Rubick Guide by Miposhka
Artist: Mv
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Author:
Miposhka & Co.
Date: 01/2019
Tags:
text
Rubick
Tactics
Analysis
Builds

Welcome

Welcome to Miposhka's Book of Rubick, a hero guide part of the Book of Dota series!

Here you will find all the information you need to learn to play Rubick on a high level – from drafting and builds to the optimal playstyle in different lanes and situations. We hope you’ll enjoy this guide and find it useful!

Miposhka Rubick Stats
TL;DR:

Draft: as a support, you would rarely have the luxury to pick Rubick at the end of the draft. Nonetheless, try to pick him at least after one or two enemy heroes with decent spells to steal. Opening the draft with Rubick is also not a terrible choice, but in this way you reduce your chances of facing big impact spells you can steal.

Early Game: start by babysitting your carry and trying to zone out your lane opponents. After you get Boots you can start rotating for ganks, usually in the mid lane. Of course, as any support, you should ward/deward, take runes, pull and stack, etc.

Late Game: try to get Blink Dagger if you can – it will increase your impact greatly. After Blink you can initiate ganks with Telekinesis. In fights, position yourself very defensively and be patient – try to steal the highest impact skills and use them at the right time. Good execution in fights by a Rubick could win your team the game.

Authors

Yaroslav "Miposhka" Naidenov
Endorsement & Info

Miposhka is the captain and support player for Team Empire and his biggest achievement so far in his pro career is getting 7th-8th place at TI7 after eliminating EG from the tournament to the surprise of many.

He is also a god-tier support in pubs, a genuine and lovable person and an all-around-nice-guy.

Nikolay "CTOMAHEH1" Kalchev
Info & Editing

CTOMAHEH1 started his pro career as a support in Basically Unknown together with Mind Control. Since then he has consistently been playing on the European T2 scene, most recently on Unchained Esports.

His highest placement on the EU ladder is top 100 - he plays all roles (mainly support), which is untypical for high-ranking players and shows his great versatility and understanding of the game.

Kyril "MrNiceGuy" Kotashev
PM, Writing & Editing

Esports and gaming enthusiast since forever and founder of Dotahaven.

Has been playing Dota since 2005 (5.84). An Ancient I player in Dota 2.

Grand Magus!

Rubick is one of the more unique heroes in the game because of his ultimate. This mechanic gives him the potential to turn your enemies’ strongest weapons against them and makes him a very versatile hero that can have a completely different impact in various games. This makes him one of the most interesting heroes to play in Dota - no game will feel the same with him. Yet, learning to use your ultimate with high impact reliably is quite hard to do in practice.

Rubick is almost always played as a support. On rare occasions, he could be played as a solo mid in order to get his mobility items as fast as possible and allow him to have a greater impact in the game. Because of his versatility, he fits various strategies.

Rubick Loadout
Stats
Level 1
Level 15
Level 25
STR
21
Medium
49
Low
69
Medium
AGI
19
Low
48
Low
69
Low
INT
25
Very High
62
High
89
High
Attack
47-57
Medium
84-94
Medium
111-121
Low
Armor
2.04
Low
6.74
Medium
10.10
Medium
Resistance
26
Medium
47
Very High
48
Very High
HP
578
Medium
1082
Low
1442
Very Low
MP
450
Very High
1005
High
1410
High
MS
292
Medium
295
Low
297
Low
STRENGTHS

MAJOR

Spell Steal: This unique mechanic is the first and foremost major strength of Rubick.The more powerful the spells of your opponents are, the stronger you will be as Rubick. It is often the case that the stolen spell is stronger than the original because of Rubick’s very good casting animation – for all practical purposes, even slow stolen spells become almost instant. Spell Steal also gives Rubick the potential to cast multiple high-impact spells in a single fight. Even though this is difficult to do in practice, it gives you the potential to totally dominate and control fights without having any resources invested in you.

Control: Telekinesis is a very powerful disable because it is instant and allows you to reposition your target. Moreover, Rubick can steal any powerful stun that the enemy team has. Therefore, if one of the strengths of your opponent’s lineup is control, then because of Rubick, it becomes a strong side of your lineup as well.

Spell AMP: Rubick buffs the damage and disabel duration of the spells he steals.

MINOR

Mana Independent Early Game: Rubick’s spells cost a constant amount of mana at all levels, and he has a decently high mana pool which means that the hero rarely has mana problems in the early game and can be very active during the laning stage.

WEAKNESSES

MAJOR

Weak Survivability: Rubick is a spell caster support and as most such heroes has quite low EHP (low HP and low armor). In addition, he has below average movement speed (290) which makes it hard to run away from engagements. Finally, Rubick has no escape mechanism. The only tool he has to help him survive is Telekinesis. Nevertheless, this is rarely enough to keep him alive in the middle of fights.

Low Mobility: For Rubick, the low mobility (low MS and no mobility spell) is not just an issue of survivability. In order to use his ultimate to full efficiency, perfect positioning is required from the hero. You need to be far away enough to survive the fight but close enough to steal spells and use them.

MINOR

Weak lane support: Your disable doesn`t deal damage and your nuke, although useful, doesn't do a lot of damage.

Replays

Secret vs Na’Vi, EPICENTER XL

MATCH ID 3856880792
Replay

YapzOr plays an absolutely flawless game on a support Rubick against Na’Vi. He has 0 deaths and manages to deal the second highest hero damage on his team behind his mid Ember, which is very impressive considering he has a Timber and a Chaos Knight on his team.

This is a perfect game to watch if you want to learn how to have a big impact with Rubick in the early game. YapzOr is very active around the map and his rotations are a major reason why his team won the laning stage and was able to snowball into the mid game and claim the victory.

Newbee vs LGD-Gaming, Dota 2 Professional League 2016

MATCH ID: 3783373555
Replay:

Faith plays a hard support Rubick. His allies deal a lot of AoE magical damage, the only exception being Lycan, which means his team benefits greatly from his offensive aura. This is made even stronger by ET’s resistance reduction.

The laning stage is very mobile – he goes into the offlane together with Veno (and occasionally the roaming ET) with the idea to heavily pressure the enemy Gyro. Gyro has difficulty against two long range heroes because of his short range – he can easily be harass and get kited. Telekinesis is also very good as you can use it to throw back the Gyro if he is trying to kill your ally with Barrage. The plan works – compared to Newbee’s cores, LGD’s farming heroes get less last hits and exit the laning stage at a disadvantage.

Drafting

Drafting Rubick usually revolves around two main factors – his aura and his ultimate.

You can pick him in a high magic damage lineup to utilize his aura offensively. More commonly, you can pick him against a high magic damage lineup to use the aura defensively. This is more common because high magic damage heroes often have spells who Rubick can steal and use, which brings us to the second factor: Rubick is a great pick against heroes with high-impact spells because of his ultimate.

Rubick is also a good hero to open the draft with because he is a very versatile support. He will be useful in the laning stage with his Telekinesis and Fade Bolt in any game and could easily fit different lane setups. In addition, the games where he doesn’t have any useful spells to steal are very rare.

Often picking Rubick (like the other more unique heroes in the game like Invoker, Pudge, Meepo, etc.) relies more on your players’ preferences (do you have a great Rubick player on your team?) rather than simply the draft.

Support Rubick

Safe Lane:

The safe lane is the most common position for a support Rubick. With Fade Bolt and his long attack range, he can zone out most solo offlaners. Moreover, the latch potential of Telekinesis is very powerful in kill attempts. It is very good in such situations not only because of the disable but because of the repositioning aspect, exaggerating any minor overextension and making it a fatal mistake.

The safe lane will also give Rubick more opportunities than other lanes to rotate and attempt ganks with the help of the setup from Telekinesis and the follow-up of other heroes with high kill potential.

Rubick can also use well any farm and levels he gets from pulls – if he gets a mobility item relatively fast, he will become much stronger at initiating, and it will be much easier to position himself correctly in order to steal and use the right spells in a team fight. In addition, the earlier he gets to level 6, the sooner he will have more impact in the game: Spell Steal is crucial for Rubick’s presence in fights.

Offlane:

Rubick is one of the weaker lane supports, so putting him in the offlane is unconventional. Nonetheless, if you combine him with a strong pos. 3 hero with kill potential (e.g. Wraith King), he can work relatively well. The chain-stun, two nukes and right-clicks can become a big problem for squishier laners.

Mid Rubick

It could be worth it to invest more farm and levels into Rubick. This will allow him to get his mobility items (and even a luxury item as Aghanim’s) much faster and will make it much easier for him to do his job in a team fight. Nevertheless, it is arguable if this investment is needed – he is level and item independent, and even without resources if played well, he can be efficient enough in team fights.

In terms of laning potential, Rubick does fine in most 1v1 match ups - he has long range, decent damage, and Fade Bolt is a powerful lane-control and harass tool.

Synergy

Heroes that need setup to land their spells: Chen, Enchantress, Leshrac, Lina, Mirana, Invoker, ET

Chen
Enchantress
Leshrac
Lina
Mirana
Invoker
Elder titan
Combining Rubick with heroes that need setup for their spells can create powerful combos on the back of Telekinesis.

Telekinesis is an instant disable, and it is practically impossible to dodge. This makes it one of the most reliable disables in the game and an ideal spell to start a fight with. Using Telekinesis to initiate will allow your allies to easily follow up with their harder to land spells and secure a kill.

In the early game, it is a great idea to combine Rubick with a support hero which needs a setup. This can allow the two heroes to become a formidable roaming duo (examples being Chen, Leshrac, etc.).

Still, combining the hero with any other heroes that need setup is going to be useful throughout the whole game.

Right-clickers who need lockdown: Anti-Mage, Ursa, Sven, Luna, Phantom Assassin

Anti mage
Ursa Portrait
Sven
Luna
Phantom Assassin
Rubick is an ideal partner for physical damage dealers that need control in order not to be kited in fights.

Rubick works very well with physical damage dealers that need space in the fight to deal damage and not end up kited. First of all, this is because of Telekinesis – with a powerful DPS hero the disable could be enough to secure a kill on a single target. The secondary AoE stun is also very useful in fights because it makes kiting the physical damage dealer much harder.

Secondly, Rubick’s main goal when it comes to spell steal is high impact team fight control spells (RP, Dream Coil, etc.). Such spells also synergize perfectly with physical damage dealers because of the control they provide in a team fight.

Counters

Weak Against:

Heroes whose spells Rubick cannot use efficiently: Enchantress, Slark, Spectre, Earth Spirit, Riki, Bristleback

Enchantress
Slark Portrait
Spectre Portrait
Earth Spirit
Riki
Bristle Portrait
If the enemy lineup lacks spells that could efficiently be used by Rubick when stolen, he could become a non-factor in the game.

Spell Steal is central to the idea of the hero in the game, and if the enemy heroes don’t give him any powerful spells to use, Rubick will not have an opportunity to have a significant impact. Especially in the mid and late game stages, he will fall off very sharply, and his only contribution would be the Telekinesis initiation.

Consequently, picking Rubick against lineups where he will struggle finding useful spells is not good idea. 

Nonetheless, such lineups are very rare – more often than not there will be at least one or two heroes who have spells that Rubick can use very efficiently (which spells are ideal for Rubick is discussed in the Skills section of the guide).

Hero Hunters: Nyx Assassin, Slark, Storm, Night Stalker, Pudge, Bounty Hunter

Nyx
Slark Portrait
Storm spirit
Night Stalker
Pudge
Bounty Hunter
In case the enemy team has very strong pick-off potential, you need to play very defensively as otherwise, you could easily end up feeding.

You are a very squishy INT hero without escape mechanisms. Provided you get caught on your own by any of those gankers, you are most likely dead. Heroes that can easily jump in the backlines of the fight and pick you off can also prevent you from stealing spells and having an impact in the fight.

Nevertheless, this problem is solvable by sticking close to your teammates most of the time and by good positioning in fights.

Strong Against:

Heroes with high-impact team fight spells: Enigma, Magnus, Kunkka, Tidehunter, Naga Siren, Faceless Void

Enigma Portrait
Magnus Portrait
Kunkka
Tidehunter Portrait
Naga siren
Faceless Void Portrait
The ideal games for Rubick are those in which his opponents rely on a high-impact team fight spell.

The main strength of Rubick is turning your opponent’s most powerful spells against them in fights. The more powerful the spells, the higher potential you have with Rubick to turn around a fight and win the game. The highest fight impact spells are big AoE control ultimates, and because of this, Rubick is a very good counter to heroes who rely on such spells

Heroes with powerful spells with long casting animations: Leshrac, Jakiro, Earth Shaker, Lina, Beastmaster

Leshrac
Jakiro Portrait
Earthshaker Portrait
Lina
Beastmaster
There are certain spells in the game that Rubick can use more efficiently. Playing against a lineup which can give you these spells can make it much easier for you to have a significant impact.

Because of his very fast casting animation as well as disable duration amplification, Rubick can actually improve the efficiency of certain spells. For example, in the hands of Leshrac Split Earth is a powerful AoE stun which is very hard to land. In the hands of Rubick, Split Earth is a powerful AoE stun which is very easy to land and even lasts longer – this increases the strength of the spell by a great deal. Often such spells are designed to be slower because of balance reasons. Rubick, however, works around this intentional flaw and makes such spells “imba”.

Mobility: Weaver, Anti-Mage, Queen of Pain, Clinkz, Morphling

Weaver
Anti mage
Queen of pain
Clinkz Portrait
Morph
Heroes that give Rubick potent mobility spells solve one of his major problems in the game.

Not being mobile is one of the major flows of Rubick. If the enemy team can give you potent mobility spells, however, the game becomes much easier for you. You can use the mobility for three main things: survivability, getting in position for instant initiation with Telekinesis and getting in position to steal and cast high impact spells in fights.

Skills

Rubick Telekinesis
Rubick Fade Bolt
Rubick Null Field
Rubick Spell Steal

Rubick uses his telekinetic powers to lift the enemy into the air briefly and then hurls them back at the ground. The unit lands on the ground with such force that it stuns nearby enemies

STATS

Cast Animation: 0.1+0.97

Cast Range: 550/575/600/625

Stun Radius: 325

Lift Duration: 1/1.4/1.8/2.2

Stun Duration: 1/1.25/1.5/1.75

Max Throw Distance: 375

CD: 34/30/26/22

Mana: 125

Telekinesis

Disable

The main strength of Telekinesis as a disable is that the casting animation is very short (practically instant) and there is no projectile – it works right when you cast it. This makes it one of the fastest stuns in the game and one of the most reliable ones. It is practically impossible to dodge a Telekinesis if the Rubick is in range to use it.
Because of these reasons, Telekinesis is ideal as a fight/gank initiation spell. When you start with it, you buy time for your allies not only to deal damage but to prolong the stun with their own harder-to-land disables and slows, which will ensure the kill even of very elusive targets.

While the target is lifted, you are free to perform any other actions – walk and reposition yourself, cast other spells or even attack for more DPS.

There are actually two disables in Telekinesis. The primary one is the lift – it affects only the hero you are targeting with the spell, and it lasts a maximum 2.25 seconds. The secondary is the stun which is applied to all enemy units around the point where your primary target lands (it can stun multiple units). You have a secondary ability (Telekinesis Land) with which you can point where your target should land (up to 325 range away from the lift). This way you can aim your secondary stun at an important opponent(s). An important thing to remember is that Rubick needs to look in the direction of the target he's aiming at when he uses his secondary ability. That is, if you use your Lift on a target and run away, you will have to turn around towards your target to use your Telekinesis Land ability. Moreover, you can be far away from the target and still able to use your secondary ability to reposition him. For example, you can use Lift on the enemy, blink away (using Bling Dagger) and then use Telekinesis Land on the enemy even though you will be ~ 1200 range away. The secondary stun lasts shorter than the primary disable; however, its AoE nature makes it very useful in cluttered fights. The Lift target isn’t affected by the secondary stun.

Repositioning

The secondary ability, Telekinesis Land, gives you the opportunity to reposition your primary target. This is usually used in two ways – offensively or defensively.
Whenever you want to kill the target, you usually want to land it as close to your allies as possible (and far away from its escape path). Provided you want to get away from the target, you usually want to throw it in the opposite direction (as far away from your allies as possible).

The Telekinesis Land could potentially be used to land a target on/off a high ground. This is most useful when you want to prevent a hero from chasing after you or your allies.
Landing a unit on impassable terrain is impossible, however. In addition, if you land a hero in a patch of trees the trees will be destroyed. Because of this, it is very hard to get an opponent stuck with Telekinesis.

Finally, bear in mind that you can re-set the point where you want to land your target as often as possible before the lift duration ends (this is most useful if you are aiming at opponents which you want to stun).

Rubick creates a powerful stream of arcane energy that travels between enemy units, dealing damage and reducing their attack damage. Each jump deals less damage.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0.1+0.93

Cast Range: 800

Bounce Distance: 440

Number of Bounces: Infinite

Base Damage: 80/160/240/320

Bounce Damage Reduction: 8%

Hero Attack Damage Reduction: 20/25/30/35

Creep Attack Damage Reduction: 10/13/15/17

Duration: 10

CD: 16/14/12/10

Mana: 120/130/140/150

Fade Bolt

Damage

Fade Bolt’s damage isn’t impressive for a spell-caster nuke, but like Rubick’s other spells it is instant, which makes it very practical and easy to use. It has high range and it bounces unlimited times (until there are new units within the jump distance), which makes it useful for harassing and dealing AoE damage in fights.
It is fairly spammable – the cooldown is not long and the mana cost isn’t too big. Nevertheless, in early levels, you cannot sustain constant Fade Bolt spam as a support Rubick, and you usually need to use the spell more conservatively.

You deal maximum damage to your first target and the damage is reduced by 4% with each further hit. Of course, this means that provided you want to maximize your damage, you need to target with the spell the hero you want to damage. The reduction per bounce is quite low, however, which means that when you are far away from your target, you can click the spell on a unit which is closer to your position so that the Bolt can jump to your intended target.

Utility

Fade Bolt has the added effect of reducing the attack damage of the targets you hit for 10 seconds. This is useful in several different situations:

1. In a fight, hitting as many heroes and units as possible with Fade Bolt will decrease the DPS output of the enemy team. The DPS reduction is very significant in the early game but falls off the longer the game goes for (it is a fixed value reduction).
2. When you are harassing your opponents with Fade Bolt in the lane, it makes it harder for them to easily contest last hits.
3. When anti-pushing, you not only pull creep aggro away from the tower, but you also reduce the damage output of the pushing heroes and units, stalling the push very efficiently.

Rubick's mastery of the arcane allows him to deal more spell damage and create spells that last longer on enemies.

STATS

Spell Damage Amplification: 14%/18%/22%/26%

Debuff Duration Amplification: 20%/28%/36%/44%

Arcane Supremacy

Arcane Supremacy is a mechanically simple passive that has direct synergy with your ultimate. If you manage to steal powerful nukes or disables, it will make them even stronger. For example, increasing the stun duration of e.g. a stolen Reverse Polarity by almost 50% could be game-breaking.

It stacks fully with other sources of spell amp for nukes and follows the same rules as status resistance for disables.

Rubick studies the trace magical essence of one enemy hero, learning the secrets of the last spell the hero cast. Rubick can use this spell as his own for several minutes or until he dies.

STATS

Cast Animation: 0.1+0.93

Cast Range: 1000

Spell Duration: 180/240/300

CD: 20/18/16

Mana: 25

Aghanim's Scepter

Decreases cooldown, increases cast range and upgrades the spell to the Scepter level.

Spell Steal

Mechanics:

The way the spell works is the following: you cast it on a target hero, and you receive the last spell he/she has used for a duration of 3/4/5 minutes. You cannot steal passive abilities, only active skills. If the skill has a secondary ability (like Puck’s Illusory Orb has Ethereal Jaunt), you will receive it as well. The duration is of Spell Steal should be taken into account. In case you manage to steal a powerful spell, you should attempt to make use of it before the duration ends. This means that, for example, with a powerful team fight ultimate (like Ravage, Black Hole) you might want to tell your team to force fights. With a powerful ganking tool you might tell your team to Smoke up and find a target, etc.

You receive a static copy of the spell. This means that provided you steal, for example, Requiem of Souls, your Requiem will have as many souls as the SF had at the moment you stole the spell, and you will not be able to gain (or lose) new souls. You receive the exact level of the skill the target has regardless of your own level. The only case where this rule doesn’t hold is when the target has Aghanim’s Scepter: you will not steal the upgraded version of the spell but the regular one. If you have an Aghanim’s of your own, on the other hand, you will always receive the upgraded version regardless of whether the target has an Aghanim’s or not.

It is possible to reset the cooldown of a spell you have stolen by stealing another spell and afterwards stealing the initial spell. If just re-steal the same spell the cooldown wouldn’t be reset (only the steal duration would be).

Finally, as we mentioned, every spell that you steal receives the casting time of Rubick (0.1 seconds) which makes certain slow spells much more practical. For example, when you steal Leshrac’s Split Earth, you will cast it almost instantly, much faster than Lesh who has a very long casting animation. Nevertheless, spells with extended casting times (like Assassinate, Teleportation and Requiem of Souls) keep the casting time extension.

Usage:

Spell Steal is quite straight forward to use mechanically – the range is very big and the spell even goes through BKB, so the only thing you need to be careful about is not to steal a spell you don’t want. Try to cast Spell Steal immediately after you see a hero casting a spell you would like to have. If you delay stealing the spells even for a second, you can give enough time to your target to cast another less useful one – most good players will do this intentionally to deny you the opportunity to steal. For example, a Tide will always try to cast Anchor Smash as fast as possible after Ravage. In order to be successful, you need to try to steal the Ravage even before the casting animation (cast backswing) is completely over. Another way to increase the chance of stealing is to try to disable an enemy with your Lift right after he casts an important spell. This will make sure that he won’t be able to cast another ability, and you will steal the desired spell.

The difficulty of using Spell Steal correctly isn’t mechanical, but it is rather tactical. You need to have a very clear idea what you need to steal (a priority list if there are a couple of good spells), and you need to be patient and to mind your positioning if you want to be successful. For instance, if you know your team needs you to steal RP from the enemy Magnus, it might be a good idea to stay outside of the fight until the Mag casts the RP. As a result, you wouldn’t be disabled or killed before you have the chance to steal the spell. After he casts RP, you can immediately steal it and enter the fight (ideally with a mobility item) to use the RP and your other spells.

Another important aspect is to try to always have a spell available. Provided your Spell Steal ability slot is empty, try to steal anything, just so you have something. Naturally, if you find something better, replace what you have. Consequently, when you are fighting, you can actually cast what you have, steal another spell and use it immediately afterward – in case you use two good spells like that, you can easily turn a fight. Imagine playing against a team with an Enigma and a Tidehunter. If you managed to steal Ravage in the previous fight and Enigma casts Black Hole, you can use Ravage to stop it, steal BH and throw it at your enemies. 

Useful spells to steal

In every game, you need to have a very clear idea what your priority list of spells is and what you would want to steal in every situation. This will help you decide how exactly you need to play – what your positioning should be and so on.

You need to keep in mind that Rubick is a squishy spellcaster support. Hence, some spells are very useful on him, while others are quite difficult to take advantage off. For example, even though Quill Spray works on you exactly the same way it works on Bristleback, it will be much more difficult for you to take advantage of the spell. It requires you to stay in the middle of the fight and spam the skill for as long as possible. Bristleback could easily do this because he is a very tanky STR core hero. You, on the other hand, are a very squishy spellcaster support and provided you stay in the fight for too long you will probably pay with your life. In that sense, you usually want strong nukes/disables which allow you to enter the fight, have an impact instantly and back out until your spells are ready again.

Mobility Spells:
Weaver Shukuchi
Anti mage Blink
Queen Blink
Windranger Windrun

One type of spells that works incredibly well on Rubick is mobility spells like Blink or Shukuchi. They are probably the most useful type of skill you can steal outside of a fight. Such a spell will make you a much harder target to kill, will allow you to move around the map much quicker and initiate ganks or fights much more easily. The ability to reposition yourself in fights also shouldn’t be underestimated – it can allow you to steal and use another high-impact spell.

Team fight ultimates:
black hole
Magnus Reverse Polarity
Ravage
Void Chrono sphere
Naga Song of the Siren

The top-priority spells you want to steal in fights are the most powerful team fight ultimates your opponents have – like Black Hole, Ravage, RP, Song of the Siren, etc. Usually, if the enemy team has such a spell in their arsenal, your number one priority in the fight is to steal and use this spell efficiently.

AoE Disables
Earthshaker Fissure
Jakiro Ice Path
Sven Storm Hammer
nyx impale

AoE disables can also help you control fights very well, especially when combined with a mobility item like Blink Dagger. The best kind of control spells to get is abilities which become more powerful by your very fast casting animation. The best examples are Fissure, Ice Path, Storm Hammer, Impale, Burrow Strike, etc.

Nukes:
Lina Dragon Slave
Shadow Fiend Raze
Dragon knight Breathe Fire
Windranger Powershot
Magnus Shockwave
Morphling Waveform

Nukes are very useful especially for ganks since they will increase your overall damage output and can help you and your allies get a very fast pickoff. Ideally, you can use such a nuke immediately after you initiate, and then change it with another spell (maybe another nuke or disable) which you can use immediately after.

Spammable AoE nukes can help you flash farm and get the mobility items you need very fast. An example could be Dragon Slave/Earth Shock/Shadowraze. When you combine it with Fade Bolt, you deal considerable AoE damage and can easily kill creep camps, stacks or big creep waves.

Skill Builds

Standard Build
Rubick Fade Bolt
1
Rubick Telekinesis
2
Rubick Fade Bolt
3
Rubick Telekinesis
4
Rubick Fade Bolt
5
Rubick Spell Steal
6
Rubick Fade Bolt
7
Rubick Null Field
8
Rubick Null Field
9
Talent Icon
10
Rubick Telekinesis
11
Rubick Spell Steal
12
Rubick Null Field
13
Rubick Telekinesis
14
Talent Icon
15
Rubick Null Field
16
Rubick Spell Steal
18
Talent Icon
20
Talent Icon
25
Pros: access to all your skills;
Cons: neither maxed out nuke potential, nor control;

Your first skill point goes into Telekinesis if you want to attempt kills or Fade Bolt if you want to last-hit and harass in the lane.

The first skill you max is Fade Bolt because you need the nuke damage for kill attempts and harassing. The minus damage debuff also scales with levels which makes it a good harassing tool if you are against opponents who want to contest last hits.

Afterward, you either max your passive (especially if you are playing with magic damage allies) or Telekinesis if you need better control. Often you'll take a mix of both skills like in this example. Often, a support Rubick will prioritize the disable, while a core Rubick - Arcane Supremacy.

You take your ultimate whenever available (it is your most important skill). 

Talents

+50% Spell Amp For Stolen Spell

25
-15s Telekinesis CD
+300 Telekinesis Land Distance
20

-5s Fade Bold CD

-45 Fade Bolt Hero Attack
15

+125 Cast range

+60 Damage
10
+200 Health

Lvl10: If you play support, the health talent is the best – you are very squishy and you rarely right-click. If you play core you might consider taking the damage.

Lvl15: Generally you want to stay at safe distance with Rubick so the cast range should be the more valuable one here.

Lvl20: What is more valuable in the game you are playing? The nuke damage from Fade Bolt or the repositioning from Telekinesis? Usually, a support Rubick will go for the repositioning and a core for the Fade Bolt CD reduction.

Lvl25: Get the spell amp if there are powerful nukes to steal in the game. In any other situation get the Telekinesis CD reduction.

Rubick Item Builds

Rubick is quite item independent, and he usually buys the normal team-centered support items.
His first priority is a mobility item which will help him with his positioning in fights. His second priority is whatever the team needs at the time.

Your core items solve your mobility problem: the more mobile you are, the easier it will be for you to serve as an initiator or to position yourself ideally in team fights. Mobility also means survivability, which you otherwise lack.

Support Rubick Build

This is perhaps the most standard build for Rubick as a support. It focuses on a lot of mobility - both MS and repositioning, to help you position yourself in fights easily. Your options in the late game are open – the most common choice is Aghanim’s, but other luxuries could also be a good alternative, depending on the game (Scythe of Vyse, Lotus Orb, etc.).

In more difficult games where you see that you will not be able to get Blink Dagger for a long time, you can decide to go for defensive support items instead – usually Glimmer Cape and Force Staff.

Starting items
Animal Courier
Tangoes
Wards Icon
Clarity
Early game
Tranquil Boots
Infused Raindrop
Magic wand
Mid game
Euls
Blink_Dagger_icon
Late game
Aghanim's_Scepter_icon
Force staff
Animal Courier
Tangoes
Wards Icon
Clarity
Tranquil Boots

Tranquil Boots: Tranquils don’t provide mana sustain, but they provide HP sustain and more importantly – they give very high MS in the early game. This helps Rubick initiate with Telekinesis more easily before he gets any mobility items, making him a more dangerous roamer in the early game.

Infused Raindrop

Rain Drop: cheap defensive item for early fights that makes you less squishy.

Magic wand

Magic Wand: cheap item, easy to build and gives you some HP sustain.

Euls

Eul’s Scepter of Divinity: Eul provides good stats for you - INT, mana regen, and MS. The INT and mana regen are very useful especially if the spells you are stealing are very mana intensive. Since Rubick’s presence is crippled in fights whenever he gets silenced, you can opt for the item to dispel a Silence on yourself. 

Blink_Dagger_icon

Blink Dagger: Blink is probably your most important item – when you get it, you can very easily get in range to initiate with Telekinesis or to use any stolen spell efficiently. It is also a good escape mechanism, and when combined with Telekinesis, it can actually make you a hard hero to kill. 

Aghanim's_Scepter_icon

Aghanim’s Scepter: Aghanim’s is the usual luxury item of Rubick. It is especially powerful in games where you can steal multiple high-impact ultimates (that have an Aghanim’s upgrade). The very low CD of Spell Steal with Aghanim’s is also very useful – you could steal and use multiple spells in a single fight, provided you have this opportunity.

Force staff

Force Staff: Force is great on Rubick because it allows you to enter and exit the fight quickly to use your ultimate more easily. At the same time it could be used defensively on your allies when needed.

Rubick Core Build:

Mobility is equally important for a core Rubick. Having farm, however, allows you to invest in other items that increase your potential. You work great with spell amp, cast range, and even CD reduction especially in games with valuable spells to steal.

Starting items
Tangoes
Circlet
Mantle of Intelligence
Iron branch
Iron branch
Clarity
Early game
Null talisman
Boots of Speed
Magic wand
Arcane Boots
Aether Lens
Mid game
Blink_Dagger_icon
Yasha & Kaya
Late game
Aghanim's_Scepter_icon
Boots_of_Travel_1_icon
Aeon Disk
Tangoes
Circlet
Mantle of Intelligence
Iron branch
Iron branch
Clarity
Null talisman

Null: cheap stats to help you out during the laning stage.

Boots of Speed
Magic wand

Magic Wand: cheap item, easy to build and gives you some HP sustain.

Arcane Boots

Arcane Boots: the mana sustain is very useful for spamming your Fade Bolt much more often. Equally importnatly, you can disasemble them into Aether Lens.

Aether Lens

Aether Lens: Rubick is one of the heroes for whom it is most important to stay at a safe distance in fights in order to fully utilize his ultimate just at the right moment. Giving bonus cast range, Aether Lens greatly helps in this regard. It is important to note that the bonus range works on all the spells Rubick steals, which is amazing in some situations.

The other stats of the item are also quite useful on all spellcasters, Rubick included. If you've built Arcanes early on, you can use the Energy Booster to get the Lens faster.

Blink_Dagger_icon

Blink Dagger: Blink is probably your most important item – when you get it, you can very easily get in range to initiate with Telekinesis or to use any stolen spell efficiently. It is also a good escape mechanism, and when combined with Telekinesis, it can actually make you a hard hero to kill.

Yasha & Kaya

Yasha & Kaya is a great item on a core Rubick because it gives he uses all the stats great. The mana pool, mana loss reduction and most importnatly - spell amp from Kaya are great if you have good nukes to steal. The MS from Yasha is also very useful in fights. The AS is also decent, especially with the bonus damage talent. If you feel you need more tankiness, go for Sange & Kaya instead. 

Aghanim's_Scepter_icon

Aghanim’s Scepter: Aghanim’s is the usual luxury item of Rubick. It is especially powerful in games where you can steal multiple high-impact ultimates (that have an Aghanim’s upgrade). The very low CD of Spell Steal with Aghanim’s is also very useful – you could steal and use multiple spells in a single fight, provided you have this opportunity.

Boots_of_Travel_1_icon

BoTs: after disassembling your Arcane boots, you usually want to upgrade to BoTs. You usually want to do it after you get your other core items.

Aeon Disk

Aeon Disk is the best defensive option for core Rubick in the late game. If the enemy team reaches you in fights, it will give you some invaluable time that you can use to try to disengage and even steal some spells.

If you don't need the defensive utility, go for a more offensive option like Hex - it works great with your Blink.

Other Items

Early & Mid
urnn
Drums
Glimmer Cape
Late game
Spirit Vessel
Ghost Scepter
Lotus Orb
Rod of Atos
Scythe of Vyse
Octarine_Core_icon
Ethereal Blade
urnn

Urn of Shadows: it is preferable to always have one Urn in a team; if nobody else builds it, you should. The HP and mana regen is not wasted on you. Also, you can upgrade it to Spirit Vessel if needed.

Drums

Drums of Endurance: grants Rubick extra HP and Mana that he needs in fights. Moreover, Drums is a good team item in terms of the MS bonus it gives to all teammates. 

Glimmer Cape

Glimmer Cape: As on any support, Glimmer is very valuable to save allies from bad situations. Moreover, it can make Rubick harder to focus down in fights, which can help him get in a better position to steal/use spells.

Spirit Vessel

Spirit Vessel: great against healers and high HP heroes. Also makes you less squishy.

Ghost Scepter

Ghost Scepter: later on in the game, immunity to physical damage could be your saving grace against fed carry heroes. It could let you stay alive after you jump into (or initiate) a fight.

Lotus Orb

Lotus Orb: Lotus Orb is a good choice on Rubick similarly to all utility heroes – the active of the item will help keep your cores alive and fighting in important late-game team fights.

Rod of Atos

Rod of Atos: a very situational choice. The item gives you both extra HP and a valuable disable. Moreover, Rubick’s positioning is usually outside of the middle of an engagement – the high cast range of the disable allows Rubick to be effective without putting himself in danger. Rod of Athos can also be used to trigger Linken’s Sphere from afar and allow you to use your other spells (most importantly Spell Steal).

Scythe of Vyse

Scythe of Vyse: as one of the most universally useful caster items, later on, the Hex can both save your life and help you bring down elusive enemies. Since you usually go for mobility items first, the instant Hex combined with your instant Telekinesis will make you a very potent initiator.

Octarine_Core_icon

Octarine Core: the CD reduction is very valuable if you have powerful spells to steal. The tankiness and mana pool are also nice to have.

Ethereal Blade

Ethereal Blade: a very situational choice. In the late game, you can go for the item to save allies (using it defensively) and to amplify the damage of your allies (if they have good magic nukes). Provided the enemy team has easy to steal magic nukes, the Ethereal form can increase your own nuke potential as well especially with the spell amp talent.

Early Game

Rubick 350px

As a support, in the laning stage, you have a large variety of activities to choose from: you are a good hero for ganking, a good babysitter and you benefit from pulling.   This means that the hero doesn’t restrict you in any way, and you are free to choose the tactically optimal activity in the early game.


As a core hero, you usually want to get as much gold and XP as possible out of the lane (so that you can get your core mobility items as fast as possible), but you don’t want to passively stay and farm for too long. Especially when you get your mobility item, you can be very efficient in rotations, and you can pressure your opponents which will benefit your team as a whole more than the items you will acquire from passively farming.


Farming:

You have a decent attack animation and damage (average for a ranged hero) which means that you can contest last hits successfully versus certain heroes but might struggle against others.

Your strength in last hitting, however, doesn’t come from your attacks but rather from your Fade Bolt. It  not only allows you to easily take last hits with the spell but harass the enemy hero(es) and reduce their damage. With the damage reduction debuff, it becomes much harder for them to contest last hits. One fade bolt per creep wave could easily help you win the last hit war.

As a support, you can still use the Fade Bolt for the minus damage in order to help your farming hero win the last hit war, but be careful not to push the wave if you don’t want to.

Harassing:

Passive Harass:

You have good attack animation and range and because of this it is relatively easy for you to passively harass and zone out. You are not good at trading harass, however. You have relatively low damage and quite low armor – you will most probably get the worse end of the exchange versus other ranged heroes. What you can do is attempt to exploit your high range to get in more hits than your opponent is by kiting as much as possible.

Whenever you enter a passive harass exchange, it is very important to use the Fade Bolt right away. This way the minus damage debuff will help you in the exchange a great deal.

Active Harass:

You rely on your Fade Bolt for active harass. If you have mana sustain (usually by Bottle Crowing in the mid lane), you can afford to use it very often and try to push back your lane opponents. As a support usually you want to use Fade Bolt when you will benefit from the minus damage (for fights or contesting last hits).

The endless jumps make it easy to hit multiple targets. You can actually target the creep wave and still reach the heroes in the lane if they are close enough to the creeps – this allows you to harass from a safe distance. Doing this, however, will push out the wave; if you want to preserve the creep equilibrium, you need to use Fade Bolt outside of creep range.

Kill Potential:

Rubick is an ideal hero for setting up kill combos. The reason is the instant disable coming from Telekinesis.

During kill attempts, usually, you are the initiator. Start the fight with Telekinesis, use your nuke (if you use it right away, the CD might pass before the end of the fight, and you could possibly use another Fade Bolt) and choose where you want to land the lifted hero. Generally, when you are attempting kills, you want to throw the target towards your allies to prevent him/her from escaping. It is also possible, however, to use the secondary stun at other enemies to prevent them from helping out in the fight.

In case an ally has a hard to land disable like Leshrac’s Split Earth or Mirana’s Arrow, you should make sure that you coordinate with your ally. It could be better to not use your Telekinesis to move the hero, but rather use it on the target and leave it at the same spot so that your ally can follow up with his spells easily. Provided you move the hero, you should have good communication with your teammate and let him know where you are going to move the enemy too. 

Telekinesis is a very good spell to punish any overextension by an opponent in the lane because you can throw him in an even worse position besides disabling him for a considerable amount of time. For example, this tactic could be used when an opponent comes close to your tower. You can lift and throw him within tower range. In case you have an ally that can follow this up with another disable, this could become a very easy kill thanks to the tower damage.

Initiating:

The biggest problem for kill attempts is getting close enough to your target to lift – you have below average movement speed, so if you are spotted, most heroes will be able to run away and you wouldn’t be able to catch up. To solve this problem, choose the paths from where you are initiating carefully. Try to stay in the fog of war for as long as possible and come in vision only when you are in range to initiate. Using Smoke of Deceit is always a good idea because it will allow you to rotate faster and no worry about wards.

If you want to emphasize on kill attempts and ganks in the laning stage, you might want to buy Boots of Speed as quickly as possible – this will solve low movement problem especially if your targets don’t have Boots yet.

Spell Steal:

After level six, your kill potential is highly dependent on the spell you would get with your ultimate. Another nuke/disable will increase your kill potential drastically because of the higher nuke damage and longer lockdown. Mobility spells, on the other hand, will make it very easier for you to initiate. Remember that you can use the mobility spell and initiate with Telekinesis and afterward, immediately steal a new spell that could help you in finishing the kill attempt.

Pushing:

In terms of pushing you can use Fade Bolt to kill off the enemy creep wave faster (and reduce its damage which will allow your own creeps to live for longer). During the actual push, however, it is a good idea to stay at a safe distance and be ready to counter-initiate with Telekinesis and any other stolen spell. You don’t do enough physical damage to justify saying in a risky position in order to be able to attack the tower (of course, in case you know your push isn’t contested, you need to do attack damage).

Timings:

In the laning stage there are two important timings for you:

The first one is when you get your Boots. If you have them before your opponents do you will have a timing window when it will be easy to initiate with Telekinesis and you can easily get successful ganks in this window.

The most important timing in the laning phase is getting level six. This opens up a lot of opportunities for you, but what you could do depends heavily on what spell you manage to steal. Nukes and disables will help you fight more efficiently while mobility spells will make you more survivable and will allow you to initiate ganks more easily.

Early Game Rotations:

Ganking:

As a support rotating in the early game is a very viable option, and you should do it often if you have the opportunity. Having an almost instant disable (Telekinesis) and a good initiation range, you should be the support who initiates on the target in most cases.

The main factor that will determine how strong your ganks can be is the kill potential of your allies. If you have a support partner with whom you create a strong kill combo (e.g. Telekinesis into Light Strike Array) or ally that can make use of your magic reduction, you can start getting kills from very early on. Additionally, if your solo heroes have good kill potential (disables or high magic damage) by rotating, you can easily setup kills for them.

As a core hero you usually want to start rotating when you get your lvl 6 and ideally when you get a potent spell for kills (usually disables or/and nukes). Getting your first mobility item also opens up opportunities – you can use it to easily initiate and setup a kill for your allies.

Counter-Ganking:

Rubick is quite a good hero for counter ganking. With Telekinesis you can easily help your endangered ally to disengage – you can lift the most dangerous opponent and drop it on any other heroes chasing. The damage reduction from Fade Bolt can also be crucial in letting your ally escape.

Provided you manage to steal a high impact spell, you can even turn the fight and get counter kills. Because of this, teleporting to help your allies every time they are threatened (not only as a support, as a core as well) is very high on your priority list.

Anti-Pushing:

Fade Bolt is a very strong anti-push spell. It has very high range, so you can easily cast it from a safe distance. It also has unlimited jumps, so it deals harassment damage on the pushing heroes besides pulling the enemy creep wave away from your tower.

Finally, Rubick is very good against heroes who are pushing with multiple units (NP, Enigma, Lycan) - the Fade Bolt reduces the damage of all units it hits and makes it harder for them to push down the tower.

As a result, with Rubick, it is a very good idea to teleport to a lane when it is about to get pushed. You can slow the push down a great deal especially in the early game.

Surviving:

Rubick is a very squishy and slow hero, and as a result, he is a very easy target to gank. At the same time, his Telekinesis is one of the best disables for disengaging because it is very quick (Rubick is likely to cast it before your gankers are able to cast their spells). During the lift, Rubick can run away and the secondary stun could make chasing harder for multiple heroes.

The main threat is gankers who have a long initiation range as they might not allow Rubick to defensively use his Telekinesis in time. In addition, if you are too far away from the safety of the tower, fast heroes might catch up to you even after you have used Telekinesis.

This means that as Rubick you want to stick relatively close to your tower every time enemy heroes are missing. Make use of the high ground vision – in case you see your opponents before they initiate on you, you will be able to disable them and run away relatively easily.

Support Rubick

You want to create space for your carry to farm and if possible you want to zone out your opponent(s) and capitalize on any overextensions with the help of Telekinesis. It is a very good idea to rotate to another lane for ganks or just to pull to get some levels and farm when you have some free time.

Create space and provide free farm for your carry through harassing and zoning out.
Punish overextensions of the offlaner with Telekinesis kill attempts.
Rotate to other lanes to gank or pull.
Check runes and ward.
Hard Support or Semi-Support

Either one is ok with Rubick – you are a decent babysitter, but at the same time, you can very efficiently spend your time off the lane. You can benefit from pulling often because you will get a faster lvl 6 and a faster mobility item, and you are a very good hero to rotate for ganks with Telekinesis.

Usually, you are the 5th position hard support. Nevertheless, unlike other, more dedicated babysitters even in this role, it is a good idea to spend some time outside of the lane – usually in ganking the mid lane or pulling for resources. You can afford to do this if your carry can hold his/her ground alone in the lane for a little while.

Video Example:

He starts with Boots since he understands that he needs to move around the map as fast as possible.

Notice how he leaves Queen to take the bounty and blocks the creeps for her to help her out in the mid lane.

He is not very active in the early game – he mainly stays behind Queen to protect her in the mid lane against the enemy supports. It is quite common to do this when you know that the enemy team has strong roamers, and your mid laner needs help.

He is checking the runes at every 2 minutes and taking the bounty runes, which gives him a source of gold income so that he doesn’t end up completely starved after spending most of his time mid.

At the end of the laning stage, after being more confident that QoP can survive on her own, he starts making rotations to other lanes.

Core Rubick

You are not a carry hero, so in the lane, equal emphasis falls not only on getting levels and farm but on stopping the development of your opponent. Until you get lvl 6, you usually focus more on winning the last hit war by exploiting Fade Bolt harass. Afterward, you can focus more on kill attempts (provided there are potent kill spells you can steal) – either in the lane or by rotating to other lanes.

You are not a semi-carry and you are not item/level dependent. This means that staying in the lane and passively farming is a worse option for you than for most mid laners. You want to have an impact when you hit you first timings, and this means setting up kills for your allies either in your lane or by rotating to other lanes.

Win the last hit war by harassing with Fade Bolt.
Stop the development of your opponent as much as possible and farm your first mobility item.
Setup kills by using Telekinesis and any potent stolen spells.

You need to consider what spells you actually could get from spell steal. If you cannot get any spell that increases your kill potential a great deal, it might be a good idea to farm your Force Staff/Blink Dagger first before you start rotating. Without a kill spell in, your contribution would be the Telekinesis initiation, and with a mobility item, it is much easier to setup pick-offs in that way.

Mid & Late Game


Rubick Effigy

In the mid and late game, besides the normal support warding duties, you have two possible playstyles with Rubick:


First, stick with your team and contribute to fights (or stall pushes, whatever is required).


Second, search for gank opportunities on the back of your mobility item + Telekinesis initiation.

Stick with your team and contribute to fights with Spell Steal.
Initiate ganks with a mobility item + Telekinesis if your team can follow up and secure the kill.
Stall and defend pushes.
Timing:

After the laning stage, Rubick doesn’t have any significant timings that change the way the hero is played. It is vital to acquire the mobility item which will help you initiate easier or fight more efficiently. Provided you manage to get Aghanim’s, your efficiency grows further (you can steal multiple spells in a fight, and the spells you steal potentially become more powerful). Nevertheless, your general play style doesn’t change.

Comeback Potential:

You have a choice of two activities – stick with your team to help in team fights (or stall pushes) or find ganks with the help of some allies. Which one you will choose depends more on the strategy of your team and the behavior of your opponents rather than the laning outcome. Of course, after a bad laning stage, you will get your mobility item later, which will make it harder to gank and fight.

When you are fighting from behind it is a good idea to try to create space for your carry to farm and be able to catch up. If your opponents are farming up you need to pressure them with smoke ganks – you can be the initiator but you need allies to deal the damage.
If your opponents are moving together you need to stall pushes and avoid direct fights unless your enemies over-commit.

Pushing:

5-man Pushing

When you are pushing together with your team, the most important thing is to position yourself optimally. It is crucial to be outside of initiation range in case your opponents try to defend. Leave the actual pushing for your allies – don’t stand and hit the tower unless you are 100% sure a fight isn’t going to happen. It is even smart to try to stay in the fog (outside of the vision range of your opponents). This way, your opponents will initiate on the front line heroes (the ones that are actually pushing the tower) and you will be free to steal spells and counter-initiate.

Split Pushing & Anti-Pushing

You are a weak split-pusher, and you should leave this job to your allies. What you can do while your allies are split-pushing is to efficiently stall any pushes by the enemy team. Spamming Fade Bolt from a safe distance as often as possible can be very helpful as it will reduce the damage of the enemy pushers, pull the creep aggro and harass your opponents. When you are doing this, make sure you are not entering the initiation range of your opponents – if you get picked off before a fight starts, this could end up badly for your team.

Vision & Map Control:

As a support, it is your task to win the Ward wars against the enemy supports.

Because you are an initiator and because your positioning in team fights is crucial to your contribution to the game, you need to pay extra attention to the vision of your opponents. When you are ganking or fighting, try to stay in the fog for as long as possible.

Ganking:

Your main contribution to ganks is the Telekinesis initiation. Try to get in range without being spotted and start the fight by disabling your target. Throw it towards your allies to make it easier for them to reach the enemy hero. If you are setting up for a skill shot (Split Earth, etc.), it might be a good idea to leave the target at one place so that it is easier to aim the skill shot.

Use Fade Bolt and any useful stolen spells. In case you don’t have any, just steal a spell from your target – it could prove to be a useful one.

After initiating and using your spells, it might be a good idea to position yourself behind your allies. This way if the enemy team counter-initiates, you will be at a safe distance and will be able to help your allies (or run away).

The potency of your ganks is highly reliant on your allies. You serve the role of the initiator, and it is up to them to provide the damage and finish the kill.
If you don’t have enough kill potential, attempting ganks could be a big waste of time.

Team Fights:

Positioning

The first and most important thing you need to consider is your positioning. You need to stay at a safe distance to be able to survive but close enough to steal an important spell and use it. The exact distance which is “safe” depends on the initiation range of your opponents. If you have a mobility item, you can afford to stay a bit more behind (especially with Blink Dagger) as you will have the opportunity to instantly jump into the fight and contribute.

So, in case you know a fight is about to happen, you need to position yourself behind your allies in a distance you are sure would allow you to stay out of the initiation of your opponents. This depends on the heroes and the items they have – a Blink Dagger initiator would make your job harder and will require you to stay further back, while against a team that just runs in and fights, you can afford to stay just a few hundred range behind your allies.

You can also use the terrain to your advantage. Staying on a high ground will help you see better (it will be harder for your opponents to surprise you) and staying in the fog of war will make it much more difficult for your opponents to find you and pick you off before the fight starts.

Whenever you are the one to start the fight (with Telekinesis or a stolen initiation spell), it might be a good idea to reposition yourself immediately after the initiation. Use Telekinesis and start running backward immediately; then, before Telekinesis lift duration ends, use the repositioning ability to move the target – remember that the Telekinesis Land ability has no range and can be used from afar. You can even Force staff in, lift the target and then blink out right away to a safer position. Let your allies follow up while you run backward and get ready to steal important spells and rejoin the fight.

Spell Steal

Your ultimate will almost completely determine your behavior in fights. Your job is to steal the most important spell on the enemy team and use it with maximum efficiency. Consequently,  it is important to have a clear priority list of what is important to steal.

If your opponents have a very crucial team fight spell like Black Hole, it will be on top of your priority list. Since enemies know that you are going to steal the ability, they will try to initiate on you and kill you before the fight starts. Therefore, you should be extremely careful with your positioning. Don’t get close to your allies as this will give your enemies an opportunity to initiate both on you and your team members – in case you get disabled as well, you won’t be able to steal any spell.  Stay behind and use your spells only when you are at a safe distance. Moreover, don’t use Spell Steal to get another spell at the very start of an engagement if you want to make sure that you will have the ability off CD so that you can steal the important spell. It is better to try to get a spell before the fight – go to a lane and use the high range of Spell steal to get a spell safely.  

It could also be the case that you are in a game where your opponents don’t have such a high-impact team fight spell. In this situation, you will have more freedom to enter the fight earlier, and you will be able to choose from a wider variety of spells.
You should still know which skills are most useful on your hero, but if it is not crucial to get one specific spell, then it might be better to get the best one you can and join the fight from earlier rather than later.
Nevertheless, remember that you are a squishy support. This means that even if you join the fight right away, the best option is to use your spells and run backward afterward, in a safe position to steal something new. When your spells recharge (or you steal a new spell), you can re-enter the fight and repeat.

When you visualize this hit-and-run fighting style, it is easy to understand why mobility items (and spells) are so crucial for Rubick.

Example

Yapzor is positioned perfectly, which helps him to steal the Void’s Chrono and to blink and use it on three of his teammates. Afterward, he also steals DP’s ultimate and contributes a lot of damage to the fight beside control.

Farming:

Even though farming is generally at the bottom of your priority list, getting at least one mobility item is quite crucial. 

You might not have to passively farm this item if you are successful in your rotations – you can find gold from kills and assists. If there are no opportunities to do so, however, the only alternative is farming the item. You need to find farm either in a lane or in the jungle when you have free time.

After you get your mobility item, it is a better idea to stick to your team or be active around the map (ganking, warding, dewarding, etc.) rather than farm on your own.