Riven is an interesting champion in League of Legends: Wild Rift. Her passive relies on her using her abilities to build up charges on her blade. You can do this three times using three abilities. Every time you perform a basic attack with that charge, you deal additional physical damage to your opponent, making you even more deadly as a battle continues. Riven has an average amount of toughness, with even lower utility, so you primarily want to be on the offensive with her, and maintain an aggressive playstyle, especially if you’re playing her in the jungle role. Here’s the approach we’re going to take when creating a Riven build.
The best Riven build
- Black Cleaver
- Gluttonous Quicksilver
- Death’s Dance
- Guardian Angel
- Sterak’s Gage
- Youmuu’s Ghostblade
These will be the primary choices you want to consider using whenever playing Riven. You always want to begin with a long sword and build your way into Black Cleaver. Depending on how your match is going, you may want to purchase Gluttonous Quicksilver first or work your way up to Death’s Dance, depending on how you and your team are faring together. After that, you’ll want to build a few more defenses to help protect against some of the heavy attackers on the enemy side, so Guardian Angel is a solid choice. With that under your belt, you want to pick up Sterak’s Gage and then Youmuu’s Ghostblade. The Ghostblade choice is because of how much Riven relies on using her abilities, and the more often she uses them, the more powerful her basic attacks become during a fight.
To gain the most benefit from the items listed above, here’s the direct leveling path for all of Riven’s abilities that you want to follow the gain the most benefit from them.
- Broken Wings: Levels 1, 4, 6, and 7
- Ki Burst: Levels 3, 12, 14, and 15
- Valor: Levels 2, 8, 10, and 11
- Blade of Exile: Levels 5, 9, and 13
You primarily want to focus on leveling up Broken Wings, Riven’s first ability, and level up her ultimate, Blade of Exile, whenever you have the opportunity. After that, Valor will be the next focus, followed by Ki Burst for the final options.
You can swap out some of these choices for Riven to see what serves you better, especially if you prefer playing with lifesteal items. You try using Mortal Reminder to apply Grevious Wounds whenever hitting with physical damage, or Bloodthirster for increased physical lifesteal, and any overhealing you do creates a shield around you. It’s a good pairing for Ki Burst, Riven’s second ability, to immediately stun a target and gain a shield to overpower them. Mercury’s Threads could also work. You could try experimenting with Duskblade of Draktharr, but you’d need to find ways to enter the tall grass every once in a while, which could prove problematic for long-term play.
Runes and Summoner Spells
When it comes to Riven’s Runes and Summoner Spells these are our recommended choices for each Rune slot.
- Conqueror
- Hunter – Vampirism, or Triumph
- Second Wind or Bone Plating
- Sweet Tooth or Pack Hunter
The Conqueror rune will be the primary one. Each attack Riven gives is additional stacks of Conqueror, and when you have a full five stacks, she deals bonus damage, which pairs well with her passive. When it comes to Hunter-Vampirism and Triumph, you’re picking between life steal overtime or a heal whenever you eliminate an enemy. We recommend the former choice, but some players may prefer Triumph, depending on their confidence levels. The third choice, Second Wind or Bond Plating, both are optimal choices and help make Riven more durable in combat. The final choices, Sweet Tooth or Pack Hunter; you want to go with Sweet Tooth if you find yourself working by yourself more, and Pack Hunter if you wander closer to your teammates to confirm kills.
These are the recommended Spells you want to given Riven.
- Flash
- Smite
Flash will be an important teleport that you can aggressively when invading from the jungle, or to escape enemies chasing you away from their lane. It’s extremely effective with Riven, giving you plenty of flexibility in combat. For Smite, if you’re using Riven as a jungle character, you can use this to make short work enemies during the early game, giving you an edge. However, we do recommend potentially swapping Smite out for Ignite or Mark and Dash.
Riven is a quick champion, and you want to keep your enemies on their toes when using her.
