Rubick in 7.41f: how the patch changed the spell thief

Hi! Today I’m looking at Rubick in patch 7.41f, and the reason is pretty clear: the hero is still one of the most iconic supports in Dota 2, and the latest updates have noticeably tweaked his base stats, talents, and the very idea of playing around spell theft.

Role and abilities

Rubick is a ranged Intelligence hero with a Support role, and everything about him revolves around control, easy spell spam, and, of course, Spell Steal. According to the official description, he doesn’t just steal enemy abilities, he uses them against their former owners, and that’s exactly where his main strength lies: the better you read a fight, the more valuable the hero becomes.

Looking at his kit, Rubick has a very clear gameplan:

Telekinesis — lifts a target into the air and then slams it back down, stunning enemies nearby; with Aghanim’s Shard, the spell can be cast on yourself or an ally.
Fade Bolt — a chain magic burst that deals damage and reduces the attack and spell damage of affected enemies.
Arcane Supremacy — an innate magic amplifier: Rubick’s spells get more cast range and deal more damage.
Spell Steal — the core of the hero: Rubick remembers the last ability used by an enemy hero and gains it for several minutes or until death; Aghanim’s Scepter grants more range, two stolen abilities, and their Scepter upgrades, while Aghanim’s Shard adds Shard upgrades.
Curiosity — a new innate ability that builds Curiosity with hero level and further increases damage, radius, and effect duration.

I like that Rubick is still not a hero about “pressing buttons on cooldown,” but about timing. On paper he can look simple, but in practice he demands positioning, knowledge of enemy spells, and the discipline not to rush the stolen ability.

Changes in recent patches

Going from the newest adjustments to the older ones, the picture looks like this:

7.41d: Fade Bolt damage was reduced from 100/175/250/325 to 85/165/245/325, and the effect duration was cut from 10 to 9 seconds.
7.41c: agility gain was reduced from 2.5 to 2.2; the level 15 talent for Fade Bolt got stronger in terms of cooldown reduction, while the talent for stolen ability mana cost was weakened; the level 25 Curiosity talent was also nerfed, lowering the bonus multiplier from 2 to 1.5.
7.41b: the level 20 talent for the area damage from the Telekinesis stun was reduced from 325 to 300.
7.41: base damage was increased by 1, and level 1 damage went up from 49–55 to 50–56; the old innate ability Might and Magus was removed and replaced with Curiosity; Fade Bolt now reduces both attack and spell damage by default; Fade Bolt damage reduction changed from 5/15/25/35% to 6/12/18/24%; Spell Steal no longer increases debuff duration, but now always reduces the cooldown of stolen abilities; the talents were heavily reworked too — from health at level 10 to new options for Telekinesis, Fade Bolt, and Curiosity.

In my opinion, the most important thing here isn’t any single nerf, but the overall direction. Rubick was made a bit fairer and a bit less explosive on raw numbers, but at the same time he was reinforced as a hero who always contributes through his passive and the flexibility of Spell Steal.

Statistics

According to OpenDota, over the last 7 days Rubick was played in 734,859 public matches, with a win rate of 49.3%. That puts him at 67th out of 127 heroes by win rate and 4th by match count. In other words, he’s very noticeable in popularity, but the numbers don’t make him look especially successful.

If you break down the win rate by rank, the spread is pretty narrow:

Herald — 49.1%
Guardian — 48.4%
Crusader — 49.0%
Archon — 49.0%
Legend — 49.4%
Ancient — 49.7%
Divine — 49.7%

In professional matches, OpenDota shows Rubick being picked less often over the last period, but with solid results: 9 picks, 7 wins, and a 77.8% win rate, while being banned 5 times. I think this is exactly the kind of hero who can look better in competitive play than in average matches: his value depends heavily on execution and the enemy draft.

Items and matchups

From OpenDota pro matches, you can see that Rubick is usually built around mobility, mana, and range. His item path across the stages of the game looks very consistent.

Starting items: Iron Branch, Tango, Observer and Sentry Wards, Faerie Fire, Blood Grenade, Circlet.
Early game: Boots of Speed, Urn of Shadows, Bottle, Chainmail, Ring of Health, Void Stone.
Mid game: Essence Distiller, Blink Dagger, Arcane Boots, Aghanim’s Shard, Staff of Wizardry, Vitality Booster.
Late game: Blink Dagger, Aether Lens, Aghanim’s Scepter, Aeon Disk, Eul’s Scepter of Divinity, Consecrated Wraps.

In lane and teamfight matchups, Rubick looks especially good against heroes whose key spells are easy to steal or whose fight rhythm is easy to disrupt. But here I’d rather look at the actual OpenDota numbers:

Best against: Bloodseeker — 27 games, 74.1% wins; Magnus — 93 games, 63.4%; Weaver — 86 games, 62.8%.
Worst against: Chen — 39 games, 35.9% wins; Naga Siren — 29 games, 37.9%; Earth Spirit — 151 games, 39.1%.

This is exactly where Rubick shines best, in my view: he isn’t universally strong in a vacuum, but he loves matches where the enemy has expensive or defining spells, and Rubick himself has the time and position to steal them.

My takeaway

After 7.41f, Rubick doesn’t look like a hero that was radically remade for a new meta, but he also no longer feels like “just a support with one strong ultimate.” The latest patches neatly trimmed the easiest parts of his damage and talents, while leaving the most important thing intact — the ability to influence the game through enemy spells and a very flexible build.

I think Rubick is still a hero for people who like thinking one step ahead. Stat-wise, he’s stable, but not a standout in pub win rate, while in pro play he can be very dangerous if the draft and execution line up in his favor. And honestly, that’s exactly why he’s interesting to watch in every new patch.

Source: official Dota 2 data and OpenDota.

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