Riven Counter Tutorial: Riven is a top lane fighter champion in League of Legends. You may also see summoners use her in both mid and jungle roles. In this article, we explain how to be a good Riven counter.
Stats
- Health: 558.48 (+86 per level)
- Attack Damage: 64 (+3 per level)
- Attack Speed: 0.625 (+3.5% per level)
- Movement Speed: 340
- Health Regen: 5.5 (+0.5 per level)
- Armor: 33 (+3.2 per level)
- Magic Resist: 32.1 (+1.25 per level)
Abilities
Runic Blade (Passive)
Riven’s abilities charge her blade, causing her basic attacks to deal bonus physical damage. Riven’s blade may be charged up to three times and expends one charge per attack.
Broken Wings (Q)
Cost: No Cost
Range: 275
Riven lashes out in a series of strikes. This ability can be reactivated three times in a short time frame with the third hit knocking back nearby enemies.
Riven strikes out in front of her in a short line. This ability may be re-cast 2 additional times.
1st and 2nd Use: Slashes forward, dealing 15/35/55/75/95 (+% Attack Damage) physical damage to all units she comes in contact with.
3rd Use: Leaps forward and slams the ground dealing 15/35/55/75/95 (+% Attack Damage) physical damage and knocking nearby enemies up.
The last leap can cross unpathable terrain. Riven will target the unit your cursor is hovering over, or if no targets are present, Riven will simply strike the direction she is currently facing.
Ki Burst (W)
Cost: No Cost
Range: 260
Riven emits a Ki Burst, damaging and stunning nearby enemies.
Riven’s sword emits a burst of runic energy that shocks nearby enemies, dealing 55/85/115/145/175 (+100% bonus Attack Damage) physical damage and stunning them for 0.75 seconds.
Valor (E)
Cost: No Cost
Range: 250
Riven steps forward a short distance and blocks incoming damage.
Riven does a quick dash in the direction of your cursor and becomes shielded, blocking up to 95/125/155/185/215 (+100% bonus Attack Damage) incoming damage for 1.5 seconds.
Blade of the Exile
Cost: No Cost
Range: 200
Riven empowers her keepsake weapon with energy, and gains Attack Damage and Range. During this time, she also gains the ability to use Wind Slash, a powerful ranged attack, once.
Riven’s weapon surges with spiritual energy for 15 seconds, granting her 20% extra Attack Damage (+20% bonus Attack Damage), increased Range on her damaging spells and attacks, and the ability to use Wind Slash once.
Wind Slash: Riven fires a shockwave that deals from 100/150/200 (+60% bonus Attack Damage) to 300/450/600 (+180% bonus Attack Damage) physical damage to all enemies hit, increasing based on how much Health they are missing.
Champions That Counter Riven
Riven Is Weak Against
Now that you know who counters Riven, you can finally counter pick Riven in any matchup. Let’s take you through some tips on how to use a few of these champions who are counters to Riven.
After, there is a general section explaining how to use any League of Legends champion as counters for Riven. After all, if you know how to play against Riven, you can play safely and effectively to defeat Riven in a lane.
Garen
Garen’s silence prevents Riven from casting her spells which she is heavily reliant on. Try to bait out her shield or silence her before she can use it so she cannot use it to reduce the damage she takes from your spin. Be careful about levels 1-3.
Darius
Darius out-trades Riven as she relies heavily on Q for damage. Try to predict it. If she ever wastes it, Darius can go in for a trade. Be cautious with this because you can’t escape her once you go in, so if she keeps fighting you must as well.
Pantheon
Riven can’t force a trade with Pantheon pre-6 because of his Passive block, then W+AA+Q+E = new Block.
Jax
Take E at level 1. At level 3 you can start poking her with W+Q. If she stuns you, use your E to escape more damage or win the fight if she continues. Try to stay away from her while your e is on cooldown.
Renekton
Renekton is very strong early game so you must use that. Get W at level 2 so when Riven tries to use her 3rd Q (the one that stuns you) you quickly stun her, use your Q for extra damage and then either walk away or E if you are level 3 or above.
How To Use A Riven Counter
- Avoid fighting against a Riven in skirmishes, as her raw damage and CC will usually outpower most champions.
- Riven only deals Attack Damage – so try building a lot of armor to counter this if she becomes fed.
- Although Riven’s skills give her a lot of mobility, using a snare/stun during her Broken Wings or Valor will prevent her from getting away/chasing.
- Use champions with long ranged harass to zone her out. Be careful not to trade while harassing her, as she will tear you apart if she has ult or you’re a level behind.
- Try to have at least 1 champ with blind-stun-silence in your team if you’re going to face Riven, as they are the most effective way to counter her. Slow won’t save you due to her skills mobility.
- Riven has a strong early game. Be careful when laning against her. If necessary, call your jungler to gank.
- Riven 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.
Riven Counter Tips (Cont.)
- In lane, when Riven uses her abilities against your minions rather than yourself, she becomes vulnerable. She’ll lack the damage and escape mechanisms that they provide while on cooldown, enabling you to briefly play aggressively. This is usually only advisable when she uses Broken Wings against minions, since it’s her main damage source and escape ability. Of course, the more abilities she has on cooldown, the better. Take advantage of these situations as much as possible before she gets any cooldown reduction items, as her abilities have high cooldowns at low ranks.
- Building armor will mitigate most of Riven’s damage since she deals only physical damage.
- Riven relies on her abilities and quick combos more than her basic attacks. As such, anything that can disrupt her combo (such as a silence, a stun, or even a blind) can drastically reduce her damage output.
- Champions with multiple interruptions, such as Alistar, can work well as effective counters for her in a 1v1 lane.
- Wait for Riven to use Wind Slash or until after Blade of the Exile has worn off before striking her. Riven has no innate sustain and the shield is her only source of damage mitigation.
- Do not underestimate Riven’s defensive stats, even if she is building straight damage. Valor scales off her bonus attack damage and has a considerably low cooldown late game.
- Don’t forget about her mobility and overextend when chasing Riven. Her Broken Wings allows her to dash up to 3 times, and her Valor allows her to dash and grants her a shield. This can create a very long gap between you and Riven.
- Save your high-damaging channeled spell (e.g.Nunu’s Absolute Zero) as Riven’s 3rd Broken Wings and Ki Burst can interrupt channeled spells.
Even More Tips For Countering Riven
- When you are low on health, do not face Riven as her Wind Slash 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 Wind Slash.
- Avoid tower diving a Riven, as her kit and mobility excel at countering any attempts to kill her under a tower. For example, with Ki Burst, she can stun you, making you take even more damage from the tower.
- Riven tends to snowball out of control after a kill or two. Hence try to avoid dying to her even if it means losing a few CS.
- Valor has a short cooldown after she has maxed it out or has obtained several cooldown reduction items. This allows her to outplay unsuspecting opponents easily.
- Remember! The best Riven counter will wait for her to mess up her /Stun combo and then crush her in the lane!
By using the champions who counter Riven and the League of Legends Riven counter tips above, you can now develop a strategy to help you, as a summoner, become an effective Riven counter.