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Do your best to dodge her E. After her E is down, if she stays too close, don't be afraid to look for an all-in on her. You can kill her from full if you combo correctly once her E is down if she doesn't immediately run away. Be careful of her ulting you as you go to ult her. Combat this by trying to bait her ultimate or by using your ult while she is cc'd from your W stun or your 3rd Q knock up.
Cho'Gath
2 if he goes tank, maybe a 1. 3 if he goes AP. It's easy to dodge his Q. Be careful of getting randomly hit by his spikes as he goes to auto a minion.
Darius
Similar to Tryndamere. Riven wins if she doesn't make any big mistakes. There are a few things to watch out for in the Darius matchup. One is obviously the outside of his q. Luckily it's pretty easy for Riven to juke it with her Q or E. The second thing is be careful of getting pulled back in after you do your combo. You want to make sure you short trade with him and leave while he is stunned. If you stay too long, you're going to get pulled back and he will hit you really hard on your way back to the turret. The other thing to keep in mind is that most Darius players run Nimbus Cloak with Ghost, so you really have to be careful about trading in the early levels when you don't have CDR. If you use too many abilities and you can't get out, he will instantly ghost and run you down all the way to your turret.
Dr. Mundo
One of Riven's easiest matchups. He has nothing to stop you from unleashing your full combo against him. The most he can do is q every minion until it gets to later in the game. If he is doing this, try to use your E to block some of his cleavers at the last second to make sure he doesn't get the minion(especially the cannon minion!). The only thing you need to be careful of is his early damage with his E. His autos smack hard if you let him hit you while your abilities are on cooldown. Get him low enough where you are able to kill him before he heals up from his ultimate. Clip of me 1v2 vs. Mundo & Voyboy
https://clips.twitch.tv/ZealousFaintDunlinImGlitch
Fiora
Riven vs. Fiora is a skill matchup, but as it currently stands Fiora is much more likely to win it. It doesn’t mean you can’t win though; you have to fight fire with fire. When she Q’s to you, immediately stun her, auto attack, then E away. If you can, try to save your E in case she tries to parry your w or 3rd Q. If your hard CC gets parried and you get stunned, you will die. There should be enough time for you to bait out her parry with your w or 3rd q then E to the side quickly before it lands. Once her parry is on cooldown, you have a good amount of time to look for an all-in. Her parry cooldown is 24 seconds at level one and she usually maxes it last. If she tries to play aggressive with her parry on cooldown, just all-in her. When she ults you, try to keep one vital pressed up against the wall so that she doesn’t get every vital on you and heal up. Executioner's is a good early pick-up.
Gangplank
I don't go against many gangplanks when I play in low rank because he's hard to play and he's not very popular. I think Riven actually wins the matchup in low ranks against bad Gangplanks because they get too close, and they don't know how to utilize their barrels properly, but if the Gangplank knows what he's doing, you can't do anything vs. him in the early game. Your goal is to farm in the early game and do your best to react to his Q on you with your E. Once you get a little bit of CDR, you can jump on him pretty easily and combo him down. I can't give Gangplank an accurate rating because depending on how good the player is, it goes from a 1 all the way to a 5.
Garen
4.5 if you're bad. 2.5 if you're good. You need to shield his Q and remember to not unleash your combo when he uses his W. There is a visual indicator when he uses his W and he will gain a shield + 30% damage reduction for .75 seconds. Wait until that wears off, then throw everything at him. It's much easier if he goes grasp + tanky build rather than the conqueror + berserker's greaves + triforce build.
Gnar
Gnar is somewhere between a 2 and a 3. A Gnar should be able to poke you a decent amount in the early game while you're focused on farming. You can't realistically jump on him early game with such low CDR unless he didn't go resolve, and you can manage to bait out his jump. A good Gnar will know how to hold his jump though, so be careful not to take too bad of a trade trying to bait it out. Most of the time in higher ranks, I'll start Doran's Shield and try farming up, but in lower ranks, going long sword + 3 pots is definitely not a bad choice. It also opens the option of cheesing in a bush at level 1 that you can do a lot if you are blue side. Gnar is super weak in ranged form, so if he facechecks the tri-bush that you're sitting in while he's walking to lane after leashing red, you can one shot him with a basic fast q combo; just make sure you start it off with an auto attack.
Gragas
Gragas top isn't meta currently(10.16), but it always comes back around eventually. When Gragas top is meta, he's a problem for Riven. His E completely counters her, and his W auto attack can go through your stun and knockup. He also has low mana costs, and good health sustain, so it's hard to get him to run out of mana without you losing too much health unlike the Maokai matchup. With that being said, there are still things you can do to win this matchup. Try to wait until he uses his q to poke/farm, so he can't get a free Q on you after he E's you in a trade. Also try to make sure you don't 3rd Q into him without having your W up if you can, so he isn't able to knock you out of your 3rd Q animation. Gragas out trades Riven in short trades, but when his E is down, you can look for an all in, but be aware that he can try to ult you away.
Illaoi
A good Illaoi can definitely be obnoxious for Riven. Her kit is lame where her power is overloaded into her one ability, her E. If she ever hits you with it in the lane phase, and you don't already have a significant health advantage, or if she isn't in a huge minion wave of yours, you just have to leave, and kill the tentacles that spawn. Do your best to hide behind minions, so she can't E you. But don't play too passive though. If you let her push into your turret, you won't have any minions to hide behind, and you will be pressured for every minion you try to last hit by her E and Q. The good news here is that Riven is good about dodging her passive tentacle slams with her Q and E. Riven also scales better into the late game than Illaoi. So if you have a bad early game, just DO your best to farm what you can and wait until teamfights where Illaoi gets kited easily, and DO NOT call your melee jungler to come gank her when you're already behind, or you guys will get 1v2'd. That's what Illaoi wants. She excels when people come to her, but struggles when people just avoid her.
Irelia
There are a couple things to watch out for vs. Irelia: 1) Watch out for her E stun; it will allow her to jump to you an extra time for free. 2) When she uses her W, similar to when Garen uses W, you should not pour your entire combo onto her as it gives her massive damage reduction. Keep auto attacking her while she has it active – you can’t interrupt it with your CC. Once it’s over you can use the rest of your abilities on her.
Jarvan IV
Whenever Jarvan is meta top, he's a pretty easy matchup. He's really easy to combo, and you only have to watch out for his E Q combo, which is pretty easy to juke. The only time this matchup is ever a problem is when they're so pussy that they max W first. The only insect that would ever do this is King Nidhogg though, so if you're not against him, you should be fine.
Jax
You have to do short trades with Jax and get him lower first. If you manage your cooldowns correctly, he can't outplay you. The best and safest way to trade vs. Jax is to stagger your Q, knock him up with 3rd Q as he walks up to a minion, Auto, then W. If he tries to jump on you after, you can just E Q away from him. Rinse and repeat.
Jayce
Hard to rate this one because this matchup is like a 3 in most ranks until you get to D1+ where it becomes a 4-5. Look to all in him as soon as he switches to ranged form because he has a cooldown before he can switch back to melee form and knock you away.
Kayle
Kayle is one of Riven's easiest matchups. Just stand in front of every minion she wants to go for while her q is down, and full combo her. It's easy to dive her too once you poke her down a little bit. At level 6, it's easy to all in her, and keep in mind that her ult at lvl 1 is an insanely long cooldown, so you can punish her whenever she uses that. Try to not let your ult go into her ult. Make sure she is stunned or knocked up when you ult so you can kill her before she can use it.
Kennen
You want to take the legend: tenacity rune and build mercury treads against Kennen. It will make this matchup significantly easier. Go Doran's Shield and farm up until you get your warhammer. You can look at all inning Kennen with a staggered E, R, 3rd Q as long as he doesn't have any stacks of his W on you already and preferably when his E is on cooldown.
Kled
There are a few things to watch out for in this matchup: 1) Watch out for her E stun; it will allow her to jump to you an extra time for free. 2) When she uses her W, similar to when Garen uses W, you should not pour your entire combo on to her as it gives her massive damage reduction. Keep auto attacking her while she has it active – you can’t interrupt it with your CC. Once it’s over you can use the rest of your abilities on her.
Lissandra
Lissandra is definitely one of the easier ranged matchups. She doesn't do as much early poke, and it's not difficult to jump on her either. Her disengage consist of a stun and a delayed blink. The trick is to use the stun at the exact moment where when your stun will end, it will be too late for the Lissandra to reactivate her E. Against a good Lissandra, she will stun you right before you get to that moment so that she can still jump away, but it's still a long cooldown before she can use that again, so it's another window that you can look to jump on her. She also gets destroyed by you going mercury treads into Legend: Tenacity.
Malphite
The trick with Malphite is to make him use his mana while your abilities are up. Don’t do full trades against him, but also do your best to not let his passive keep coming back up. It’s important to realize what the win condition is for Malphite by looking at his runes. If he has Arcane Comet and Inspiration he will have more mana to work with and is looking at maxing his Q for poke. If he goes Grasp or Aftershock with Inspiration, then he is looking to max his W or E. In these scenarios, use your W and 3rd Q to stop his autos to win trades.
Maokai
Despite what every other low elo Riven main claims, Riven actually beats Maokai in lane when played correctly. The most important thing is to not get knocked back by his Q when you're trading with him WHILE YOUR SHIELD IS NOT UP. His Q and W are what you have to watch out for in this matchup. It's why W into 3rd Q is a really important combo in this matchup. If you don't 3rd Q immediately after your W, then he can use either his W to cancel the damage and knock up(which means another auto) of your 3rd Q, or he can knock you out of your animation with Q and disengage.
Mordekaiser
Mordekaiser shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as you dodge the ability that pulls you in. You also need to try to dodge or at the very least shield his q's. Try not to fight him in his ult if you both are full health he has lots of stats. Just do your best to run around stalling his ultimate; do this by utilizing your shield, 3rd q, and stun. This is one of the few matchups I would recommend taking ignite against so that you can have a better chance fighting him in his ult if running isn't an option. Essence reaver can also be a nice choice into Mordekaiser.
Ornn
Ornn has received multiple nerfs for his presence in pro play, but he's not a problem for Riven in solo queue once you learn how to deal with him. You can bully him in the early game by dashing through his w so that you don't get hit with the brittle. And if he does hit you with the brittle part, just immediately stun into 3rd Q, auto, then E away. It's really easy to bait his e(knockup) with your Q and E. It's also super important to remember to save hard CC for the second part of his ultimate. You shouldn't be getting hit with the knockup of his ult when you are going all in on him. Try to all in him whenever his E is on cooldown. You can kill him before he gets his 2nd back. After that, you kill him once you get your Black Cleaver powerspike.
Poppy
This match up ranges from a 4 to a 5 depending on how meta she is, and if the enemy player only picked Poppy to counterpick you. Similar to Maokai, you have to use W into 3rd Q very often in this matchup if not more. If you don't, she will react to your 3rd Q with her W which will damage you, knock you up, slow you, and ground you. It's also likely you get combo'd into the wall with her E after. It's very important to not let her react to your 3rd Q with it, so only 3rd Q her if she's either out of mana, or you have her stunned already. If you do have to pop her W and get it over with, so you can use your other abilities, use your e, so that it shields the damage from her W and whatever comes after. And obviously don't stay close to walls or you're just asking to die(sadly this includes your own turret too, especially if she has the shield from her passive active).
Renekton
You should just ban this champion ever since he got his shield breaker. If you are somehow playing against him, you have to fight fire with fire. The only way for you to BEAT him is to all in him after you bait out his abilities. It's generally going to be safer to just sit back and farm the best you can. You beat him after 2-3 items if even in gold. Don't forget to farm camps to stay even, and do your best to not let him get your plates.
Rumble
Start Doran's shield. Rumble usually won't walk up pre-6. Once you get your R though, it's usually pretty easy to kill him with a staggered E, R, 3rd Q like most matchups.
Sett
The most important thing to watch out for in this matchup is his E which pulls you towards him. You have to make sure there isn't an enemy on both sides of him because that's what puts a 1 second stun on you. In lane, this is usually only a worry when he starts running past your minions where he will try to make sure he only pulls you with a minion behind him. Do your best to try to make sure you can line up at an angle where there is no minion on the other side. You can also counter this by staying aggressive in lane, and push towards his side. That way, if he tries to run into wave to stun you, he will take more damage than you in return from minion aggro. It's not a problem if he pulls you when you won't be stunned because you can just W, Auto, and E away. The next thing you have to watch for is obviously try not to get hit by the middle of his W which does true damage. The last thing thing to watch out for which is going to be the difference in you getting a kill or not is how you play around his ult suppression and W shield. You need to try to make sure, similar to Maokai or Poppy, that you W into 3rd Q if his ultimate is up, because you don't want him to ult you in the middle of your 3rd Q animation. We can't let a free knockup and Q damage go away. Alternatively, you can try to bait out his ultimate before you have to do that, then just 3rd Q right after it ends. It's better if you can do this because you can save your CC to prevent him from using his massive shield, and you can kill him before he gets to use his giant shield. This happens far more often than you would think. I think Riven wins this matchup pretty easily, and it's a fun one; it just takes a little bit of experience.
Shen
I think Shen typically wins this lane right now just because he's a little overpowered as a champion, but with that being said, I'm putting it as even because I think Riven deals with Shen better than most champions, and when Shen isn't overpowered Riven wins this lane. Two important things in this lane is to 1)dodge his taunt and 2)don't fight him while his dodge ability is active. Be careful of his first two levels. He has a really strong early game especially since his new passive buff. Once his taunt and his dodge ability are on cooldown, you can look at all inning him if you have poked him down hard enough. This matchup gets significantly easier after you get your Black Cleaver.
Singed
Against Singed, you need to watch out for getting flung into his W where you will be snared and grounded where you can't use any of your abilities, then he will just make you run through his poison to get back to your turret. Another thing to be careful about is getting flung in the middle of your third Q animation. To counteract this, you need to try to make sure you're far enough away where he can't start the animation while you're in mid-air. You can short trade(Q, W, Auto) vs him when he goes for a minion. If you know he's running at you trying to fling, it's ok to shield and let him fling you. You won't take too much damage, and he will eventually run out of mana doing that. Try not to fight him if he uses his ult when he has a lot of health. You can look to all in him when his fling is off cooldown.
Sion
Sion is pretty easy to play around; short trades are very straightforward. Just make sure you save your E to get out after or you will take return damage from his Q. Be careful about taking long trades as you might think it’s a good idea to keep hitting him after you CC him while he’s charging his Q. He actually gets a refund on the cooldown of his Q when it gets cancelled, so he’ll still be able to hit you with it on your way out.
Tryndamere
This matchup is similar to Jax in the sense that I believe Riven wins this matchup if she doesn't make mistakes, but that's not always realistic, and I think Tryndamere can capitalize on her mistakes harder. Short trades are a must in this matchup. Don't fight him the first two levels. Trade into him normally, but save your 3rd Q to knock him up when he goes to E onto you are you trade vs. him. It's worth noting that it's worth it for you to throw your second R to get his ultimate out of the way early. When he ults, just try to stall as long as you can, but remember not to let him get away after if you can.
Urgot
This matchup isn't too bad if you're good at dodging his E. If you're in lower ranks, it's not too hard to bait it out, then you beat him afterwards. But if you ever do get hit by his E, you lose the trade. HARD
Volibear
This could potentially be a 5, but for one, he's about to get nerfed as I'm writing this. The other thing is that Volibear is only really a problem for you in the early/mid game. Once you get your Black Cleaver and start getting close to your Death's Dance, the matchup isn't nearly as bad. You will start to outscale him pretty fast, just get Doran's Shield in this matchup and farm the best you can in the early lane phase. Outplay wise, just make sure you dodge his circle AOE slow ability.
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