How do I deal with time bombs like Tryndamere and Nasus as Riven?

Wyenot·11/19/2014, 3:36:16 AM·1 votes·1,752 views

I mainly play Riven at the moment and I have a difficult time dealing with these champs.

I don't necessarily have an issue trading and dominating them, that part is easy. I struggle with the "ticking time-bomb" aspect of them. They just sit up top and push/farm. Essentially making it difficult to roam and help my teammates. It is especially difficult if my team isn't doing too well because then I feel extremely pressured to leave the lane at less than optimal times to try and help plug up the holes my team is making.

So what exactly do I have to do? If I don't keep on these guys they turn into real problems. They essentially win the lane by losing it o.O...but if I don't leave the lane and try and help out, well then we lose the game anyways because my teams is really struggling more often than not.

14 Comments

DarthSpectrum11/19/2014, 4:40:54 AM2 votes

From my experiences with Riven, she absolutely dominates Nasus. Start with an early tiamat, push him to his turret, and only back if does so as well. Unfortunately, nothing will stop him from building his stacks; however, you will be hindering the rate he can build them.

When he is at his turret, poke him with the 3rd Q and E out to dodge the shot. Dive him and shut him down with ult when he is below 40% health with no ult. Push top as much as possible.

Against Tryndamere, it is much more tricky to duel him in lane; however, he does not gain absurd amount of power over time like Nasus.

You cannot exactly zone him out either due to his Q. Generally, I would just push lane as far as I can and help mid or bot. There is no point fighting Tryndamere with all his CDs up if you are melee.

TehNACHO11/19/2014, 7:31:58 AM2 votes

Be the world's most demanding top laner.

And not of your own team, I mean of the opponent's team. Riven's kit has the aggressive capabilities of snowballing off of these two early game so long as you don't do anything dumb about it, abuse it. Buy wards and play aggressive, demand the enemy jungler to babysit their precious Nasus/Tryndamere because they're falling behind so hard and fall back whenever you see anyone else on the enemy team coming to assist their top laner. Rinse and repeat. Riven is also a phenomenal split pusher if decently well off, so if you really want to keep Nasus/Tryndamere in check, just keep shoving the lane further and further, being sure to consistently ward their jungle and keep an eye out for ambushes. Even if you do get ambushed, hell, even if you die, this forced players to leave their position and come all the way to toplane. Enemy laner(s) come by? Ping their respective towers and get your team to shove it. Enemy Jungler? Tell yours to go get dragon since his biggest challenge over that objective is currently sitting on the other side of the map. I also suggest carrying Teleport, as it can help Riven be an omnipresent bully in lane and helps you move around the map in sticky situations (like escaping ambushes you can't normally run away from), and can even capitalize amazingly on people leaving their lane to come to top lane. If you spot them ahead of time with the wards I've repeatedly told you to buy, you can instantly teleport to where they just left and take full advantage of that yourself.

Corgski11/19/2014, 8:33:45 PM1 votes

You can always stay top if they stay top. You will always win and hope your teammates can 4v4.

Minrog11/20/2014, 9:12:20 PM1 votes

Since he will be in top/bottom split pushing 24/7, eventually he will be able to 1 shot any Riven the instant she gets close to him. Your team has to group as 5 and hammer objectives faster than he can, or send one of the few people who can beat him to shut down his split push.

It's a team co-ordination issue and just a few months ago I watched TSM lose a game to a Dignitas Nasus (you might look it up to see what they tried against him). Maokai was totally helpless and they tried to 2v1 to stop Nasus but it ultimately failed. In my experiences playing as him, if you wanna win a 1v1, Vayne and Teemo both tear me apart consistently. Melee champs don't have a chance after a certain point.

Drunk Rummate11/20/2014, 10:07:32 PM1 votes

Nasus can be a tough one because Riven doesn't win lane against a smart Nasus (- he can farm efficiently against her without dying, especially after first recall). What you want to do against Nasus is accelerate the game for your team. Push down his tower as fast as possible, roam mid and pressure that tower, take the dragon while you're gone, etc. Just group with your team asap and push the game into the mid stages before Nasus can really get well farmed. At this point he either groups with his team or you guys win the 5v4 while he solo farms a lane.

Tryndamere loses to Riven at all stages of the game from my experience, so I wouldn't worry about him too much unless you fall behind pretty far in lane. In which case the best you can do is group and try to take advantage of his poor teamfighting.

The Chin11/20/2014, 10:31:13 PM1 votes

Get fed in lane, crush the mid game, end as early as possible.

BRBGTGBOWFLEX11/21/2014, 12:47:23 AM1 votes

Basically, the way you win this lane is by snowballing early on them, killing them, forcing their jungler top, killing them too, and then roaming or taking objectives while the rest of your team is in a 3v4.

You have to be careful not to push Nasus to turret pre-6, you have really high kill potential on him. Constant harass, make them earn their cs, get them low and kill. You win this lane by kills, denying cs uptime, and drawing jungler.

Personally I think Riven also has good kill potential on Trynd too, I'd consider these matchups as both in her favor-- you just have to translate it to success on objectives and the map.