Riven is more popular than Shen and despite a similar WR, she didn’t get the nerf, what’s the reason?

League of Legends

Should Riot nerf Riven as well, not just Shen?


League of Legends players do not understand the decisions of Riot Games employees who are responsible for the in-game balance. According to them, Riven, who has been popular since the beginning of the season and maintains a consistently high winrate, should also receive nerfs, as well as Shen.

However, it turns out that it’s not as easy as it sounds, and Shen’s problem is a bit bigger. So what made him qualify for a nerf?

Riven and Shen

There was a post on Reddit from one player who noticed that one of the toplaners – Shen – would be getting small nerfs in the upcoming 11.20 update.

However, the author does not understand why Riven was omitted. She has had a win rate of no less than 51.50% since Update 11.15. In addition, she is really mechanically difficult, and above-average players win even more matches. The author compares her to Shen, whose WR has not fallen below 51% since patch 11.15, and in the last two, it was 52.3% and 51.8%, at a lower Riven Pick Rate.

In fact, it looks like she is stronger than Shen and is doing better, so why didn’t she get nerfs like her toplane competitor? Well, the statistics apply to all ranks above platinum. As for Shen, his WR in patch 11.18 was respectively:

  • 53.54% – Diamond 2+
  • 53,98% – Master
  • 54,13% – Grandmaster
  • 54.36% – Challnger

As for Riven, she only exceeded 53% in Challenger, which is the highest rank. Therefore, according to the Riot regulations from a few months ago, she does not qualify for nerfs. Shen on the other hand does, and if we look at the above statistics, we can come to the conclusion that he is wreaking havoc and he needed some debuffs.

Perhaps, if the Riven trend continues, she will also become slightly nerfed. At the moment, Riot has decided that Shen is a higher priority.

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