(Theoretical) Yasuo Guide to Counter Riven (Does Require Skill)

Ideal skill order: Last Breath > Steel Tempest > Sweeping Blade > Wind Wall.

Ideal Items: , , ( If you are confident in yourself) (Optional: )

Riven is a Hard Engage Laner, whose ideal is to abruptly rush at you and peel off her full rotation and preferably kill you very quickly and effectively. Yasuo is a Poke Laner, designed to go in, stab the enemy once, go away, wait for another poke. You are innately 5 units faster than Riven, but don't let it go to your head. Preferably if you can, wait for her to get boots before you decide on which boots you buy.

Riven will want to kill you as much as possible. Yasuo, although he hates Riven, will be forced to play Cat and Mouse with her... If you know what you are doing, by the end of the game, she'll be the Mouse. Use your Q to maximum efficiency and do not engage unless Riven is at 20% health or less. Also try to take into mind if she recently used Valor, as she may be trying to bait you with it.

Riven will attempt to charge in with Broken Wings... Appear to run away. At the second activation, if you fear she will hit you, immediately use Sweeping Blade at her. If done right, you will dash through and past her, and at the last half second, she'll wonder what the hell just happened as you are not only out of her range but BEHIND her when you were clearly running away. This is a good way to juke her, and your dash cooldown, even if she has 40% cooldown, will still be shorter than the time it takes for her to build a third charge. (Even with 40%, her Broken Wings has a 9.5 second cooldown, your Steel Tempest dash block is 10 seconds AT RANK 1, and she needs to build 2 charges of Broken Wings for the knock-up.)

Ki Burst is not counterable to my knowledge, but if you keep out of range, this should be easy to dodge if she's not using Broken Wings to close the distance. Just try to keep your distance in mind, as her Ki Blast has 125 (135 if Blade of the Exile is active) activation range, which is about equal to her default attack range. Your Steel Tempest is about 475 units, so unless she's using Broken Wings, keeping out of range shouldn't be very difficult.

Try to track when she uses her Valor. At 40% cooldown reduction and rank 5, she'll have this about every 5 seconds. Otherwise, 10/9/8/7/6. Her shield scales off of Attack Damage, and lasts for 2.5 seconds. When she is on cooldown, THAT is the time to really start poking aggressively.

Blade of the Exile may complicate things a bit with it's increased range, but the real threat is her Wind Slash... and that's where the Wind Wall comes in... Unless you are Normal Casting (in which case, stop reading this guide and go learn how to Smart Cast like a pro!) my advice is immediately after she casts it cast a wall infront of you WHEN you think she'll use it (if you are unsure, just cast it immediately, it won't kill you... probably) If done right, her biggest burst damage will be completely NULLIFIED And you can charge in and start stabbing like crazy.