Hey, I am Xinke. I’m a small streamer who loves playing Riven and who preaches positivity and being tilt proof. I started playing League of Legends in Season 2 and picked up Riven for the first time in Season 4. I got inspired after seeing a montage of a then popular Riven one trick called "The shy," who you’ve likely heard of as IG's top laner, TheShy. Since then, Riven has been my favorite champion. She is incredibly fun, and I honestly never get bored of her, despite playing her for over 5,000 games at this point. With Riven, I went from Bronze 4 all the way to 400 LP Master on EU West. In this guide, I’m going to break down my journey and what I’ve learned. My goal is to help you start having fun with her, impress your friends, begin carrying games, start climbing with her, and maybe even follow in my footsteps, or surpass me if you choose to do so. No matter what your goal is on Riven, I want this guide to help you. My goal with this guide is to help everyone looking to improve on Riven, whether you're a beginner or already experienced. I will try to explain things in a way that is friendly for beginners while also going into advanced concepts.

I started playing League again two months ago after taking almost two years off from grinding ranked and played every game on stream and solo. I managed to hit Master in under 100 games a few days before the end of Season 2025.

Pros: + Very strong all ins (especially level 1) Riven's all ins with Ignite, her Q Broken Wings, and her passive Runic Blade are incredible if she manages to hit all her Qs without needing them to gap close and gets her passive auto attacks off between each Q cast. This concept is most important at level 1, as some matchups are won or lost by how Riven plays level 1. More on this in the laning section. + Snowballs and scales extremely hard with a lead Every single one of Riven's abilities scales with attack damage and ability haste. This means that if you get a lead, Riven becomes extremely oppressive and can solo carry games. On top of that, Riven is great in both the sidelane and in teamfights when ahead, excelling at bursting down squishies and taking long, extended fights against bruisers and tanks. Since all her abilities are AOE, you can burst multiple people at once, push waves, and clear jungle camps very quickly to snowball even harder. You also do not really have to worry about getting outscaled, especially in teamfights, since you can always burst down backliners if you can get on top of them. If you get ahead as Riven, you are the main character. + Incredible outplay potential and skill expression Having this many dashes gives Riven a lot of outplay potential and skill expression. There are many situations that look doomed or unfavorable that Riven can turn around with good mechanics and knowledge, especially when ahead. I will go into more detail in the “Ability Usage Concepts” and “Combos” sections. + Insane map mobility Unlike most other top laners, Riven's map mobility is insane. She can get from bot lane to Baron in a matter of seconds by using her dashes, especially over walls. This also makes Riven excellent at chasing down enemies.

Cons: - Easily kited and outsustained in lane As mentioned earlier, you need to hit your Q Broken Wings and Runic Blade passive auto attacks for your strong all ins. As a result, most enemies will keep their distance from you to avoid letting you get in range to hit everything and will try to poke you down in the meantime. This is especially dangerous for Riven since you have no built in sustain and fully rely on your E shield Valor and potions. - No built in armor penetration, true damage, or % damage This means that Riven is very reliant on getting attack damage, ability haste, and armor penetration from items. So basically, you need gold, a lot of it. Unless you are ahead as Riven, armor and health will naturally counter you and can completely nullify your kill pressure. If you are even or behind as Riven in that scenario, your only real option is to proxy and play to burst down squishies in teamfights or skirmishes. This is the main reason why abusing your strong early game all ins is so important. If you are even or behind and facing an opponent with a decent amount of armor or health relative to the game state, you are the side character. - Weak against crowd control (CC), especially point and click or undodgeable CC Dodgeable CC includes spells like Xerath’s Shocking Orb or Ahri’s Charm. These are not too scary for Riven, since you have many dashes to avoid them. Undodgeable CC spells, like Pantheon’s Shield Vault or Malzahar’s Nether Grasp, are a different story, since you have no direct counterplay, especially if you are not ahead. The only option you have is to itemize against it, but more on that later. - Never fully mechanically mastered No matter which Riven streamer you watch, you’ll always find moments where they mess up wall hops or combos, causing them to miss a kill, get killed, or even lose a game. It will happen. However, they outshine their mistakes by succeeding more often than they fail. That is why practice is so important. Don’t aim to be perfect, aim to fail as little as possible while succeeding as often as possible.

Runic Blade Causes your next basic attack to deal bonus damage after casting any of Riven’s abilities. You can have up to three stacks of Runic Blade at a time, meaning you can use three abilities in a row and your next three basic attacks will deal bonus damage. Think of it as a Sheen with no cooldown.

PASSIVE

Broken Wings - Cooldown: 13 seconds after the first cast Causes Riven to dash in the direction she is facing and deal damage in front of her. The only exception is if your mouse is on top of an opponent, in which case Riven will dash toward that opponent. You can recast this ability two additional times. The third cast also knocks up enemies and can go over walls and structures.

Q

Ki Burst - Cooldown: 11/10/9/8/7 Seconds Causes Riven to stand in place, deal damage, and stun all enemies around her for 0.75 seconds.

W

Valor - Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 Seconds Causes Riven to dash toward your mouse cursor, granting her a shield that lasts 1.5 seconds.

E

Blade of the Exile - Cooldown: 120/90/60 Seconds Causes Riven to stand still for a short channel, gaining 20% bonus attack damage and 75 bonus range, and increasing the ability range of her Broken Wings and Ki Burst for 15 seconds. She can also recast this ability as Wind Slash during that time.

R1

Wind Slash Causes Riven to stand still for a short channel, after which she fires a cone-shaped skill shot that deals damage to all enemies hit. The damage is increased based on how low the enemies’ health is.

R2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Q W E Q Q R Q E Q E R E E W W R W W

Your Q Broken Wings is essentially three spells in one, so always skill it first and max it first.

You can take E Valor at level 2 instead of Ki Burst if you think your opponent will not walk up. Always max Valor second, as your shield not only gets bigger, but the cooldown is also reduced.

You can take a second point in W Ki Burst at level 8 or 10 if you do not have enough AD to kill the caster minions with just one Q and W. However, always max Ki Burst last, as the stun duration remains the same.

Q Delay

The first and most important ability usage concept is what Riven players call “Q delay” or “Q extending.” But what is it, how does it work, and what purpose does it serve?

When you cast Q Broken Wings, the cooldown starts after your first cast. This is important because it essentially means that if you use your Broken Wings casts at the last possible second, you can indirectly reduce its cooldown. Not only that, it also allows you to fully stack your Runic Blade passive.

Here is how to do it. Press your first cast of Broken Wings, then press the second cast right before it expires, and then the third cast right before that expires as well. Broken Wings initial cooldown is 13 seconds, but when you Q delay like this and finish your third and final cast, you will see that Broken Wings is ready again in only 6 seconds. This cooldown is further reduced by ability haste.


The general rule is that for every 10 ability haste you have, the cooldown is reduced by one second. So if you Q delay with 20 ability haste, your Broken Wings cooldown after its final cast will be 4 seconds.

The most obvious way to apply this concept is to Q delay from a bush, in lane, or while roaming, then use your third Broken Wings cast to start an all in, followed by your full spell rotation.


However, you can apply this concept much more flexibly in lane. Instead of delaying Q into thin air, you can delay your Qs while short trading at the same time, then look for an all in with your full upcoming Broken Wings. This is especially important in matchups where you need to bait out a specific enemy spell before committing. This variation of Q delay is very versatile and will not always look the same. It depends heavily on the matchup, and you need to adapt your short trades to the situation. I will go into this in more detail and show examples in the laning section.



Fast Q

Almost equally important is a concept called “Fast Q”, which was originally a bug and not an intended mechanic, and it is your most important all in concept on Riven.

Shortly after Riven was released in 2011, players discovered that it was optimal to use one auto attack between each Broken Wings cast to maximize the value of the Runic Blade passive. About a year later, players discovered a bug that increased the speed of Riven’s auto attack cast time. That is how Fast Q’ing was born.

Here is how it works. Stand next to an enemy and cast Broken Wings. While Broken Wings is casting, rightclick on the ground quickly, then rightclick on your opponent to auto attack, and repeat this for all three Broken Wings casts.

This causes your auto attacks to go off faster after each Broken Wings cast. Congratulations, you just Fast Q’d. However, Fast Q’ing is quite hard to learn, so do not feel discouraged if you do not get the hang of it right away. It takes a while to get used to.


You might wonder why abusing this bug is so important and why every Riven player does it. By Fast Q’ing, you indirectly increase your attack speed by a significant amount in fights, which can often make the difference between winning and losing a fight.

A very important thing to note is that your mouse position heavily influences how your Broken Wings casts behave.

If your mouse is hovering on top of your opponent when you cast Broken Wings, Riven will Q directly onto them.

If your mouse is not on top of your opponent when you cast Broken Wings, Riven will Q through them. This becomes very important in matchups where you can abuse Q’ing through enemies to dodge key spells, such as Darius’s Apprehend or Aatrox’s The Darkin Blade.

And yes, you can Fast Q through opponents.


In a real game, unless you are level 1, you will naturally weave your other spells into your Fast Q combo.



Double Casting

Double casting was first popularized by the streamer AdrianRiven back in 2016 and has since become a core Riven mechanic.

The concept is fairly simple. It allows you to cast another spell together with Q Broken Wings, hence the name.

Start by using E Valor, then wait around half a second or auto attack. Cast either W Ki Burst, R Blade of the Exile, or R2 Wind Slash, and immediately cast Q Broken Wings afterward so that both spells are cast at the same time. It is important that Q is cast after the other spell.

(Video examples are available in the combo section)



Wallhops

As mentioned earlier, Riven’s third Broken Wings cast can go over walls, corners, and structures. This may sound easy at first, but it can be quite tricky. Remember that Riven’s Broken Wings direction is based on where Riven is currently facing, not on where your cursor is.


The only exception is if your cursor is directly on top of a neutral or enemy target.


The easiest way to deal with this is to simply use E followed by Q3 over a wall. Since E Valor moves Riven toward your cursor, it will naturally make her face the wall, allowing Q3 to go straight over it.


Obviously, I cannot show every single wall hop in the game. However, the Reddit user u/loyna02 created an excellent sheet showcasing nearly all possible wall hops for Riven.

Standard Short Trade Q ➔ W ➔ AA (Auto Attack) ➔ E out ➔ Q out Make sure to always Q delay between those short trades and keep in mind that it does not have to be your Q1. You can start the trade with Q2 or Q3. This combo is essential if you cannot play for all ins yet, especially in matchups where you need to bait their key spell first, such as Jax’s Counter Strike.

Standard All In E ➔ R1 ➔ AA ➔ Q ➔ AA ➔ Q ➔ AA ➔ Q ➔ AA ➔ W ➔ R2 ➔ AA You can use your E and W at any point during the combo. Always adapt to the situation. For example, if your enemy can escape your Q and auto attack range, use your W earlier so that you can hit everything.

Q Delay All In E ➔ R1 ➔ Q3 ➔ AA ➔ W ➔ (1 to 3 auto attacks if you do not have enough haste) ➔ R2 ➔ Q ➔ AA ➔ Q ➔ AA ➔ Q ➔ AA This is your standard teamfight combo if you manage to get close enough to their backline, especially with Flash. However, always adapt. For example, you can use R2 later if your opponents are too tanky.

Quick Disengage E ➔ Instant W This combo is very effective against Garen’s Decisive Strike or Rammus’s Powerball because it nullifies their spells and prevents them from sticking to you. Keep in mind, however, that it is situational because you are not fully maximizing the value of your E.

WQ Double Cast E ➔ Wait/AA ➔ W ➔ Instant Q This is a really good burst combo if someone is at low health and you know you can burst them down, especially with Flash, since it gives them no chance to react. However, you do lose damage in a long fight because you are not fully maximizing your Runic Blade auto attacks.

R1Q Double Cast E ➔ Wait/AA ➔ R1 ➔ Instant Q Normally, when Riven presses her R1, she stands still for a short moment. This combo completely removes that delay and allows you to cast your R1 together with your Q. Another alternative is to just press E followed by R1 if you are not in auto attack or Q range yet.

R2Q Double Cast E ➔ Wait/AA ➔ R2 ➔ Instant Q This is the best combo to finish off someone who is low on health, as it gives them no way to Flash or dodge your R2 if your cursor is on top of them. I use it whenever I have the spells needed and know the combo will kill them or nearly kill them. Alternatively, you can also just use W or Q3 followed by your R2.

Ignite I recommend taking Ignite every single game. Taking Ignite allows Riven to have immense kill pressure in lane and lets her all in her opponent much sooner. As mentioned, we want to get ahead in lane so that we can snowball the game. Therefore, Ignite complements this goal perfectly.

Flash In my opinion, Flash is a must on Riven, as Flash is the only reliable way to reach the enemy backline in teamfights. Without Flash, Riven is very easily kited and spaced, as her kit is very predictable and her gap closers have very short range on their own.

Exhaust You can take Exhaust instead of Ignite against Tryndamere or ranged top bullies such as Varus, Kennen or Quinn. But make sure to time your Exhaust well in fights, as it is only useful if you manage to reduce their burst combo with it. For example, hold your Exhaust until Varus has his W stacked Q Piercing Arrow charged. In general you never want to lead a fight with Exhaust as your opponent can just wait out its duration. The only exception is if you can one shot them.

Precision

Inspiration

Conqueror This rune is already naturally good for all ins and extended fights, which is what we want to play for as Riven. On top of that, each cast of Broken Wings that hits your opponent counts as a stack. Q delay all ins take this even further, as they allow you to start your full Broken Wings combo with some Conqueror stacks already.

Triumph By far the best choice of the three. Absorb Life is overnerfed, and Triumph is perfect for skirmishes and snowballing.

Legend: Haste Again, simply the best choice of the three. Ability Haste is one of Riven's most important stats.

Last Stand Number-wise, Last Stand is superior to Coup de Grace and Cut Down in almost every situation as Riven. Since we play for all ins, we will usually get low during fights, so we will maximize the value of Last Stand almost every time.

Cash Back Cash Back might be the most overpowered rune in the game if you are ahead and snowballing. You get around 250 to 300 gold back for each item you complete, which allows you to reach your next item spike faster. This is amazing for Riven, as she is a snowballing champion who thrives off fresh item spikes. The earlier you get them, the better.

Jack of all Trades Great rune for Riven, as it gives you a good amount of Ability Haste and Attack Damage. You can hit five different stats from items very easily, which allows you to spike very early. I’ll show how in the item section.

Stat Bonus Runes The bonuses are a matter of preference, honestly. I prefer taking +9 Adaptive Force twice and +65 Flat Health to maximize my early levels, but you can choose +8 Ability Haste instead of the Adaptive Force or the +10 to 180 Health Scaling option. I’ve even seen WenShen take the +15% Tenacity and Slow Resist.

Doran's Blade I start with Doran's Blade in every single game I play as Riven. Doran's Blade is the best early game starting item, and as Riven, we play to dominate the early game. It also scales very well thanks to its omnivamp passive, so make sure you only sell it once you are out of inventory space. On top of that, it gives you three Jack of all Trades stacks instantly.

+

Boots + Glowing Mote Rush these two items. If you buy Glowing Mote and Boots on top of the Doran's Blade you already have, you will get five Jack of all Trades stacks, giving you six extra Attack Damage for free on top of the five extra Ability Haste you are getting. The only exception is if you recall with 875 or more gold, in which case I would rush Pickaxe.

Refillable Potion As mentioned earlier, one of Riven’s biggest weaknesses in lane is her lack of sustain, so Refillable Potion is great for addressing that weakness. The earlier you buy it, the more value you get from it, since you essentially receive potions for free each time you recall.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity These will be your standard boots on Riven. Not only do they give you Ability Haste, which is great on Riven, but they also reduce the cooldown of your Ignite and Flash.

Axiom Arc Currently the best first item on Riven in most cases, it is cheap, gives you high damage, and provides 20 Ability Haste, which is a lot for its low price. It also allows you to snowball harder with its ultimate cooldown reduction passive. Axiom Arc is an amazing first item, but I would never buy it after that.

Sundered Sky Pretty much every Riven player buys Sundered Sky as their second item, but why? It turns out that your Runic Blade passive damage can actually critically strike. So not only will your auto attacks crit with Runic Blade on top of them, but Runic Blade itself will crit too. For this reason, Sundered Sky is probably Riven’s best purchase in the game. It allows you to completely take over skirmishes and teamfights if you get on top of the enemy backline with a Q delay all in. Each full item you complete after Sundered Sky will further increase its value, so you do not have to worry about falling off or getting outscaled if you are snowballing.

Death's Dance This will be your third item most of the time, unless you are in dire need of Magic Resist. Not only will Death's Dance further increase your damage, but it will also make you much tankier. The more ahead you are, the more unkillable this purchase will make you. Remember, each completed item is a massive spike on Riven.

Maw of Malmortius This will be your go to magic resist item on Riven. The shield is simply amazing at absorbing a lot of magic damage in a short time while you are all inning, and on top of that, it also gives Ability Haste. You can buy this item at any stage. If you are struggling against an AP top laner like Rumble, you can either rush Hexdrinker and sit on it, or simply rush Maw of Malmortius, especially if you are against multiple AP champions on top side, like Elise jungle and Syndra mid. It is a good item at any stage, so be flexible and buy it if and when you need it.

Serylda's Grudge Buy this as your fourth or fifth item. This is where you will get the percentage armor penetration that your kit lacks. This is also where Riven will peak in terms of damage.

Plated Steelcaps I do not buy those boots often, mainly because Death's Dance gives armor as well and is overall a much better item. However, I occasionally buy them against many auto attackers. For example, if the enemy team has Vayne top, Rengar jungle, and Kayle mid. Those are three auto attack heavy champions, so the passive from Plated Steelcaps provides immense value. I also buy them if the enemies are full AD.

Mercury's Treads These boots are excellent against teams with a lot of Crowd Control (CC), especially unavoidable CC, such as Pantheon's Shield Vault and Braum's Concussive Blows. Of course, I will not buy them for just one CC spell, but against multiple sources, they can be a lifesaver. I also buy them if the enemies are full AP or close to it.

Eclipse Buy this as a first item instead of Axiom Arc if you are not snowballing hard against melee heavy or tankier comps, as the lethality from Axiom Arc is only effective when ahead or against squishies. The five extra Attack Damage from Eclipse and the percentage damage plus shield passive outshine Axiom Arc in those cases.

Endless Hunger Never buy this item early on, as it is a pure scaling purchase. Buy this as a fourth or fifth item if you do not need Maw of Malmortius in your final build, or as a seventh item if you have enough gold to sell Axiom Arc for Endless Hunger late game.

Fiendhunter Bolts Buying Fiendhunter Bolts second on Riven has become somewhat of a trend. It gets you to 10 Jack of all Trades stacks quickly and gives you a lot of burst damage when you press your R1 Blade of the Exile. The downside compared to Sundered Sky however is that it does not give any health or healing, which makes you very squishy. The build path also is less optimal as Riven prefers buying raw Attack Damage. It is really a matter of preference whether you buy Sundered Sky second or Fiendhunter Bolts. Both builds are good and have their pros and cons, so I recommend testing both and finding what fits you more.

or

Oracle Lens or Farsight Alteration? I honestly do not know at the moment which is better. For a long time, the answer was clearly Oracle Lens. However, Farsight Alteration has become much more powerful this season, as you can proc Faelight areas with it. I personally recommend defaulting to Farsight Alteration and only taking Oracle Lens if you and your team need it.

Level 1

Riven can beat most top laners in an all in at level 1, so our mission is relatively simple. If they respect your strong level 1 all in threat and do not walk up, we secure a slow push for ourselves. If they do not respect your all in threat and walk up too far, we either burn their summoners, get them low, or kill them on top of it. All scenarios are a win for us. However, this is very matchup dependent, and you cannot just all in every matchup immediately.

Matchups like Irelia or Nasus are very straightforward at level 1. You can just all in right away if they dare to walk up to the wave at level 1, or else zone them off and begin slow pushing.

Against ranged matchups like Jayce or Cassiopeia, you can only all in at level 1 if they walk into you or if you can get behind them. I recommend cheesing the top lane bush closest to their tower. Wait until the minions meet, then walk out of the bush as soon as your opponent tries to hit the wave, get behind them, and all in. However, this only works if they actually walk up or do not ward the bush. If they ward the bush or do not walk up, you can still play for push in most cases by using unwarded bushes and your superior wave clear.

In matchups like Darius or Olaf, you can only all in at level 1 after a good short trade, as they win an extended fight at full health at level 1. This also means that they have a chance of getting push against you and all in you, so play those lanes patiently.

Lastly, there are matchups where you cannot all in at level 1 unless they really mess up, simply because their level 1 all in is superior to yours and you cannot short trade against them safely, such as Urgot or Tryndamere. In those cases, getting a slow push is nearly impossible, and you will have to play safe early.

The combo you want to use is very simple. Try to start with an auto attack, especially against melee champions, and then follow up with the fast Q combo as described earlier.

Here is an example of a level 1 all in against a Pantheon who is in the same level 1 category as Jayce and Cassiopeia despite being melee.




Slow Pushing

How to Slow Push It is simple. Just make sure to hit the wave once or twice more often than your opponent. This will result in the wave naturally and slowly pushing toward your opponent’s tower. All that is left for you is last hitting the dying minions, and congratulations, you are slow pushing.

As soon as the minions meet, the next step is slow pushing, no matter if you get a good trade at level 1 or not.

But why do we even want to slow push? What is it good for? There are, of course, multiple reasons. Having push gives you:

• A bigger minion wave than your opponent, which gives you an advantage in longer fights since minions deal a lot of damage over time.
• The opportunity to dive your opponent or force them to take a bad recall if they take a decent amount of damage while you have a slow push going, either alone or with your jungler, since you are pushing toward the enemy tower. This essentially means that losing health is far more dangerous for them than it is for you during this stage. This is a major reason to slow push, as you are risking far less than your opponent while fighting.
• The chance to take plates, harass your opponent under their tower, and eventually take the enemy turret.
• The opportunity to roam before your opponent, which gives your team, and especially your jungler, a lot more freedom and pressure.
• A free recall window after crashing your wave into the enemy tower (more on that later).

However, there is one more reason.



Level up timers

When you have a slow push, you kill minions before your opponent, which means you are ahead in XP at that moment. As a result, you will level up before them. One level is worth about 600 gold of stats alone, so you should win any fight with that advantage. The most important levels for this are 2, 3, and 6.

“Well, that’s great and all, but why would my opponent walk up to me when I’m level 5 and they are only level 4? My opponents are not that stupid.”

Mine aren’t either, and most of the time they will respect the level gap. However, you can increase your chance of success.

The key is to have your spells ready the moment you level up and catch them off guard as you do, or even better, level up during the trade or fight by killing the final minion needed for your level up. Q delay is very useful to execute this concept.


As you can see, this concept can get very complex, and there is a lot of room for creativity and skill expression.

If you manage to pull off a good level up timing and get a strong trade from it, congratulations, your opponent is likely diveable now (ping your jungler). Riven is an amazing diver, as she can burst very quickly. Even if you die as well, a 1 for 1 dive is always worth it, as your opponent misses the whole wave. If you force your opponent to recall or kill them during a dive, it is usually game over for them, as they will not only miss the gold from the dying minions but also the experience.

An important thing to note is that you should only look to trade or fight when you or your opponent goes for last hits, so your opponent is forced to make a choice. If you randomly look to fight, they can just step back and bait all your cooldowns. This is especially important when you are trying to trade near their tower.

At the same time, you want to prioritize securing last hits over trading, unless it is a really good trade or an all in.

Once you have an XP lead, you can abuse this concept even more and snowball the lane.



Matchup Knowledge

Another very important concept is matchup knowledge. This may sound really complicated at first, but it is not. All you really have to ask yourself is: what makes my opponent strong? For example, Irelia’s passive Ionian Fervor can be stacked by hitting her spells or killing minions with her Q Bladesurge. You would want to avoid fighting her when she has four passive stacks.

At the same time, you want to fight around your own strengths, which are Riven’s all ins if she can land her Q Broken Wings casts and use her passive Runic Blade auto attacks in between, especially when she can take advantage of Ignite and Q delay.

The rest comes with experience, such as knowing that Irelia can stack her passive much faster if she hits you with her E Flawless Duet. For a more detailed explanation of each matchup, check the matchup section below.

However, there is one more important point to mention, and that is thinking about where you want to fight your opponent in lane, or more importantly, where you do not want to fight your opponent in lane.

As Riven, we generally want to fight either in the center of the lane or on our side of the lane. Riven is not great at trading at the enemy tower since she does not have any range to poke, and as mentioned earlier, as Riven we generally want to play for all ins, so we usually do not want to fight there.

But it also depends on the matchup. In the case of facing Irelia, we really want to fight on our side of the lane, as she cannot stack her passive Ionian Fervor there. She generally cannot safely last hit minions with her Q Bladesurge when they are near your tower.

I will go into wave management in a bit, where I will show you how you can create those wavestates.

As you can see, before the game even starts, we can plan how we want to fight our opponent to win, and where.



Spell Baiting and Cooldown Punishing

This, of course, is partly related to matchup knowledge, but it is a key separate skill to master and a very important concept for Riven, as Riven has lower cooldowns on her basic abilities than almost every other top laner, especially if she Q delays.

You only need to ask yourself one question: What spell protects them from my all in right now? For example, Urgot’s E Disdain. Once you have the answer, all you have to do is bait or force the spell with Q delay short trades, and then all in when your spells are back up and their protection spell is still on cooldown.

Here is an example versus Darius. His key strength is his passive Hemorrhage, which gives him a lot of extra attack damage in a longer fight. I initially went for a short trade to get him lower health so that I could burst him down more quickly with my all in. However, he used his E Apprehend and did not back off while it was on cooldown. I knew I had a window to kill him, as my Q Broken Wings cooldown was only 7 seconds compared to his E Apprehend cooldown of 18.5 seconds.


Another good example is having Flash advantage. This window is much longer, as Flash has a five minute cooldown, and you can often catch people off guard if your Flash comes up before theirs.

These scenarios are endless.



Playing around Jungle Pressure

"This is why Faker was the best. He set up ganks for his jungler, and he never died to ganks." - Dopa

To play around jungle pressure properly, tracking both junglers is key. Luckily, that is pretty easy.

Tracking Your Jungler Just pay attention to where they started. If they started bot side, they will be pathing toward top. If they started top, they will be pathing toward bot. What does that mean? It means if your jungler paths top, you can play aggressively and set up ganks or secure the Rift Scuttler. If they path bot, you should play more safely, unless you know the enemy jungler is pathing bot as well.

Tracking The Enemy Jungler This one is a bit trickier, unless your mid laner or jungler wards the enemy Raptor camp. If they do ward the Raptor camp and the enemy jungler shows up on it, you can check which buff they have to determine where they started. If you have no information on the enemy jungler, assume they are pathing top.

“Okay, that’s great, but how do I track the enemy jungler after their first clear?”

Simple. Junglers often repeat the same clear pattern, so you can look at where your jungler is in their clear to estimate how far the enemy jungler is in theirs.

Also, always think about what the enemy jungler wants to do. If you see your jungler diving the enemy bot lane, the enemy jungler is likely focused on top lane or invading your topside.

If Void Grubs are about to spawn, you can usually expect the junglers to be there.

If all of this sounds confusing, just play a few games as a jungler yourself or watch a jungle streamer and it will make sense.

As Riven, as a top laner, it is your job to adapt to how both junglers play. No matter how annoying or boring it might feel, some games your jungler will not show top, while the enemy jungler is constantly around top.

In those cases, you just have to play safe and make it your mission not to mess up the wave and not to die. Yes, some dives will be inevitable if you are weaksided. But it's not your junglers fault if you try to abuse level up timers while completely forgetting that the enemy jungler is there. That is something you could have prevented if you thought about it.

In general, if you think the enemy jungler is topside while your jungler is botside, make sure you are playing safe or quickly hard pushing the wave into the enemy tower, unless you are confident you can 1v2 them both.

Of course, this concept also applies to certain mid laners and supports. If they have a Twisted Fate mid or a Bard support, pay attention to where they are so you do not get ganked.



Warding

Another thing that people often overlook is the importance of good Stealth Ward usage. Having good vision allows you to play more aggressively, even when you do not know where the enemy jungler is. In season 16, having good Stealth Ward usage is easier than ever. All you have to do is ward the Faelight river bush right next to top lane. The tri bush ward is still viable, especially if you are on blue side, but it is much less common. Faelights are a bit overtuned at the moment, so top lane warding might change again soon. Against invisible junglers like Evelynn, consider warding her camps instead, as she is not spotted by regular wards. A big mistake some Riven players make is buying Control Wards out of habit. I only buy a Control Ward if I am really far ahead and I know the enemy cannot contest it. Otherwise, it is just a waste of 75 gold.

Proxy Farming

This concept has become extremely popular thanks to Alois, and it is fantastic on Riven since she can clear waves extremely fast. But when should you do it?

It is great if it is safe to do so and if you cannot kill your opponent because they play too safely or have bought too many defensive stats. Proxy farming gives you a lot of map pressure and long roam and base timers, which is great if you cannot get much done in top lane. However, I would not recommend roaming too much before you finish your top lane quest, as it will put you behind over time.

Here is an example of proxy farming. Whenever you proxy farm as Riven, always try to hit as many minions as possible with your Q Broken Wings and W Ki Burst. I was thinking about proxy farming between their tier 2 and tier 3 turret next or flanking mid, but I decided to take the enemy wolf camp since the other two options were not really possible. I also did not want to recall, as I had just come from base.


However, there is one more proxy concept that I want to quickly explain. I call it "Proxy Zoning" or "Proxy Killing."

This concept is a bit rarer, but it is extremely oppressive.

Here is how it works: if your opponent just recalled and you know you can all in them as soon as they return, go behind their Tier 1 tower and either zone them off or kill them if they come too close.

This concept is often used if you are level 6 and your opponent is still level 5, or if you are massively ahead. You really need to watch out for the enemy jungler and mid, though.

Let me show you an example.

In this clip, Quinn just recalled to spend her gold, and I level up to 6. I know I can easily kill her or zone her off if she tries to go back to lane.




The Inevitable Wave Bounce Back

This concept is pretty complex, but I will try my best to keep it as simple as possible.

Wave Bounce Back When you slow push waves, they will eventually crash and die to the enemy turret, which completely removes your slow push advantage. As a result, your opponent will now have their wave slow pushing toward your tower. This is referred to as a bounce back. This essentially means one thing: league is a turn based game. You slow push, the enemy slow pushes, you slow push again, and so on.

Here is the catch though and why the concepts above are so important. They essentially prevent your opponent’s turn. For example, if you land good trades on them while slow pushing, they cannot safely build a slow push in return, as they cannot walk up to the bounced wave without risking death.

If you have watched high elo Riven players, you have probably noticed them using their Ignite during all in trades at level 1 or 2 very often, even if they cannot kill their opponent with it. In fact, in my level 1 video example from earlier, I did exactly that to the enemy Pantheon.

You do it for this exact reason, so that you can keep control over the wave and put your opponent at risk of being dove. Your opponent only has two choices. Either they stay far back and try to regenerate while missing farm because they cannot walk up, or they recall but miss a full wave of XP or burn their Teleport to return.

Meanwhile, you only have good choices. You can either push the coming bounce wave back toward them and threaten a dive, or, if you cannot dive and they do not have Teleport ready, let the wave push back to you and freeze it while zoning them off if they try to walk up until they decide to recall. I will explain freezing in a bit.

Another factor that is often overlooked is if your opponent uses key spells to farm under tower, such as Yone’s W Spirit Cleave or Renekton’s E Slice and Dice, because you can easily punish their cooldowns by hitting the fresh wave for free and prevent it from pushing.

However, if you do not manage to gain an advantage during your slow push, if the enemy jungler is topside while yours is botside, or if you are low and cannot dive your opponent with your wave, you usually cannot contest your opponent on the new wave once the enemy tower has cleared it.

That is where the turn based part comes in. Your opponent will now have a slow push and can apply all the concepts listed above to you, so it will be your job to play safe and respect them so they cannot pin you at your tower or, even worse, dive you. This is especially deadly if you are already low on health.

Another option you have is roaming mid if there is a kill window, invading with your jungler, or entering the river, which is the most common. You can take the Rift Scuttler for free gold and the Honeyfruit plant to sustain yourself.

However, there is one more option, one where you will still come out ahead, and all you need for it is a good amount of gold.



Free Recall and Freezing

Unlike roaming mid or invading with your jungler, this does not require you to be healthy. All it takes is some preparation and quick execution.

This concept becomes more important the higher your rank is, as in higher rated games opponents will often respect slow pushes and level up timings. However, free recalls accomplish something similar. They give you an advantage depending on how much gold you spent, how much health you healed from recalling, and how vulnerable your opponent is to your all ins. Here is how to do it:

Slow push waves, but try to hard shove the last wave, ideally the wave before the next cannon wave, to make it crash into the enemy tower as fast as possible. Even better, proxy if it is safe to do so. Recall immediately, buy quickly, and use Q delay to get back to lane. Try to prevent your opponent from crashing the wave into your tower, hold it yourself, and look to fight your opponent when they try to walk up to push and farm. This forces your opponent into a lose lose situation. If they do not recall, they cannot walk up to farm because they cannot fight you properly with your item and health advantage, they are easily gankable for your jungler, and you have the whole lane to run them down in an all in. If they do recall, they lose a lot of minions or burn their Teleport.

Holding the wave like this is called a freeze, and you ideally want to maintain it. This means you want the wave state to remain frozen in front of your tower until your enemy either oversteps or is forced to recall.

Knowing whether your opponent has Teleport matters a lot. If they do have Teleport and you are freezing, and you decide to fight them and invest health, you essentially have to kill them. Otherwise, they can simply Teleport back, and you are suddenly in a losing position if you lost a lot of health.

This does not always work. Some champions like Garen or Irelia can clear waves very quickly and make them crash before you can freeze successfully, so against those champions you need to proxy to pull it off.

Holding a Freeze Holding a freeze is simple to explain but hard to execute. Since the enemy has a slow push, all you really need to do is let it slow push toward you, tank the wave once your minions die, and make sure at least four enemy minions from the previous wave are still alive. Hold them until your next wave arrives to prevent the wave from crashing. Once your next wave arrives, walk toward a nearby bush or wall to drop minion aggro.

If the enemy wave is massive, you want to try to trim it until there are only about four to five enemy minions alive, ideally caster minions. This is often referred to as thinning.

If you hold fewer than four minions, the wave will usually turn into a slow push toward your opponent over time, which is often fine.

However, there is one big downside to this. The downside is that the enemy essentially has a slow push, which means they gain all the advantages listed above. That is why freezing requires a bigger advantage to counter their advantage.

Fighting your opponent while freezing can be very risky. If you fail, it is usually lane over for you. That is why it is best to play for a freeze right after recalling, when you have a fresh buy and full health, although there is no strict rule for this.

If you are confused by now, here is an example to clarify.


As you can see, Dr. Mundo is around 50 percent health, while I am around 30 percent health. I just finished crashing my slow push, and it is safe to say that I cannot push the next wave or bully him when he walks up, as he can simply farm and poke me down with his Q Infected Bonesaw. So I decide to recall. I barely have gold to spend on stats, but I get my health back, and I do not have a better option.

When I arrive back in lane, I instantly look for an all in trade. I do this because Dr. Mundo is running Exhaust instead of Teleport, so I know he cannot simply Teleport back to lane once I chunk him. I do exactly that and let the wave push to me, essentially freezing it.

He recalls and walks back to lane with better items than me and full health. However, Dr. Mundo is very weak early and very vulnerable to all ins if he cannot poke me down first. When I saw him walking into my all in range while I was full health, I knew I could kill him despite his better items, despite his Exhaust, and despite his Bone Plating. My champion excels in all ins, while his champion is meant to poke me down and scale.

So yes, as you can see, freezing can be very complex. It is not as simple as having an item advantage. It is also about understanding your matchup and your win conditions.



Early Waves Plan as Riven

As you can see, playing Riven in the top lane is mostly about wave management and understanding your matchup. I know this was a lot of theory and information, so in this section I want to provide you with a general plan to apply those concepts in a real game.

However, an important disclaimer: please be aware that this is just a general plan for wave management and not a must follow flow chart for each game. You will always need to adapt, especially to how both junglers play. With that said, this will be your general plan for the waves in most games:

If you win level 1 and can get push, you want to look to trade heavily at level 1 and on your first slow push if your opponent walks up, using your Ignite and Flash as a tool for that, so your opponent cannot contest the wave when it bounces towards you without recalling or missing farm.

Try to crash either the third or fourth wave, then look to either stay in lane and keep pushing and bullying them when they walk up if you got some good trades in early, or if you cannot contest the bouncing wave, recall and play for a freeze and look for all ins after. If you are healthy enough, you can also stay in lane and let the wave come to you and play for farm while focusing on thinning the wave to hold a freeze and look for an all in. In both cases of freezing, beware of their level up timers and make sure to stay healthy.

If you crashed the second wave instead of the third or fourth, you can try to rush level 3 and get a good trade at the same time if it is safe to do so, as you only need two more melee minions from the third wave. However, this is very risky if your opponent is healthy and contests you.

If you lose level 1 and cannot get push, your goal is to stay healthy, beware of their level up timers, and try to get as much farm as possible without losing health unless you still have your potion, especially if their jungler is pathing towards you. Wait until they crash the wave into your tower and it bounces back towards them.

If they did not recall, you can look to fight here, especially around your level 4 and 5 timers. If they did recall, try not to give them a freeze and focus on crashing the wave so you can match their recall.

Of course, proxying is always an option after crashing if it is safe to do so.

After the first waves, keep playing around those slow push turns and always think about where you want the wave to be to fight your matchup, to set up or stay safe from jungle ganks, and to set up invades or neutrals like Void Grubs or Rift Scuttler without losing alot of farm.

This is also the general thought process behind the first wave blueprint I provided. You should always think about waves in that way and remain flexible.



Your Three Worst Enemies in Lane

Bone Plating, Exhaust, and Plated Steelcaps are what I call your three worst enemies as Riven, as they all reduce your all in damage significantly.

Let's start with Bone Plating. It is very important to always proc it with a short trade or your third Q Broken Wings cast before going all in on your opponent, especially against champions who excel in extended fights such as Darius or Trundle.

Plated Steelcaps are mostly just annoying and reduce your kill pressure, but they can be dangerous against matchups that excel in long fights because you will not be able to burst them down as quickly unless you already got a lead. You need to make sure to get those matchups low enough first so that your all in will kill them. Exhaust works in a similar way but is less common, and you can punish its four minute cooldown.

Check the matchup section below if you are not sure which matchups excel in longer fights.



Spiking with Ability Haste

Ability Haste is huge for Riven. Not only can you abuse the concept of spell baiting and cooldown punishing much more effectively, especially with Q delay, but the time between your third Q Broken Wings cast and your next Q Broken Wings is much shorter when you delay Q. This makes trading and going all in in lane much easier.

This is especially important against ranged or poke matchups, where you want to get on top of your opponent to all in them. Check the matchup section for more information.


How to Snowball a Lead in Lane

So you managed to get a lead in lane as Riven. Now it is time to snowball and grow that lead. As I mentioned at the beginning of this guide, if you get ahead as Riven and snowball that lead, you are the main character.

Snowballing is not easy. It requires you to use your lead to its fullest to apply pressure without throwing at the same time. But how do we do that? The easiest way is to think about it from the opposite perspective. How do Riven players throw their lead, and what should we avoid doing? They throw by:

• dying to ganks.
• messing up the wave and having it in a really bad spot as a result, allowing the enemy to get a freeze.
• not checking whether their opponent buys armor or health and overestimating their damage as a result.
• overstaying in lane when their opponent has based, usually by greeding for turret plates.
• becoming overconfident and not playing around their own strengths and their opponent’s strengths, which comes down to matchup knowledge.
• not tracking cooldowns properly and forgetting that Riven’s ultimate cooldown starts after it ends, not when it is cast. This means it is essentially 135 seconds, which is longer than most other top laners.
• playing too passive with their lead and allowing their opponent to gain more resources than they should, letting them catch back up.
• overbasing when they could stay in lane and pressure their opponent.

As you might have noticed, some of these points sound contradictory, such as overstaying and overbasing, or becoming overconfident and playing too passive. The key is to find balance and to abuse your lead to its fullest without throwing it.

There is no strict rule for this, as you always have to gather information yourself and make the correct decision.

For example, you usually do not want to let your opponent farm for free when you are ahead. However, if your opponent has their ultimate ready while yours is down, you usually do not want to fight.

But even that depends on the situation. In some cases, you can still win easily, while in others it would be very close. Information gathering is key to snowballing.

The best guideline I can give you is to play confidently with a lead, but not arrogantly. Use your lead confidently, do not be scared of throwing, but always plan your plays through. Test your limits, but do not pressure just for the sake of being ahead.

This is also the secret to playing from behind. Wait for that moment of arrogance from your opponent, the moment when they forget about your jungler, when they do not play around their champion’s strengths, when they forget about Riven’s strong all ins.



Void Grubs

In general, you always want to aim to secure Void Grubs as Riven with your strong early game. However, that does not mean you should always commit to them. For example, if you do not have your ultimate and the enemy top laner does, it already becomes much riskier unless you have a numbers advantage.

Speaking of numbers advantage, always pay attention to where both supports and mid laners are, who is moving and who is not. In general, you never want to fight for Void Grubs if you are down numbers, unless the enemy has another massive disadvantage.

If you decide you want to play for Void Grubs, make sure to push your wave first so your opponent has to choose between not moving or moving and losing a lot of farm as a result.



When Does Laning Phase End?

The laning phase usually ends when the first tower on the map has fallen and once players complete their role quests, as everyone begins to rotate a lot more outside of their lane after that.

By then, you ideally want to have a substantial lead. Here is the thing: if you followed the concepts from the laning phase section better than your opponent, you should come out of lane with a decent lead that allows you to take over the map and carry the game.

This is even more important on Riven than on other top laners, as discussed in the "Pros and Cons" section. You generally want to be ahead as Riven, not only because armor and health shut you down really hard, but also because Riven is one of the best champions in the game when she has a good lead.

If you frequently lose lane as Riven, that will be the first thing you need to work on before focusing on mid and late game concepts.

Strong and Important Players

Preparation is everything, so think about it. Who is strong on the enemy team? Who can give you trouble? Who has a shutdown? You also want to think about who is strong on your team. Who can enable you to carry? Who can you carry with? All of these questions are important because they prepare you for encounters before they happen. Let's take a look at an example.

Here I am leaving lane pretty far ahead, with a lot of gold and experience ahead of Dr. Mundo. My bot lane is also doing very well. Jinx has two items and Soraka has Ardent Censer completed. I definitely want to play with those two. Meanwhile, their Sylas and Zed are rather scary, but luckily Riven is great against assassins, as she can usually survive their burst and kill them afterwards. However, I still want to be careful and not fight them recklessly.

Sidelane Pressuring

The best way to carry a game as Riven is to keep doing what you have been doing: pressuring side lanes.

• Towers: Especially now that Riot added turret plating to inner turrets, playing for these is your best way to expand your lead and grow even bigger.
• Enemy jungle camps Look for picks there, especially. (Picks mean kills)
• Picks on side with Q Delay By hopping over side walls from the jungle, one good pick like that can result in you taking a tier 2 tower.
• Looking for flanks: It is important to only commit when you know the flank will result in something good. Otherwise, it is better to stay hidden in fog and apply pressure indirectly.

Picks on side with Q Delay example:


The key is to play selfish and get as much gold and solo XP as possible. Farm and siege as hard as you can on your side lane, while starving your opponents of resources and killing them if they do not respect you.

It is really important, however, that you do not share XP with your teammates. For example, if your mid lane Akali goes top lane to farm, you usually want to go to the other side lane, in this case bot lane, and farm there, as you will get solo XP from not sharing the wave. If you went top with Akali, not only would you share XP and get less as a result, but you would both miss out on farm, as no one is farming the bot lane wave or applying pressure there.

Of course, you need to be careful of getting ganked by the enemy team. A fed side laning Riven will cause the enemy team to spam ping for help and send multiple people to kill you. Unless you are confident in winning that fight, you should back off and wait for them to leave before continuing to pressure.

You might wonder, what about pressuring midlane? You will rarely be the one pressuring mid, as you usually want your bot or mid laner to be there, and again, you do not want to share XP. They typically play a ranged champion and can apply pressure from a distance while staying safe. However, occasionally you can pressure mid, especially if it is left open or if it is safe to do so.



Neutral Objectives (Dragon/Herald/Baron)

You always want to think about and plan the next neutral objective ahead. Securing those is the easiest way to abuse and grow your lead while closing the game out at the same time.

This is where Riven really shines, especially once you have Axiom Arc, Sundered Sky, Death's Dance, and so on. Each full item spike will make you a lot stronger and allow you to carry those fights even harder, especially if you have Flash up. So you really want to make playing for these objectives a priority. You only want to give up neutral objectives if you know you won’t win the fight over them.

When trying to set up the next neutral objective, it is really important that you assess the current situation properly and show up in time when you are needed. For example, do not split push top lane when Dragon is up in 20 seconds, your team is already in position to fight, and you do not have your Teleport ready.

Another example: While it is generally a good idea to split push on the opposite side of the spawning neutral objective with your Teleport, sometimes that is not the correct choice if your team cannot safely reach the Dragon pit.

There is also no fixed rule for when to be at objectives in terms of seconds. Sometimes you want to be there 40 seconds before it spawns if your team needs you to set up vision. Sometimes you can stay in a side lane until five seconds before it spawns if your team is not under any threat near the objective. Context is key, so make sure to adapt.

There is also no fixed rule for when you will win a fight over an objective and when you will lose it. The simple answer is to play around which team has more members present at the neutral objective, but even that is not always a clear indicator of who will win or lose the fight.

For example, let's say your jungler got caught 20 seconds before Dragon spawns, your opponents used three key ultimates on him, and you know their ADC has no Flash while you are extremely fed and have Flash up yourself. Obviously, this is a made-up scenario with very limited information, but based on this, I would still happily fight, while many people would just give up the Dragon because their jungler died.

But what do you do if you are forced to give up the neutral objective? In scenarios where you know you will lose the fight or when your team does not want to contest, what should you do?

The answer is to cross map and take something on the other side of the map. If you give up a Dragon, you can look to take their mid tower, topside jungle, top tower, and so on. Just make sure not to stand around the lost objective watching them take it while gaining nothing in return.

It is very important to be on the same page as your team. If you think you can contest an objective, spam ping it. However, if they do not want to contest or do not follow, just give it up and cross map.

Those rules also apply to Baron. But an important thing to note is that Baron heavily debuffs the players around it, so Baron is actually very easy to contest 4v5, especially if you have Flash.

But how do we play those objective fights?



Skirmishes/Teamfights

There are two ways to win fights as Riven. The first is to pick off an opponent who is out of position and burst them alone or with your team. The second is to get on top of their backline and burst them with the "Q delay all in combo" if they overstep. After that, you can clean up the rest if they do not run.

Both of these are windows that you can punish. Flanking, rotating, and abusing fog of war are your best options to create these windows yourself, as they catch enemies off guard and do not give them much time to think or react. Q delay wall hops can really come in handy here.

You can abuse this much more when your Flash is up, as it allows you to access their backline more easily. So make sure you always keep track of your Flash cooldown. At the same time, it is also important to keep track of enemy backline Flash cooldowns, as that can completely change how you play a teamfight. If you have Flash and you are against a Miss Fortune without Flash, one bad overstep from her side can give you a window to win the whole fight.

However, it is very important to pay close attention to other factors, such as where your team is before you go in expecting follow-up and what spells you have, as fighting with or without your ultimate, for example, makes a massive difference. Also, do not brute force a fight if the enemy team is not out of position; create or wait for a good window instead. They will appear.

Here is an example of a teamfight where I abused my Flash to kill their AD carry Sivir with my jungler. Although it is worth noting that I did not Q Delay properly here.




The Two Most Common Ways to Throw

The first and most classic throw is dying before a neutral objective spawns or recalling too late. This kind of throw usually comes from not thinking about objectives enough. One such death or late recall can throw a game.

Just as bad are what I call "shutdown deaths." You will not always be worth a shutdown when you are ahead, but very often you will have a bounty, especially when your team is doing well too. It is key to never give your bounty for free. For example, dying with your shutdown in a teamfight where you kill three people and get Baron as a result is completely fine, but getting caught or trading 1 for 1 with your shutdown is not worth it at all.

Obviously, dying net negative in other situations is never good, but it is usually not game deciding.

Objective bounties are a similar story. You do not want to give a structure or objective that has a bounty for free if you are winning, unless you gain much more in return.



Closing Out the Game

It is no secret that in order to close out a game, you usually need a good fight that allows you to end.

The easiest way to do this is after you have secured Baron, after which you can look to siege multiple lanes with your team and look for that game winning teamfight. After that, you can usually end thanks to the Baron siege buff.

Again, if they do not give you a good fight angle, just siege for towers and inhibitors and be patient. The worst thing you can do is brute force a fight when enemies are not out of position. There will eventually be a game winning fight window, even if Baron expires.



Playing from Behind

Here is the thing: pressuring side lanes when behind is next to impossible unless you can somehow swap with your midlaner and get into a winning side matchup.

However, you should still aim to farm as well as possible and defend your side lane towers.

Your teamfighting does not really change, though. As long as you are not massively behind, you can still threaten backlines with your Flash, as long as there is a window to do so.

So when behind, you will mostly gamble it all on a good flank or objective teamfight, as there is little to nothing you can do on the side lanes.

If you manage to win some fights and get some shutdowns, the game should look a lot more even, and all that will be left is looking to close out the game as described above.

AP junglers, especially aggressive early game AP junglers, are your best friends as Riven, because most top laners rush Plated Steelcaps against Riven. That armor is completely nullified by your jungler’s magic damage. On top of that, Riven can easily set up those junglers’ key spells during a gank with her W Ki Burst and third Q Broken Wings cast, such as Nidalee’s Q Javelin Toss, Elise’s E Cocoon, Sylas’s E2 Abduct, or Taliyah’s W Seismic Shove.

Enchanters, especially scaling enchanters, are great with Riven for two reasons. First, there is a higher chance that your jungler will play around the Ignite Riven top, since enchanters are often weaker in early 3v3s than engage or poke supports. Second, if you get ahead with an enchanter on your team, you will be much harder to kill in teamfights, which allows you to carry fights even harder with an existing lead. Bonus points if the enchanter also has an engage or follow-up spell, like Sona’s R Crescendo, Seraphine’s R Encore, or Lulu’s R Wild Growth. The only downside is that if your jungler plays top side early, your bot lane might mentally break or lose very hard. But most of the time, you can still carry if you play together.

Tanks with a good amount of crowd control or engage spells, like Sejuani with her E Permafrost and R Glacial Prison or Zac with his E Elastic Slingshot or Q Stretching Strikes, are great with Riven because they make it a lot easier for you to reach the enemy backline in teamfights. They can engage and lock down opponents, giving you time to get on top of them without being kited. This is especially important since Riven usually relies heavily on Flash to engage and reach the enemy backline.

Control Mages synergize really well with Riven in teamfights or when you are flanking, as they are excellent at following up your engages and all ins, allowing them to hit their full combo for free on the same opponent you are attacking. For example, Syndra can essentially hit her Q Dark Sphere with her E Scatter the Weak guaranteed if you CC them with your W Ki Burst and third Q Broken Wings cast. The best synergy of these, however, is Orianna. You can legitimately turn every game around if you find a Flash angle onto their backline with Orianna’s ball on you, because this allows Orianna to use her R Command: Shockwave on their backline for free, crowd controlling them all and dealing massive damage, which can essentially win any fight instantly.

Aatrox Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins fights if he hits his Q The Darkin Blade sweet spots, and he loses if you dodge them. - You can easily one shot him with your all ins early, before he gets armor. Afterwards, your all ins usually won't kill him, so keep that in mind. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins way more often with Q delay. Tips: - Use your dashes to dodge his Q The Darkin Blade sweet spots and W Infernal Chains pull (especially his Q2 and Q3). - Never walk up to him with no dash ready if his spells are up. - Keep in mind that his cooldowns are very high early, so he is not much of a threat. - Always keep track of his E Umbral Dash cooldown, as his Q The Darkin Blade is very predictable and easy to dodge without it.

Akali Difficulty: 2/5 General: - She wins fights if she can poke you down and outspace you with her spells. She loses if you can get on top of her and all in her. - You win early really hard, as she lacks all in threat. However, that changes at level 6, and she can run you down if you're not careful. - You win once you have enough Magic Resist and Ability Haste, as you can all in very easily with Q delay. Tips: - She can't really space you before she has W or E, so look to run her down level 1 if she dares to walk up, especially if she plays without Flash (for example, Teleport + Ignite). - Make sure not to tank her Q Five Point Strike or her E Shuriken Flip for free when she has her R Perfect Execution up. - Never use all your spells next to her if she has her R Perfect Execution up, unless you can kill her with your all in or you are very close to your tower. - Early Hexdrinker or even Maw of Malmortius is really good against her. She will lose every 1v1 all in once you have it.

Ambessa Difficulty: 2/5 General: - She wins if she can poke you down and outspace you. She loses if you can get on top of her and all in her. - You win all ins at every stage if you're not behind. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Your level 1 is much stronger, so look to all in her right away if she walks up. - Look for all in trades, starting with your E Valor. If you hit everything, you will always win. - Avoid getting hit by her Q2 Sundering Slam for free as poke. - Ambessa players always try to ult you from bushes, so be careful of that when your spells are down.

Aurora Difficulty: 4/5 General: - She wins if she can poke you down and outspace you. She loses if you can get on top of her and all in her. - Aurora is insanely strong early, so don't expect to win early. However, you do still win all ins if she mispositions. - You win once you have enough Magic Resist and Ability Haste to Q delay and tank her burst. Tips: - Try to level 1 all in bush cheese her. If that fails, then just play very patiently. - Dodge. Her. Qs Twofold Hex. Get hit by too many, and you're in for a nightmare.

Camille Difficulty: 3/5 General: - She wins if she can poke you down with her Qs Precision Protocol and outspace you, she loses if you can get on top of her and all in her. - You beat her really hard early, however, her Q2 Precision Protocol deals a lot more damage once she has Trinity Force, so keep that in mind. - Once you have enough Haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to bait either her passive Adaptive Defenses or Bone Plating at level 1, then all in her (if she plays without Flash, it's usually a kill). - Avoid standing next to walls when her E Hookshot is up. For that reason, it's best to play in the center of the lane. - Avoid getting hit by her W Tactical Sweep sweet spot by using your E Valor to dodge either outwards or inwards to start an all in, you should always outdamage her in extended fights if she doesn't have both her passive Adaptive Defenses or Bone Plating ready. - Your W Ki Burst cancels her E Hookshot if you time it correctly, which is really good in all ins. (When her hook attaches to the wall and she starts to pull toward it, you can press Ki Burst to cancel her pull entirely.) - Don't waste your R2 Wind Slash if she has her R Hextech Ultimatum up and is close to you, try to hold it or use it right after your W Ki Burst or third Q Broken Wings cast.

Cassiopeia Difficulty: 4/5 General: - She wins if she hits you with her Q Noxious Blast or W Miasma and can fight you over a longer period with her E Twin Fang, she loses if you can get on top of her and kill her in an all in quickly. - You win early, however, her W Miasma and R Petrifying Gaze can make this matchup extremely tricky at every stage. - Ability Haste, Movement Speed, and Magic Resist make this matchup more playable with Q delay. Tips: - Her level 1 is terrible, so look to bush cheese and all in her if she comes too close. - Dodge her Qs Noxious Blast and play for farm. Her Es Twin Fang don't hurt if she doesn't hit Q Noxious Blast. - Play for short trades and try to bait her W Miasma and R Petrifying Gaze. If she whiffs them, it's usually a free kill window. - You can all in her despite her R Petrifying Gaze being up if you're confident in dodging it.

Cho'Gath Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down and outsustain you with his passive Carnivore, he loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - You win fights really hard before he gets tank items. - Once you have enough Haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay if he is not too tanky. - If he gets too tanky to fight, don't fight him anymore and instead look to proxy and roam. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese and all in him right away. - Always use your dashes to dodge his Q Rupture. - Pay attention to his Feast stacks to know when his ultimate is on cooldown from eating a minion. - During all ins, try to dash through him to dodge either his Q Rupture or his W Feral Scream.

Darius Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can fight you over a longer period and stack his Hemorrhage passive fully, he loses if you can kill him quickly in an all in. - You usually need to poke him once or twice with a good short trade before you can kill him in an all in, however, once he gets armor, you usually need more than that unless his E Apprehend is down. - Once you have enough Haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay if you know you have enough damage to kill him quickly. Tips: - Don't all in him straight away level 1, try to get a good trade with your Q Broken Wings first, and all in him when he is around 80% health with no Bone Plating. - Play for short trades unless you have enough damage to burst him. Avoid being next to him with no spells up, as he will beat you up really hard. - Be very careful when his Ghost is up, as it gives him immense kill pressure, especially on his side of the lane. - You can trade with him when he uses his Q Decimate, as he locks himself in his own animation and cannot use another spell meanwhile (tanking the non-sweetspot is always fine). - Try to bait his E Apprehend while short trading, and look to fight or all in him while it's on cooldown (24s). - When all inning, try to Q Broken Wings through him to dodge his E Apprehend if it's up, and only use your Q3 Broken Wings when his E Apprehend is down.

Dr. Mundo Difficulty: 1/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with his Q Infected Bonesaw; he loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - You beat him really hard for most of the game. - He becomes a problem once he has Warmog's Armor and Giant's Belt if you did not manage to secure a good lead until then. - Once you have enough Haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to all in bush cheese him level 1 if he dares to walk up. - His passive cooldown is insanely high early (60s), so punish that window really hard. - If it is safe to do, you can use your E Valor to block his Q Infected Bonesaw when he tries to farm minions with it.

Fiora Difficulty: 3/5 General: - She wins if she hits multiple of her Duelist's Dance vitals; she loses if she cannot or if you all in kill her quickly before she can. - The first levels are very tricky and even, especially if you are on the blue side (also depends if she takes combat summoners like Ignite or Exhaust). - You really spike in this matchup once you get some Attack Damage and Ability Haste; however, she spikes too once she gets Ravenous Hydra and Plated Steelcaps. So try to win the matchup before that. - Once you have enough Haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - If you are on the blue side, you are unlucky, as her first vital will always face her. Try to find her before minions spawn and back off immediately to make sure that the next vital, when minions meet, will face away from her. - You can level 1 all in her if she has no Bone Plating or combat summoner and she walks too close. - Her vitals are random but follow a pattern. They always switch between "Bottom/Left" and "Top/Right," meaning if you currently have a vital facing bottom, the next vital cannot be facing left. - If you have a very bad vital position on you (facing her straight), you can walk out of her vision to reset it (like on blue side level 1). - Play for short trades when vitals are favorable for you, unless you know your all in will kill her, making sure to hold your E Valor to dodge her W Riposte. - If she ever walks up without W Riposte, she is usually a free kill. - You can all in her with her W Riposte up if you know you have enough damage; just make sure she cannot W Riposte your R2 Wind Slash and again make sure to save your E Valor to dodge it. - If the all in will be close, make sure to hug a wall so she cannot proc all her R Grand Challenge vitals. - Once she gets Ravenous Hydra, make sure not to take even health trades anymore, as she will just sustain it back up. Play for all ins or trades where you do not lose a lot of health.

Gangplank Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with E Powder Keg, Q Parrrley, and passive Trial By Fire and he loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - He wins pre 6 hard if he is good at keeping his distance. - You win post 6, especially once you have enough Attack Damage and Ability Haste to force all ins with Q delay and burst him quickly. Tips: - Take bush control at level 1 so he cannot place his E Powder Keg barrels and look to all in him if he walks up to the bush. - When fighting him, make sure to time your W Ki Burst as his E Powder Keg barrel is one hit so you can hit the barrel while he is stunned. - Keep track of his R Cannon Barrage cooldown and pay attention when he uses his ult on the map, as he is much weaker in 1v1 with it down.

Garen Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he hits his full all in combo onto you and he loses if you get to all in him with one or more of his spells down. - He also wins if he manages to outsustain you with his Perseverance passive. - You win early game really hard as you can easily kite his all in trades. - Lane gets harder once he has Stridebreaker as it will be much harder to kite him. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade to bait out his spells and force all ins way more often with Q delay. Tips: - Try to force out his spell level 1 with your third delayed Q Broken Wings and look to all in him if he walks up while it is still down. - When he uses his Q Decisive Strike on you, block it with the earlier mentioned "Disengage Combo" and kite away from him. - Punish his cooldowns hard, especially his long W Courage cooldown (22s). Remember, you win all ins if he doesn't have everything. - If he combos you but doesn't hit his E Judgment and still chases you, you can turn the fight and win it if your Q Broken Wings is up.

Gnar Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down in Mini form or fight you in Mega form. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him in Mini form. - Tricky early, as it is not easy to get on top of him. - Ability haste makes this lane a lot easier, as you can look for many more all ins with Q delay. Tips: - Look for a level 1 all in bush cheese if he walks up. - Make sure to dodge his Q Boomerang Throw with your dashes. - While all inning, make sure not to walk behind him when his E Hop is up, so he cannot get two jumps. - Always pay attention to his red bar to know when he will get Mega form. - When his bar is almost full, respect his double jump, as he can still get two bounces. - Avoid standing next to walls when he is in Mega form, so he cannot stun you with his R GNAR!.

Gragas Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he gets to poke you down and cancel your dashes with his E Body Slam. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - You win early pretty hard before he gets enough points into his E Body Slam and stacks ability haste. From then on, it will be hard to fight him without him disengaging. - Always rush Mercury's Treads vs Gragas, as it reduces his E duration and the magic resist is nice. - Once you have enough haste, you can force trades and all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look for a level 1 bush cheese all in. Even if he uses his E Body Slam on you, it is still a positive outcome. - Respect his Q Barrel Roll, especially when it is fully charged. - Play for all in trades starting with your E Valor when his Q Barrel Roll is down or if he uses it on the wave. If he uses his E Body Slam instantly as a response, your shield will absorb it. If not, the trade is good for you. - During all ins, hold your third Q Broken Wings cast if his E Body Slam is up. - His R Explosive Cask cooldown is very low at around 100 seconds, so be careful.

Gwen Difficulty: 2/5 General: - She wins if she hits or pokes you down with Qs Snip Snip! (especially fully stacked ones) for free. You win if you can get on top of her and all in her without getting hit by her Qs Snip Snip! and her R Needlework. - The more attack damage you buy, the harder you can burst her, and once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. - Gwen does scale really hard, but you do not have to worry about that for a long time. Just bully her in lane. Tips: - Look to all in her at level 1 before she hits the wave to stack her Q Snip Snip!. - Try to bait her stacked Q Snip Snip! by pretending to walk up for a minion and then using your dashes to dash out or sideways. - If she runs Exhaust, be careful after she has hit level 6, as you cannot burst her down as fast and she can hit her spells more easily. - During all ins, use your Q Broken Wings through her to dodge her Rs Needlework.

Illaoi Difficulty: 3/5 General: - She wins if she hits you or your spirit with her tentacles. She loses if you dodge them or if she cannot hit your spirit. - She gets your spirit by hitting her E Test of Spirit on you, so make sure to dodge it. - You win early hard if you do not get hit by too many spells. - The matchup gets harder once she hits level 6 and has armor, unless you got a good lead early. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in her. - Use your dashes to dodge her spells. Your mechanics can really shine here. - Try to bait out her E Test of Spirit and then punish its cooldown, but be careful. Illaoi maxes her E Test of Spirit, so the cooldown is not that high at later levels (16/15/14/13/12). - Never fight her when she uses her R Leap of Faith unless you can burst her very quickly, as she gets a lot of tentacles from it that are almost impossible to dodge. Luckily, you can just run away from her and kite it, as she has no way to CC you or keep you close to her. Your goal is to bait her R Leap of Faith first. - During all ins, try to Q Broken Wings through her to dodge her Tentacles.

Irelia Difficulty: 2/5 General: - She wins if she can fight you with her fully stacked passive Ionian Fervor. She loses if you kill her before that or fight her when she has no stacks. - The matchup becomes a lot harder once she has Blade of the Ruined King, as her Q Bladesurge will one-shot caster minions, allowing her to stack her passive Ionian Fervor much faster. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Your level 1 is much stronger than hers, so look to fight her level 1, zone her, and do not let her walk up and hit the wave. - Pay attention to your minions and which are low enough for her to Q Bladesurge. If she has no stacks, you can stand on top of that minion and W Ki Burst her as soon as she Qs Bladesurge it. From there, you can just fight her. - Try to save your E Valor for her E Flawless Duet, as if she hits you with it, you will most likely lose the fight very hard. - When she uses her W Defiant Dance, hold your spells until it finishes. - You have a big advantage when the wave is on your side, as she cannot safely stack her passive Ionian Fervor there, giving you opportunities to start all ins with Ki Burst. - During all ins, try to Q Broken Wings through her so she cannot hit her R Vanguard's Edge as easily.

Jax Difficulty: 4/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with his W Empower. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him without him being able to interrupt your Q Broken Wings combo with his E Counter Strike. - Ability haste is key, as you need Q delay often to bait his E Counter Strike. Tips: - Try to bait his E with your third Q Broken Wings cast. If he uses his E Counter Strike, your Q Broken Wings will be up well before his E Counter Strike, so you can push and potentially all in him during this window. Otherwise, you have to respect him level 1, as he is much stronger. - You only want to all in him when his E Counter Strike is down or if he randomly uses it when your Q Broken Wings is up or about to come up, so try to bait our that spell first. - Always have spells ready when his E Counter Strike is up to dodge it. - Try to fight him near your tower, as not only can you run him down there, but you can also use your E Valor offensively to block his W Empower.

Jayce Difficulty: 5/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down and outspace you. You win if you can get on top of him and all in him. - Once you have enough ability haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. This is your best chance at snowballing this lane. - At level 2+, trade with him if he oversteps until he uses his Hammer E Thundering Blow. Try to all in him when your spells are back up and his Hammer E Thundering Blow is still down. - Always beware his empowered Q Shock Blast from fog of war. Always dodge it or tank it with your E Valor. - When all inning, hold your third Broken Wings if he is in Hammer form, so he does not cancel it with his Hammer E Thundering Blow.

K'Sante Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he hits you with his charged W Path Maker and Q3 Ntofo Strikes to poke you down and interrupt your all in, and if he can use his E Footwork to space your all ins. He loses otherwise. - Post 6, he can not only poke you down if he hits his W Path Maker and Q3 Ntofo Strikes, but he can also all in you. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. - Once he gets too tanky, make sure to play for proxy and avoid fighting him. Tips: - Look to all in him level 1 instantly, especially from bush. - Try to bully him hard pre 6 when he oversteps, but save your E Valor to dodge his W Path Maker or Q3 Ntofo Strikes. - Avoid standing next to walls when he has his R All Out.

Kayle Difficulty: 1/5 General: - She wins if she gets to fight you over a longer period with her passive Divine Ascent while your spells are down, or if she can poke you down and outspace you. You win if you can get on top of her and all in her. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 all in bush cheese her, but be careful. Her level 1 is not bad, so try to proc her Bone Plating with your third Q Broken Wings cast first and don't let her hit you a lot when your Q Broken Wings is down. Just wait for Broken Wings to come up again and win the lane from there. - Punish her extremely long R Divine Judgment cooldown (160s).

Kennen Difficulty: 5/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down and outspace you. You win if you can get on top of him and all in him. - Always rush Mercury's Treads against him. You need it for all the reasons: the magic resist, the movement speed, and the tenacity. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him; however, this is very unlikely to do much, especially if he starts E Lightning Rush. - You can look to all in trade him starting with your E Valor if he doesn't have his W Electrical Surge passive (check if his hand glows) and if his Q Thundering Shuriken is down as well.

Kled Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can get his full W Violent Tendencies damage on you, or if he can remount during an all in, he loses otherwise. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Avoid fighting him level 1, unless he misses his Q Beartrap on a Rope. - The easiest way for Kled to hit you with his W Violent Tendencies is by hitting his Q Beartrap on a Rope, so make sure to use one of your dashes to dodge it. - Remember that Kled can't control his W Violent Tendencies cooldown, as soon as he autoattacks something, his 4 hit W Violent Tendencies starts, so either wait until he uses it on a minion and it expires, or let him hit you once and then disengage. - Good Kled players actually don't skill their W Violent Tendencies early until they land a good Q Beartrap on a Rope onto you, so be careful of that. - The most important tip: NEVER fight him in Mini form if you have no spells up, he will remount and kill you. - When he is dismounted, make sure you kite him and all in him with your full rotation to burst him down (beware his bar though). - His remount actually has a cooldown of 30s, so if you dismount him and he remounts, the next time you dismount him he won't be able to remount for a while. -Keep in mind that his Q Beartrap on a Rope and R Chaaaaaaaarge!!! can cancel your third Q Broken Wings.

Malphite Difficulty: 4/5 General: - You win all ins if you can get on top of him before he gets armor. You lose if he pokes you down or once he gets armor. - If you do not get a good lead on him early, you will never be able to kill him. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - Try to really bully him during his weak early levels. You should always outtrade him if you hit everything. You can tank all of his spells—it does not matter; you simply stat check him. - If he ever uses his Q Seismic Shard randomly on you, just block it with your E Valor.

Mordekaiser Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if he hits you with his isolated Qs Obliterate and if he can fight you with his Darkness Rise passive over a longer fight. You win if you can kill him quickly during an all in while avoiding his spells. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Try to use your third Q Broken Wings cast to proc his Bone Plating at level 1, then look to all in him with your upcoming Q Broken Wings. - Play for short trades, using your spells to dodge his abilities and never letting him proc his 3-hit passive Darkness Rise on you, unless you know you can kill him quickly. - Punish his high R Realm of Death cooldown early (140s).

Nasus Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can hit you with many Qs Siphoning Strike during his R Fury of the Sands duration. He loses if you all in him when he has no R Fury of the Sands or if you can kill him quickly during your all in combo. - Pre 6 is the easiest lane ever. If you can get a good lead, you can snowball from there. - Post 6, and once he gets Sheen + armor, this lane becomes harder if you did not get a lead. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - Many Nasus players do not take Flash, which you can abuse really hard. - Bully him hard early game by fighting him whenever he tries to walk up for minions. - If he takes too much damage in the first waves, you can easily dive him. - You do not have to respect his W Wither before he reaches level 6. - Avoid getting hit by his E Spirit Fire for free early. - If you cannot kill him in an all in combo, try to bait his R Fury of the Sands and disengage. - Avoid investing a lot of health in trades at this stage, since he can just lifesteal it back up with his Soul Eater passive. - Play around his Ghost cooldown. Without Ghost, Nasus has much less kill pressure on you.

Olaf Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins long fights with his passive Berserker Rage and can easily stick onto you if he hits you multiple times with his Q Undertow Axe slow. He loses if you can quickly burst him down with an all in. - The lane gets harder once he gets armor. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Do not all in him straight away at level 1. Try to get a good trade with your Q Broken Wings first and all in him when he is around 80% health with no Bone Plating. - Try to dodge his Q Undertow with your dashes. - Pay close attention to where he throws his Q Undertow. If he throws it too far where he cannot pick it up, you can trade with him. - Most Olaf players use their W Tough It Out and E Reckless Swing extremely recklessly (lol), so look to punish him when those spells are down. - Play for short trades unless you have enough damage to burst him. Avoid being next to him with no spells up, as he will beat you up really hard. For that reason, it is best to fight when the wave is near your tower, as you can short trade freely while he cannot run you down with his Q Undertow and R Ragnarok. You can also use your E Valor offensively. - Pay close attention to his Ghost cooldown. Just like with Darius, Olaf is a lot weaker without Ghost. - Beware his really low R Ragnarok cooldown (100s).

Ornn Difficulty: 1/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with his spells. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - You win early pretty hard as long as you dodge his spells. - He can become unkillable eventually if you do not get a good lead on him. - Once you have enough ability haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him right away. - Dodge his Q Volcanic Rupture and E Searing Charge with your dashes. - Make sure to NEVER W Ki Burst during his W Bellows Breath duration. Always W Ki Burst after his channel ends. - Avoid standing next to walls unless you are trying to bait his E Searing Charge. - When all inning him, try to use your Q Broken Wings or E Valor to dash over his W Bellows Breath and save your W Ki Burst to cancel his R2 Call of the Forge God recast.

Pantheon Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with his Qs Comet Spear. He loses if you get on top of him and all in him. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him if he walks too close and has no Bone Plating. - REALLY RESPECT HIS Q Comet Spear POKE, it hurts A LOT. Make sure to either bait them out or dodge them. Even tanking them with your E Valor is often a losing outcome if they are empowered. - If you have faster reaction time, you can time your W Ki Burst when he uses his W Shield Vault on you to stun him while you are stunned. - Avoid using spells during his E Aegis Assault duration unless you can get behind him during an all in.

Poppy Difficulty: 4/5 General: - She wins if she can poke you down and interrupt your all in dashes with either her W Steadfast Presence, E Heroic Charge, or R Keeper's Verdict. She loses if you can get on top of her and all in her without your spells being cancelled. - You can beat her early game if she does not space you well before she gets armor. - Really hard matchup once she gets armor and health if you did not manage to secure a good lead. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in her. - Use your dashes to dodge her Qs Hammer Shock. During all ins, try to dash through her with your Q Broken Wings to dodge it. - At level 3+, when she tries to auto attack you with her passive Iron Ambassador, you can use your E Valor aggressively towards her and start an all in trade. - While all inning, try to predict when she will use her W Steadfast Presence and hold your dashes to wait out the duration. If you do that successfully, you win the fight. If you fail, worst case you lose it very slightly. - Avoid standing next to walls when her E Heroic Charge is up, always. - During all ins once she is level 6, hold your W Ki Burst to cancel her R Keeper's Verdict channel so she cannot knock you back. However, you need to be quick as you cannot cancel the second cast of it.

Quinn Difficulty: 4/5 General: - She wins if she can poke you down and outspace you. You win if you can get on top of her and all in her. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. However, most Quinns will not lane anymore at this point and spend most of their time roaming. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in her if she walks too close. - When fighting her, use your W Ki Burst early so that you can try to get behind her with your Q Broken Wings and prevent her from using E Vault to safety. - Make sure to respect her W Heightened Senses Vision Rage, especially when trying to cheese her.

Renekton Difficulty: 5/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down or burst you with his empowered spells, especially his W Ruthless Predator. He loses if you all in him when he has no fury or cooldowns and you are healthy enough to survive his burst. - You win pretty hard level 1 until he gets a bounce. Afterwards, this lane becomes very hard. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. - Do not rush Axiom Arc in this matchup unless you get really fed. Sundered Sky and Plated Steelcaps are a better standard buy here. Tips: - Always take Bone Plating in this matchup. Without it, you can never walk up to the wave when he has 50+ fury and his W Ruthless Predator ready. - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. This is your best chance at winning this lane. If you succeed, you can snowball the lane from there. - Remember that his empowered W Ruthless Predator breaks your E Valor shield and damages you through it. You never want to use your E Valor in that case unless you have Bone Plating ready and are trying to bait his fury. - Never let him proc your Bone Plating for free without him having to use either his empowered Q Cull the Meek or W Ruthless Predator. If he gets your Bone Plating without investing 50 fury for it, it is a bad outcome. - Instead, try to force his 50 fury and one of his empowered spells with your Bone Plating. Look to extend the trade into an all in until he uses his E Slice and Dice to get out. If he does not use his E Slice and Dice, you should win the all in if you have enough health. However, if he does use it, look to all in him once your spells are back up and while his E Slice and Dice is still on cooldown.

Riven Difficulty: 0/5 General: - Do not play Swift Play. Tips: - Click on any other game mode in your client.

Rumble Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with his spells, especially his empowered Q Flamespitter, and if you tank too many of his overheated auto attacks. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him while surviving his burst. - Buy an early Hexdrinker to survive his burst more easily during all ins. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - If he messes up his passive bar and overheats without his Q Flamespitter, you can look to all in him during that window. - You can deny him farm if he tries to E Electro-Harpoon minions from far by blocking it with your E Valor. - His R The Equalizer is pretty useless in 1v1s against Riven as you can easily dodge it with your dashes.

Ryze Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down and keep his distance. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - If he uses E Spell Flux on the wave and the spread does not reach you, you can fight or all in him if he is too close during that exact window, as his W Rune Prison will not root you in that case. - Keep good track of his Phase Rush cooldown. - When all inning, make sure to hold your W Ki Burst to cancel his ultimate Realm Warp teleport so he cannot escape.

Sett Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he hits his stacked W Haymaker onto you. He loses otherwise if you can survive his burst in an all in. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - At level 1, look to proc Bone Plating and force his E Facebreaker with your third Q Broken Wings cast. After that, you can all in him with your next Q Broken Wings rotation. If he starts W Haymaker, you can also all in him, but you need to be confident in dodging or flashing it. - Know that his E Facebreaker will only stun you if he has another champion or minion on the opposite side. - You should never take an extended fight against him if he is near your minion wave when he has both his E Facebreaker and W Haymaker up, as a good Sett will hold his E Facebreaker until his W Haymaker is fully stacked from the damage you dealt to him during the fight. He can then E Facebreaker you next to your wave to get the stun and channel his W Haymaker right after to hit you with the sweet spot. - His W Haymaker and E Facebreaker cooldowns are pretty long early (18s/16s). Your goal is to short trade to bait those cooldowns and then all in him while those spells are on cooldown. If he has no unit to get his E Facebreaker stun, you can also all in him and simply dodge his W Haymaker with your dashes. - A good Sett with Flash up will try to predict your Flash with his W Haymaker most of the time, so if you Flash his W Haymaker, make sure to Flash to a spot he is unlikely to predict. - Be careful about standing behind him when you are close to his tower, as he can R The Show Stopper you into it.

Shen Difficulty: 1/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down and burst you with his Q Twilight Assault in short trades. You win if you manage to extend the trade and fight him over a longer period. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - You can all in him level 1 if you manage to bait his passive Ki Barrier by making him use his Q Twilight Assault and if you proc his Bone Plating with your third Q Broken Wings cast. Without those two factors, you outdamage his Q Twilight Assault even if his blade goes through you in an all in. - Avoid auto attacking during his W Spirit's Refuge. Try to W Ki Burst him instead to prevent him from getting value out of that spell. - Beware his E Shadow Dash when your spells are on cooldown. - Be very careful near his tower when his E Shadow Dash is up, as he can make you draw tower aggro with it. - If he ever uses his E Shadow Dash on you when your spells are up, you can just run him down.

Singed Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if you tank his Q Poison Trail for a prolonged time. He loses if you can all in him and burst him down quickly. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - If he plays with passive summoners like Teleport + Ghost, he will likely try to proxy level 1, so make sure you cover the entrances well to not let him proxy. - If he takes aggressive summoners like Ignite + Flash, he is very unlikely to proxy level 1, so play for a level 1 all in bush cheese. - Start fights with your E Valor or W Ki Burst so that you have all your Q Broken Wings casts available if he uses his E Fling on you. Aim to force his W Mega Adhesive during the trade, as he is very vulnerable without it. - With his W Mega Adhesive down or if he is really low, you can easily all in him. - Try not to let him proxy for free, ever. Make sure you do not lose a lot of minions in return.

Sion Difficulty: 1/5 General: - He wins if he hits you with his charged Q Decimating Smash and W Soul Furnace. - The matchup gets harder once he gets tanky if you did not manage to secure a good lead by then. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 all in bush cheese him. - Always beware of Sion charging his Q Decimating Smash from a bush. Getting hit by one or two of these can really mess up your early lane. - Play for all in trades. If he uses his W [Soul Furnace]] on you, you can either break his shield with your full combo or kite it, but make sure to always save your E Valor to dodge his Q Decimating Smash. - You can also use your W Ki Burst to cancel his Q Decimating Smash in a fight, but keep in mind that this will refund his Q Decimating Smash cooldown. - Always try to block his escape R Roar of the Slayer path with your character. - Sion players will usually try to find angles to proxy. Do not let him if you do not miss farm as a result. - Keep in mind that his death timer is already ticking while he is in his Glory in Death passive, so you will not have much time to push even after you kill him. - Be careful of his fully charged R Roar of the Slayer from base. If you get hit by that, it usually will not end well.

Tahm Kench Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he hits you with Q's Tongue Lash, especially if he hits you when his An Acquired Taste passive is fully stacked on you, he loses otherwise. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. - Once he gets some tank items, he can become unkillable if you didn't manage to secure a good lead on him. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - Play for short trades, saving your E Valor to dodge or block his Q Tongue Lash. - His Q Tongue Lash is almost impossible to dodge in melee range, so make sure you don't go for extended trades unless you know you have the damage to kill him. - When all inning him, make sure to hold your W Ki Burst for his W Abyssal Dive, as your stun will cancel his jump. - Avoid all inning him near his tower, as he can just R Devour you under it.

Teemo Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down and keep his distance. He loses if you can get on top of him and all in him. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins heavily with Q delay. - Hexdrinker can be a good early purchase to survive his burst while all inning him. Tips: - Take control of lane bushes before he can get invisible in them. - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him when he walks up. - During all ins, make sure not to auto attack while you are Blinding Dart Q'd by him. - Keep track of his R Noxious Trap mushroom placements to avoid walking into them during all ins. - Early Oracle Lens can be useful.

Trundle Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can fight you over a longer period with Q Chomp and R Subjugate. He loses if you burst him down quickly in an all in. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Do not all in him straight away at level 1. Try to get a good trade with your Q Broken Wings first and all in him when he is around 80% health with no Bone Plating. - Play for short trades until you manage to bait either his W Frozen Domain or his E Pillar of Ice (18s/21s), or until you get him low enough to kill in an all in. - In general, Trundle is pretty easy to kite and short trade against. However, be very careful if he runs Ghost.

Tryndamere Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he gets to fight you over a longer period of time with his passive Battle Fury and his R Undying Rage or if he can poke you down using his long auto attack range. He loses if you can get on top of him and kill him quickly with an all in before he can outdamage you. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - This is the one matchup where I take Exhaust instead of Ignite. - Do not fight him level 1 unless he randomly uses his E Spinning Slash on you when your Q Broken Wings is up. - Short trade with him if he comes too close, using your E Valor to either block his auto attack or his E Spinning Slash and then disengage. You can all in him once he is low enough. - Respect his Ghost if he runs it. - Remember that he can see if you are camping a bush, since his W Undying Rage lights up. - When all inning him after he has his R Undying Rage, it is very important to make him use his R Undying Rage quickly and then kite him during its duration. You can then finish him off with your R2 Wind Slash ideally. - That is where Exhaust really kicks in, as you can use it on him during his R Undying Rage duration to massively reduce his damage while staying close to finish him off when his R Undying Rage ends.

Udyr Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if he gets to fight you in melee over a longer period, especially with his empowered spells. He loses if you kite him and burst him down quickly in an all in. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. - He will not fight you much once he gets some points in his R Blazing Stampede, so it will mainly be a farm lane. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - You can trade pretty heavily with him whenever he walks up (do not short trade). However, make sure you are never next to him with all your spells on cooldown. Always have spells ready to disengage and wait for your Q Broken Wings to come back up if you cannot kill him yet. - Never underestimate his empowered W Iron Mantle shield and healing. It is a lot.

Urgot Difficulty: 4/5 General: - He wins if he hits you with multiple of his spells and gets full value from his passive Echoing Flames, you win if you can burst him without being hit by his spells. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Do not fight him level 1 unless he somehow wastes E Disdain and lets you take his Bone Plating. - Make sure to dodge his Qs Corrosive Charge with your dashes. - His W Purge has a decent cooldown early, so you can abuse the timer when it's down, but be careful, Urgot's max it first (12/9/6/3/0 seconds). - In general, you can only all in him if he walks up with either his E Disdain or R Fear Beyond Death down, unless you have Flash to dodge either of them in an all in. - You can try to bait his spells when he misses Q Corrosive Charge and it's on cooldown by pretending to go for a short trade. - Beware his Flash timers, as Urgot players will often try to catch you off guard by using their E Disdain in combination with their Flash. - You can tell when he is about to dash with his E Disdain by checking when he gets a shield (his shield appears instantly before his dash begins). - When all inning him, make sure not to let him walk around you to avoid getting hit by too many Echoing Flames legs.

Vayne Difficulty: 5/5 General: - She wins if she can poke you down or fight you over a longer period and keep her space from you. You win if you can get on top of her and all in her quickly. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins more easily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in on her. If she wards the bush and uses her Ghost to run you down, walk into the unwarded bush. - Play for all ins if she uses her Q Tumble randomly and is too close to you. - You can only take short trades and try to bait her E Condemn. If she used her Tumble Q dash randomly and is close enough to you, avoid long trades unless you have the damage to kill her, as she can just space you with E Condemn or use Ghost to run you down. - Punish her long E Condemn cooldown (20s). - Avoid standing next to walls or your tower, so she can't E Condemn you into it.

Vladimir Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down, keep his distance, and outsustain you. He loses if you can get on top of him and burst him quickly with an all in. - Early Hexdrinker is extremely valuable here, as it prevents Vladimir from bursting you while you all in him. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins more heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - Pay attention to his passive bar to know when his Q Transfusion is up and when it is not. Never get hit by his empowered Q Transfusion for free without shielding it. - You can all in trade him when either his passive bar is empty or full and he walks up too close, by using your E Valor at the start to block his Q Transfusion (do not all in when his passive is half full). - Punish his extremely high W Sanguine Pool cooldown early (28s), but be careful. Vladimirs always rush a lot of Ability Haste, so the cooldown gets lower fast. - When all inning, make sure to hold your R2 Wind Slash for when his W Sanguine Pool duration ends, to finish him off.

Volibear Difficulty: 4/5 General: - He wins if he can fight you over a longer period with his W Frenzied Maul and passive The Relentless Storm. He loses if you can burst him down quickly in an all in. - Try to punish him early game before he gets tanky. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins more heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Only all in him level 1 when his E Sky Splitter is down, so try to bait it first with your third Q Broken Wings cast, and look to all in him once your Q Broken Wings comes up again. - Getting hit by his first W Frenzied Maul is fine. Getting hit by his second W Frenzied Maul is not fine. Make sure to space him until the W Frenzied Maul timer resets. You can see the timer above your HUD. - Look to short trade with him unless you can kill him quickly in an all in. If he uses his Q Thundering Smash on you, it is fine as long as you dash out of his E Sky Splitter in time with your E Valor or block it. HOWEVER, if you hear him casting his E Sky Splitter beforehand, do not let him hit you with his Q Thundering Smash, as you will not be able to dash out of his E Sky Splitter in time. - Try to bait his Q Thundering Smash and E Sky Splitter (both have 14s cooldowns) and punish him when they are on cooldown. - When all inning him, make sure to never tank the sweet spot of his R Stormbringer. - His R Stormbringer has an extremely long cooldown of 160 seconds, so punish that.

Warwick Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can fight you over a longer time. You win if you can kill him quickly in an all in. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins more heavily with Q delay. Tips: - You can trade with him level 1 after proccing his Bone Plating, but do not fully commit if he has Barrier. - Play for short trades, making sure to always kite him and never let him hit you repeatedly, unless you know you can kill him in an all in. Be careful, as he heals a lot at low health with auto attacks due to his passive Eternal Hunger. - Whenever he randomly uses his Q Jaws of the Beast on you, just fight him and use your E Valor to disengage once he casts his E Primal Howl. - Aim to bait his E Primal Howl (15s) and punish him during that cooldown if he walks up. - While all inning him, make sure to block his R Infinite Duress if he tries to escape.

Wukong Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if you keep fighting him over a longer period with his passive Stone Skin. He loses if you either burst him down quickly in an all in or manage to disengage after using your full combo. - Try to bully him hard pre 6, as the matchup gets harder once he has his R Cyclone. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins more heavily with Q delay. Tips: - You can all in him level 1 if you manage to proc his Bone Plating first. - You can trade heavily with him, but make sure to never be next to him with no spells ready to disengage. - Once he has his R Cyclone, it will be harder to disengage, as he can just run you down with his R Cyclone once you have used your spells. At this stage, play for short trades. For this reason, it is ideal to have the wave near your tower. - Never tank his Q Crushing Blow for free. Respect its extra range. - Keep good track of his W Warrior Trickster cooldown to know when he is bluffing. - Never tank his W Warrior Trickster auto attacks during an all in, as it counts toward stacking his Stone Skin passive. - His R Cyclone can cancel your third Q Broken Wings cast, so keep that in mind when all inning him.

Yasuo Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if he can fight you over a longer period with his Lethal Tempo rune. He loses if you burst him down quickly in an all in. - The lane becomes much easier once you get some attack damage items, as you can easily one shot him with that. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Try to proc his Bone Plating and passive Way of the Wanderer level 1 and then look to all in him with your full Q Broken Wings rotation if he walks up. - Play for short trades early unless you are confident that your all in kills him. Never be next to him without any spells up. - Use your dashes to dodge his Qs Steel Tempest. - Always pay attention to your own minions so you know where he can use his E Sweeping Blade. - Whenever he uses his E Sweeping Blade onto you or a minion near you, just W Ki Burst him and trade or all in him. - Keep in mind that your W Ki Burst cancels his Q Steel Tempest. - When all inning, make sure you either hold your R2 Wind Slash so he cannot use his W Wind Wall to block it, or chain it with your W Ki Burst or your third Q Broken Wings cast.

Yone Difficulty: 2/5 General: - He wins if he can fight you over a longer period with his Lethal Tempo rune. He loses if you burst him down quickly in an all in. - The lane becomes much easier once you get some attack damage items, as you can easily one shot him with that. - Once you have enough haste, you can trade and force all ins more heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Try to proc his Bone Plating level 1 and then look to all in him with your full Q Broken Wings rotation if he walks up. - Play for short trades early unless you are confident that your all in kills him. Never be next to him without any spells up, especially when he has E Soul Unbound up. - Use your dashes to dodge his Qs Mortal Steel. - Keep in mind that your W Ki Burst cancels his Q Mortal Steel. - When all inning, make sure to use your character to block his R Fate Sealed escape path. - When he uses his R Fate Sealed during an all in, you can cast your R2 Wind Slash at the spot you know he will end up after his ult finishes, as he has no way of dodging it.

Yorick Difficulty: 3/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down or fight you over a longer period with his Shepherd of Souls ghouls if he manages to hit you with his E Mourning Mist while keeping his distance from you. He loses if you get on top of him and all in him quickly. - You can bully him hard early, but the matchup becomes a lot more stale after level 6, as he will just perma shove you in and avoid fighting you in melee. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins more heavily with Q delay. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him. - If he does not hit his E Mourning Mist, you do not have to respect him nearly as much, so try to bait it out with short trades before all inning, or all in him straight away if you are confident that you can dodge it with your dashes. - Always save some of your dashes to get out of his W Dark Procession cage before it appears (you can wall hop out of his W Dark Procession as well).

Zaahen Difficulty: 4/5 General: - He wins if he can poke you down with his Qs The Darkin Glaive or if you keep fighting him over a longer period where he manages to fully stack his passive Cultivation of War. He loses if you either burst him down quickly in an all in or manage to disengage after using your full combo. - Once you have enough haste, you can force all ins more heavily with Q delay. - Try to bully him early before he gets too tanky, because then he will be almost impossible to kill quickly. Tips: - Look to level 1 bush cheese all in him if he walks up. - Keep in mind that his Q2 The Darkin Glaive cancels your third Q Broken Wings cast. - Avoid getting hit by his spells for free. Always use your dashes to dodge them or bait them. - When his Q The Darkin Glaive is on cooldown, look for all in trades when he walks up. - When he uses his R Grim Deliverance during an all in, you can precast your R2 Wind Slash to where you know he will land, as he has no way of dodging it. You also want to avoid getting hit by his R Grim Deliverance circle at all costs.

Why it Matters

As I mentioned in the introduction, I started my Riven journey in Bronze 4.

For months, I was stuck and not improving. I did not know why I was not improving at Riven or at League in general.

I believe that mindset and mental are 80 percent of what it takes to actually improve and learn. So in this section, I will dive deeper into that. This is what made the difference for me, what finally made me a better Riven player, and what finally made me climb.



Your Goal with Riven

Do you want to impress your friends by carrying your games as Riven? Do you want to add her to your champion pool for ranked to reach your dream rank? Or maybe you want to one trick her and become one of the best Riven players. No matter what your goal is, define it.



Watch Riven Gameplays and Educational Content

Here is the thing: reading this guide is a great first step. However, you need to watch other gameplays to really see these concepts in action and for them to click. The best example of this is the whole wave management stuff. Seeing good Riven players manage their waves in almost infinite different ways depending on the situation is key to really understanding and mastering it.



Invest Time into Practicing

You will be surprised by the number of people who come into my Twitch chat telling me that they like Riven but are too scared to play her in a real game or in ranked. You won’t improve at her if you don’t invest time into playing her and enjoy her.



Don't play for KDA or 10 CS per minute

I am not telling you to die a lot or to avoid farming. In fact, I wrote earlier in this guide that those things are very important, but do not play for those shiny numbers. Play to win. In some games, you naturally get 10 CS per minute. In others, you would have to greed for those numbers, which could cost you the game. The same goes for low deaths and high kills. Just ignore those numbers when you play League and focus on winning the game.



Test your Limits

Be confident. If you think something could work, just try it. This is key to improvement. You will not improve if you never test your limits.

For example, if you are in a game and see an opportunity to Flash onto their backline at a Dragon fight, but you are not sure if it will really work out as you planned, just go for it.

If it goes well, you will feel great and be more confident the next time you are in a similar situation. If it fails, try to figure out why and learn from it. Even if you lose a game because of a failed play, in the end it is still a win in the long run, because testing your limits always leads to improvement. Allow yourself to fail in order to learn.

Of course, if you know a play is bad, do not commit to it just for the sake of limit testing. You should only do this when you genuinely think it might work.



Focus on Yourself

There is one thing Riven or League players in general who do not improve have in common: they focus on factors other than themselves. They focus on their teammates messing up, their jungler never coming top lane while the enemy jungler camps them, or anything else that is out of their control.

Riven is one of the most self sufficient champions in the game. If you get a lead and win your lane, you can carry most games. To do that properly, though, it is important to focus only on yourself and what you can do, not on your teammates performances. If you do not, you will not be able to play at your best, and you will not learn anything. What do you realistically learn from a loss where your only takeaway is "team gap"?

This does not apply to Riven exclusively, of course. You are the only factor in the game that is within your control. You are the deciding factor. So focus on yourself.

Let’s face it: yes, you will get bad teammates. You will get junglers who ignore you all lane. You will get people who do not try to win. All of those things are true, but useless, because you have no control over them anyway. So do not bother focusing on them if you want to improve.

Here is the thing. In most games people write off as "unplayable" for any of the reasons I just listed, there was at least one thing they could have done better that might have changed the outcome of the game. Focusing on that is what leads to improvement.

Maybe you could have played lane better and taken better trades, or maybe you died to a gank that could have been avoided.

I understand that this point may be hard for some to accept, but I have never seen anyone improve who focused on their teammates or anything out of their control, such as Riot’s system, instead of themselves.

I came to realize this: every good player is always improving. No one has mastered or perfected Riven or League. The top players constantly strive to improve themselves.



See Hard Games as a Challenge Instead

Instead of giving up mentally when your bot lane is 0/10, see it as a challenge to really prove yourself as Riven.

My favorite games are not the clean games where everyone just stomps. They are the games where my lane starts rough and I really need to prove myself, or the games where I am the only one who won lane and have the ability to solo carry.

That is what I choose to focus on: staying positive and seeing hard games as the best learning experience. I could instead hate these games and see them as a waste of time by blaming my jungler for my lost lane or blaming my losing bot lane for the rough game.



Quick Recap After Each Game

What I do after each game is quickly go over my mistakes and any moments in the game I felt confused about by reviewing them afterward. I have software that records all my games, but you can just download the replay from the client to do a quick VOD review.

For example, if you died 1v1 in a game, it is good to quickly analyze it after the match, see what led to that death, and what really caused it.

Or if you lost a Dragon fight and were not sure why in the moment, watching the VOD afterward will give you those answers.



Trust the Process

Results will not always show quickly. Despite focusing on myself, it took me about 200 games to get out of Bronze alone while one tricking Riven.

Improvement takes time. It is important not to look for quick fixes or shortcuts, but to stay disciplined.

When I was stuck in Diamond, I became pretty toxic. I was heavily focused on my teammates and became really negative, mentally surrendering as soon as the game started looking rough. I do not think it is a coincidence that I spent two seasons stuck in Diamond, making close to zero progress.

The rank you are currently in does not matter. If you do not focus on yourself, you will not improve much, and you will stay around your current skill level.

It took me two seasons to realize how much I sabotaged myself. Once I did, I slowly started improving, eventually climbing to Master and holding it for the first time.



Tips for Ranked

• I personally prefer playing five games in one sitting. I have noticed that if I play more, I will not be at my best, and if I play less, I usually will not feel satisfied. It does not have to be five games for you; it can be any number that feels right. What matters is finding what works for you.
• If someone is toxic in chat or with pings, just mute them and stay focused.
• There is no must ban as Riven; it is personal preference. I personally ban Malphite at the moment, but many Riven players ban Renekton or Jayce.
• And for all you Riven one tricks, I also advise you to have a backup champion in case Riven is banned or picked. In my case, that champion is Jayce.