Riven Wild Rift Build & Guide

Innate Passive: Runic Blade

Riven’s auto-attacks are imbued with bonus damage after casting her abilities. The attack buff can be stacked up to three times and it stays as long as Riven is fighting or after it is used.

Since Runic Blade can be stacked up to three times, it is good to stack it up before entering a fight. The most reliable way to do this is by priming Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings. This is done by casting Broken Wings slowly before a fight starts and waiting for the next casting timeframe to be almost over before casting its next charge.

Q | 1st Ability: Broken Wings

Broken Wings is a three-part melee range skill-shot. Each slash deals damage and charges up Riven’s passive and the third slash also does a small knockback. Since Broken Wings charges Runic Blade, remember to auto-attack at least once every after slash.

There are a few techniques you can use with Broken Wings and here are some examples of them:

1. Animation Cancel Burst – This is the most popular way of using Broken Wings. It is the coolest looking and it deals a lot of damage over a short period. This is done by canceling the animation of each slash by pressing the directional button in the opposite direction of where Riven slashed. It takes a moderate amount of practice to consistently pull it off, but it is really not that hard to do once you get the groove of it.
2. Priming – This is the above-mentioned technique for stacking Riven’s passive, Runic Blade before entering a fight. Broken Wings will end up available for use immediately after the third cast by casting each charge of Broken Wings before its cycle ends. This is great not only for stacking Runic Blade but also for the extra mobility it provides when out of combat.
3. Slow-Rolling – Broken Wings move Riven forward with each cast so you can use it to dodge skill shots and follow enemies who are trying to escape. By using Broken Wings tactfully, you will always be able to outplay and outmaneuver your enemies. This is the ideal way of using Broken Wings. Yes, the Animation Cancel Burst is cool but it is simply an illusion of burst damage. 

(Disclaimer: The terms Priming and Slow-Rolling were learned by the author from Seth Rival’s Riven guide on Mobafire.)

The third charge of Broken Wings has a slightly different animation. The Riven moves a little more forward and enemies around her are knocked back. This is also Riven’s only ability that allows her to hop over walls.

All charges of Broken Wings can cancel the animation of all of her other abilities. This animation canceling is much more important to learn, more than the animation cancel burst technique.

If Riven’s ultimate, Blade of the Exile is in effect, the range of all charges of Broken Wings increases.

W | 2nd Ability: Ki Burst

Ki Burst explodes energy around Riven, damaging and stunning those around her for a short duration.

Ki Burst has an extremely short range so it can be hard to hit. An obvious workaround here is to use her 1st ability, Broken Wings or 3rd ability, Valor to close the distance on the enemy before stunning them.

Ki Burst has a near-instant cast time so use it to break your enemy’s flow or channeling abilities.

You can control enemies for a longer duration by chaining Ki Burst with the 3rd charge of Broken Wings. 

Ki Burst has a cancellable animation so make sure to have your Broken Wings ready after stunning enemies so you won’t lose any time on the useless animation backswing.

E | Ability 3: Valor

Valor is a short dash that also grants a shield. The shield gain is instant so it’s great for avoiding damage, especially when tower diving.

Valor cannot cross walls but a good habit to do whenever possible is to cast Valor first as you approach a wall you want to hop using the 3rd charge of Broken Wings. We have to do this so that you can ensure that Riven will do the wall hop successfully.

Valor can animation cancel Riven’s other abilities just like how Broken Wings can. This is great for initiating and escaping enemies and avoiding their skill shots.

R | Ultimate: Blade of the Exile

Blade of the Exile is a steroid ability. It increases Riven’s damage output and the range of her damaging abilities. She can turn around fights with this ability simply because of the sheer amount of damage output Riven can dish out while her ultimate is active.

It is important to animation cancel the activation of Blade of the Exile using either her 1st ability, Broken Wings, 3rd ability, Valor, or by using Flash. It is important to do so because the first thing the enemy will think when they see Riven activate her ultimate is “RUN!”. Canceling the animation and immediately forcing a fight will ensure that you will be getting something from activating your ultimate.

Activating Blade of the Exile grants a new ultimate ability, Wind Slash. Wind Slash is an AoE physical damage execute. It can deal as much as 180% bonus attack damage, so it can deal serious damage.

Enemies also fear Wind Slash so make sure to cancel its animation as well because it has a fairly slow animation, which makes it easy to avoid, especially at the edge of it. Just like the buffing part of Riven’s ultimate, you can cancel Wind Slash’s animation by using Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings, 3rd ability, Valor, or by using Flash. 

Combos: 

Basic combo: AA > 1 > AA > 1 > AA > 1 > AA

This is Riven’s bread and butter combo. Auto-attacking in between Broken Blades is crucial to maximizing her damage output. Mix in her Ki Burst and Valor whenever you see fit to outplay enemies.

Full combo: 4 > 3 > 2 > AA > 1 > AA > 1 > AA > 4 > 1 > AA 

You will use Valor to cancel the animation of the first part of Blade of the Exile then it is best to use Wind Slash before you cast the last charge of Broken Wings for maximum damage output.