League of Legends - Riven Champion Strategy and Item Build Guide

Riven

Basic Information

Champion Stats

Lore

Skills

Icon	Description
	Runic Blade INNATE: Riven’s abilities charge her blade, causing her basic attacks to deal bonus physical damage. Riven’s blade may be charged up to three times and expends one charge per attack.
	Broken Wings (Target Range: 260, Effect Radius: 112.5/150/162.5/200, Cooldown: 13)ACTIVE: Riven strikes out in front of her in a short line. This ability may be reactivated 2 additional times.1st and 2nd Use: Slashes forward, dealing 10/30/50/70/90 (+40/45/50/55/60% Attack Damage) physical damage to all units she comes in contact with.3rd Use: Leaps forward and slams the ground dealing 10/30/50/70/90 (+40/45/50/55/60% Attack Damage) physical damage and knocking nearby enemies up. This leap can cross unpathable terrain. Riven will target the unit your cursor is hovering over, or if no targets are present, Riven will simply strike the direction she is currently facing.
	Ki Burst (Effect Radius: 125/135, 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 Attack Damage) physical damage and stunning them for 0.75 seconds.
	Valor (Target Range: 325, Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6)ACTIVE: Riven does a quick dash in the direction of your cursor and becomes shielded, blocking up to 90/120/150/180/210 (+100% bonus Attack Damage) incoming damage for 1.5 seconds.
	Blade of the Exile (Cooldown: 130/95/60, Windslash Effect Radius: 900, Windslash Speed: 1600)ACTIVE: Riven’s weapon surges with spiritual energy for 15 seconds, granting her 20% extra Attack Damage (+20% bonus Attack Damage), increased Range on her damaging spells and attacks, and the ability to use Wind Slash once.Wind Slash: Riven fires a shockwave that deals from 100/150/200 (+60% bonus Attack Damage) to 300/450/600 (+180% bonus Attack Damage) physical damage to all enemies hit, increasing based on how much Health they are missing.

Strategy

Top Lane

• You can use Riven’s (Q) Broken Wing thrice with the first two slashing forward and the third allowing you to leap over obstacles. You can use this to escape between unwalkable terrain and jumping to other side or use it as a shortcut in chasing enemy champions.
• Try to harass enemy melee champions as you will win most trade-offs with your high damage potential. With that being said, you should try to play passive against ranged champions as they can continuously poke you. Remember that Riven has no sustain so this might lead you to continuously go back to your fountain to regenerate.
• She possesses high damage burst and escape options, so diving enemy champions is always an option. But be wary when going in for the kill as they can still disable you and lock you within the Turret’s range potentially disrupting your dive and even possibly killing you. Try to calculate if you can swoop in for a quick kill by making sure the enemy champion has low hp and with their CCs on cooldown.
• Your main role in teamfights is eliminating enemy carries as swift as possible to shift the teamfight’s advantage to your side. Always target the carry as you are the one with high burst potential that can quickly shut down their ADR leading to your team’s win.

Runes & Masteries

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Summoner Spells

Top Lane
Flash	Teleport

Item Builds

Top Lane

Starter Items
Long Sword	Health Potion

Core Items

Core Items
Ionian Boots of Lucidity	The Black Cleaver	Death’s Dance

The Black Cleaver – The Black Cleaver makes Riven stronger offensively, as her damaging abilities and basic attacks shred armor and increases her movement speed for a while. Aside from the passive, The Black Cleaver also increases her attack damage, cooldown reduction, and health.

Death’s Dance – Death’s Dance passive compliments her bruiser nature since she can deal a lot of damage while soaking a little as well. This will serve as your main life steal item

Ionian Boots of Lucidity – Any boots is actually a good pick-up for Riven depending on your matchup and the enemy team’s composition. Ionian Boots of Lucidity, on the other hand, increases her effectiveness as she will be able to spam more of her abilities. Riven is actually a pretty ability-dependent champion and any form of cooldown reduction greatly increases her power all throughout the game.

Full Item Build

Full Item Build
Ionian Boots of Lucidity	The Black Cleaver	Guardian Angel
Edge of Night	Youmuu’s Ghostblade	Death’s Dance

Guardian Angel – Guardian Angel allows Riven to have one more life in team fights as this gives her more assurance because of the extra life. It also gives her attack damage which can be beneficial since she is a physical damage champion.

Edge of Night – Edge of Night allows her to jump in team fights without having to worry about crowd controls and stun because of the spell shield active. It also increases her attack damage, health, and lethality, which makes her a great bruiser-killer champion.

Youmuu’s Ghostblade – Youmuu’s Ghostblade further increases her lethality while giving her a movement speed bonus in her active and passive. This item will also cap your cooldown reduction, giving you more flexibility in using your abilities to your heart’s desire.

Situational Items

Situational Items
The Bloodthirster	Maw of Malmortius	Mortal Reminder/Lord Dominik’s Regards

The Bloodthirster – The Bloodthirster is a very strong substitute item for Death’s Dance as it is a more offensive option. Get this instead of Death’s Dance if you are far ahead in the game and want to capitalize on the lead.

Maw of Malmortius – Maw of Malmortius can be an option if the enemy has a lot of magic damage. This item also grants cooldown reduction and attack damage which are good stats for Riven. What makes this item truly stands out against APs is the shield it grants that can absorb a lot of bonus magic damage.

Mortal Reminder/ Lord Dominik’s Regards – Build Mortal Reminder if the enemy team has a lot of health regeneration. If the enemy has a lot of armor, it’s better to build Lord Dominik’s Regards.

Playing Against

• Riven can deliver massive damage in a short period of time so when you encounter her alone, it’s best that you avoid fighting her as she can easily kill you.
• It’s best to poke Riven from a distance as close quarter combat engagements against her will likely result to your disadvantage. Try to wear her hp down using heroes with long-ranged attacks to avoid getting killed by Riven.
• As Riven primarily relies on her mobility to execute damage, it would be best to use your crowd control on her when she closes in to you or tries to escape. A Riven that is disabled will render her useless in teamfights.

Hard Counters

• Fiora – Fiora has a lot of self-sustain so she can easily gain the upper-hand in exchanges. You have higher damage overall but remember that Fiora can parry your CC and disable you in return which can potentially turn the skirmish around.
• Olaf – Olaf’s ult gives him immunity to disables and he’s very tanky making it very difficult for you to kill him. He can easily poke you as well with his (Q) Undertow and sustain which can send you back to the fountain multiple times.
• Renekton – Renekton can zone Riven very well with his (Q) Cull the Meek that both inflicts damage and sustains him. He can also punish Riven when she gets close using his (W) Ruthless Predator.

Strategy Video

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