Leveling Riven's Abilities

Jazz4Dayz·8/6/2015, 9:56:00 PM·1 votes·1,590 views

I'm a low-mid tier player who's trying to get better at Riven. I've watched a lot of Boxbox and I've noticed he often changes what he levels first/ second/ third and I'm having trouble understanding in what situations he would max what first then second then third. I often see him max e first because of the lower CD/ more shield then w for the same reason (lower CD) then other times I see him max his abilities in the order of q>e>w presumably because he's flat out destroying his lane. I guess the main thing that confuses me is why he maxes w second when he maxes shield first or likewise maxes e second if maxing q first.

3 Comments

DarthSpectrum8/6/2015, 10:03:20 PM1 votes

Riven players generally get E first against ranged champions with plenty of poke. The shorter CD shield and dash helps Riven mitigate some of that damage and gives her more opportunities to fight.

Q is generally the first ability most people max. The base damage scales very nicely with ability level, and unlike her other skills, the AD ratio goes up too with ability level. Her Q is the main source of her passive procs and her damage, and it is much more combat effective than her W or E.

I am uncertain why anyone would level W first. Perhaps it can be useful on the odd occasion against a champion such as Jax.

Hasztalan28/6/2015, 10:25:40 PM1 votes

W max is only good when u REALLY need the "1click burst trade" potential which is very rare (read only vs the likes of panth and trynd or a suprise toplane master yi)

For everything else read the above comment.

Roaranor8/7/2015, 5:04:40 PM1 votes

You generally never max W first or second because it's the only ability of her 4 that doesn't scale downward in CD by level. I can give a rough guess as the scenarios you're asking about.

If you're having a rough time in lane, or you're in a situation where you aren't able to actually get much of your Q rotation off in terms of damage, then maxing W->E instead could hypothetically be better since W gives more upfront damage that a single Q's worth, and E second to soak up damage and retreat more often. You'll generally always get your W off even if not every Q due to it being used towards the middle of the combination. A lot of Riven's damage when fighting with Q actually comes from auto weaving using her passive stacks which aren't tied to how many points are in your Q or W.

If you're able to successfully draw out your Q's potential power and are maxing it first, then you'd go ahead and max E second for the shorter duration and more damage absorbed. W second would only give so much more damage, whereas with Q-E OR W->E you're retaining some defensive ability alongside your offensive or vice versa if E->Q or E->W. You'd never max double offensive Q->W or W->Q because of the vulnerability from not maxing E at least second.

tl;dr W over Q is better in instances where you can't really get much damage from Q (high CC or extended trade winners I guess). E after Q for offensive/defensive balance (clear up weak points)