This guide is currently a WIP. I am publishing it so I can have community feedback as well as share my insight on the current state of Ryze.

Ryze is a short ranged caster that has low cooldowns so he can spam his spells. His spells scale off mana, which makes his spells deal more damage as well as being able to keep using those spells. Ryze was recently reworked. I feel he is a much stronger champion now.

Important stats for Ryze:

• Mana: More damage, allows you to cast more spells, now makes him slightly tanky.
• Movement Speed: Allows Ryze to get to targets with his medium range spells since he has no gap closers/escapes
• Resistance: Armor & Magic Resist make him able to take a few hits and makes his healing more effective.

Against AD Champions:

• greater mark of hybrid penetration
• Greater Seal of Scaling Armor
• Greater Glyph of Mana
• 2 Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
• 1 Greater Quintessence of Mana

Against AP Champions:

• greater mark of hybrid penetration
• Greater Seal of Mana
• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
• 2 Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed
• 1 Greater Quintessence of Mana

greater mark of hybrid penetration is good when you are auto harassing, or you have a Manamune or Iceborn Gauntlet. If you don't find yourself auto harassing often or buying those 2 items, just go for Greater Mark of Magic Penetration


Running scaling resistance is really good if you can get away with it. If you are against a strong early lane, run flat resistance instead. Mana should be flat, as it doesn't really matter if you have 100 more late game because you will have 3000.


I think Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed is good on Ryze, as he has low mobility. Greater Quintessence of Mana is also a good choice, as it makes him stronger during lane. I prefer using 2 Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed and 1 Greater Quintessence of Mana, but you can try combinations of both out and see what works best for you.

If you don't want to buy all these new runes, you can get away with using some old ones that everyone should have. You can run either flat or scaling.

• Greater Mark of Magic Penetration
• Greater Seal of Armor (against AD), Greater Seal of Health (against AP)
• Greater Glyph of Magic Resist (against AP), Greater Glyph of Ability Power (against AD)
• Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

9/0/21 is a very offensive build. Utility increases your mana from Expanded Mind , movement speed from Fleet of Foot and Wanderer , some sustain from Vampirism and Strength of Spirit , and some gold and utility from the other points. Runic Affinity can be swapped out. In Offense, Butcher can help last shot early game, and is needed for Feast, which helps Ryze sustain a little early. The points in Mental Force and Arcane Mastery can be put in either Brute Force and Martial Mastery , or put into the defense or utility tree.

0/9/21 is a good option.
9/21/0 and 0/21/9 are both good alternatives and very safe.

Arcane Mastery: Passive Ability
"Is this URF?"
After 5 ability casts, Ryze gains a shield scaling off his maximum mana (This means he gets TANKY AND DAMAGE when you build mana). While this shield is active, your abilities will reduce their CDR by the amount of your Overload. This allows Ryze to deal insane amounts of damage. You want to stack up his passive by using Q our of combat just before a team fight. Learn how to manage it, that way when you go in, you will have 4 stacks and you can instantly get your passive.


Overload: Q Ability
"I missed?!?!?"
Ryze's main source of damage, which is why it is maxed first. His Overload is now a skill shot and no longer has CDR. This has caused him to lose his guaranteed poke during lane. However, it now has 900 Range on it so you can poke from a safe distance. It is also a used to build up his Arcane Mastery when out of combat.


Rune Prison: W Ability
"I got this tattoo in Rune Prison"
Ryze's crowd control spell, maxed second for the large duration at max level so he can stick to a target easily.


Spell Flux: E Ability
"Bouncy Bouncy!"
His E now bounces off targets again and shreds a percentage of their magic resistance. Using this on someone grouped either near their team or in the middle of a minion wave is the best way to get its maximum damage.


Desperate Power: Ultimate Ability
"Good mother of CDR"
Max rank, Desperate Power now gives 30% CDR, 3 bonus seconds on his passives duration, and has a lower CD than before. Desperate Power will be up almost every time he uses Arcane Mastery late game.

Note: Cooldown reduction isn't that important to Ryze anymore, as he will get 30% for free at level 16 from Desperate Power. Cooldown reduction is only needed for the early game.

Starting Items

Look at the top for info for starting items.

Build Path

Rush Tear of the Goddess, get Boots, then get Rod of Ages, and then buy items depending on who you are playing against.

• Archangel's Staff: All stats are very good on Ryze.
• Rod of Ages: All around very good stats and sustain during lane from the passive.
• Boots: Upgrade into Sorcerer's Shoes, Ninja Tabi, or Mercury's Treads

• Manamune: Strong damage and good pushing. Works well paired with an Iceborn Gauntlet.
• Iceborn Gauntlet: Extra CC, armor, mana, and pushing.
• Frozen Heart: Lots of armor, and the auto slow is good against ADCs. Wasted CDR late game.
• Banshee's Veil: Spellshield is really good. This allows Ryze to get close to enemies without getting stopped by CC instantly. Normally taken
• Spirit Visage: Has good sustain with Desperate Power
• Turbo Chemtank: Really strong team fighting item.

• Zhonya's Hourglass: Good armor item. Is good against assassins, really strong burst, and focus.
• Abyssal Mask: Good when you have other AP on your team.
• Void Staff: Great damage for Ryze.
• Will of the Ancients: Good sustain added with Desperate Power.
• Luden's Tempest: This is my personal pleasure. It synergizes amazingly with Arcane Mastery. Very high damage output at the cost of defense.

There are 2 main ways to build Ryze: Caster and Auto Bruiser. The easier and currently stronger way is caster, as you won't have much time to auto in between casting now. The auto build still works though and has some perks.
Example of each:

Caster:

Standard Build. It is stronger in team fights and may provide higher damage output or other needed items.

Auto Bruiser: (Uses Muramana and/or Iceborn Gauntlet)

Strong with split pushing and provides some physical damage so it is harder to build resist against you.

Ryze is also a strong mid laner, and can be used as an off meta pick in the jungle.

For mid lane, you can take Ghost or Ignite instead of Teleport. You will want to run the caster build above, and you can focus less on defense and more on items like Void Staff, Luden's Tempest, and Abyssal Mask.

Note: Jungle with Ryze is fairly difficult and he is stronger in lane, so play this with caution. Make sure you take Greater Seal of Armor.
For Jungle, take smite and buy a Hunter's Machete. I believe going Tear of the Goddess, then upgrading to Ranger's Trailblazer is the best start. None of the jungle enchantments help much so don't buy any upgrades. When at full build, just sell your Ranger's Trailblazer and have a build similar to a standard Ryze.