Retvik’s Ridiculous Guide to Rolling and Selling Rivens 2020 Edition
Riven mods are strange, multifaceted mods designed by Cephalon Samodeus (an otherwise unknown Cephalon), designed to fit into a single weapon and capable of having the mod’s stats rerolled by pumping thousands upon thousands of tons of Kuva into said mods. Riven mods are easily traded and can be incredibly valuable if you get very lucky. Alternatively they can just take up space in your Mod list, eventually accumulating to the point where you have to sell them or you can’t do Sorties any more. They also have the ability to make your favourite guns even better, despite their randomness and their high mod capacity costs.
There are several paths we can take to ensure maximum profit from your Riven Mods. Let us explore each one, based on the weapons that you get the Riven Mods for.
Rivens for Meta Weapons
There’s a little bit of a paradox when it comes to highly popular weapons and Riven mods. You see, the more popular and powerful a weapon is, the lower the weapon’s disposition, which means the stats on a Riven mod on said weapon will be a lot worse. For example, I have an Ignis Riven, which originally had stats of 90% Status Chance, Multishot and Toxin. Due to Disposition changes as the weapon became more popular and powerful, my originally strong Riven mod how has 38% of those stats, and it is extremely tricky getting good numbers on said Riven. Simply put: the stronger the weapon without a riven, the weaker the riven will be.
So what do you do? I would recommend selling the riven mod unrolled, unless you have Kuva in vast amounts or get a good roll right off the bat. You’ll make less platinum most likely, but you never know when the dispositions might drop even lower, ruining the stats you have on a good roll. Let someone else do the hard work of farming Kuva.
Weapons in this category include the Ignis, Tigris, Rubico, Pyrana, Vectis and Atterax. Basically any massively meta weapon. Newer additions include the Supra (because of its Vandal variant) and the Kitgun parts, most notably Catchmoon.
Rivens for Good and/or New Weapons
When it comes to new or “mostly good” weapons though, things are very… rollercoaster-y. New weapons will often have very expensive riven mods until the community has decided how good or bad the weapon is. You also have sudden new variant weapons. For example, the Tiberon, an often ignored rifle, had rivens for it skyrocket in price when its primed variant was announced. Supra rivens also exploded when the Supra Vandal came out, but the disposition on said rivens dropped dramatically over time.
It’s often best to try and sell these rivens as soon as the new variant is announced or released (or at least its stats are known) before the community moves on, as not every weapon remains popular forever. You also risk running into disposition changes over time as well. The aforementioned Supra suffered from this – while “best stat god tier” Supra rivens are still somewhat expensive, the disposition means you can’t ask for such a high price any more.
It’s also worth mentioning that stats for variants are slowly changing. While the Supra and Supra Vandal share the same rivens and the same disposition, this isn’t true for newer guns. The Kuva Nukor is a new fan favourite, but a Nukor riven will have different stats based on whether it’s on the Nukor or the Kuva Nukor, because the Kuva variant has different dispositions. While this probably won’t affect prices too much (people will still want Nukor rivens), it’s worth keeping in mind, PARTICULARLY when BUYING a riven mod.
Because of the slightly less restrictive dispositions, it is worth rolling such a riven to get better stats, as you’re more likely to get higher percentages, even if you don’t get a perfect damage/multishot riven. People like big numbers on their rivens, and you can certainly get them on some weapon rivens.
Weapons in this category include the Hind, the Nukor, the Shedu (as new weapons or weapons with variants), as well as easily buffed weapons like the Scoliac or Dread, weapons with a good disposition, that need a riven to push them over the edge.
Rivens for Crap Weapons
Most Rivens though are for weapons that people don’t generally want. While you might eventually find someone willing to buy your Dual Kamas riven, it’ll take a while and that riven will be taking up space. It’s unlikely that you will be able to shift these rivens quickly, but there are often people who will buy crappy rivens for 5-10 platinum each, so they can be transmuted to make new riven mods. As rivens have become more common, there are less of these people though.
You do however have the option to transmute the rivens yourself, if you have four riven mods and a Transmuter, obtained by capturing an Eidolon Hydralyst. Obtaining these isn’t too difficult these days, but you do need a good amp and an idea what you are doing. It’s best to try and obtain some transmuters before dissolving Riven mods, because they give very little endo considering how unique they are.
Don’t feel too bad about deleting rivens for crap weapons though. There’s thousands of them in existence.
Weapons in this category include “MR fodder” weapons like the Viper/Twin Vipers, Dual Heat Daggers and frankly most weapons, until they get a new (mainly Prime) variant.
Rivens for Weapons You Like
You should keep rivens for weapons you like, if you use the weapons consistently. It’s much harder to reobtain a riven mod after you’ve sold it than it is to keep the riven mod in the first place.
Sentinel Weapon and Archwing Gun Rivens
I honestly forgot these are a thing. Frankly, when it comes to both types of riven, you aren’t going to have much luck selling them, unless you get the more meta weapons. Most Archwing guns are pretty mediocre aside from the Larkspur and Imperator Vandal, although the Corvas shotgun has been boosted in popularity because of Railjack. Sentinel weapons are even more niche, especially since Deconstructor is a melee Sentinel weapon that is visibly different from all the other gun-based Sentinel weapons and that’s normally the one people want.
I’d personally say don’t bother with these, unless you really like to gamble.
Veiled Rivens
You know where the reliable money is in Riven trading? In selling veiled rivens. Frankly, this is my preferred route when it comes to trading riven mods because it means someone else does all the hard work, the unveiling, the leveling, the rerolling for you, and you can simply move on with your life. Selling veiled riven mods is much more reliable but will not earn you much Platinum in the long run. Also, keep an eye out for recent Gifts of the Lotus, as these will also give out riven mods of a specific type, so you may want to wait a while before selling.
For a somewhat more complex and detailed look at exactly how various Riven mods are being sold, as according to the in-game trade chat and compiled by Semlar, I’d check out the PC Trade Chat Riven Prices page. Keep in mind that this doesn’t SHOW what price riven mods actually sell at, it just shows how much platinum people are willing to offer or are willing to trade for these mods. So don’t use it as gospel.
Whatever you do though, be careful with your trading. Before you do any trade, have a quick look on places like the aforementioned Semlar, or on the new Warframe.market riven section and make sure you’re not being completely ripped off. Take your time when you’re trading, and if someone is being impatient, tell them to wait. It’s always good to ask for a second opinion as well, maybe not in Region Chat but in a friendly local discord or your clan or whatever.
Anyway, happy trading, folks!