These runes mostly speak for themselves, but we'll go over the one's I recommend and some alternatives:

What I recommend

Greater Mark of Desolation Greater Mark of Desolation x9
Simple enough, she's an AD champion, and I much more prefer Armor Penetration in order to bring down those who counter with Armor.

Greater Seal of Resilience x9
Riven's a melee champion and she's going to be in close range, perhaps against another AD champion. I recommend flat Armor Seals so she has her initial Armor early game. This makes it easier to harass.

Greater Glyph of Warding x9
As previously said, I prefer to have the initial protection in order to harass easier and perhaps get a few clean kills early game.

Greater Quintessence of Fortitude x3
I previously went with Armor Penetration Quintessences but I felt that the health early game is not enough in order to harass properly.

Alternatives

Greater Mark of Strength x9
If you see/sense that your opponents don't have many Armor going champions, you may go for AD Marks though I strongly suggest that you stick with Armor Penetration.

Greater Seal of Defense Greater Seal of Defense x9
Not much to say here, if you feel that you can manage early game, you can go for the level-stacking Seals which performs better late game.

Greater Glyph of Shielding x9
I can feel for these substitutes more than armor as not many champions has great magic damage early game.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation Greater Quintessence of Desolation x3
As I mentioned I previously used these. If you are aware that your are going to lane with a healing support your may pick these instead of Health Quintessences.

There are of course many other options, these are just the ones I would choose as a second choice.

Not much to say about the Offensive masteries. I picked the Defensive talents as such because this build is based on being very durable and at the same time being able to deal quite a lot of damage.

x3
These are great startup items in my opinion, it backs you up in case you get harassed a lot and the boots are good for evading enemy champion abilities like Cassiopeia, Maokai etc.


Most likely you will have to go back around the time when you can barely afford this (depending on how the lane is). Anyway you should start off by picking this up and eventually buy another Health Potion if you feel the need to. A Sight Ward might come in handy before you land Wriggle's Lantern, but don't buy any wards what so ever afterwards.


This is a great item for Riven. It gives you some durability in terms of Armor and Lifesteal, and some AD. Perfect! And you always have a ward in hand that you should use in your lane until you leave, then the ward is best placed at the Dragon and then at Baron.


These boots are the best boots to get in my opinion, as Riven's abilities are free to use, the only thing holding her back is cooldowns.


This item is to be discussed, it's true that it is rather rendered useless in late game. But it gives Riven a major upgrade early/mid game, because we are now increasing her Magic Resistance aswell, plus more AD, and I don't think it can get any better than that.
Though I must say that if the ongoing match is in 45 min+ it's probably a good idea to replace it. I would replace it with Youmuu's Ghostblade.



Back to durability, this is a great item for picking up some more health and in the same time gain some AD and a great chasing ability.


Not so much to say about this item, at this time in the game it's all about your damage output and of course some Lifesteal never hurts. I pick this item up before Infinity Edge because Lifesteal is a big deal in terms of survival in this build.


The last item which increases your AD heavily and grants you some crit, which is great because this is really the only AD item left that's worth having. Just to be clear, NEVER get Black Cleaver on Riven, or any Attack Speed for that matter, Riven's damage is only based on abilities and auto attaacks along with Runic Blade

Both Broken Wings and Valor are great for chasing and for escaping. Try to chase your enemies with these and then try to land a Ki Burst. And don't be afraid to use Blade of the Exile (cooldown aren't that long).

When harassing
Dash forth with Broken Wings and immediately land Ki Burst, auto attack once or twice to consume Runic Blade, then run back and use Valor in order to escape and possibly shielding you against counter harasses.

Ganking lanes
If you're determined to kill, activate Blade of the Exile, then just go in like the harass manner but this time use Valor to eventually chase them if they are running. Valor should always be used if you´re 1 on 1.

Team fights (3 players+)
Always activate Blade of the Exile before engaging.
I recommend letting a proper tank engage first and thats when you dash in with Valor and immidiately land Ki Burst (preferably on most of the group, and on carries). Then use Broken Wings and land the third strike in a manner to interrupt as many enemy players as you can.

Flash is an obvious spell to pick for Riven as she's one of the champions with most mobility. This is otherwise a must because although Riven has two movement abilities, she can't jump through walls like most can, so this is a great escape spell, as well as it is for chasing.


In this build you won't get any extra movement speed what so ever, so you WILL need exhaust in order to pick off single champions, and chase them.

I'm not going to mention any alternatives as these choices should be clear enough. In my opinion, there's no alternatives.

I think you realized that what I'm going for in this guide is to get as many kills early/mid game as possible as you will then outshine everyone late game

I hope you enjoyed my, rather short, guide on how I play Riven, please leave comments and feedback :) And I leave you with a screenshot of my recent matchhistory (using this build of course ;) )