Please Help the Victims of Hurricane Riven.

So, I know this has probably been said time and time again, but I think it needs saying again because I am so done with this that it's bringing me to agonizing insanity every time I'm in a game with her. Riven desperately...direly...undeniably NEEDS to be reworked to be much, much weaker than she is right now. It is so cruel to have a champion that is THAT broken in a game like this. Now, I know there are other broken champions (i.e. Jax, Morgana, Darius) and those are a problem too, but none compare to the blight upon the enemy team (or in this case, the ally team) that is Riven. Now, since you have my idea, allow me to shed some light on my evidence, or whatever you want to call the ideas that back up my claim.

So let's start with her abilities and scalings.

Passive: Runic Blade. Grants her extra attack damage on her next basic attack for five seconds after using an ability. She can stack up to three of these, but can only expend one at a time. Fair enough, right? However, her scalings for this start at twenty percent of her attack damage and go to fifty percent attack damage, going up five percent for every multiple of three after level 1. Even at level 1 (which she, along with any other champion, will be in for no longer than two minutes, set aside a disconnection), this means she's doing somewhere close to 80 damage per swing. However, and more importantly, when she reaches level 3 close to a minute later, she'll be doing 100 damage per swing and she's able to do it three times in a row. Now, this is just the very tip of the iceberg, and I know that seems small, but think about it. At level three, you have about 600-750 health. If Riven goes top or mid, she'll have ignite most likely, which does 110 damage at level 3. Without doing any damage with her other abilities, she's potentially able to do roughly 410 damage to you with her passive and ignite alone. That's somewhere around 60-75% of your health that can be gone in seconds. And remember, this continues on until she's able to do fifty percent of not only her bonus attack damage, but her entire attack damage, meaning that close to end game, she's going to be doing somewhere close to 700 damage per swing, which can stack up to three times, and is able to be doubled (or increased to 250%) with critical strike. You may be beginning to see my point, but regardless, I will drive this point into people's heads until it goes through them.

Q: Broken Wings. Riven is able to move forward and slash simultaneously, dashing 112.5 units in the direction of the cursor every swing. She can cast Broken Wings again within four seconds of the last cast, and casting a maximum of three times. The swings of her sword will hit any target within range, and the third swing will knock anyone within 150 units of range up into the air, rendering them disabled. Okay, even without hearing the stats here, this sounds a little powerful. Even so, this doesn't sound like something that would make a champion broken, or at least not on its own. Looking at the base damage for this ability, it starts at 10 damage per strike, with a maximum of 30 damage. The single strike goes up 20 damage every level Riven puts into her Q, meaning at full capacity, her strike does 90 damage, with a maximum of 270. Again, this seems a little powerful, but nothing game-breaking. But then you see that this skill gets an attack damage scaling of 40-60%, which then translates into 120-180% at max capacity. To put that into perspective, say we have a level one Riven. She starts with a Doran's Blade, adding 7 attack damage to her starting stat of 56, making it 64. We are extracting runes and masteries from this equation just because it will both make things easier and prove a point. Now, Riven goes ahead and gets her Q first, and goes into lane. She can, and ultimately will, use her Q to its full extent, meaning that just with that one ability, she does 30 damage plus 120% of her current attack damage, right now 64. 64 multiplied by 1.2 is equal to 76.8, which we will round up to 77. This means she does 107 damage to the enemy with this ability that she can get in the opening frames of the game. Remember also that the general starting health is around 500-550. Now, this might seem trivial, as this is only roughly a fifth of their health and nothing that a health potion won't fix, but consider this: Riven's passive gains a stack every time you use an ability. This means that you can technically pull off a six-hit combo that does this 107 damage, plus the damage of three Runic Blade charges. At level one, Runic Blade adds 20 percent of your attack damage to your basic attack. Hmm, Riven's attack damage multiplied by 120%? Where have we heard that before? Oh right, that's the cumulative damage added to Riven's Q after all three strikes. Well, this turns into the 107 damage of the Q plus 77 plus 77 plus 77. That's 338 damage right off the bat, and assuming she has ignite, that's another 70 damage right there. That turns into 408 damage, which is now four fifths of what is a general health. Remember, this is also not counting minion damage, previous basic attacks, runes, masteries, or anything else. And as if we needed to go into how else this move is overpowered, my I remind you that this move can be use three times instantly, allowing you to move roughly 350 movement units in under a second. This makes this move not only a gap-closer, but a very worthy escape. This means that all except 18 Champions ( look up a chart for champion movement speed to get exact info) will not be able to run after or away from her, as she creates or closes a gap that is equal to or greater than their movement speed. Have I driven the point home yet? No? MOVING ON.

W: Ki Burst. Riven's sword sends out a shock wave, stunning and damaging foes. Okay, so this ability is where the turning point begins from this being a broken character to this being an unbeatable character. You all get the point that this stuns (for .75 seconds, I forgot to add) and damages, but it's not even this single ability that is broken, but how it works in tandem with it's counterparts. But first, lemme take a step back and introduce its stats. It always stuns for .75 seconds, and that's not variable, but the damage that it does definitely is. This ability starts at 50 damage, going up 30 points for every level put into it for a maximum of 170, but has an attack damage scaling of 100% bonus attack damage at level 1. This is appalling, as with my attack damage rune page that offers 8.5 attack damage and a Doran's Blade, you already get almost 16 extra points of damage on that ability, making it 66. For those of you at home who haven't yet caught on, I am aware that this is not a lot of damage, but let me give you an updated equation. So we have our runic blade that does 120% of our attack damage, which is now (having added my 8.5 attack damage from my rune page and our Doran's Blade) 72. So we take 72, multiply it by 1.2 (87), add that to 30, and we get the damage of Broken Wings, 116. Then, we use our little technique from before that allows that extra damage from Runic Blade, which is equal to the extra damage given to Broken Wings. That means 116 plus 87 plus 87 plus 87. That's 377 damage. But wait, there's more. Now, we take the damage of Riven's W and add that into the equation, making it 377 plus 66, making 443, and then adding ANOTHER 87 to that because of Runic Blade, making 530. Now, if that doesn't kill them, you still have ignite, assuming you haven't already killed the poor sap you're laning against back in level one, and that does 90 damage at level 2, meaning that this whole thing comes to 620 damage MINIMUM! This excludes minion damages, prior basic attacks, and masteries. This is far more than enough to kill any character at level 2. Plus, let's look back to the whole "gap-closer/escape" bits, and see how all this ties in. Ki Burst allows you to stun your enemy for most of a second, allowing you to get away from them using your Q. It also allows the opposite, as you can use your Q to get close to someone and the use your Ki Burst to keep them there. Not to mention that her Q also has a knock-up, meaning that if you're within range when she hits that last Q, you're toast, as she has enough crowd control from there to keep you from moving for about 1.5 seconds and kill you. Well, onto the next one.

E: Valor: Riven dashes 325 units towards the cursor and gains a shield that scales off her attack damage for 1.5 seconds. If it feels now that I'm having to reiterate the concept to you that she has too many gap-closers/escapes ad nauseam, that's because she has too many gap-closers/escapes to the point where it becomes near impossible to fight her. Not only is this more than the amount she moves having done all 3 Q's (336), but this also gives her a shield that scales with 100% of her bonus attack damage. This means that in an instant, Riven can move all of the distance of her Q and E (686), stun you for .75 seconds, and then kill you, or stun you for .75 seconds as she moves all of the distance of her Q and E (686). This coupled with the fact that her shield starts at 90+ is atrocious. Trying to 1 v 1 Riven is like a goose trying to 1 v 1 a jet engine. You will get suck in, you will get shredded, and you will turn into snarge on the other end. (Snarge is the term for the remains of a bird after it has a bone to pick with a jet engine)

R: Blade of the Exile. Okay, so get this. For fifteen seconds, Riven gets 20% of her entire attack damage as extra attack damage, extends her attack range by 75 points, and extends the ranges of her 1st Q, 3rd Q, and Ki Burst by 50, 50, and 10 respectively. SO AS IF SHE WASN'T POWERFUL ENOUGH, RIOT GIVES HER THIS. This is absolutely absurd, and it's almost an insult having to play against someone who has this. This is the (almost) literal lovechild between Olaf's and Aatrox's ults, who went off to become better than either of its parents. I shouldn't even have to explain why this is so overpowered, but I will, because apparently someone in charge either doesn't understand or isn't listening hard enough. So, imagine you are a level 18 Riven. You have a Hydra, a MoM, a Last Whisper, a Black Cleaver, and a Frozen Mallet. That all adds up to give you 255 bonus attack damage, added to your already maxed out base attack damage, which is 107, making 362 altogether (or 370 if you add in the 8 from my rune page). This is a lot of damage, needless to say. Now, let's take 370 and multiply it by 1.2, getting 444. Now, let's take THAT, and plug that in for X, where X is the damage that is then multiplied by 1.80 to get the full cumulative damage of your Q. That makes 800, which then gets added 270 because that's the base damage for max level Q. Then, let's do the technique we learned before, taking half of 444 (222) and applying that to 444 for the basic attacks that you use in between your Q's because of Runic Blade. So that's 666 (awfully suspicious, mind you) times 3 (1998) plus the 1070 damage we had done with just our Q (3068). Then use your W, which does 170 damage plus your entire bonus attack damage which is now 255 (435) and add that to the damage pile (3503). Then add the 4th Runic Blade to your damage (4169). Then you can add a 5th stack of Runic Blade because of your W, which will shield you from any damage that may occur when you leap further into this chaos, adding another 666 to the pot (4835). Oh, and while we're at it, let's add another stack of Runic blade from you using your ult, putting YET ANOTHER STACK OF 666 INTO THE POT (5501). So, just from this string of moves, you have done almost twice what most champions are permitted to build at this stage, and while not all of that will go through to the enemy, your Black Cleaver and Last Whisper reduce the enemy's Armor by 60%, and you have plus 10 Armor Penetration from your Cleaver. Unless you were a fully stacked, fully tank, fully fed Cho'Gath, you could not survive that encounter. Note, I didn't say you couldn't win, I said you couldn't survive. Winning is not even an option at that point in time. Cho'Gath can win only because he is able to reach around 7000 health. But after that, he can run away, maybe flash or ghost, run back to base right? Wrong.

Other R: Wind Slash. Riven unleashes a 2200-speed wave of energy in a cone, dealing physical damage to all enemies hit. The damage is increased by 2.67% for every 1% of an enemy's missing health, capping at 200% bonus damage (300% total damage) against enemies with 75% or more missing health. BECAUSE SHE WASN'T OVER POWERED ENOUGH!!! Seriously, this would be hilarious if it wasn't real. This is so crudely stepping over the boundaries of "balance" that it should be a capital offence. But, I digress. This Cho'Gath thinks he can get away. You've done roughly 5500 damage to him, and if he's been somehow getting fed from other people on your team and has acquired 7000 health, has roughly 1500 of it left. Now's your time to shine. You use your second ult (BECAUSE THE PEOPLE WHO MADE YOU THOUGHT IT WAS NOT ENOUGH THAT YOU HAD JUST ONE ULT) and deal 480 damage, plus 180% of your bonus attack damage, which is 939, and add that to the pot (6440). Didn't kill him? Flash over to him and use the 7TH STACK OF RUNIC BLADE TO DEAL ANOTHER 666 DAMAGE TO HIM (7106). STILL NOT DEAD? IGNITE HIM, DEALING ANOTHER 410 DAMAGE (7516). Ladies and gentleman, I am not kidding you when I say that there is no possible way ANYONE could survive an encounter with Riven if she plays her cards right. And the stats that say her difficulty is maximum are priceless. The ONLY way to make sure that Riven is kept down and out is to make sure she's met with constant CC throughout the entire game, and huge damage immediately following. This is nearly impossible, as those who deal constant CC do not deal huge damage, and vice versa. Basically, if there's a Riven on their team who gets more than one kill in 5 minutes, surrender at 20.

Suggestions: I think that some of the fixes here are really easy, and could help make her a little bit more balanced, but in the end, the doctor prescribes a redo. However, if you're not going to do THAT (seeing as you've never listened when someone's said so before), here's what you could do. Cut her dashes in half Pick one (just one) of her two ults for her to have Have her shield scale off ability power Make Runic Blade scale off Bonus attack damage Start Runic Blade at 10% and have it scale up to 25% at level 18. Make Wind Slash's damage increase 1.5% per 1% health missing Lower Ki Burst's attack damage scalings Lower Broken Wings' attack damage scalings Lower Wind Slash's attack damage scalings Give Runic Blade a cool-down Give her mana Give her higher cool-downs Don't have her get bonus range from her ult Take away either her stun or her knock-up Take away some of her armor Cut the range of Wind Slash in half Any of these things would make her a more balanced champion, but I digress. I understand it's not me who has been making money designing champions, making maps, designing different mechanics, etc. However, I really believe that even the rankest of layman can see that this character is way too powerful, and that she needs to be limited in some major way if she is to continue being a part of the League of Legends.

Anyway, I rest my case. This is just a cry for help in this big ol' internet, trying to find someone who can help me out and maybe even try and change something, or at least convince me that it doesn't need changing. To who ever reads this, thanks for sticking through, and if you want, tell me if you agree or disagree or don't have an opinion at all. Thanks.

Yours Truly, Cthulu Comes.

TL;DR Riven's Q is way too powerful Her Q, E, and W make it way too easy for her to close gaps and escape Her Range is way too large She has two ults Her passive is overpowered She has the capacity to do almost 8000 damage in close to 10 seconds (7516 to be exact) Her scalings are ridiculously overpowered See above for my suggestions on how to fix her ultra-brokenness.