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Why Are Riven And Rumble's Shields Much Worse Than Most Other Shields?

Best Ekko NA··8 votes·1,660 views

Azir, Riven, Rumble, Sona (and Yasuo but we won't talk about him), all have completely garbage shields. Sona heals, so it's really hard to make a good judgement on there, Azir is ranged so perhaps his weak shield is also justifiable. Why do Riven and Rumble get completely gimped however?

Some of these shields are extremely powerful on champions who don't even need it, yet squishy melee champions like Riven and Rumble are forced to hold the weakest shields in the game. Before you call Riven's shield "over powered" take a look at some of these other shields that exist in League of Legends. Riven's shield is bad (for you haters out there), you simply don't realize it because it gives her a dash (which helps her move to safety). Nearly every last other shield in the game actually lasts longer or shields more than Riven's / Rumble's.

Diana's Shield

  • Able to increase in strength (almost double).
  • Lasts 5 Seconds.

Ekko's Shield

  • Massive amount. (150% damage scalings)
  • Lasts 2 Seconds.

Ivern's Shield

  • Able to shield other champions.
  • Lasts 2 Seconds

Jarvan IV Shield

  • Increases strength from nearby enemies.
  • Lasts 5 Seconds

Kai'Sa's Shield

  • SUPER Massive amount. (275% damage scalings)
  • Lasts 2 Seconds.

Karma's Shield

  • Able to shield other champions.
  • Lasts 4 Seconds.

Kled's Shield

  • SUPER Massive amount. (300% damage scalings)
  • Lasts 2 Seconds.

Lee Sin's Shield

  • Able to shield other champions.
  • Lasts 2 Seconds.

Lulu's Shield

  • Able to shield other champions.
  • Lasts 6 Seconds.

Lux's Shield

  • Able to shield other champions.
  • Able to double in strength.
  • Lasts 3 Seconds.

Nautilus' Shield

  • Massive amount. (17% Maximum Health scaling)
  • Lasts 10 Seconds.

Orianna's Shield

  • Able to shield other champions
  • Gives Resistances.
  • Lasts 4 Seconds.

Ornn's Shield

  • Lasts 3.5 Seconds

Poppy's Shield

  • Massive amount. (20% maximum health scaling)
  • Lasts 3 Seconds.

Ryze's Shield

  • Lasts 2 Seconds

Shen's Shield

  • Massive amount. (14% Bonus Health scaling)
  • Lasts 2.5 Seconds.

Sion's Shield

  • Massive amount. (14% Maximum Health scaling, 40% damage scalings)
  • Lasts 6 Seconds.

Skarner's Shield

  • Massive amount. (14% Maximum Health scaling, 80% damage scalings)
  • Lasts 6 Seconds.

Taric's Shield

  • Massive amount. (12% Maximum Health scaling)
  • Able to shield other champions.
  • Gives a massive amount of armor. (20% armor)

Thresh's Shield

  • Lasts 4 Seconds.

Udyr's Shield

  • Lasts 4 Seconds.

Vi's Shield

  • Lasts 3 Seconds.

Viktor's Shield

  • Lasts 2.5 Seconds

15 Comments

THE RlVER KlNG8 votes

because they have extremely low cooldowns and are on manaless champions.......

what kind of a question is this

Best Ekko NA2 votes

[{quoted}](name=THE RlVER KlNG,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=LAUlxOng,comment-id=0005,timestamp=2018-05-16T23:19:40.563+0000)

because they have extremely low cooldowns and are on manaless champions.......

what kind of a question is this

So I guess I need to post cooldowns too so you can see that argument is non- factor in this specific argument.

Jbels4 votes

[{quoted}](name=Best Ekko NA,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=LAUlxOng,comment-id=00050000,timestamp=2018-05-17T13:52:48.670+0000)

So I guess I need to post cooldowns too so you can see that argument is non- factor in this specific argument.

Or, you could stop assuming that just because YOU think Riven's shield is weak, Riven's shield is weak.

DW Diana1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Best Ekko NA,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=LAUlxOng,comment-id=00050000,timestamp=2018-05-17T13:52:48.670+0000)

So I guess I need to post cooldowns too so you can see that argument is non- factor in this specific argument.

Please do. Diana's shield has a very long cd.

Jbels4 votes

Riven's shield is one of the most powerful abilities she has. First of all, the shield scales with her AD, meaning she gets free defensive power from building offensive. Secondly, in lane, using it to trade efficiently makes or breaks a Riven player. If you can't deflect whatever damage your lane opponent sends your way with good reaction times, then you're going to get punished. This is why Riven's shield duration was nerfed a while ago. It was far too forgiving of Riven players that weren't doing anything special

Best Ekko NA1 votes

{quoted}

Riven's shield is one of the most powerful abilities she has. First of all, the shield scales with her AD, meaning she gets free defensive power from building offensive. Secondly, in lane, using it to trade efficiently makes or breaks a Riven player. If you can't deflect whatever damage your lane opponent sends your way with good reaction times, then you're going to get punished. This is why Riven's shield duration was nerfed a while ago. It was far too forgiving of Riven players that weren't doing anything special

What? The last changes to Riven's shield were buffs. Before that, the last nerf to her shield was like way back in Season 3 when they nerfed it down to 1.5 seconds from 2.5 seconds.

Jbels3 votes

[{quoted}](name=Best Ekko NA,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=LAUlxOng,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2018-05-16T22:45:58.441+0000)

What? The last changes to Riven's shield were buffs. Before that, the last nerf to her shield was like way back in Season 3 when they nerfed it down to 1.5 seconds from 2.5 seconds.

...Okay? What exactly did I say that wasn't true?

Best Ekko NA3 votes

{quoted}

...Okay? What exactly did I say that wasn't true?

Probably the fact that in Season 3 (when those nerfs to her shield went into effect), the game was a lot different, and Riven was actually oppressive. There were far less threats to Riven in League of Legends in those days, tanks could be shredded like paper because of things like Brutalizer into a LW and Black Cleaver. Less champions had mobility in their kits, and Riven had 4 dashes plus a Flash... back when a good amount of champions didn't even have one dash. Let's not even talk about the fact that the mechanic called "Damage Reduction" didn't exist in the game then, and only a select amount of champions could actually handle Riven's massive damage.

Fast forward, this is Season 8. A lot of champions have "Damage Reduction", mobility is rampant everywhere, Armor Penetration is far less effective and costs more than it used too. Tanks can actually "Tank" damage now, but not only do they soak but also deal a lot as well. The game has added far more threats, and Riven has not been compensated to keep up.

Not to only shift the focus onto Riven, but that is the champion I can speak for the most of her and Rumble.

Rív3n1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Best Ekko NA,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=LAUlxOng,comment-id=0003000000000000,timestamp=2018-05-16T22:59:04.572+0000)

Probably the fact that in Season 3 (when those nerfs to her shield went into effect), the game was a lot different, and Riven was actually oppressive. There were far less threats to Riven in League of Legends in those days, tanks could be shredded like paper because of things like Brutalizer into a LW and Black Cleaver. Less champions had mobility in their kits, and Riven had 4 dashes plus a Flash... back when a good amount of champions didn't even have one dash. Let's not even talk about the fact that the mechanic called "Damage Reduction" didn't exist in the game then, and only a select amount of champions could actually handle Riven's massive damage.

Fast forward, this is Season 8. A lot of champions have "Damage Reduction", mobility is rampant everywhere, Armor Penetration is far less effective and costs more than it used too. Tanks can actually "Tank" damage now, but not only do they soak but also deal a lot as well. The game has added far more threats, and Riven has not been compensated to keep up.

Not to only shift the focus onto Riven, but that is the champion I can speak for the most of her and Rumble.

Finally someone with brain, im tired of these fucking placebo buffs on Riven, 5 dmg Q buff is nothing, she needs like 30 dmg Q dmg buff lvl 1.

Noxian Pride3 votes

Riven's shield is attached to a dash on an already-mobile champ, and is lesso to survive teamfights and moreso to mitigate lanepoke. I can promise you as someone who secondary's her that if you're going to buff Riven, the shield is not where to do it. If the shield was stronger it would be very difficult to shove me out of lane.

Best Ekko NA1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Noxian Pride,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=LAUlxOng,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2018-05-16T22:22:46.692+0000)

Riven's shield is attached to a dash on an already-mobile champ, and is lesso to survive teamfights and moreso to mitigate lanepoke. I can promise you as someone who secondary's her that if you're going to buff Riven, the shield is not where to do it. If the shield was stronger it would be very difficult to shove me out of lane.

I actually do not agree.

A large part of why Riven is so bad in the current meta is due to how squishy she is, especially while in team fights. Lane phase doesn't mean much of anything, who cares about being shoved out of lane? Because of rotations, impacting the rest of the map 9 times out of 10 means you are going to end up getting Top tower anyways even if you lost your tower first. Having a winning team is far more important than winning your own lane with the way the game is now.

Some games you might be able to get away with picking people off. From my experiences this season however, more likely than not the enemy will have multiple unkillable tanks on their team and they're going to group.. and if you are Riven you simply cannot engage because the risk of dying is too huge. This forces you into split pushing and hoping you are a big enough threat for the enemy to come after you, or keep going and pray to god your team doesn't lose a fight 4v5. It's not easy to win a fight 4v5, so there's a good chance without you, your team loses the game. Even in the best scenario where you fight, you end up dead and cross your fingers that someone else on your team can win the fight.

Maybe you see things a bit differently, but I have thousands of games on Riven and this is my ultimate experience the entire season. Riven has turned into a completely worthless team fighter, and she doesn't split well either because there are too many champions who she cannot beat 1v1.

Rexxiee2 votes

They should be buffed, both are 2 high skillcap champs that are in the dumpster right now.

I'd say increase their shield duration by 1 second on both.

Crett2 votes

because these are two champions who already have tools to come out on top of trades (mobility and stuns for riven, range and healing for sona)

supplementing that with statistical superiority is something i imagine riot wants to be careful about.

the other champs with stronger shields either are tanks, or are more situational, and/or the champion is far more reliant on it for success.

which isn’t a solid no from me personally, only that buffing in this direction should be done with care.

Pika Fox2 votes

Riven's scales with AD on a low CD meant to be spammed. It also interrupts her animations allowing more fluid combos.

Doge20201 votes

For rumble’s shield, when maxed and in the danger zone it is a 300 base shield, and is increased by 60% of his AP. As a rumble player I don’t really use the shield that much at all during a team fight, I use it to either to protect me from lane poke, for the MS boost, or to keep my heat above 50%.

Usually during a team fight there would be somebody on my team to help me if I get low, or I have zhonya’s at that point so I use stasis and wait until the danger passes.

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