Yasuo vs Riven — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Yasuo against Riven · 46.17% win rate (3,043 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15

Verdict: Riven is slightly favoured — Yasuo wins 46.17% of 3,043 games, and Riven pressures 6 of the 7 stage windows in the plan below. Play it patient and win your windows.

At a glance

Bait her stun — flow-trade when her dashes are down.

Track: Riven's W — Ki Burst (11–7s cooldown). Her engage CC. Bait it.

Do

Bait her W stun
Flow-trade with shield up
EQ-R when her dashes are down

Don't

Get W-stunned
Fight her R burst raw
Chase her dashes

Runes & build vs Riven

Start: Doran's Blade + Health Potion
First back: Executioner's Calling (≈800g) — cuts her healing
First item: Blade of the Ruined King (duel spike)
Then: Infinity Edge
Boots: Plated Steelcaps
Runes: Lethal Tempo (Precision): Triumph, Legend: Alacrity, Last Stand · Resolve: Bone Plating, Unflinching · Shards: Adaptive Force, Adaptive Force, Health

Favour timeline — the windows in Yasuo's game plan

Read from Yasuo's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Riven.

Stage	Favoured	Why
Level 1	Riven	Riven's mobile Q-dashes and stun overwhelm your level-1 trades.
Level 2	Riven	Ki Burst stun and Valor shield keep her ahead at level 2.
Level 3	Riven	Her full Q-W-E combo at 3 stuns and bursts through your knockup.
Levels 4-5	Riven	Valor's 6s shield-dash and 7s Ki Burst hold her lead through levels 4-5.
Level 6	Riven	Wind Slash at 6 adds an execute to her already-lethal all-in.
First item	Riven	One crit item still loses to her mobility and reset potential.
Two+ items	Yasuo	With two items you wall Wind Slash and out-scale her burst kit.

How to beat Riven as Yasuo: the early game

Riven dominates levels 1-3: her Broken Wings (Q) triple-dash, Ki Burst (W) stun, and Valor (E) shield form a mobile combo that stuns you out of your knockup and bursts you before your Steel Tempest (Q) even connects.

Hardest and easiest matchups for Yasuo in top lane

Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Yasuo's side, sampled July 2026.

Hardest

Yasuo vs Warwick — 42.46% win rate
Yasuo vs Kled — 43.34% win rate
Yasuo vs Pantheon — 43.35% win rate

Easiest

Yasuo vs Heimerdinger — 57.8% win rate
Yasuo vs Swain — 56.89% win rate
Yasuo vs Teemo — 56.31% win rate

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Yasuo vs Riven report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.

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Common questions

Who wins Yasuo vs Riven in top lane?

Riven, slightly — Yasuo wins 46.17% of 3,043 games; winnable with the right plan.

Is Yasuo vs Riven a skill matchup?

Mostly — Riven has a small statistical edge (53.83% win rate), but execution decides this lane far more than the pick does.

Does Yasuo counter Riven?

No — if anything Riven has the slight edge (Yasuo wins 46.17%), though it stays close.

What runes does Yasuo take vs Riven?

Yasuo takes Lethal Tempo on the Precision tree with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity and Last Stand, and Resolve secondary (Bone Plating and Unflinching) vs Riven.

What should Yasuo build vs Riven?

Start Doran's Blade + Health Potion and back for Executioner's Calling (≈800g) — cuts her healing. Build Blade of the Ruined King (duel spike) first, then Infinity Edge, with Plated Steelcaps.

More Yasuo top lane matchups: vs Poppy · vs Quinn · vs Renekton · vs Rumble · vs Ryze · vs Sejuani