Welcome to my Ryze guide! The reason for this guide was because I didn't see a featured Ryze guide and considering my main AP at ~2.2k elo is Ryze, I thought I'd share my Ryze secrets. You may find this guide to be different than the typical Ryze build but I assure you that between me and my fellow high elo players who play Ryze, I have found the best possible way to build and play Ryze to maximize his potential.

Ryze is a unique champion that scales off mana, making his item build one of the best in the game! Both his mid and late game are extremely strong and many consider him to be OP in competitive play. You don't see him in solo queue much, but with the strategies and builds you are about to see in this guide you too will find success with him!

Pros:
+Strong mid and late
+He scales off mana AND AP
+Tanky
+High DPS (like Cass)
+Very good spammable snare
+High Mana pool
+Low skill cap

Cons:
-Weak early (lvls 1-7)
-High mana costs
-Blue dependent early on
-Needs good farm
-Somewhat "boring" (But I don't think so :) )

I like this rune setup because it offers both early game survivability and excellent late game scaling while not sacrificing damage.

Armor yellows could also work but to be honest once you get frozen heart, 15 armor isn't going to give you much more damage mitigation.

Magic pen reds- best in slot for AP
Health per level yellows- Makes you even more tanky late game. Mana yellows give you negligible damage.
Flat MR blues- best in slot for casters
Movement speed quints- Makes kiting and catching up to people extremely easy which helps maintain constant DPS. Also helps to avoid ganks.

Argument against mana runes


A maxed out flat mana page with MS quints is 216 mana.
Math:
Q: 216*.075= 16.2 extra damage on his Q
W: 216*.05= 10.8 more damage on his W

A whopping 27 damage increase. Compare this to 8.5 Magic Pen, 175 Health at lvl 18, and 13 MR and you will see that my rune setup is better. The mana page is only good for having extra mana at the start of the game, but after 7 minutes you will have blue buffs and tear and mana shouldn't be a problem.

Standard AP caster 9-0-21 build
I also like to take CDR in the utility tree over Strength of Spirit because the amount of HP regen is pretty small early game/mid game and once it reaches late game you have enough spell vamp you won't need the regen. It also allows you to have max CDR without blue. I take the 3 AD so I can last hit easier and do more early auto attack harass damage. 3 AP will not make any difference in your damage.