Hi everyone! My name is Anthony and my in game name is ImmortalVii. I have played ryze quite a bit in every role and I have found that he works best in the top lane as a Tank. I have not seen many people play ryze this way, however I find it incredibly effective and should not be overlooked. This is my first guide so please comment on anything I could improve for future guides. Thanks!

• Greater Quintessence of Spell Vamp: I take these for early sustain in lane, so that you can out sustain the enemy top laner and zone them out.
  
• Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: This Quint Synergises well with your ultimate, revive and homeguard, even that little bit of movement speed can be a incredible help.
  
• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Must take. These runes prevent your enemies from stacking Magic resist and completely walling you early on in the game.
  
• Greater Glyph of Health Regeneration: Simmilar reasoning to Spell vamp Quints. These are here to help you stay healthy early on in lane, and make sure you can survive for a long time in lane.
  
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: I take scaling magic resist over flat magic resist because most of the time you will only be roaming mid later on in the game, and for the most part you will be up against AD champs, so it makes for sense to have Scaling MR.
  
• Greater Seal of Armor: This doesn't need explanation. You need armor in order to survive for more than 5 minutes in lane. You should be taking this regardless of anything, because even against AP champs you will still likely take auto attacks to the face occasionally.

This Item was made for Ryze. It gives him everything he needs. Health to take more hits, Mana for damage and facerolling, and AP for even more damage.

A very underated item on Ryze, however if used correctly it can be an amazing item. Especially on this type of ryze build. With Mikael's Blessing, you get a very nice amount of mana regen and a very respectable amount of magic resist, however it is the incredible passive that makes it good. With its passive you can keep your carries healthy with the heal, while keeping the enemy team away from them with the nice CC removal it provides for you and an ally.

Not as good as Frozen Heart for the most part because of the mana it provides, however the health and AOE slow it gives can help you peel, escape and chase far more effectively.

Another amazing item for Ryze. It provides an incredible amount of mana and AP giving him tons of damage. Also once you get max stacks on it and it becomes a Seraph's Embrace you get a shield that scales off your mana. Because you will be stacking alot of mana, your the active can even shield you for over 800 health.

Very nice defensive item on Ryze, similar to Randuin's Omen. This item provides 20 more armor and Mana however, so if you feel you have enough health already I would take this item over randuin's any day.

Very powerful magic resist item that synergises well with Ryze's ultimate and runes, increasing your spell vamp and health regeneration. You should always take this item even if the enemy team is very AD based, as the Passive and health is simply too good to ignore.

Very nice magic resist item. Not as good as Spirit visage, however if the enemy team as alot of global ults or heavy CC and you don't have Mikael's Blessing you should take this item first as the spell shield can help you greatly. It also provides a very nice amount of health.

Is much explanation needed behind this item? Far better than Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads just because of the MR shred you get with this and your Spell Flux

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Arcane Mastery: Possibly the best passive in the game, Arcane Mastery gives Ryze that little boost he needs to become an over the top powerhouse in lane. With the low cooldown on Overload ryze can easily combo champions and get his full combo back a few seconds after, making him a very potent threat.

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Overload (Q): This spell is your main Damage source. It scales well with both your mana and AP so you can get HUGE amounts of damage out with just one cast.

• Always cast Overload before your other spells, this way you will be able to cast it twice in one combo.
• As this spell is reasonably low mana and has a very low cooldown, you should last hit with this spell and Spell Flux only when stacking your tear, to keep your mana in check.
• Cast Overload when running away as it dishes out damage and can quickly reset the cooldown on Rune Prison.

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Rune Prison(W): Rune Prison is your only CC spell and should be used cautiously. This spell is incredible for ganks and chasing down or disabling high priority targets as it is not a skillshot, and can easily be cast on any target.

• NEVER farm with this spell. Its cooldown is quite high and if you get caught after casting Rune Prison you may as well surrender your life.
• In teamfights, save Rune Prison for the enemy assassin or ADC to isolate them and burst them down.
• In lane, use Rune Prison to keep the distance between you and the enemy top laner. If they get too close snare them and move back before they get the chance to attack you.

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Spell Flux(E): Spell Flux is your main farming tool, and the magic resistance debuff it provides is incredible for dueling and team fights, as it can hit the entire enemy team, allowing you to quickly shred their squishes.

• Spell Flux Should be the second spell you drop in a combo, as the debuff it provides can allow you to deal an additional 20-30% more damage with your second Overload.
• Use Spell Flux to quickly clear large minion waves and push your lane.
• When entering a fight, cast Spell Flux on the most tanky champion, and allow it to bounce to the squishes. This will allow you and your team to more quickly kill the enemy tank while staying reasonably healthy.

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Desperate Power(R): Desperate Power is ryze's ultimate and has good synergy with his kit. Desperate Power is a very low cool down ultimate and can be used as AOE in teamfights, sustain in lane, and a movement speed buff to escape ganks.

• Do not be afraid to cast Desperate Power whenever you want. I recomend casting it whenever your health is lower than the enemy top laner to get spellvamp from the creeps and zone out your opponent.
• Never forget to cast Desperate Power when entering fights, as the AOE and speelvamp it provides can decide to outcome of the fight.
• When baiting your opponents, cast Desperate Power from a bush to gain health back and quickly run away or chase with your movement speed buff, to secure your escape/kill.

Kha'Zix: Poses no threat to you unless you fall far behind him. Frozen Heart is a viable rush against him especially if he decides to not build magic resist. Kha'Zix Is not too hard to deal with however it is hard for Ryze to bully him directly without getting jumped on and taking a facefull of Taste Their Fear. Try to position yourself close to your minions and away from the bushes so that Kha' zix cannot continuously drop his passive and taste their fear onto you every 5 seconds. Whenever he jumps on you back off slightly and punish him as he tries to retreat. If you cant manage to kill him, keep his lane pushed so that you are more free to roam than he is. If he does manage to roam keep watch of his position and prepare your TP for if he ganks a lane to not let him get ahead of you. Your scaling into late game is far stronger so Ryze is a very safe pick against him.

Difficutly:2/10

Yasuo: Remember to save your Rune Prison for when he dashes to you and it's pretty hard to lose. After hitting level 6 don't let him knock you up. If he does catch you however simply turn on your ultimate, snare him and run to your tower until his damage buff from Last Breath expires. Make sure to harass him whenever you can to zone him to prevent him from catching up. Make sure to keep your distance and you should have no problem dealing with him. Simply mash him with spells when his wind wall is down and you should have an easy time against him.

Difficutly:3/10

Renekton: Typically an easy lane as Renekton won't be able to get anywhere near you. Renekton can be an issue to deal with, however this matchup is very reliant on the Renckton's play style and build. Chances are the Renekton will rush Spirit Visage in which case both of you will be doing very little damage to each other. Your best chance of picking up a kill is to rush your Archangel's Staff as soon as possible and getting Sorcerer's Shoes for the magic penetration. Hope for a good gank from your jungler to pick up a kill or two on him. All around a very easy lane, provided you can keep your distance.

Difficutly:4/10

Gangplank: Possibly the most annoying lane ever. Gangplank can easily sustain in lane with and remove your snare with Remove Scurvy. This makes him incredibly hard to trade with. However again this matchup relies heavily on what build gangplank decides to go. Tankplank is a nightmare for ryze, and for the most part will simply be outpoked and out sustained. Critplank is slightly easier to deal with, as he cannot take your full combo to the face and get out scratch free. However let him get too close and you may be in trouble as you won't be able to escape from him easily. Your best chance against gangplank is running Heal and Flash and just try to farm while keeping your distance.

Difficutly:5/10

Shen: The most passive lane you will ever see. Both of you will not be able to kill each other unless a mistake is made. Your best chance is to go extremely aggressive early on while Shen is still somewhat squishy and has not picked up his Spirit Visage yet. Whenever you see shen ulting your best bet is to pop your ultimate and shove his lane extremely hard to punish him for it before he can get back to lane.

Difficutly:5/10

Nasus: Not a threat to you whatsoever provided you can zone him out of the lane early on to prevent him from snowballing into god mode. Bully him whenever he goes to kill a creep to attempt to force him out of the lane. Your best bet against Nasus is to force him to recall and then shove his lane so that it makes it harder for him to farm under tower. You can solo-kill nasus however you should save your Rune Prison for when he whithers you to keep your distance. If he can get close he can dish out a reasonable amount of damage. Simply make sure he cannot effectively farm and he should not be too big a problem.

Difficutly:5/10

Darius: Darius can be incredibly scary early on in the game. try to keep out of range of Decimate or you could take alot of damage very quickly. Your best bet is to abuse Darius's lack of sustain and continuously ambush him with spells. If you decide to fight Darius head on you will have to fully commit to the fight as darius has a pull and Ryze has no escape tool. Try to keep your distance and avoid being pulled.

Difficutly:6/10

Rengar: Whatever you do, keep away from those bushes. Against you Rengar will abuse his passive to close the gap between you and combo you before you have a chance to do anything. Assasin type rengar's are easier for ryze to deal with as he can trade with him reasonably well and poke him for significant damage. Tankgar poses a bigger problem to ryze as his poke will not be doing much damage and Rengar will be able to win trades. If rengar decides he wants to harass you with bolas punish him whever he misses and drop an Overload or two on him. When playing againt Rengar always make sure you have you Rune Prison ready to recall at your tower, as the true sight it provides can save you from an incoming assassination attempt from rengar.

Difficutly:7/10

Xin Zhao: Very scary in lane. Xin Zhao Is one of a few champions in top lane that can stand up to Ryze's dueling and poke. After hitting level 3 Xin Zhao can go extremely aggressive on you Dashing to you and knocking you up before you can do much. Even if you manage to snare him before you get knocked up, the slow from Audacious Charge will still allow him to keep up with you. Against Xin Zhao I recommend Putting a few early points in Rune Prison just so that you don't get knocked up every time he dashes to you. Play incredibly safe against Xin Zhao and don't feed him any kills or he will snowball out of control. Your best bet is to rush Both your Frozen Heart and banshees to protect yourself from getting instabursted by his combo.

Difficutly:8/10

Wukong: Wukong is one of the most common threats you will have to face in the top lane. Many Wukong players have moved to the jungle now so he is becoming less of a problem but he is still a potent threat. Wukong can easily close the gap between you with Nimbus Strike and followed up a volley of auto attacks and Crushing Blows. The worst part about wukong's kit is his clone. With his clone he can easily avoid everything you have as you have no skillshots to hit him in stealth. Whenever you are playing against a Wukong make sure to buy vision wards to make his clone less of a nuisance. If he decides to destroy the ward that is your chance to bully him and get some nice damage off. Post 6 make sure you stay far away from him. If Wukong gets the chance to nimbus strike he will simply spin to win and easily wreck your face. Camp your tower and beg for ganks.

Difficutly: 9/10

Jayce: Ryze simply doesn't have enough mobility or damage to deal with Jayce early on. If you get too close jayce can close the gap between you two with To The Skies!and decimate you with a few shots to the face. Staying away from jayce doesn't help either as he can easily poke you with Acceleration Gate boosted Shock Blasts. Post 6 its important to save your ultimate for when jayce jumps on you to get some distance and trade with him while he is in hammer form. Your best bet is to shove your lane whenever Jayce decides to roam or recall and hope to god you get good ganks from your jungler.

Difficutly:9/10

Jarvan: An absolute nightmare to deal with. Jarvan can close the gap on you with his E, Q combo even through Rune Prison so theres not much you can you to stop him from jumping on you. All you can do pre 6 is farm and hope for successful ganks. Even post 6 Ryze cant do much as J4's Cataclysm will prevent him from going anywhere. Against J4 I recommend Flash and Heal so you can survive in lane. All you an really hope to do it freeze to wave at your tower or force jarvan to play more passively by having your jungler constantly gank.

Difficutly:10/10

Teamfights is where this tank ryze truly excels. With his incredible AOE and his high single target damage he can isolate and quickly burst high priority targets while still dishing out high amount of damage to other members of the enemy team. In teamfights you should be charging the front line of battle to mad AOE the enemy team and allow your team to follow up after ryze has burned the enemy teams CC. Lets take an example team that consists of-- Ryze top, Ziggs mid, Janna support, Ezreal adc and a Nocturne jungle. Looking at the team composition there is not too much tankyness other than Ryze and Nocturne however just those two can work extremely well together at peeling and assassinating squishy targets. Entering the fight Ryze pops his ult gaining movement speed to quickly catch enemy targets. With the movespeed buff Ryze can snare the enemy adc setting up a perfect Ultimate for both ziggs and ez. The two carries ult, forcing the enemy team to split, giving nocturne the chance to fear the ADC without interference. Now with the adc out of the way, Ryze can focus onto the enemy APC and quickly burst him/her down with the help of Nocturne and Ezreal.

In teamfights Ryze is simply there to be a human shield for the carries while debuffing the enemies to make it easier for them. Because of this ryze works exceptionally well with high AOE, high mobility champions that can keep up with him, such as Ezreal, Malphite, Ziggs, Lissandra and Sivir.