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Riven Counters: Who Beats Riven

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Riven counters are top laners who break her shield, silence her combo or punish her short-range trades. She’s a 125-range fighter whose damage comes from weaving abilities between attacks, with a three-part Q, a stun on W, a shield on E and an ultimate that adds range and a ranged Wind Slash, so silences, shield breaks and Armor all hurt her.

We picked these five by comparing ability text, kit to kit. Nothing here comes from win-rate sites.

Riven counters: Riven, the Exile, splash art

Why is Riven hard to counter?

  • Runic Blade (passive): each ability charges her blade, and her basic attacks spend those charges for extra damage.
  • Broken Wings (Q): a series of strikes she can recast three times in a short window, with the third knocking back nearby enemies. Cooldown 13 seconds.
  • Ki Burst (W): damages and stuns enemies around her. Cooldown 11 down to 7.
  • Valor (E): a short step forward plus a shield that blocks incoming damage. Cooldown 10 down to 6.
  • Blade of the Exile (R): bonus Attack Damage and range for a while, plus one Wind Slash, a strong ranged attack. Cooldown 120/90/60.

Riven’s pattern is ability, attack, ability, attack. Every spell charges Runic Blade, every auto spends a charge, and the whole combo runs on low cooldowns once she has some levels. Valor shields her as she steps in, Ki Burst stuns, and the third Broken Wings knocks you back so she can disengage if the trade turns. What’s the gap? She has to stay in melee range to do any of it, and anything that stops her casting breaks the chain.

Which champions are the best Riven counters?

Renekton

Ruthless Predator (W) stuns her, and with more than 50 Fury it slashes three times, stuns for 1.5 seconds and destroys damage shields on the target. Valor is a damage shield. Cull the Meek (Q) heals him off the damage it deals, Slice and Dice (E) is a dash that lets him match her trades, and Reign of Anger fills his Fury faster when he’s low. So a Riven who trades into him at half health is feeding his best combo.

Garen

Decisive Strike (Q) breaks free of slows, speeds Garen up and silences on the next hit. A silenced Riven can’t cast, so she can’t charge Runic Blade either, and her damage drops to plain attacks for the duration. Courage (W) gives a shield and Tenacity for the Ki Burst stun, and Perseverance regenerates Health whenever he hasn’t been hit recently. Plain kit, but it lines up well here.

Jax

Riven’s damage lives in her empowered autos. Counter Strike (E) makes Jax dodge every incoming attack for a short time and ends in a stun on everyone around him, which cancels the attack half of her combo and answers Ki Burst with his own stun. Popping Grandmaster-at-Arms (R) also buys him Armor and Magic Resist for the exchange. Look, time the E on her all-in and the trade is his.

Fiora

For a brief moment Riposte (W) soaks every hit and disable aimed at Fiora (a parry, basically), and then she stabs back. If the thing she parried was an immobilizing effect, like Ki Burst, the stab stuns Riven. Lunge (Q) and Bladework (E) win short trades, and Duelist’s Dance heals Fiora each time she strikes the weak point it reveals. Both champions want short, sharp trades, the kind where one stun decides who walks away with more Health. Fiora gets the stun back.

Malphite

Malphite blunts her rather than outplaying her. Ground Slam (E) reduces the Attack Speed of enemies hit, which slows the auto half of her combo, and Granite Shield soaks the first burst of a trade (up to 10% of his max Health). Seismic Shard (Q) steals her Move Speed for 3 seconds. Thing is, Ground Slam’s damage scales with his Armor, and Armor is exactly what you want against her physical damage.

How do you play the lane against Riven?

  • Count her Q. Broken Wings has three casts and a 13 second cooldown. Once the third cast is gone, she can’t knock you back for a while.
  • Watch for Valor before you commit damage. The shield blocks part of your burst.
  • Step out of Ki Burst range when she steps in; it only stuns enemies nearby.
  • Trade when her abilities are down. Without spells, Runic Blade doesn’t charge and her autos lose their bonus.
  • Respect the ultimate. Blade of the Exile extends her range, and Wind Slash is a ranged finisher.

Which items counter Riven?

Her damage is physical, so Armor items work. Plated Steelcaps (25 Armor) cut damage from attacks by 10%, which hits every Runic Blade auto. Frozen Heart gives 75 Armor and lowers nearby champions’ Attack Speed by 20%. Randuin’s Omen adds 350 Health and 75 Armor, and its Humility active slows nearby enemies by 70% for 2 seconds when she’s trying to finish the combo. Thornmail returns magic damage every time she attacks you. Fighters can pick Death’s Dance, which spreads part of the damage you take over 3 seconds. All of them are listed in our item database, and Sunfire Aegis is worth a look if you’re a tank who wants to stand in her combo.

When is Riven at her weakest?

In practice, right after she spends Valor (the shield is the giveaway). With a 10 second cooldown at rank 1, that’s her only shield, and also her short step forward, so she has less to trade with for a few seconds.

The other window is when Broken Wings is on cooldown. It’s three of her strikes and her knock-back in one ability. Without it she’s stuck at 125 range.

Still learning top lane? Our guide to LoL roles explains what each position is for, and why most of these five end up in the top lane. Skins? See the Riven skins page. ARAM players get the Riven ARAM guide. Honestly, every Riven counter here does one of three things: silence her, break the shield, or make her autos hit armor.

FAQ

Who counters Riven the most?

Renekton, Garen, Jax, Fiora and Malphite: champions who break her shield, silence her, dodge her attacks, parry her stun or stack Armor.

Does Renekton’s W break Riven’s shield?

Yes, when empowered. With more than 50 Fury, Ruthless Predator destroys damage shields on the target and stuns for 1.5 seconds.

How does Riven’s passive work?

Runic Blade charges whenever she uses an ability, and her basic attacks spend those charges to deal additional damage.

What is the cooldown on Riven’s ultimate?

Blade of the Exile has a 120/90/60 second cooldown in patch 26.21.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. Silences, shield breaks and parries from patch 26.21 ability text picked this list. We don’t use win-rate data.