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Hello summoner, my name is Anthony and welcome to my first guide on Mobafire! IGN = Foxy Riven, but you can just call me Foxy. I started playing in april 2012 and right now I'm a Platinum player on the EUW server. I plan on climbing the ladder to the top and without a doubt Riven will play a part in this. Recently I took my smurf account to gold in 21 games of which 16 I played Riven. My other smurf, Tonymeister, climbed from silver 5 to gold 3 as well. Again playing a fair amount of Riven. This shows how Riven can actually carry games when you get the hang of her. And here I am trying to pass my knowledge to the world. . While being a mid-player I suddenly picked up Riven in some free week, and fell in love with her right away! In need of some guidance, I found quite a bit of information here, but none of them seemed to use her to her full potential. So i started looking for youtube matches and found Best Riven NA to be one of the best Riven players & learned a lot from him. . . With a lack of a good Riven build, explaining every single corner to her mechanisms, I decided to make this guide. I will adapt it to patches and my own knowledge as much as possible. Feel free to share your comments and thoughts and why you would do things differently. In a polite and respectful way if you please. This would help me and the readers of this guide a lot. . I recommend reading it thorougly, as Riven is not just your ordinary champion. With some practice you can get the most out of her. Hopefully you'll find my guide to be useful/helpful on your Riven-adventures. Now let's get started, shall we?

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Mobafire . . . . . League of Legends

Pros . + Great Farmer + Very Mobile + 2 Disables + Resourceless (spam) + High burst + Bunnysuit

Riven . . The Exile

Cons . - Full AD - Cooldown-reliant - Melee - CC-sensitive - No sustain/ bad regen - Distractive bunnysuit

Offensive Tree (21): ________________ . You really need CDR. Every bit helps! Helps your last-hitting. Extra AD as Riven is always welcome. This compensates a bit for your terrible regeneration. Perfect for Riven as she is an AD caster and deals ........a lot of damage with her spells, while being forced to use ........autoattacks due to Runic Blade. Synergizes with Spell Weaving & Runic Blade. More damage, synergizes with your as well. An extra 5% of AD. Keep it coming. 6% ArP. Too bad you can't use the mastery to its full ........potential. Overall damage increase of 3%, yes please!

Riven has to go 21 on offense. No point in arguing. She cales with AD, not health or anything else. She is not critical chance-based, so Frenzy is useless for you. Double-Edged Sword is OK I guess. I just don't like it because when you're going to be bullied in lane, which is inevitable in loads of matchups, you'll be taking extra damage.
I'm not even going to talk about the ability power masteries.
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Defensive Tree (9): _______________ . It's something. Almost doubles your current regeneration! synergizes with Block , it ain't much but all in all it ....... helps somewhat. I've gotten away a decent amount of times under 36 ........health. This one saved me right here. Another extra 3% of health to make you more durable.

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No real choice here either. You have to compensate your terrible regeneration. And Juggernaut is just way better than Hardiness . The 3% extra health will protect you more than the 2 extra armor, and it scales throughout the game.

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Q U I N T S

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Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Because Riven needs the early damage. An early kill will get you ahead of your opponent, and you'll be able to zone him, denying your opponent gold & experience (and make you snowball all the way). Greater Quintessence of Life Steal when you are going to be bullied early on and need the sustain. Never get 3 though. 1 or 2 should be enough. Greater Quintessence of Health Regeneration is a good alternative.

Q U I N T S

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M A R K S

Greater mark of armor penetration...

Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Even more extra damage. You scale too good with it to take anything else. greater mark of armor penetration is good when facing tanks. Greater Mark of Critical Chance. One of these sometimes means heavy early damage. You might just get lucky. Don't count on it too much though.

M A R K S

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S E A L S

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Greater Seal of Armor: Seals specialize in defense. Don't swap them for anything else. Greater Seal of Health. These got buffed in patch 4.5. I should do some research on them as they seem pretty strong. Greater Seal of Scaling Health. Same as the above.

S E A L S

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G L Y P H S

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Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist is pretty straightforward. You need this when the other team has an APC, to negate some of his lategame damage. Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: Perfect for Riven. Get these when the enemy team lacks magic damage ( Zed or Yasuo mid...). Greater Glyph of Magic Resist for when you are facing magic damage in toplane or when you're going midlane (vs an AP caster of course).

G L Y P H S

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Example of the Greater Mark of Critical Chance. I recorded this game with my duo partner Major Itchy. Unfortunately this is not a Riven video, but you'll get the point. Keep in mind that Zyra & Caitlyn are both Diamond 5.
Another thing you should look at, when Caitlyn decides to walk in our death-brush, is how I walk in between each attack, as soon as my arrow has left my bow. This is referred to as Orb-Walking & Animation Cancelling.

Skip to 1:20 if you just want to see the power of 1% critical strike chance.
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Flash . Flash is your savior/wallhack/initiate. Use it when you're being ganked and your spells are on cooldown. Another use is to suprise your opponent and flash combo him to the face. Never swap it for anything else, it's just way too useful on Riven.

Ignite . Use Ignite to finish off your opponent. You'll need this if you want to go for first blood. It also shuts down healers ( Dr. Mundo, Swain...) and when timed a little after Tryndamere used Undying Rage, he'll die when he tries to spin away for safety. .

Other viable options:
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Heal

Heal is good for overall sustain and baiting a towerdive. With your CC and burst you can get a kill out of this. It beats Barrier by level 3. Keep in mind that the heal is halved when ignited or when under the effect of Grievous Wounds.

Heal

Teleport

Teleport for map presence and split-pushing. Together with homeguard boots, a ward in the second bottom brush, and a pushed botlane, this could change the outcome of the game. when splitpushing you should teleport to your team when the fight starts.

Teleport

Cleanse

Cleanse for those heavy CC team comps. (i.e. Shen, Rammus & Fiddlesticks on one team).

Cleanse

Exhaust

Exhaust Shuts down your opponent. They're now being slowed and their damage output decreases considerably. Very good against assasins.

Exhaust

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Those are really the only viable spells. If I see you with Revive or Clarity, you should either uninstall the game or have to stop trolling.

Runic Blade

Runic Blade is in my opinion one of the better passives around. This fits your kit perfectly and gives you an edge on your opponent. It makes sure you are not going to be smashing those keys without using your brain. To make use of it to its full extent, place an autoattack in between every ability. This WILL hurt. It stacks three times, keep that in mind as well.

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Broken Wings

Broken Wings is your signature skill. It consists out of three little dashes doing area of effect damage. Max it second (after your ultimate). You can activate it three times, the last one is a little knockup. In between every strike, you ought to do an autoattack. As your passive stacks three times you can use this to rush to your opponent, (QQQ) attack, stun, attack,attack,attack and Valor away.

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To use the knockup to your benefit, make sure you land it right BEHIND your opponent, this will ensure you can land more autoattacks,as he your opponent is being knocked up, placing you in between the oppponent and his turret. You can do this by placing your cursor on the ground BEHIND the target, not ON the target. Another trick is to use all three of your Qs as well to jump over the target multiple times. This way you can juke some of the opponent's abilities. . . Play Video

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Ki Burst

Ki Burst is a stun, which deals AOE damage. We max it either third or last, depending on the situation. The cooldown will decrease, the damage increase, but the duration of the stun remains the same. Why not max it earlier? Because the three parts of Broken Wings together will deal more damage than one Ki Burst.

Valor

Valor is another dash, with an instant shield scaling with AD. Take it at level 2 when you can't go for the early kill. It will save your life many times while Ignite is bleeding you out. Use it to absorb damage, rush to your opponent or merely for getting away. If you're having trouble in lane it might be a good idea to put a few early points in it. To cancel your ultimate's cast time, use your Valor, then ultimate. Your blade will be activated while dashing. You can level it at level 1 when you're facing a lvl. 1 superharasser. i.e. vs. Pantheon you have to start Valor every single time.

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Blade Of The Exile

Blade of the Exile, your ultimate is what makes you so awesome. It buffs your AD, Gives you a higher auto attack range (200 from 125), higher range on your first (162,5 from 112,5), second (162,5 from 112,5) and third Q (200 from 135). An increased range on your Ki Burst radius (135 from 125), and a new ability called Wind Slash, which will be available for 15 seconds. This is your execution skill. Keep in mind that it will deal more damage as your target is lower on health. At 25% health it will deal maximum damage.

Indeed, you actually have 7 skills! Use them wisely.

Trick!

One more thing on your Broken Wings. You can hop over a number of walls, which is perfect for escaping those pesky situations, and leaving your chasers behind.

I made this video to show you where this is possible. I haven't found any guide on this so here you go.

Since patch 3.8 it now only works with your last (third) Broken Wings, but there are a lot more locations you can jump over. The one at the red buff being most amazing, but hardest to pull off. I recommend trying this out in a custom game on your own.

An extra tip here: use Valor before jumping over the obstacle, You can aim it much easier, thus having a better chance to succesfully jump over it.

I put some animation cancelling in the end. Read the entire guide and watch the clip again afterwards to understand what I'm showing.

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And here's a map of all possible wallhops, as I forgot some of the spots in the video (at baron, wolfcamps & blue side wraiths). Get into a custom game and try them out for yourself. Enjoy!
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LOL
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Intro:
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Good ol' times. Patch 3.8 made this impossible, but I want this to be remembered:

First Blood

A few steps to get that satisfying first blood.

1. Kill the wolves/wraiths with the help of your AP Mid and pop a health pot while you're at it.
2. Go top.
3. Last hit one minion.
4. Right before you hit level 2, engage with a Q and auto attack, pop your Elixir of Fortitude, Ignite your opponent ( Summoner's Wrath kicks in) and level your stun.
5. Hit another Q and autoattack, stun your opponent, Q, autoattack.
6. Spam /t, "A broken blade is more than enough for the likes of you!"
7. Profit.
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Cheesing

Reaching level 2 before your opponent does is still possible. You have to kill a minion as soon as you reach your lane. So hit the first one multiple times. This way you can surprise engage your opponent, just as shown in the previous video, as soon as you hit level 2. It will be pretty obvious if you're trying this, but you never know, right?

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Full Combo

> > AA > > AA > to safety > at max range.

Try a few combo's yourself. Just keep your passive in the back of your head.

Extra:
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Orb Walking . . .

You can cancel your attack animation by using another skill or by walking. This way your DPS will be significantly higher and you are able to catch up with enemies much faster. Riven is the only champion who can exploit this technique to such an extent. Not following? You deal damage before you fully swung your blade. (You can tell by the number popping onto your enemy) This means you already dealt the damage. Still, Riven swings her blade a little longer than necessary. If you cancel that unnecessary moment, you can start kiting & catching up a lot faster.

This video shows the fast combo at 0:17. You perform it by clicking away from your target when one of your Q's is in their animation, and click to attack the target when your animation ended. You cn do this 3 times on non-moving foes.

Foxy Riven's Mini Riven Guide
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Laning phase:

Last hitting

Last hitting is one of the most difficult, yet most rewarding techniques in the game. Every time a minion is low, you should deal the killing blow. Simple as that. Keep in mind: 15 CS has about the same gold value as 1 kill. So you could be behind in kills, but still have a gold-advantage.

Choices:
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PROS

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CONS

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Turrethugging

+ Safe + Easy gank

- Lose CS - Lose XP

Because you either lose trades, just want to farm safely or get pressured by the enemy jungler.

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Freezing

+ Zone enemy + Get all xp/cs + Safe

- Lose HP

When you're ahead or win trades. You make sure enemy minions do NOT get hit by your turret. How? By tanking the minion damage when they're pushing, and by last hitting at the very last moment.

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Pushing

+ CS lead + XP lead

- Easily ganked

When you're ahead/stronger. You make the enemy lose CS due to his turret. Unless he can lasthit really well you’ll gain an advantage. Buy Stealth Wards to prevent ganks with this strategy.

Tips:

• When you did push too hard, you can go kill their/your golems/wolves/big wraith. Or go gank midlane. But do not forget to buy Stealth Wards
  
• Aim for a minimum of 170 CS in 20 minutes. Try to reach more every game. (Clear camps!)

Level 6

This is your moment to shine. As soon as you hit 6 you should jump your opponent. Best case scenario: You hit 6 before your opponent, and you can surprise him. 70% of times this results in a kill. Don't be afraid to burn your Flash on the initiate.

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Proxy Farming

When you are far ahead and force the enemy back (or when you can ignore him), you can farm in between turrets, take jungle camps and go gank lanes. I recommend watching Druiddroid to comprehend how this works. But for the love of god please don't copy him. For example: You just killed your opponent and your minions are at the enemy turret. walk further down the lane and kill the next wave of minions. (Your minions deal damage to the turret and their gold/experience is lost because that turret will kill all of them)

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Lategame

• Don't get caught, so before you go and take that inner turret, be sure to know where your opponents are. (Place Stealth Wards on the map!)
  
• Try and catch people who are on their own, but be careful of baits. (again, buy Stealth Wards!)
  
• You should be there when your team wants to do dragon/ baron nashor.
  
• Positioning is key here. You can't just go and take 5 ultimates to the face. The perfect scenario is a great initiate from your team (i.e. Malphite's Unstoppable Force)
  If you lack the initiation, wait until most crowd control has been blown before going in and killing their carries.
  
• It's even better if you can flank their backlines unseen to take out priority targets, which you excel at.
  
• If there is a Zed on the enemy team it is crucial that you stop him from going for your adc. You can take on Zed and carry on to the next target, just make sure your adc survives!

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Teamfights
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Choice #1 Kill their carry . . . .

. What you must try to do is wait for the perfect moment. Position yourself behind your team, with your adc. A soon as they blow most of their disabling abilities on your jungler/support (a tank would be nice), activate your ultimate and jump in. Ask yourself which opponent will have the greatest impact in a teamfight, and can you instantly kill him? Is he behind his team? -> Flash Valor Broken Wings to him if you are ballsy enough. When you rush through their team like that, you are a bulldozer, dealing tons of damage to everyone around you. If your team doesnt back you up, you're dead in the water though. So communication is key!

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Choice #2 Protect the carry

Is your carry doing really good and did the enemy start realising this? Then it is your job to protect him at all cost. They will start focusing your carry, and you have the power to keep them away. When you scared the attackers off you can start joining the rest of your team and hopefully kill for the ace. .

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Choice #3 Force 4v3 .

This is the hardest one. If you're fed enough you can roflstomp on the enemy assasin, who will be helped by another opponent. Your allies should hard engage on the enemy team at the same time. This forces a 4v3 which is beneficial for the team. If you die doing this, it might not be so bad as you will have dealt tons of damage to the other 2 enemies, while your team fought with an advantage. This tactic relies a lot on your team though, and you should decide for yourself whether it is the right choice.

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Aatrox Explanation MEDIUM Aatrox deals a lot of damage when he's dealing damage to himself. Be smart with your trades, you can sidestep both his CC-abilities. Spam your (smart!)trades though, he will heal up faster than you think and it will annoy you enormously. When engaging at level 6, be sure to keep your Wind Slash for after his passive has proc'ed

Darius Explanation HARD Darius is one big pain in the ***. No matter how far you are ahead, he will still be able to kill you throughout the game. Do not fight him at level one. His passive Hemorrhage + Ignite is deadly.

Dr. Mundo Explanation Easy You should be able to kill him before 6. Then you're going to snowball. Make sure you dodge his Infected Bonesaw and take Ignite. Burst him instantly when he uses his ultimate, as it lowers his health by 20%. Ignite him immediately and it should be an execute. Zone him to make him lose experience, deny farm and kill him as many times as possible. You cannot allow him to become the tanky monster he is in the lategame.

Elise Explanation MEDIUM Elise will spam her Q so it might be a good idea to level up Valor first. you should be able to shield them all, they're slow projectiles and you'll see her go in for the harass. you can both deal a lot of damage. So when you fight level 6, keep your Wind Slash for when she tries to avoid it with Rappel

Fiora Explanation Medium Fiora is a heavy AD champion just like you. Don't fight her when she used Riposte & go in when it's on cooldown (bait it out!). Play the hit & run game. When she uses her ultimate Blade Waltz, try to get into a brush to avoid her damage. Make sure you land your Wind Slash, she might use her Blade Waltz to avoid its damage. You should get some kills early, but just don't get too cocky when you're ahead. You might get outplayed and be unable to take her down anymore.

Gangplank Explanation Easy As long as you shield his Parrrley's you should be fine. Keep harassing him to win the lane.

Garen Explanation Hard You should play really really smart against Garen. when he uses his Q, Decisive Strike, you should run. if he is going to hit it, shield it. Retaliate when he is taking minion damage. His ultimate Demacian Justiceis an execute which deals magic damage based on missing health. Keep in mind that Hexdrinker counters his ultimate. Never let his passive heal up Garen. One basic attack stops it so you'll have to attack once every 10 seconds.

Irelia Explanation Hard Better nerf Irelia,right? True damage and mobility. Don't fight when her true damage is off cooldown as you'll lose the trade. She has a stun when her percentage of remaining health is lower than yours.

Jarvan VI Explanation Medium Do not underestimate his damage. His passive deals percentage of health damage and it can proc once every 10 seconds. Try do dodge his abilities and engage when he is out of mana.

Jax Explanation Medium It's Jax. Predictable movement but heavy damage. This is a skill matchup and you should be able to win this. Be careful for his ultimate's passive (every third strike deals more dmamage) and keep in mind that he becomes super tanky when he activates his ultimate. Either bait it out or try to go full ham. (Try to Flash his stun when you are sure you'll kill him)

Jayce Explanation Medium So this is what will happen. He will harass you with his ranged attacks. When you go in he will swap to his melee-form and Q-E you ( To The Skies!- Thundering Blow). You will disengage and he will swap back to ranged and get a few auto's off on you. You just lost a fair amount of health. You can only fight him when he swapped back to his ranged form. There is a 6-second window in which he cannot fight you back or keep you at a distance. Bait him into swapping to his melee, disengage and go all-in right when he swapped back.

Kayle Explanation Medium Kayle is a really annoying champion. She will kite you all day. You should make use of the brush and have at least 2 dashes to disengage. Do not use Wind Slash when she's about to ult herself. If it's blocked by Intervention you'll feel really really stupid. Play mind games!

Lee Sin Explanation Medium You should be fine as long as you don't get Q'd to the face. Stand behind your minions. If he does land a Q you could try to combo or flash into your turret when he commits. Don't do this when he can Safeguard to his minions (he can cast it mid-air). That'd be really lame. Don't underestimate his damage, but as always, play it smart.

Malphite Explanation Hard He's a tank, he can kite and he has an AD-amplifier. You can see Three kinds of Malphites. AD-AP & TANK. All three of them are really dangerous. The only edge you have is that you can kill him early to snowball. He's also mana-dependant. You're not. And if you can Flash his ultimate, Unstoppable Force, that would be really nice. Just take care for his burst.

Master Yi Explanation Easy Alpha Strike is what this lane makes it so easy. You KNOW where he is going to land. Shield the damage, get into position and full combo him. You can also stop Meditate with 2 of your skills. Keep in mind: if he uses Alpha Strike on a minion, who's going to die within the Alpha Strike duration, he will be placed back to the position where he cast it. Only one problem: If he freefarms and catches up, he'll wreck up your team and you can't really stop him. Nuke him down together.

Mordekaiser Explanation Medium He's only dangerous because of his shield. The easy thing about it that he's pretty predictable. You HAVE to kill him early. He has no escape and uses health for his skills. dodge his Siphon of Destruction which will give him only a small shield when cast on minions, and then go in. Careful: his ultimate instantly heals him. And you really don't want to see him toy with you when you're dead. It hurts to watch.

The Cane Explanation Hard No, you do NOT counter $The Cane$. You are going to need all the help you can get. Yes, you could kill him early with a litlle luck, but he'll outscale you at level 8 due to his armor, sustain and slow. I recommend building a LOT of Cooldown Reduction, (Buy a Dragonball!: Kindlegem)and Tenacity. This way you can use your Q's to disengage when he used Wither. Else you get slapped to the face to the death. Keep in mind: Standing in Spirit Fire reduces ARMOR, and deals magic damage.

Olaf Explanation Hard Yea, true damage, tanky, and kiter. Kind of a nightmare. Either try to hit level 2 sooner and engage to get an early kill or go for the farm lane. When ahead you can 1v1 him all game long. When even or behind, don't even try it.

Pantheon Explanation Medium Mantheon is annoying. You should start with Valor. The cooldown on his Spear Shot is 6 seconds lower than your Valor so make sure you stay back until it's off cooldown. Make him run out of mana and you should be able to kill him at level 3. If you die, your lane is over.

Poppy Explanation Hard Most underestimated champion in the game. Honestly I have only played this lane once so i'm not to judge on the difficulty. Always assume it's going to be very hard when you don't know the lane. She is very manahungry, so that's how you'll win this, by killing her early on. Her passive is what makes her tanky, so she'll need to be very low before you can cast Wind Slash. I recommend doing some research on the champion while in the loading screen (preferrably before you start a game). Don't stand near any walls, Heroic Charge can stun you. Make sure you don't waste any abilities on her when she used Diplomatic Immunity on someone else.

Renekton Explanation Hard Counter nr 1. Kill him at level 2 or lose your lane. He's mobile, has sustain and his stun lasts longer than yours. You can't win this when equally skilled. Play smart,(avoid fighting him when his fury bar is full) but expect a boring stupid lane of turrethugging. Try to kill him at level 2. It's your only shot on winning the lane. No way you're going to do anything useful when you're past this point. Avoid this lane at all cost.

Rengar Explanation Medium This Kitty will be jumping in and out of the brush. Use your trinket to keep him from doing this or just don't stand near it. You can dodge his Bola Strike now so you should be fine. You can counter all in him at level 2, even with his empowered Savagery (Check his items first!) Make sure HE takes the minion damage.

Rumble Explanation Medium Due to his new legendary skin you'll be seeing Rumble more often again. He has really low cooldowns, but gets overheated (silenced) when he spams his skills. This does heavily increase his Attack damage. Dodge his Electro-Harpoon and you can kill him early on. Deny him as much as possible, because in teamfights he'll deal tons of AOE damage, wrecking your whole team. Stay spread to minimize his The Equalizer damage!

Ryze Explanation Medium Toplane Ryze is coming up again. He can spam his abilities and snare you to disengage. Buy Mercury's Treads as soon as possible (preferrably after The Brutalizer/ Vampiric Scepter and you should be fine though. You can shield most of his harass. Play agressive!

Shen Explanation Easy You can shield Shens damage, he can only shield a small amount of yours. You should be able to kill him early on. Next just get armor penetration. Bait out his Shadow Dash and you can all-in when your cooldowns are back.

Shyvana Explanation Hard Tons of damage, tanky as fck. You can't do much because she scales (get it, scales?) better than you as well. Play it smart and try not to die. Only engage when she missed her Flame Breath. Else Shyvana will deal extra percentage health damage. Ask your jungler for help pre 6 and this could end up in snowballing for you. Without, don't try anything stupid. Get penetration to break her passive Dragonborn, (which is doubled in her Dragon's Descent!)

Singed Explanation Medium Singed is a troll. You should ignore him and push the lane. You can try to kill him early on but, Just. Don't. Chase. Him. If he proxy farms, do the same with proper warding. Just don't let it tear down your turret (allowing the minions to hit your turret). Kill him if your jungler is around.

Sion Explanation Easy It happens,k? For those of you who are fortunate enough to lay eyes upon the etremely rare beast called Sion, I'll tell you what it's about. He will start with his E, Enrage, which will never be turned off (making him tankier with every last hit). With the right runes he should start at about 117 AD. Don't panic, you should beat him easily when he's AD. I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE FACING AP SION. He's manahungry. So bait out his stun, engage when it's on cooldown. You must hit level 6 before him or his ultimate will sustain him for ridiculous amounts. He gets kited easily, so jump around and you should be fine. In teamfights, only fight him when his Cannibalism is on cooldown. Else he might just wreck everyone up.

Talon Explanation Easy Talon is an anti-caster. Luckily he has to come close to do damage/silence. When he does, just follow him, do your combo and it should be an easy kill/trade. Deny him as much as possible or lategame he's going to oneshot your carries. Don't let the game reach that point. Also, be sure Talon doesn't juke your Wind Slash with his cutthroat, or he might just kill you, which isn't very optimal as Talon snowballs quite hard.

Trundle Explanation Hard Trundle is going to be a frustrating lane for you. He's too tanky to burst down, has too much sustain and can disable you quite easily. You can try to kill him at level two and push the lane to create an advantage. I can't promise you you'll keep ahead of him though as he'll get stronger no matter what you do. Try to roam mid and get that turret. Don't worry, your teamfighting is better anyway because of your AOE.

Tryndamere Explanation Medium Tryndamere really is a bullsh*it champion. He will crit you all day, sustain with his Bloodlust and Spinning Slash away like a little girl everytime you try to use your combo. (Such a low cooldown!) He'll splitpush all day so it might be a good idea to pack Teleport. Although your killpotential lowers drastically this way. This way you can't kill him when he uses Undying Rage and Spinning Slashes away with 5 hp. ( Ignite pls)

Udyr Explanation Medium Watch out for his Wilding Claw. It is the ability that deals most damage at level 1 in all of League of Legends. He can be kited, but runs so very fast. You should burst him early or you'll never be able to kill him. It's going to be hard after level 8. Focus on farming and helping other lanes as long as he doesn't splitpush too hard. If he does, stop him. It can win games (check out Trick2G's channel to see how Udyr can win games by only splitpushing and farming)

Vi Explanation Easy She's not very common in toplane. When you do meet her, it should be easy for you. you can stop her Vault Breaker and kite her. Time your Valor right and it should be an easy lane. Care for ganks, Cease and Desist is a good initiate for the jungler. Combo & Flash into your turret and she'll regret that decision.

Vladimir Explanation Easy Kind of weird with all of his sustain, but you really counter Vladimir. You can shield his Transfusion and when you combo him he'll use his Sanguine Pool, losing 20% of his current health. Don't stand on it as he'll drain your health. When the pool is on cooldown, he's an easy kill.

Volibear Explanation Medium He deals more damage than you think. His W Frenzy is an execute so be careful. bring Ignite to counter his passive The Relentless Storm. You'll either steamroll this lane or be really frustrated. Depends on how you play it early.

Warwick Explanation Medium Warwick has incredible sustain. When he's going AP Tankwick, you won't be able to do much, but he'll have a harder time teamfighting. Ask your jungler for help. When you get ahead you can kill him over and over again.

Wukong Explanation Medium Wukong he's mobile, invisible and shreds armor. Luckily for you, you deal AOE damaage. this way you can still CC/damage him when he uses his Warrior Trickster. The decoy deals damage upon disappearing, so don't stand too close to it. Your damage outputs are pretty even, but with the right plays you should come out ahead.

Yasuo Explanation Medium He might be a bully against APC's, but when you see a Yasuo I recommend playing riven. This would probably be midlane. He can't bully you without putting himself in danger and your mobility is superior. You do need at least one skill to disengage, as he can easily catch up with Sweeping Blade. Always dodge his tornado with Valor or Broken Wings (you'll notice when he starts flashing white). He can use this every third Steel Tempest. It's cooldown is ridiculously low so don't be caught off guard. Wind Wall stops Wind Slash, make sure you're past this barrier when using it. In the end you should be able to combo him down before he can delete you. Make sure you stay spread in teamfights. A five man- Last Breath can end up in an ace.

Yorick Explanation Easy It's all about the early game. He'll be out of mana pretty soon and you can kill him when he does. Shield his harass and abuse the brushes. Without vision the ghouls will stop chasing you. This should be an easy lane though, as long as you make him use his skills for farming instead of harassing you.

Cho'Gath Explanation Medium Fight him early on, when he's at his weakest. His sustain is pretty good and he brings a lot of CC to the table. That's why you'll have to get yourself snowballing before he becomes a monster. Dodge his Rupture before going for an all-in. When dodged, there's not much he can do pre 6. Take care for his ultimate, Feast, it deals a lot of true damage and you'll die sooner than expected. Farm as much as you can because killing him after level 6 is not going to work.

Zac Explanation Medium Zac is a really annoying matchup, but you should be able to handle him. Sidestep his Stretching Strikes with Valor and you should be fine. It's also pretty easy to avoid Elastic Slingshot step to front when he fires himself because most likely he'll think you'll walk away from him. Make sure you kill his blobs. They heal Zac when he picks them up. They fly pretty far so he has a hard time picking them up himself. Tip: His Cell Division blobs can be smited.

Zed Explanation medium One of my favorite matchups. Not because it's easy or anything but because of the outplay possibilites on both sides. He'll use his Living Shadow to harass you down. However, he's going to have a bad time afterwards if he does not back up. ONLY engage when it's on cooldown. Keep in mind that he can swap places with that shadow. when you're both level 6, you should engage on him (with the Living Shadow on cooldown of course). He will likely be using his ultimate Death Mark to avoid your Wind Slashes damage. So do not cast it too quick and kill him after he used Death Mark. You deal more damage late game so keep him away from your carries. (55% of Zeds will be looking for the ADC, 35% for the APC. The remaining 10% will be going for anything but a tank depending on the situation.)

The build used for jungling is on the top of this page. But there is no ideal build for every game. Always think about what items will be most effective.

Jungle route season 4:

- Decide which lane you wish to gank first
- Take the buff with a little help from the nearest lane and use Smite.
- Clear the wraith camp (with single target junglers you should do wolves)
- Take your second buff and use Smite
- Go gank either mid lane or the other nearest lane

Ganking

- You can either use the lane and go into the side brushes to gank (when the opponents are near their turret)
- You can use the river (when the opponents is in the middle of the lane or has pushed towards a friendy turret)

Ganking paths:



Afterwards just farm and gank as much as possible. Easier said than done, but just keep your head into the game. Always push a lane when there is nobody in it if you can do it really fast. This way the enemy loses experience and gold, which is beneficial for your whole team.
when an empty lane is pushing to a friendly turret, you can be a good girl and tank the minions until your friendly unit(s) arrive(s).

Stealing buffs:

Always know where the other jungler started. This way you can prepare to steal their buffs at 7:10 and 8:15. Either smite steal it when they almost killed it, or take it when they show themselves on the map, without buffs. (Always check whether they have one, they could have stolen yours!) To prevent steals, time your own buffs and be on them right when they spawn.

Dragon/Baron Nashor

Go for dragon when:
- You see the other jungler is top/dead
- Botlane has been pushed
- You are sure you'll get it for free
- your smite is up (so you can use it to lasthit the dragon)

Go for Nashor when:
- You aced/semi-aced the other team
- Their smite is unavailable
- You are sure you can do it unspotted
- You believe it's more beneficial than going for an inhibitor
- Your smite is up and you are confident you'll smite it on the right moment

DO NOT FALL FOR THE "NOOB-TRAP" (= going for nashor, getting aced, let the enemy get the buff and lose the game)

I will work on an extended version of how to jungle Riven later on.

Tips

• Dash to your lane to get there more quickly (you can jump over turrets!)
• Use your third Q (knockup) behind your opponent when you are going for the kill.
• Switch with your midlaner when you get hard-countered by armor
• Buy Vision Wards when facing invisible characters such as Evelynn, Teemo (to remove his Noxious Trap, or when he's being a Stealth Ward himself), Shaco, Twitch or Akali (place it in her Twilight Shroud).
• Check out na.op.gg / euw.op.gg. This site is really amazing to check stats, opponents and a two-month database of your last matches. You can click on "open current game info" when a match has started, and then click on "request to recording". This way you can check your matches afterwards to analyse the mistakes/plays you made!

Tricks

• Wallhop with Q (check chapter abilities)
• use Valor to aim your jump
• After a kill and your ultimate is still active (you can tell by the giant sword), stand on the enemy's body and type /t or /j in chat. Surprise!
• If you use valor a splitsecond before your ult, Blade of the Exile will have NO cast time. This way you can surprise your opponent.
• Cancel your attack animation to maximize your DPS!
• Chain your Crowd Control for an instagib. (Especially against escapers/heavy CC - champions)
  . Play Video

Check Riven's potential for yourself:

Play Video


Some of my Riven matches:





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For the Readers

Thank you guys for all of your support! Because my guide went to the top I decided to do something for the readers. For every 20 votes I'll be doing something in return!

(Got the idea from Delta Scorpion's Anivia Guide! Hope you don't mind :p)

• 20 Votes - Add a Hall of Fame with pictures of YOUR success with Riven
• 40 Votes - Add a Riven Mid Matchup Section
• 60 Votes - Add a Teammates section
• 80 Votes - Improve coding on Matchup Section & Teammate Section
• 100 Votes - Play 1v1 Riven on Summoner's Rift Top Lane versus you guys (with the Best Riven NA rules)
• 120 Votes - Play Riven VS your best champion on the Howling Abyss
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

20 votes Achieved!

Send me your recent (ranked) success with Riven and I'll be adding them to the Hall of Fame!

#1
Kueps

Is what I want to say to JhoiJhoi for the really nice guide on how to make a guide. Check it out here!

To JhoiJhoi again for helping me out even more.

To Best Riven NA, you've shown me Riven's true potential.

To my team Oarelbeke who taught me how to play this game in the first place.

To anyone who can help me shape this guide from a raw diamond to a truly outrageous gem!

• Meiyjhe
• teeyee
• Reitea ( Sword of the Occult)

To all of you who gave this guide a positive vote!

And finally, I thank YOU for reading my guide till the end. I hope I have given you some insight and quite the few tricks and tips you need to play a good Riven!
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25/05/2013 : Started making this build.
25/05/2013 : Published.
26/05/2013 : Boots in Final build, apparently this is a pretty sensitive spot to a lot of people.
22/06/2013 : Uploaded a wallhop video of my own.
03/07/2013 : Hitting lvl 2 before your opponent by killing jungle creeps is impossible now.
20/07/2013 : Patch 3.10, Riven can now jump over more walls and it works a lot easier. Jumping over walls with your first Q is now impossible.
26/12/2013 : Modified the build to the preseason. Your starting items choice has been simplified.
11/02/2014 : Riven's base health regen is now actual s**t.
21/04/2014 : New build path & adjustments.
23/04/2014 : REWORKING
24/04/2014 : Minor improvements.
25/04/2014 : Put more Jungle options in the itemization-section.
14/05/2014 : Changed the errors pointed out by Meiyhe.
22/05/2014 : Minor improvements.
03/06/2014 : Minor formatting improvements.
06/06/2014 : Changed my opinion on Youmuu's Ghostblade.
07/06/2014 : New video! Walljumps & animation cancelling.
10/06/2014 : Added a wallhop map.
10/06/2014 : Added a Trinket section.
13/06/2014 : Added new dividers.
13/06/2014 : Visual update for the introduction.
14/06/2014 : Added the CDR build path & itemization chapter.
15/06/2014 : Update to Defensive Masteries.
16/06/2014 : Added 2 chapters.
18/06/2014 : Bloodthirster changed in patch 4.10.
30/06/2014 : Added A reward system & the Hall of Fame.
30/06/2014 : Polished the Items Section.
07/07/2014 : Visual update to laning phase choices.

E-mail me at:

Anthonydevos@hotmail.com