Rubick is arguably one of the most interactive heroes in Dota 2 because of his Spell Steal ability. He is somewhat of a mediocre lane-support as he lacks a solid way to harass enemies nor does he provide any sustain support for the carry. Nonetheless, Fade Bolt is still a decent skill to annoy your opponents as it reduces their auto-attack damage, hence disrupting their last-hits.

Rubick’s effectiveness boils down to his positioning and knowledge of every spell in the Dota 2 book. Being able to timely steal and use the opponent spells is crucial for Rubick players.

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Complete Rubick Spell Guide

Telekinesis

Telekinesis is a disable which first lifts the enemy and then can either throw them a short distance in the direction of Rubick’s target or drops them back down in place. Upon landing, the lifted unit will stun nearby enemies. Telekinesis should only be taken at one level to prioritize maxing the other two skills instead. This is due to Telekinesis’ long cooldown in the early levels and lack of damage.

Nonetheless, it can come in handy during a combo by taking into consideration your teammates before you lift an enemy. It may be easier to leave the enemy to fall back down in place to secure a Sun Strike, for instance. If you’re playing with a Mirana or Pudge on your team, you can also throw them in the direction of said heroes to help land a Meat Hook/Sacred Arrow. Try to stun as many opponents as possible when throwing them back down. Sometimes this may mean that you should throw an enemy closer to you to stun the hero that’s chasing you. Perhaps an invisible hero is about to leave the range of the Sentry Ward. Be observant as possible in fights and make a judgement call. Lastly, Telekinesis does zero damage, so it doesn’t cancel Blink Dagger. Therefore, if possible, hit the enemy once or Fade Bolt them if they wouldn’t otherwise take damage.

Fade Bolt

Fade Bolt deals damage and reduces the physical damage of enemies in percentage and also bounces between nearby enemies. Use this to nuke enemies, to trade hits more effectively and to disrupt the enemy’s last-hitting. It has a long range, so if the enemy might get away, you can sometimes guarantee the kill.

When possible, try to use it when the enemies are clumped together so the damage will hit them all. Fade Bolt is also great for slowing a push, so use it if your tower is under attack from a creep-wave.

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Arcane Supremacy

Arcane Supremacy is the second skill to prioritize alongside Fade Bolt as it improves Rubick’s cast range and spell amplification. This passive plays a major role in letting Rubick use skills from a safe distance while making stolen enemy skills stronger than its victims’.

Coupled with other cast range and spell amplification items, Rubick will be an absolute menace for enemies to kill early due to his distance.

Spell Steal

Rubick’s ultimate ability allows him to use the last-used spell of an enemy hero for a period of time. Spell Steal goes through magic immunity. This spell makes Rubick very strong against heroes with powerful ultimate abilities such as Tidehunter, Enigma, Doom and many more. The enemy will usually be careful however, and this can make it difficult to steal these spells. Many players simply refuse to use the spell if they think there is a risk of being stolen.

Rubick’s ultimate can be upgraded with Aghanim’s Scepter, which decreases the cooldown to 2 seconds and applies the Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade to any stolen abilities. The same applies for Aghanim’s Shard, whereby Rubick’s stolen abilities will also be an Aghanim’s Shard upgraded version of the skill.

The hardest challenge with Rubick is certainly positioning. They may try to pick you off before the fight starts so that you won’t steal their spells. The challenge lies in that you need to be somewhat hidden from the enemy, yet close enough to steal the spell before they use a different one. Most stolen spells are almost instant cast, even if they are not for their original caster which makes many spells even more powerful. There are many non-ultimate spells which are also very powerful in the hands of Rubick, such as Earthshaker’s Fissure. As you play, you’ll come to work out the interactions between spells. See Match-ups for a list of strong spells to steal.

Best Rubick Talents

Level 10: -12% Fade Bolt Damage Reduction or +150 Telekinesis Landing Damage

The Fade Bolt Damage Reduction comes in handy to reduce the enemy carry’s damage output due to its percentage-based reduction. If the enemy’s physical damage isn’t a cause for concern, then consider picking up the Telekinesis landing damage. This can be an effective feature against enemy heroes that use Blink Dagger.

Level 15: +0.4s Telekinesis Lift Duration or -25% Stolen Spells Cooldown

The Stolen Spell Cooldown reduction is the best talent for Rubick. While most hero skills are optimized to have a reasonable output to cooldown ration, having a reduced cooldown on stolen skills make it very lethal.

Level 20: +240 Telekinesis Land Distance or -5s Fade Bolt Cooldown

The increased Telekinesis land distance is great for setting opponents in bad positions. However, with Aghanim’s Shard, Telekinesis can also be used on ally, making the increased Land Distance a powerful lifesaver to lift allies to safety.

Whereas the reduced cooldown on Fade Bolt is also great, but note that picking this talent will only benefit you by letting you nuke more frequently. The damage reduction debuff lasts 10 seconds and does not stack, so applying consecutive Fade Bolts won’t reduce damage further.

Level 25: +40% Spell Amp For Stolen Spells vs -12s Telekinesis Cooldown

The Telekinesis Cooldown reduction can be good if you need more disables on your team, and especially strong if you chose the increased land distance at level 20. If there is a particularly strong AoE spell on the enemy team , you can get the spell amp and deal massive damage to enemies. If you have an Aghanim’s Scepter, then extra spell amp can be even better, as you’ll be able to return a large amount of damage to enemies.

What Items to build on Rubick

Starting Items

• Tangos
• Clarity
• Healing Salve
• Iron Branches
• Observer Wards
• Sentry Wards

You should ideally split the support item duties with the other support hero since Rubick is often played as a pos-4 support. Regardless, it’s worth buying a sentry even if they don’t have invisible heroes, as you may work out that they have a ward for vision or blocking your jungle camp. You should get Tangos for your own health regen or if your lane partner requires it. Consider planting a tree using your Iron Branch before using Tango on that tree to gain amplified health regen.

Rubick isn’t very good at trading hits, so you shouldn’t really try, besides spamming Fade Bolt. It’s better to also use Fade Bolt to secure last hit when the enemy ranged creep is within deniable health. A Healing Salve is necessary, if not for you then for a carry later if they need it. 1 Clarity should be enough, as Rubick has quite a large mana-pool which allows for several spell casts early. Just always keep enough mana for an emergency cast of Telekinesis if it’s needed. Spend any remaining gold on Iron Branches, but you shouldn’t buy more than 3.

Read also: Best Dota 2 Heroes to Climb Ranks With

Rubick Early Game Items

• Magic Wand is a cheap item that will save your life and get you kills you otherwise wouldn’t have the mana for. Almost always worth it on Rubick, as you are poor and need to make the best out of the little you have. Get an earlier Magic Stick if you’re against a team that casts many spells as well. It may not be worth it against a team with many carries that don’t cast many spells.
• Arcane Boots are usually the boots of choice for Rubick, as he consumes mana for many skills. Try and get it as the first item you get, unless you’re poor, in which case a Magic Wand may prove more helpful.
• Aether Lens can be built by disassembling your Arcane Boots, making it cheaper to buy. It improves your casting range on top of your Arcane Supremacy passive. Additionally, it provides decent stats and mana regen for a spell-heavy hero like Rubick.

Rubick Mid Game Items

• Aghanim’s Shard is an affordable item that doesn’t occupy one of Rubick’s inventory slots. It lets Telekinesis be casted on ally, but also offers the same Aghanim’s Shard upgrade on stolen spells that has an Aghanim’s Shard upgrade. Hence, even if the opponent doesn’t have an Aghanim’s Shard, their stolen skill will be of upgraded version regardless.
• Blink Dagger is almost necessary in games against big team-fight ultimates as they can often be very hard to steal. It also helps as it allows for a much better initiation after stealing a spell like Black Hole. Ravage can be an exception as you can still effectively use it without needing to blink in first. In most games you should get either Blink Dagger or Force Staff if not both.
• Glimmer Cape is a cheaper option that can save your allies and your own life quite often. The magic resistance is also very helpful against teams with strong magical damage capabilities.
• Force Staff can help you to survive in fights for longer and to make it easier to get harder to steal spells, like Ravage. It can help you more than Blink Dagger if you find yourself getting picked off in fights easily, by the likes of Riki or Clockwerk. Can also be helpful to save allies from similar spells.
• Ghost Scepter may be needed if you’re getting picked off by physical damage dealers every fight, such as Ursa. Consider options such as Eul’s and Force Staff as well.

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Rubick Late Game & Situational Items

• Aghanim’s Scepter is a great choice for a first late-game item. The reduced cooldown means that you have much more utility in fights, and the applied Aghanim’s Scepter upgrade to spells makes this item a great choice, especially against teams with lots of spells to steal from. The Scepter also gives you some much-needed overall stats.
• Scythe of Vyse may be the extra disable that your team needs. If you are able to save up for it, it can be a very strong item in the late game against the enemy carries. Hex also provides some great stats for you, increasing mana and mana regeneration drastically, which helps in longer team-fights.
• Rod of Atos is a great item on Rubick on heroes with Blink abilities, such as Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain and Puck. This is because it’s built from cheap items which give you very helpful stats. Provides a helpful amount of HP and mana.
• Solar Crest can be a viable item to get when the enemy heroes have high armor, such as Terrorblade. Reducing their armor lets your team’s attack more effective, and Rubick’s long range makes him a great Solar Crest holder.
• Eul’s Scepter of Divinity is a great item to help you survive in fights. It has a strong active ability as well as some very helpful stats that go a long way in solving Rubick’s mana limitations. Can be even more effective if you have very few disables on your team and are facing some of the best Dota 2 players.
• Veil of Discord can be a good item for Rubick if you have lots of magical damage on your team. The stats help to tank you up a bit, and the extra mana is very nice.
• Refresher Orb is game-changing if you manage to steal a spell like Black Hole or Doom. Consider the difficulty involved in doing so, and whether you are likely to be able to make good use of the item.
• Shiva’s Guard can be a good item to get in the late game to survive against physical damage dealers such as Phantom Assassin and her Stifling Dagger. Provides a big chunk of mana, lots of armor and very helpful AoE control.
• Bloodstone can be helpful in the late game as it provides lots of HP, mana, and regeneration. The ability to deny and heal allies can be helpful, as well as the decreased cooldown that comes from charges. That said, it can often be hard to gain charges. Consider other more useful items first, but can be good against teams with spells that cost a lot of mana.
• Lotus Orb can be a great support item that can help either you or a teammate against more than one strong single-target spell.
• Linken’s Sphere is similar to Lotus Orb, but should be considered if either you or a carry is getting consistently locked down by a strong spell.
• Black King Bar is helpful if you are simply unable to contribute in fights due to the amount of magic damage, or lockdown that the enemy team has. Can also be used in conjunction with strong channeled spells, such as Freezing Field or Black Hole if they are available to you.
• Spirit Vessel can be a great upgrade to an Urn of Shadows if there are enemies with strong heals on the enemy team. The movement sped will help you position yourself for your spells and move in and out of fights and use Spell Steal. The extra HP will help to keep you alive in fights as well.

Interesting Rubick Match-ups

The following is a list of some of the notable spells you can steal:

1. Morphling Agility/Strength Gain – Steal this at least once in the game and morph all points into strength. The stat change applies permanently even after Rubick loses the ability. However, do note that Rubick’s movement speed is heavily reduced due to the strength gain, so pick up Tranquil Boots for higher movement speed.
2. Pudge Meat Hook is difficult to steal as Pudge can use Rot immediately, but successfully stealing Hook is very valuable as it allows you to get easy kills with your team.
3. Anti-Mage/Queen of Pain Blink can be stolen easily from Anti-mage and Queen of Pain, which eliminates the need for an early Blink Dagger. Provides excellent mobility in fights, and makes you much harder to kill.
4. Doom or Devour from Doom can be a great way to increase your GPM while you roam.
5. Tinker ultimate gets a special mention because at higher levels it allows you to keep an enemy carry lifted for a long time, provided you have the mana. Most of Tinker’s spells are good to steal, and Rearm is fairly easy to steal as well. Note that Rearm does not reset the cooldown of previously stolen spells; it will only reset your current spells and items.
6. Ravage,Reverse Polarity, Blackhole – these long-cooldown ultimate are the highlight of top Rubick plays when done right. Notably, Enigma’s Blackhole is the easiest to steal since Blackhole is a channelling spell.
7. Single-target ultimate abilities (Doom, Fiend’s grip, Track, etc) are a bit easier to steal and provide great utility and in many cases lock-down. Note that a stolen Chronosphere will not freeze Faceless Void, although it’s effective against the rest of his team.

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