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Riven Build Guide by

Riven Unbroken

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3 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author B34stM0d3

Riven Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (3) More Riven Guides

Spells:

Exhaust

Flash

Ability Order

Riven Passive Ability

More Riven Counters

Author's Note

Please understand this build is not finished. I have published this early because I want people to see the items and let me know what they think and how they think they are. I would also like people to personally test this build out so they can see first how effective (or possibly ineffective) it is so I can improve upon it. I will be updating this daily and adding new sections constantly until it is finished. Thank you and please enjoy my guide.

Introduction

Hello there! My name is Beasteezy and this is my Riven guide. Riven is a new champion and thus is still in the testing phase. Meaning, we're all still trying to find just the right build for her! I'll be completely honest, I'm writing this guide solely from speculation and what feels like would be good with her based on having played a few games for her. I will continually update this guide when I feel it is necessary. From what I've noticed so far, Riven seems to be a kind of tanky, high sustained DPS champion.

Riven does a lot of base damage with her abilities so it isn't completely necessary to build her as a full carry. With this build I am experimenting with different survivability items. Her core damage items will likely remain the same (for the most part). Please remember this guide is in the testing phase, I would appreciate as much feedback as possible. This will help me better this guide to ultimately help all future Riven players. A lot of people think Riven is not going to be a good champion but I would really like to prove them all wrong! With that being said, let's begin!

Pros / Cons

I will add more to this section as I learn more about Riven.

Pros

Very strong early game
Fun to play
Her playstyle and abilities are very unique
Has great mobility
Can chase like a boss
Really good at farming

Cons

Somewhat high skill cap
Can be outclassed by other AD champs
Can be easily harassed if you don't maintain lain dominance
Requires a lot of farm

Masteries

I will go into more depth in this section later on. For now, I will briefly explain what I was going for. I went mainly offensive. Although I do feel that early game tankiness is beneficial, I don't feel it is completely necessary to build her completely tank masteries. Instead, I went mainly offensive, grabbing Armor and Magic Resist in the the defensive tree and good hands in the utility. You will be a formidable lane opponent with these masteries and her .

Runes

As I'm sure you're starting to notice, there is a theme to this build. Early game tankiness and damage. These runes are no exception.

Mark of Desolation Not much to explain here. These are a must for any AD champ. This will help you rip champions up early game.

This will make her very tanky early game. It will give you more breathing room for harassing and getting creep kills.

These will help against enemy abilities and AP champs. This will annoy them a lot especially once you get Mercury Treads.

Quintessence of Desolation This will basically add insult to injury in lane. This gives you a whopping 25 armor penetration. For some champions, this will put them in the negatives which will increase the damage of your physical attacks (i.e. ALL of her abilities). You can never go wrong with these quints on any AD champ.

These are the ones I'm running with right now and they are proving to be pretty nice. With they aren't completely necessary but it definitely doesn't hurt. These will give you more lane sustainability.

Items

And now the fun part. I consider myself a pretty humble guy but I think I may hit the nail on the head with this one. This gives her the perfect amount of survivability with crushing damage. I've found that Riven is very powerful 1v1 against a lot of champs and can help a lot in team fights with her harassing capability and her (short) stun.

This is golden with her. I tried a few games with but it paled in comparison to Doran's Shield. This gives you a lot of health (especially with ). It gives you armor and health regen to increase your lane sustainability.

and You're first trip back you should be able to get both of these. I like to get Brutalizer early game because it will give you some extra damage early game as well as the CDR which will allow you to use your abilities more often. This helps a lot with getting early kills and harassment. You will eventually sell your bloodthirster for or .

Riven has really good mobility and this makes it much better. It also gives you some magic resist which will make you tankier.

You'll notice a huge spike in your damage and survivability once you get this since all of her moves benefit from lifesteal and scale with AD. This is a no brainer on Riven.

I love this on Riven. It gives a huge chunk of health which will put you at close to 3k, some decent AD, and that awesome slow which will allow you to control your opponents like no other. This is probably one of the most valuable items in this build for Riven.

Great on just about any AD champ, this will increase your damage significantly. A lot of Riven's damage comes from her auto attacks because of her passive, , and this will make your auto attacks that much stronger.

This is one of those items that works in almost any build that calls for survivability. It gives armor and magic resist which will put you well of the 100 mark for both as well as that awesome passive.

To top everything off, a little more AD, attack speed to hit more, and a passive that will make tanks QQ. I feel this is the perfect "cherry on top" for this build.

I will eventually add a section solely for situational items and additional options for certain situations. For now, however, I am only going to list the core build to see how it works for people.

Summoner spells

In this section I will list all summoner spells and how useful I feel they are on Riven.

Most useful...

This really helps Riven shut champions down. During the lane phase you can really punish champions for overextending into your zone. One step two far and they could be locked down and killed before they have a change to get out because of your Ki Blast. An excellent spell for Riven that is not easily replaced.

This, coupled with and , makes it very difficult to chase. Unless you're running from a or , I cannot see you having much problem getting away.

Acceptable replacements...

Extra movement speed is never bad. You could definitely use this a replacement for Flash. I personally am not a huge fan of ghost, however, because you can still be slowed.

This is always nice for grabbing first blood, however, I have not found any need for it thus far.

I would say grab this spell over Flash only if no one on your team has it. It's always nice to have someone who can defend towers at any time. This is definitely situational.

Not necessary...

A very nice spell for sure, however, with . it isn't necessary. I don't feel like this would make for a very good replacement.

Definitely a nice summoner spell to have on the team. This is better on a tank champion or even support, however. It isn't something a DPS should have.

To be continues...

Skills, Skill Sequence and Combos

's abilities are what make her one of my favorite champions and what makes her so fun to play. If you've read anything her you'd know that her moves are combo based. Her abilities are what gives her somewhat of a high skillcap, however, once you get the hang of them, you'll notice a huge increase in your ability to effectively play her.

In this section I will list her abilities and explain different situation in which you would use them for other then dealing damage. I will likely add much more to this section as time goes by and I'm able to play her more often.

Passive:

Riven's abilities charge her blade, causing her to do 5 / 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 / 15 (+0.5 per bonus attack damage) bonus physical damage on her next autoattack. Riven can store up to 3 charges, and will only expend one at a time.

This passive is what makes her deal so much damage early game. The key to this passive, however, is never wasting a charge of the extra damage buff. Every charge you waste is wasted damage. While playing Riven, you're going to want to keep your passive in mind at all times to take full advantage of the extra damage.

Abilities

Riven steps forward and lashes out in a series of powerful sword slashes. This ability can be activated up to three times in a short period.

1st Use/2nd Use: Deals 20 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 {+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to a small area in front of her.

3rd Use: Jumps into the air and slams downward, causing a larger impact nova that deals 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 {+0.6 per bonus attack damage) physical damage and knocks nearby enemies back.

This ability was kind of tricky for me at first. This move is used in the direction of whatever enemy your cursor is over. However, if your cursor is not over an enemy, Riven will use the ability in whatever direction she is currently facing. It is important to remember this when using this ability. When using this ability, it's a good idea to get in the habit of spam clicking to continually have control over the direction in which Riven is facing. This will allow you to have control over which direction she is going to use Broken Wings.

This will be the first ability you get. It has the potential (coupled with ) to deal a lot of damage early game. This will also be used for last hitting creeps. I would recommend holding off on the harassment until you have her three basic abilities, as will help you take more damage and will keep the enemy off you for longer.

Some things to remember...

You do not want to spam this ability. You will be very, very tempted to when in the midst of battle but controlling your abilities is key to Riven's success. It isn't the worst thing to use this again before auto attacking if necessary, but you never want to waste a charge of .

Keep in mind if you do not use this ability after the first or second time it will automatically go on cooldown. If you use this once and know you will need it for the knock back, make sure you use it to keep it from going on cooldown.

And lastly, each time you use this ability you move forward slightly. This ability can be used to create some extras space between you and someone who may be chasing you.

Riven stuns nearby enemies for 0.5 seconds and hits them for 50 / 90 / 130 / 170 / 210 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) physical damage.

Riven dashes forward and gains a shield that protects her from up to 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) for 2.5 seconds.

Riven's sword reforms, giving her a bonus 20% Attack Damage, extended range on her damaging abilities and basic attacks for 15 seconds.

While Blade of the Exile is active, Riven can reactivate the ability to activate Wind Slash, emitting a large cone shockwave that deals 80 / 120 / 160 (+0.6 per bonus attack damage) - 240 / 360 / 480 {+1.8 per bonus attack damage) physical damage to all units hit based on their missing life.

Lane Phase, Mid Game and End Game

To be continued...

Playstyle and Team Fights

To be continued...

Summary

To be continued...

Scores

In this section I will post my scores using this build. I would be more than happy to post yours as well if you send them to me. You will most definitely be given credit.