Fighter / Skirmisher
Beginner Rule
If Riven uses multiple abilities to trade and backs away, don't chase immediately — many Riven players are waiting for cooldowns before re-engaging.
Riven is a mobile fighter who excels at short trades, animation-cancel combos, and explosive all-ins. She wants to chain together Broken Wings (Q) — her three-part dash and damage ability — with crowd control and mobility to outplay opponents. Many beginners underestimate how much damage Riven can deal in a very short amount of time.
Level 3 – Gains access to her full trading combo.
Level 6 – Blade of the Exile (R) dramatically increases burst damage and execute potential.
First Item – Damage and dueling become much stronger.
Fast combo bursts
Multiple dashes
Level 6 all-ins
Flash engages
QWhat it does
Three-part combo. Each cast dashes and deals damage. The third cast knocks up briefly.
How to play against
Dodge the third Q knockup. After 1-2 Qs her damage drops significantly without the full combo. Trade in that window.
WWhat it does
Short stun + shield. Empowers her next auto attack.
How to play against
Stay just outside her range. Without the stun her burst drops dramatically. Trade on the cooldown.
EWhat it does
Dashes and gains a shield. Can be used up to twice.
How to play against
Track both E charges. When both are down she has no mobility — that's your window to all-in.
RWhat it does
Empowers her entire kit. The final cast is a massive missing-health AoE slash.
How to play against
Don't be at low HP when she has R available. The execute slash deals more the lower you are.
Q → Auto → Q → Auto → Q → W
Core trading combo that maximizes damage.
E → R → Full Combo
Uses ultimate before engaging for maximum burst.
Flash → W → Full Combo
Surprise engage that can quickly kill squishy targets.
Runic Blade: her abilities charge her blade. When fully charged her next basic attack deals bonus physical damage. The glowing sword means the empowered auto is ready — back off when you see it.
