LoL Wild Rift Riven Build & Guide (Patch 5.0) - Runes, Counters, Items, Ability Analysis

S Tier

Class: Fighter

Recommended Lane: Baron

Best Riven Wild Rift build guide for Season 11 Patch 5.0 of WR. With our Riven guide you will learn which items to build, runes to select, skill order, who counters Riven, and how to use abilities properly.

Recommended Builds

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Riven was a swordmaster of Noxus. She was a war orphan shaped sharped by years of hard labor and strife. She seeks to find her place in a shattered world carrying her broken legendary Runic blade. Riven is a high damage flashy fighter who can turn around any battle with her mobility, crowd controls and ultimate, Blade of the Exile.

Riven Wild Rift Build Recommendation

Here are Item Build Recommendations that works on this champion and which are the best build for Riven Wild Rift in this patch.

Blade of the Exile

This is the Riven Wild Rift build. This build balances between damage and tankiness so you can carry the game even without relying on your teammates too much.

Blade of the Lethal

This Riven Wild Rift build is quite similar to the first one, except with the addition of Youmuu’s for the extra damage from lethality, and armor penetration.

Runes for Riven in Wild Rift

Conqueror is the best Keystone rune for Riven. She relies on her combos to deal damage and so the l0nger the fight goes on, the more damage she will deal with Conqueror. The bonus damage from Conqueror also lines up nicely together with Black Cleaver’s Sunder passive and with Wind Slash’s timing.
Brutal is great for early game aggression while Hunter-Vampirism grants a stacking AD and physical vamp bonus which will help Riven scale into the mid game.
Hunter-Titan is best for Riven since she wants minimum interruption from her combos so she can lifesteal any HP she loses from brawling with enemies in the middle of the fight.
Sweet Tooth grants increased healing on Honeyfruits that will help her play more aggressively in the early game and the bonus gold will help her reach her item timings faster. Hunter-Genius is a great alternative because the bonus ability haste will help her cycle through her combos much faster.

Spells

These two are the best spells you can equip for Riven in Wild Rift.

Ignite will help Riven bag cheesy early game kills through her Broken Wings combos and ultimate.

Riven can be flex-picked into the jungle and she can do a good job since she has a lot of abilities that provide mobility. That being said, her preferred smite upgrade is the Challenging/Red smite because she already has enough mobility to stay on top of enemies and its bonus damage/damage reduction effect will make it hard for enemies to win duels against her.

Skill Order

Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings is maxed first because it is Riven’s main source of damage. Riven’s 3rd ability, Valor is maxed next because it is a balance between mobility and defense but Riven’s 2nd ability, Ki Burst can also be maxed first if you want a more aggressive playstyle because its damage and cooldown scaling is alright too. Invest a point in Blade of the Exile whenever possible.

Abilities

Runic Blade

Passive

Abilities charge Riven’s blade up to 3 times.

Attacks expend charges to deal 15 physical damage (22% AD).

Deals 50% damage to structures.

Broken Wings

Active

Slash in a direction up to 3 times. Each slash deals 52 physical damage (20 + 50% AD) to nearby enemies.

The third slash crosses terrain and knocks up nearby enemies for 0.5 seconds.

Tap-casting prioritizes champions and large monsters within slash range.

Ki Burst

Active

Stun nearby enemies for 0.75 seconds, dealing 55 physical damage (55 + 100% bonus AD).

Valor

Active

Dash in a direction and gain a shield absorbing 75/110/145/180 (75 + 100% bonus AD) for 1.5 seconds.

Valor cannot cross terrain.

Blade of the Exile

Active

Expend Riven’s blade for 15 seconds, granting 20% bonus Attack Damage, increasing the range of her attacks and damaging abilities, and granting a single cast of Wind Slash.

Wind Slash: Launches a shockwave, dealing 100 (100 + 69% bonus AD) to 300 physical damage (300 + 180% bonus AD) based upon enemies’ missing health.

Abilities Analysis

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:

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.
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.
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.

Riven Early Game Guide

In the early game, you can cheese the first blood or at least force the enemy to flash away by jumping on your enemy laner with a fully stacked Runic Blade. You can do this by Priming Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings, casting it just before its charge ends, just as the minions in your lane pass the middle turret.

Stay on your toes because you don’t have any innate sustain. The only way you can survive the laning phase is by taking advantage of the mobility from Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings, and her 3rd ability, Valor.

The moment both you and the enemy laner are level 4, clear your minions fast so you can reach level 5 faster. Level up your ultimate then immediately force a duel so you can cheese another kill on your enemy.

Riven Late Game Guide

In the middle and late game, if all things went well, you should become an unstoppable force.

Whenever you have your ultimate available, look for isolated kills and join your allies in team fights. If your ultimate is on cooldown, play safely and do not wander away from your team or if the enemy team is grouped up on one side, split push the other side if you have your Teleport Enchant available.

Synergies

It is highly recommended using Riven Wild Rift with the following champions as they synergize well with her.

Riven, just like Irelia, has a lot of mobility tools that make it easy for her to dive into the enemy team. Because of this, Orianna can easily set up a game-changing Command: Shockwave in her team’s favor. Her Command: Dissonance will also allow Riven to wreak havoc to the enemy team with ease because of the movement speed slow/boost.

Riven is already hard to kill on her own. Adding Lulu to the mix just makes it so much worse because of all her shielding, increased HP, slow, and buff/crowd control.

Janna’s 3rd ability, Eye of the Storm grants a huge AD bonus that will make Riven an extremely hard-hitting killing machine. Escape is impossible with the combination of Janna’s slow and Riven’s mobility.

All Riven Wild Rift Counter Champions

In this section, we’ll tackle some of Riven Wild Rift Counters.

Renekton has better early game to mid game than you and it doesn’t take too much skill for a Renekton player to win against Riven. His 2nd ability, Ruthless Predator simply stops you in your tracks and just straight up messes up your combo flow. Try the level 1 cheese and if that does not succeed, bait his ultimate first before attempting to use yours.

Your dashes are not enough to reach a Kennen who knows what he is doing, especially if he uses Phase Rush. He will just kite you all game long and stun you whenever you attempt to kill him or his teammates. Rush Spirit Visage or at least Hexdrinker when against this Yordle.

Garen probably is the safest pick against Riven (and most other top laners, to be honest). Do not force a fight on him because he will just absorb your combos with his 2nd ability, Courage, and break your combo with his 1st ability, Decisive Strike, and finally, if you do manage to damage him, he will just heal it off through his passive. Find your winning play elsewhere on the map.

Pros & Cons About Riven

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Riven in Wild Rift.

Pros

Riven is a flashy champion who can be played tanky, as a glass cannon, or anything in between. Her versatility in terms of item build makes her a good pick for most situations.
Riven has high burst damage but she can also be played like a champion who deals consistent damage that can stick to her opponents mercilessly. This makes enemies always guess if she will deal her full damage in one go or through methodologically timed strikes.
She is a lot of fun to play because her abilities make it feel like you are playing a traditional fighting game more than playing a MOBA.

Cons

Riven has no sustain on her kit. For a champion who loves to fight early and often, this is a big con for her because if the player who uses her cannot predict and dodge abilities, she will die often or be forced to recall often.
Riven’s abilities are easy to understand but hard to master. She requires a lot of situational awareness on when to use her burst damage or when it is better to slow-roll her abilities.

FAQ's About Riven in Wild Rift

How good is Riven in Wild Rift?

Riven is a (Tier S) champion. Riven is a good all-around pick but she requires a lot of mastery from her user in order to maximize her potential.

What role / lane should I play with Riven in Wild Rift?

Riven is traditionally played in the Baron lane as a fighter who loves to brawl and force fights whenever she has her ultimate available. She can also be flex-picked into the Jungle because of her mobility and burst damage.

What abilities do I level up with Riven?

What items should I build with Riven?

Riven’s core items are Black Cleaver and Death’s Dance. Black Cleaver’s Sunder passive shreds the armor of those she attacks so she can delete them with her Wind Slash. Death’s Dance’s Cauterize passive converts the damage she receives into DPS so she can heal them before the damage can inflict fatal wounds. She can also be bought lethality items like Youmuu’s Ghostblade or Duskblade of Draktharr if you want to burst down enemies when snowballing.

What Runes should I use when playing as Riven?

Conqueror is the best Keystone rune for Riven. She relies on her combos to deal damage and so the l0nger the fight goes on, the more damage she will deal with Conqueror. The bonus damage from Conqueror also lines up nicely together with Black Cleaver’s Sunder passive and with Wind Slash’s timing. Her other runes are Brutal or Hunter-Vampirism, Hunter-Titan, and Sweet Tooth or Hunter-Genius.

How can I do animation cancels on Riven?

After executing slashes using Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings, move towards the direction opposite to where Riven slashes so you can execute auto-attacks faster in between the Broken Wings casts. Other than that, you can use Riven’s 1st ability, Broken Wings, and her 3rd ability, Valor to cancel her 2nd ability, Ki Burst, and both casts of her ultimate, Blade of the Exile.