Hello, im Molina , a Riven Onetrick that plays on EUW server. Currently Master Tier. I played Riven since season 5 and I reached Master Tier for the first time in Season 8 (Playing lethality Riven). I quit the game after that but now im back and I will be streaming and uploading content in my socials:

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Feel free to ask any question. If you dont have a Mobafire account I have a section on my Discord dedicated to answer ALL of your Riven questions.



If you are interested in learning Riven this is your guide. I tried almost everything with Riven during a lot of time and I want to show you what i learned in this guide. Its a time saving one if you go through it.

Season 16 arrived recently and now you can play Riven in almost every role.

My favorite ones are Riven MID and Riven ADC. However, since I played Top Lane my entire life, this guide will cover both lanes in detail.

1. The Top Lane State in Emerald+
As soon as you rank up to Emerald, you will notice every Top Laner runs Exhaust or picks heavy counter matchups. It becomes way too exhausting to make the champion work consistently up there.

2. Aegis System & Free LP
If you get autofilled to Top Lane, your opponent should be autofilled too. You can guess what happens when an experienced Riven main faces an autofilled Top Laner... (Free LP!).

3. Mid Lane Quest Rewards
The Mid Lane quest is superior for Riven:
* + More AD
* + Early Boots upgrades
* + Higher overall map impact on one of the snowballiest champions in League.

4. Safer Lane State & Faster Recalls
It's much harder to get trapped in bad wave positions in Mid. If a bad trade happens, you can recall and return to lane in under 20 seconds.

5. Powerspike & Mid Lane Gameplan
In Mid, we usually play around our 1st Item Powerspike:
* While Riven is already strong at level 6, her true peak comes with her core defensive options: Maw of Malmortius against heavy AP or Death's Dance against heavy AD.
* Once you acquire this spike, your main objective is to look for flanks, punish roaming enemies, and control early skirmishes around the map.

Riven Top Lane Currently faces a lot of hard counters. Champions that used to be skill matchups have gotten significantly stronger, making Top Lane much more demanding to carry from.

Riven ADC If you complete the Bot Lane quest early, it feels like an infinite gold glitch. Getting ahead on Riven is the best feeling ever, and this quest accelerates your snowball hard.

Moved this section to my Discord server so i can keep it up to date with the Patches/Changes.

Make sure you join to not miss anything.

Riven, the Exile Riven is a champion that has been in the game for many years and since she has been in the game she almost never had any time where she is unplayable. She can adapt to different Metas and succeed in them. She has a really complete kit that even up to this date has inspired other champions to be like her (Aatrox, Sylas, K'Sante...) With Riven you can win almost every lane and if you dont win you can go even in most and still be super useful in the fights. Mana problems are not a thing on this champion(she doesnt have mana), her build is based on cooldown reduction and it makes her really funny to play when you reach that point. You can spam your abilities and once you control her kit you have a HIGH potential to carry games in any elo.(SoloQ) She can build a lot of different items, have different roles in a teamfight. Its a champion that can do so many things to win games. Thats why OTP's never get bored of her.

Q

1. The cooldown of the 3 casts starts with the first Q. Its important to always keep that in mind to surprise people

Q

2. Each Q can be used to give a faster auto attack than usual.

Q

3. The third Q can be used to jump walls, and even more important to cut distance on corners. Jumping corners can take Riven to the next level of cheesy plays/great escapes.

Q

4. You can use 3rd Q to drop minion aggro.

Q

5. The way you position your mouse during Riven Q matters. If we point with the mouse in a direction it goes through, if we hover the mouse on the enenemy it targets him. This is really game changing on Riven gameplay.

W

You can use it to drop minion agro.

E

E Allows you to cancel animations and Doublecast

EQ3

You can use E combined with Q3 to secure Walljumps.

EQ

Useful to trade close to enemys tower.

EW

You extend the W area by doing this correctly.

ER

To cancel the ult animation (not be locked in the animation)

R

R increases the range of the auto attacks, Q, W, and E shield is bigger.

FR

You can do R flash to reposition your R or to surprise enemies.

Play Video

Cash Back Cash Back: Best choice for Riven on Inspiration because of the amount of gold this rune offers you when snowballing Triple Tonic Triple Tonic: is very useful in matchups you need that extra. The potion feels really good and the potion you get at level 6 combined with Blade of the Exile gives a lot of damage. Extremely strong all in at level 6. Biscuit delivery Biscuit Delivery: helps a lot against hard matchups, used to be stronger. I would not recommend to pick this, but it's a valid choice. Jack of all trades Jack of all Trades: helps Riven a lot in the early game and with the current build you can get 10 stacks, which is even better. We pick this rune mainly for early game preassure.

Unflinching Unflinching: Pick this rune when the enemy champion can slow or stun you. Bone Plating with this rune makes your life against Renekton much easier.

Shield Bash Shield Bash: This rune is the alternative for when you dont need Unflinching

Second Wind Second Wind: Pick this rune in matchups where you are forced to take damage to CS (Rangeds). Examples: Teemo Kennen Karma

Bone Plating Bone Plating: Against all in matchups. Champions that generally all in all the time, examples: Pantheon Wukong Irelia Renekton Tryndamere

Revitalize Revitalize: If you dont need Unflinching its a really good option when enemy can poke you. It applies to Goredrinker and helps your E shield.

Overgrowth Overgrowth: When you dont pick Revitalize this is the last option. Compared to the rest i think its the worst unless you TRULY NEED the HP (Would be rare)

All Items, ordered from A-Z.

You can press Ctrl + F and type the name of an item to quickly find it.

Axiom Arc Axiom Arc changed in Season 16, getting Ability Haste is much easier now. This item is really good if you want to play a build focused on having your ultimate ready more often and snowballing games. It performs much better in lower elos.

B. F. Sword Most efficient AD-Gold Item, only useful if you want to build Guardian Angel

Bastionbreaker One of the most broken items this season. You could definitely build it on Riven if the situation calls for it since it's really OP, but it's not the best option for your core/optimal build.

Black Cleaver Your best chance to deal with armor. Ideally, you want to build this item in early game because that is when it provides the most value and utility for Riven.

Caulfield's Warhammer Offers what Riven needs the most. Always good to stack Ability Haste.

Chain Vest Bad item. It builds into no useful items for Riven anymore, do not buy it.

Chempunk Chainsword This item is EXTREMELY BAD. The reason why is because you already get what you need by buying Executioner's Calling . Finishing the full item offers you nothing extra. Sit on the 800g component and finish the item in last place if you really need it.

Cull Very niche item. I only recommend buying this against heavy tank match-ups like Malphite or other tanks you simply cannot kill in lane.

Dead Man's Plate I dont recommend this on Riven. Bad item

Death's Dance God Tier item for Riven this season. Excellent defensive and offensive stats that allow you to survive burst and carry fights.

Doran's Blade This item helps a lot during laning, maybe not as your starter item but buying it before your first item can be good sometimes. You want to buy this when you need some extra HP. Really good early game item.

Doran's Shield If you are facing an annoying ranged champion in the toplane, this item as starter is your best friend. Against annoying melee lanes I think Longsword + 3 Pots start is better nowdays.

Eclipse Extremely cheap and useful for Riven, perfect stats for her. A lot of AD, ability haste and a passive that makes up for the lack of sustain. Useful in most games.

Edge of Night The best item Riven has right now. When you play around having this item, you play to get a reset and solo carry the teamfight. Once you get a reset, sustain through the fight, and keep going, you completely dominate.

Elixir of Iron This elixir grants you tenacity and HP. Depending on the team it can be good or even better.

Elixir of Wrath Best elixir on Riven when you dont need more tenacity.

Endless Hunger [WRITE YOUR THOUGHTS HERE]

Essence Reaver Dont do this bro, its bad for you

Executioner's Calling Against Soraka / Heavy healers (Sylas / Senna) this item is good. Sit on this component, only upgrade as your last item.

Force of Nature I dont think this item is good unless you are facing a full AP team.

Frozen Heart Could be good 1/100 games, don't worry about it.

Guardian Angel Best Offensive-Defensive Riven option by far. This item is your best friend as it secures you performing on teamfights. Only time when this item is bad is against Caitlyn .

Hexdrinker This item helps a lot, its main Rivens item against AP threats. I recommend building it after your 3rd item. But sometimes it might be better to get it sooner, every game is different.

Hubris Good lethality item, only build it when going for full lethality. This item requires snowball to be good

Hullbreaker I dont think this item is good

Ionian Boots of Lucidity Best boots for Riven without any doubt. Cheap, they allow you to have flash and ignote more often and give you Ability Haste. I recommend buying this after your first item.

Jak'Sho, The Protean Bad item for Riven, you dont want full defensive items on Riven mostly. Offensive - Defensive item types work better on her.

Last Whisper When buying Lord Dominik's Regards or Mortal Reminder always focus on purchasing this first.

Liandry's Anguish If you get unlucky team, sell all items at the end and buy this.

Lord Dominik's Regards Best armor pen item on Riven nowdays.

Maw of Malmortius This item is without doubt your Go-To against AP threats. If an enemy AP carry is feed, Maw is usually worth. If enemy team has multiple AP champions, this item has a lot of value too.

Mercury's Treads The enemy team has a lot of annoying CC you cant dodge? Buy this

Opportunity Gives a lot of lethality but 0 Haste, only good on lethality builds when you already have enough ability haste.

Pickaxe Really gold efficient item for Riven. Buying this feels really good, specially if you can get it in your first/second/third recall.

Plated Steelcaps Against a lot of auto attack based champions. This item is really broken. Something I recommend if the enemy team allows you, rush this against Tryndamere

Profane Hydra Good on lethality builds, scales worse than Ravenous Hydra with AD. (Hover your mouse over the icons and you can see numbers). Good option when you go for lethality oriented builds.

Quicksilver Sash Mordekaiser / Malhazar counter.

Randuin's Omen Not a fan of this on Riven, if you build it at least make sure you have enough damage already.

Ravenous Hydra Doesn't feel as good as old season. I believe it could have a place in the build however I think there are better items right now. Will update depending on how the meta evolves.

Rectrix Don't think its good unless you have enough ability haste.

Refillable Potion Helps a lot with laning, never start this but buying this on your early recalls can help you.

Serpent's Fang Against a lot of shield this item helps a lot. I recommend this as your 4th or 5th item. Getting it early usually messes with your Ability haste.

Serrated Dirk Buying this gives you A LOT of damage. You can rush this if you are smurfing or if enemy team is full squishy and you can go lethality build.

Serylda's Grudge Worse than Mortal Reminder or Lord Dominik's Regards. Only build it when you need the slow.

Spear of Shojin Probably the best item on Riven this season combined with Eclipse I would build it every game. You can stack this item on minions, so make sure you stack it before all-ins. Keep this in mind, 12% damage can do a lot depending on the game stage.

Spirit Visage Only worth when you have healers in your team and you need magic resist. But even then I think Maw is better. I dont recommend this unless Soraka is by your side and enemy team is full AP-ish

Steel Sigil Component for Death's Dance and Guardian Angel. Very efficient early component when you need both armor and AD during laning phase.

Sterak's Gage With the amount of HP Bruiser Riven has this season, I think this item could be very good as a 4th item when you need tenacity and survive true damage. For now let's say its very situational until further testing

Sundered Sky I truly believe Riven is the best user for this item. Don't sleep on it. Build it everytime you can have a good teamfight. OP Item in my opinion (will get nerfed for sure)

The Brutalizer This item used to be way better. Main component of Riven core items, right now it's worse and Serrated Dirk offers a faster powerspike. Stills decent but not as good as it used to be.

Titanic Hydra Could be good but you are playing Riven, why do you want this?

Trinity Force Bad item on Riven.

Umbral Glaive The item itself is good, but doesnt fit Riven needs. Dont build this.

Vampiric Scepter On other champions this works better, on Riven its bad. Buying AD is better than this, almost no sustain from this item.

Voltaic Cyclosword Not a very good item on Riven. You can build it if you want to play for fun, but it's not a serious option for competitive builds.

Warden's Mail This item is OP, but not for Riven. Dont do it, it will delay your main build too much.

Youmuu's Ghostblade Bad item on Riven right now.

Zhonya's Hourglass This could be useful in a 50 minute game, you might agree or not. Only for experienced Riven players and I dont recommend this unless you have a BIG PLAN

This are most jumps Riven can do in the game (including really hard ones). Will update it as I post videos on my socials

Play Video

Doing a matchup guide is probably one of the most complicated things for Riven.

Riven laning is the most important part and so are matchups.

Most of the matchups in this website will help you to start approaching them.

Some of them are outdated, but its really useful.

https://riven.saltyy.at

Credit: Rueven for the matchups & Salty Riven for the website mirror.

Its really important to not panic your shield in the early game. The difference from a good Riven to a bad one can be told by how she manages her shield to block damage.



Another really important tip is to learn how to manage cooldowns. You need to be constantly aware of when your cooldowns are up and what can yo do in the mean time. Its probably the hardest thing to master for Riven laning but you can get so many solo kills by doing it, its worth the effort it takes.



Its really important that in lanes you cant kill or snowball you make sure to collect all the resources you can. By this i mean farming and stealing jungle or collecting jungle camps that arent in the pathing your jungler is doing. Even if you dont win lane by killing someone 2 times if you build a CS advantage and keep it across the game it will help a lot as Riven.



Be really patient with abilities as Riven. For Riven to work she needs to be an aggresive laner but at the same time you need to respect enemy jungler. Always keep track of the jungler as it will tell you how to play your lane.

Early game (Laning phase):

Our objective is to never lose lane, Riven can perform into most lanes. If you cant abuse your matchup make sure to abuse her waveclear to create rooms so you can impact the map by slowpushing waves/doing a quick proxy to generate a roaming window. Once you make habit having 8/9/10 cs per minute as Riven isnt something that crazy.




Minute 0 - 1:30 | Invade timer

In this stage of the game is really important to not get cheesed by an early invade or a specific strategy. Knowing if something is going to happen can be easy sometimes, champions like: Thresh, Blitzcrank, Morgana often invade.

During this timer you should also look to know where the enemy jungler is starting. It will dictate how you have to play the lane, every lane needs to be played differently depending on the teams.




Minute 1:30 - 5:00 | Set up the game plan

You might be wondering why the minute 5 is important and not 5:50 or minute 6 (When you unlock your ultimate). The answer is that at minute 5 in Toplane/Midlane tower plating falls, taking plates after minute 5 will be a lot easier. Before minute 5 is more important playing for tempo than playing for a tower plate. (By playing for tempo i mean playing for a good recall rather than greeding for hitting the tower)

In this frame of time our objective will depend of the matchups, but building a CS advantage is always the safest as Riven. She is really strong at level 6 with her ultimate Blade of the Exile and Ignite. If you are playing in Mid Lane, you generally look forward to getting your Hexdrinker, as Riven becomes extremely strong in mid once she acquires this item.



Minute 5:00 - 14:00 | Laning phase

Depending on the matchup this could be one of the best moments for Riven, if in this game stage you already managed to build an advantage its really good, otherwise if you stay even thats not bad at all as Riven builds CDR and she can get more than 45% of her cooldowns reduced. Laning is the most important stage of the game as Riven, you cant fall behind!

As soon as we hit level 6 we can consistently think of how to all-in/outplay our enemy laner or putting him in a bad position depending on our junglers pathing.

Riven is extremely strong at this stage of the game once she reaches level 6 and completes key items like Death's Dance or Maw of Malmortius, making her a massive threat in lane and skirmishes.

With this being said, our objective will be to collect as much gold as possible and negate as much as we are allowed. Might sound like a general tip so let me give you some examples:

- If you cant kill the enemy laner, Riven can take advantage of the lane by doing a quick proxy to the incoming wave, taking a quick plate and backing (She is one of the champions that have the fastest lane returns by jumping terrain)

- Farming camps like Gromp, Krugs or Scuttle can end up meaning a great advantage into the enemy laner. Try to always look for windows or generate them yourself to collect more resources. Farming Scuttle gives us gold, vision and a small mobility boost when in the area. You are not a jungler but your champion has a good time taking it, so when you can go for the crab.




Midgame (Laning phase is almost over):

Will depend mostly on our team, but as Riven is a hyper mobility champion she excels at quickly pushing a sidelane and hunting around for a catch or flanking a fight.(Red trinket will help a lot).

If our team is losing and you need to group with them to stop the enemies, consider the situation and go for it. But keep in mind you need to collect resources. Decision making is really important at this game stage.




Lategame:

Since every game and team comp is different is hard to explain what you should be doing here. All i can say is that your main objective should be to hunt people with your team, pushing sidelanes, giving/clearing vision or protecting your team mates. (Yes Riven is really good at protecting people with her stuns, damage and shield)

Riven is one of the most versatile champions in teamfights, you can:

- Flank and force the enemy carrys to run/be in a bad position.
- Kill the enemy carry.
- Peel for your carrys with your CC and damage.
- Chase enemies and chain CC them until your team can catch.
- Gain time by running/jumping walls until your team can help you.



How can you know what you should be doing? Depends on your team, for example:

You are going against a team with a lot of disengage, you already tried to go for the enemy ADC and they managed to stop you, next fight you notice you have a Vayne in your team, so you try to peel for her in fights so she can kill the tanks.

Its all about adapting and learning.




Another example:

Enemy team has a Vel'Koz, Caitlyn and Senna, you have a Yasuo. You pinged him and you know hes ready to use his ultimate, so when you see the enemies are grouped you can setup a engage (E R flash 3Q) with the Yasuo and vanish the enemy carrys with him.





Most common play as Riven in teamfights is to flank so you can clean up fights.

By this I mean being patient and waiting for enemies to burn CC or things that can annoy Riven in fights and forcing a flash or killing someone on the spot. Best scenario would be if they are low and you can score a kill before they react.

I have some Riven custom skins that I do on my own. If you want them make sure you join my discord server. I do giveaways from time to time.

Discord!

Renekton (My permaban) Early game lane bully, you can deal with him if you are experienced. Its hard. If its combined with Elise / Nidalee / Rek'Sai I truly recommend you to dodge that game. Its not going to be fun.

Kennen Annoying champion to face, has an easy time getting away from you. You can scale and be useful but laning against Kennen is boring.

Malphite Malphite currently is too broken. I understand if you ban him, the champion doesnt need a brain work.

Jayce Jayce can be really hard depending on the player, if you are fine with the rest you can ban him. But I would not ban Jayce personally.

Vex High priority ban if you play Riven in Mid Lane. Her fear passive interrupts your mobility and dash engage completely, making the lane really frustrating to play.

Viktor Great ban option for Mid Lane. He can poke you safely from a distance, zone you out with Gravity Field, and scale very safely if you can't find an early all-in.

Orianna Situational ban depending on what you face in your games. A good Orianna will harass you continuously with auto-attacks and ball placement while shielding your trade damage.

Ahri Worth banning if she annoys you or if you see her picked frequently in your matchups. Her Charm and ultimate dashes make her very slippery to catch.

Frequently Asked Questions:






Riven mid?

Its viable, has a lot of good matchups. If you want a section dedicated to Riven in the midlane let me know in the commnets. That it is viable doesnt mean its good and you can go Riven mid all games, she has a lot of bad matchups too!



Crit Riven?

Its fun for a normal/Ranked Flex game when ahead. But if you truly want to get Riven MAX potential... Just dont go crit.




Note: If you have any question you can ask me on my stream or in any related video on Tiktok/Youtube.

And thats it for now, this was my guide and i truly hope it helped you. If theres any question you have dont be shy to comment.

See you in the comments/my socials!