[14.9] Become A Riven God

General

About the Author
Pros and Cons
Extras

Setup

Runes
Spells
Abilities
Essential Combos

In-Game

Forging A Lead
Early Game
Teamfighting

Hey, I'm Zerivalg! As a Riven main, I live, breathe, and adore the champion. With countless hours of gameplay under my belt and an unyielding passion for the game, I know exactly how to bring out the best in Riven. Whether you're looking to pull off sick combos, outmaneuver your opponents, or simply dominate the rift, I've got the skills and expertise to help you do just that. So if you're ready to take your Riven game to the next level, join me and let's conquer the rift together!

Why choose this guide over the others? Simple: no BS, just straight-to-the-point tips and strategies to save you time and dominate your opponents. Oh, and I was an honorable mention in the Mobafire season 14 contest.

[Warning]: Riven is not a blind pick anymore. She has good matchups, but also loses a large amount of her matchups. She is not a champion to one trick anymore. Play something safer if you're blind picking and your main goal is gaining lp. However, if you're counter picking and it's a + winrate matchup, go for it. She's a solid champion, but she has to get a good lane (good access to cs and a winnable matchup) to be useful.

Zerivalg

Let me tell you why is the obvious choice for a summoner spell. Not only does it provide a means of securing kills or escaping danger when necessary, but it becomes an absolute necessity in late game scenarios where the right combos can make all the difference in taking down fed opponents. While TP ignite may be a viable option in super high elo, I'd recommend against it generally.

This spell allows you to finish off or one-shot targets that could've been hard to kill otherwise. Ignite also gives stacks of conqueror and resets the duration opening up new paths of burst or reengagement that previously were unavailable.

This spell has made a recovery. It's mainly used to generate massive xp advantages regardless of lane state. Once the changes to the timer happen, it's likely it will be ideal all the time. I suggest taking it into lanes that you have low kill pressure in even now. Always tp sooner rather than later, and in a safe spot preferably before anything starts. Flanking is good theoretically but in most ranks your team will not respond appropriately. Until you have GA, flanking should not be considered at all.

: Riven scales best with AD and Ability Haste. To maximize her potential, go with Conqueror for extra AD and healing. It's a must-have!

: Triumph is an obvious choice here, it's heal is incredibly useful and it's gold boost is some nice icing on the cake.

: Alacrity starts stronger, and scales faster than the tenacity rune. The exception to this is if they have morgana or similar champions with incredibly long stuns or have 3 or more hard cc abilities.

: You never want to be low on health, but if you are, it's nice to deal a little bit more damage. With less restrictions on the boost, it often outdamages Coup de Grace.

Secondary Tree

: Shield bash has gotten much better since Riven's e revert and eclipse meta. Constantly having extra damage and resistances is very useful. If you're facing enemies that have a ton of cc, will be better then.

This rune is going to give you the most health of your options. Make sure to make use of the bone plating whenever it procs. It's nice to be able to force trades a little easier and have more health. Even for experienced players, they sometimes get outplayed by this rune if you add on enough pressure. IF you're facing someone who can consistently proc this rune without risk, will obviously be better.

Runic Blade

Range: 125
Riven's abilities charge her blade for 5 seconds, causing her to do 30 / 36 / 42 / 48 / 54 / 60 % of her attack damage as bonus physical damage on her next basic attack. Riven can store up to 3 charges, and can only expend 1 at a time.

This effect lasts 5 seconds so you can space out qs to have 3 stacks up for jg leash or an all-in. This is most useful in long fights.

Broken Wings

Range: 1st & 2nd: 112.5 3rd: 150 Range With Ult: 1st: 162.5 2nd: 112.5 3rd: 200 Cooldown: 13
ACTIVE: Riven dashes towards the target nearest to the cursor or in the direction she is currently facing, dealing 15 / 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 (+ 45 / 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% AD) physical damage to all enemies in front of her. Broken Wings can then be reactivated twice within the next 4 seconds, with the second cast refreshing the timer. The third strike will knock enemies up and can be used to jump over terrain.

The 3rd Q: This ability can be used to hop over terrain or engage/disengage when chained with other abilities. Most wall hops can be accomplished by positioning close to the wall and directing Riven towards the thinnest part of the wall and using third q. Some jumps can be achieved with incredibly precise positioning and often don't have a great payoff if they work. Some wall jumps are impossible to get consistently so I don't think it's worth attempting to learn them. Here's a map of walls that can be jumped for reference.

This is the ability to max for DPS, as well as being a good tool to poke (in some matchups), engage, escape, and burst down enemies. As for "The Fast Q", auto between each Q and use animation resets by clicking behind you after the q is cast then immediately assigning another auto.

Once you get some Ability haste on you, you can use qs slowly and look for engage opportunities with third q. The benefit of doing this is that after the third q, you will have a fresh set of qs up. This can frequently one-shot opponents.

In the early game, if you are confident you win a fight, instead of just fast qing and having your opponent walk away when you have no more mobility, instead, chain 2 autos in between qs while keeping up so your opponent doesn't escape.

This ability can also be used to dodge abilities. You just have to be very quick with a directional click. If this is too difficult, use e instead until you've practiced to the point of perfection.

This last cast is used in many of our combos and even just to poke in some cases. Do your best to master directing it.

Note: If your movement speed is above 550, using your abilities will slow you down. Her dashes do not scale with MS.

Ki Burst

Range: 125/135 with ult. Cooldown: 11 / 10 / 9 / 8 / 7
ACTIVE: Riven's sword emits a burst of runic energy that shocks nearby enemies, dealing 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+ 100% bonus AD) physical damage and applying a stun for 0.75 seconds.

This ability allows very profitable trading. A stun that deals good damage has a short cooldown and scales nicely. It has a lot of outplay potential, just make sure to be close enough to hit it.

From poking, interrupting autos, chaining cc, profitable combos, and interrupting certain abilities like 's [Powerball], this ability has many uses and you should look to master all of them.

This will be our second maxed ability because of its low cooldown, great damage, and obviously, its stun.

To escape ganks you can perform what's called a "sliding w". You use and in quick succession and it stuns the place you started the cast of .

Valor

Range: 325 Cooldown: 10 / 9 / 8 / 7 / 6
ACTIVE: Riven dashes in the direction of the cursor, gaining a 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 / 210 (+ 100% bonus AD) shield for 1.5 seconds.

Blocking damage, engaging, disengaging, your E is a good ability. Time right and you can block anything from to a shot. A great tool that can help keep you alive and win trades. Its cooldown is terrible though, so we max this last. They also nerfed the shield value so this is a decision that should have no remorse.

Look to use your e when you can abuse the shield the most. If you have lifesteal use it after taking damage. If your opponent has something that will crack the shield (Renekton empowered W), wait until they use it if possible. If your opponent has a heavy-hitting ability, use it in response to that if possible. Use this ability to dodge enemy abilities as a last resort. should be plenty to dodge abilities but if you're not used to that yet this is a good alternative.

Blade Of The Exile

Cooldown: 120 / 90 / 60
ACTIVE: Riven empowers her sword for 15 seconds, gaining (20% Bonus AD) and (75 bonus range) on her basic attacks. This ability also increases the range on Broken Wings and Ki Burst, and gives you the ability to re-cast your ult 1 second after activation to use Wind Slash once for the duration of the ult.

This ability can turn almost any lane around. The increase in damage scales well with any kind of build. The increase in range will help you hit the knock-up and stun just a little easier. On top of that, its secondary activation and you have yourself a strong ultimate ability.

Cloak this abilities usage by chaining it with another. This is most commonly animation canceled with -> .

Some variations of this include:
- ->
- ->
- -> -> and/or in doublecast order or regularly.

You can also throw into most of these combos, we will detail it more later.

Wind Slash

Range: 900 Angle: 75° Speed: 1600
ACTIVE: Riven unleashes a wave of energy in a cone, dealing 100 / 150 / 200 (+ 60% bonus AD) physical damage to all enemies hit, increased by 0% − 200% (based on missing health).

This ability scales at a 1.8 ad ratio. In most cases, you are going to want to your opponent before using your ultimate. In cases where you don't have up, you can use third q to help secure it.

I've simplified this section into a video. It contains all the information that you will need to master Riven's vital combos. Some other videos have more than 50 combos, of which you will only use the ones I show. The use cases of alternatives are abysmally slim.

1. A Focus on the Wave

Fight within your minions for the early game. If your minions are outnumbered, wait till you can change that. If your minions outnumber the opponent, trade one auto and or walk into your creeps. Then if they walk into your creeps auto -> Q auto kite back -> auto kite back and then auto -> -> auto and then it's likely that you'll be able to finish the kill with your auto third q auto. Never do this strategy if you're down in levels, it's likely in that case that you will lose the fight regardless of the creep advantage. In this scenario, the opponent is going to be forced to take quite a bit of creep damage on top of all of your damage.

Creep score is incredibly essential to absolutely everything you do. Many top Riven players are incredibly dedicated to csing. Sometimes racking up 10+ cs/min for the game. While cs is incredibly important, a huge health advantage will secure future cs with no risk involved. If a great opportunity to trade arrives make sure to take it to secure that health lead.

I've prepared a video to help you learn how to cs if you average below 8/minute, but this is just one of the ways of improving your cs. People have many other methods and you basically need to practice with all of them.

2. Enemy Jungle Camps

Camps aren't as worthwhile as they used to be for laners, but a red buff is always worth it. Also if you're in a position to proxy where leaving lane will not cost you anything, that's always a good option for what to do. Another great option is herald. Killing herald now gives you 300g and a chunk of xp if you do it alone. It is better to do it with your jungler for the added safety and likelihood of finishing it, but in some circumstances if their jg comes you just kill them.

3. Enemy Jungler

If you can also kill the enemy jungler or at least force them to back without taking too much risk yourself. If you succeed, suddenly you've impacted the entire map, not just your 'island'.

4. Killing Your Laner

Killing your laner is nice, it gets 300 gold. Make sure you set up your kills to do more than this though. 300 gold and denying an entire wave, that's huge. 300 gold and recalling because a tp is coming in and you're low and them crashing the wave on you, that's kind of pointless. Losing a massive wave due to being too low to push it due to getting your kill is worse than never getting the kill and just getting the wave.

5. Another Laner

Killing another laner can actually be more useful than your own because then you both can push the wave and get a few plates while denying creeps. It all depends on how you set up your roam. If you proxy 2 waves before leaving that could make it obvious but also give you the most time.

6. Pressure

If you constantly have their entire team on top of you, this is what's called "drawing pressure". You should smile every time this happens even if you die. Feel special, look at all the attention you got. Don't worry about what your teammates were doing during this because it was unfortunately probably nothing.

Having said this, don't just mindlessly split push. To pressure properly is to get something on the other side of the map while not dying. Carefully monitor your team's position and check for any missing enemies frequently, because they're probably coming up to you.

7. Abusing a lead

Once you get a lead from one of these tactics, my favorite thing to do is stand between the enemy tower and the second tower. Then watch the enemy laner squirm as they try to figure out what to do. I've seen people teleport, just give up and walk into me, steal from their jungler, take an excessively long path just to die anyways when they get under their tower. Honestly it's comical, and you should get in on the joke. Having said this, make sure to have good wards before attempting this or at least be able to 1v2 and keep an eye on mid. If you get killed by top/jg/sup that's just unlucky. Though if it happens once it will likely happen again in that game so adjust your level of aggression as needed to avoid excessive deaths.

8. Split Pushing

This is when your team is elsewhere and you are alone or matching your laner. You have to keep a very close eye on the minimap to make sure no one else is heading your way. I know we want to think we can 1v2 in whatever circumstance but sometimes it works out for the enemy and that's not good for you. Whenever someone is walking top if you play within your means without dying you're just wasting their time and pressure. This opens plays for dragon or towers/jg camps on the other side of the map. Not to mention all the creeps they'd be getting, basically for free.

If you take TP, having it up while your laner doesn't is extremely important late game. If you can shove a wave in, then back off and tp bot and make a play it can just win the game.

Pre-game:

Check out my matchup section for the champion you're facing and heed it's advice.

http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/-470401

Hell, you might just want to bookmark it.

Avoiding Ganks:

If you're receiving a lot of unwanted attention, rushing t2 boots is likely the correct choice. Most other people in the game won't have them by this point and it will make avoiding or at least surviving ganks much more likely. If you're being camped, you may just have to chill back for a bit and wait for the wave to push in, sometimes that just be how it is.

Lvl 1:

So, you know that front bush in top lane? Yeah, that one close to the tower. Well, if you're facing a squishy opponent or anyone with a weak level 1, sitting there will give you a great opportunity to get a massive health/summoner spell advantage or even first blood. Now, just walk at your opponent once they cross an imaginary line (example below) in the lane that you set to where you can get a q combo off. Against squishy laners, this is any circumstance.

Here's a visual for reference :

If they respond immediately, use your first to get to them then Q combo. This most likely won't kill your target, but often it blows flash or gets a huge health advantage. Doing this against some lanes can get you killed, so against someone like I wouldn't suggest it. This is better for something like Ryze where you can bully him hard early game.

TP Playstyle: Make much more calculated trades around your wave and your cooldowns. You don't win all ins as easily without . Often starting a combo with auto/q and ending it with your third q to deaggro minions is the correct choice.

Lvl 2:

Take W, and after the lvl 1 trade, it should be easy to one-shot nearly any champion, especially if you took nimbus cloak. The level 2 oneshot combo kills from any health value below ~50% health.

TP/Ranged Matchup playstyle: If you're facing a ranged champ that you haven't got much poke onto, e is the best option level 2 because it allows for farming without losing hp, which is crucial in those matchups. It also allows for more damage by not having to use to close the gap. also keeps your health pool up as a preventative measure for ganks.

Lvl 3:

You have access to all your abilities, this is where you're very threatening and can easily capitalize on mistakes. Realize where someone messes up, like that Jayce who just switched to cannon form and has his E on a 6-second cd EVEN IF IT'S UP! This is one of the best examples of a "Green light" like a Renekton w-ing a minion, it means GO! Abuse it, but be wary of the enemy jungle. They should be top by now. Make sure to ward, and don't go for extended trades or long fights unless you see the enemy jungler.

TP playstyle: During these levels you're mostly looking to chip away at your opponents health bar with short trades around your w and e. Your q should just be kept up as much as possible unless you're using it quickly for a heavy trade.

Lvl 4 & 5:

At these levels, you just get an extra 90 damage on your q combo with each point. Not a lot changes with your playstyle. Some champions are hard to kill pre 6. This is usually the section where you give them some space. Focus on the farm and pray to the jg gods for some ganks.

Lvl 6:

This is when you pop off and most matchups can be easily killed at this point, Especially Darius. If you walk close to him, and he pulls you in, pop your ult and turn the fight around. If he doesn't pull you in, ER - Auto - W - Q (through him to avoid his pull) - Auto - Q (through him again to avoid the pull if he saved it the first time) - Auto - Third Q - - Auto and it should be more than enough to kill him. This is very similar to most matchups, however, facing ranged champions you generally engage with ERQ - W - Auto Q - Auto Third Q - Ult Auto.

Times to keep in mind:

6:00-6:30
Free 250+ health in the river from the honeyfruit, if you need it, get it.

8:00
Herald (You'll want a control ward): Make sure to pink this then take it or have your jungler take it. Hopefully you've gotten some plates down, you may be able to end a tower even this early if you have it.

12:00-14:00
Plates are falling in two minutes, try to go get some. If you've already gotten your tower, shove top and rotate mid. Those plates are extra juicy and if you're that ahead no one should be able to stop you.

20:00 baron spawns now, don't be stupid. Sometimes sneaking it with a pink is a good option, keep it in mind.

Riven is best in teamfights when she has flash. Without it, she's better pushing a lane near her team and coming to help if a fight breaks out. Make sure to know whether it's good to flash. An empty kill late game for your flash is pointless, 300g is not with it for you. If you get a kill at their inhibitor and the rest of their team is on the other side of the map, suddenly you have 300g, a tower, an inhibitor, and the 5 minutes of pressure.

Teamfighting is rather difficult on Riven. But you really just have to wait for an opportunity to engage with ERF Third Q -> Auto -> W. This gives you 1.5 seconds of cc and whatever other damage you (and your team) can get off in that time.

Always target champions with cc that you can one shot. Morgana? Nami? Sure! Alistar? Sion? Probably not. If you can hit them and the adc/mid laner with the combo, finish them off, and live to tell the story, do it. Of course you could always hit the miracle combo on all 5 and one shot everyone, but that's incredibly rare.

If you must, a shorter range combo offers less time for your enemy to react. It's much more complicated though. ERF -> WQ (third) -> R2 -> Q. The aforementioned combo is incredibly difficult and unnecessary in low elo where people don't react to the normal teamfighting combo. I had to develop this because I kept eating cc before my third q landed in high elo. Even a simple thresh flay would just ruin my day.

This usually can kill one or two champions assuming you don't get interrupted. Sometimes you just have to wait for someone to run in like an idiot and then engage because all the CC will be used on them.

Changelog

Credit Where Credit is Due

- Unswlolsoc for his multiple tutorial videos
- Riot games for their game and all icons/pictures/maps I used
- All the people who wrote the league of legends wiki pages
- Arkhala_TheSlayer gets the biggest thank you for helping me with all the coding throughout the guide!

[14.9] Become A Riven God

[14.9] Become A Riven God

Recommended Items

Runes: Winning Lane

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order Normal

Runic Blade (PASSIVE)

Broken Wings (Q)

Ki Burst (W)

Valor (E)

Blade of the Exile (R)

Champion Build Guide

[14.9] Become A Riven God

1. A Focus on the Wave

2. Enemy Jungle Camps

3. Enemy Jungler

4. Killing Your Laner

5. Another Laner

6. Pressure

7. Abusing a lead

8. Split Pushing

Pre-game:

Avoiding Ganks:

Lvl 1:

Lvl 2:

Lvl 3:

Lvl 4 & 5:

Lvl 6:

Times to keep in mind:

League of Legends Champions: