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How to Win Riven vs Malzahar Counter MatchupRiven is in the s tier of champions

Riven vs Malzahar

How to Beat Malzahar as Riven in LoLRiven is in the a tier of champions
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How to Beat Malzahar as Riven

based on 3,412 Riven vs Malzahar matchups
Win Rate
48.1 %
K/D/A
2
Pick Rate
2.9 %

How We Analyze LoL Champion Counters

We get our matchup statistics from the millions of rated LoL rounds that we review each week. This guide on how to beat Malzahar as Riven resulted from an analysis of 3412 ranked matches where both champs opposed each other. This matchup is relatively rare. Riven is forced to battle against Malzahar in only 2.9% of her games.

Riven vs Malzahar Matchup Summary

Unfortunately, Riven does a poor job of beating Malzahar. On average, she wins a lowly 48.1% of games the champs oppose one another in. In Riven versus Malzahar games, Riven’s side is 0.2% more expected to obtain first blood, implying that she probably will get first blood versus Malzahar.

Best Riven vs Malzahar Counter Build

Items

Starter Items

Time Target
Long SwordHealth Potion

Early Items

~5 Mins
BootsPickaxe

Core Riven Items

~22 Mins
Spear of ShojinDeath's DanceSundered Sky

Optional Items

Sterak's GageMaw of MalmortiusProfane HydraEclipse

Summoner Spells

summonerflash summoner spell D
summonerdot summoner spell F

Skill Order

First skill for Riven to level upq
>
Second ability for Riven to level upe
>
Last skill for Riven to max outw

Runes

PrecisionConquerorTriumphLegend: AlacrityLast Stand
SorceryNimbus CloakTranscendence
Adaptive ForceAdaptive ForceArmor
Riven's passive ability p
Riven's q ability q
Riven's w ability w
Riven's e ability e
Riven's ultimate ability r
1
Q
2
W
3
E
4
Q
5
Q
6
R
7
Q
8
E
9
Q
10
E
11
R
12
E
13
E
14
W
15
W
16
R

Guide to Countering Malzahar as Riven

Tips for Playing as Riven against Malzahar

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.

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.

Advice to Win Against Malzahar

Malzahar is especially dangerous when he has built up his Void Swarm.

When Malzahar hits a spell on enemies affected by Malefic Visions, the Visions are refreshed.

Avoid minion waves that have been affected by Malefic Visions. You never know when they may die and pass the Visions onto you.

Riven vs Malzahar Counter Stats

Riven Image
Win Rate
48.1 %
VS
Win Rate
51.9 %
Malzahar Image
7
< Kills >
4.9
5.8
< Deaths >
5.6
4.6
< Assists >
7.4
1.57
< Killing Sprees >
1.12
177
< Minions Killed >
198
0.07
< Dragons Killed >
0.1
0.42
< Inhibitors >
0.59
18,418
< Physical Damage >
588
58
< Magic Damage >
19,158
1,090
< True Damage >
411
19,566
< Damage Dealt >
20,157
25,181
< Damage Taken >
18,118
12,183
< Gold Earned >
11,982
2.21
< Towers >
2.35
0.02
< Baron Takedowns >
0.03
5,420
< Total Healing >
1,476
15,078
< Experience >
15,050
16
< Vision Score >
20
8
< Wards Placed >
10
128
< Time Dealing CC >
404

How to Counter Malzahar with Riven in LoL

The stats provided here underscore some valuable Riven against Malzahar counter statistics that can help you realize the distinctions between this set of champs. For instance, Riven’s KDA ratio ([kills + assists] / deaths) of NaN is more than Malzahar’s KDA ratio of NaN, highlighting that Riven may be more central to her team's team fighting capability than Malzahar..

Riven normally has a slightly larger longest killing spree than her enemy does. Typically, she takes more damage than Malzahar. This typically indicates differing health capacities, yet it can also hint that the champ with more HP has less mobility and thus is not able to kite away from additional damage when engaged or poked.

Differences between Riven and Malzahar

Damage Types Compared

Riven
Malzahar
Physical Damage
Magic Damage
True Damage

Champion Playstyles Compared

Riven
Malzahar

Who is Better, Riven or Malzahar?

Both League champions are great champions. Both champs have their strengths, weaknesses, and counters. In the game's current meta, Riven usually loses when trying to fight Malzahar, with a 48.1% win rate. Therefore, Riven makes a bad counter to Malzahar.

While Riven does have a lower win rate compared to Malzahar, when on opposite teams, Riven also has a greater difficulty level that makes her a more difficult character to pick up and master. You still need to be cautious when picking Riven into Malzaharas her relative depth means you may not be able to reach her full potential without a lot of practice beforehand.

Moreover, Riven has some amount of utility and CC, a similar amount to Malzahar. This often makes her just as valuable during team fights, especially when fighting champions with a ton of burst damage.

While there is not one best champion for every situation in League of Legends, in Riven vs Malzahar matchups, Malzahar is the better champ with a lower win rate, more champion depth, and a similar amount of utility to help out your teammates during team fights.

Riven is a somewhat poor counter to Malzahar. Focus your gameplay on maximizing your CS and taking out objectives. If you can do that, you should do very well as Riven against Malzahar.

Additional Information for Riven Players

How We Calculated Our Riven vs Malzahar Build and Stats

For this guide on countering Malzahar as Riven, we analyzed 3,412 matchups from recent LoL games. We use rigorous data cleaning and processing methods to ensure that our counter stats are of the highest quality. You can rest assured that the recommended build to counter Malzahar as Riven comes from real data and is not the fabrication of some random LoL player, as some other sites provide. You can use the filters at the top of the page to view the most relevant stats and items to your rank.

Other Useful Resources

Further Insights to Win this Matchup

To learn all of the intricacies of Riven to counter Malzahar during both the lane and mid / late game phases of League of Legends, you should continue reading to gather a few extra tricks and insights into this matchup. If you mind the build and suggestions presented here, you will increase your win rate significantly and be that much closer to League of Legends pro players.

Riven on average picks up a similar amount of CS compared to Malzahar. Champions who on average don't earn much CS typically don't have to have much CS to be valuable teammates, such as supports. They are capable of scaling properly off of their abilities and first items alone. Yet, champions with a lot of CS, such as hyper-carries, typically require many items to be effective. In either case, try to surpass the values reported on this page to do well.

The top items to focus on in your Riven versus Malzahar build include Spear of Shojin, Death's Dance, and Sundered Sky. When Riven included at least these three items in her build, she did a lot better when fighting Malzahar than with many other common builds. In fact, Riven boasted an average winrate of 48.1% battling Malzahar with these items in her kit.

To have the greatest probability of beating Malzahar as Riven, you should take the Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Last Stand, Nimbus Cloak, and Transcendence runes from the Precision and Sorcery rune sets. Out of all the runes we have analyed for Riven vs Malzahar fights, this combination of runes yielded the greatest win rate. Notably, these runes averaged a 48.1% win rate overall.

By default, tips, stats, and builds on how to beat Malzahar as Riven are shown for all ranked divisions combined. If you would like to narrow the statistics and builds to a particular division, you may use the selection menu at the top of this page.