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Why do Riven mains talk so much about Riven's High skill cap?

r11na·5/7/2015, 12:50:13 PM·118 votes·23,300 views

Yes Riven has a high skill cap, but you ain't BoxBox or BRNA playing against Master/Challenger and LCS players who know every matchup to a high level. You're spamming Q vs Golds who don't know the matchup well enough to realise when they can be all-in'd. And once Riven gets the first kill in lane it is snowball time gg because jungler isn't going to camp the lane to help their laner recover vs Riven. Then you can look forward to Riven 1v3'ing the team and typing GG EZ NUBZ or OMG MY TEAM SUX I WIN LANE BUT THEY FEED. REPORT!

As soon as a champ appears in top lane that counters Riven suddenly you start to see just how unskilled these same Riven players are. When I see boxbox play vs Garen, Darius and Hecarim I'm in awe at how well he plays those difficult matchups against extremely skilled players. I watch boxbox play vs Hecarim a lot and it amazes me how well he plays that. That is the high skill cap of Riven.

When I play as Hecarim vs Riven players, I see nothing but freelo riders who have no idea what to do when they actually have to use their brain and can't just mash out abilities every time they are on cooldown and if they make a mistake... they can actually be killed instead of being able to just dash away with one of their near infinite dashes or BS movespeed.

Without fail 50% of these Riven players respond with "Fucking OP champ Hecarim".

TLDR, Riven is high skill cap, but she is extremely strong even in the hands of unskilled players. All those people talking about her as being high skill cap, aren't even remotely close to skilled with her and think auto attacking between Q's is skillful.

161 Comments

Sinister Snail5/7/2015, 2:28:33 PM57 votes

She definitely is high skill cap, but I think people forget that a high skill cap champ can also have a low skill floor. Most any scrub can pick up Riven and do decently, but really good players can also do some crazy plays with her.

JustMyBassCannon5/7/2015, 2:39:46 PM20 votes

{quoted}

TLDR, Riven is high skill cap, but she is extremely strong even in the hands of unskilled players. All those people talking about her as being high skill cap, aren't even remotely close to skilled with her and think auto attacking between Q's is skillful.

On the one hand, yeah, she's a powerful high skill-cap champion. This is called "low skill floor, high skill ceiling." It doesn't take much to learn, but there's a noticeable gap between a learning Riven player and a great Riven player in the same way that there's a gap between the two sides of the Grand Canyon.

On the other, people complain about her being easy to learn, but completely ignore that over 50% of the champions in the roster are equally easy to learn. There is one (maybe two) Marksman that you can actually call high-skill, only a handful of mages that are more complex than "Rotate spells, acquire kill, hope you walk away fast enough or use Zhonya's/Flash to survive," and bruisers...bruisers are about as complex as a concrete slab. Tanks are at least a step above bruisers in complexity in most cases, and then Supports, while not necessarily complex, are like playing an RTS where the AI controls the rest of your units.

Ouroborous HD5/7/2015, 1:08:48 PM11 votes

you left out one of riven's greatest counters. Hue Hue Hue.

also riven mains talk about her non existent skill cap because they want to boost their ego to the point where they won't listen to anyone with evidence that they are wrong.

GiveMeTalonPlz5/7/2015, 2:52:57 PM10 votes

There is a very high skillcap on riven. There is just a low skill floor.

Boxbox and BRNA are proof that there is a high skill cap.

Besides people who are "Riven mains" that aren't at least plat, arent actually riven mains. They are just people who play Riven a lot.

Being Riven main implies a certain mastery of the champion, and people at that level dont have it.

As far as being extremely strong in the hands of unskilled players, she is no different than any other snowbally champion. Anyone can pick up Katarina and crush a game. Also Jinx and her stupid fucking AOE crits, I have a friend that is a TERRIBLE league player and he goes off with Jinx all the time.

Ferrous Oxide5/7/2015, 1:16:54 PM10 votes

I'm not a Riven main, in fact I rarely play riven because I'm pretty bad with her, she was the first and only champ I ever returned because I was so bad (I bought her again when she came on sale). Any time one of my friends says they are thinking about picking up Riven I tell them about her high skill cap, so its not just Riven mains that talk about it.

PubgamerAU5/7/2015, 2:24:27 PM8 votes

Riven ... high skill cap

AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

FancyKiwi5/8/2015, 2:39:32 AM6 votes

It's the same mentality Katarina mains have when they defend her not being a really easy low skill champ.

Creamy Seaman5/7/2015, 2:44:25 PM6 votes

lol and if you dominate her she goes afk. I always pick Lee Sin top vs her and they almost always leave the game after they feed 3 kills.

Matezoide5/7/2015, 6:06:05 PM6 votes

Riven players boasting about their skillcap

Meanwhile...

https://s-media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/originals/5b/dd/64/5bdd64db1419aed02653212ceba0371d.jpg

http://oldmanclub.org/dota/_images/b65926a2710f0a343c5f587f5b4c9e49/4997%20-%20invoker%20laughing%20model_viewer.png

Muh health regen

Muh animation cancel

VenomousNecro5/8/2015, 10:22:36 PM5 votes

Riven main here, Riven is insanely hard to play, in lane spamming that q and getting a 500 shield is really difficult. Some times I jump in 1v5 because some challenger player that been playing this champion for 300 years did it. I some times go 2-5 and say I can carry while I fail at jumping the baron pit wall. Even landing my combos are insanely hard, Auto attack each q is really difficult and landing my 300000000000000 range ult is really hard too.

Meep Man5/7/2015, 3:01:52 PM4 votes

Had a Riven once tell me that Kayle takes no skill. They were just mad they couldn't kill me because I always had my R before their R.

Blue Moon Wolf5/7/2015, 5:47:44 PM2 votes

how does Kalista rank on the skill cap? I know she can wreck people, but in my hands I'm lucky to get a kill without dying in the process :(

Gaulrik5/7/2015, 5:18:06 PM2 votes

I enjoy Riven, but I also enjoy locking Garen and spinning on Riven's as well. Garen

Zair Umbras5/7/2015, 7:43:59 PM2 votes

"Hi. I'm bitching about Riven to hide the fact that this is actually a post bitching about Jinx."

chide da jungler5/8/2015, 12:25:51 AM2 votes

It's true. I always Garen vs Riven and you can tell a good Riven from a freelo-rider in less than 5 trades. Good Rivens can win almost any lane 1v1 because that trash-can champ has a ton of slack built in to her stupid kit.

chide da jungler5/8/2015, 12:38:53 AM2 votes

It's true. I always Garen vs Riven and you can tell a good Riven from a freelo-rider in less than 5 trades. Good Rivens can win almost any lane 1v1 because that trash-can champ has a ton of slack built in to her stupid kit.

The Ellimiist5/8/2015, 12:50:19 AM2 votes

Im not sure OP actually knows what makes a, not even decent, but just knowledgeable riven player. I laugh at all the rivens that don't animation cancel q's

A Corny Name5/8/2015, 1:46:37 AM2 votes

Also see: Vayne Zed Kalista LeeSin and MasterYi because RIP wriggles :'(

5050BS5/8/2015, 5:10:23 AM2 votes

Riven, Lee, Yi, Akali, Ahri, Fizz, Jax all have Low skill floor and high skill cap.

This is why ppl hate them because they can dominate at all levels of play.

All of these champs also have a huge damage potential at lvl 3. way more then most all other Champs.

WeFlyNoLie5/7/2015, 5:34:48 PM2 votes

Garen stops Riven players like the OP described in their tracks.

SelflessTeammate5/7/2015, 2:49:30 PM1 votes

What's a skill cap, and how is it different from "hard to master"? Is that the maximum effectiveness of a champ or...I mean, "skill cap" by itself makes no sense.

Or, if it's the same as "hard to master", what was so wrong with saying that, that now we say skill cap?