League of Legends Players Are Tired of Riven's Dominance
By Wyatt Fossett ·
Here's why Riven is such a high win-rate top-laner, why Riot Games isn't listening to your cries, and how you can maybe counter it.
For anyone that has enjoyed viewing or playing League of Legends, it’s known that there are many swings in champion relevance and prowess. With Riot Games continuously trying to update their game to make things as competitive and fair as possible, it’s often a matter of what was once hot is cold now. Shoutout to their hard-working balance team.
One champion has been in contention for a nerf for what feels like a very long time, but thanks to the main focus on pro-league play, she has been off of Riots “must fix” nerf for a while. Riven was introduced to the world of League of Legends in the pre-season 2 release window, and immediately became many people’s favorite champion.
Fast-forward to the Spring of 2019, and Riven is one of the most played (number 1 on the pick rate list) and is bringing a lot of pain to the top-lane of solo and normal queues.
Why Riven is S+Tier
Ever since the introduction of the simplified and condensed Rune System in League of Legends, we’ve had the Riven Conqueror build.
This Rune grants a bonus attack damage or ability power that can be stacked. At full stacks, the Conqueror Rune will convert 10% of your damage to true damage with subverts armor and protection as well as healing you for 10% of that pre-mitigated damage.
Combo these things with Riven's abilities that let her hit often, hit hard, and close gaps, makes it’s a big ol’ headache in the top-lane.
Current Riven
In the previous patch (9.7), Riven was one of only two champions to break through into the S+ Tier. Their pick-rate was rank 1, and their win-rate was rank 2. This is in part because Kayle was so strong in these past few patches, and Riven is a major counter to that champion.
Riven is also just really strong on their own.
In patch 9.8 so far, Riven is one of four S+ Tier champions, with a crazy high 53.19% win-rate (ranked 3rd) and a 13.3% pick-rate (ranked 1st). She is also ranked 9th in ban-rate at 21.9%, which shows that she is dropping a bit in use patch-to-patch, but is still prevalent and destructive enough that top-laners will zero-in on that ban if they are feeling nervous about the potential match-up. With a win-rate above 93%, you can’t blame them for banning it.
Why Riot Leaves Riven Alone
While plenty of fans and players are calling for a Riven nerf, it’s pretty unlikely that Riot Games are going to be paying too much attention to the champion in the coming months.
Part of the reason for this is that most of their champion flags come from scripted programs. The balance team uses AI to flag champions based on player performances. Riven is strong, but there’s little to support a red flag that a “broken” champion would raise.
The other and more important portion of the conversation regarding the lack of attention to Riven is that no one is playing her on the mainstage. League of Legends is undoubtedly a very important game for Riot, and a lot of that comes from the entertainment of the general public. As for their game balance, however, their focus is what’s happening in the pro-leagues.
Why isn’t Riven played in pro? Riven is a solo carry. Being born from a solo-lane, and not really adding much in terms of crowd-control in team fights, Riven isn’t played in pro leagues much because they are not a “team-centric” champion. The only League of Legends players that never forget that the game is meant to be played as a team are pro-league squads. Pro players like G2 Esports' Finals MVP Wunder need to be able to play to the rest of their team. Therefore, no Riven.
If no one from the LEC, LCS, or LCK are really playing Riven than they (along with all of the other unused champions) will not get much attention. It’s that simple.
What’s Next for Riven
With League of Legends Patch 9.8 already on the client for the public (this is the patch that pros will play on at the upcoming Mid-Season Invitational) we know that Riven is still untouched. Looking ahead to what we know of Patch 9.9 so far, it looks like Riot is focusing on huge nerfs to Rakan (who has seen a ton of play at a high-level in competition) and a non-trivial rework of Teemo for no obvious reason other than the champion has fallen off of the must-ban list.
Perhaps there’s a chance that Riot Games will hear the pleas of their players, but if history serves as our only base of judgment on that prediction, then it’s pretty unlikely.
How To Counter
There are two ways to give Riven a run for their money, and neither is extremely favored. Either you stretch out beyond her range, or you draft a champion that can take a hit.
Highest on her counter list is Vayne and Kennan, and they are both highly capable disengage champions, that also poke at range. The other side of that coin is the Mordekaiser, Nautilus, Rumble and other tanky champions that can withstand her damage and trade back in style.
A third, but less common choice, is a champion with a stun or a lock. Illoai and Rengar have the highest lane win-rate currently against Riven, and both of them have a stun or stop that can cease Riven’s escape or attack.
GL Top Laners
Being in the top-lane in solo queue or normals will most-likely mean that you’re playing on an island relatively alone. Even with a versatile or pocket jungle, top-lanes are rather solo. A great place for some cheese strats, perhaps?
Until there is a reason not to, we’d suggest you prioritize the Riven ban, and work towards a comfort in playing against other top-lane champions. In the upcoming Patch 9.9 Teemo becomes a bit scary again, so there may be a hard shift towards playing Teemo in the top. It’s important to note that Riven is a hard counter to Teemo, so beware.
What do you think of the current version of Riven? Do you think Riot should implement a nerf?