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Khazem's Guide to Riven, The Exile
Build Guide By Khazem
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Riven Build Guide By Khazem
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Recommended Items
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Item core
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Enchantments
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Ability Order
Runic Blade (PASSIVE)
Riven Passive Ability
Table of Contents
1Introduction2Getting Ready3Abilities |
4Itemization5Gameplay |
Commonly Used Abbreviations in this Guide|
Hi! I'm Khazem, a diamond rated League of Legends player. I've been playing this game since early season 1, playing mainly top lane in all that time. I started playing Riven on her release day in season 2 and loved her from the very first game. I never really took her very seriously though as I wasn't very good at her. Though in season 3 I started playing her more often and eventually became a Riven main and made it to Diamond. In this guide I will try and explain my method of being succesful with Riven and how to overcome some of her weaknesses. |
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Pros+ High Damage+ Two Steroids + Good Burst + Global
Ultimate+ Very Consistent + Disruptive
E+ Is Draven |
Riven's Strengths Draven's overall strength is the massive damage he can deal with little items. Spinning Axe provides a high percentual increase of his standard attacks based on his total AD which means that it scales perfectly to late-game. Blood Rush is an AS and movement speed steroid that can be kept up constantly. Additionally, he holds high base damage values on both his Stand Aside and Whirling Death which creates good burst at all stages of the game.
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Riven's Shortcomings Draven's main strength is also his main weakness. Spinning Axe causes Draven to have predictable movement which is pretty much a bad thing. Crowd control is even more of an enemy to Draven as any other AD carry because it can cause him to drop his Spinning Axe which lowers his damage output dramatically. Additionally, he has no real escape moves which makes him easier to lock down. |
Cons- No Real Escape- Tricky Playstyle - Allergic to CC - Situational Innate - Predictable Movement - Hard to Play - |
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FLASH
The best possible summoner spell for Riven. Often needed to enable aggressive plays in teamfights. Other than that it's very useful for chasing, dodging skillshots that would otherwise kill/CC you or escaping bad situations. |
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IGNITE
Used to finish people off/adding on to your all-in damage. Because Riven's main objective is to do damage and kill, this is the most suitable other summoner spell to choose next to Flash. |
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RUNES
The most standard runepage. The extra AD helps you last hit and deal more damage with your abilities/auto attacks. Armor and MR are defensive runes you'll need to have a stronger laning phase. Do not take armor penetration because Riven will still deal more damage to champions with AD runes as opposed to ARP runes for most of the game. Additionally, Valor scales with your AD.. |
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OFFENSE: 21
In the first tier you want to get the CDR over the attack speed because your damage (and defense) comes mainly from using your abilities more. Double-Edged Sword
is a good filler needed to get past tier 2.In the third tier I opt for Spell Weaving
because all Riven's abilities count as spells.
Executioner
works great with her ultimate and helps you secure kills.Follow up with Blade Weaving
to empower your abilities even more and put the remainder of your points into
Warlord
,
Devastating Strikes
and
Havoc
- all for more damage output.| |
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DEFENSE: 9
The other 9 points should go in defense to give you a few nice stats to increase your laning power. Both Block
and
Unyielding
are very good masteries to make you stronger in damage trades. I choose
Recovery
over
Enchanted Armor
because Riven generally doesn't get a whole lot of defensive stats so adding 5% to that won't make a very big difference. Then again, 5% is never all that great.| |
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RUNIC BLADE
Riven's abilities charge her blade, causing her to do a bonus 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 % of her total attack damage on her next autoattack. |
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details USEFUL TIPS
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BROKEN WINGS
Riven steps forward and lashes out in a series of powerful sword slashes that will damage all enemies nearby for 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+0.7 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and a total of 90 / 165 / 240 / 315 / 390 (+2.1 per bonus attack damage) physical damage. This ability can be activated a second time within 4 seconds, and a third time within 4 seconds of that. On the third activation she will also knock up nearby enemies and have a larger radius of damage. All three strikes will deal the same amount of damage. |
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details USEFUL TIPS
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KI BURST
Riven deals 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and stuns nearby enemies for 0.75 seconds. |
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details USEFUL TIPS
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VALOR
Riven dashes towards the cursor and gains a 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) shield for up to 2.5 seconds. |
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details USEFUL TIPS
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BLADE OF THE EXILE
Riven's sword reforms, gaining 20% bonus attack damage, extended range on her damaging abilities and autoattacks for 15 seconds. She is also granted the ability to use Wind Slash once for the duration. Riven can activate the ability to emit a shockwave in a long cone in front of her that deals a minimum of 80 / 120 / 160 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) and a maximum of 240 / 360 / 480 (+1.8 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to all units hit based on their missing health. |
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details USEFUL TIPS
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Broken Wings Ki Burst Valor Blade of the Exile |
1
Q |
2
W |
3
E |
4
Q |
5
Q |
6
R |
7
Q |
8
W |
9
Q |
10
W |
11
R |
12
W |
13
W |
14
E |
15
E |
16
R |
17
E |
18
E |
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This is the general ability sequence for
Riven. Q > W > E, R whenever possible. Regardless of what abilities you take at levels 1, 2 and 3, always make sure you have all 3 of your abilities when you hit level 3.In hard matchups or when you're generally having trouble in lane, max
Valor second.In certain matchups that require you to survive untill level 3, you can get a point in
Valor at level 2 or even level 1.
Before I make a list of what items are good to get, let me start of by explaining what stats to prioritize when building on Riven and why.
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ATTACK DAMAGE
All of Riven's abilities scale with AD, therefore it is the most important stat by far. Not only does it increase your damage, it also increases your defense through giving you a much stronger shield. Always look to build damage on Riven, even when behind. |
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COOLDOWN REDUCTION
Compliments all of Riven's strong points very nicely. If your cooldowns are lower, you can use your abilities more -> you do more damage, your mobility goes up and you get more shields. |
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ARMOR PENETRATION
People will usually build armor whenever a Riven starts to get fed. Getting armor penetration will help you bypass that armor so that you can still do a lot of damage. |
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LIFE STEAL
Because Riven doesn't have any innate sustain, she needs lifesteal to keep her health up so that she can keep putting pressure on her lane or even sustain a little in teamfights. |
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WARDING TOTEM
The trinket of choice for the early laning phase. You're not going to be able to buy a ward at the start so this will at least give you some vision when you really need it. |
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OR
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OR
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OR
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Pretty common starting build. Usually paired with lifesteal quints, this start gives you a good mix of damage, survivability and sustain. | |
The ideal starting build if you're looking for early kills. A red elixir gives you more kill potential than a Doran's Blade does. However, you really need to make it count as it's a 350 gold investment that doesn't otherwise build into anything else. | |
My preferred starting build when laning against a safe ranged opponent. It gives you all the lane sustain you need to get the levels you need to go aggressive. As mentioned before, the alternative is a Doran's Shield, but having only 1 Health Potion makes this risky in some scenarios. |
Good start in an easy lane matchup. Allows you to get a very quick brutalizer and snowball the lane. | |
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THE CORE BUILD
These are the 3 main items you want to make your build around. Gives you a good mix of all the important stats you need to kill stuff. | |
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THE BLOODTHIRSTER |
VS.
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RAVENOUS HYDRA |
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+ Has more AD and Lifesteal than a Hydra when stacked. + Is 100 gold cheaper. + Earlier power spike when buying B. F. Sword over Pickaxe and Long Sword.- Lose stacks on death. - B. F. Sword is a 1550 gold investment. |
+ Stronger waveclear without having to use abilities. + Gives you an extra damage proc every 10 seconds. + Doesn't require stacking. - Less overall damage. - Requires more item slots to build up unless you have a lot of gold. | |
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THE BLOODTHIRSTER |
THE BRUTALIZER |
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Alternative to the Ravenous Hydra as main AD item. While it has the potential to do more damage than a hydra, you need to be at max stats for it to really be worth getting over one. Only get this if you're very far ahead. | |
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ARMOR |
MAGIC RESISTANCE |
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RANDUIN'S OMEN Makes it harder for AD carries to kite you and gives you some nice defense against them and other auto attackers in general. The on use slow is also very nice for catching up to people or even for peeling if needed. |
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BANSHEE'S VEIL Grants you some good defenses against an AP heavy team with the added bonus of a shield that can block a key ability. | |
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GUARDIAN ANGEL If you're just getting blown up in teamfights you can get one of these. Strong item to get if you're ahead, the only melee threat or if you know you're about to go for an important teamfight. | |
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MAW OF MALMORTIUS One of the more powerful defensive items for Riven as it also grants her some AD which adds to her shield strength. If magic damage bothers you, this item and its magic shield will help you a ton. |
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SPIRIT VISAGE Grants you some good defenses against an AP heavy team with the added bonus of some extra healing from your lifesteal items and some CDR if you aren't already capped. Recommended over Banshee's Veil in most scenarios. |
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MERCURIAL SCIMITAR Gets rid of stuns, slows and also that pesky Exhaust. Recommended defensive item if you're facing strong crowd control. |
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IONIAN BOOTS OF LUCIDITY
In most games, these will be the boots you want to get. They're a very cheap source of a good chunk towards your CDR cap and grant you a LOT of extra moblity. |
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ENCHANTMENT: DISTORTION
By far the best enchantment for Riven just because it reduces the cooldown of your best friend Flash. More flashes = more plays.| |
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MERCURY'S TREADS
Probably the only viable source of tenacity for top lane Riven. If you're having a lot of trouble getting onto your desired targets because of CC, get these. | |
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ENCHANTMENT: HOMEGUARD
If you're recalling and you're in a rush to get somewhere you can buy this enchantment. It really doesn't have many uses beyond that for Riven so avoid this if you can, but buy them if you must. |
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So now I've listed all the items that are good to buy, you still need to be able to make a good build using those items. Knowing what items to get comes with experience but here's a couple of standard guidelines. |
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STARTING
Start with any of the above listed starting items, depending on what your lane opponent is. For example: If you're against a Lee Sin you're probably going to have a lot of early fights -> buy an Elixir of Fortitude. |
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GETTING THE CORE
Next up is your core build. The Brutalizer is a very strong early game item, but it doesn't do well versus an opponent who's ahead and stacking armor. In fact, it doesn't work very well as a first item when you're behind at all. You'll also usually want to purchase your boots somewhere in here.When not ahead: Rush Ravenous Hydra followed by Last WhisperEven or slightly ahead: The Brutalizer -> Ravenous Hydra -> Boots -> Last WhisperSnowballing out of control: The Brutalizer -> Bloodthirster -> Last Whisper -> Ravenous Hydra -> Boots |
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FINISHING THE BUILD
So at this point you should have 4 completed items. Boots, a main AD item ( Ravenous Hydra or Bloodthirster), The Brutalizer and Last Whisper. Now it's time to determine wether or not you need/want a defensive item. If yes, choose a defensive item accordingly. If no, get more offense! Good items to get at this point are either of the 2 The Brutalizer upgrades or another strong AD item (BT if you have hydra, hydra if you have BT)Don't forget to upgrade your boots and your trinket. |
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The laning phase is probably the most important phase in the game for Riven. She's a very lane dominant champion that when given a finger takes an arm and will snowball out of control. If you play your laning phase well and win it, you will always have a big impact on the game. In most lanes you'll want to just start with your Broken Wings and try to hit level 2 before your laning opponent without pushing your lane too hard. This is done by comparing your creeps' health with their creeps' health. If your opponent started Cloth Armor or Doran's Shield, avoid trading with them before you hit level 2.When you hit level 2, you can try and pull off the ol' level 2 cheese, where if your opponent is near you as the creep you need to hit level 2 dies, you pop your red pot as the creep is dying, level your W while you're hitting him with your first Q and AA, hit him with the W + ignite and go for the kill. Do note: This isn't a very reliable first blood method anymore because it's been played out pretty hard and people will see it coming from a mile away, but that shouldn't stop you from trying anyway! So now you've got your lane pushing. If you were able to chunk your opponent, just continue to slow push the lane. If not, you can go ahead and shove it into the tower in order to reset it. After you've pushed it all the way, go and place your Trinket Ward. |
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The idea behind these ward spots is that junglers will usually cross these paths when ganking your lane. While these aren't 100% consistent, they are the most reliable early warding spots. Once you've gained an advantage and you reset your lane by pushing it under the turret, it should now be pushing and you should be looking to freeze. Freezing the lane is done by keeping the amount of enemy minions higher than yours while making sure they don't get too close to your turret. The sweet spot for freezing a lane shown below. |
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As you can clearly see, there are more enemy minions than there are allied minions. This ensures that my minions always die first and so the lane will stay around that area for as long as I want it to be. This allows me to zone my lane opponent if I am far enough ahead to do so. | |
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Teamfighting on Riven can be pretty difficult to pull off. People recognize her as a pretty big threat and will act really careful around you if you're fed, as well as focusing you with a lot of crowd control. Being a good Riven means playing around that and getting to the targets you want to be getting to. Riven's main role in teamfights will always be doing damage. It's not your job to protect your AD carry from their front line and it's not your job to CC key targets. Your job is to get in their backline and kill their carries. The most reliable way of doing this is with Flash. Try and sneak around the battlefield and get into a good position where you can approach their backline as the teamfight erupts. Use the chaos of it all to Flash onto your target, stun and kill em.If their backline is strong and well-protected, always wait for them to be occupied with someone else. Riven needs the element of suprise to be able to really get in there and do some serious damage. If they know you're there, they're just going to CC and kill you instantly. If getting onto their backline really isn't an option, you can stay with your team and help them kill whoever jumps in. See hero kill hero. |
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AATROX
x4
More Information |
ELISE
x2
x4
More Information |
NASUS
x3/4
More Information |
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NIDALEE
More Information |
RENGAR
x3/4
More Information |
TRYNDAMERE
x4
More Information |
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VLADIMIR
More Information |
IRELIA
x4
More Information |
JAX
x4
More Information |
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LEE SIN
x4
More Information |
RUMBLE
x4
More Information |
SHEN
x4
More Information |
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ZAC
x4
More Information |
GAREN
x4
More Information |
RENEKTON
x4
More Information |
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THE WALL JUMP
Let's start off with the most commonly used and probably also the most useful trick, the wall jump. Ever since patch 3.8, Riven has the ability to jump over certain walls and objects using the third activation of Broken Wings.While this does require some practice to master, it's not a very hard trick to actually do. Here's a video properly displaying this technique. |
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USING
VALOR TO CANCEL ANIMATIONS
You can cancel the animation of Riven's Broken Wings (all 3 activations) and Blade of the Exile by using them during the animation of Valor. Simply tap your E and the desired ability in rapid succession to cancel the animation of the second ability. This is mostly used to remove the long cast time on Blade of the Exile.| |
CANCELLING THE ANIMATION ON
TIAMAT/HYDRA
If you've built these items before I'm sure you'll have noticed these too have an annoying little cast animation. But once again, we can cancel that animation using Riven's abilities. This is also a fairly easy trick to do. The best way to do this is to use a Ki Burst at the same time you're using your Hydra/Tiamat. This will display the Ki Burst animation while showing the AoE particles of the Hydra/Tiamat. |
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USING
TIAMAT/HYDRA TO REMOVE
KI BURST'S CAST TIME
This is more of a damage combo but also a form of animation cancelling. This is used to gapclose and stun without having to stop moving. This is done by activating your Hydra/Tiamat during the animation of Valor, after which you instantly press Ki Burst and Broken WingsNote: If you're doing the same thing but going for a kill, you can use your Blade of the Exile at the same time you're using Ki Burst in previous combo. |
CANCELLING THE ANIMATION ON
WIND SLASH
Another useful trick if you're chasing and can't afford to lose seconds. Cancel the casting animation of Wind Slash by casting it at the same time as a Broken Wings activation.| |
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all these techniques. Click To View On Youtube |
THE QUICK COMBO
Mainly used for clearing jungle or fighting stationary targets, this trick allows you to attack faster than you usually could by interrupting the casting animation of your Broken Wings activations. This is a bit trickier to do than Riven's other tricks.You attack something with Broken Wings. While Riven is performing her animation, you give her a movement command away from the target and then quickly auto attack that target and you repeat this 3 times. You have to be really quick about the movement and auto attack commands or it won't be worth it. |
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Click To View On Youtube |
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