General Discussionhow do i play and itemize roaming/support riki

any boots except arcanes and BoTs work
usually u just rush diffusal, sometimes blink
u r so poor that in most cases u dont go beyond these items, tbh, but if u do, u might consider abyssal, deso and SnY

Riki support ewww I mean it's Gna be hard for you since you are not Gna support anyone but annoy enemy team more likely. 1st you are melee 2nd sentry and you can't really help your teammates 3rd you only got pink cloud to throw to save your potential carry
4 you can escape by jumping on your creeps but your potential carry can't 5 you can't really pull because of the invis( I don't know fade time but it's a problem for pulling). I think Riki roamer is a better choice but only if there are jungnlers or you are sure that you are going to be able to get kills in mid with level 2 again Riki can be really annoying but don't do Riki support at 2 k teammates not Gna understand you 2nd there are plenty of supports there with disables and saves

why would u take people who dont know how to play riki seriously?

just play riki as offlaner, dont play it as roaming, its useless

i buy guardian greaves almost all the time., i just roam, arcanes 1st and by 20-24min i got guardian.. some of the losses i got was mainly due to newbie carry that doesn't know the critical timing is.. afk farm when u need to end a.s.a.p

Diffusal is situational as a supp riki, but dagger is insanely good.. positioning is very crucial and remember, always target the supp..

@zDonFrank uve been watching recent competitives matches, no?

yes and visage is a top tier pick

Echo sabre on riki is core. Double backstab dmg with 100% slow, best item for that hero so far excluding diffusial.
Also, I agree riki is an offlaner not roamer. Just buy at start sentrys, qblade and some tangos and watch the world burn.

I saw a few games at Manilla where they had a support Riki. Basically they got either Phase Boots or Treads then built an urn. After that they would get blink/diffusal/random utility item. The strength of support Riki is that you can easily sneak into the enemy jungle to plant aggressive wards and just provide vision in general. Since you're not hanging around only one lane, its difficult for the enemy supports to counter you with sentries. They basically have to keep all 3 lanes warded if they want to be safe. Abuse this fact early game because the enemies wont have enough money for courier, wards and a whole lot of sentries unless they sacrifice getting any items at all (even boots.) If they do end up warding everywhere, just sit back and keep your carry safe from ganks.

Everything you said about riki can be easly replaced by BH. And ofc BH is way better support hero than riki.

Riki was usually played as a replacement to bounty when bounty was banned. He does offer some advantages. His silence is more useful against heroes such as AM and QOP who have good escapes, or heroes that build manta to deal with silences like Ember Spirit. It basically forces them to get a BKB which they don't really want to do. He also can place wards without breaking invisibility. So even if the enemy team has vision of where he's putting the ward they wont know hes placed one. Bounty has to break invis to place his wards so he can be spotted by the enemy and then they will know there's a ward there. In general Bounty is a better support but Riki does have some advantages.

Playstyle wise and build wise, they are very similar.

their builds are not similar. bounty builds utility like greaves while riki builds damage and scales into the late game.

if you are going to play support riki then you need a team that can follow up with stuns, the pros have used him as an alternative to bounty but without the mek.

The pro's use him mainly for the vision and smokescreen and his ult is ok for crowd control or counter initiation but he is a pretty situational pick.

It's probably best to start with orb of venom with some tangos and clarities, then get tranq's and maybe an urn and a utility item, but you don't need a ton of items your job is to strain the enemy economy, if they get wards, try to de-ward them, switch lanes frequently, if the supports can't afford there main items and the cores are too scared to farm you've done you're job.

if you get farmed you could transistion in to a carry with diffusal blade but if not just get blink or force maybe, just annoy the enemy basically force them to buy wards and try to stay hidden as much as possible unless ganking, he's pretty good against junglers for that reason, he can take a support out of lane which can weaken the other lanes, stops them from getting xp..

As for skill builds maxing smokescreen isn't a terrible idea but the reason why it works for pro's is because teams have coordination and can draft around riki/bounty, it might be a bit tricky to pull off in pubs (not to put you off), just don't first pick him cause he is very easierly countered.

ROAMING RIKOR:

Starting items: Sentries, tango and orb of venom.

Since roaming rikor is way less farmed than offlane one you need to rush diffusal. You can do it after Tranquility/Phase/Treads.
After diffusal its good to make S&Y. If you are poor as duck consider making vladimir just to help team a lil.

If you somehow made more farm on a roaming riki you can check below description of offlane riki for more expensive stuff.

Skill build:

EWQ -> Max Smoke -> Max Invis -> Max Blink (always pick ultimate)

OFFLANE RIKOR (Core):

Starting items: tango, salve, shield fiery fire and gg branch

This type of riki is played as a core, since he can farm lane he have more levels and farm.

Boots: if you can last hit easily and you doesnt suffer from permanent harassment you can go phase or treads (i go treads).
If you face for example necro or some super aggresive dazzle or venge u might need to make tranquility boots.

Mana issues after boots:
Aquila or echo sabre. MY choice aquila.

disclaimer for early game: If i face Anti Mage who goes battle fury i would rush vanguard because u can bully him out of lane even if am have one support assistance. Vanguard is building later into abyssal so its not a waste at all and you doesnt need tranquility boots for healt issues.

Mid game: There are 2 routes. Straight diffusal and yasha first. I personally prefer to make yasha first then diffusal and finish S&Y because if i rush diffusal early there will be no charges left on it at late game.

Late game: After S&Y and Diffusal it should be Skadi or basher because diffusal charges should be running out soon.
Sometimes S&Y needs to be swapped with manta if there are pesky debuffs which consumes diffusal charges a lot.

Mega creeps defense: BoT, BF, Satanic, Butterfly, MKB, Skadi

Skill Build:
EWEQ -> Max Invis -> Max Blink -> Max Smoke -> Always take ulti

@zDonFrank: Please correct me if you spotted some bullshit

@zDonFrank MAKE RIKI GUIDE PLS U FUCK

for ROAMING riki u want orb of venom + quelling blade as starting item, mostly if they have a jungler so you can steal last hits but also to deward. Tranquil or phase + urn for early game, then u go diffusal while helping providing vision or dewarding your mid lane in case of sentries so u can keep pressuring their midder. While u have diffusal and it's running out you go for basher, after basher start skadi and buy level 2 diffusal if you run out of charges, u wanna complete skadi before it happens with diffu level 2 too. After that it's situational, if u need escape get a blink so u can ulti and run away right after, if they don't make so much pressure with vision u can build damage, a bloodthorn would be good or finish the abyssal.

Skill build 3-2-1-3-3-4-3-2-2-2-1-4-1-1-1-stats-4

So,i'm the only one who buy guardian greaves on pos.4 riki? SeemsGood.. TBH, either way you play riki he's quite versatile on item choice. I made my game more fun/enjoyable by using dagger/Greaves so if you guys considers urn/tranquil it may suits you.. Feel free to play him guys. He needs more recognition.