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Riven Nerfs Missing Key Issues

kmb180·10/1/2015, 6:00:47 PM·1 votes·1,047 views

The new edge mechanic, though really interesting, is missing some of the key issues with Riven overall. Her ult is supposed to be the strongest part of her kit, an execute that allows her to be bursty and build mostly damage items. However, edge makes her ult more for extended skirmishing or using animation cancelling. While this is taking Riven in a direction that could be interesting, I believe that the change should be to her passive rather than her ult.

For instance, the three maximum stacks could be reinstituted and the damage could scale with the amount of stacks Riven has built up. If she has three stacks, the damage is reduced to one third of a maximum number and all stacks would be used, and at one stack it would do a base number with decent AD scaling which could be fiddled with in order to address the issues with her current kit. This would allow skilled Riven players to be strong without her ultimate, rewarding smart play and good mechanics; at the same time, it would discourage button spamming and make mastering Riven more rewarding than the edge mechanic.

Of course, this solution is theoretical but it does show my point. Riven's kit is too strong right now because she is strong with and without ult regardless of the mechanical skill of the player behind the wheel. As of the changes on PBE during the time of writing, the edge mechanic is clunky and making her identity confused and not great overall.

14 Comments

Baseball3b10/1/2015, 10:42:19 PM2 votes

So essentially you're saying that, an AA with 3 stacks of her passive does less damage than an AA with 1 stack?

I actually really like that idea. If they were going to change Riven, I'd want them to do this. (even though, frankly, she's pretty balanced right now despite all the QQ)

My main complaint towards the changes is that it rewards extended skirmishes and fights when that's something the current Riven and her kit in general isn't good at so the changes would force her into a more bruiser type role and we already have way too many of those.

Bavacavalata10/1/2015, 7:37:14 PM1 votes

So basically you're saying more stacks you have more power your basics have? That's what her passive already does, just not to that extent. I think that basic attacking champions, not after using an ability, gains stacks and building the certain number of stacks the next attack consumes one mark, and the passive would actual BENEFIT riven...

fukimissHarambe10/1/2015, 7:43:48 PM1 votes

The thing frustrating about riven is her early game (pre-6) zoning and kill potential, this rework lowers her early game damage but overall, as a riven player, I feel it buffs her ult. Maybe you have to build a tank item to sustain for your 10 stacks but if you are canceling auto attacks with your Q it won't take long to get your ult to 10 stacks and once you do, you can do full damage to potentially their entire team. Also there is still incentive to save your ult to execute because it drains your edge bar meaning, your auto attacks and other abilities won't get the 10% bonus damage

Sightless6610/1/2015, 8:28:29 PM1 votes

So, just to be clear, your idea is that if Riven autoattacked someone when she had one stack of her passive, it would do more damage than if someone (for example, if I did 200 damage on an autoattack with one stack of the passive, I would only do maybe 150 damage on that autoattack if I consumed two stacks at once)? Would you say that is an accurate description?

I don't think your proposal would really give any new opportunities for Riven. It really doesn't look different from Riot's idea. I mean, the way I'm seeing it, it promotes the same gameplay as the one stack limit. Hear me out on this. With Riot's new idea, people can get one stack of their passive, and then using abilities means that any extra stacks get wasted. Your idea is really very similar, except that the extra stacks would actually make her passive damage weaker. How exactly is that allowing skilled Riven players to be strong without the ultimate? It's just punishing you anytime you get more than one stack, which is exactly what Riot's idea does. What's the change?

I'm not trying to be sarcastic or anything here. I really don't see anything but a numerical difference between your idea and Riot's. The goal of both your change and Riot's chagne seems to be "don't use more than one ability without autoattacking or you lose potential damage". What makes your idea encourage different play than Riot's idea? If I'm missing something (and I might be), please let me know.

The Sword Saint10/1/2015, 9:40:47 PM1 votes

On the design direction of the experimental Riven changes