Serious Question: Does Riven take skill?

flont·Oct 8, 2015·5 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

Baseball3bOct 9, 20155 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.

SymbolicFearOct 9, 20152 votes

Not really, if you can learn how to do all the combo's and animation cancels and such one time, you can do them over and over and over again with just muscle memory and so it really does seem like Riven is just mashing buttons and doing well. The only real skill a Riven player needs is to be able to read their opponent, cause once Riven's target makes a mistake, its a free kill.

Baseball3bOct 9, 20152 votes

Skill is relative though. Nothing in league takes a truly high amount of skill. Regardless, she takes a relatively good amount of skill to do well with.

Timing cancels requires skill. Ingraining them in muscle memory requires skill. Ingraining the quick combo on a moving target into muscle memory is arguable the hardest thing in the game -- which obviously takes skill. Knowing when to trade takes skill. Knowing how to team fight takes skill.

So yes, she takes skill, and quite a bit of it.

SymbolicFearOct 9, 20151 votes

In all honesty I find most of those basic knowledge and mechanics. The things you mentioned to me are the same as how to walk or eat. Its just things that come in time and repetition.
The true skill required by Riven is implementing your knowledge in a chaotic moment, such as a team fight. Other than that, I don't see much that Riven players need as she is rather straight forward as far as simply playing her. I learned her combos and was able to just roam around and kill for the fun of it on the second game I played.

Baseball3bOct 9, 20151 votes

I agree that the implementing that knowledge is the trickiest part -- that's more what I mean when I say her animation cancels take skill. However, I highly highly doubt you can pull of quick comboing in lane on a moving target consistently. Not to mention that some things that come easy for some don't come as easy for others. With all due respect, people at your ELO usually don't know how to play around Riven which makes it extremely easy to stomp with her. Like I said, it's relative, but Riven ultimately has a moderately low skill floor but one of the highest ceilings in the game.

DeynaTaggerungOct 9, 20151 votes

That's quite a bit more skill than most champs that have pretty straightforward combos like lux.

HayRossOct 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

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.

Gangplank Play him, come back to me

Aatrox HerselfOct 8, 20153 votes

Riven is easy as fuck.

Adeptus TerraOct 9, 20152 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.

headlesslyteOct 9, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Adeptus Terra,realm=NA,application-id=cIfEodbz,discussion-id=oiMvoEPF,comment-id=0003,timestamp=2015-10-09T00:12:36.978+0000)

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.

lol? its like asking if ahri after dfg rework needed skill

the answer is no learn the combos and have a basic understanding of when to go in when to back ect and your broken becuase of the damage out put

honestly if i was thinking this takes skills its mostly becuase its a champion i couldnt understand

Udyr super strong just could never understand him to save my life so i didnt play him

SymbolicFearOct 9, 20152 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.

71389310_DELOct 9, 20151 votes

I think you are 100% correct with the exception of one thing: I believe muscle memory is a skill. I'm autistic and as a result my motor skills ( including muscle memory ) are naturally poor. With that having been said Riven is a one-trick pony and one-trick ponies tend to not require as much skill to master as a strategically-versatile champion would.

SymbolicFearOct 9, 20152 votes

For some, yes, Muscle Memory is a skill and is not just something you have are able to use as a tool. Its all a matter of that to be honest.

BIG BAD AXE MANOct 9, 20152 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.

SymbolicFearOct 9, 20152 votes

She can beat Irelia, Jax, Cho, Fiora, Naut, Olaf, and Pantheon rather easily....

BIG BAD AXE MANOct 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

She can beat Irelia, Jax, Cho, Fiora, Naut, Olaf, and Pantheon rather easily....

with just QQQWE with no AA in between? no baiting? no auto cancel? good luck. with skill yes, you can outplay them.

FowusOct 9, 20152 votes

Actually, she does. She will also beat naut very hard early game

BIG BAD AXE MANOct 9, 20151 votes

{quoted}

Actually, she does. She will also beat naut very hard early game

nice trolling. you realize naut has a passive root and his W can absorb her entire early damage?

FowusOct 9, 20151 votes

and do you realize a root wont do shit to Riven because of her insane mobility? Also, his W won't matter when Riven has finished black cleaver and last whisper, which are common to see on a riven

BIG BAD AXE MANOct 9, 20151 votes

uh, you can't get a black cleaver and last whisper during early game. and rushing LW on riven is going to cause her to fall short in mid game. riven usually rushes brutalizer for the armor pen and if she's ahead.

and naut's root interrupts riven's Q, which interrupts her main source of damage at level 1. what are you smoking? you're talking as if naut's AA is a skillshot.

you don't even play riven...so why are you making ridiculous claims?

FowusOct 9, 20151 votes

Naut's shield is weak early game, I don't play Riven but when I have, I've done pretty ok, also Naut's aa will only interrupt one of rivens multiple dashes

angryhare12345Jan 26, 20171 votes

NAWWWWW riv doesn't take skill cuz no mana and short cd.....but if u want a real challenge go any lane and any champ only go full CDR runes and only take thunder lords........I've done this before wouldn't recommend but it's fun as hell :3*[zombie-nunu-hearts]* and yes full cdr runes are my only runes...[slayer-pantheon-rainbows]

futreOct 10, 20152 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

angryhare12345Jan 26, 20172 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]

GubaguyOct 9, 20151 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.

Blade of JusticOct 9, 20151 votes

No.

IxaxxarOct 9, 20151 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.

JediSenpaiNPOct 9, 20151 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.

1000angrybeesOct 9, 20151 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.

BârdOct 9, 20151 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 WeekOct 9, 20151 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.