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

Riven vs Karthus

How to Beat Karthus as Riven in LoLRiven is in the b tier of champions
FighterAssassin
Mage

How to Beat Karthus as Riven

based on 1,624 Riven vs Karthus matchups
Win Rate
54.6 %
K/D/A
2.05
Pick Rate
1.4 %

How We Analyze LoL Champion Counters

At MOBA Champion, we summarize millions of recently ranked League matches every week. In our dataset, Riven engaged Karthus 1624 times. Using so many matchups for Riven vs Karthus gives us a lot of confidence in our capability to provide actionable data and a recommended build to wreck Karthus. This matchup is relatively rare. Riven encounters Karthus in only 1.4% of her games.

Riven vs Karthus Matchup Summary

Riven has done a great job of beating Karthus. On average, she wins a fantastic 54.6% of matches the champs battle one another in. In Riven versus Karthus rounds, Riven’s side is 0.1% more expected to obtain first blood, indicating that she probably will be able to get first blood against Karthus.

Best Riven vs Karthus Counter Build

Items

Starter Items

Time Target
Doran's BladeHealth Potion

Early Items

~5 Mins
Long SwordPickaxe

Core Riven Items

~22 Mins
Ravenous HydraSpear of ShojinEclipse

Optional Items

Sundered SkyDeath's DanceMaw of MalmortiusBlack Cleaver

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 Karthus as Riven

Tips for Playing as Riven against Karthus

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 Karthus

Karthus can cast spells for a short duration after he is killed. Move away from his corpse to be safe.

Make sure you always have enough health to survive Requiem, even if you have to go back to the base more frequently to heal.

Riven vs Karthus Counter Stats

Riven Image
Win Rate
54.6 %
VS
Win Rate
45.4 %
Karthus Image
7.6
< Kills >
6.7
6
< Deaths >
7.7
4.7
< Assists >
9.3
1.7
< Killing Sprees >
1.53
185
< Minions Killed >
90
0.08
< Dragons Killed >
0.87
0.51
< Inhibitors >
0.27
20,007
< Physical Damage >
233
56
< Magic Damage >
27,221
1,167
< True Damage >
1,977
21,230
< Damage Dealt >
29,433
27,150
< Damage Taken >
29,389
12,793
< Gold Earned >
12,697
2.35
< Towers >
1.07
0.02
< Baron Takedowns >
0.22
6,321
< Total Healing >
9,055
15,887
< Experience >
14,675
17
< Vision Score >
19
8
< Wards Placed >
7
134
< Time Dealing CC >
218

How to Counter Karthus with Riven in LoL

The stat comparisons provided here clarify several significant Riven vs. Karthus matchup statistics that may help us realize the differences between the two. As an example, Riven’s KDA ratio ([kills + assists] / deaths) of NaN is greater than Karthus’s ratio of NaN, indicating that Riven may be more central to her team's team fighting capacity than Karthus..

Riven normally has a similar longest killing spree as her foe does. On average, she takes a similar amount of damage to Karthus. This commonly reflects differing health capacities, yet it can also illustrate that the one champion has less agility and thus is unable to kite away from further harm when engaged or poked.

Differences between Riven and Karthus

Damage Types Compared

Riven
Karthus
Physical Damage
Magic Damage
True Damage

Champion Playstyles Compared

Riven
Karthus

Who is Better, Riven or Karthus?

Both LoL champions are great champions. Both have their strengths, weaknesses, and counters. In League's current meta, Riven usually wins when facing off against Karthus, with a 54.6% win rate. Thus, Riven makes a great counter to Karthus.

While Riven does have a much higher winrate than Karthus, when facing one another, Riven also has a greater learning curve that makes her a more complex champion to pick up and master. You don't need to be too worried when picking Riven into Karthusas her relative depth means you may not be able to reach her full potential without a significant amount of practice beforehand.

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

While there is not one best champion in League of Legends, in Riven vs Karthus matchups, Riven is the better champ with a noticably higher win rate, more champion depth, and a similar amount of utility to help out your teammates during teamfights.

Riven is a great counter to Karthus. Focus your play on keeping up your gold income and destroying objectives. If you can do that, you should hold your own as Riven against Karthus.

Other Champion Matchups Against Riven

Riven Loses Against

UrgotUrgot45.9% winrateKledKled45.9% winrateQuinnQuinn46.2% winrateBriarBriar46.5% winrate

Riven Wins Against

NidaleeNidalee57.1% winrateYuumiYuumi56.9% winrateKarthusKarthus54.6% winrateGangplankGangplank54.2% winrate

Top Synergies by Role

TaricTaric+ 54.4% 1187 GamesLilliaLillia+ 54.5% 7586 GamesMordekaiserMordekaiser+ 54.7% 1690 GamesSingedSinged+ 57% 537 Games

Additional Information for Riven Players

How We Calculated Our Riven vs Karthus Build and Stats

For this guide on countering Karthus as Riven, we analyzed 1,624 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 Karthus 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

Riven Build Karthus Build

Further Insights to Win this Matchup

To truly master Riven to counter Karthus during both the laning and mid / late game phases of League of Legends, you should continue reading to pick up a few extra tricks and insights into this matchup. If you listen to the build and tips shown here, you should grow your win rate by a lot and be closer to League of Legends pro players.

Riven most often picks up more CS compared to Karthus. Champions who typically don't get many minion kills often don't need much CS to be valuable teammates, such as sup champs. They are capable of scaling well off of their skills, stats, and first items alone. Yet, champions with a lot of CS, such as hyper-carries, usually require a lot of items to be effective. In either case, try to do better than the values shown on this page to do well.

The most important items to focus on in your Riven versus Karthus build include Ravenous Hydra, Spear of Shojin, and Eclipse. When Riven incorporated at least these three items in her build, she performed significantly better against Karthus than with most other common counter builds. In fact, Riven had an average winrate of 54.6% when playing against Karthus with this build.

To have the highest probability of defeating Karthus as Riven, you should use the Conqueror, Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Last Stand, Nimbus Cloak, and Transcendence runes from the Precision and Sorcery rune sets. Out of all the rune builds we have analyed for Riven vs Karthus counter picks, this sequence of runes yielded the highest win rate. Moreover, these runes gave a 54.6% winrate overall.

If you would like to view Riven x Karthus tips and counter stats for a a specific division rank, feel free to choose one from the selection menu shown above. If viewing for the first time, the statistics and guides given are calculated using every match completed with these champions.