After the recent EQ combo buff, Ryze has become incredibly strong after level 6, but he still struggles in the late game (30+ minutes). Because of this, Gathering Storm isn't effective for fixing his early-game weaknesses. Instead, consider taking Waterwalking, which boosts your roaming potential and gives you extra strength during river skirmishes—helping you assist your jungler and win key early fights.

Biscuit Delivery is another great rune that can swing close trades in your favor. It helps you survive situations where enemies think they’ve secured the kill, allowing you to turn fights around unexpectedly.

Cosmic Insight pairs extremely well with Seraph’s Embrace and Zhonya’s Hourglass, thanks to its cooldown reduction. This makes your combos more fluid, improves survivability in both teamfights and split pushes, and gives you better control in extended skirmishes.

When combined with Cooldown Reduction Boots, your Ghost cooldown drops from 240s to 203.39s, and Flash from 300s to 254.24s, helping to patch up Ryze’s biggest weakness—mobility—and making you much more effective at both chasing and escaping.

Maximizing Build Utilization

To fully utilize this build, focus on charging Ryze's Q (Overload). The optimal combo for rune stacking is W → E → Q or E → W → Q or E → E → Q, depending on the situation.

Maximizing Damage Output

For maximum damage, use the combo Q → W → Q → E → Q. This sequence ensures you make the most of Ryze's abilities and damage scaling.