Talk:Riven/@comment-203.104.11.12-20130218023857/@comment-4964269-20130218192757

Garen is focused on one thing, killing you. As a Riven, I have faced several Garen matchups, one of times where I lost my lane to Riven, my jungler didn't even bother camping or even ganking twice for me. Focus on ranking up your shield first is good against Garen because level 5 shield on 4 sec cd (this is assuming Garen went armor + pots5 and you went Brutalizer) allows to tank his spin and silence. I start with Q at level 1 against Garen because I know for a fact once I go in to cs, Garen is just gonna charge me with his Q and zone me out. Also, try to get ahead of cs. Riven is a better lategame than Garen and upon getting your BT on the first go, you can go all in vs. Garen.

Problem with Garen, in addition to the Silence, damage reduction on W, and earlygame spin DPS, his passive allows him to stay longer in lane. Any kill potential you had over Garen is gone because his passive just heals himself. If you want any damage to pay off, you would EW Garen when he cses and then back off with Q. That way you keep his passive from activating and can later retaliate once he blows his Q and spin.