For a couple of patches now, Riven has been one of the worst top laners in League of Legends with her pick rate hovering between two and three percent, and her win rate stuck at 48 percent. In fact, Riven feels so off that even Riot Games admits she has issues.
On Nov. 12, League lead gameplay designer Matt “Phroxzon” Leung-Harrison finally opened up the discussion about the current state of Riven. In a post on social media, the dev broke down the reason behind her low play rate and what the future holds for her.
According to Phroxzon, the main reasons why Riven didn’t see much action in season 13 are the following:
- Riven is a high-agency champion and Riot has released plenty of new champions that fill that same role
- She has a high-skill cap
- Animation cancels
Besides all that, Riven’s future in preseason and season 2024 isn’t bright, especially due to items changing. To add insult to injury, won’t be one of the winners of the upcoming patch.
Riot currently has little to no idea how to tweak Riven as a champion, but Phroxzon admits she has “legitimate problems.” Riot could approach this by rewarding mastering the champion even more since her match-ups often boil down to “feast or famine.” Dumbing down on the champion would definitely go against everything Riven has stood for as one of the most mechanically complex champions in the game.
Riot is using this post as a way to get feedback from Riven mains and other League players so the devs can appropriately tweak and tune this struggling champion. The changes definitely won’t roll out any time soon because the devs first need to decide which direction they’re planning to take Riven, and only then will they start working on changes.
