How to beat Riven

Common role: Top

A high-mobility bruiser with shields, stuns and a burst-damage ultimate.

What makes Riven dangerous

Riven chains three Q dashes, a shield-dash (E) and a knock-up (W) to weave in and out of trades, then her ultimate empowers her damage and gives a long-range execute. She is combo-reliant and snowballs hard, but has no sustain and burns her mobility on every trade.

How to play against Riven

• 1Trade when her abilities are on cooldown. After she uses her Q3 and E to engage, she's a plain melee with no mobility for a few seconds — punish that window.
• 2Respect her stun (W) — it's the setup for her burst. Don't stand point-blank when her W is up; make her use it to engage, then all-in.
• 3She has zero healing. Sustained poke and a Doran's/second-wind setup beats her lane — chip her down and she can't recover.
• 4Her ultimate is a burst window with an execute — don't sit at low health in her range, and buy an item spike before her power timings.

Weaknesses to exploit

• ✓No sustain — loses attrition to poke.
• ✓Very cooldown/combo dependent; punishable between combos.
• ✓Weak if she can't snowball an early lead.
• ✓Squishy relative to full tanks — burst and CC answer her.

Abilities & how to counter them

What each of Riven's abilities does — and how to play around it.

• P
  Lama runica

  Le abilità di Riven caricano la sua lama e i suoi attacchi base spendono cariche per infliggere danni aggiuntivi.

• Q
  Ali spezzate

  Riven si lancia in una serie di attacchi. L'abilità può essere riattivata tre volte in un breve periodo, con il terzo attacco che respinge i nemici nelle vicinanze.

  Strong: three dashes for mobility, damage and repositioning. Weak: after the third dash she's a plain melee for a moment — punish that window.

• W
  Esplosione del Ki

  Riven emette un'Esplosione del Ki, che infligge danni e stordisce i nemici nelle vicinanze.

  Strong: a short AoE stun that sets up her burst. Weak: point-blank range — make her use it to engage, then all-in when it's down.

• E
  Valore

  Riven avanza di una breve distanza e blocca il danno che subisce.

• R
  Lama dell'esiliato

  Riven potenzia la sua arma della rimembranza con energia e ottiene attacco fisico e gittata. Durante questo periodo, guadagna l'abilità di usare una volta Taglio del vento, un potente attacco a distanza.

  Strong: empowers her damage and gives a long-range execute wave. Weak: a burst window — don't sit low in her range and spike your items before her timings.

Itemization

Riven is AD burst-bruiser with heavy shields. Serpent's Fang and armor reduce her shield-carried trades, Grievous Wounds counters lifesteal builds, and Plated Steelcaps blunt her auto-weaving combos.

This guide covers Riven's core kit and playstyle — advice that holds up across patches.