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Riven Build Guide by

[Season 2026] Matchups of Riven

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Riven Build Guide By Updated on

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This is EVERYTHING I can tell you about each and every matchup that has been requested (or assumed) for top lane Riven. This page is for those just stopping by or revisiting to figure out how to play certain matchups

Control+F (Type Champion's name) to quickly find the champion you're facing in lane..

This was last updated 1/12/2026, albeit partially. It will probably be a while till I finish updating it.

One thing that is consistent throughout matchups you struggle with is that Doran's shield will probably help. Having said this, you have to recognize that you're lacking AD and play around the item. Doran's shield is best for short, light trades. Whittle the opponent down and do your best to avoid long trades, having said that, don't take 4 autos on your way out of a fight, trade 3 back if you can without chance of death.

The Rock (Malphite)

Spoiler: Click to view

Image credit included in image lol

- This matchup has changed a ton over the years. It's often best to take either the farm or sustain rune setup against this guy nowadays.

- Early punishment is possible against a bad malphite player. Hit him often enough to keep his passive shield from coming back up.

- Engage with your shield to tank his w damage (if he's maxing w, most do), otherwise use your shield to block his q damage (if he's maxing q instead).

- Flashing his ult is often a crucial outplay, whether that's to secure a kill or just during a teamfight keep an eye on him and EXPECT it to come out, this is the only way to react in time.

- Often a quick engage with shield, a stun and whatever damage you can drop before disengaging with a q or two is ideal. You used to be able to engage with cc but Malphite w is practically impervious to our cc options anymore and it's a majority of his trade anyways. Hence something like e third q auto w q out. Third q away if he chases or look to clip him with third q otherwise.

- Clipping like this is crucial to keeping conqueror stacks up, this can open doors, with ignite in most matchups, but in this one, a reengage later with a fully stacked conqueror.

If you have trouble in this lane, buy a hexdrinker. It doesn't stop the jungler from camping you, but it DOES stop malphite from one shotting you without any jungle help. It often also catches him off guard when you can actually survive his burst and maybe kill him/definitely escape. This is super useful against AP jungler as well since many look to pile on with Malph ult.

Doran's shield, second wind, hexdrinker, and refillable is the Exodia against his q spam if he's maxing it. It can also help if he's building heavily in ap.

- Get deeper wards than normal to combat being camped on Malphite ult CD. This gives you an advanced warning against jungle ganks, one just big enough to often let you respond before being dead no count(erplay).

- Make sure to wait as long as you need for the damage on your auto to go through in situations it makes sense, otherwise spamming q (yes literally) can be ideal due to having such a low auto attack speed after e hits.

- Many malphite players will walk back into while your conqueror is still stacked, this can be a very good chance to keep it up and win a fight against them. In many cases, you want to shield the ability he's maxing. In addition to this, always go as hard as you need to to finish him off, be absolutely positive or he'll be walking away with 100 hp and tp back for free.

Killer Croc (Renekton)

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The above picture is from the Jurassic world trailer

- I know that isn't a crocodile, but I wanted to use this picture. This lane capitalizes the best on the mistakes you make. Mistakes are extremely punishable, so don't make any obvious ones.

- Bone plating is good in this matchup, match sure to use it (engage when it's popped or have it be popped while engaging).

- I find that being the one to engage will allow you to win a trade more often. I've found a combo that works well to help you with it. You look for this when he goes up to last hit a minion, in the brief window that he's "stunned" you q onto him, w auto q e out to tank his w (without fury), and if he es you just auto third q auto. I've found this trade to work extremely well for me. Even bagging a kill pretty easily in some instances.

- Biggest hack to this matchup relies a bit on chance and prediction. If you're able to start your third q as he ws you, your q will finish, your knockup will connect, and oftentimes an auto attack will come through (like Lee Sin Q auto). All of this occurs while you're technically stunned. If you're able to pull this off in a fight you should win the fight.

- Keep him off of the wave the best you can. Don't let him build fury because once he has it, there's virtually no way to win trades.

- Once he has level 6 the lane is practically doomed if you're behind. Pick up what cs you can, maybe some tabis (armour boots) and be on your way to teamfights in the late game where maybe you get to play the game. Even if you're ahead be very careful, he can easily turn situations with the strength of his ult. A nice little hack is when he's level 6 but low, if you engage with er third q, auto w ult q (should be back up), you can oftentimes kill him before he has a chance to ult. If he ults as you third q you just ewq out instead. Both ults are blown and he's arguably in a mediocre position comparative to what he could be in.

- Be very careful when the lane is pushing to you. If you take even one bad trade this can open you up to an easy dive. Don't let him have an easy dive by giving up a minion or two to preserve your health bar.

Taking q first can net you an early kill in this matchup. His level one is relatively weak and his w is a long cooldown. If he takes q, its free real estate. Make sure to not miss any autos and if he's running, take the full length qs. Mostly this is able to be achieved with ignite, if you're able to get an early kill on him, pressure the hell out of him to get a huge advantage before he gets his ult.

- Clipping minions (with your Q) is of course extremely useful in this lane when he has full fury and you want that cannon, but don't die for even the cannon.

- Don't get caught off guard by his w range (its bigger than his auto range).

- Know his w and q cooldowns and trade when these go down. Look for all ins when he uses e (18 sec cd). If he uses his enraged e, it will shred your armor (if it connects), but often lock him out of empowered w which can be very important.

A Baker (Pantheon)

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Pax Jax that commonly Hax

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This lane is generally a piece of cake. Jax actually can't do much unless you engage on him, which helps us quite a bit. If he jumps in with e q don't try to dodge the stun. That is not a typo. E into his escape route, eat the stun to the face, then w him and start comboing. If he does not use e, ew out.

- makes this lane very easy since by the time he ults it's likely too late in most cases or you can just disengage. Similarly to renekton, Jax e cannot be cast while stunned. You can frequently dive a Jax player with your ignite.[/color]

- A dive into jax will generally start with e-r-third q (ignite) auto w ult q. If he's still alive, pop another q on his dome. Your auto won't hit through his e but at this point he shouldn't have much or any health left. If he es before you land from third q, w ult q disengage unless you are positive you can kill him and escape. You can always set up another dive with e wq q.

- Jax will oftentimes pop his e under tower if you just e in his direction. If this is the case, immediately disengage and look for the kill when his e is on cooldown. (circle back with third q auto w ult q)

- Your standard trading combo will be q-w-auto-q walk back, if he jumps third q and auto, if he ws, e.

- You can often cancel his jump with your third q if you both land at the same time. This can end up in really funny disengages where you cancel his leap and he gets knocked back (from behind you) and has no chance to follow. Get used to this timing.

- Juking into a bush when he pops his e is a nice way to escape or engage on him. I say this because if he pops his e and just runs towards you, you can either dodge it, or be hit when he isn't yet in the bush wasting the dodge effect and part or all of the duration of the stun

- If he ever wastes his e you're as good as guaranteed to win the trade of just kill him.

- When he es, unless you have started your q or can kill him, don't use it, or your w just for damage. They are much more useful with autos weaved in. Oftentimes disengaging if he es early in a trade or slowly casting your q is ideal.

- Know his e cooldown

- Deny him as much farm as possible to delay his Bork Tabi's Power Spike.

The Dunkstar (Darius)

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The devil himself (Teemo)

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Charlie Shen

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Slapstick Teacher (Fiora)

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~~~~~~~ Edit Stops Here ~~~~~~~~

Soulja Boy (Garen)

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The don.ger (Heimerdinger)

With the changes to his passive giving his large amounts of movement speed this can often prolongue fights just long enough. Dodge his e (often with flash or good play) and bring along a hexdrinker and with ignite you should still be able to kill him. Don't get caught off guard by zhonya's/stopwatch. Maw is a great rush against this champion, follow it up with Goredrinker afterwards.

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Tentacle Girl (I...Ill.. Illioweiwae? oh..Illaoi)

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Big Booty Beauty (Irelia)

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Pikachu (Kennen)

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Image by Charapple on Deviantart

I actually underestimated this match up at a time. It all depends on the Kennen's reaction time. I'd say below about gold 2 you should be fine just spamming engages. Above that the Kennen can react quick enough and not get hit by your w if he has experience with the champ, then you have to sit through another 6 seconds of autos. If you just constantly take his autos you won't be able to run in at him, you will need to go e level 2 when you get the first minion in lane or take w and get an amazing trade. Keep in mind he will still be level 1 once you get level two if you didn't mess up or get destroyed by RNG with minion push. There's a very distinct range that is just TOO close for him to be to you, it seems to be slightly shorter than his auto range, possibly 50-100 units if you have any clue what I mean by that. At that point you can land w even if he uses e as fast as he can react. If he actually predicts it I'd be extremely astonished...

Ever since Kennen's Q buff, going without a hexdrinker is basically forfeiting the match. Many junglers will also camp for a Kennen player, keep this in mind. Similarly to the Malphite matchup this can really ruin a lane. Rushing Maw into this champion can make it much more feasible.

Summary Section:
- Longsword helps you rush hexdrinker by lv 6 which can be very useful. Most times though, doran's shield is the ideal start.
- Watch out for his charged auto, e it or back off until he uses it. This allows you to avoid his enhanced auto damage and the following w which can proc electrocute.
- You may be able to bait out his e just be walking near him or using q towards him. Its not a very long CD but it is what it is. You get his e, you have a brief period of time to engage on him.
- Rushing Maw is very useful in this matchup. He basically deals no damage if you do.
- Early engages are risky but can pay off.
- When you go in you have to make a judgement call on the Kennen's reactions. If you're able to catch him with some cc (w/third q) it's likely to be a decent trade, if not it's likely to be a midly damaging one.

Akali

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Blue Man Group (Ryze)

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Putin (Vladimir)

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Ashe's Bae (Tryndamere)

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Kawaii Schoolgirl (Poppy) (updated)

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Metal Man (MordeKaiser)

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Akshan

This is the first section without pictures. It won't be the last. If you want me to add them, leave a comment and next time I update I'll find something creative. I put an absurd amount of work into finding pictures for all the previous matchups and I'm just not into the extra effort for these 5 matchups I'm adding.

In most cases, for this matchup, I'd suggest a dodge. I think the champion is just a little too good at everything he does. Even if you manage to get behind him, he can circle back the other way instead. Having said this, the main way to outplay the champion is to approach with an early stun and get behind him to cancel his e very early. I avoid fighting the champion until level 6 in most cases. If he gets a little too ballsy with tower poking and I can garantee two tower shots (a quick flash w and third q auto) I can generally just barely kill him. In most cases, however, this champion will be able to kite too well. His passive gives him movement speed and hitting his q does as well. On top of the shield from his passive, he can also buy shieldbow with Tabi's and it makes him nearly impossible to take down. He falls off slightly late game but if he builds well it can still make it very difficult to challenge him.

Sett
Against Sett, you're going to want to play around cooldowns. Ignite and this will often get you the upper hand. Recognize his keystone and play around it. In most cases, however, if he has no e or w due to an earlier trade you can just barely finish him off before he gets a second rotation. Flashing (or dodging) his w (if it's charged) and baiting his e can make the lane much easier.

Yone
Against this champion, playing around his e cd is important. Without his e, it can be difficult to fight. The spacing is incredibly important for the Yone player. If you're able to get an early lead and avoid his q knock ups/r cc the lane will be easy for you. If not, you're likely going to have a rough time once he finishes shieldbow and tabi. Often flashing his ult or quickly moving to avoid it is what sets apart the men from the boys in this lane.

Ornn
In most cases, while facing this champion, you just have to focus on avoiding his w cough (end of animation when he adds brittle marks). If you're able to avoid getting the brittle mark things become much easier. Having said this, CDR/Black Cleaver/Conqueror are going to be the things that win this lane for you. Second/Third/Fourth rotations are often what are going to decide this lane. Attack Ornn before he becomes invincible or you'll have to struggle. Avoiding parts of his ultimate or the cough will be a huge help though.

Gwen
I've found Gwen thankfully pretty easy to deal with. Honestly, read her w ability. Once you understand that, the matchup becomes much easier. Don't fight her if you know the fight is terrible, backing away when she ults and coming back later can frequently work. Get early on in this lane, it will help a lot.

Aatrox
This lane is honestly daunting anytime I face it. I frequently seem to face good Aatrox players that know how to space and build armor. The ease this champion has with turning around fights is rather something to be envious of. Dodging the w initially or getting out of it generally isn't incredibly difficult. The good Aatrox players are going to place their first q over a spot where you're trying to cs, and if you engage they're going to second q and e backwards every time. If that q hits its gonna make the game rough.