One of the first champions I played was Ryze (the other two are MF and Garen). I loved how fast I could get my spells out due to his passive, so soon after I started playing LoL I bought Ryze.

While the principles of high mana work well and make sense, I decided that it wasn't useful if you couldn't live long enough to get the spells out. So I added in some armor, cooldown, and late game AP so I could live long enough to get out a devastating nine ability spell spam. Even in a lost match this build kept me in the positive score.

I use this build in both Dominion and Normal (though in Dominion I don't get any health potions).

The runes on this were thought of with this mentality: "Ok, I like AP, but early game AP is low, so mana is gonna be my opener." So with that I added in the mana glyphs, quintessances, and marks. I also wanted to have armor to back up my abilities, and spell pen to make sure they do at least some damage.

If there are any changes that could be made to this, I would say it should be magic resist, mages with a lot of ability power (especially Veigar -_-) wipe this build out, so I typically focus them.

With the masteries I wanted to make sure the damage was there and that no one could easily block it. So I put the 21 into offense, focusing on spell pen and damage, but I also wanted the mana benefits of utility as well as the extra gold from greed, the only reason i had the respawn time was that it was required.

This is where things got a little different for me, I love ability power, so I had to look for items that could give me that as well as a lot of mana, the first choice was obvious, a Tear of the Goddess. All that mana was great and the fact that it could turn into AP with an Archangel's made me really happy. I also wanted to make the enemy team's MR less useful, so I added a sorcerer's shoes, next I bought a rod of ages so I could get a good mix of stats I wanted (Health, Mana and AP, more damage and tank). Then the Frozen Heart for the Mana, Armor and cooldowns, and then I get the Archangel Staff since the spell spam gives about 700 bonus Mana at this point (watching that AP go from 80 to 260 is so rewarding). Then the Rabadon's for overwhelming AP and a Lich Bane to use that AP create problems to the people trying to counter my ability damage (it adds about 680 damage to basic attacks).

When getting kills (this is considering lvl 18) I use Overcharge-Spell Flux-Rune Prison-Overcharge-Desperate Power-Overcharge-Spell Flux-Rune Prison-Overcharge (Q-E-W-Q-R-Q-E-W-Q), though after the ult you may need to wait a second for the third Overcharge. This gets about nine spells out within a few seconds, and with Ryze's passive you can continue a spell spam within a few more seconds.

If I just want to keep the enemy away from things, a few pokes with Overcharge show you don't mess around. If they stick too close you can blast the enemy in a few spell if you can get close enough for a Rune Prison.

For escaping, a Rune Prison helps a lot, though if you can reach friends this can be turned into a spell spam opportunity. This is also a good first spell to use if someone is helping you with a gank, followed with a Spell Flux and Overcharge.

And if you are low health, start with your ult then alternate between Overcharge and your other abilities. At level 18 an effective spell spam can give you a lot of damage and with the spell vamp, a lot of health.

The Flash I use a lot to get close enough for a Rune Prison, then I can use my other abilities. This is also very effective in helping a jungler get to the target to wipe them out.

The Ignite is just for the bonus AP and insurance in case the enemy tries to run away. As things go later into the game you can usually risk a small tower dive to cast another Q to ensure a kill.

The downside to how I play is I have to head back a lot for mana purposes (I spell spam for minion kills), so the alternative spells I would have would be Teleport and Clarity, for better laning from more mana or instant returning.

If there is any problem this build has, it's that it is screwed over by CC (except for snares) due to how without Ryze's spells he isn't useful, though he still has the fallback 100 AD and the Armor to help keep him alive until the CC wears out.

This build is constantly shelling out spells, after the initial 9 spells, things wind down, but with the 2 second cooldown your Q does a lot of damage very fast, and with your Passive you have a lot more spells just around the corner, so the chance of getting a few mass spell spams is likely. In team fights the AoE damage from Ryze's ult can wreak havok, and the fact that Ryze heals off of it gives a better chance of surviving burst damage against him.

Pros: High AP and Mana, rapid spell spam (especially with blue buff), high AD late game, High Armor, Ult allows for a lot of survivability from the spell vamp

Cons: Low Magic Resist, CC's preventing spells cause a bad spell spam, somewhat mana hungry early game from spell spam

In a chase, have Rune Prison ready, any hesitation and the enemy risks immediate immobilization, you can also try to cut the enemy off by taking shortcuts (though you may get juked out). Once the enemy s immobilized the rest of your team can blow up the them easily.

In team fights, have your spell spam ready with ults. The AoE can be quite scary, and the MR reduction from Spell Flux can really wreak havok if you start with that, especially if you have a few other AP champions of your team.

Even in dominion if you are a point you can actually hold off most 3v1s as long as your ult is up, the AoE effect can stop the capture, and it also helps you survive long enough to get kills.

This build has survivalbility versus AD, lots of ability damage, and if spells are unavailable, a lot of AD. The cooldowns allow a lot of spell useage late game. This build works effectively with blue buff and late game it is a good option for red buff due to the lich bane's effect.

Start with E, then use Q and W. If it's a large wave use ur R before this combo. Pretty simple for farming, the Q late game can kill minions in one shot.