Best Support Riki Guide For Dota 2 Patch 7.37e

We've been watching the rise of melee soft supports with Clockwerk, Bounty Hunter and Riki showing up on high skill matches recently. Now, we'll dive a little deeper an take a look on the basics of what you need to do if you wanna play as Riki position 4.

On this article we'll watch Saksa, giant of Tundra Esports on his immaculate display of skill on the FISSURE PLAYGROUND. His performance is a perfect example of how to succeed by making the best of a support Riki.

Who would've thought we'd get support Riki before patch 7.38? - Credit: DotaFire

Riki support: for the strong

Even though he's viable as a support, it's important to remember that this trend is mostly on high MMR pubs and pro matches. Playing Riki is no easy feat and adding the support role on top of that is an extra layer of difficulty.

Riki's base stats are pretty good and allow you to trade very well on most lanes. On the other hand, if you see yourself against a strong duo, pull the creeps from the enemy lane behind the tower and guide them through the jungle.

Going forward, the next point to pay attention are his skills and the facet you should use. Above all, Riki's biggest weakness is the hard time he has getting gold and experience from the map. At this point, your first decision is to pick the Exterminator facet.

Considering that it multiplies the agility on Tricks of the Trade 4.5 times attacking non-hero units, this will become your primary farming skill. On the other hand, TotT is also your best way to dodge enemy skills, you will have to manage the cooldown to farm but have it available when needed.

This is Riki 101 for anyone, even if not playing soft support. - Credit: Dota 2

Abuse slows whenever possible

Blink Strike will be your mobility skill. The slow applied on every jump combined with Blood Grenade and Orb of Venom make you a hard hero to deal with on the laning phase.

If we put together the two 0.4 seconds of slow on the Blink Strike charges, 13% slow on the Oov and 15% from the Grenade, you and the offlaner can kill most heroes out of position. This strategy is even more efficient if you use the twin gates to gank the safelane.

This is your best friend if you're laning as a soft support Riki. - Credit: Dota 2

For the most part of your matches, your starting items will be a pack of Tangos, Orb of Venom, Blood Grenades (the more the better) and Wards. On occasion you might wanna get a Quelling Blade or a Blight Stone but that's situational.

Your life's mission as a soft support Riki is to find battles where you come as the numbers advantage. In the meantime, don't forget of your role as a support. Stack neutral camps, ward when you have the chance and most importantly, use your skills to grant wisdom runes, they are perfect for that.

Blink Strike in, get the rune, Tricks of the Trade, Blink Strike out, easy rune. - Credit (AFK Gaming)

Midgame: Wards are the key to success

As the match progresses, heroes will get to level 6 and their ultimate skills com along with that. At this time you will most likely be behind on level and by extension vulnerable to the cores of the enemy team.

Use Tricks of the Trade to farm open lanes and neutral camps whenever possible to close the gap. The skill progression should focus on leveling Blink Strike first with value points on Smoke Screen and Tricks of the Trade (which should be your next focus).

Your list of tasks grows after the end of the laning phase as you should make use of Cloak and Dagger to provide vision. You should always have wards on hand and abuse the fact that you're invisible to ward the enemy position unnoticed.

For example, we have the capture above, showing Saksa literally dropping a ward at skiter's feet on the FISSURE PLAYGROUND decisive match. He stalks enemies, always assuming they can see him, and seals the fates of skiter and Malr1ne mostly by providing vision while his team approaches.

Riki: Item progression

At last, we get to the item progression, but this point has no major changes from the usual Carry role. On the early game you will be buying early stat items and wards whenever possible. On the midgame your best options are Diffusal Blade, Aghanim's Shard and Scepter.

In contrast with that, assuming you are having a hard time you can also focus on items with cheaper ingredients such as Orb of Corrosion using your Oov. Another option is the Drums of Endurance, that helps on engaging, disengaging, pushing and might become Boots of Bearing later on.

From now on, your choices depend 100% on the situation you're in. - Credit: Dota 2

If you're feeling extra bold and there's a Lina or a Zeus running rampant, there's also the option of combining Mage Slayer and Witch Blade. Despite sounding weird, the 40% spell damage reduction with the added 25% slow and your Smoke Screen is soul crushing to most spell damage heroes.

That's all for today, Riki as a Soft Support is an interesting trend and even though it's interesting, also shows that maybe, just maybe, patch 7.37 has been going on for far too long. Good luck on your matches and keep updated on everything about Dota 2 by coming again to our news page!

Featured image credit: dotesports