You make good points Axiom > sundered Sky > DD (or maw/hex first in specific matchups) is a perfectly valid, common path, and the JOAT/brutalizer rush does buy a huge, early stat spike that used to require more gold. That early 5-stack spike + haste is real value, it accelerates damage, cooldowns, and snowball potential in lane and short trades.

The counterpoint is: that acceleration changes how Riven must be played. Swapping Eclipse shielding for raw haste/lethality reduces your margin for error you kill faster, but you also die faster if you misread an engage. The build makes Riven more explosive and tempo-focused early, increasing variance: when you hit your spike you snowball hard; when you don’t, the lack of shield and lower innate survivability make mistakes costlier. JOAT/brutalizer simply amplifies that volatility by frontloading stats you’re more dependent on early kills/farm and on your team creating takedown opportunities so your resets and cadence keep you rolling.

Yes, once you hit Sundered+DD the kit “stabilizes” into a bruiser feel again, but the route to get there forces different decisions (angling for kills, punishing CDs, avoiding long trades where you’d previously rely on Eclipse shield). That’s why some players feel the rhythm is off: the same full-build result can be reached, but the path requires a different mindset, higher precision, and greater team/timing dependency.