2011.12.12 Bored with the guide, archiving it :)

2011.11.18 There is an error in the mana count, it should be 4240 NOT 3240.

Hello all, this Ryze build will allow you get the most out of your Overload for the most damage while still being able to out live most champions. I have tested this build in countless games and I believe I came up with one of the best ways to play Ryze. Remember that you are an item and mana dependent champion, and as such this build will synergise with Ryze. I ask that you give this build a fair amount of trials before down voting. I have worked hard and long on this. This is an extremely detailed guide, so if you're not a fan of reading please use the cheat sheet.Thank you for reading, and please enjoy.

Pros

+ Ranged champion
+ Can harass easily
+ Extremely strong solo and in team fights
+ Very tanky mage
+ Easy farmer
+ Low ability cooldowns


Cons

- Squishy early game
- Heavy item dependency
- Needs solo lane
- In trouble if you get stun locked
- Needs practice to perform ability sequence (But well worth it)

my opinion so if you feel like something needs changing by all means alter your build :)

OFFENSIVE TREE - 9

Brute Force - I take Brute Force instead of Mental Force because the ability power gain is insignificant for you. You need help auto attacking last hits and so you take brute force. Remember you are farming and building mana, not AP.

Butcher - Again, you want to kill minions, and since you're not AD you'll want that little attack boost.

Sorcery - 4% cooldown reduction to be able to cast Overload more frequently.

Arcane Knowledge - 10% magic penetration to make sure you really hurt with your spells.

You only need to go this far to get the abilities you need for Ryze, anything else is wasted points since the Utility will provide the rest.

UTILITY TREE - 21

Summoner's Insight - You'll be taking Flash definitely, and you should really consider Teleport, so you'll need this to reduce their cooldowns.

Good Hands - 10% death reduction is a game saver when it's end-game time. 6 seconds is a tower and a battle. You'll want this. Everyone dies, even Ryze.

Expanded Mind - The mana gain is what we want, and with the addition of Expanded Mind , this mastery screams:
Improved Recall - 1 second reduction on recall means you're at base faster, and escaping death faster.

Swiftness - 2% movement increase coupled with your Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed will give you a nice 3.5% speed bonus to catch those champions, and even escape too :)

Runic Affinity - You'll want that 20% increase on Crest of the Ancient Golem (Blue Buff) as it'll be your cooldown reducer and mana giver. The longer it's on you the longer you'll get to spam your spells.

Awareness - The faster you level up the more damage you'll do. 5% is no joke. You're going to be solo a lot, and you want to dominate your lane. You'll hit level 18 before anyone else.

Intelligence - Again, you'll want the cooldown reduction to spam your Overload and Rune Prison.

Mastermind - You'll want your Flash and Teleport up as soon as possible, and this will help you get there.

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Meditation - Sure you'll be low on mana, but that problem will be gone by level 3. You'll be wasting 3 mastery points for MAYBE needing mana for 2 levels. Definitely not worth it for Ryze when there are better options.

Transmutation - Some say that 1 to 3% vamp is great, but think about it, how often are you spamming your spells before level 6? By level 6 you'll be using your Desperate Power so often which alone gives you 25% spell vamp. These points are better spent somewhere else.

Perseverance - Again, you won't need the regen from this. And by the time you get this deep in Utilities you'll want to spend the points on Intelligence .

Scout , Greed , and Sage are just point eaters, so don't bother.

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration - Every caster will get these. Magic penetration is what a caster needs to hurt enemies with magic resistance.

greater seal of vitality - You're a squishy in the beginning, the increase in health will make sure you can stay in a lane longer. Sometimes you'll live with 10hp and you'll thank your stars you have these bad boys.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist - These will be your main source of magic resistance until you finish Banshee's Veil. These will make your lane a lot tolerable and you'll survive so much better with them.

Greater Quintessence of Health x 2 - Again, you're a squishy in the beginning. The bonus health from these is just too good to pass up for survivability.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed x 1 - You're a little slow, and you don't want the enemy to escape you (or catch you) so this will cover you. It'll make you slightly faster, which is enough with your Swiftness mastery.

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There aren't many alternatives to Greater Mark of Magic Penetration , but the only viable ones to replace the magic penetration would be:

Greater Mark of Mana - These will help you get some bonus mana from the get go, and the effect will last you until the end of the game :)

Greater Mark of Health - These will help you with survivability in the beginning if you don't have Greater Mark of Magic Penetration or Greater Mark of Mana.

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Viable Seals to replace Greater seal of vitality would be:

greater seal of replenishment - These will cover your mana issues in the first few levels.

Greater Seal of Armor - The armor will keep you alive against pesky AD champions.

Greater Seal of Mana - Again, to add mana to your Overload

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Viable Glyph of Magic Resist replacements would have to be:

Greater Glyph of Mana - Quite a bit of mana increase right here!

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction - These can significantly cover your cooldown reduction needs until you complete your build.

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Finally, if you don't have either Greater Quint of Fortitude or Greater Quint of Swiftness , then definitely pop in:

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration - More magic penetration = more damage.

greater quintessence of knowledge - More mana = more damage.

You really only need two summoner abilities, Flash and Teleport. Here's why:

Flash - Although the distance traveled is reduced, it's still one of, if not, the best summoner skill. It's a great escape and gank skill. With your Summoner's Insight and Mastermind , you'll be seeing it up in no time.
Please be careful of the distance reduction, it makes quite a difference, so practice it a bit so you don't end up hitting the wall when you meant to Flash over it.

Teleport - This ability gives you three advantages for the price of one!

• Ganking - Teleport to a sight ward or minions behind near enemies will have them hating you.
• Farming - Heading to minion filled lanes, or back to your lane is just so great and easy with this. Don't be afraid to use it to gain a lot of gold and exp.
• Surviving - Sometimes you need a quick get away and recall just can't cut it. Whip out Teleport and even if they hit you you'll still get away laughing.

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Ignite - The extra damage with this with addition to your abilities will just be devastating!

Ghost - Whether to or from battle, this is a great substitute for Teleport. The speed increase is just fantastic to chase champions or run away.

I went with Rune Prison first because of two reasons:

• It can get you first blood if the enemy pushes too far, or you gank in the beginning.
• It can save you in case you get ganked early game.

I choose to level up Overload before Spell Flux mainly because I won't have the mana to perform a Overload Rune Prison Overload Spell Flux Overload combo at the beginning. But if the enemy is getting damaged hard from you Overload then by all means get Spell Flux third and try to secure that kill!

You want to max out Overload first because it's your main spell and where your damage comes from. Next is Rune Prison for the damage and snare duration.

Spell Flux is leveled last but you get 1 level to use it as a cooldown reducer for your Overload.

Desperate Power is leveled at 6, 11 and 16. The bonus mana you get is great and with it's short cooldown and spell vamp it'll help your farm and team battles. Don't be afraid to spam it since it will be up quickly.

Time to cover items. I'll go over the sequence and each selection and some other options.

Meki Pendant and Health Potion x 2 to start the game. The mana regen will let you cast spells without major problems and the Health Potion will allow you to stay in the lane longer.

Once you have around 1100$, you can safely going back to base and purchase Tear of the Goddess , sight ward , and Health Potion. Beginning phase ends with you finishing off Sorcerer's Shoes .

Some players choose Sapphire Crystal to start so they have extra damage from the mana increase. Remember that you'll compensate for it by level 3, and even the beginning mana won't do much for you. Meki Pendant will cover you on mana and let you cast spells with ease.

Now there's more action. You'll want to keep using sight wards to stay safe, gank, and get your Blue Buff.

Items wise you'll want Glacial Shroud as soon as possible. Then add catalyst of the protector. Now look at your enemies. If they are more Attack Damage then finish Frozen Heart for the bonus armor. If they're an Ability Power heavy team, finish off Banshee's Veil.

Here is where it gets interesting. You'll want to at least get your catalyst the protector for mana and health. Now you need to make decisions.

If the enemy is hitting you hard, finish off Rod of Ages and get a Guardian Angel for armor or Force of Nature for magic resist.

If they are getting defensive with magic resist get Void Staff for the magic penetration.

If you're farming just get Rod of Ages and Void Staff to be super damage Ryze.

Finally, you'll end your build with Archangel's Staff. I finish this last because it just doesn't give you the bonuses you need like other items, especially for the gold cost. You can live with Tear of the Goddess, trust me.




Will of the Ancients This item has an insane amount of spell vamp. If you find yourself getting ganked a lot or you're 1v1 against other champions then definitely get this before Rod of Ages. Other than that if you find yourself never targeted then Desperate Power is enough spell vamp for you.

Abyssal Mask is good but it'll require you to be close to the enemy to benefit from the 20 Magic Resistance reduction You're ranged, so you want to be away.

Rabadon's Deathcap is okay, but Ryze is mana hungry, not ability power hungry.

Which lane to choose? Ah the important question for a Ryze player. Take solo if you can, always, and if you do get solo, definitely mid before the side lanes. Why? You can never out maneuver two champs in the side lanes. Always remember that if the enemy team doesn't have a jungler (A champion that has Smite), then you'll be stuck at top facing 2 champions, which you should never bother with unless you're confident in your skills. It will decrease your farm tremendously so tread carefully.

Now you got your solo lane, what do you do? Last hit like a god. If the enemy is coming close to your range just wait until level 2 to start harassing them with your Overload. If you notice it's not doing any good damage then save your mana and use Overload to last hit if need be.
Remember that your Overload has a longer range than your auto attack, so use it to harass and don't worry about them reaching you.

Don't go back to base until you can get your Tear of the Goddess and Boots at least. Remember that you are an items heavy champion so get as much farm as you can.

Once you got your Tear of the Goddess, start using your Overload and Rune Prison to get last hits and harassing enemy champions. You NEED to make sure you get that max mana from Tear of the Goddess ASAP. Also, when you get your Tear of the Goddess, you can harass with your Overload so well because of the increase in mana. Each time you cast a spell you'll grow stronger because you are increasing your mana.

Continue laning and get ganks set up in your lane. Ask your jungler or team mates to gank. If your lane is pushed towards the enemy, you go gank another lane. You'll do it so well. Remember to Rune Prison the enemy if your team is there!

If you get a team lane, which is a bad idea because you NEED the exp and gold from solo to be a carry, then just try to out last hit your teammate and set up kills with your Rune Prison and Overload harassment.

Always be wary of your surroundings. Use a lot of sight ward to cover areas where champions can ambush you. In this phase you'll want to always get Blue Buff whether yours or the enemy's. Keep farming and ganking as you have more items now.

You have all you need for items now. If you don't have the max bonus from Tear of the Goddess you need to work on it; it's your best source of mana after all. Don't over extend and try to always stick with a teammate. Don't forget to keep putting up those sight ward!!!

STAY IN THE BACK, you can pick off enemies easily with you Overload as long as you're alive. EDIT: Staying in the back means don't be the guy initiating. Let your team initiate first so the enemy's focus isn't on you. Edit is thanks to SirSpankAlot. If you die your team will lose so much damage output. Try to pick off their AP then AD as they deal the most damage. Again, this is situational, but this is what I noticed. AP will die quickly to you but just pay attention to who has the most Magic Resistance, sometimes AD will be squishier.

There are champions that are just too annoying to fight in a lane, like Brand or Lux. You can't harass them since if you get too close their ability combos Light Binding Lucent Singularity and Sear Conflagration Pillar of Flame will hurt you so much if they catch you. Just focus on your farming and ask for ganks/switching lane. Sometimes it better to admit you're struggling and try to fix it by switching lanes, then end up hurting yourself and your team in the end.

• Your main battle sequence is Overload Rune Prison Overload Spell Flux Overload Desperate Power Overload Rune Prison Overload Spell Flux Overload. This provides the maximum amount of damage to your opponents.
• In case you're about to face an opponent that can kill you fast, start the sequence with Desperate Power for the spell vamp.
• Your Desperate Power cooldown is also reduced by your other spells.
• Don't be afraid to cast Desperate Power to kill minions, it has a really low cooldown.
• At level six you can solo Blue Buff with Ryze spell sequence
• Don't be afraid to engage champions mid game. Your items will let you survive easily.

• You can Teleport to sight ward and Noxious Trap, so use it to gank!
• Teleport casts through damage and if you're in a bind use it.
• When you're level 18 and have full items always remember to buy Elixir of Brilliance Elixir of Agility Elixir of Fortitude and Oracle's Elixir They will auto consume and work just fine.

These are my latest 10 games, all with this build, and not one game did I change the item sequence. The day break in there is because I was making this guide lol.

Ryze is a damage machine, always remember that. You can always perform well following the guides I outlined for you. I can only guide you, so the rest lies on your hands (literally). If you have any questions or concerns you're always welcome to comment and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Hope this helps you. Enjoy :)

I will respond to comments and questions here, please enjoy.

Derisat says: comboming R>E>W>Q gives you an aoe nuke/spell vamp and reduces the magic resistance for W and Q to basicaly NUKE your target while healing you

This combination will not allow you to use your Overload ability to it's fullest. For Ryze to nuke you should perform Overload Rune Prison Overload Spell Flux Overload Desperate Power Overload Rune Prison Overload Spell Flux Overload for for the ultimate nuke.