Riven Build Guide by Subset

Introduction

Welcome to my Riven guide. I will not go over every aspect of Riven, if you wish to learn about Riven, learn from Blakhart's Riven Guide. When I first played Riven, I used that guide, and it really helped. I do not prefer his style of playing, which isn't bad, but doesn't function with me.

Also, even though I do love building Riven more bursty rather than tanky, this guide is based a bit more on tankiness. Keep that in mind. You may alter the build to what meets your standards.

Do give feedback and have a good time on the Fields of Justice.

Pros / Cons

Runes/Masteries

I went with 9 Greater Mark of Desolation for the fact that almost any AD/Jungler will want these runes. It's pretty much the meta.

I went with 9 Greater Seal of Armor since Riven has the WORST sustain in the jungle by far (afaik with every other jungler I play). The armor will keep you in there for a while until you get a / / .

I went with 9 Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist because it is by far, imo again, the best choice for rune selection. It grants MR over time, so you will be gain MR as your opponents get stronger.

For Quints, this one is really questionable. I can clear the jungle with 3 Greater Quintessence of Desolation without dying, but it is brutal. Riven could use the extra Attack Damage from Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage to make her early game jungle better. After all, Riven excels late game by getting a good early game.

What can I say? for the fact it does grant early sustain in jungle. All the points that give damage should be taken such as , , . Riven needs to kill things FAST or she probably may die. Sadly.

You also want because it allows you to gank more often with buffs, and yeah. Longer buffs = Better.

Items

I start and 5 because it has the most early game sustain. is also a choice, but considering Riven has quite a bit of early jungle sustain problems, it's best to start safe. Besides, it allows you to gank at 2/3 with health without having to recall .

I like to get on my first recall as mobility is great on any jungler. It benefits in ganks, and getting the extra gap closing ability allows you to use your 3rd charge of Broken Wings to make the most out of the knockback (lets you get in front of them easier so you can knock 'em back). After that, I get a to get some sustain going. From there, you can finish your .

KEEP IN MIND THAT EVEN THOUGH YOU AREN'T A SUPPORT, YOU SHOULD STILL BUY A WARD AFTER EVERY RECALL. EVEN IF YOU HAVE A WRIGGLES WARD, GET A WARD.

Finish your then work towards your . Some people may question, "why get that?" is incredible. It gives Armor, Magic Resist, Health, and Damage. It also grants an aura that does so too! Riven is all over the place in a teamfight, and people will definitely benefit from it.

Why I got Mercury's Treads over others:
I chose those boots because even if the other team has a lot of AD, I feel like the tenacity is great as Riven and having the ability to move around more freely in a skirmish will allow you to get maximum damage output.

From there, I recommend getting a bit more damage with an item such as and , then start building situationally.

If they are...

• AD heavy - build a asap. This grants you MR and Armor along with a self-revive.
  
• Tanky - Build a then create a . This will give you the damage you need since tankier teams don't deal out as much damage as a bursty team would. A is also a great choice here.
  
• AP heavy - You could go for a and isn't a bad idea either. If it comes down to a point where it's brutal, go

As soon as you feel like you've built against the opposing team enough, start finishing your late game items. Upgrade that into a . Also upgrade that into a .

If you feel like you need more damage, you could replace the ol' Wriggle's Lantern with a . Though the extra ward is quite handy and good when you have no item slots to purchase wards.

Quick recap; TLDR:

So a recap of what just was explained:

Starting Items:
x5

Early Game:


Core Items:


Situational Items:


Late Game Items:


Heres a look of how I built against an opposing team with a Garen/ Alistar/ Graves.

Summoner Spells

Why not? It's by far the best choice for a jungler. It allows you to snipe baron/dragon/buff kills without having to worry too much about the enemy jungler's Smite.

This is entirely up to you. Personally I think Riven has the greatest juking abilities in the world. I once kited a Viktor when I was about 10% health through three different bushes, using Ki Burst, Valor, and Broken Wings, slowly killing him. Eventually, I stunned him once more and attacked him down.

Flash is great for those moments when you need to jump over a bigger wall or someone jumped over the wall with their Flash. It's a very versatile move.


This is, personally, my favorite spell, but I don't feel like it's worth it on Riven. I tend to notice that people like to kill you first, and getting over the wall and re-entering a fight will prove better results. Again, it's a great choice over Flash if you prefer it.

Gameplay

Again, I will not go through every aspect of Riven. Check the link above for that.

As Riven, I feel like you can do some great initiation with a combo.

I feel that your ultimate should be popped not before the fight, but somewhere after your first rotation combo (i.e. after your Broken Wings and Ki Burst).

Riven benefits greatly from her passive, and every stack after the third one is wasted on nothing. But sometimes, this is necessary.

In a traditional fight, you could AAAAAAAA. But there are times where distance needs to be closed, and you would to catch up.

I see Riven to have no particular pattern in fighting, as every fight is different, you need to change accordingly. It's not just your typical max damage rotation.

Playing Riven defensively is quite fun. You would use to get away, but if they catch up to you, you would use . I also use my last charge of to knock them back if they are chasing me, giving me opportunities to either or .

Riven has great chasing ability and also has the ability to back up if you do manage to extend too far. Keep in mind that you are pretty beefy while dealing BS amounts of damage.

Also, don't forget to use your 's Wind Slash even if they have a lot of health. It's free damage gone to waste if you don't use it during the whole ultimate duration. Keep in mind also that your Wind Slash does more damage based on health missing, much like Garen's Demacian Justice.

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JUKING

I'm only giving one example of juking which I find to be very helpful. When Riven gets in a tight spot and you feel like you won't live, look at this diagram.

I drew it, it loops at a certain point. Just rinse repeat.

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Now Riven has many utility to a team fight. She's great at interrupting stuff. See a Fiddlesticks using his Crowstorm? Ki Burst or 3rd usage of Broken Wings.

You could interrupt a lot of champions such as:
Fiddlesticks - his Drain and Crowstorm pre-channel
Nunu - Absolute Zero can wipe a team out
Katarina - Death Lotus
Anivia - her Glacial Storm (stops channeling if she gets interrupted somehow)
Galio - you might need a Banshee's Veil to do this one
Malzahar - Nether Grasp
Karthus - I think Requiem is interruptible if he is alive
Janna - Monsoon
Lux - Finales Funkeln
Master Yi - Meditate
Miss Fortune - Bullet Time
Pantheon - Grand Skyfall
Shen - Stand United
Twisted Fate - his Destiny teleport in case he tries to get away/leave
Teleport - sometimes they get away when they have this on other heroes I play
Urgot - Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverse
Warwick - Infinite Duress

Jungle

Jungling as Riven can and probably will be the bane of your existence. It is by far the worst sustain I've ever seen. Anyways, here we go.


Credits to PsiGuard for the jungle route.

Anyways, I don't intend that you should follow this route 100%. I believe this should be the ORDER of what you should kill, rather than the path. Riven is a great ganker and should make use of her ganks after getting blue buff.

So you may think, "why blue buff on Riven?" Well, simple. It makes jungle sustain better (more stuns, more shields, more passives) and it gets you to level 3, to get that extra gap closer on your first gank. I say this should be your only blue buff that you personally get, as other champions may benefit more from it later.

So the ideal times to gank would be:

• upon reaching level 3 (though you could at level 2)
• upon getting blue/red buff
• when the lanes seem to need help

Now the guide to the jungle to sustain the most health.
1. Start at Double Golems, it's really nice to get a leash here. Smite the big golem at 445- health, then kill the other one. Pop a .
2. Go to wraiths, run to the center of the wraith camp and try to land Broken Wings on 3 or 4 wraiths, primarily focusing your passive on the larger wraith. Pop a here. Proceed to wolves.
3. Same procedure as before, kill them dogs. Pop a after the fight. Proceed to Blue Golem.
4. Use another before this fight, and make sure you do the rotation and make 100% use of your passive. Try knocking every mob back, and stunning as well.
5. If you still have another potion, use it then gank top or mid.

You should then either Recall or gank mid or top. If you choose to recall, pick up and gank a lane. From this point on, you should be fine on jungling and finish the route.

For those who do not know the Riven rotation, it goes as follows (AA means auto attack):
AAAAAAAAAA.

Also, a table for :

Summary

I hope you enjoyed my views on Riven. I play with some people and they tell me I should just solo top as Riven (I do sometimes). I just wanted to share the potential Riven has in the jungle though there are much better jungle picks.

I do ask for feedback to see how I did on this and to see what changes I should make.