Riven probably is going to need nerfs with the PBE changes

#Not bothering with circlejerks. I have no interest in having the same arguments with the same 5 anti-Riven board members who repeat the same couple vague gameplay philosophies. So I am not going to argue with the people who come here just to say she has 0 counterplay, is permanently overpowered or is blatantly broken. This is a reasonable discussion post for if Riven will need nerfs and what they should be, to go alone with her planned changes.

#But Riven may still need nerfs Basically Riven has had a nice, even, statistical balance for a while now with only a brief surge during the Lethality meta. This is a statistical fact. But now the changes to itemization have not only favored her, but for those who don't know on the PBE they are looking to replace Animation canceling with a more reliable, less buggy, intentional system. This is going to be more reliable to use and easier to understand by comparison while otherwise playing basically the same.

What this means is her skillfloor is changing, narrowing her absurdly bad play for newer players to her. This combined with itemization changes means she is likely to shoot up in popularity and winrate, and following soon after that ban rate.

#It is in Riven's best interest As somebody who enjoys playing Riven, it is in my best interest she receive any necessary nerfs before those changes leave PBE(that is assuming they do), not three months after they hit live. So I can keep playing her in peace without fear of a 25% ban rate because she was made too good in my tier of play.

The thing is she is always decently strong in high tiers(though those statistics are hard to read as it is mostly one-tricks playing her Diamond+) where this won't help much, but the itemization changes already have brought her up a bit there. So this isn't nerfing high tier for the sake of low tier. It is nerfing all tiers for the sake of all tiers.

#How should Riven be nerfed? In my opinion the ideal nerfs for Riven would not hit her early game. Statistics and my knowledge from matchup guides of high tier players and personal experience in low tiers, is that Riven actually doesn't do that well into most matchups except at specific powerspikes. The exceptions are matchups vs champions who just have no answer to her in their kit like Vlad or Swain.

Now ideally, Riot will decide on a specific nerf for how these changes effect her. And they would probably better know than me how to do it. But I invite Riven mains and players to state below what they would be willing to give to keep her ban-rate from skyrocketing as these changes and ten bans goes through.

#The nerf I would choose For me, it would be raising the cooldown of her ultimate at later levels and making it so once she burns her ultimate R2 she loses the R1 effect. I think this not only is thematically fitting but was constantly something that bugged a lot of people. If a Riven makes the decision to blow her R2 early she still gets to gain that 20% bonus AD and bonus ranges for the full 15 seconds, meaning there is no repercussions for popping it early and Riven can still be absurdly powerful for a full 15 seconds.

What this would do is give Riven not only fewer engages with 40% cdr(in case you don't know Riven rarely wants to fight with her ult down) and gives her more solid decision making in deciding the optimal timing of burning her R2, which increases the risk of burning it early resulting in early loss of her AD or burning it late and not getting use of it. But that is me.

#You may disagree Which is fine. I am a Silver Shyvana main. I may do a lot of research for my posts but I am by no means a Riven main I only have 120 games on her. I am sure some Riven mains feel a different approach would be better. Post below your thoughts and ideas. Do you think she even needs a nerf with these changes? What reasonable nerf would you suggest?

Well as I said in my other post, this is the only major post I wanted to make until I complete my climb unless something specific comes up. Thank you for reading and see you on the rift.