Death Prophet vs Riki

How this matchup plays

Pushing down a lane as a team is how Death Prophet creates pressure, but Riki makes this incredibly difficult. He has all the tools to get on top of her and disrupt her Exorcism. A well-placed Smoke Screen silences her, causes her to miss attacks, and slows her escape. Even if she gets her ultimate off, Riki can use Blink Strike to close the gap or Tricks of the Trade to become untargetable, effectively dodging a large portion of her ghost damage. He can easily survive her initial burst and then finish her off once her spells are on cooldown.

This forces Death Prophet to play reactively all game. She can’t farm extended lanes or confidently lead a push if Riki is off the map. Her entire game plan revolves around a long-duration ultimate, and he can nullify it with his basic abilities. She is pressured into buying defensive items like a Force Staff or Ghost Scepter far earlier than she'd like, delaying her core items and ability to snowball. Riki doesn't need to adapt his build at all; he can play his normal game and consistently treat her as a priority target to jump on and eliminate.