Post for reference:https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/17t03iy/an_in_depth_look_into_riven_and_why_her/

TL:DR Riven’s unpopular because of her power level, not because the fast Q is impossible to learn.

It heavily overplays the Riven mechanic as an impossible mechanic to do, but it’s a lot easier to do than it seems.

If you look at other Champ’s like Lee Sin, people in Silver can do the insec. The difference between the high elo Lee Sin is that the high elo Lee isn’t goin in 1 vs 5 and inting when doing it. It’s not impossible for the average joe to learn a hard mechanic that’s thought to be impossible back in the day.

People also have the false perception that you become a GOD tier Challenger Riven player once it’s mastered. That’s simply not true at all. You still have to do other things well on Riven. You don’t become a faceroll god once mastering this combo. This is what makes her hard.

Riven’s not popular because her power level isn’t that high compared to other Champion’s even with fast Q mastered. It’s not because the Q combo is too hard to learn.

People don’t play Riven because they give up on the Q combo, it’s because she just isn’t that good for climbing.

Example of Jinx getting increased playrate after a buff.

Patch 13.9 Jinx had a 4.5% pickrate at a 48% wr. Literally one of the worst wr’s that patch. After she got buffed to 50% wr her play rate went to a 23% wr next patch. Right now it’s down to a 15% pickrate, but it’s tripled after one buff.

13.19 https://u.gg/lol/champions/jinx/build?patch=13_19

13.20 (buff) https://u.gg/lol/champions/jinx/build?patch=13_20

13.22 (live) https://u.gg/lol/champions/jinx/build

All Riven needs is a buff to get people flocking back to her. Yes, 50% wr isn’t atrocious, but it was higher before the durability update. Roughly 52% wr.

She’s also the 20th most picked toplaner out of 55. Although 3% seems low compared to back in the day it’s still pretty high compared to other Champions.