Riven/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Autoattacking in between each allows for the most sustained damage as you consume  stacks to deal extra damage.
 * Since the skill produces three charges, which is exactly her maximum, you may wish to complete it to initiate a fight with her knockup, following up with auto-attacks and her other skills.
 * It is a good idea to learn how to auto-attack cancel with Riven. This can be done by using any of her abilities immediately as the damage is applied during an auto-attack. Because Riven's auto-attack animation is longer than the time it takes for the damage to actually register, doing this can cut off more than a second from a Q>AA>Q>AA>Q>AA combo. You must apply a new attack command in between each "Q" to obtain the maximum possible speed.
 * The best way to go about this is by auto attacking, immediately pressing Q when the damage of the AA is dealt, while hovering over the target. As the animation of the Q is playing, order Riven to move anywhere beside the target and immediately right click the target again. Both of these clicks should happen before the animation of the Q is finished. This will allow both the animation of the Q and of the auto attack to be cancelled and will significantly increase your burst sped once mastered.
 * Some combinations of abilities allow for better speed. For example, any cast of can be used while the animation of  is still running. The fastest way to burst down a squishy target if you can do it without additional auto attacks is E > R > hydra > W > Q > R > Q > Q. Every ability in this combo will cancel the animation of the ability before it, except for the second R and the third Q.
 * lasts for 15 seconds so use it at the start of the fight instead of the end of the fight.
 * Using in conjunction with  will give you small boosts of mobility as they move you forwards a bit. This is a very efficient way to move around the map, as your moves cost nothing., however, allows you to click on the mini-map and use it to continue moving, while  will cancel your move actions.
 * Beware using skills right before a skirmish, as your abilities will be on cooldown and thus be unavailable for the fight.
 * can also allow you to chase an enemy so that you can knock them up.
 * Remember that and  give you some mobility boosts for fleeing, but only the third strike of  can pass map terrain. You can, however, dash with all of them through terrain generated by abilities like, , or.
 * Make sure you test what map terrain is jumpable over. An example being: The walls separating the river and the jungle in Summoner's Rift.
 * Be aware that has a cast time and a travel time as well, so you shouldn't waste it on enemies who are just about to leave its range. Try using smart cast to save precious seconds in aiming the ability.
 * deals maximum damage to multiple opponents at or below 25% maximum health, therefore use to finish off enemies who are fleeing or deciding to stay despite low health.
 * is an all-around strong champion in top solo lane due to her ability to avoid ganks with her mobility, her no-mana costs, and her instant cast shield. Play aggressively and use to shield your way through harass.
 * resets her auto-attacks on each cast and it is useful to cut off the animation. (Tested under attack speed Slows)
 * ' dash speed is roughly equivalent to 475 movement speed. At 550 movement speed, however, simply moving is faster than using Broken Wings as a method of faster travel.
 * can be used to cancel the animation of her auto-attacks and the crescent activation of . However, its own animation cannot be cancelled.
 * Riven may cancel the animation of  with ' third cast. Use this to speed up your combo.
 * Don't use right away if the target is no longer stunned or knocked up, because you risk missing them if they flash away or simply dodge it. As the range is quite long and shaped like a cone, it's easiest to hit when the enemy is not right next to you, so it may be wise to hold on to it until they try to escape.

Build usage

 * entire kit benefits from bonus attack damage. Building heavy attack damage items will not only help maximize her damage, but also increase her survivability through.
 * As such, you will probably at least want to get or, which deals more damage overall (active included).
 * benefits heavily from cooldown reduction which will allow her to use all her moves more frequently. However, at later levels, is likely to have at least one of her abilities available for use even without cooldown reduction due to preferring to take her time to autoattack between casts and the cooldown of  starting even if you delay the latter two casts of it, which make the stat less needed then.
 * With this being said items such as and  are good items for her.
 * Having a way to slow the enemy or speed yourself up is mandatory on Riven.
 * However, is very good at dealing damage while chasing as  moves Riven forward both doing damage and giving her an opportunity to get in basic attacks without losing too much distance. The dash distance is unaffected by Riven's movement speed, so building movement speed items are not as important on Riven as on most other melee champions.
 * A is good for this, since you will be using auto attacks in between abilities to maximize your passive (none of your abilities will otherwise proc the slow). It also gives you health which is a must since Riven is squishy when stunned, sealed, blinded, or otherwise prevented from auto attacking or using her  or  to escape and/or shield.
 * works very well on as while she may have four ways to dash, they are all short-ranged and  loses damage if used fairly far-away from the enemy, and she is still a melee champion that can be damaged by ranged champions without reprisal until she gets close enough.  can move  close enough to a target to slow them with  and then walk close enough to have casting  move her into melee-range while damaging the target.
 * is an excellent one-stop defensive item, and its passive as well both armor and magic resistance can tide for a good while before she may require other defensive items.
 * works well with, as the former provides a main source of durability and the latter gives a main source of damage.
 * is sensible for if she is fearing magic damage - the attack damage is obviously useful on her while the shield and passive works well with  and the life steal from  in helping you survive a bit longer in a close-fight.
 * does only physical damage, so a is a good item to counter the armor that should be built against you.
 * is also a great item on Riven, as Riven can easily stack its passive with her combos, not to mention the extra 200 health and the 10% CDR the item gives are very useful.
 * Riven is a fairly squishy champion. Grabbing, or / and a few into a match will help your survivability early on. Later these can be built into  or a defensive item.
 * Riven's damage output is severely hampered by crowd control since it will disrupt your flurry. Consider taking over  and getting  against crowd control heavy teams.
 * should be used after the 2nd hit of or during the last frame of animation of the 3rd strike to maximize the effective time of the active.
 * Stacking early game provides the most cost efficient combination of sustain, health, and AD.
 * Riven is great for Twisted Treeline. Her strong early game and mobility with abilities help her to dominate top lane, as well as give her great ganking ability. She also performs very well in the jungle. After netting a couple of kills early, you should be able to snowball pretty hard.

Jungling

 * Starting items: &  x2
 * Skill progression: →  →  →
 * Jungling order: Krugs (Smite) → Red Brambleback → Gromp(Smite) → Blue Sentinel → Gank
 * If you don't have CDR runes you will need this order: Gromp(Smite) → Blue Sentinel → Red Brambleback(Smite) → Razorbeaks → Gank
 * Note: Riven gains her level at Blue Golem while it grants her CD reduction on her abilities which are relatively long.

Countering

 * has a strong early game. Be careful when laning against her. If necessary, call your jungler to gank.
 * excels at trading with her shield, crowd control, and fairly high damage output, dishing out her damage and getting away before you even put yours out.
 * Building armor will mitigate most of  damage since she deals only physical damage.
 * relies on her abilities and quick combos more than her basic attacks. As such, anything that can disrupt her combo (such as a silence or stun) can drastically reduce her damage output.
 * Champions with multiple interruptions, such as, can work well as effective counters for her in a 1v1 lane.
 * Wait for  to use  or until after  has worn off before striking her. has no innate sustain and the shield is her only source of damage mitigation.
 * Do not underestimate  defensive stats, even if she is building straight damage.  scales off her bonus attack damage and has a considerably low cooldown late game.
 * Don't forget about her mobility and overextend when chasing . Her allows her to dash up to 3 times, and her  allows her to dash and grants her a shield. This can create a very long gap between you and.
 * Save your high-damaging channeled spell (e.g.) as third  and  can stop channeled spells.
 * When you are low on health, do not face as her  deals more damage the lower your health is. If you're still squishy and you know she has acquired her ultimate, do not linger around with below 25% health even to turret hug, as she can, and will, flank around to kill you with.
 * Avoid towerdiving a Riven, as her kit and mobility excels at countering any attempts to kill her under tower. For example, with, she can stun you, making you take even more damage from the tower.