Boards›Gameplay

Riven.

1 Wing··5 votes·1,413 views

Okay, can someone with more technical knowledge explain how Riven is not OP?

It seems like any time I trade with her, the next time I'm off cooldown, bang! Riven's off cooldown, too. And, that's fine, as a general rule for champions, but Riven has no mana, or any kind of resource holding them back. It seems unfair that I'm using my resource up, and Riven just keeps equal footing limitlessly. Is there something, mathematically, that's making Riven's cooldowns slightly longer than other champions? Riven should have some kind of weakness here, right, as a resourcelss champion?

It's not like Riven's powers are weak. Riven's stun is pretty long, at level 1. Their shield is very strong, and it lasts for a long time, and it has a low cooldown; not all of these things should be true.

I just feel like there should be something reining in Riven's power. Like, when Riven executes the sweeping blade attack on their ult: that should shatter their sword, and revert Riven to their normal form. The story is that Riven uses a broken blade, and with their ult it's temporarily reforged. . and then what, it just casually falls apart again? I think it would be cool if Riven's great attack is what broke their blade. And it would reduce their power a little, since they can ult, sweep the enemy team, and then just keep fighting with their sweet sword for what is really a pretty darn long time.

I'm just not seeing how Riven, a champion with no resources to manage, is balanced in the league. I think adding a feature where Riven gains +1 to their cooldown for each skill--independently--with each use, and then Riven has to rest without using that skill for three seconds to go back to regular CD, would given Riven a sense of getting exhausted after fighting for a long time, and would help vary up the kinds of play Riven does beyond just "attack hard." I get that Riven is supposed to be a great soldier, but they're also supposed to be a human being!

18 Comments

SaltyToplaneGoat5 votes

Most people tend to forget how squishy riven actually is compared to most toplaners. Of course she seesm tanky to you if you blast everything on the shield, but if you wait until she uses it just feel free to poke her out of lane.

I usually pick lissandra or Pantheon against her - and sometimes Gnar.

Honestly, she's squishy. bait the shield. poke her down. win. Quite easy concept no?

Leti the Yeti1 votes

despite her squishiness, you still have to be a ranged cancer to hurt her without her out trading your ass

BeatzBoyFTW1 votes

Darius is a piece of cake to counter Riven, for a melee champ doe.

1 Wing1 votes

huh? Oh, I can just stun you if you grab me, and I have another escape beyond that? Sounds like a good counter to me.

Kuroi861 votes

You dash away, I spin, your shield is gone and you take magic damage, fun times, especially since you have crap health regen and by the time my abilities are off cooldown you won't heal a third of the damage I do.

Leti the Yeti1 votes

I honestly think Darius is one of few champs that have trades as powerful as riven's Especially since his Q is gonna chunk you even harder as you try to run away

BeatzBoyFTW3 votes

I think I prefer taking my time to cs more than going cocky-headed by diving & going all-out early game onto Riven in a lane full of minions ready to attack me when I do.

Basically at level 1, let's admit it, Darius hurts like hell even to champs like Nasus. While doing normal cs and shiet, if you sense Riven gets close enough, Q on the most outer range. No cast time, means Riven won't have time to shield up first. Of course, smart Rivens usually tends to take shield at level 1, and like OP of this comment said, bait her shield out, and then try to strike her again. You can bait her shield simply by walking near her if she unlocks shield at level 1, or if her Q is on cooldown.

The case I mentioned usually gets me an easy First Blood. According to my past winning experiences killing Rivens as Darius, after you have built some substantial builds with a mix of AD & Armor (all Rivens always builds Brutalizer first, so it's best to take a Vampiric Scepter & PickAxe first if you have enough gold), always be aware of what Riven is going to cast next:

  • You see her trying to go near you in the middle of the minion fray, which gives you the best warning to back off first. Bait her into using her triple Q, about 80% of the time she would cast at least the first Q. That's your cue to ready your own Q to counter her back since her only mighty mobility move is on cooldown. After her 3rd Q, go in onto her, wait a while for her to cast E, and then QEW her back. If you're worried she would stun you affter the pull, just try to catch up to her by just running.

  • You see her used ult, trying to be one cocky-headed biatch to insta-kill you down. Follow the steps above, and if possible, when you noticed her ult is almost down, Flash towards her backside and watch her ults swinging onto nothing. Very effective if you think you can take her down when you're low on health. Know that this type of move only works about 40-50% chance, I was pretty lucky back then.

This is the best I can give you, but again, this is just based on my past experience when I manage to wreck a Riven as Darius really hard.

zane yalgir1 votes

{quoted}

I think I prefer taking my time to cs more than going cocky-headed by diving & going all-out early game onto Riven in a lane full of minions ready to attack me when I do.

Basically at level 1, let's admit it, Darius hurts like hell even to champs like Nasus. While doing normal cs and shiet, if you sense Riven gets close enough, Q on the most outer range. No cast time, means Riven won't have time to shield up first. Of course, smart Rivens usually tends to take shield at level 1, and like OP of this comment said, bait her shield out, and then try to strike her again. You can bait her shield simply by walking near her if she unlocks shield at level 1, or if her Q is on cooldown.

The case I mentioned usually gets me an easy First Blood. According to my past winning experiences killing Rivens as Darius, after you have built some substantial builds with a mix of AD & Armor (all Rivens always builds Brutalizer first, so it's best to take a Vampiric Scepter & PickAxe first if you have enough gold), always be aware of what Riven is going to cast next:

  • You see her trying to go near you in the middle of the minion fray, which gives you the best warning to back off first. Bait her into using her triple Q, about 80% of the time she would cast at least the first Q. That's your cue to ready your own Q to counter her back since her only mighty mobility move is on cooldown. After her 3rd Q, go in onto her, wait a while for her to cast E, and then QEW her back. If you're worried she would stun you affter the pull, just try to catch up to her by just running.

  • You see her used ult, trying to be one cocky-headed biatch to insta-kill you down. Follow the steps above, and if possible, when you noticed her ult is almost down, Flash towards her backside and watch her ults swinging onto nothing. Very effective if you think you can take her down when you're low on health. Know that this type of move only works about 40-50% chance, I was pretty lucky back then.

This is the best I can give you, but again, this is just based on my past experience when I manage to wreck a Riven as Darius really hard.

shes melee if your baiting her right shes shit..... its who is the most patient you or riven and its usually the riven

1 Wing1 votes

I find Riven players won't activate their shield, unless they can stun me, then they can dash out of range if they want, and I'm injured, and I can't strike back. Riven's strong enough to just kill someone if they can land their stun. A lot of the advice I hear against Riven is to "bait them out" and that seems unrealistic against a better Riven player: they're not going to use their shield unless they can capitalize on it.

Leti the Yeti2 votes

baiting is more of an issue with player skill rather than a weakness in a champions kit ;l cough bait out Zed's shadow, wow look at that counterplay, Zeds balanced!

zane yalgir1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Kyoki Shinkuro,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=nvWB014w,comment-id=0001,timestamp=2015-01-12T11:10:26.092+0000)

Most people tend to forget how squishy riven actually is compared to most toplaners. Of course she seesm tanky to you if you blast everything on the shield, but if you wait until she uses it just feel free to poke her out of lane.

I usually pick lissandra or Pantheon against her - and sometimes Gnar.

Honestly, she's squishy. bait the shield. poke her down. win. Quite easy concept no?

panteon or teemo and if teemo summoner 3

Leti the Yeti3 votes

resourceless -cringe- not even energy?

passive is like half a sheen -cringe- and you dont even need to do her QAAQAAQAA perfectly either, ideal but WAIT you can hold up to 3 charges.. fuq, let me hold 3 charges of sheen before I go into a fight

AD scaling shield -cringe- how many people in game have a shield strong than that?

1005 range initiation,gap close/escape -cringe- like wtf is that shit?

AoE Execution Nuke -cringe- why the actual fuck wait wait wait.. percent bonus AD steroid too? -cringe- on a 50 second cool down at max rank no less, fuq this shit, I'm out

180% AD ratios -cringe- lol and Jarvan has 120% and everyone says HE has "crazy ratios", what does that make Riven?

Now just cuz she has some counters doesnt mean she aint fuqing OP

Gank in Progress3 votes

pick sion into her, go fulltank, and enjoy your meal. no seriously, she is a mixture between bruiser and assassin, she has the fight capacity of a bruiser and the squishyness of an assassin. most tanky toplaners do well against her.

Kuroi862 votes

A. Riven's shield only lasts 1.5 seconds with a 10 second cooldown at rank 1.

B. Who do you play top against her? Your choices in top lane champs make a difference.

Chaotic Reks1 votes

looks for complaints that her HP regen is garbage making her "balanced"

Drunk Rummate1 votes

work around her cooldowns and poke her down to take advantage of her low sustain. she wins most all ins unless you build enough armor to survive her full burst. alternatively you can try kiting her out.

riven generally loses to champions that build really tanky. rush a sunfire and you'll have a great midgame versus her, assuming you havent already died 3 times. if you can, pick a high sustain champion into her like Nasus and rush a bit of armor. Once you have a chain vest or wardens mail you'll be pretty much invincible until she finishes her last whisper, and if she rushes that it means she won't have a hydra which means her sustain will be crap for most of the game.

The Fat Punisher1 votes

Riven has no good lane match ups in top.

Her damage is shit. (Yes her Q was nerfed.)

She's squishy. (like glass cannon mage squishy, and her shield is gone before she even complete her engage)

No sustain at all.

Her W stun is actually one of the shortest in the game you idiot.

Her mobility (considered her strongest attribute) isn't even on par with Ahri Akali LeeSin Diana RekSai

She is played as an assassin in the current meta, which means she's worthless because she's the slowest most difficult to play assassin in the game. Her only escape is her main source of damage / engage. her engage is slow compared to Katarina Zed Talon Akali Leblanc who jump on people. But Rivens engage takes twice as long to execute. Her burst is actually pretty low considering how squishy she is. She has to Q AA Q AA Q AA R to kill someone, which sounds easy but compared to Zed who simply presses R W ANDDD can still escape. She's hardly even viable..

N3mO061 votes

her weakness is the sustain. Try to poke when she tries to farm and in early game try to take more pots and a cloth armor, try to do flash trade and when she will be low, you will rekt her

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by 1 Wing

Why does no one in game talk about a plan anymore?
Gameplay98 comments
33
votes
Add "Remaining Tick" Counter to Ignite
Gameplay10 comments
27
votes
Smurfing: WTF??!
Gameplay60 comments
25
votes
I think there is something wrong with matchmaking
Gameplay35 comments
24
votes
Can we do something to remove smurfing?
Gameplay33 comments
23
votes
Thresh: Should not stick onto a spell shield
Gameplay15 comments
20
votes