Serious Question: Does Riven take skill?

flont·10/8/2015, 9:46:19 PM·5 votes·3,096 views

Alright, so I've been in an argument with my friends for a while now and I've decided it's time I've asked the forums: Does Riven take any skill?

I honestly think that she does, because of all the mechanics that need to be practiced and combos, etc. For a while now, I've been trying to git gud with Riven. I've learned plenty these past few months and I still have a hard time with her in lane.

My friend, who has probably no-lifed this game for more than a year now, thinks that Riven is some kind of face-roll champ. He constantly tells me that she is broken and that I think she is hard simply because "I suck with her".

I know that she's broken as fuck -- It's been a well-known fact for ages, but my motto's that "Broken-ness ≠ difficulty". Every champion takes some kind of skill to carry a game with or just do well with. Y' know, Yasuo for example. So yeah, does Riven really take any skill?

32 Comments

Baseball3b10/9/2015, 12:25:32 AM5 votes

Despite the massive circle jerk that Riven is a brain dead faceroll champ, she actually takes a ton of skill to play well and do well with, and has one of, if not the highest skill ceilings in the game.

Aatrox Herself10/8/2015, 9:47:14 PM3 votes

Riven is easy as fuck.

SymbolicFear10/9/2015, 12:21:47 AM2 votes

No, the one thing I see a lot of League players mistake is whether something takes skill... or just muscle memory. Combo's, animation cancels, etc. are all muscle memory. There aren't many champions in this game that require skill. One true skill champion would be Azir, as his abilities are all about placement, which is something that comes with experience and learning the game in general.

angryhare123451/26/2017, 10:02:20 PM2 votes

Damn it seems everyone is triggered by riven......well let me tell u back in my 40th game a had a smurf on my team and he played yas...and the other team had a smurf as well and they played riven.....now et me tell u something it was damn horrifying just an all out war, at the end of the game both tops went afk...but they still didn't say anything..So remember if u see a yas and a riv fighting DON'T GET INVOLVED Yasuo Riven [zombie-brand-clap]

Adeptus Terra10/9/2015, 12:12:36 AM2 votes

There are two answers to this. Yes: Reason being that there are a lot of things that "good" riven players like Boxbox do to make the champion do more dmg ect. No: SHE DOES SO MUCH FUCKING DMG AND HAS SO MANY FUCKING ESCAPES conclusion, She takes a bit of skill... but not a lot? Edit: Eh she might take a lot of skill... The combos, timing, auto cancels and placements, ect. are out of reach for a lot of players.

BIG BAD AXE MAN10/9/2015, 12:41:44 AM2 votes

go play a ranked game and play riven top against any of these bad boys/girls.
let me know when you faceroll ez them.
you won't.

basically, yes, she takes skill.

futre10/10/2015, 9:18:20 PM2 votes

I believe she does take skill because riven is one of those hard to learn and even harder to master. For example, she has several animation canceling concepts that can improve your riven skills. Also, Riven also takes timing and to master timing you need experience and if you have experience with a champ you need skill. For example, riven is one of those champs you can 1v5 because of her cc but knowing when to go back in with her 3rd q is a challenge. You have to know the cool downs of your opponents so you won't get hard cc reengaging. You also have to know your own cool downs so you can use you abilities effectively. Another timing thing with riven is her ult. When you play riven it is essential to maximize the ad boost you get with her ult. You know you have a bad riven when she ults and then immediately uses the second ult. Timing with her shield is very important to negate incoming damage and to know the casting times of your enemies. One of her hardest abilities to use which I think of her main ability is her q. You have a certain amount of time to use her 2nd and 3rd q so you have to use the first q at an appropriate time or else the q is wasted. Another skill concept with riven is synergizing with active items i.e Ravenous Hydra. This is extremely important on riven because if you do not then riven's average dps full build won't be as high normally making her a weaker champ then she really is. In conclusion, I think riven is pretty broken the only thing is, is that she has a pretty high skill cap but once you get good at her you will look like boxbox. Good luck on the rift. Shoutout to ChaoticFlint I am one of his friends that argue about this lol ok bye

Gubaguy10/9/2015, 12:09:01 AM1 votes

Im not very good with her, but i know she takes 0 skill, even when i was doing bad and couldnt animation cancel like i needed to i was still jsut QAAQAAQAAWAAing all game and was doing way more damage then shoudl be dealt in that time.

JediSenpaiNP10/9/2015, 3:09:47 AM1 votes

She's an easy to play, hard to master champ. You can manage yourself with very little actual skill as riven, due to her insane mobility and damage. However, when against a tough matchup for riven like Garen , or go into high levels of play, she can no longer be used without both great knowledge and practice effectively. Overall, riven's skill escalates with the rank higher than quite a few champions.

1000angrybees10/9/2015, 6:14:03 AM1 votes

It's interesting because I'd say Riven does AND doesn't take skill.

using all her abilities effectively in a fight- such as getting off one of her CC's but saving the other for a crucial moment, dodging around with her Q/E, or making sure she procs her passive by weaving AA's between casts is skill. However, her 'kill anyone with low health in the general direction you point at' button feels very counter to that.

Bârd10/9/2015, 6:56:38 AM1 votes

Yup.

It really doesnt FEEL like she does when you are playing against her, and a basic level of skill is enough to roflstomp low level players,

but to play her at any decent level requires some damn good mechanics.

Hell Week10/9/2015, 4:18:38 PM1 votes

i'll tell you what takes skill, fuckin your mom in the pussy for 8 hours takes skill and stamina. she be like Q Q Q A A A A A E E E E W W W W A A A A A R R R R R R R R R R R R R R A A A A A A A A A A A A E E E E E E YEEEEAAAAH MOREEEEE.

Blade of Justic10/9/2015, 12:10:09 AM1 votes

No.

Ixaxxar10/9/2015, 12:31:51 AM1 votes

easy to play and do well with due to no mana, tons of escapes, shields, and tons of damage.

Hard to master using all the never ending cds in the right time.