Guide · Top

Riven Guide

the Exile

Fighter

Assassin

Tier C Top

Riven, the Exile, is a fighter and assassin champion that is demanding to master. Across our 516 analysed ranked games, Riven is mostly played in Top (76% of its games), and more rarely in Mid (24%), with a 50.3% win rate in that role: tier C among Top champions (#35 of 48, ranked by win rate). Riven's damage is mostly physical (93%): armor is the best defensive answer against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 54.0% in long games (over 35 min, 50 games) versus 47.7% in short games (under 25 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Average KDA

5.9 / 6.3 / 4.7

ratio 1.7

Damage / min

675

CS / min

7.3

Gold / min

432

Kill participation

35%

Vision / min

0.73

Averages measured over 392 Top games played with Riven, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Written guide · based on the official ability texts

Riven is a burst fighter: her abilities charge her blade, which lets her basic attacks deal bonus damage by consuming charges. Broken Wings can be recast three times (the third hit knocks back), Ki Burst stuns, Valor moves her forward while blocking damage, and Blade of the Exile raises her damage and range with Wind Slash.

The burst

Q AA AA

When: An enemy is within range.

Valor brings you closer while blocking damage, Ki Burst stuns nearby enemies, three Broken Wings with attacks in between, the third hit knocks back.

The finishing ultimate

When: An enemy is low.

Blade of the Exile raises your attack damage and range; during the effect, you can use Wind Slash once, a powerful ranged attack.

See all 3 Riven combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Chain ability and attack to consume your blade's charges. Broken Wings can be recast twice within a short time.

Common mistakes

Wasting charges: chain attack and ability.
Using Broken Wings three times with no target.
Casting Wind Slash too early: it is a single use per ultimate.

Riot's official tips for playing Riven

Riven's Broken Wings locks onto the champion your cursor is over at the time of cast. If you want to move past your opponent, make sure that your cursor is past your opponent as well.
Riven lacks a source of healing or strong defense and must compensate with burst combos. Lead into fights with Broken Wings and Ki Burst, while using Valor to escape and absorb counter-harass.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Endless Hunger, Death's Dance, and Axiom Arc (51 games, 60.8% win rate).

Endless Hunger

Death's Dance

Axiom Arc

51 games · 60.8%

47 games · 70.2%

Eclipse

40 games · 62.5%

Skill order

Max order : Q > E > W61.1% · 54 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q	●			●	●		●		●
W			●											●	●
E		●						●		●		●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 63 games).

Starting items

Doran's Blade

Health Potion54.2% · 59 games

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3639 gold, 70 CS, 4756 XP. At 15 min: 5836 gold, 110 CS, 8184 XP.

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite51.4% · 366 games

Most-played runes

Conqueror + Inspiration

49.1% · 293 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph96%

Legend: Haste97%

Last Stand96%

Secondary tree · Inspiration

Jack Of All Trades88%

Cash Back83%

Shards

Ability haste90%

Adaptive force100%

Health scaling62%

Conqueror + Resolve

54.2% · 59 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph95%

Legend: Haste92%

Last Stand93%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating88%

Shield Bash78%

Shards

Ability haste61%

Adaptive force100%

Health54%

Conqueror + Sorcery

56.8% · 37 games

Primary tree · Precision

Triumph100%

Legend: Haste97%

Last Stand97%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Nimbus Cloak92%

Transcendence92%

Shards

Adaptive force73%

Adaptive force97%

Health scaling70%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Riven's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team53.0% · 100 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Death's Dance 62.3% ▲

Endless Hunger 63.5% ▲

Axiom Arc 40.5% ▼

Maw of Malmortius 67.7% ▲

Eclipse 46.9%

Black Cleaver 57.1%

The item that stands out most is Endless Hunger: 63.5% win rate, +8 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team50.5% · 99 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Death's Dance 58.9% ▲

Endless Hunger 54.9%

Axiom Arc 68.6% ▲

Eclipse 50.0%

Black Cleaver 41.2%

Sundered Sky 64.3%

The item that stands out most is Axiom Arc: 68.6% win rate, +15 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team48.7% · 193 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Death's Dance 49.2% ▼

Endless Hunger 52.2% ▼

Eclipse 49.4%

Axiom Arc 52.3%

Maw of Malmortius 66.0%

Black Cleaver 36.1% ▼

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Riven

Riven has a great deal of mobility but she cannot move very far with any one skill. Rooting or silencing her during her combo will greatly reduce her effectiveness.
All of Riven's damage is physical, prioritize high Armor if an opposing Riven gets out of control.
Riven excels at dueling multiple melee attackers at once, as she will be on an almost equal footing damage-wise. If pairing up against Riven, don't go in as double melee until she has expended her full combo.

Riot's official tips.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Riven's matchups.

Riven Top: what our games say

Laning phase against the Top average

Measure	Riven	Top average	Gap
Gold at 10 min	3639	3580	+59
CS at 10 min	70	71	−0
XP at 10 min	4756	4754	+1
Gold at 15 min	5836	5655	+181
CS at 15 min	110	111	−1
XP at 15 min	8184	8297	−113

Measured over 63 Riven games with a timeline; the average covers 82 champions played Top in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

short under 25 min47.7 %132 games

medium-length 25 to 35 min50.9 %210 games

long over 35 min54.0 %50 games

Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Riven in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Mid	124	46.8 %	7.4	459

Roles where we have at least 40 Riven games.

Abilities

PassiveRunic Blade

Riven's abilities charge her blade, and her basic attacks expend charges to deal an additional damage.

QBroken Wings

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.

WKi Burst

Riven emits a Ki Burst, damaging and stunning nearby enemies.

EValor

Riven steps forward a short distance and blocks incoming damage.

RBlade of the Exile

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.