Talk:Riven/@comment-4829762-20121217233858/@comment-4834593-20121218165232

I'm not really sure if she's a good one to learn top lane. I myself learned it with her, but there might have been better options.

A big pro for using her when you learn top lane, is that you can, if needed, always max your shield first and just shrug off the harras combined with your high health regen and some life steal from a Vampiric Scepter, plus she can often escape without using flash thanks to all her dashes. On most champions you'll need more training to escape without it. Irelia comes to mind there.

A con, however, is that there's a big diversity in the items you can buy on her, once you got some damage. The only core items are Black Cleaver and either Bloodthirster or Ravenous Hydra. Once you got BC and one of the others (not that order isn't really important here, you can take either one first and do well), the choices range from Guardian Angel via Frozen Mallet and Maw of Malmortius to another Bloodthirster, or, if you don't have it, a Ravenous Hydra. About everything with AD, without Trinity Force, without Attack Speed and a Guardian Angel can be a good next item to buy. And without Crit Chance.

Now, top is her best lane, and she's indeed really strong here. If I'm taking a look at the champion list I'd say that she counters Dr Mundo, Elise, Irelia, Jarvan, Jax (as far as you can counter him), Jayce (also as far as you can counter him), Kha'zix, Nasus, Nidalee, Shen, Singed (hard if you're new at Riven, but will get really easy once you get more experienced with her) and Vladimir, and is countered by Darius (counters all melee), Kennen, Malphite (as long as he isn't nerfed, which I don't believe they CAN, as it's what his skills do, not the numbers on it), Olaf (Riven is quite squishy, and doesn't like that true damage AT ALL...), Rumble, Teemo (but he's useless in teamfights, so just try to survive), Xin Zhao (level one triple Q WILL take half of your health, if not more), Yorick (manageble if you're using your shield right and just buy a lot of health potions, you can win lane (equal farm, more kills) if he doesn't go back as soon as he is out of mana). The ones I left out are either equal matchups, or matchups I can't really stay anything about. For example Cho'gath, I'm pretty sure Riven can outlane him, but I want that proven, as the two times I've seen it (one from me, one from a friend I spectated) didn't really go well.

In general, Riven is better that most top laners, but there are a few, mostly the classic anti-top laners, that outlane her. Of some, like Jayce, Riven in fact doesn't really counter them, but is just one of the best choices, as she can do more against them than most can. And I'd like to mention that I find Riven vs Renekton always a very nice matchup, because in that lane they really both have 50% chance to win the lane from themselves, which means it's all skill that decides it, while it's not a mirror lane (like most lanes that are nearly 100% about skill).

I'd also like to give you some tips. Most important, always start with Vampiric Scepter + Brutalizer (order doesn't matter), then build them into Black Cleaver and Bloodthirster or Ravenous Hydra (again, order doesn't matter), then take what you need, but don't forget damage grants you tankyness through your shield.

Also, all of Riven's skills can be maxed first. Her Q grants most damage, her W grants most utility, and her E grants most defense/mobility. And always start Q-E-W the first three levels. The high damage + mobility from Q is straight out stronger than W or E, at level 2 a shield and another dash to piss of your opponent is better than a stun with a casting time as long as the stun itself (just build 2 Phantom Dancers on her once in a bot game, use her W, and you'll know what I'm talking about), where at level 3 that stun is better than some damage or some shield + 1 second less cdr.

I think that's it.