Irelia vs Riven

AndurilWielder·12/9/2014, 3:48:43 AM·1 votes·2,489 views

Well aside from the fact I'm new to Irelia...

Everyone keeps saying Irelia wins, but to me Riven is so spammy and so bursty that its almost impossible. I always see Riven shred top against everyone, and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to win lane as Irelia.

First advice I've heard: Q'ing to dodge Rivens dashes. This doesn't work because Riven can jump anywhere, Irelia cant. She needs a minion, and if you're close enough to dash to an enemy riven, you're too close for Riven to need to use her dash, so by default that doesn't work. Unless there's some strategy I'm missing.

Second: Irelia out sustains. This would be true if Riven wouldn't be aware she can burst so well. In fact I'm not sure how this applies since Irelia's sustain doesn't really work in a duel, especially if she pops her w for the true damage.

I don't get it though - why is Riven so broken? :/

6 Comments

yukumari12/9/2014, 2:25:35 PM3 votes

As an Irelia main, I can tell you it's a very equal skill match up. (I do agree that riven is kinda stupid though. No resource bar, AOE execute ult, 100% AD shield on 4 second cool down later on, etc.) but that's just my opinion.

Try starting cloth 5 into ninja tabi. From there, either start sheen for trinity if you have the money for it, or start building into blade. You could also experiment with building cloth into thornmail, while building blade at the same time. It's worked for me quite a bit in the past. but take into account the enemy's team comp when doing this; building thornmail when they have 3 other ap's on their team might not be the best thing to do. When doing this, I recommend getting 2 daggers first, rather than building builgwater (Assuming you're maxing W first) If you see she's starting brutalizer, which is very likely, consider holding off on armor, and just rushing your first damage item.

Unless the opportunity presents itself, don't fight riven before you hit 6. If she engages first, hold out on activating hiten style unil after she uses her knock up, as that mitigates alot of potential damage you could get off on her. Save your Q for later in the fight just in case she tries to run off if she feels she's losing the trade. Other than that, try to play passively and farm with your Q.

Eventually, assuming neither of you have died, you'll over power her very easily. Just be extremely careful: If riven gets even one kill on you early, it'll be almost impossible to recover. (Visa versa, if you get a kill early on, it'll be hard for her to come back. 2 kills early on basically Garen tee's your lane dominance, but most Riven players aren't sloppy enough to allow that.

Of course, if you decide to go sheen, try and space out your skills. E first, and auto. Holding off on activating W(Which is a good idea when facing her as mentioned above) will get you another proc, and spacing out your ult will get you 4 more procs (In a perfect scenario. In reality, you might get 2, or 3 if you're lucky). Above all, {I'm guilty of this at times} get baited into fighting her if the starting items you chose were meant for more passive play. I.E trying to fight her when you started flask, or even cloth 5, and she started Dblade. (Cloth 5 less so, but definitely not flask). Unless she really fucks up, you will die, and it'll be a nightmare from there.

To secure your win, buy a skin, and believe In the power of Irelia #PraiseIrelia Irelia

redniwediS12/9/2014, 4:34:40 AM2 votes

Riven isn't broken, she is just a bully. Champions like her can easily bully people around if they do not understand the matchup. Once you learn it you'll actually look forward to facing a Riven.

The big thing to understand about Irelia is you can't just fight whenever you want early on. You have to pick your fights very carefully. This doesn't mean play defensively (though that can be a good idea depending on the situation), it means watch for openings in your opponent's defenses. In the case of Riven never fight her until you bait out her Q, and even then keep a mental timer for her summoner spells.

ForMyNextTrick12/9/2014, 4:40:09 AM2 votes

Hey there, hope I can help you out with this matchup...

First you should get to know the differences and strengths of the two champs. Riven is a ad caster with tons of burst this means shes great at short fights and duels but her damage will fall off shortly after, at least till cds end. To top it off shes super strong early generally going in around levels 2-3. Irelia on the other hand is a sustained dps bruiser which means shes better at longer fights but not so much at the short duels.

Early on your going to want to play safe; leave minions if it means riven will engage on you if she does stun her and walk away. You should probably start cloth + pots to try to mitigate the mostly inevitable force engage from riven.

The good news is that if you can make it to around lvl 8-9 without falling behind you've set your self up for a smooth lane. This is the time when you've maxed W however if you get into a fight make sure to save your W till after she stuns so you don't waste the duration, most players wont try to play on that. Also just be sure to stun with E not slow. Remember the longer you can keep her in the fight the better because your dps is better.

As for Q'ing to dodge Riven Q's and what not just try to prep minions with ult to ensure a reset, plus it helps to sustain during a fight anyway. For your point on sustain its all a matter of forcing her to stay in the fight as long as you can, she can burst but if you survive that with good health you can still duel her!

Just gonna copy one of my posts on Irelia from a while ago for you:

First of all farming is key to playing a good Irelia if you can manage not falling behind during lvls 1-8 your ability to shift the lane into your favor vastly improves. Her first main power spike is the level you max w at, your second major power spike occurs once you finish trinity. These are the points in the game where you can start snowballing normally gaining an advantage as soon as you max w. Around mid game is when you can start roaming because this means you have a few items finished and your a pretty huge threat. This is when you should look to make plays because you should be much stronger than most other champs at the time. Late game you can split if you've got tele, or you can focus on diving the back line or peeling your adc.

Just some reminders- -E is a big part of dueling the enemy make sure you have good usage for example: vs another irelia you would stun her after she uses w so as to negate a lot of true dmg, you should be careful to avoid this kind of counter play. -Ignite and your ult is very strong at 6, if you can Hit 6 before your enemy try to use this to your advantage. -Use your ult to injure minions in order to use Q and chase or juke the enemy. -Q applies on hit, use it near the end of your w duration for extra burst.

Edit- Blade of the Ruined King is not necessary on irelia, you can easily get by building trinity + defensive, I would only opt for a second offensive item if I was snowballing hard and even then I wouldnt only get blade if I needed the slow or the hp shred, often ill either go zephyr or just defensive items.

Cale01712/9/2014, 8:08:00 AM1 votes

I had a whole big thing ready and explaining how to bait her out and yadda yadda but I hit the back key on my mouse and lost it all. I'm just gonna sum it up since there seems to be good advice already being posted here.

Learn how she moves, and use it against her. Let her push to your turret and farm under it where it's unsafe for her to go in on you. If she still tries to, lead her on a merry chase around your turret while she wastes Qs and her dash trying to stay in range. Even if she goes in and backs off, that's time spent taking turret shots instead of minions.

Anticipate her cooldowns, and use them against her. If you haven't seen her stun in five seconds, assume it's up. If you haven't seen her ult in thirty seconds, assume it's up. Make her choose between losing damage mitigation with her E to get in range for a fight, or make her waste damage potential by having to use her Qs to get in range. Remember that she's slow without either of these, so if she goes in on you move back through your minions, and she'll be forced to take their aggro as she walks back.

Work with your jungler. Any jungler worth their Smite knows that a snowballed Riven means an avalanche for a late game. She's naturally going to push, so have your jungler camp the unholy hell out of your lane. Keep vision of river so the enemy jungler can't come and help her get fed, and if they try to then your jungler is nearby to help. Even if you can't secure kills on her, your jungler can apply enough pressure to give you some breathing space to farm while denying her the same chance.

And by the way, Irelia's sustain actually gets twice as powerful when her W is popped. She doesn't trade in the heal on hit for the true damage, she gets true damage on top of the healing, and the healing actually doubles while her W is active.

Earl Eulrich12/9/2014, 2:38:37 PM1 votes

like so often with Irelia it´s pretty equal till someone gets the first good gank/kill - then it´ll snowball from there. Most Rivens will try to open up with q-ing, then stun you and dash away - make sure to follow that up with your dash, stun her and then make the trade pretty equal and thus outsustain her. It´s hard to trade with a good Riven, but Irelia can do it on fairly equal terms. Rushing Sheen will help your trading a lot, getting eraly ninja tabbies will help you prolong the trades in your favour once Riven used her skills.