Riven Build Guide by steinhorn

Introduction

Wasup, so Riven: She is heavily under played, under rated, BUT very Powerful. On Riven you can rape solo top and she is really fun to play. Do please note that this guide is not the ONE AND ONLY way to play riven but rather the way I enjoy playing her solo top.
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NOTE

this guide is stil under construction... so it is of now, not "perfect"

Video Guide on This Riven Build

This Video is NOT, i repeat NOT perfect,
but i do hope that it will support what this guide is trying to show.

Please do take the time to watch it and feel free to comment on possible improvements.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
INSANE mobility
easy 1v2
good CC
scales well on AD
can be built both ad and tanky
can be jungled
very addaptable
usefull in Lv. 1 teamfights

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Cons:
when focussed she is dead
can be countered by stuns and hard cc

Mastery and Runes

Ok, just a small point on masteries:
You dont need any points in the support tree for you got no mana anyway.
The 9 points in the defence tree allow you some early game suvivability so that if you do
have to solo against two opponents they wont instantly melt you... this is vital for Riven heavily relies on good early game farm and some early kills.

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Runes:
Greater Mark of Desolation for damage
Greater Seal of Armor and Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist to survive top lane even if you are up 1v2
and greater Quint of Strength for that early - mid game damage which helps you farm and harass.

Summoner Spells

so summoner spells:
GET exhaust/ignite and flash!

Exhaust allows gives you another viable CC and will save your live or secure you a kill.
With Exhaust you will be impossible to Gank and impossible to escape from. Exhaust will however not be as viable against some champions with good escape machanisms

Now to ignite. Ignite is very important for two reasons the first of which may seem somewhat odd. When your opponent is tower diving you and you ignite him, he will often flee, thinking that you will now unleash some damage combo. This really works and especially in a 1v2 this allows you to "remove" one opponent from the fight for a short period of time. Furthermore, the 5 attack damage that you gain whilst Ignite is on CD, give you some extra presence in lane. And finally, the obvious reason for taking exhaust is to secure your kills and to counter summoner heal and self heal abilities...

Flash is just the all round best summoners spell and ads greatly to your allready high mobility. Take it and it will save your *** and secure you kill, guaranteed.

when playing solo top a final viable option is teleport which will allow you to back more often and will probably save you a tower or win you a tower. I personally prefer the ignite though since when you are winning your lane, going back to buy will not be a problem :)

Items

Sooo, about items:
My item build may be rather different from other riven builds but it is, erm, more fun.
I enjoy building ATLEAST one The Bloodthirster for insane dammage and sustain in a 1v1.

The farming and stacking of the bloodthirster is no problem on riven due to her good mid-late game farming potential(q,w,q,q combo). Trinity Force is an optional item and it may be sufficient to build a sheen and then a frozen mallet for some Survivability. Trinity Force does push you damage quite a bit but relies heavily on you mastering you skills and auto attack rotation. The [infinity edge] is a late game option or a plan B if you cant get your The Bloodthirster stacked. The Crits from infinity edge will be very high and melt opponents like Teemo almost instantly.
gives you a realy good boost on damage and sustain
huge crits which allow you to melt you opponents
more cc and some survivability for late game teamfights

Grants you great survivability together with guardian angel and boost your damage at the same time.
NOTE ON TRINITY FORCE: Trinity Force has some stats on it that do not realy benefit Riven at all and so it is often sufficeint to build a Sheen. The Trinity Force is stil a nice item due to its slow ect. though. Up to you what you want to build!
If you would prefer not to waste gold on stats that you may not need, The Brutalizer could be a replacement for the Sheen.

Further Items Of Interest:
some damage and some nice survivability that works nicely with Valor
more damage through ad, armor pen and crit chance aswell as a very usefull active that adds further to your already very good mobility

Farming

When farming early game, move in with Valor spell, get the last hit stun the opponent if he aproaches, then jump away with your Broken Wings spells.
This works 1v2 no problem but be careful if you are up against a ranged AD who is strong early game, like Corki. The shield of you e spell should be able to handle 2 auto attacks or so early game so you should be safe.

How to Kill your opponent/Skill sequence

Now let us look at 3 scenarios:
1. the opponent engages you: when this happens you should do one of two things, either lead the way with the stun from Ki Burst if you know that you are up against a burst champion like poppy, OR, start with Valor for that early damage absorption and to proc your passive Runic Blade.You have to use you passive like a Sheen, ability-auto attack-ability-auto attack, this will maximize your damage.

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2. you engage an opponent that is close by: pop ultimate, Valor spell into range, exhaust, first activation of Broken Wings, auto attack, stun with Ki Burst, auto attack, second activation of Broken Wings, auto attack, third Broken Wings with knock-up, auto attack, use the second activation of your Ultimate if needed and then, use Ignite if the opponent just does not want to die or if he has some sort of hot(heal over time).

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3. You want to Gank from the shadows and are pretty far away from the opponent: Broken Wings, Broken Wings into range, if needed add a Valor, then auto attack, ulti activate, 3rd Broken Wings, Exhaust/ Ignite, stun with Ki Burst, ulti and they should be dead....

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ALLWAYS AUTO ATTACK IN BETWEEN SKILLS, with two Bloodthirsters, a Trinity Force and Infinity Edge you will crit for about 1K against opponents like Veigar. If you know this and have a good feel for you strength, go in, stun first and then just auto attack till death.....

Team Work

Sooo, just one small note on the team comp. that riven goes well with.
you team should not have to rely on Riven to initiate any team fights so there should be a proper tank on the team( like Rammus, Malphite, Shen), if played well, Riven can work as an AD carry, allowing other options for bot lane combos. Riven does not rely on a support character and is a great 1v1 or 1v2 champ so don't be afraid of engaging opponents in the lanes or when they are counter Jungling for example.

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If worst does come to worst,note that Riven can play tank and so you can support you tank if he needs it....
When building a tanky Riven you will want to buy:
Guardian Angel
Force of Nature
Hexdrinker

Some Tips and Tricks

Riven has a lot of utility hidden in her abilities.

Both Broken Wings and Valor can be used to "jerk" opponents through bushes ect...
this can be done by running into the brush from one direction and then using your mobility to move quickly into the other direction whilst the opponents do not see you since you are in the brush. This works especially well top lane and bot lane in the two long brushes.

Broken Wings is a little difficult to master. The first two activations move you in the direction in which you are currently running whilst the third jump is in the direction of your mouse cursor. Be ware of this when running away from opponents because if your mouse cursor is currently hovering near the opponent or behind you, the third activation of Broken Wings will propel you back into your opponent.

Sometimes when fleeing, it is a good idea to Valor toward the opponent, stun him with Ki Burst and then flee with Broken Wings. This is very effective against melee champions with little CC like a garren for example.

Make sure to use your ultimate before you use any other offensive abilities in order to make full use of that extra attack damage. Buying potions of potency will also help you "pimp" your damage!

The next point may be rather obvious but is very important. When the opponents tower dive you they are dead. Stun then, knock them up with Broken Wings, use exhaust, your ulti and ignite... they WILL die. This is especially important when playing 1v2 top lane for they will believe that they can tower dive 2v1. This is your chance to blow all your cooldowns and grab that first blood or just a kill you need to finish that first The Bloodthirster.

Once you have your The Bloodthirster stacked, a quick way of regaining health is just going once through the jungle, either your own or the opponents. Pick up the red buff for extra damage and the slow works nicely together with you already good CC. If nobody else wants it or if you feel like trolling your opponent, feel free to steal their blue buff for some nice cooldown reduction(CR). CR is perfect on riven four it allows you more stuns and more procs of you passive in less time which gravely increases your damage.

If you really do not want to die, and you know you will be up against a difficult lane, pick Flash and Ghost which when combined with your abilities mobility make you un-gankable and very, very hard to kill.

Summary

So just in summary:
when you play Riven solo top you wanna farm up, feed off you opponent and then focus down specific targets in team fight later on. If you are having a hard time, build guardian angel, that should do the job.

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I know this guide is not the bible on how to play riven but i hope it may have helped, feel free to comment with suggestions for i still wish to optimize my riven play.
note that this guide is in progress of being improved... a video and more detailed information will still be added!

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Once more, PLEASE COMMENT WITH YOUR FEEDBACK

Some Skins