Overview
There’s a famous saying in League of Legends when it comes to mentality: if you are behind, you have to fight so you can catch up. If you are even, you have to fight so you can get ahead. And if you are ahead, you have to fight to stay ahead. That’s Riven players in a nutshell. If you see one who doesn’t think they can 1v5 at any given moment in the game, then you know they are not a Riven main. Click here for the latest data on her best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Riven
Riven is a highly mechanical champion and requires a lot of investment before you can truly master her kit. This is not a champion to pick if you've been filled top lane and still want to win the game.
Broken Wings is extremely versatile because you can weave different actions, including using other abilities, in between each proc of Q. The best Riven players are very good at using that to their advantage.
Strengths
Riven has a very high skill cap (but don’t tell Riven mains this, lest you stroke their ego) and a lot of it is tied to her very mobile kit. Broken Wings is one of the more difficult abilities in the game to master, especially because you can use other abilities like Valor in between the Q procs. This means there’s a lot of room for creative expression for the best Riven players, and having Ki Burst means you can lock down opponents easily. She’s a champion that’s great at taking fights so long as you have the items to back you up.
Weaknesses
Having a lot of room for creative expression can be good or it can be very bad. After all, not everyone is particularly creative, and not everyone is going to be proficient on highly mechanical champions. Riven is one of those champions where the difference between someone who has mastered her and someone who has just pulled up this guide while in Champion Select is going to be extremely noticeable. She’s a carry champion in a lane full of tanks that are happy to negate her and then be more effective at team fighting. She’s easy to kill if she does get locked down, and even when it comes to 1v1 duels in the late game, there are plenty of top lane champions who can match her.
Game Plan
Early Game: If you are adept at using your abilities, it can be easy to find a lot of good trades for you without giving the opponent much room to fight back. Her laning phase is as good as you are, and even tanks can be whittled down to be within kill range for her.
Mid Game: She’s a strong split pusher and should look to match up with enemies that she can threaten to all-in. In team fights, you’ll want to find angles to flank onto the opposing backline, as you don’t have enough in your kit to blow through the front and backline.
Late Game: You can still look to split push but if there’s an enemy who can match you, it might be easier to group and look for fights every time your flash is up. You have the ability to delete enemy carries very quickly if you’re able to flash on them with your ultimate up.
