Hokay, so this happens to be my first guide that I'm writing, so any criticisim would be appreciated. I've seen quite a few people playing Riven lately, and even more complaining that she's weak. While I do believe that she could use a bit more of something, I like where she's at, and I believe that the key to her is balancing survivability and damage which I think I've done a good job of in this build. Thank you for reading! XD

The rune choices I recommend for Riven are more geared for defense, save for the marks of armor pen. It's kind of obvious, these runes allow you to be aggressive early and do what Riven was meant to do, get in and fight em. I like health regen quints over flat health as they give you better outlast in lane, but flat health are also perfectly acceptable, again it's personal preference.

Well, now you might say that these look familiar, especially if you watched the champion spotlight *cough cough*. I've actually messed around with these quite a bit, and I actually like the way these runes work. 21 in offense of course, as Riven's primary job is as a tanky DPS character and the offense tree is super special awesome for the DPS part of that. The 6 points in Defense are to supplement what I said earlier in runes, more ability to take damage will give you more opportunities to dish it, plain and simple. The 3 in good hands...well, you're going to die at some point in some game, there's no getting around it, and the faster you can get back into the fray the better.

So you've read this far, and I'll reward you with my thoughts on the items I've recommended. I love to get Doran's blade first, it's a great starting item and gives you such good last hit ability that I would hardly say get anything else. Doran's shield is also a consideration, especially if you're solo laning, but generally I'd say the blade is better.

For boots I usually like to go Merc Treads/Ninja Tabbi. I find the armor/magic res and remarkable passives they rant to be more than a good reason to pick them, again, outlasting in the lane and the ability to carry well into late game are why you should choose items.

The next item you go for happens to also be a choice. If you think you'll have trouble with AP champs, go Hexdrinker, if you believe that AD champs will be your bane, you want some lifesteal, and you also want to do a bit of easy jungling, go Wriggle's Lantern. I usually get Wriggles because it's so good all game long, and the free ward is INSANE!

Ok, now you've got your armor/magic rez to carry you to late game, now to go for your damage items. I like to grab a Bloodthirster early and start stacking it ASAP as the damage that you get out of one is absolutely incredible. The Black Cleaver is next, it helps tear up armored targets and the extra attack speed is, well, just great.

By now you've probably reached the point in the game where the damage you deal is significant and you're looking for the extra edge in survival. I usually grab a Guardian Angel to keep me alive and kicking in teamfights, but a Banshee's veil is good for AP champs or Thornmail for AD champs.

Now you can pretty much get whatever you want in this build after this point, but I usually grab an Infinity Edge to round it out with extra crits and damage just for fun. ^^

Flash and Exhaust are kind of givens for Riven, they have crazy utility all game long and will often times be the difference between kills and deaths. You can consider Ghost instead of Flash, but I just feel like Flash is so much better.

For Riven's skill tree I prefer to start with her Q and leave it till the end. The cooldown reduction on her other abilities is too powerful to overlook. I like to max her E for the shield to block skillshots and various ultis as well as escapeability and the ability to dash in and kill. You can prioritize her W if you want to kill easier, but I like surviving better so that's what I do DX. So priority goes REWQ.

Thanks for reading again, I'll be editing this build as I can. I appreciate any and all feedback and I hope you win, enjoy :D