Hey, riven main here (but you already downvoted for that). I see that 99.9% of people hate riven, but i feel that some of that is because they simply dont know what to do against her in games.
So i have this idea, Ask any question and i will respond to it in as much of a helpful way as i can related to laning or playing against riven. I have north of 200 games on riven i believe and im currently gold 2 with ~60+% win rate. Ask me and ill answer!
ImFlutterShy8 voteslol why are you trying to help them, they will just downvote you and start talking about rivens ad scaling shield and how she has no weaknesses (◡‿◡✿)(◡‿◡✿)
AbstracT Theory2 voteslol why are you trying to help them, they will just downvote you and start talking about rivens ad scaling shield and how she has no weaknesses (◡‿◡✿)(◡‿◡✿)
Because if i help at least one person they will be more knowledgeable about her. If you are knowledgeable it is much less frustrating and i know how it feels to feel helpless in a game.
90017 votesHow do you sleep at night?
But really in all seriousness...how do you sleep at night?
AbstracT Theory3 votesHow do you sleep at night?
But really in all seriousness...how do you sleep at night?
I take a shower and i go into my bed, i take a drinks sometimes, drinking is good at night time. I then lay my head on the pillow, i then close my eyes and i wait for myself to lose consciousness.
hgjkdlsaf jeldvb6 votesHow do I farm and not have you kill me in lane?
How do I trade with you on anything that doesn't explicitly counter you?
How come you don't have weaknesses at any stage of the game?
How come you still have kill potential when you're behind?
How do you justify Riven's outlier leave rate?
How do you justify Riven's 14% pick rate and 54% win rate?
ScreamPaste3 votesStart cloth 5.
This depends who you're playing. As long as you're not someone Riven counters it shouldn't be too hard as long as you manage the minion wave.
Riven has weaknesses at every stage of the game, but she is strongest mid game, and falls off hard in team fights late game. A Riven who isn't ahead can't carry the mid game and is behind.
Because you also have kill potential if you're behind.
Probably the outlandish amount of abuse Riven players take just for daring to play Riven.
With her outlier number of games player per person playing her. It takes around 70+~ games for the average player just to hit her median winrate, but most of the people playing her right now are mains due to the tank meta. Her pick rate is down 25% from a few months ago, and her win rate went up as a result.
Captain Aishi5 votesi don't know any champion that has kill potential on riven when behind, she's one of the few champs (irelia being another one) where if you're behind, approaching the minion wave to last hit will get you killed, that's just how snowbally she is
AbstracT Theory2 votes[{quoted}](name=hgjkdlsaf jeldvb,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-05-14T18:21:31.898+0000)
How do I farm and not have you kill me in lane?
How do I trade with you on anything that doesn't explicitly counter you?
How come you don't have weaknesses at any stage of the game?
How come you still have kill potential when you're behind?
How do you justify Riven's outlier leave rate?
How do you justify Riven's 14% pick rate and 54% win rate?
hgjkdlsaf jeldvb1 votesyou missed the point of 5. Riven has the highest leave rate among all champs.
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=hgjkdlsaf jeldvb,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=000100010000,timestamp=2015-05-15T23:59:02.056+0000)
you missed the point of 5. Riven has the highest leave rate among all champs.
by that do you mean she leaves or her opponent?
hgjkdlsaf jeldvb1 votesriven players. Specifically, the people playing riven, leave more than anyone else.
ShinTwist2 votesThey also take more in game abuse from their own team and the enemy than anyone else.
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=hgjkdlsaf jeldvb,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=00010001000000000000,timestamp=2015-05-16T00:21:51.730+0000)
riven players. Specifically, the people playing riven, leave more than anyone else How do you prove that? and i dont know why they would leave maybe they are bad rivens.
Sonasaurous3 votesI find playing 
against 
is highly effective. Can I keep doing this while laughing hysterically, or am I just playing against bad Rivens?
colesy3 votesquinn honestly just shits on riven to a whole new level
ScreamPaste2 votesThe higher up in skill this match up goes the more it skews toward Quinn for two reasons.
Riven is actually really easy to kite once you're good at it.
Vault can interrupt Riven's third Q, leaving her helpless.
KMannnnn12 votesHow do you feel about this video?
MrBuffington2 votesNot a question about gameplay per se, but how do you feel about the persistent hatred directed towards Riven? Nidalee is my favorite champion, even though I don't play her too often, and hate threads directed towards her tend to come and go whenever she sees play (of course with a few die hard stragglers that keep the dream alive); I tend to get pretty frustrated with these threads. Riven hate threads/comments, on the other hand, much like the TSM chants, tend to pop up everywhere and gain a lot of support from like-minded people.
Basically, what's it like being a Riven main on forums? (for the record, I do like Riven and think she's fun to play, but, like Nidalee, I don't play her too often)
AbstracT Theory4 votesNot a question about gameplay per se, but how do you feel about the persistent hatred directed towards Riven? Nidalee is my favorite champion, even though I don't play her too often, and hate threads directed towards her tend to come and go whenever she sees play (of course with a few die hard stragglers that keep the dream alive); I tend to get pretty frustrated with these threads. Riven hate threads/comments, on the other hand, much like the TSM chants, tend to pop up everywhere and gain a lot of support from like-minded people.
Basically, what's it like being a Riven main on forums? (for the record, I do like Riven and think she's fun to play, but, like Nidalee, I don't play her too often)
well somebody just hated my guts for having riven in my name, but tbh is doesnt phase me. Riven is a champion and the only reason people hate her is because of their lack of knowledge of her strengths. When you learn her weakness, shes really not that hard to play against. The weakness differs for every champion, so abusing it is critical but riven catches peoples mistakes very easily and that frustrates them. The most you can do is turn your head from the people who hate you because all they are doing is making you a bit more stressed for no reason. For example people will talk badly about how riven has 4 dashes and how her ultimate is so op or all the works, yet when i ask them if they took exaust for her or built any armor they said "no, i shouldnt have to she is too op." Ignorance is the reason riven is so easily deemed OP. Playing north of 200 games i find it fairly easy to play against a riven since i know her ins and outs, if people even played 10-20 games with her they will see where she fails, but instead or trying to learn they just trash talk her.
Nidalee is a great champion btw, love her style. I used to play nidalee jungle before it was cool back in mid season 4.
76Summers2 votesi was 1300 units away from riven i used flash and graves dash.. she caught and killed me! what gives???
AbstracT Theory3 votesi was 1300 units away from riven i used flash and graves dash.. she caught and killed me! what gives???
riven gap closers are super super strong. If you are playing against a riven you immediately need a high level peel support like thresh or leona, alistar is also great vs riven. when roaming you should never be alone, if she uses gap closers ans yous support knocks her away a couple times you are safe until her cds refresh, this doesnt mean fight however unless its guaranteed a kill, because riven is really great at 2v1 but as soon as 3 come her odds become easier to manage.
ShinTwist3 votesYou're being trolled, ExRa, what he said happened is literally impossible, Riven only has 600 range of dashes in her kit.
Baron of Bread2 votesIs a Sion skrewed against you, or is there hope for him? I haven't actually played this match-up since I expect it go go heavily in Riven's favor, but you probably know how it goes.
AbstracT Theory2 votes[{quoted}](name=Baron of Bread,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=0007,timestamp=2015-05-14T20:08:37.130+0000)
Is a Sion skrewed against you, or is there hope for him? I haven't actually played this match-up since I expect it go go heavily in Riven's favor, but you probably know how it goes.
Although the match up is heavily in rivens favor, it is still possible. As a sion you should be waiting for riven to waste either her qs or her e and when she does you should punish it because she can no longer dodge your abilities if used correctly. Riven can heavily abuse sion is he wastes his q or e on minions, so i would recommend building armor super early (cloth 5 to start) and try getting a glacial shroud as soon as you can. you can choose the build path after that but if there is any specifics let me know id be glad to help.
Baron of Bread2 votesThanks, I will try that out.
NemeBro2 votes[{quoted}](name=Baron of Bread,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=0007,timestamp=2015-05-14T20:08:37.130+0000)
Is a Sion skrewed against you, or is there hope for him? I haven't actually played this match-up since I expect it go go heavily in Riven's favor, but you probably know how it goes.
Riven basically counters Sion, make no mistake of that. But that's okay. Sometimes you get counterpicked. I should also note that I'm not a Riven main, I play her occasionally, but I feel I can give an opinion on the subject because I do play Sion pretty often.
The reasons Riven counters Sion are as follows:
Her early game damage can abuse Sion's relative squishiness early on.
Sion's Q, his highest damage ability early on and the one most Sions max first, is easily interrupted or dodged by Riven.
Riven's mobility means that, even without flash, it is not outside the realm of possibility that she can avoid your ult.
The match-up is hard, but not unwinnable. Keep in mind that you don't actually need to kill Riven to win lane as Sion (though obviously if you can kill her, do so). You outscale her. It's better to play safe early on. Start cloth and five pots against Riven and farm, running teleport to ensure quick returns to lane. I wouldn't recommend maxing Q against Riven. Maxing your W first will both mitigate her damage and, if she doesn't pop the shield, damage her as well, so it's my favored ability against her. Only use your Q for wave clear or if she blows her load and no longer has a way to avoid or disrupt it. Maxing E is also something you can do if you want to more aggressively poke Riven out of lane. Focus on building armour against Riven first. It's more important to survive her damage as Sion than it is to do more damage to her with a Hydra or whatever. So, rush whatever armour item you usually build (I'd probably favor a frozen heart for maximum armour or a Sunfire cape to whittle her health down when she engages even further).
So, just play safe and farm. If your jungler ganks, secure the kill as you would against any other champion. If you have harassed Riven down, you can go for the kill as well. A fun trick I like using against Rivens who are a little low is, if they counter engage on you and are about to hit their third Q, ult them. Her CC is now wasted, and more importantly she is now held in place for your full R-W-Q-E combo. If she had like half health or less, this should probably kill her, and if it doesn't you've certainly forced her out of lane.
Riven's roams can be scary, so ping MIA, but more importantly your roams are if anything even more terrifying. Sion doesn't have as much kill potential as Riven, but his CC is far more devastating and effective at locking an enemy down, so follow her and counter gank if possible.
If you haven't fed Riven like a badass, it becomes essentially impossible for Riven to solo kill a late-game, well-farmed Sion (though I'm not advocating dueling her, I've never tried it, but I don't see why you'd want to risk it). He's far too durable. He's also far more useful in team fights IMHO, being able to face-tank the enemy team's damage in ways Riven wishes she could with her AD-scaling shield, and having a wealth of CC that can be applied to an entire team. He's also arguably a better splitpushing if his ult is up and he build a ravenous hydra. His dueling potential is perhaps lesser, but his ult is an amazing escape and he pushes waves about as fast as she does IMO.
Hope some of this was helpful.
Void Nargacuga2 votesWell if your still responding to this I have 2 (maybe more later, no promises) questions:
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=0009,timestamp=2015-08-17T04:57:26.321+0000)
Well if your still responding to this I have 2 (maybe more later, no promises) questions:
- Would you recommend her as a fun champion to play? Especially when you consider she is getting an Arcade Skin in the next patch?
- I recently had a game with a Riven mid... I was Veigar... Was I royally screwed with this matchup? Including the roaming she did to out level me. Because it felt like it. =/ Normals by the way. I'm afraid to go into ranked still.
Definately fun to play. A champion with wall hops and super good mobility is a great one to play.
If you are playing such a matchup you need to rush seekers armguard, this wiill get you later ap and early Armour. You need to play inside your stun circle and anticipate her engage, if she engages you need to instantly e so that the wall is on top of you and she cant get to you. While csing you should have your cursor in such a position and finger ready on e. If riven gets Qss to get past your stun you are in trouble however, so hopefully by then you will have a zhonyas to negate damage and hopefully make it to your tower in time (you should be freezing lane). once its late game veigar is a monster and he can one hit riven even if she has maw of malmortius and e shield. Play it safe and one shot her when you see her stunned or locked down.
Void Nargacuga1 votesCool thanks! This will really help if this ever happens again or something similar! Sadly it was my first time against Riven EVER and I basically got ROFL stomped. It sucked. I went 0/6/0. And yeah I love when I can basically NUKE (or Delete since I use Final Boss Veigar) my enemies with Veigar as a late game monster.
I did try to rush a 
, but it probably didn't help that I had no experience laning against a Riven. Though I must say that this particular Riven kinda did, in my opinion, a bad move in the end game screen. They typed in: I'm Boxbox! Because they went 10/0/0
I get it you did good. But did you HAVE to rub it in like that? Sadly no screen capture of this. If I ever ROFL stomp someone I would apologize for the ROFL stomp that I did on them. BUT that's just me if I could EVER do that...
Now on to herself: Just how important is her Animation Canceling? I've heard this is considered the best way to tell if a player is a new Riven player or not. True? Her IP price kinda scares me right now since I'm strapped for Tier 3 Runes... Need better ones then what I got honestly, and a lot too.
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=000900000000,timestamp=2015-08-20T06:36:24.006+0000)
Cool thanks! This will really help if this ever happens again or something similar! Sadly it was my first time against Riven EVER and I basically got ROFL stomped. It sucked. I went 0/6/0. And yeah I love when I can basically NUKE (or Delete since I use Final Boss Veigar) my enemies with Veigar as a late game monster.
I did try to rush a
I get it you did good. But did you HAVE to rub it in like that? Sadly no screen capture of this. If I ever ROFL stomp someone I would apologize for the ROFL stomp that I did on them. BUT that's just me if I could EVER do that...
Now on to
Rivens animation canceling is the difference between a high gold to low plat. For me to get to plat would have been nearly impossible without animation cancelling. Before that, as long as you can e-r-q you should be able to get to gold. Her animation cancels define her strengths and make her weakness vulnerable. She is supposed to animation cancel because that cuts her combo down by about 60-80%, in most cases this will be enough to get the full combo off in the 0.5 second stun + the 3rd q knockup. Some matches can only be won if you can delete the opponent in such a small time frame. For example, Riven vs. Ekko, I need to kill him while he is stunned and knocked up otherwise he will R and he will win the fight. It can be hard to do but its possible.
Void Nargacuga1 votesOh wow. That tells me how much of a difference it makes to be able to animation cancel with her...
So for an unranked scrub (like me) to pick her up and just enjoy playing her in bots to get basic combos down (beginner then intermediate), then go to normals to fine tune my skills would be a good idea then? Also what were your thoughts on the first I've ever faced Riven player's end game chat of: I'm Boxbox! its what they actually said no joke.
Was that just being a douche bag in your opinion? Because it felt like it.
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=00090000000000000000,timestamp=2015-08-20T17:46:14.610+0000)
Oh wow. That tells me how much of a difference it makes to be able to animation cancel with her...
So for an unranked scrub (like me) to pick her up and just enjoy playing her in bots to get basic combos down (beginner then intermediate), then go to normals to fine tune my skills would be a good idea then? Also what were your thoughts on the first I've ever faced Riven player's end game chat of: I'm Boxbox! its what they actually said no joke.
Was that just being a douche bag in your opinion? Because it felt like it.
i played 50 games normals before my first game ranked, then i climbed as high as i could (gold II) even skipping gold 3, then i had to learn advanced animation cancelling and fast combo. Just do the combo on red buff or gromp is how i learned. And yeah, he was just being a salty winner. Dont pay attention to it, 99% of riven players want to be box box :3
Void Nargacuga1 votesWell I guess if your aiming to be the best... Why not shoot for the stars then? Makes sense!
And thanks for all this cool info! After seeing what the Arcade Skin looks like that is coming out... I think I may be hooked on wanting her. You may have just put the final nail in the coffin with all this info! Might come back after some time later for more advanced questions when I get the basics down! Good luck and keep climbing the Elo ladder!
Oh random thought that I had: Thoughts on building 
, 
, and 
? With a 
of course. Would this be an effective build on her? Or at least a good starting point for a scrub?
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=0009000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2015-08-21T06:27:13.739+0000)
Well I guess if your aiming to be the best... Why not shoot for the stars then? Makes sense!
And thanks for all this cool info! After seeing what the Arcade Skin looks like that is coming out... I think I may be hooked on wanting her. You may have just put the final nail in the coffin with all this info! Might come back after some time later for more advanced questions when I get the basics down! Good luck and keep climbing the Elo ladder!
Oh random thought that I had: Thoughts on building
Ravenous hydra is always core, you pretty much need it because of how well it goes into animation cancelling with her kit. Black cleaver is sorta situational, I get it if i need the 20% CDR for chasing or running away if i cant already burst somebody. Spirit visage is pretty inefficient on riven, i would instead recommend maw of malmortius, then at 30% hp you get a magic shield and the more they hit you, the more damage you deal to them. Dead mans plate i have no clue, its a new item and i've never even bought it once so ill have to get back to you on that, but usually for an armor item i go for randuins, and randuins is great now especially since it give you -10% damage from critical strikes.
Void Nargacuga1 votesAlright, and thanks for the info! Reason I thought of these items was due to Health (all but Ravenous Hydra), CDR (Clever/Visage), defensive stats (Plate/Visage), and passive effects (example: spirit visage increasing heal from Hydra's life link). To me it seemed like a good idea. {goes and checks Maw of Malmortius passives} Didn't know about Maw's passive granting AD for % health missing! That's cool! Then again I don't play many Tanks/Fighters (very few in my champion pool) that would benefit from this item as far as I know/could tell, or it wasn't in their Recommended Items list.
Funny thing with Dead Man's Plate: They snuck it in to live after Black Market Brawlers was done.
Well this is the stats and passives as of patch 5.16 for :
+600 Health +50 Armor
UNIQUE Passive - Dreadnought: While moving, build stacks of Momentum, increasing movement speed by up to 60 at 100 stacks. Momentum quickly decays while under the effects of a stun, taunt, fear, silence, blind, polymorph, or immobilize effect, and slowly decays while slowed. UNIQUE Passive - Crushing Blow: Basic attacks discharge all Momentum, dealing 1 physical damage per 2 stacks. If 100 stacks are discharged, damage is doubled and the target is slowed by 75% decaying over 1 second (melee only).
Void Nargacuga1 votes[{quoted}](name=Eye Of Godzic,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=00090000,timestamp=2015-08-20T00:41:43.435+0000)freezing lane
Oh yeah, should have probably asked sooner but... What do you mean by freezing the lane? Its something I've heard of randomly in some YouTube videos but never understood the meaning of what it meant to "Freeze a lane".
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=000900000000000000000000000000000001,timestamp=2015-08-21T22:37:21.537+0000)
Oh yeah, should have probably asked sooner but... What do you mean by freezing the lane? Its something I've heard of randomly in some YouTube videos but never understood the meaning of what it meant to "Freeze a lane".
Freezing a lane is when force 3 minions onto your first melee minion so he gets killed faster and thus pushes the wave close to you tower, when done right you can keep the wave right outside your tower leaving your enemy laner vulnerable to ganks. You also will have to last hit the minions.
Void Nargacuga1 votesSo how would I do this game mechanic? Since I like to play more squishy champions like Veigar and such, this should probably be a good thing to learn.
AbstracT Theory1 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=00090000000000000000000000000000000100000000,timestamp=2015-08-22T05:55:06.087+0000)
So how would I do this game mechanic? Since I like to play more squishy champions like Veigar and such, this should probably be a good thing to learn.
Mid lane is a bit harder to freeze, but you shouldnt be using spells on minions without the intent to deny cs to the enemy laner by shoving to tower. To start you need to aggro the 3 melee minions so they are in a line usually a wave looks like this where o is ranged minions and M is melee
o o o M M M
and you want to set it up so the wave is like this
M
o o o M M
this way when you get away from the minions they will all attack the first minion and kill it really quick making the wave a 5v6, then whenever a melee minion of yours die you need to kill their melee minion. When your ranged minion dies kill their ranged minion. Also, you should pull the wave to one side so they dont get to your tower range.
Void Nargacuga1 votesIt sounds a little confusing and hard to do from reading that... But practice makes perfect. And maybe looking it up on YouTube should help as well. TO YOUTUBE! Should be some (hopefully) good videos showing the basic concept.
AbstracT Theory2 votes[{quoted}](name=Bow hunter 16,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=Bh4FjHAK,comment-id=0009000000000000000000000000000000010000000000000000,timestamp=2015-08-22T14:02:15.009+0000)
It sounds a little confusing and hard to do from reading that... But practice makes perfect. And maybe looking it up on YouTube should help as well. TO YOUTUBE! Should be some (hopefully) good videos showing the basic concept.
Here, this is what i learned off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPmducL1JRU
Void Nargacuga1 votesThanks! This should help me out a lot!
AMYS GRAVE1 votesHey i have a question for you. I know this thread is a bit old but i'd like an answer and it seems like you're a pretty chill dude who would know the answer.
What are rivens most common trading patterns before and after she gets tiamat?
also at what point does she typically get tiamat?
AbstracT Theory1 votesHey i have a question for you. I know this thread is a bit old but i'd like an answer and it seems like you're a pretty chill dude who would know the answer.
What are rivens most common trading patterns before and after she gets tiamat?
also at what point does she typically get tiamat?
Before tiamat she will usually just e in or q in and w then she will throw her auto combo. Its like e-w-q-aa-q-aa-q-aa after she gets tiamat she will probably try to abuse the spike in power, the combo is like e-tiamat--w-q-aa-q-aa-q-aa and when she gets r its e-r-q-tiamat-w-q-aa-q-aa since she has to use the e to cancel rs animation its most likely going to look like that
AMYS GRAVE1 votesWhat do you consider the most core part of her kit? Her all in burst assassinations? In and out fighting? Her ability to dash away/chase for days?
Thanks for the answers by the way, this is a great thread.
AbstracT Theory1 votesWhat do you consider the most core part of her kit? Her all in burst assassinations? In and out fighting? Her ability to dash away/chase for days?
Thanks for the answers by the way, this is a great thread.
Her all in burst is what will usually make or break her plays. But her kit is really good together and it combines really well so its kind of hard to single out and say one thing is her kit, while a good riven will take full advantage using the kit as a whole.
Scryer1 votesIf I see riven in draft mode champ select, which champions are best to obliterate her with?
AbstracT Theory1 votesIf I see riven in draft mode champ select, which champions are best to obliterate her with
somebody who mains riven usually always has a few matchups that they are inexperienced with and therefore they struggle with. For example, i struggle with pantheon and tryndamere pretty hard, since i dont know how to play against them because of such a low game count. Tryndamere is good because if you are about to get comboed you just press r, pantheon is good because his q is on a lower cooldown than rivens e therefore he can get an early lead if played properly, pantheon also blocks 1-2 autos of damage in each trade because his passive.