Rikimaru - The Stealth Assasin

Range: 125 | Move Speed: 300
Primary: AGI
Str: 17 + 2 | Agi: 34 + 2.9 | Int: 14 + 1.3
Damage: 48 – 52 | HP: 473 | Mana: 182
HP Regen: 0.76 | Mana Regen: 0.57
Attack Speed: 0.73 | Armor: 6


Smoke Screen (C)
Throws a smoke bomb down in the area, silencing opponents and causing them to miss on most of their attacks. Also slows by 25% at all levels. Doesn`t silence item spells. Lasts 6 seconds.
Level 1 - 250 AoE, 40% miss.
Level 2 - 275 AoE, 50% miss.
Level 3 - 300 AoE, 60% miss.
Level 4 - 325 AoE, 70% miss.
Mana Cost: 75/ 80/ 85/ 90
Cooldown: 15
Comment: Good for chasing and in later game, escaping because you can teleport to ally. Not good if you want to harrass though, because if they choose to fight you, your forced into combat.


Blink Strike (Stealth Assassin) (B)
Teleports to a unit and strikes it if it is a foe, dealing bonus damage.
Level 1 - Deals 30 extra damage
Level 2 - Deals 60 extra damage
Level 3 - Deals 90 extra damage
Level 4 - Deals 120 extra damage
• Damage type: physical
• Bonus damage is dealt before Rikimaru's regular attack.
• Teleports to the back of the target, forcing a backstab on the next attack.
• If the target is an ally, no damage will be dealt.
Mana Cost: 50
Cooldown: 30/20/10/5
Comment: If you wish to level without being harrassed by rangers and mages, I advise you get this first. It is possible can be ganked by a level 2 mage or ranger who can stun, slow or deal high damage.

Backstab(K)
The Stealth Assassin isn`t afraid to fight dirty, and specializes in attacking his opponents from behind.
Level 1 - Deals .25x the Agility of the SA to the target.
Level 2 - Deals .5x the Agility of the SA to the target.
Level 3 - Deals .75x the Agility of the SA to the target.
Level 4 - Deals 1x the Agility of the SA to the target.
• Bonus damage from Backstab can't be evaded.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
Comment: Useful passive ability, this strategy guide is all about agilty which is good anyway.


Permanent Invisibility (E)
Hero becomes permanently invisible when not attacking.
Level 1 - 3 second fade time.
Level 2 - 2.25 second fade time.
Level 3 - 1.5 second fade time.
• Rikimaru will not auto attack enemies.
• If Rikimaru is silenced this ability will be disabled.
Mana Cost: N/A
Cooldown: N/A
Comment: It's PERMANENT Invisiblity, not like Wind Walk or anything. Make sure you hold H so you don't accidently kill small creeps if you waiting for the perfect opportunity to gank or in some cases gain free EXP where there is like 3vs3 heroes trying to kill each other. You can be an ass and KS (Kill Steal) the enemy hero by Blink Striking and get the gold.

As said below this builds should be based in what lane are you in, also it is important to clarify that it also depends on your own needs, since the left one is dedicated to damage output while the one in the right has a balance between damage and survability.

MID Build Optional/Sidelaning Build
1-
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
9-
10-
11-
12-
13-
14-
15-
16-
17-25
As an exception, you could go for prioritizing whenever you feel that you should play more as a support in early when, this is mainly when the enemy team has many nukes or disables.

You should ask yourself 2 questions:

-Can I count on my team to help me? (I never do in pub games)

-Do the other team have a lot of disables or tanks?

Before starting we should take a look at his stats and abilities:

So, the main thing here is, if you are against a team that doesnt have many disables, you should focus on your backstab, your first items should be:
-x2
- x2 .
- x2

After that go for:
- (Agi) or (STR)if they have many disables.

This gives you +agi to abuse your backstab as so as the needed extra MS for extra killing capability.

Why ? gives you lots of agi for backstab and the purge can help you prevent your enemies from escaping your smoke cloud and surviving.

Now, you can lvl up that into or

After this, if your owning in the game, if you think you might have some problem with your HP get (Hint= The aura doesnt shows while ur invi).

Now you can get a or a depending if you need more survability or DMG of course.

its an optional item when the opposing team has heroes who run fast or that can leap.

I always go mid with (Note: if ur not very good with SA dont mid), if you do, skill build should be like the one showed in the build tab, use your blink strike to farm and play smart.

After you get lvl 4 blinkstrike + backstab you are ready to start ganking, dont ever go scouting with since you lose valuable experience and gold when doing so, make sure to dont lose a lot of time when ganking, just go, check the surroundings real quick for enemy hiding heroes and gank.

Make sure to farm between ganks, like, gank 1 time, then farm for a while, gank gain and so on, always carry a TP to help your team if needed when you are farming.

Do you know orb walking (more like animation canceling)? you can do it with , practice it and you will get 3 backstabs for every 2 attacks.

Rikimaru is a very fragile hero early game so you if you are gonna side lane you should always pick a lane with a ranged preferably with a disable to help him kill or help him escape, heroes such as:

Your Friends

This hero is the one who has the best synergy with rikimaru, his good attack range plus his Tether skill which will give Rikimaru all the Movement Speed he could need to either backstab someone do death or just run away without mentioning his third skill which will pump riki up really hard with all that Attack Speed.

Yes, no surprise here, one of the best supports in the game, providing a good disable plus a good nuke that reduces movement speed so riki can feast on his enemies backstabbing them

Her second skill is devastating if there's a nearby rikimaru, the slow is good enough to deal a nice ammount of damage with backstab.

This hero will be a nice friend for you, his harras is good enough, and his seeking missile will be devastating if you get at least 1 level of Smoke Screen early, the combo it's simple, just be ready for the stun of the Seeking Missile and unleash the fury on your enemy's face.

His kinetic field is a must if he lanes with you, just be sure to engage as soon as he casts it and drop a Smoke Screen when it's about to go off, just to be sure you are in no danger.

Dual Breath's movement speed slow is really dangerous if there's a rikimaru with him, Ice Path will allow you to attack a couple of extra times just to make sure your opponent retreats after if not dead.

One of the top most feared supports, really an overpowerful combo with rikimaru the shackles long bind time it's a nightmare if there's someone who is not affraid to stab people with him if you get what I mean.

& Both these heroes's poison nukes and skills will let you have a feast on your opponent while they try to run away.

His poison will be obviously annoying to your enemy allowing you to backstab him a coulple of times, his heal and shallow grave can be used both offensively and defensily

& Slowing spells will add some condiderable value to your SmokeScreen and backstab, not much science here, just be ready to jump on 'em.

The synergy between maledict and blinkstrike+backstab it's really dangerous if your opponents don't play carefully. His stun will allow you to get close enough to blink on them and release your SmokeScreen if you have it.

Your Enemies

Your most feared enemies will be those who can disable or silence you for a long time also the ones who can deal a high ammount of burst damage, always be prepared and play carefully against these heroes, to meantion some:

Your nemesis will always be these two satyr hunters:

&

Their ulti will render yours unuseful for as long as you have it on you.
Play smart, only show yourself up when it is necessary, if you want to counter wipe their ulti off just use Manta Syle or Diffusal Blade's purge on yourself

Double Damage

Well, double damage it's an excellent rune for pretty much all the carries in the game, but in riki's cause it's even more porwerful considering the fact that your invi will keep the enemy team of seeing you with it, great ganking potential.

Haste

Haste will be your best friend if you manage to find one, with this you can have a backstab carnage on your opponent by just harrasing him, use the extra MS to your advantage wisely, you can attack, move away, attack again and so on if you want to do it carefully.

Illusion

Illusion is a not so bad rune for riki, early game it can help you farm while late game it will help you deal a considerable ammount of damage, if you are good at micro'ing you could use the illusions to block your opponent path while you backstab him.

Invisibility

The only reason you would pick this rune up it's if you still haven't reached level 6 or to prevent your enemy team to pick it for themselves, otherwise it will be pointless, you'd rather just guard it for one of your teammates and then go gank with him, a 2 invi hero gank is always painful.