Gameplay

Playstyle
Rubick is a flexible spellcaster, best known for his ability to copy enemies last used spells to use against them. He is commonly picked as a counter to big teamfight spells such as Tidehunter's Ravage, Enigma's Black Hole, and Earthshaker's Echo Slam.
Pros	Cons
Short cast time for abilities and stolen spells. High mana capacity. Reliable stun and nuke that works well throughout the game. Not item dependent.	Low health pool. Lack of damage. Rubick's strength and effectiveness depends on enemy's team picks. One of the hardest heroes to play well in the game.

Support

Rubick is mostly played as a roaming support, setting up kills early due to Telekinesis. Rubick is not reliant on items prior to level 6 either, hence able to help out the hard support with warding. With Aether Lens, Rubick can gain survivability by being further away from the fights yet participate effectively by casting spells, as the item increases the cast range of not only Rubick's own abilities, but also stolen abilities.

Ability Builds

Support Rubick
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Mid Rubick
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	20	25

Talents

Tips & Tactics

General

• Despite possessing attributes typical of the archetypal support caster, the possession of Spell Steal allows Rubick to be built differently. While he only has one innate disable, he should generally be built with mobility and casting in mind, with items that help with initiation taking priority due to the utility that Spell Steal provides.
  • Despite his high base intelligence, Rubick suffers from mediocre intelligence growth, and his spells have relatively flat mana costs; additionally, consistent use of Spell Steal will further tax his mana pool due to the need to support not only his innate spells, but also any stolen abilities, particularly mana-expensive ultimates. The flat mana cost for his abilities means that they cost a larger fraction of his mana pool in the early game, and thus limits his operational time in the field. Items that grant Rubick a larger mana pool and increased mana regeneration are helpful for keeping him in the game.
  • Although a great disabler and potential initiator with the right items and stolen spells, Rubick is frail and can be easily killed if caught out of position by the enemy team. Rubick should focus on building items that grant him more mobility rather than increasing the size of his HP pool, as increased mobility can help with both initiation and escape rather than simply delay his death in the face of enemy attacks.
• During the mid- and late-game, stealing key teamfight spells and keeping yourself alive should be your main goals. Spell Steal only has a 0.1 second cast time and high cast range, so quick fingers and fast reaction time will give your team a huge advantage.
• Rubick is a flexible caster who can be played as a support, roamer, or core farmer. The role that he is selected for will largely change his how much farm he gets, and in turn how effective he can be with his abilities. However, his skill and item build remains largely the same.
  • As a support, Rubick generally performs lane harassment and creep pulling duties, getting low farming and experience priority. Telekinesis allows him to catch the enemy offlaner and pull them back, as well as making chain-disables by his tri-lane easier to execute due to Telekinesis's ability to reposition the enemy precisely.
  • As a roamer, Rubick aims to disable and disposition enemies with Telekinesis, setting up kills for his lanes to give them an early advantage. A roaming Rubick prioritizes in mobility, disable and nuking.
  • As a core, Rubick goes to the mid lane, using Fade Bolt to nuke and harass, and Telekinesis to set up kills if his supports and roamers rotate to mid for a gank. Due to being given farm and experience priority, mid Rubick's goal is to get level 6 as fast as possible and use his gold and level advantage to start moving around the map for ganks and kills. Gold should be spent on mobility items, particularly a fast Blink Dagger, and utility and disable items to turn teamfights to his team's advantage.

Abilities

Telekinesis

• Telekinesis stuns its target for a short duration, and allows Rubick to displace them with its Telekinesis Land sub-ability, stunning any enemies in the impact radius.
• Telekinesis is a short disable, but can be powerful as it can displace the enemy upon landing, putting them in a disadvantageous position.
• No matter what role Rubick is played in, at least one point should be spent on this ability in the laning stage. Because leveling it up increases its disable duration (both lift and stun on secondary targets) and cast range, this ability benefits from being maxed out early in a match in order to increase Rubick's disable potential.
• Rubick is a strong supporting disabler when placed in a side lane, since Telekinesis can disable a target for a disproportionate amount of time (lift time, as well as displacement upon landing). This allows him to magnify the effects of chain disables by his team as he can prevent a target from dodging area-of-effect stuns and increase the length of their retreat path.
• When using Telekinesis alongside allies with unreliable disables, make sure to communicate your intentions beforehand. Telling your teammates that you will not displace the enemy with Telekinesis Land, or that you will always pull them backwards, will give them forewarning as to where to cast their stun. Not communicating can cause allies to miss their disables completely, resulting in a failed gank.
• Remember that any enemies within a certain radius of a lifted target will be stunned upon the target landing. Telekinesis Land allows Rubick to select the area that the target will land in, allowing him to utilize the secondary stun as needed. This can be powerful when counter-initiating during enemy ganks, as Rubick can disable one attacker with the lift, and then stun any other enemy heroes with the land.
• When choosing a location for Telekinesis Land, it is possible to place the target on a different elevation than their lift point. You can use this to your advantage by placing the target over a ridge, forcing them to take the long way around, which can be useful for extending a fleeing enemy's escape path or preventing a chasing enemy from easily pursuing. As well, targets can be placed on the elevated cliffs near the rune spots, trapping them in place for an easy kill.
• Keep in mind that Rubick will turn to face the direction of Telekinesis Land when displacing enemies. It may not be wise to re-position enemies if you are already facing away from them after lifting them.

Fade Bolt

• Fade Bolt is a bouncing nuke that deals a respectable amount of damage to enemies, while also reducing the damage their physical attacks deal.
• Due to its nuking power and attack damage reduction on targets, Fade Bolt can be an effective counter-gank spell, as it will both deal damage to the enemy and reduce their attack damage, decreasing their chances of securing a kill with their attacks as well as their chances of surviving and escaping after the gank. It can be a useful spell to break up or at least hinder enemy gank attempts.
• Fade Bolt can be a powerful harassing tool during laning, as not only does it deal damage but reduces the enemy's attack damage. However, mind its mana cost, and remember that casting it will push your lane both due to the nuke damage on nearby creeps and the reduced damage that the creeps will deal. Avoid spamming it unless you have a source of mana replenishment, as you may need your mana to cast Telekinesis instead.
• Fade Bolt deals the greatest damage to the first target struck, and decreases in strength as it bounces to other enemies. Keep this in mind if trying to cast this spell to finish off an enemy, as the bounces may cause it to weaken to the point where it cannot guarantee a kill. If possible, try to target the enemy you are trying to kill in order to maximize the amount of damage they take.
• Conversely, Fade Bolt's range can be augmented by using the bounce to hit an enemy at range. If a weakened enemy is out of range from being directly targeted, they can still possibly be finished off by a bounce as long as they are not already in the fog of war, and there are other units nearby that can be used as a relay.
• Due to its nuking and pushing power, Fade Bolt is a useful tool for a mid-lane Rubick, as the damage can harass the enemy mid while reducing their last-hitting power. As well, pushing the creep wave into the enemy tower can keep them occupied when the runes spawn, and force them to last-hit against their tower, possibly reducing the amount of gold they get.
• Use Fade Bolt to nuke creep waves when pushing or defending against enemy pushes.
• When defending towers, take advantage of Fade Bolt's long cast range to draw enemy creep aggro toward Rubick, away from allied towers.

Arcane Supremacy

• Arcane Supremacy increases Rubick's spell damage, including that of Fade Bolt and stolen spells.
• Arcane Supremacy's debuff duration amplification works as if to decrease enemy status resistance, benefitting Telekinesis's stun, Fade Bolt's attack damage reduction, and stolen spells' debuffs.
• Arcane Supremacy also works on items, increasing disabling power of Scythe of Vyse and such.
• Arcane Supremacy makes Rubick one of the most powerful disabler heroes in the game with the correct spells stolen. For example, Hex (level 4) stolen from Lion will disable the enemy for 7.2 seconds which is long enough to turn fights around.
• More tips needed.

Spell Steal

• Spell Steal is one of the most powerful spells in the game, as used properly it can turn teamfights around completely. However, its use requires impeccable positioning, timing and judgment to ensure that the right spell is stolen and used at the right time. Keep in mind what abilities your enemies have, which of those you plan to steal, and in what situations the enemy will use those spells, so that you can be ready when an opportunity presents itself.
• Spell Steal is one of the hardest spells in the game to use properly, as it requires extensive game knowledge to understand every aspect of the spells you are able to steal. As well, its long cooldown without Aghanim's Scepter means that there is no room for error if you intend on stealing a specific spell during a fight rather than taking what comes. In general, more experience playing as other heroes in the game translates to better understanding of how to best utilize Spell Steal, as you will understand all the aspects of the spells you are potentially stealing, as well as when enemies will cast those spells.
• Virtually all spells stolen by Rubick will retain his 0.15 second cast animation. This means that spells such as Fissure, Ice Path, and Split Earth will cast almost immediately. Any spell that requires channel time or extended casting animations such as Assassinate and Epicenter will still have extended durations.
• Certain spells can be extremely powerful against the heroes that they are stolen from. For instance, if there is a Bounty Hunter on the enemy team, stealing Track from him allows Rubick to completely negate his Shadow Walk, as well as drastically increase Rubick's gold gain. Stealing Mystic Flare from Skywrath Mage can allow Rubick to destroy him in place by disabling him with Telekinesis, and so on. This can be further amplified if you choose the spell amp for stolen spells talent.
• Stolen spells can often fill in any deficiencies that Rubick has, allowing him to diversify greatly. For instance, stealing an area-of-effect magic nuke can allow Rubick to farm more easily as he can combine it with Fade Bolt, stealing a stun can allow him to double up disable duration when combined with Telekinesis, and so on.
• Keep in mind that when chain-disabling with a stolen spell, you can steal another one immediately afterward if Spell Steal is off cooldown. For instance, ganking with a stolen Storm Hammer can stun an enemy for up to 4.25 seconds when combined with Telekinesis, but if the gank target has just used a stun (such as a Wraith King with Wraithfire Blast), Rubick can steal that and add it at the end, stunning the target for a maximum of 6.25 seconds.
• While a stolen spell can be powerful by itself even factoring in the reduced cast times, Rubick's true strength comes from combining those spells with his innate ones. For instance, stealing Shackleshot can be extremely powerful as Rubick can lift a target at will and drop them next to a tree, stealing Enfeeble can neuter a target's attacks when stacked with Fade Bolt, and so on.
• Stolen spells can synergize with allies' abilities as well, not only those of Rubick. If the enemy has a spell that can synergize well with that of a teammate, it can be beneficial to attempt to steal that spell in tandem with an ally.
  • For instance, if there is a Dark Seer on the opposing team and Disruptor on yours, stealing the Dark Seer's Vacuum can allow your Disruptor to get off Kinetic Field and Static Storm combo.
• Remember that stolen spells have a memory duration based on the level of your ultimate, so you should keep in mind how you can best use that spell before you forget it. If you have stolen a powerful teamfight ultimate, it can be wise to try to force the enemy into a teamfight that is disadvantageous for them. If you have stolen a strong area of effect nuke, you can use it to farm during downtime or push out lanes. If you have stolen a strong stun, you should attempt to find a target to gank as you can greatly extend the duration of your disable by combining the stolen disable with Telekinesis.
• Aghanim's Scepter not only reduces Spell Steal's cooldown to 2 seconds and increases its cast range, it also (in most cases) grants Rubick the upgrade benefits of any spells he has stolen, regardless of whether the original caster has an Aghanim's Scepter or not. Therefore, a stolen Black Hole will apply Enigma's current level of Midnight Pulse to the area, a stolen Lua error in Module:Ability_ID at line 61: Could not find Cargo data for "Heat-Seeking Missile". will fire up to 4 rockets, and so on.
• Since Spell Steal can only be cast on real heroes (and not illusions), it can be used to check the real hero among illusions (for example, the real Chaos Knight among his phantasms).
• Spell Steal is blocked by Linken's Sphere, which can prevent Rubick from stealing spells. Conversely, Spell Steal can also be used to waste an enemy's Linken's Sphere due to its long cast range (and low cooldown, if Rubick has Aghanim's Scepter).
• While Aghanim's Scepter allows Rubick to upgrade stolen spells, he does not gain any spell upgrades from enemy talents.

Items

Starting items:

• Tango and Healing Salve regenerates health lost to enemy harassment.

• Clarity allows Rubick to utilize his spells more than a few times, as they are very costly in the early game.

• Iron Branch gives Rubick some much-needed attributes, especially to his strength. He can sell them later, or build into Magic Wand.

• Observer Ward gives your team map vision. Having knowledge of the enemy's movements allows you to identify which spell they last cast, giving you forearmed knowledge of what you will get when using your ultimate.

Early game:

• Boots of Speed are important to get early on as Rubick, as Telekinesis is a powerful disable that requires Rubick to get close enough to cast.

• Magic Wand gives Rubick stats, and more burst HP and mana regen with up to 300 instant replenishment for both. Even in the late game, this can be all that is needed to cast one more game-changing stolen spell in a fight.

Mid game:

• Arcane Boots are useful on Rubick due to his ability to steal the enemy's spells. They increase the size of his mana pool and allow him to replenish his and allies' mana as needed.

• Blink Dagger is a crucial item to purchase on Rubick, and should be rushed if possible. Being able to instantly reposition himself greatly increases Rubick's survivability, as well as his ability to jump in and use Spell Steal, or any spells stolen by it, when the opportunity presents itself.

• Force Staff serves a very similar purpose to Blink Dagger for Rubick with the added benefits of more Intelligence and HP regen. It is much easier to build, and can serve either as a supplementary repositioning tool after Blink Dagger, or a cheaper substitute if you are having trouble farming. Also unlike Blink Dagger, it can be used on teammates to give them additional mobility for initiation or escape, and can be used on enemies to disposition them or break their Linken's Sphere before casting a disable on them.

• Glimmer Cape is a situational item that mainly provides utility, but can be very strong if used properly. The active can allow Rubick to initiate by walking in invisibly instead of using his Blink Dagger, or can be used to shield himself or an ally from enemy magic nukes (or to help them escape). It can be particularly useful for utilizing stolen channeling spells, as it helps to prevent easy interruption.

• Aether Lens is a strong purchase that can be easily acquired by disassembling Arcane Boots for the Energy Booster component. Besides the increased mana pool, it increases the cast range of all of Rubick's spells, particularly Telekinesis and Spell Steal, giving him increased disable range and allowing him to safely steal spells from far away (as well as utilize any successfully stolen spells from greater range).

Late game:

• Drum of Endurance gives Rubick stats across the board, most importantly Strength and Intelligence.

• Eul's Scepter of Divinity is a comparatively cheap item that will give you great mana regen, a bigger mana pool, more movement speed for mobility, as well as a useful disable. The active can also be used on yourself to disjoint enemy spells you wish to grab, or remove debuffs such as silence from yourself.

• Scythe of Vyse allows Rubick to instantly disable an enemy, adding to his already powerful arsenal of disables. It also greatly increases the size of his mana pool and gives him a hefty amount of mana regeneration, greatly increasing his ability to cast mana-expensive stolen spells.

• Refresher Orb is a very situational item to purchase, and should depend on if the enemy has a major teamfight ultimate that can benefit from it. However, as with a Refresher Orb purchased on any hero with a major teamfight ultimate, it can mean the difference between victory and defeat in the right situation

Situational items:

• Ghost Scepter is a useful item to purchase on any support, and is no exception for Rubick. Being able to become immune to physical damage can buy Rubick more time in the face of the enemy's carries to steal or cast stolen spells in order to change the course of a teamfight.

• Solar Crest is a strong support item that can greatly benefit Rubick's team. By itself, the item grants mana regen as well as survivability due to a combination of armor and attributes. The active allows Rubick to manipulate the armor, attack speed, and movement speed of target allies and enemies in ganks.

• Rod of Atos greatly improves both Rubick's health pool and mana pool, allowing him to do more in teamfights. Furthermore, the active ability can be used to root an enemy from a very long distance away, helpful for fleeing from single enemies or catching foes out of position for further disables.

• Pipe of Insight is a good utility support item to pick up, as it can outright shield allies from magic damage. The increased HP regeneration helps Rubick to maintain his health pool somewhat, while the increased magic resistance (from the item as well as the aura) gives him and his teammates further survivability against magic nukes.