Riven is a get up in your face melee dps champion. She was designed specifically to be able to run up to you, and harass you consistently throughout a game. Because of this, we have to look at key items to build on a pure AD champ such as her.

After looking more closely at a build that should work well for Riven, i found that she lacked armor, magic resist, and early game armor penetration.

Looking into Rivens Abilities shows us that she has both the ability to use them offensively and evasively. I'll go into more detail as you look further into the guide, and explain how this will all work.

Pros:

-A very, get up in your face, damage, harass champion.
-Good for farming minions if done properly.
-Great early game power if played properly.
-Amazing late game power.
-Great in team fights.

Cons:

-Some champions are hard to lane against, such as tanks.
-If played wrong, she is very easy to kill.
-Learning how to properly combo her abilities can be tricky.
-Low early game armor / magic resist.

Farming is something every champion needs. Don't be afraid to get up in someones face, harass them away from creeps, and kill them to your hearts content while your enemy watches in rage.

Remember the Jungle though! Riven is not a good starting game Jungler, just to get this straight. Wait until around level 7-8, and if you need, and it wont interfere with your teams jungler, run in their and pick up some kills off neutral monsters if you're having trouble in lane. This gets some gold, and experience if your falling behind.

The runes I've chosen help pick up the slack for Rivens VERY low armor and magic resist starting game. They give her more survivability and allow her to lane more effectively to be able to do more damage and survive more hits.

The armor pen allows her more damage immediately with her abilities, obviously a good thing seeing as damage is important for early game.

Armor, again for her survivability.

And Magic resist, so that she doesnt get raped by casters.

I take the masteries i did (22, 0, 8) because it gives Riven more heavy damage, another minor attack speed bonus, and increased experience gain. This allows her to lane more effectively early game because of her ability to keep up in levels, or even outlevel other champions if played properly.

The masteries give her the advantage of just a little more damage, a little more quickly, and that can make a big difference on a character like this one.

After looking more closely at the items needed on Riven, i came to the conclusion that she needed at least one "Tanky" item, that would hopefully help her and her teammates out around her. But she also needed a high amount of damage that would make that survivability work.

I came to the conclusion of using the items that you saw above in the order that i show.

Start off the game with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Pots, this will allow you to lane longer and hopefully get alot of minion kills and maybe a few player kills.

Next i make my Boots, the cooldown reduction is slightly helpful in getting your abilities off faster, but remember boots are also based off the NME team, and you may need to build otherwise.

Next, Phage is always up for grabs. It will apply slows to NME champions and make it easier to aquire kills.

After, i work on Aegis of the Legion, it gives an Aura for your team, and gives you more hp, armor and magic resist. Giving you that survivability you need.

After i grab my Last Whisper. More armor pen and some damage to keep you bringing their health down.

Next i grab two BF Swords, these are used to make some other items later in the build, and for more attack damage right on the spot.

After i make my Bloodthirster. This gives her more AD and some lifesteal, which can be useful at this point in the game for some more survivability in fights.

I make my Frozen Mallet after that. Giving more health and slow.

Finally, i make my Infinity Edge. These items give me the AD, Crit, and Final Damage needed to make sure that Riven gets her maximum potential.

I chose the skill sequence i did, because i notice that Riven's Q is something to level as soon as possible. By maxing it out, and then moving on to her damaging stun, you make yourself more "get in their face and rape the **** our of their health" kind of champion. By obtaining one point in her E, however, you make it so you can initiate a fight a little better early game, and get a stun off to keep them from running.

The way this skill sequence evolves is to give her maximum damage output throughout the game, and still be useful to your team.

Remember however, that her Q can also be used as an escape mechanic, as it lunges her forward up to three times, and you can then use the E for another small burst of space between you and an NME.

I chose Ghost and Exhaust, because these abilities allow Riven to constantly harass an NME when she decides to pop them both and just finish them off. Because when you use these summoner spells it should be together and to make sure that an NME dies.

I dont pick up flash, because Rivens Abilities themselves can be used to put distance between you and an Enemy player. Her q can be used 3 times to put distance between you and an enemy player. And her E can also put a bit more in as well.

Since her abilities work this way, flash is less useful than Ghost.

To sum all this up, Riven is an amazing champion, but only if you use her properly. Make sure to keep an eye on how you time your attacks, and also to get the maximum effectivness out of your abilities.

This concludes the Guide i've made for Riven. If i have any updates, i will update the Guide to keep it at maximum effectiveness.