Simple text guide to Rubick
By a guy who plays way too much Rubick
(Don't worry I know what I'm doing)
"Who's the ultimate magus? That's right. I am."
warning: this guide assumes you have a basic knowledge of DotA
warning: written while listening to the Jojo OP2 on loop. This guide may contain FABULOUS.
why do I want to play Rubick
+delicious irony by killing people with their own spells
+versatility, both in items and spell stealing
+if the enemy team has a role besides carry, you can pretty much approximate it
+rubick enjoys one of the best cast animations in the game (0.1s), which includes stolen spells
+good push/counterpush by default
+decent nukedown
+telekinesis is gdlk
+enemy team has like 1092715019284 nukes, must make all allies resist magic
+dendi
+some images are just sorta hilarious
why do I not want to play Rubick
-oh god where is my mobility (get a force staff asap)
-I am a dumbass and can't steal spells
-the enemy has doom (unless you're a badass and give no fucks)
-my positioning is shitty
-I think holding onto spells for the entire duration is a good idea (ps it's not)
-oh god I am fragile please don't hurt me
-I can't press buttons (because you will have at least three active items, trust me)
-until I steal a spell I'm effectively a hero without an ult
-I have no clue what the heroes in this game do
-I can't stagger disables for shit
Rubick is basically whatever the fuck you need him to be. He transitions well from any lane into a useful, mostly item independant caster with a great disable, good nuke, and a useful aura that's like a free 2/3 of a Hood of Defiance on everyone. Some of the most impressive plays in the game can be pulled off by Rubick and Rubick alone.
First, mechanics.
Movement Speed 290
Turn Rate 0.5
Sight Range 1800/800
Attack Range 600
Missile Speed 1125
Attack Duration 0.4+0.77
Cast Duration 0.1+1.17
Base Attack Time 1.7
Below average movespeed, okay turn rate (this will be the only reason you are ever too slow to cast something; Rubick is enough of a badass that only casting things behind him is a problem), good range, okay missile speed, decent attack animation, fucking great cast duration so long as you cancel the after portion, and okay base attack time. Abuse the cast duration. Love it. Relish it. Rubick casts spells better than anyone else in the game except for Wisp, which means you cast spells better than who you stole it from. Except wisp.
Let's break down his stats.
STR: 19+1.5 per level
AGI: 14+1.6 per level
INT: 27+2.4 per level
Average strength, below average agility, good base intelligence with a subpar growth. Which means mediocre HP, low armor and attack speed (not particularly important though it can mean the difference early game), and good initial mana but bad mana in comparison later on. What's this mean? Build mobility. If they never catch you, they can't exploit your bad armor and HP. Mobility items, specifically force staff and blink dagger, also work well with his skillset. You won't ever really be tanking or carrying (unless very specific spells are stolen), but don't worry about it. You do everything else.
Skill time. First up is Telekinesis. Enemy unit within 550/575/600/625 range is lifted for 1.5/1.75/2/2.25s, then dropped down in a direction of your choice which then stuns all the enemies within a 325 radius of landing for 1/1.25/1.5/1.75s. Mana cost of 120, cooldown of 18. Really, really fucking good. Because of how it works visually, Telekinesis pretty much guarrantees your team will focus down someone for those seconds, and if any other heroes are stupid enough to start channeling then they'll get interrupted by the landing. Also gives you all the time in the world to steal from your target. It's a little short in comparison to other single target stuns, but the nigh-instant cast time and the AoE stun that follows make it great.
Next is Fade Bolt. Rubick's go to nuke, push, and counterpush tool, along with a bit of anti-carry too. 800 range, 440 bounce range, and 70/140/210/280-4% per bounce damage, along with a 14/20/26/32 (half for creeps) damage reduction for ten seconds. At 150 mana cost and 16/14/12/10 cooldown, this thing is meant to be spammed. You can pretty safely throw this thing out whenever you want because of how long it is, and if there's a push going on you'll pretty much cut it down due to the damage reduction. It also bounces as long as there's a valid target to bounce to, which means some heroes get really fucking sad when Rubick pops in. (Hi Brood/Prophet) Good nuke in general, if a little below average in damage.
Null Field is a passive that gives all allied heroes 5%/10%/15%/20% magic resistance. This...this is good. Especially once you start stealing spells, the enemy really will be casting worse than you. Versus big nukers like Leshrac and Queen of Pain, this gives you the edge.
And now the nougat center, the filet mignon, the center of the Tootsie Pop: Spell Steal. Oh god, is this thing fun. First off, 1000 range. This thing is fucking long. If you can see someone, you can probably steal from them and be pretty much safe. Secondly, 3/4/5 minute duration. This lets you hold onto good spells for a long while, but this is a bad idea. I'll explain later. Finally, 25 mana cost. You can use it whenever the flying fuck you want.
Let's break down what makes Spell Steal really, really good:
+You copy the last spell word for word, down to every last aspect. If it's a really good spell that's just on a hero that can't support spamming it, well guess what. You're an int hero. You can spam it. Examples include Sven Storm Bolt, CK Chaos Bolt, Vengeful Spirit Magic Missile, and Earthshaker Fissure.
+However, whatever animation the enemy has is replaced with your own, absurdly good 0.1s animation. This means instant Fissures, instant Split Earths, instant Guardian Angels, instant Black Holes, instant Entangles; you literally cast spells better than whoever you stole it from. And because you have Telekinesis, it's piss easy to land any sort of AoE spell.
+If you steal something you'd normally save if you were playing that hero, like Tombstone or Black Hole or whatever, don't save it as Rubick. Use it for whatever miniscule reason you need at the moment and then swap out. You can afford to use a really good spell for the smallest of kills or benefits and get away with it because you have at the very least another 10 spells to choose from in the game. Don't think of Rubick as a hero that has can steal one spell from the enemy team, that's a waste of potential; think of him as someone who has access to every single spell on the enemy team.
+you can and will confuse enemy heroes by using their own spells against them; 90% of Pudges will be absolutely confused when hooked, for example, and often times enemies will just fall into complacency and not react to their own spells.
Quality example here, I'm the Rubick:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owEWls4ZngANaga pops Song to get away, and it's a good song. It stops my gank and saves all her allies. But, I still have my Haste rune on. I run up to her, steal song, and cast it right back. If I wanted, I could have saved Song because song is a really good and versatile ult. But I pop it immediately to make sure we get something out of this gank, which we do: we trade CM for shredder and force Leshrac to burn the mana he just got back from bottling, which forces him back to fountain. And what do I do afterwards? Swap out a spell at the first opportunity, because holding on to Song until it cooldowns is three minutes worth of down time, which is very nearly 9 potential spell casts.
now, why Spell Steal is not so cool:
-You need to be familiar with everyone in the game, and how their spells work and what order they generally cast in. Stealing Hook may sound great, but any Pudge worth his salt will toggle Rot immediately afterwards and cockblock you out of it.
-Stealing from the most dangerous hero on the enemy team does not always guarrantee that you will get a dangerous spell
-There's a bit of delay before the spell actually reaches you; nothing you can do about this.
-If you have Legacy keys on, oh god you have to memorize hotkeys for every damn spell in the game.
-Sometimes enemy heroes have shitty spells when alone, or have spells that don't particularly work well on Rubick. Agi carries are generally bad to steal from except for things like Antimage (blink is godlike), though conversely a lot of them have spells that are just absurdly good when put on an INT hero with a positioning spell. (Drow Silence comes to mind)
alright, enough rambling. Let's talk about items
-What do I start with?
--I like 3 branch, 1 clarity, 1 tango myself. Fast bottle is fast. If you're not so comfy with HAVING NO HP, two gloves, 1 branch, 1 tango, 1 salve, 1 clarity is good. if you get random gold, uh...well, buy courier or wards, I guess.
-What Boots do I get?
--Arcanes or Phase. I like Arcane because I spam more than I chase or run, but Phase is pretty good for getting close enough for Telekinesis. Upgrade to Travels lategame as required, like many heroes. Some people like dismantling their Arcanes for a Bloodstone, but I'm not fond of that because if I can ever afford a Bloodstone I can just buy the soul booster raw.
-What's my core item?
--OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE GET FORCE STAFF. After a bottle and a bracer, bracer optional. As a mid hero, Rubick generally gets bottle. Even if you end up on a side lane, try to get a bottle. Get a bracer if you're having a rough time, and work towards a force staff. Wand with your branches is optional, as I often times don't need it. What's forcestaff do for rubick? The push is really versatile. Push towards enemies for a quick steal+telekinesis, run away, lots of stuff. And the stats on it give you mana and longer survivability, which is great on Rubick.
--Some people like getting blink dagger first, and since it's around the same price I can't say much. Buying a multi-part item like Forcestaff is safer though, and blink dagger does not do you jack shit when you're chain stunned. If there's any sort of gap in it, a force staff can and will get you out.
--example of shit you can pull off only with force staff and blink dagger: dive into four enemies like an idiot and survive, then survive the song immediately afterwards without getting hurt. ie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G25agpnM5xQ (nearly get caught out twice and not a single fucking scratch on me)
-What next?
--Rubick is a cool guy, doesn't need items and isn't afraid of anything. Force staff will let you do pretty much anything. Personally, I get Blink Dagger, turn my bracer into Drums, and work towards a Bloodstone.
--You'll notice your item slots are getting pretty full; this is the main reason you get a Wand, just to compress all those branches
--Some people who won't be mentioned like building Heart and BKB on Rubick; I can't discount this.
--Is the enemy team nuking down our shit? Get a Pipe. Works well with your aura. Does our team not have a Mek? get it. Do I need to be MORE MOBILE? Get a Eul's. The tornado is nice sometimes, and tornado->blink dagger will probably get you out of most situations.
okay items done. now for the fun part: specific vs hero strategies, and more specifically: stealing from them. Rubick is the best thief. Bolded are heroes with big spells you'll probably want.
I sorta kinda use a somewhat consistant terminology here:
filler steals: when nothing is really happening and you're just fishing for spells, these aren't bad to get, and will probably be gotten because these are spells used a lot during inaction.
after fight steals: when team fights are over, these are the most common steals. Good after-fight steals are ones you can use to start new fights.
fish steals: randomly throwing out spell steal before a fight actually happens because long ass range on spell steal
RADIANT STRENGTH HEROES:
what you'll find with these guys is that they all pretty much have good spells to steal, except wisp. Most tend to be of the disable variety more than the nuke variety. Rubick also benefits from more mana than these guys, so spam to your heart's content.
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Earthshaker: Steal fissure if you can, but generally avoid stealing from him. Enchant Totem is a braindead way of cockblocking rubick from anything decent, unless you're fast enough to steal before the animation finishes. Echo Slam, if you can steal it, is just fun. Keep in mind you don't get Aftershock off any steals.
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Sven: You will get War Cry a lot. And I mean a lot. This isn't a bad thing with the recent buffs. If you can pickup Storm Bolt, that's freaking godlike. Throw it at an enemy as they come down from telekinesis, and you turn it into a team wide CC. Occasionally and hilariously you will pickup God's Strength; pop it ASAP and swap for something else ASAP, it won't disappear until the duration is over. I will and have gotten triples off a stolen God's Strength Rubick.
-Tiny: Anything is good. You'll either get Toss or Avalanche, and mercifully Avalanche is more common. Throw it out after telekinesis for easy peasy chain stuns.
-Kunkka: Most common is torrent, followed by Boat, then X-marks solely because many Kunkkas do not use that often. Any of them work; torrent works especially well with Telekinesis and completely removes the aiming portion, turning it into a braindead 3s total disable followed by a 4s slow. Boat is fun to steal, but finnicky. Just throw it out during a fight and benefit from the damage reduction booze, and swap out for something else.
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Beastmaster: Again, anything is good. Axes is a great nuke and lets you ghetto ancient farm for however long you keep it. Animals are as useful on you as they are on Beastmaster, if not more so because your disable is a lot spammier and boar means you can land it more. And Roar is just great in general.
-Clockwerk: Iffy. Rocket Flare is a good filler steal, but swap it out for something more useful when applicable. Hookshot, Cogs, and Shrapnel all require you to be too close for comfort, but it's pretty funny counter stealing shrapnel and just standing in spot next to Clockwerk.
-Dragon Knight: You will get fire breath most. This is a good thing; breath+bolt=instant creep wipe. Generic nuke, not a bad steal at all. Dragon Tail is a good followup to telekinesis. And Dragon Mode is actually sorta funny on Rubick; green for push, red for ghetto ancient farming, blue for slows. It doesn't make you any tankier though, so be careful.
-Omniknight: Absolutely anything is useful. Your animation is so much better than Omni's that it's great. Purification can be used willnilly as a nuke if wanted because you can swap out. Repel is mind dead throw-on-carry-swap-spell. And Guardian Angel makes for very strange, phys-immune vs phys-immune fights that you WILL come out on top on because of Null Field.
-Huskar: Lifebreak or Inner Vitality. Inner Vitality is an occasionally funny filler steal, but swap out asap. Lifebreak is most common as a desperation before death steal; spite whoever you can with it or go ganking with it if you survive. Break->Telekinesis for easy peasy disable chains. You also take less damage from it than Huskar because of Null Field, so that's something to keep in mind.
-Alchemist: All of it's useful, again. If you steal concoction, feel free to hold on to it for a while; it works great with Telekinesis. Acid SPray is a use once, swap out spell that you'll probably get during team fights or tower pushes. And Rage is just hilarious; as long as you keep it, Rubick has infinite mana. It's pretty great, but swap it out soon-ish.
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Brewmaster: One of the most lucrative to steal from, and not a bad idea to be honest. Grabbing Thunder Clap or haze is never a bad thing. However, where the real bacon is lies within Primal Split; you can only ever get this after it ends. This means you have to save your steal until after his ult and stalk him until then, or in the case of smart Brewmasters run away from then chase in the middle of Split. If you do manage to steal it, keep in mind the Earth spirit now gives your Null Field.
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Treant: Great steals all around, and above all easy steals because of his godawful animation. Leech seed is better on you because of animation, again. Living Armor may or may not save the ass of one of your heroes or towers, but swap it out soon-ish. And Nature's Guise turns you into Rubick, stalker of trees; unless they already have detection, they're not gonna get it because you can just swap it out, so enjoy and exploit the invisible spell casting hijinx. Finally, Treant's ult is amazing to steal and super easy to steal because of his super slow animation; just spell steal as soon as you see the lord of the ring's tree decal and cast it right back to turn the teamfight back into neutral, if not slightly in your favor.
-Wisp: Because all his spells tend to work on with tether, generally a bad steal. Spirits is okay as a filler steal, but there's better. Overcharge is useless without tether, and Relocate is nearly as useless except for instant ganking. You will almost never get Relocate either; to be honest, you won't face Wisp a whole lot as Rubick. Or at all.
-Centaur: Ahahahaha. This is hard. You get double edge, stomp, or stampede. You'd think Stampede would be great, but it's extremely hard to synchronize with your team; at the very least it will counter stun/slow the enemy team (depending on patch). Double Edge is bad because it's melee, but Stomp is good because you can use it to follow up Telekinesis. Keep in mind that you'll probably see stampede from a mile away, so it's not a particularly hard steal; just difficult to utilize unless you're like me and constantly 5man queue.
-Timbersaw: BEYBLADE BATTLES. You will most commonly pick up whirling death or Chakram, and Chakram is a fun spell to steal because you don't autoattack much anyway. Treechain is a good afterfight steal that pretty much functions as a blink dagger/forcestaff, and if you for some reason pick it up midfight then you can use it to get better positioning. But don't use it as a nuke, Rubick isn't tanky enough for that. Chakram is great because you can use it for a lot longer than shredder can, and you have a hard disable to use it with. Shredder is an example of a hero that may get confused by spell steal; two chakrams are hard to keep track of, especially when one isn't yours.
DIRE STRENGTH HEROES:
More polarizing, less reliable in general than Radiant STR. However, some of the biggest, funnest, and easiest steals are here. Conversely, two heroes that will wreck your shit and a bunch of useless steals are also present.
-Axe: Battle Hunger is one of the best filler steals in the game, and you have no reason not to spam it besides mana concerns (which you fair better in compared to Axe). Call is...situational. Don't use it like Axe does, not unless there's little to no threat to you; use it for the bonus armor if you need to run. During a solo gank, using it as a followup to telekinesis is also fine. You will almost never get Culling Blade, but just use it as Axe uses it. Positioning is hard though.
-Pudge: Aaaah. Get used to not stealing from Pudge or stealing Rot. But on the occassion you do get Dismember or Hook, use them. Hook means an easy telekinesis follow up, dismember is an easy telekinesis followup.
-Sand King: Interesting steals. Burrowstrike on average will be used more as a mobility tool than Sand King's usage, but it is still a stun and should be treated as such. Sandstorm is rare to get on a random fish steal but generally easy to get since he'll use it to deny you burrowstrike; useful if you already have your forcestaff/blink dagger. And don't expect to get Epicenter beyond early game, but use it whenever you get it just as added damage.
-Slardar: Mercifully, Crush is fairly common and as always a good followup to Telekinesis. Sprint is okay, but not that great because your base move speed will be pretty low. Amp damage is great and serves as something you can really just throw out at 0.1s speed, which means even more spam than Slardar.
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Tidehunter: Mother of god. This is it. This it the big one. The REAL steal. And yet so far away. Get used to anchor smash and gush, which really aren't bad spells to steal. If you want Ravage, and you fucking will, stay the fuck away from the rest of your team and force/blink right in as he uses it. Even bad Tides know to use anchor smash right after ravage. If you picked up a BKB, then it's even easier.
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Skeleton King: Steal from him whenever you want. You will always get his stun. And that stun is a good one.
-Lifestealer: What's interesting is that you can steal Rage because Spell Steal goes through magic immune. Being magic immune as Rubick is nice. Open Wounds is also good, because nothing spells 'HEY GUYS KILL THIS GUY' like a floating, bleeding enemy hero. Infest is exceedingly rare, but hilarious. Especially when Rubick says 'Whoops, I hope no one saw that'. But I don't really have anything to say about it as a steal, it really doesn't happen often.
-Night Stalker: Oh god this guy. This guy, if played well, won't even give you the chance. Silences wreck Rubick, which is why Force Staff is needed. Void is a good steal, as is silence. If you steal the Ult, weep and cry. (And swap it out, please)
-Doom: DOOM. Doom will kill you, because it stops items too. But if he dooms someone else, steal that shit and throw it out. Scorched Earth is a bad steal, but decent filler. Level Death is also good, but it forces you to check levels and may not be worth the effort. Devour just means you can farm for days. Keep in mind you can steal any spells he uses from creeps as well, which is occasionally useful when you get something like shockwave or stomp/clap.
-Spirit Breaker: Charge or Netherstrike. Both are good. You copy his level of Greater Bash for Netherstrike, mind, so it becomes a good disable in your hands even if it doesn't do much damage. A charging Rubick gives you another stun and you have the option of stopping the Charge and going straight to Telekinesis, unlike SB who has to go in or go home.
-Lycan: Bad steals in general. Wolves will be most common and aren't worth the micro effort, so just send them after something and forget. Howl will be useful, but use it and swap out. If you can get his ult, go for it, but again swap it out. It's not worth holding on to, even if it is absurd mobility. Note you're still ranged while ulted; behold Rubick wolf snot.
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Chaos Knight: Rift is good positioning and serves as a telekinesis follow up or setup. Chaos Bolt too. You'll most likely get the former more; most CK's prefer to stun into rift. If you get Phantasm, pop it and send the illusions at someone, then steal something else.
-Undying: Lots of interesting spells here. You have a little more mana than Undying, but your animation is leagues better. Decay is spam bait and should be used at every opportunity; nothing can really dodge 0.1s cast time. Soul Rip should be used as a counter to tombstone and in fact can be used to nuke the Tombstone down. Tombstone should be dropped ASAP since you will most likely get it during a teamfight; two tombstones makes the fight really awkward, and occasionalyl in your favor. If you get his ult, again use it then swap out ASAP, but don't get yourself killed trying to make use of the damage amp proximity.
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Magnus: Shockwave is a generic nuke and is actually about as long as Fadebolt, so use both to clear waves and nuke things from a safe distance. Skewer should be avoided unless you're fast with a blink dagger, and even then you're putting yourself really close to enemies. You could possible blink behind, Telekinesis someone, then time the skewer so that the lifted hero lands as your skewer ends thus resulting in a team stun, but even that's really unsafe. Empower is good filler and should just be thrown on your carries and forgotten. If you pick up reverse polarity, well, make use of those mobility items.
Radiant Agi
Weird steals, and a lot of situational ones. Good fish steals as well, as well as some fun ones. Not a real priority though.
-Antimage: You get blink or you get void. Because of how obvious mana void is, you'll only ever steal that on purpose. Blink is amazing on Rubick and pretty much saves you the money to get Blink Dagger, if not more because you can use it when hurt.
-Drow: Silence. You always get silence, which isn't bad. Actually, I'm not sure if you can steal Trueshot Aura toggle now. Possible. But simply telekinesis into silence for easy chain disables. Your cast time really helps with it.
-Juggernaut: Spin and ward are most common. You have to work for Omnislash, which will be less effective on you because your autoattack isn't as good, but it's still a decent nuke. Ward is great to just plop down and forget about, and spin has some odd usages much like Naix's Rage.
-Mirana: All four of her spells are active, but unlike lots of heroes like this Mirana has to ration her spells, so it's pretty easy to get what you want. If you and Mirana are throwing nukes out as pokes, it's easy to pick up arrow as soon as she uses it. Starfall is similarly obvious to grab. Leap is a little hard to get, but conversely you won't really need it. Moonlight shadow is...odd. If you do grab it, free better-than-smoke, but swap it out after you use it once. It's not a very common steal though because it does make her invisible, though.
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Morphling: Woo. Good steals in general. Waveform is another nuke+movement spell that works really well with Rubick for both running and getting closer. Adaptive strike is just something you can throw out every time it's off cooldown for whatever benefit it gives; it's better than nothing. Morph...now Morph is what you want. Morph everything to STR and buy a Mekansm to counter the armor loss, then steal adaptive strike for best nukes. THis gives you more HP in general than anyone else in the game forever, and it's not like you needed that Agi. Replicate is good for baits because they will generally have no clue if you manage to steal it; another benefit of Rubick being confusing with steals. Keep in mind that your Null Field will go a long way in stopping Morph Shotguns; level it early if needed.
-Phantom Lancer: A great nuke or an escape mechanism. The doppelwalk is harder to steal but won't be needed as much; spirit lance is a great nuke and should be grabbed often just for more damage.
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Vengeful Spirit: What you want is Magic Missile, though you will get Scream of Terror more often than not. You have the mana to spam scream willynilly though, so feel free to abuse it so long as you have it; it certainly won't hurt. Once you get Missile, chain it properly with Telekinesis for some silly single target lockdown. If you steal Swap, abuse the fact that you can get blink dagger and Venge can't for some brain dead pickoffs.
-Riki: Bad steals to be honest. Smokescreen requires you to be too close, and Blink Strike brings you too close to really be of use. Which works out, because stealing from Riki is sort of a pain anyways.
-Sniper: Ahahaha. Wanna see my boomstick? You'll get Shrapnel, which is a decent filler steal, or Assassinate, which is just hilarious on a hero with the mana to harass with it.
-Templar Assassin: An example of a dangerous hero not giving very dangerous steals. Refraction may save your ass occasionally, but the bonus damage is sort of wasted on you; same with Meld. You don't want them to know where you are as Rubick. Psionic Trap is great if you can get it and a fairly common fish steal though. Trap->Telekinesis->Set off trap is legit.
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Luna: Lasers or SUPER LASERS. Not to mention her Ult is absurdly obvious. Grabbing either is great, and you can afford to waste an Ult on one guy. Not a lot can survive a full Eclipse+Fade Bolt in mid game.
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Bounty Hunter: This is pure irony here. If you grab Track, which is common on stupid Bounty Hunters who don't go invis immediately after a Track, you literally become a counter to a hero via his own spell. Abuse Track and get as much gold out of it as possible, especially out of Bounty himself. He's a sitting duck with Track on him. Shuriken is a decent nuke and another possible stun, which is sometimes useful when someone thinks they can just TP away from you after your Telekinesis, and Shadow Walk (while rare) is an escape/positioning mechanism. Great steals in general from him. One of the few heroes I would suggest holding on to a steal for, unless you need something else.Track is really just too good.
-Ursa: Avoid stealing from him unless you want epic max attack speed hijinx. Earthshock is okay, but you won't get it often unless you're looking for it, and if you are that's effort probably better spent on other heroes. Overpower is useless but hilarious, and Enrage won't do much on you because you're squishy but use it anyway because there's no point putting it to waste.
-Gyrocopter: Homing Rocket is the most common and most useful; tele into Rocket for chain stuns, like every other stun. (can you tell why Telekinesis is so good on Rubick?) Flak Cannon is somewhat useless but does turn you into a green spraying pushing machine, which is funny. Rocket Barrage needs you to be too close to really do anything, but it's damage. And works with Telekinesis. Call Down would be great if Gyro couldn't use it from so far away; it's generally impossible to grab becuase most Gyros will turn on barrage or flak immediately after.
-Lone Druid: Um, if you grab Bear, then go for it. The Bear won't have any items though, but you can use it more suicidally since you don't keep it. Rabid and Battle Cry don't do much for you at all. True Form is...well, it makes you tankier but slower, which isn't always a good thing. Try to avoid stealing from Lone Druid unless you can grab a Bear, and even then try not.
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Naga Siren: Great steals. Mirror Image will allow you to avoid some disables, but it's sorta meh otherwise. Good thing its cooldown is ridiculous; you won't really get this unless you're looking for it. Riptide does require you to be close, but it really tears things up and is downright scary on someone with a good chunk of mana. Entangle is amazing and lets you either extend a Telekinesis disable, setup a Telekinesis, or simultaneous disable with Telekinesis becaue of how fast/long it is. And Song is hilarious. You will most often grab Song when a Naga is using it to escape; simply blink/force staff towards her and steal ASAP for it, then use it to counter the run away. The video example above is how I turned a wasted gank into at least something beneficial for us.
DIRE AGI:
Pretty bad steals in general, but with the occasional hilarious and or decent one.
-Bloodseeker: Silence or Rupture, both of which aren't bad at all to use. If he ruptures you, just rupture him back for extreme awkwardness. Because of its short cooldown, I won't hold it against you for holding on to Rupture.
-Shadowfied: The various Razes or Requiem of Souls. The razes are decent filler/fish steals. I've never personally picked up Requiem, and I don't think it's worth it. Note that you copy the number of souls he has as well, but you don't get the bonus damage. Also not sure if you do the post-mortem mini-requiem if you die with it stolen.
-Razor: Firstly, note you will trigger Unstable Current if you steal from him. Midfight, this can mean death. Plasma Field is really good because it encourages the sort of ranges that Rubick works best at, ie roughly 800 (fade bolt range and 5 off from Plasma Field max range). Static Link, if you steal it for whatever reason, works well with Telekinesis for shutting down a carry. If you grab Eye of the Storm, turn it on and forget. It won't do anything but help you, but it's not particularly worth the effort of putting it to full potential. That sort of range is too close for you.
-Venomancer: Wards are a good fish steal, and Gale is braindead to use in combination with telekinesis. You'll most often grab Nova midfight, and most Veno's don't think to use ward immediately after; pop it off when appropriate. You may also get it if he decides to spite you when you gank Veno solo.
-Void: Chronosphere or Time Walk, both great on Rubick. Time Walk just lets you move around like no one's business; Chronosphere is a great ult but keep in mind Void is not effected by it regardless of who casted it.
-Phantom Assassin: Bad steals. The attack speed bonus on blink strike is wasted on you and isn't particularly good because it really bring you too close for comfort; dagger is a good fish steal for standoffs between two teams right before team fights, and should be spammed every time it's off cooldown until you steal something else. But generally avoid stealing from PA.
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Viper: Woo, Viper Strike only. Great slow and follow up to Telekinesis, does great damage, all around awesome. Steal from Viper whenever you get the chance unless there's something more lucrative around.
-Clinkz: Generally not worth it. Most Clinkz will exit their invis with either the aspd steroid or an orchid; by the time you can react, he'll either have silenced you or have Strafe cast. If for some reason you ever get Death Pact, make good use of it. It's definitely a major boon when you eat the strong creeps.
-Broodmother: Web...web isn't really very useful because they disappear when you swap out. Spawn SPiderlings is really funny and also useful as a nuke, and you can transition even better to a push after winning a fight or ganking if you have it. Insatiable Hunger is...not very useful, but about as funny as God's Strength.
-Weaver: You generally won't get the chance to steal from Weaver, since Linken's is core and shukuchi is just obnoxious. However, Shukuchi is particularly good on you if obtained for all the aformentioned mobility and escape reasons. Swarm isn't bad, but should be thrown out and swapped out. If for some bizarre reason he doesn't pop Shukuchi right after Lapse and you steal Lapse, abuse it to regain all your mana back after a spam session.
-Spectre: Dagger or Haunt. Dagger has limited mobility usages and isn't nearly as good as most of the other movement skills; it's a decent fish steal but nothing more, don't count on it to do you any real good. Haunt is hilarious but questionably useful; it may allow you to get into places they won't expect, but you should really be able to do that with force staff and blink dagger anyway. The momentary confusion it will cause is notable, though.
-Meepo: Poof is useless except as a fish steal for creep wiping or ghetto jungling. Net is good and is a brain dead followup to Telekinesis, and your cast animation is leagues better with it too. BUt avoid stealing from Meepo if you can help it.
-Slark: Pounce, Pact, or Shadowdance. Pounce into Telekinesis is a longass lockdown, and it's a mobility spell to boot, but it is awkward to aim somewhat with how Rubick plays as a sideline caster. Pact is situational at best and its hard to switch into the 'use to counter disable' mentality with it instantly upon stealing, so generally not worth it. Shadowdance makes you ready to fight immediately after a fight is over, so if you can grab it go ahead. Rubick with infinite sustain is scary, but your mana remains an issue.
um. if you don't want to lane:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOMPWeXLZYIwill update with more.
