This is true as well, as you won't be able to blast them every time it is up. I would actually be interested in testing out this skill build.

I just have a few questions about the masteries/runes/items/summoners:

Why take the crit chance over the ability power per level in offense?
Why perseverence over good hands?
Why not put a point in the 21 point utility talent if you aren't going to get strength of spirit from defense?
Why not magic pen marks?
Why Boots of Swiftness over Sorcerer's Shoes and why 2 Rod of Ages intead of spending that gold on Glacial Shroud and using the catalyst for Banshee's Veil (though I did read that you suggest frozen heart and banshees later, I feel like you should at least get banshees before a second rod of ages)?

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I wasn't referring to you when I said that. I was more talking about the guy who said I should build banshee's veil and frozen heart as well as the troll who commented first. I believe you misunderstood what I was trying to say, because I do believe Overload is a very powerful ability. I grab it at level two because of its powerful harassing/nuking capabilities, however I do not see the value in bringing it above rank 1 until near the end because of how much innate damage output it already has. To get maximum burst damage is what I was looking for, damage in the time frame given by Ryze's ultimate which is about 6 seconds. I dont see very many ppl sitting still long enough to let you blast them everytime Overload's cd is up.

I did read the guide, just because I am telling you that you are wrong, doesn't mean I didn't read it.

While spell flux has the potential to do much more damage, it will almost never achieve that much. In the laning phase, when there is only one enemy (you should have a solo lane) spell flux will hit them a maximum of 3 times (since it will either bounce off of you or a creep) and deal (assuming they have 30 MR and you have one rod of ages) 117+(2*143.3)=~403 damage every 10-14 seconds (depending on how often you are casting overload and rune prison)

Overload on the other hand will deal (assuming level 13, with 160 mana stacked on tear of the goddess) 269 damage without a spell flux rank 1 debuff and 296 damage with the debuff but this is every 1.5-3.5 seconds!.

TL;DR Overload provides a large increase in damage because of its low cooldown.

Though I did find that spell flux does increase the magic resist reduction when you rank it up, the mobafire tooltip is just outdated.

EDIT: Actually my overload damage is an underestimate, I forgot to factor in the Expanded Mind Mastery as well as the 15% magic penetration (which is more beneficial for the overload build than the spell flux build)

Ppl should actually read the guide before they post comments, so as to not suggest something I already suggested in the items section. Overload does less damage than Spell Flux if you actually look at the numbers, but most of Overload's damage output comes from mana anyways so leaving it at rank 1 still gives it 270 damage in the scenario from before. The extra 50 damage is chump change at that point. And btw, those of you who have voted me down, have you even tried out this build?

I don't know what level you are ending the laning phase at, but there will only be one important spell flux target in the fight in the laning phase anyway and I highly doubt that overload will do less damage than spell flux, not to mention you can use overload 4 times in the time it takes to cast 1 spell flux.

Actually, have u played Ryze recently? The magic resist reduction increases with rank. The problem with that extra 100 damage, is it only hits one target for 100 extra damage. Besides the fact that you only have one rank in each early game anyways. But let's take mid-game into account and look at the numbers. Assuming you upgraded Overload instead of spell flux, you should have 3 ranks in Overload and one in Spell Flux at level 10. Ryze should have nearly 3k mana. This gives Overload a total damage output of 80+240=320, plus 160 extra AoE damage from Ryze's ult. Spell Flux at that same point in time, would deal 90 damage per bounce (discounting the little ap you'd have at this point), with 45 extra damage per bounce and 18 reduced Mr for 5 seconds. Thats a potential 450 damage with an extra 225 AoE. I believe that is alot more potential for destruction, which is what Ryze's purpose actually is.

Heal is just awful. Build Banshee and Forzen Heart.. You also need the cdr of this...

And if you not lvl q up 2. or 1., you will gimp your dmg completly...

And without ap, spell flux cannot clear minions...

While I can understand that the base damage of overload isn't that great, the fact that it is on such a low cooldown makes that extra 100 base damage really shine early/mid/and late game

Edit: You also took Deadliness over Archmage's Savvy in the offense tree

Actually, the magic resist reduction is a flat 15 at all ranks.

Did you even read the guide? The second ability taken is overload. However, upgrading overload further is a waste early game because its base damage is underpowered to balance out its late game scaling with mana. Leveling spell flux is more beneficial, because it increases the MR reduction as well as giving a nice boost to its base damage. Ryze's ability to farm and push is seriously hindered if spell flux is not upgraded quickly, and if used correctly against an enemy champ it will deal more damage due to Desperate Power than an upgraded Overload early-mid game. And the extra ap helps slightly with Ryze's Overload and Mystic Runes, but it also greatly increases the power behind Spell Flux. You do know that Spell Flux bounces 5 times, right?

Spell flux does TERRIBLE damage, you're far better off with Overload early. This build has no tankiness besides health from RoA, has no CDR, no magic pen, and lots of AP (which is almost worthless on Ryze). Also 9/0/21 without the 21 utility mastery? What?