortal Strike.
* Wraithfire Blast is quite predictable, and if Riki can react fast, he will disjoint it with
Tricks of the Trade. There is also a chance he will become invisible again as the projectile travels, disjointing it.
* Due to his low health and armor, Riki can easily kill Skywrath Mage.
* Smoke Screen prevents Skywrath from using all of his abilities, as he does not tend to buy
Black King Bar.
* However, Skywrath Mage can easily kill Riki if he manages to root Riki with Rod of Atos or Gleipnir, followed by Dust of Appearance, Ancient Seal and Mystic Flare.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
*
Riki:
Smoke Screen can prevent Lone Druid from using True Form and Savage Roar, additionally it cause the spirit bear to miss on attacks which reduce the chances of getting rooted from it, with diffusal Blade, he can keep Lone Druid or the Spirit Bear inside the Smoke.
* Warlock is a very strong hero when positioned correctly, and his long cast range helps him with this. However, some heroes might disrupt or sneakily pass through his allies and deal with him, preventing him from doing his job. Such heroes include
Chaos Knight,
Spirit Breaker,
Riki, and more.
* Heroes with abilities or items that can silence or disable Anti-Mage for long periods of time will prevent him from Blinking away:
Lion,
Silencer,
Shadow Shaman,
Grimstroke,
Witch Doctor,
Riki,
Faceless Void,
Skywrath Mage,
Puck.
Additional:
* Anti-Mage can use neither
Blink nor
Manta Style to escape from Smoke Cloud.
* Even if he activates a
Black King Bar, his
Manta Style illusions will still be blinded by Smoke Cloud.
* Riki has a very small mana pool and generally doesn't buy many items that increase it, making
Mana Void ineffective.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
* Familiars will easily be able to kite heroes with a short range or with low attack speed. For example,
Tiny and
Undying have a very hard time killing Familiars.
* Visage can quickly kill heroes with low to medium base armor and no innate escape mechanism. Examples include
Alchemist,
Crystal Maiden and
Zeus.
* Because Templar Assassin does not have escape potential in lane, any support hero with roaming potential and a
Dust of Appearance can be great at shutting her down early game:
Earth Spirit,
Spirit Breaker,
Tusk,
Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Warlock.
* Frail heroes who lacks mobility:
Crystal Maiden,
Enigma,
Dark Willow,
Vengeful Spirit.
Additional:
*
Smoke Screen prevents Dark Willow from using her abilities, rendering her defenseless and unable to deal any serious damage.
*
Blink Strike lets Riki jump past Bramble Maze.
* Heroes with damage-increasing passive abilities, such as
Viper and
Riki, will usually kill Silencer in a short time before he even has time to set up his abilities.
* Heroes that can gank Shadow Fiend in the early game:
Earth Spirit,
Nyx Assassin,
Riki,
Spirit Breaker.
*
Riki is another good hero to shutdown Death Prophet with
Diffusal Blade as his core item. His
Smoke Screen stops her from initiating and casting spells.
*
Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
* Heroes that can dodge Glimpse:
*
Puck with
Phase Shift
*
Riki with
Tricks of the Trade
*
Phantom Lancer with
Doppelganger
*
Ember Spirit with
Sleight of Fist and
Activate Fire Remnant
*
Chaos Knight with
Phantasm
*
Naga Siren with
Mirror Image
*
Tusk with
Snowball
*
Juggernaut with
Omnislash
*
Brewmaster with
Primal Split
*
Lifestealer with
Infest
*
Phoenix with
Supernova
* Earthshaker must be careful not to use
Blink Dagger or
Aghanim's Scepter upgraded
Enchant Totem to blink into
Riki's
Smoke Screen or
Night Stalker's
Crippling Fear, as these field effects will instantly silence Earthshaker and prevent him from initiating.
* Heroes that deal few, powerful instances of damage, like
Oracle,
Lion, or
Sven, have a hard time breaking through Gravekeeper's Cloak.
* Heroes with silences:
Puck,
Doom,
Riki.
* Heroes that have superior mobility that can easily catch up with Mirana even after she used Leap to escape:
Anti-Mage,
Queen of Pain,
Storm Spirit,
Riki.
* Another great threat to Riki since her
Duel forces him to fight from the front and expose him for the entire duration, almost always guaranteeing an easy win (unless Riki has allies helping him).
*
Moment of Courage can become hard to deal with as it doesn't cease with silence.
* Heroes with abilities that blind or cause Legion Commander to miss will prevent her from winning Duels:
Arc Warden,
Keeper of the Light,
Riki,
Tinker
*
Gravekeeper's Cloak protects Visage from Legion Commander's attacks for most of Duel's duration.
* Chain stuns from Visage's familiars prevents Legion Commander from winning Duels.
* Heroes with escaping and disjointing abilities can be good against Juggernaut:
Anti-Mage
Riki,
Queen of Pain,
Puck,
Storm Spirit,
Ember Spirit,
Slark etc.
* Heroes with silence:
Death Prophet,
Riki,
Drow Ranger.
* Techies is very good against roaming supports and gankers such as
Bounty Hunter,
Riki,
Weaver,
Earthshaker,
Nyx Assassin, etc. that are constantly moving around the map.
* Familiars can fly over the mines, rendering them safe from damage of Techies's mines. Visage can also use Familiars to check for mines on the map.
* Techies's low attack speed and damage will give them a hard time in destroying Visage's Familiars, and that can become even worse if they are affected by
Grave Chill.
*
Gravekeeper's Cloak allows Visage to survive Damage from Techies's mines.
* Heroes who rely on their target to run away:
Riki,
Bounty Hunter.
*
Bulwark is generally irrelevant against Riki as he primarily deals bonus damage from behind.
Additional:
*
Blink Strike gives bonus backstab damage and can bypass Bulwark. Defensively, it could be used to teleport away from Mars, especially while inside Arena of Blood.
*
Smoke Screen can interrupt Mars' skill combos, especially when cast inside Arena of Blood.
*
Tricks of the Trade can be used to evade Mars' skills, which have a slight delay to them. It could also be used to buy himself time while trapped inside of Arena of Blood.
* Heroes with damage over time abilities can quickly eat through Gravekeeper's Cloak charges like
Huskar,
Jakiro and
Queen of Pain.
* Smoke Cloud prevents Queen of Pain from using any of her offensive and defensive spells, rendering her unable to effectively react to Riki's attack.
* It's easy to dodge
Sonic Wave by using Blink Strike & Tricks of the Trade.
* Heroes with long ranged attacks or abilities can harass Visage from afar like
Phoenix and
Sniper.
* Sniper has no natural escape and relies on his range and slows to keep himself safe, which Riki can bypass with Blink Strike and quickly deplete his miniature HP pool.
* Heroes with cleave or multi-target attacks can quickly take on Familiars and reduce Visage's firepower like
Gyrocopter,
Kunkka,
Magnus and
Medusa.
Additional:
* Visage's familiars are easy targets to Split Shot.
* Mana Shield will resist Soul Assumption instances without effort.
* With
Smoke Screen, Riki will silence and catch Medusa in a surprise with high miss chance flushing her from positions easily in team fights.
* He can deal a huge amount of damage through
Cloak and Dagger, even through Mana Shield.
* Tiny can deal with
Visage's
Gravekeeper's Cloak quickly, as Avalanche deals damage in enough instances to completely remove all 4 layers of the passive. With Visage's lower than average Armor, a well positioned stun can allow Tiny to kill Visage easily.
Additional:
*
Tiny's
Avalanche removes a significant number of layers from Gravekeeper's Cloak. When combined with
Toss burns through all of Gravekeeper's Cloak while doing triple times Toss damage to Visage in midair.
* Tiny's already high damage coupled with
Tree Grab's attack modifier will make short work of Visage's Familiars.
* Familiars will easily be able to kite heroes with a short range or with low attack speed. For example,
Tiny and
Undying have a very hard time killing Familiars.
* Heroes with high base damage (
Morphling,
Tiny,
Drow Ranger), heroes with mana burning abilities (
Anti-Mage), and
Diffusal Blade users (
Juggernaut or
Riki) will suffer from Reflection's illusions.
* Heroes that can overwhelm Visage by sheer number like
Chaos Knight,
Meepo,
Terrorblade and
Phantom Lancer.
* Heroes with abilities that can lock down Terrorblade and prevent him from using Sunder:
Bane,
Batrider,
Earthshaker,
Elder Titan,
Faceless Void,
Invoker,
Legion Commander,
Mars,
Primal Beast,
Riki,
Shadow Shaman,
Silencer,
Vengeful Spirit,
Void Spirit.
* Heroes who can summon illusions and summons because Terrorblade has no abilities to deal with multiple enemies at once outside Reflection:
Shadow Shaman,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Lycan,
Enigma,
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Shadow Demon,
Dark Seer,
Nature's Prophet,
Invoker,
Morphling,
Visage,
Grimstroke with
Aghanim's Scepter.
* Charge of Darkness provides shared vision over its target, keeping track of heroes who rely on invisibility, mobility, or illusions:
Riki,
Broodmother,
Phantom Lancer
* Heroes with summons and illusions as Spirit Breaker has no strong AoE capabilities to deal with them:
Chaos Knight,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Naga Siren,
Broodmother,
Warlock,
Visage,
Nature's Prophet,
Shadow Shaman,
Lycan,
Wraith King.
* In general, heroes who are melee with no way to fight back can be very easily poked by Monkey King to gain his Jingu Mastery stacks:
Dark Seer,
Riki,
Rubick.
* Heroes with blind of some sort can be a bad choice for Monkey King to go on:
Broodmother,
Riki,
Keeper of the Light.
* Low-health, normally mobile carries who rely entirely on raw attack damage are vulnerable to Bane's nukes and disables:
Anti-Mage,
Clinkz,
Drow Ranger,
Faceless Void,
Gyrocopter,
Juggernaut,
Meepo,
Mirana,
Monkey King,
Morphling,
Phantom Assassin,
Phantom Lancer,
Riki,
Shadow Fiend,
Slark,
Sniper,
Terrorblade,
Troll Warlord,
Weaver.
* Heroes with illusions and summons can swarm and overwhelm Bane, who has no area abilities to deal with them outside from
Aghanim's Shard upgraded
Brain Sap:
Broodmother,
Chaos Knight,
Naga Siren,
Nature's Prophet,
Phantom Lancer,
Terrorblade,
Visage,
Warlock,
Wraith King.
* Heroes that avoid damage by coming in and out of invisibility in teamfights such as
Weaver,
Templar Assassin, and
Riki will be easy for Zeus to reveal with Lightning Bolt and Thundergod's Wrath, but these heroes usually have other ways to avoid his damage or kill him, so he is not a perfect counter alone.
Additional:
* Zeus's
Lightning Bolt and
Thundergod's Wrath provides 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.
* Visage can quickly kill heroes with low to medium base armor and no innate escape mechanism. Examples include
Alchemist,
Crystal Maiden and
Zeus.
To start select enemy heroes in the field above. It's intended to be used with multiple heroes. The more enemy heroes you provide the better results you will get.
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Riki
* Viper's
Nethertoxin disables
Cloak and Dagger, negating Riki's invisibility and much of his damage. It also makes him more vulnerable to magic damage, which does not go well with Riki's low health pool. With the talent applied, he can't even blink to safety or hide with Tricks of the Trade.
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.
*
*
*
Visage
*
Viper Strike can disable
Gravekeeper's Cloak, Visage's primary defense mechanism.
Grave Chill's attack speed slow with his magic damage output.
Viper can easily kite him with
Poison Attack and
Viper Strike while successfully chipping away at Gravekeeper's Cloak.
Nethertoxin removes all layers of Gravekeeper's Cloak, leaving Visage exposed.
Corrosive Skin makes Viper highly resistant to Soul Assumption.
* Viper can ignore
Additional:
* Since Visage is a slow hero,
*
*