Riven Build Guide by JekeTeMata

Introduction

Hello everyone! I'm a casual LoL player, wich means i play mostly normal games (sometimes recruitment too) cause i dont like to wait much to find a game, haven't played any ranked yet, so this obviously isn't a competitive guide for Ranked play, anyway if you like it feel free to try it on ranked but don't forget to tell me how it performed :)

I know there are many good builds for Riven here in MobaFire but is one of my favourite champs and i wanted to make my first guide about her. Anyway this build is different from all the others cause it focus on CDR, is important to know that this is a Lategame build so probably most of other Riven builds will be more effective in Earlygame and probably also in Midgame.

Said that I'll resume what you can expect from this build, this guide focus in CDR and builds a tanky Riven, one build is more Tanky and support style while the other is more oriented to a tanky DPS finisher. So if you enjoy to piss off your enemies by constantly stun and knockback them you will like this build.

With this CDR builds you will achieve the 40%CDR cap or 39%CDR in the DPS version, this CDR allows you to use Q Broken Wings every 6 seconds, W Ki Burst every 4 seconds, E Valor every 3 seconds and finally R Blade of the Exile every 26 seconds, so remember to use all that abilities as much as you can :)

So to finish the intro i just want to add that any feedback is welcome and everyone who contributes to improve the build will get a place on a final Credits chapter, so don't be shy and bring your ideas for improvements!!

I would like the people to try the build ingame before voting, but i guess that's hard XD

Changelog

• 17/05/2012: Modified masteries in order to not get a excese of CDR. Thanks to iownedya for the advice. Also added Force of Nature as standard final item for the Tanky build (only lane one).
• 27/05/2012: Revamped the whole builds for more effective ones. By the moment won't be jungle versions.
• 01/06/2012: Changed the Armor Penetration Marks for AD per level ones. Little changes on masteries. Bit more color and minor Tweaks.

Why CDR Riven?

I'm in love with all manaless champs and Riven is one of my favourites, she has so cool abilities and lots of CC and since is Manaless you can spam abilities without being afraid of not being able to use them later, all this low CDR Crowd Control makes of Riven a really nice tank even when she is meant to be a more or less squishy DPS champion.

With the tons of CC at no cost that Riven provides i think is at least interesting to make a CDR build for her in order to spam her cool abilities as much often as possible. So the core of all builds in this guide is CDR.

Unfortunately most CDR items come with Mana or AP and both stats are a total waste on Riven, so the only CDR items suitable for her are Youmuu's Ghostblade, Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Randuin's Omen, so that items will be the core of all builds in this guide, luckily this 3 items are enough to hit 35%CDR wich is very close to the 40%CDR cap, the rest 5% we will get through masteries.

I bring just two builds, my favourite is the full tank cause I love to annoy the enemy and make them rage, but for those who prefer to be a killing machine the DPS build works well and still not glass-cannon.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

• Manaless Champ + Low CDRs = Abilities spam nonstop
• Tank build very resilient with moderate damage
• DPS build with great damage and moderated tankyness
• AD carries are a piece of cake with both builds
• Nice item actives
• Good damage in early game with The Brutalizer
• Both builds create a beast lategame

• Tank build needs safe playing early game in order to success
• Other tanks/offtanks can give trouble
• AP carries can bring trouble with DPS build
• Stuns, Snares and Silences are painfull cause we need to spam our abilities

Runes

For runes I use a quite standard composition, so if you feel like other set of runes could make a good improve for the builds, go ahead and tell me what runes you would use :)

I use the same set of runes for both builds.

MARKS:
I choose the Greater Mark of Attack Damage for the Offtank build to make easier the earlygame and Greater Mark of Scaling Attack Damage for the fulltank one to get more damage lategame.

SEALS:
For seals I take Greater Seal of Armor since both builds are kind of tanky ones they feel the best choice for me

GLYPHS:
With the Glyphs I choose the Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist for the same reason I get armor seals

QUINTS:
Finally for Quints i get Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed for bonus movement speed, I feel them the best choice for chasing/escaping with the help of Q and E. But probably Greater Quintessence of Desolation for higher damage output can work well too.

Masteries

• For the DPS build i go with 21/9/0:
  - Offensive Tree: Again i get 1 point on Summoner's Wrath to improve my Exhaust then i get 3 points on Brute Force and 4 points in Sorcery also 4 points on Alacrity and 1 point on Weapon Expertise for the extra Armor Penetration, i get 4 points on Deadliness and one on Lethality , to finish i get 2 points on Sunder and the final point on Executioner .
  
  -Defensive Tree: I go straight for the extra HP, i set two points on armor and another two on magic resist then HP.
  
  
• For the tank build I go with 9/21/0:
  - Offensive Tree: I get 1 point in Summoner's Wrath to improve Exhaust, then 3 points for Brute Force for that little attack damage, after i get 4 points in Alacrity just for being able to get the Armor Penetration granted by the point placed on Weapon Expertise .
  
  - Defensive Tree: I put 2 points on Resistance for Magic Resist and 2 on Hardiness for the Armor, then i get HP trhough 4 points in Durability and then 1 more in Veteran's Scars right afer i go for 2 points in Indomitable for the damage reduction and 3 point in Vigor to get max HP regen. Then i get 3 points on Initiator for the bonus speed and 2 points on Enlightement to hit the CDR cap around lvl 16. Finally I get some extra gold with 3 points on Mercenary and to finish 1 point on Juggernaut .
  

Items

This is the most important part of the build so I will try to explain all my choices the best I can. Again if you feel like you can bring any improvement to this section with different choices of items or purchase order, just comment :)

STARTING ITEMS

Boots of Speed

Health Potion

Doran's Shield

Doran's Blade

CORE ITEMS

• Ionian Boots of Lucidity: This boots allows us to skip CDR items wich aren't enough effective for Riven so they shouldn't get an item slot, like Spirit Visage or Zeke's Herald, I think is wrothy to sacrifice the utility from Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi in order to get more usefull high tier items.
• Youmuu's Ghostblade: Great item for Riven, give us our precious CDR, attack damage, crit chance, armor penetration and a great active. Usually I rush The Brutalizer after boots and then upgrade it when I feel is the best moment.
• Randuin's Omen: Another great item for Riven, is a defensive item but brings so great stats that is worthy paying its high price. HP, hp regen, a bit of CDR, armor, and great passive and active abilities. Usually I get Warden's Mail after lvl2 boots, or Heart of Gold if i feel I'm having difficulties to farm, then upgrade it whenever it feels a good moment.

DPS ITEMS

Recommended:

• Frozen Mallet: Great item that gives a lot of HP, a bit of extra damage and the most important, a great passive slow. I usually get an early Phage after lvl 2 boots and upgrade it when necessary.
• Maw of Malmortius: Another great item for Riven, good amount of damage a bit of magic resistance and a passive shield wich protect us from mage's bursts in case of getting to low. Usually I get Hexdrinker after Phage and upgrade it when I feel the need.
• The Bloodthirster: Very good as final damage item, usually I prefer Infinity Edge over it, but DPS Riven lacks sustain, so I feel The Bloodthirster a better choice.

Situational:

• Guardian Angel: I'd get this instead of Maw of Malmortius in case I'm being focused first in every teamfight.
• Atma's Impaler: Take this isntead of the Maw of Malmortius if you are having trouble with enemy AD champs. It will give you good damage while getting tankier
• Force of Nature: Take this instead of Maw of Malmortius if enemy AP champs are giving you trouble. It won't help your damage but it will help you to survive.

TANK ITEMS

Recommended:

• Warmog's Armor: This item is just so great for tanks, I've realized with my previous build that if you want to tank well you should get balanced level between HP and Resistances. This item brings tons of HP and great boost to the only form of sustain our TankRiven will have, the HP regen. Usually I get a Giant's Belt after the first parts of defensive items and upgrade it later.
• Force of Nature: Another great item for tanks, a lot of Magic Resistance plus tons of HP regen and a bit extra Movement Speed. I think is the best Magic Resist item for tanky build, the movement speed boost combined with the Quintessence of Movement Speed, Youmuu's Ghostblade active and our unlimited and low CDR dashes, stuns and knockbacks will make of Riven an "impossible to escape from" tank, plus our huge mobility will allow us to travel the map fast to help our team. Usually I get the Negatron Cloak after lvl 2 boots and upgrade it when feels needed

Situational:

• Guardian Angel: More armor and MR, plus resurrection passive, I usually finish my build with this item, to discourage even more the enemy from trying to kill me. I know that most people will say that Tanks should try to get focused, but I'm pretty sure that stunning the whole team every 4 seconds and knocking back all of them every 6 secods is good enough reason for them to focus you. This item can be changed for any other, or even leave the slot free to buy wards and help our team even more, the build is tanky enough without 6th item.
• Atma's Impaler: Get this as final item if you want to deal a bit more damage while getting more resilient to enemy AD carries.
• Maw of Malmortius: Get this as final item if you want to deal a bit more damage while getting more protection against enemy AP carries.
• Infinity Edge: Get this as final item if you are being ignored by the enemy and you need more damage to call their attention.
• The Bloodthirster: For the same reasons as Infinity Edge, choose your favourite.
• Last Whisper: For the same reasons as previous two, take it incase the enemy is really tanky.

Youmuu's Ghostblade

Randuin's Omen

Summoner Spells

Usually i go with Exhaust and Flash.

Best choices:

Flash

Riven

Valor

Broken Wings

Exhaust

Flash

Ignite

Can be:

Teleport

Cleanse

Heal

Skill Sequence

This is important too, I used to max Q Broken Wings for damage, but i've realized that is the only ability of Riven wich doesn't reduce the cooldown when leveling it up, since we are building CDR in order to use our ablities as often we can this isn't the best choice for this build. So we will get 1 point early in Broken Wings and then max it last.

I prefer to max E Valor first, mainly cause is the one with the shortest CDR and helps a lot early game with the mobility, then I max W Ki Burst second to lower its CDR and finally I max Q Broken Wings. Of course level up the ultimate Blade of the Exile whenever is possible (levels 6, 11 and 16).

If you prefer you can max Ki Burst first and Valor second, but make sure to max Broken Wings the last, damage isn't espectacular and it won't reduce its CDR.

This is a CDR build so remember to spam all your abilities as much as you can, especially the ultimate Blade of the Exile with the CDR you can use it every 26 seconds so trigger it before every fight even if you feel like you won't use the active part so effectively the bonus damage and range are worthy (they affect the rest of your abilities too).

Creeping

I'm not such a experienced player so i can't say much in this section.

If you are going to the tank build play safe in lane and wait until you are a little tanky to start to be agressive. Farm as much as you can to build up the items as fast as possible and remember that this is a team game, don't stay always in your lane and try to help your mates ganking the other lanes ( Riven is an excellent ganker).

If you are going for the DPS build you can be more agressive but I still recommend to play safe, is very important to not feed the enemy in early game in order to success in late game, tanky builds aren't viable if your enemy is too ahead.

Team Work

With the tanky build our primary role will be to protect our carries and disrupt with our stuns and knockbacks the enemy carries and eventually kill them.
Is important to set priorities, and our most important duty is protection, never leave your team to finish off an enemy on the run unless you are sure your carries are safe, I know that enemies running on low health are always a temptation to finish them with Blade of the Exile but is more important to keep our carries alive.

The DPS build should be played more like an anticarry, try to focus their carries and finish them fast to help your team, positioning is very important cause even when we aren't glass-cannon with this build you can die quite fast if 5 champs focus on you, so try to not initiate if you have a main tank in your team to do that job.

Remember to use your actives from items often too, they provide a lot of help.

Summary

So that was my Riven Tanky-CDR build, i hope you liked it but i hope even more that you tried it and enjoyed annoying your enemies with it :)

Remember to provide feedback, I will add a chapter of credits after this where any feedback provided will be recognized.

Thinking about making it more visually attractive with pics and so on but not by the moment, I'm so lazy nowadays :D

Credits

• First I want to thank MobaFire for creating such a great and easy to use web for making and sharing our builds.
  
• Also i want to thank all the mobafire community for being that friendly and helpfull.
  
• Thanks to iownedya for supporting with the first upvote, but mostly to contribute to make the build better by not wasting more points than the strictly needed on CDR masteries. Thanks for the advice man!
  
• Special thanks also to Beeswarm for opening my eyes sharing how great can be to max Valor first in his great Riven's Build.
  
• More thanks to albableat and IceCreamy for their great reviews and feedback, you both helped to make the build better with your advices.