If you prefer to watch the guide in video form, here is a ~13 min video explaining it all in details. If you just want to read the guide in text format, please scroll down to the next section. You can follow my work on Steam Guides, Facebook[www.facebook.com], Twitter or Youtube.

Important note: This video was originally published one year ago under patch 6.77. Rubick Spell Steal's interaction with Aghanim Scepter has since been changed in patch 6.79:

• Rubick can no longer steal the Aghanim upgrade of the enemy if they have Aghanim and he doesn't.
  
• Aghanim's Scepter upgrade: reduces cooldown from 20/18/16 to 5, increases cast range from 1000 to 1400 and makes all stolen spells be considered to have their Aghanim's upgrade.

Telekinesis has two components: Lift & Land.



Lift basics:

• Can target non magic-immune enemy unit (including creeps & summoned units).
  
• The target is stunned while in the air (can't use items or spells). Lift acts like a stun, so it will interrupt all channeling spells and TPs.
  
• Linken Sphere blocks Lift.
  
• Magic immune units can't be lifted. Going magic immune while in the air (with Repel for instance) will not stop Lift.
  
• Lift can't be purged.

Lift advanced information:

• The target can go invisible while lifted (fade time) and will not be revealed by Telekinesis alone.

Land basics:

• Telekinesis icon (Q) becomes Telekinesis Land icon after lifting a target.
  
• All enemy units in the landing zone (325 AoE) are stunned when the target lands. The original target is not affected by the landing stun.
  
• Using Land will not prematurely end Lift, the target will always land after the full Lift duration (unless Lift is cancelled).
  
• Land can target anywhere on the map, but the target can only land at most 375 units away from his original Lift location.
  
• Rubick can use Land as many times as he likes during the Lift duration, only the last Land command will be registered.
  
• Rubick has to face the targeted area when casting Land.

[/b][/list]

Land advanced information:

• Trees are destroyed in the landing zone.
  
• Telekinesis can trap the target on cliffs (very easy to do near the runes).

Canceling Telekinesis:
Any displacement spell will instantly stop Telekinesis and apply the landing stun to enemy units at the target's original location (before being moved). The original target can move as soon as his position is changed (Lift stun is cancelled). Displacement spells are skills like Vacuum, Nether Swap, Geomagnetic Grip but also Tornado, Toss and even Chronosphere (Z-axis movement).

Did you read that well? Good, because that means you can save allies from Telekinesis with Force Staff now. The more you know!

Fade Bolt basics:

• Remember that Fade Bolt decreases the attack damage of all enemy units hit. This is extremely important in the early game where it will help Rubick win harass trades.
  
• Every bounce deals 4% less damage than the previous one. At max level Fade Bolt will deal 280 / 269 / 258 / 248 / 238 / 228... So each bounce reduces the damage by ~10.
  
• Fade Bolt bounces to the closest valid target.
  
• Fade Bolt can't hit the same unit twice.
  
• No bounce limit.
  
• Linken Sphere only blocks Fade Bolt if you are the primary target.
  
• Fade Bolt can't target or bounce on magic-immune units.

Fade Bolt advanced information:

• Valid targets are visible, non magic-immune units that haven't been hit by Fade Bolt yet in a 440 AoE. Fade Bolt will not bounce on units in the Fog of War or invisible units.
  
• If Tide's Anchor Smash & Rubick's Fade Bolt both affect the same target, the unit's damage will first be reduced by 40% (Tide) and then further reduced by 32 (Rubick), regardless of which hero used their skill first.
  
• Fade Bolt's damage reduction can be purged.

Null Field basics:

• 900 AoE around Rubick.
  
• Only affects allied heroes and hero units like Spirit Bear or Brewlings. Creeps are not affected by Null Field.
  
• Magic resistance stacks in a multiplicative manner.
  
  
  Situation

  Magic resistance

  Damage Taken

  Spirit Bear

  0%

  1000

  Spirit Bear + Max Null Field

  20%

  800

  Standard Hero

  25%

  750

  Standard Hero with max Null Field

  40%

  600

  Standard Hero with Hood

  47.5%

  525

  Standard Hero with Hood + Null Field

  58%

  420

  Antimage with max Spell Shield

  62.5%

  375

  Antimage with Spell Shield + Null Field

  70%

  300

  Antimage with Spell Shield + Null Field + Hood

  79%

  210

Spell Steal basics:

• Spell Steal can only target enemy heroes.
  
• Rubick forgets the spell he stole if he dies.
  
• The level of the stolen spell isn't linked at all with the level of Spell Steal. A level 1 Spell Steal can steal a level 4 spell or a level 3 ultimate, just like a level 3 Spell Steal can steal a level 1 spell.
  
• Rubick can't steal Aghanim upgrade without having an Aghanim of his own anymore.
  
• Spells that create illusions (like Dopplewalk) or effigies (like Static Remnant) will create illusions & effigies of Rubick instead.
  
• If Rubick cast Spell Steal on an illusion, he won't steal anything but Spell Steal will go on cooldown and mana will be expended.
  
• If for some reason the targeted hero never used any spell (Sniper before level 6), Spell Steal will not be used (cooldown / mana) and an red error message "Cannot steal this spell" will be displayed.

Spell Steal advanced information:

Rubick uses his own cast animation (instant) when using a stolen spell, but spells with extended animation will not be shortened.

Example: Rubick can cast Fissure immediately (0.1 sec) while Earthshaker has a very long animation (0.69 sec). However, spells like Furion Teleport or Sniper's Assassinate will take the same amount of time when cast by Rubick.

Stealing the same spell twice will not update the level of the spell nor refresh the cooldown. It will however refresh Spell Steal's duration.

Example: Rubick currently has level 2 Black Hole on cooldown and one minute left before he forgets his spell. Enigma pops level 16, gets level 3 Black Hole and uses it. Rubick steals it, but his spell remains a level 2 Black Hole and is still on cooldown. However, he now has 5 minutes again before forgetting his spell.

Stealing and using a spell, then stealing another spell, then stealing the original spell again will refresh its cooldown.

Example: Rubick casts level 2 Black Hole, then steals Malefice. Enigma pops level 16, gets level 3 Black Hole and uses it. Rubick steals it again and has a level 3 Black Hole ready to cast again, even if he used level 2 Black Hole seconds before.

Summoned & dominated units will not die when Rubick steals another spell if they have limited duration / will die when Rubick steals another spell if they have infinite duration.

Example: Spirit Bear and Familiars both have infinite duration and will die when Rubick steals another spell. Treants and Eidolons both have limited duration and will not die when Rubick steals another spell.

Toggled spells can be stolen, but only toggling on counts as casting it. If toggled on when Rubick steals another spell, it will automatically be toggled off

Example: If Pudge activates Rot, hooks someone, deactivates Rot and Rubick uses Spell Steal, he will steal Hook. If Rubick is using Rot and steals something else, Rot will automatically turn off (so Rubick won't kill himself like a 'tard).

Rubick can stack different Transformation spells and benefits from all the advantages. He will have the visual aspect of the last transformation he used.

Example: If Rubick steals Lycan's Shapeshift and then steals Terrorblade's Metamorphosis, he will turn into a mini-demon with +80 base damage (Metamorphosis), max movespeed, 1.5 BAT, 30% crit (x1.7) and 1800 night vision (Shapeshift). Once Shapeshift ends he will remain a mini-demon with +80 base damage only.

Spells that interact with other spells usually have their passive attached to them.

• Requiem of Souls will use the number of Souls Nevermore had when Rubick stole the spell.
  
• Eclipse will use the level of Lucent Beams Luna she had.
  
• Any spells stolen from Death Prophet will use the level of Witchcraft she had.
  
• Toss damage will depend on the level of Tiny's Grow.
  
• Stealing Plague Wards will also steal the current level of Poison Sting. Rubick's Plague Wards and Rubick's auto-attack will benefit from Poison Sting.
  
• Spirit Bear will not have Synergy.
  
• Ogre Magi's spells are not stolen with Multicast :(

Spells Rubick can't steal:

• Passive spells, even if they cost mana (Reincarnation for instance).
  
• Orb effects, even if manually cast (Frost Arrow for instance).
  
• Invoker's Quas, Wex, Exort & Invoke
  
• Earth Spirit's Stone Remnant.
  
• Items ability (Force Staff, Scythe of Vyse, Eul's Scepter...)
  
• Rubick's spell steal (if you somehow play against another Rubick)

Spells with special interaction with Spell Steal:

• Firefly, Assassinate, Walrus Punch all have flavor text / custom animation.
  
• Spin Webs disappear when Rubick steals another spell
  
• Devour does not allow Rubick to gain spells from creeps. However, Rubick can steal creep spells' from Doom directly just like any other spell.
  
• Astral Spirit will disappear with no further effect if Rubick steals another spell while the Spirit is out.
  
• Morph changes will be permanent. Don't go full agility.
  
• Darkness does not increase Rubick's night vision, so even with an Aghanim Scepter Rubick will only have 800 flying vision instead of Night Stalker's 1800 flying vision.
  
• Rubick will only steal the most recently used version of Shadowraze, not all the three Shadowrazes.
  
• Rubick can steal the spells other Rubicks used via Spell Steal.
  
• Psionic Trap will not die when Rubick steals another spell.
  
• Spirit Bear can carry items, but will drop them on the ground and die when Rubick steals another spell.
  
• Rubick's Chronosphere does not stop Void. You've been warned.

Why do you make this series in video form instead of written guide?

The simple answer is: Visual confirmation. Everyone can write stuff down, but that doesn't mean it's accurate - I want to give visual proof of everything I say. This also allows me to bring various bugs to light while making the video.

What heroes did you already cover?

• Mirana (Patch 6.79c): Steam Guide / Reddit discussion / Youtube
  
• Clockwerk (Patch 6.79c): Steam Guide / Reddit discussion / Youtube

Can I help in any way?

Sure you can! The obvious ways to help is to follow me on Steam to know when the next guide is coming up, as well as the usual subscribe/like on Youtube/Facebook[www.facebook.com] /Twitter. You can also help me decide which hero you really want to see next as well as help asking the right questions so I can test it out.