Introduction
Riven is one of the most iconic champions in League of Legends. With her unique blend of mobility, explosive damage, and a steep learning curve, she rewards players who take the time to master her. Although she can be challenging to learn at first, once you’ve mastered her mechanics, Riven becomes a powerful carry capable of shifting the momentum of a game in your favor.
This guide will cover everything you need to know about Riven's gameplay, including runes, item builds, combos, and strategies, helping you dominate the top lane and secure victories.
Riven’s Abilities
Before diving into runes, items, and combos, it's essential to understand Riven’s kit. Each of her abilities plays a critical role in her aggressive playstyle, and using them effectively is key to maximizing her potential.
Passive – Runic Blade
Riven charges her blade after casting each ability. Her next basic attack consumes one charge, dealing bonus physical damage. She can store up to three charges, which last for 5 seconds. Mastering the art of weaving auto-attacks between abilities is crucial for maximizing your damage output.
Q – Broken Wings
Riven’s signature ability allows her to dash up to three times, dealing physical damage with each dash. The third dash knocks up enemies in a small area. This ability is a core part of her burst damage and mobility, and each cast resets her auto-attack timer, making auto-attack weaving between casts essential for optimal damage.
W – Ki Burst
Riven sends out a shockwave, dealing damage and stunning enemies around her for 0.75 seconds. Aside from her third Q, this is her primary form of crowd control, making it crucial for locking down enemies and extending combos.
E – Valor
Riven dashes a short distance and gains a shield that absorbs damage for a brief period. Valor serves both as a mobility tool and a defensive spell, allowing Riven to dodge skill shots or negate incoming damage. Timing this ability well can help you outplay opponents and survive in fights.
R – Blade of the Exile (Ultimate)
Riven empowers her sword, increasing her attack damage and the range of her basic attacks and abilities. While active, she can cast Wind Slash, a powerful cone attack that deals more damage to low-health enemies. This ultimate enables Riven to execute enemies from a distance, turning the tide of fights in her favor.
Runes for Riven
Riven thrives with runes that enhance her burst damage, mobility, and sustain in lane. Below are the best runes for her:
Primary Rune Path: Precision
Riven’s build revolves around items that provide attack damage, cooldown reduction (Ability Haste), and survivability. Here’s a recommended core build:
Core Items
Riven’s combos can be complex, but mastering them is key to unlocking her full potential. Here are some important combos to practice:
Riven excels at animation canceling, allowing her to deal damage faster. Key animation cancels include:
Riven excels at short, aggressive trades in the early game thanks to her mobility and shield. Here’s how to approach the laning phase:
Riven shines in the mid-game once she completes her core items. Here’s how to approach the game as it progresses:
Mastering Riven takes time, but with practice, you can unlock her full potential and become a dominant force in League of Legends. Focus on practicing her combos, understanding when to engage, and learning her matchups in the top lane. With this guide, you’ll be well on your way to mastering Riven and carrying your team with her high-skill, aggressive playstyle.
Riven is one of the most iconic champions in League of Legends. With her unique blend of mobility, explosive damage, and a steep learning curve, she rewards players who take the time to master her. Although she can be challenging to learn at first, once you’ve mastered her mechanics, Riven becomes a powerful carry capable of shifting the momentum of a game in your favor.
This guide will cover everything you need to know about Riven's gameplay, including runes, item builds, combos, and strategies, helping you dominate the top lane and secure victories.
Riven’s Abilities
Before diving into runes, items, and combos, it's essential to understand Riven’s kit. Each of her abilities plays a critical role in her aggressive playstyle, and using them effectively is key to maximizing her potential.
Passive – Runic Blade
Riven charges her blade after casting each ability. Her next basic attack consumes one charge, dealing bonus physical damage. She can store up to three charges, which last for 5 seconds. Mastering the art of weaving auto-attacks between abilities is crucial for maximizing your damage output.
Q – Broken Wings
Riven’s signature ability allows her to dash up to three times, dealing physical damage with each dash. The third dash knocks up enemies in a small area. This ability is a core part of her burst damage and mobility, and each cast resets her auto-attack timer, making auto-attack weaving between casts essential for optimal damage.
W – Ki Burst
Riven sends out a shockwave, dealing damage and stunning enemies around her for 0.75 seconds. Aside from her third Q, this is her primary form of crowd control, making it crucial for locking down enemies and extending combos.
E – Valor
Riven dashes a short distance and gains a shield that absorbs damage for a brief period. Valor serves both as a mobility tool and a defensive spell, allowing Riven to dodge skill shots or negate incoming damage. Timing this ability well can help you outplay opponents and survive in fights.
R – Blade of the Exile (Ultimate)
Riven empowers her sword, increasing her attack damage and the range of her basic attacks and abilities. While active, she can cast Wind Slash, a powerful cone attack that deals more damage to low-health enemies. This ultimate enables Riven to execute enemies from a distance, turning the tide of fights in her favor.
Runes for Riven
Riven thrives with runes that enhance her burst damage, mobility, and sustain in lane. Below are the best runes for her:
Primary Rune Path: Precision
- Keystone: Conqueror
Conqueror is the go-to keystone for Riven. It provides stacking attack damage and healing once fully stacked, synergizing perfectly with her extended trades and combo-heavy playstyle. - Triumph
Triumph restores a portion of Riven’s health after takedowns, helping her sustain in teamfights. It also grants bonus gold for kills or assists. - Legend: Tenacity
Tenacity reduces the duration of crowd control effects on Riven, which is invaluable since she relies heavily on mobility to maneuver in fights. - Last Stand
Last Stand increases Riven’s damage when her health is low, making her particularly deadly in clutch moments, especially when her shield and healing come into play.
- Magical Footwear
Grants free boots at 12 minutes (or earlier with takedowns) and provides bonus movement speed. This is perfect for Riven’s roaming and mobility. - Time Warp Tonic
Time Warp Tonic enhances the effectiveness of health potions, allowing for better sustain in the early game and enabling longer trades.
Riven’s build revolves around items that provide attack damage, cooldown reduction (Ability Haste), and survivability. Here’s a recommended core build:
Core Items
- Goredrinker
Goredrinker is an essential mythic item for Riven, offering sustain through its active ability that heals for a portion of damage dealt to nearby enemies. The Ability Haste and health it provides synergize well with Riven’s playstyle. - Black Cleaver
Black Cleaver grants Riven armor penetration and Ability Haste, making her more effective against tankier opponents. The movement speed bonus when dealing physical damage also helps her stick to targets during trades. - Ravenous Hydra
Ravenous Hydra provides wave clear and sustain with its lifesteal passive. The extra healing helps Riven stay alive in fights, and its AoE damage helps with clearing minions and dealing with multiple enemies in teamfights.
- Death’s Dance
Death’s Dance provides healing from physical damage dealt and converts a portion of incoming damage into a damage-over-time effect. This helps Riven survive in extended fights and recover health from kills. - Guardian Angel
Guardian Angel gives Riven a second chance at life, enabling her to play aggressively without worrying about dying. It’s particularly useful in the late game, where one death could decide the outcome of a fight or the game. - Sterak’s Gage
Sterak’s Gage grants a large shield when your health drops below a certain threshold, boosting Riven’s survivability in teamfights. It also provides bonus health and attack damage, making her tankier while increasing her damage output.
- Plated Steelcaps
Choose these boots if you’re facing a heavy AD composition or a champion that relies on basic attacks (e.g., Yasuo or Tryndamere). - Mercury’s Treads
Mercury’s Treads are effective against teams with heavy crowd control or magic damage.
Riven’s combos can be complex, but mastering them is key to unlocking her full potential. Here are some important combos to practice:
- Basic Trade Combo: Q-Auto-Q-Auto-Q
This combo is crucial for trading in lane. Each Q resets the auto-attack timer, allowing you to deal more damage in a short period. Weaving auto-attacks between each Q cast maximizes your damage output. - Burst Combo: E-Q-W-Auto-Q-R-Q
This combo is perfect for all-ins. Start with Valor (E) for the shield, immediately follow with Q and W for crowd control, then finish with an empowered auto-attack, followed by your remaining Q casts and ultimate for the kill. - Flash Combo: E-W-Flash-Q-R
This combo is great for surprising your opponents. Cast E and W, then immediately flash towards the enemy to catch them off guard. Follow up with Q and R to finish them off.
Riven excels at animation canceling, allowing her to deal damage faster. Key animation cancels include:
- Q into Auto-Attack: Cancel the animation of your auto-attack by using Q.
- W into R: Use W, then immediately follow with R to cancel the animation of Wind Slash.
Riven excels at short, aggressive trades in the early game thanks to her mobility and shield. Here’s how to approach the laning phase:
- Level 1: Start with Broken Wings (Q). Use short Q-auto trades to poke your opponent while utilizing your mobility to stay in and out of range.
- Level 2 Power Spike: At level 2, unlock Ki Burst (W). Engage with Q, use W to stun the enemy, and follow up with another Q combo. This is a great moment to secure kills or take control of the lane.
- Laning Strategy: Use Valor (E) to block key abilities and dodge skill shots. Focus on building Conqueror stacks with short trades, then go all-in once you have your ultimate.
Riven shines in the mid-game once she completes her core items. Here’s how to approach the game as it progresses:
- Split Pushing: Riven is a fantastic split-pusher due to her mobility, wave clear, and dueling potential. Apply pressure on the side lanes while your team groups, and be ready to teleport or roam for teamfights.
- Teamfights: In teamfights, Riven should flank and engage on the backline. Use Valor to dodge crowd control and initiate with your Q-E combo. Save your ultimate’s Wind Slash for executing low-health enemies to maximize your damage.
Mastering Riven takes time, but with practice, you can unlock her full potential and become a dominant force in League of Legends. Focus on practicing her combos, understanding when to engage, and learning her matchups in the top lane. With this guide, you’ll be well on your way to mastering Riven and carrying your team with her high-skill, aggressive playstyle.
