User blog comment:Care Level/RE: PBE Riven Nerf/@comment-24315274-20131220072623

I've played Riven casually and in low elo ranked and I don't think that riot should implement the Riven changes shown on the PBE. Currently, Riven feels overpoweringly strong in the early game and easily snowballs from there, leading me to believe that she deserves a nerf.

Yet Riven is designed to be highly mobile with her 3 Q dashes and 1 E dash, so a nerf to the cooldowns on Q or E would be detrimental to her playstyle. I often hear my friends complain about Riven's shield (omgsoOP) and I agree that her shield is one of the strongest elements of her kit, but I think the proposed shield nerf is clunky, comparable to slowing the particles on Zed's Living Shadow. Instead, Riot could simply lower the AD ratio from a whopping 1.0 to maybe a more modest 0.6-0.8 bonus AD range.

Additionally, the modification to her Q damage and scaling forces into the max Q route which I agree detracts from the flexibility of Riven's kit. Under the proposed changes, if a Riven starts LS 3 red sodas, each Q will deal about 37 damage ignoring runes and masteries

10[Base] + .4[Ratio] * ((54[BaseAD] + 1[Level] * 2.75[AD/Level]) + 10[Longsword])

Using the current Q, each strike would deal 37 damage

30[Base] + .7[Rato] * 10[Longsword]

Interestingly, her level 18 Q is actually stronger than before without items.

130[Base]+.7[Ratio] * X[BonusAD] = 90[Base] + .6[Ratio] * (103.5[BaseAD] + X[Bonus AD])

40 + .7X = .6(103.5 + X)

40 + .7x = 62.1 + .6X

.1X = 22.1

X = 221

Riven must have 221 bonus AD for her current Q to outdamage her proposed Q at level 18, or two bloodthirsters plus AD reds and quints with points spec'd into offense.

Nevertheless, the change to Riven's kit propose a strange balance: a weaker full-damage snowball build due to the reduced survivability of the shield while rewarding building less than 221 bonus AD in a more tanky build to cruise off of higher base values when her base AD is factored in.