Riven’s Background

Riven, a character from League of Legends, was once a noteworthy swordmaster within the Noxian warhosts. Owing to her dedication and prowess, she quickly rose to prominence, securing both the leadership of her own warband and a legendary runic blade. Despite her loyalty, her experiences on the Ionian front caused her unwavering faith in Noxus to crumble. As she bore witness to the devastating consequences of the empire’s expansion, she chose to sever her ties with Noxus. Now, Riven lives in exile, burdened with guilt, and constantly seeking purpose.

An Overview of Riven

Riven is best described as a top lane fighter, both agile and lethal with her high damage output at close range. She is particularly adept at split-pushing, with an exceptional ability to take on opponents in one-on-one encounters. Hence, in the right hands, Riven can pose a threat throughout a game.

Abilities and Kit

Riven’s set of abilities provides her with significant offensive power. Her passive ability, Runic Blade, enables her attacks to charge her blade three times, with each charge contributing 21 bonus physical damage or 32% of her total Attack Damage (AD). However, it’s worth noting that when attacking monsters and structures, bonus damage decreases by half.

Her Q ability, Broken Wings, allows Riven to strike in a specified direction up to three times, with each strike causing varying physical damage. The third strike has the added advantage of crossing terrain and knocking up enemies, creating opportunities for escape or engagement.

Using her W ability, Ki Burst, Riven can stun nearby enemies briefly while causing physical damage. This ability’s effective range is limited, making the correct positioning crucial for ensuring strikes.

Riven’s E ability, Valor, grants her a shield after dashing in a specific direction, providing her with protection from damage for a short while. Unlike the third strike of Broken Wings, Valor can’t overcome terrain.

Riven’s ultimate ability, Riven expands her blade for a brief period, augmenting her attack damage, extending the reach of her attacks and damaging abilities, and enabling a single cast of Wind Slash. Each takedown resets her Wind Slash casts and increases the duration of this ability, up to 12 seconds.

Rune Setup

Generally, Riven uses the primary rune Conqueror. This is followed by Haste, Nimbus Cloak, and Transcendence in secondary rune trees, maximizing her damage potential and reducing cooldown as much as possible.

Item Build

The quintessential items for Riven include Eclipse, Ionian Boots of Lucidity, Sundered Sky, Death’s Dance, and Serylda’s Grudge. Using Eclipse, Hydra, and Sundered Sky early in the game proves to be an effective strategy if Riven is leading, although this leaves her low on health. Alternatively, the addition of a Black Cleaver increases Riven’s versatility against opposing teams.

Ability Maxing and Combos

Riven’s Q ability should be maxed out first, followed by E, and then W. Primary combos used with Riven include Q auto-attack for quick trading, Q followed by W for short trades, and a double-cast combo that requires shielding first, followed by an auto-attack, and WQ.