League of Legends: Riven Spotlight

In light of the recent changes to Riven I want to do an in-depth spotlight on her.

Riven is a melee champion with an in your face style. Her skills prioritize going straight into the enemy and wreaking havoc. With gap closers, self buffs, and CC all rolled up into one champion, Riven is a force to be reckoned with.

Riven’s Story:

Believing whole-heartedly in the Noxian ideology, Riven pushed herself to master the long sword. During a conflict with Ionia, Riven’s conviction and loyalty were answered with betrayal. After being listed as dead, Riven went into exile on a search for atonement.

Riven’s Skills and Stats:

Here’s Riven’s stat comparison table.

Here I will give a basic explanation of Riven’s skills including her passive.

Runic Blade (Passive):

Using abilities on Riven will give a charge to her blade. Riven’s blade can receive up to three charges, and consumes one charge per basic attack. Upon gaining a charge, Riven’s basic attacks receive bonus attack damage. If charges aren’t expended they will disappear after five seconds.

Broken Wings (Q):

Broken Wings is a melee attack that will launch Riven forward a short distance if there is no enemy in front of her. The skill has a base damage of 10/30/50/70/90, with a modifier of 40/45/50/55/60% of total attack damage. You can activate this skill three times in quick succession. The third strike of Broken Wings also has a short knock back effect.

Ki Burst (W):

Ki Burst is a short ranged AoE stun centered on Riven, that also deals physical damage. The stun lasts for 0.75 seconds. Ki Burst’s base damage is 50/80/110/140/170 with a modifier of +1.0 per bonus attack damage.

Valor (E):

Valor is a short-range dash that also applies a shield on Riven for 1.5 seconds. Unlike Broken Wings, Valor does not go in the direction that Riven is facing. Instead Valor sends Riven in the direction of the mouse cursor. The shield has an absorbs 90/120/150/180/210 damage with a modifier of +1.0 per bonus attack damage.

UPDATE – (4.2 Patch): In response to the reduction of Riven’s Base Health Regen from 5.5/5s to 2.5/5s, Valor’s shield recieved a buff. Before patch 4.2 Valor’s base shield was 60/90/120/150/180, now it’s 90/120/150/180/210 as shown in the description above.

Blade Of the Exile/Wind Slash (R):

Blade of the Exile gives Riven a buff granting her +20% attack damage. The buff also extends the range of Riven’s damage based abilities and basic attacks. The buff has a 15 second duration and enables the use of Wind Slash once per buff duration.

Wind Slash is a conal AoE attack that deals damage to all enemies based on the amount of health they are missing.

The Changes:

Riven has recently undergone a few changes you can review the changes below to see how she is different now compared to what she used to be.

Base Changes:

Riven’s early game is a bit slower with the base damage decrease to 54 from 56.7. Attack damage per level increased to 3 from 2.7. These numbers are pretty negligible. The big change is in Riven’s Broken Wings skill. The skill’s base damage is lower, but the damage modifier has also changed.

Broken Wings:

Previously, Riven’s Broken Wings damage (30/55/80/105/130) had a 70% bonus attack damage modifier. Now Broken Wings (10/30/50/70/90) has a scaling bonus of 40/45/50/55/60% total attack damage plus Riven’s base attack damage. Broken Wings, while having a smaller skill damage, has the potential to reach a higher damage modifier. Riven players need to re-prioritize their item builds, but the overall damage change isn’t much different late-game.

Will the Battle Bunny still see many battles?

Valor:

The shield duration on Valor, makes the skill more of a reactive ability instead of a proactive ability now. Valor’s shield duration dropped to 1.5 seconds from the previous 2.5. Players who were depending on Valor in the past for lane dominance will now need to come up with different strategies.

For a melee, Riven’s lane dominance was impressive. After the changes, opposing laners will stand more of a chance against Riven allowing for better exchanges. Those complaining about the Riven changes should take her out to some unranked matches and get a feel for the new build. Overall I’d say Riven isn’t too much different end-game than she was before, she just has a slower start now.

Is Riven A Good Choice For You?

With Lunar revel on the way now it the perfect time to find out!

Riven can build tank or assassin, although she is more of a bruiser type like Vi. If you like mobile melee champions, Riven is a good champion to consider for your collection. Riven primarily fills the top lane role in ranked matches and can hold her own against most standard top lane champions. Riven is also still a competent jungler and can be a potent mid laner in some matchups.

If Riven isn’t the champion for you, take a look at my other champion spotlights.