Hi! I'm throatslasher, and Ryze is my main. If somene put a gun to my head and said if I didn't win the next game then he would kill me, I would pick Ryze.

Ryze is one of the strongest hyper-carries in the game, if not the strongest. He also has one of the most dominant lane phases in the game. I love him because you can itemize purely defensive items and your damage will skyrocket. I play a consistent, diamond level Ryze. I sometimes lose my lane and still carry games. Ryze is broken, and I think anyone can carry themselves to plat or higher by just playing Ryze if you follow my simple, common build.

My stats on Ryze are the following:

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Pros [+] There is no lane opponent Ryze can't handle. Even **** matchups can be salvaged. [+] Ryze is a hypercarry. This is rarer than you think. He is a snowball champion AND a hypercarry. [+] Ryze has fantastic 'bounce-back'. That means if you don't do well in lane or die a few times, you can still contribute a lot to your team in the later stages of the game. [+] Ryze gets more damage with pure tank items making him an unburstable damage machine. [+] Ryze is not very item dependent. [+] When Ryze counters someone, he COUNTERS someone. More on this later. [+] Great CC, AoE, and sustain.

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Cons [-] ****ty auto attack. Farming with your autos takes practice [-] You don't have THAT much range. It's OK, but you can get outranged by a lot of stuff. [-] Your damage will eventually plateau. Once you finish all of your items, you will eventually fall off damage-wise and tank-wise. You need to finish the game in a brisk manner. After 45 minutes, it's all downhill. [-] Ryze SUCKS at taking towers. Since tower damage is based on the higher value of your AD or AP, you will be doing like 75 damage to towers with your auto attacks even when you have full build. _ _ _

Flash is mandatory, duh. Flash to run, flash to kill, flash is god. For your second slot the two standard choices are Ignite and Teleport. Are you bronze or silver? Take Ignite. Do you hard counter your lane opponent? Take ignite. Are all of your teammates in favorable lane matchups? Take Ignite. Are you Gold+? Think about Teleport. Are you against a lane opponent you'll never kill? ( Anivia, Lux) Consider teleport. Are there plays to be made bottom? Consider teleport. Is this ranked teams? Consider teleport.

Are you against Zed or Fizz? Consider Barrier. I sometimes take ignite in this lane if I have confidence in my jungler, but barrier decimates Fizz and Zed. Cloth Armor start also doodies on Zed.

I have two rune pages for ryze and I switch between the depending on the matchup:

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: You do magic damage. Take these marks

greater mark of hybrid penetration

greater mark of hybrid penetration: I've experimented with these vs some melee opponents and I've had success. Make up your own mind, but never pick these vs a ranged opponent or someone who can farm from afar

Greater Seal of Armor: These will really help you trade in lane as well as help your mid game teamfighting. Once you get your big armor items, these are just meh.

Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration: These are expressly used to give you a dominant laning phase. If you can hit your opponent with a lot of spells, consider taking these to give you more ammo early.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Take these at all times. Even if against an AD lane, they are still useful for mid game teamfights. You can make a third ryze page with armor seals and scaling MR glyphs vs an AD lane if you want to set aside 3 rune pages for Ryze

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed: Ryze doesn't need anything in the quint slot, so you might as well take MS. Ryze has no escape so these are useful. I take these 101% of the time on Ryze.

These look OK

Devastating Strikes and Executioner are quite useful on Ryze, and 21 utility seems lackluster because of how useless Wanderer is.

9 defense isn't what it used to be either, or I'd recommend 9/9/12.

All in all, I think 21-0-9 is the way to go. If you see some pro player playing Ryze on stream, immediately check his masteries and PM me if I'm incorrect.

(PROTIP! TURN ON SMARTCASTING! IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PROPERLY COMBO WITH RYZE IF YOU DON'T SMART CAST)

Passive: Arcane Mastery

This is your bread and butter. Knowing how to abuse this passive will seperate the bad Ryze players from the good ones. This passive stacks immensely well with cdr. You get 10 from your Q and 9 from your masteries so a Frozen Heart will pretty much cap your CDR. More on how to combo later.

Q: Overload

Zap! Bread and butter. Pink fireball used to harass, abuse your passive and farm. Throw these pink baseballs to get what you want. Max this first always.

W: Rune Prison

CC! Glorious CC! Single target, but we'll take what we can get. This spell is pretty great when it's maxed out, but it's pretty poor when it's low level. It sucks to harass with this spell early for several reasons. It does less damage than Q, it costs more mana than Q and it's shorter range. Avoid using this to harass early or you'll run OOM quickly. I max this second for the consistency over E and the incresed snare duration.

E: Spell Flux

Utility, utility, utility! This is a fantastic spell and it doesn't get the respect it deserves. Knowing how to abuse this spell is imperative. This spell costs ***loads of mana, so use this spell sparingly early. To use this to it's full potential, cast it when there are valid bounce targets or cast it when you are in close proximity. I max this last because it doesn't scale that well and W has way more utility at level 5 than spell flux.

R: Desperate Power

This ultimate is OK. It doesn't do any damage but it has its uses. Use this to push waves, teamfight, abuse your passive, or sustain. The movespeed is definitely underrated so make sure to abuse this when you need to chase or flee. The cooldown is quite short consiering all the CDR you will build and your passive.

First, let me say that I rarely use Ryze as a counter pick. I only get super excited to pick ryze into a select few champs like kha'zix and diana and a couple others.
I still pick ryze in mediocre matchups just because I know that I can be very effective in other stages of the game besides the laning phase.

I do avoid 'hell' matchups though because my opponents will probably deny me farm or maybe even kill me. Avoid hell matchups if you want, but in lower divisions you can still outplay your counters.

I'm far too lazy to get into every matchup. I don't have a set gameplan vs a lot of opponents, but I have general feelings about how the matchups play out. I'll just file them into 4 catagories raising from "pie" to "hell".

Pie:

(You win, they cry)

Medium/easy:

(You have a big advantage, but they can fight back OR they start hard-get easy/start east-get hard)

Hard:

(They have the kit to potentially deal with you)

Hell:

(They have the kit to bend you over their knee)



Pie:
Kha'Zix; He cant handle your damage. Completely shut him down with your Q spam and autos. Use W early sparingly. Pick up maybe a cloth armor somewher in your early purchases.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Diana; Same as Kha'zix, shut her down before she hits 5-6. Your high MS should be sufficient to dodge her q's.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Gragas; This lane will be decided in the first 4 levels. Your goal is to completely deny his auto attack cs'ing and force him to cs with his barrels early. You can kill him, but the more levels he gets on his Q, the easier it is to farm at a distance. Always try to keep creeps inbetween you and gragas so no surprise body slams.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Evelynn; This is an old school counter. If you run into one, just blast away, she can't really fight back. Call your mia's.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Kassadin; This lane is easy if you take mana crystal. Your auto+Q combo will out damage his Q, but he will probably have more hp pots than you. Punish him and deny as much cs as possible. When he starts farming with Q, you've won the lane. Call for ganks before he hits level 6.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Katarina: You will beat kat quite badly. You can't stop her ultimate, but until she can properly wave clear, you can deny her from using her auto attacks to cs, making her push wth her q. Happy hunting.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Easy/Medium:

Ahri; Your q's will rip her to shreds, but if you don't dode her q's or god forbid get charmed, she can turn the lane round. Punish her early and look for a Q+W+ignite finisher. Stay mobile and dodge her skillshots. Be wary of her 6.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Akali; You will dumpster her, but if you don't beat her hard enough, she can turn the tables at level 6. Call your mia's and blast her when she's not in her shroud.
Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite

Nidalee; You heavily outtrade her, but if she lands spears you will be in big trouble. Concentrate on cs'ing and punishing her for her cs. Once she 6's, be wary of ganks. I still take ignite because she's entirely killable early.
Faerie charm, 4 hp, 2 mana, ward, flash ignite

Kennen; Stay behind your creeps and you're ok. He can probably blow you up at 6, but that's ok. Make sure you dont give him free cs, but don't get tagged with shurikens. You can either play this super aggessive or passive, your choice.
EITHER (Faerie charm, 4 hp, 2 mana, ward, flash teleport) OR (Mana crystal 2 pots, flash ignite)

Karthus; This one is pretty easy, but he can still kill you. If he chooses, he can farm at max range and you can't do much about it. On the other hand, you can easily burst him down and out poke him if you play it correctly. Another big problem is his wall. If you get caught out during your aggression with a jungler gank and a wall, you're probably either flashing or dying.

Talon; A cloth armor will shut him down early, but sadly his rake has equal range to your Q. If you stay mobile enough and harass him when his rake is on cooldown, you can wear him down. You'll do way more late game than he will, easy matchup. Take a cloth armor start with 3 hp and 2 mana potions

Twisted Fate; You technically can win this if you harass him when his pick a card is on cooldown, but he can farm and poke you from a range you can't really deal with. Your best shot at killing him is with jungle ganks. Hopefully, your jungler will bring more CC than damage as you just need to lock him down for a short while to burst him. If you anticipate killing him in lane, take ignite. Most of the time, I'd take teleport so I can follow him when he uses his ultimate.

Veigar; Easy peasy matchup. His ultimate is useless against you, and if you harass him when his Q is down, he can't fight back. The only reason this isn't in pie matchup is if he manages to stun you as you get ganked, you can die. Be wary, outscale him, and buy merc treads.

Vladimir; This is another easy peasy matchup. If you don't keep him down early, however, he can easily outsustain you with just a revolver. Get a mana crystal and make him eat **** starting at level 1. Harass him with Q's until he's completely zoned from sustaining himself with his Q, and you've won the lane.

Ziggs; His range allows him to play safe and out poke you, but if you can use your mobility to kite some of his spells, you can sneak some big damage in. This is very close to pie, but I would still call this easy because you can get poked down by masterful ziggs play.

Hard:

Morgana; This is the 'easiest' of the hard matchups. She has extremely easy wave clear and sustain starting at level 5, but until then she is your punching bag. A big danger is getting hit with a snare, ESPECIALLY when their jungler is in proximity. Poke her down, but you should focus on CS more than harassing her. Once she hits 6, she can EASILY kill you with her ultimate, Q+W, and ignite. Be wary.

Master Yi (AP); This pick is a bit more rare nowadays, but his untargetable consistent waveclear/poke can be a bit of a problem, as well as his sustain. I would just call for jungle ganks and wait for him to alpha. He'll reappear on the 1st creep he cast it on, so anticipate. Kite him with all 3 of your spells as he makes a break for his tower. Ignite him when he tries to meditate through your damage. This is winnable, but if he plays it right he will never die to you. I'd start mana crystal and try to go for a cheeky level 3 kill.

Kayle; Kayle packs some big damage. Her Q harass is very consistent and the slow is crippling. I don't think this matchup is anywhere near impossible, but I think her damage is greater than yours and it costs less mana. I would not intentionally pick this matchup, and if I did, I would play it super safe. You don't HAVE to fight her if you don't want to. If she constantly charges you and tries to zone you, call for your jungler.

Orianna; Ori has a combination of low mana costs, high zoning capabilities, great cc, and decent damage. Her entire kit will lend her the tools to outplay you, and her ability to do so is entirely based on your enemies' skill level. I would **** my pants at a D1 ori, but a G5 ori? I can take her. I can't give much advice on this matchup besides call for ganks and poke her when her spells are down, which won't be often. You can play this safe and CS, if you choose.

Swain; Swain is interesting. His damage his very comparable to yours and you are both very similar champions. I believe his E will do more damage than one of your raw Qs at all stages of the game. This can be won, but it will probably be before 6 and with ignite. Call for jungle ganks. This matchup is a little shaky for me as I've only played it 2-4 times. I would probably throw a null cloak in my early build just for some protection. The only way you're killing him is if he builds poorly, IE anything other than RoA rush.

Syndra; Range, CC, Poke, low mana costs, waveclear, burst. Everything ryze doesn't like. I don't think you can beat her, but you don't have to lose this matchup. Just farm. If you can get a lucky jungle gank, you can probably kill her with flash and/or ignite.

Xerath; Comparable to Syndra, except his mana costs are higher and his stun is a bit less reliant. You do have opportunites to poke him when his Q is on cooldown, which will be often. Stay mobile and get some good shots in when his Q is on cooldown and you can push him out of lane

Fizz; Some say Ryze counters Fizz, and they're kinda right. I just really suck at this matchup so I call it hell. Go practice it for yourself and get back to me, but the Fizzs I see are just played so perfectly that I cry salty tears into my keyboard.

Zed; Zed can be outplayed. I would recommend barrier, the armor rune page, but also mana crystal 2 pots. My reasoning is that most zed's farm with q, and q can be easily avoided in the early stages. You're much better off blasting him with unanswered damage, forcing him to farm with his Q instead of his autos, meaning he won't use his q's to harass YOU. If you come out swinging, you will win.
Back when you have 600+ gold for tear, cloth armor, pots, and hopefully a ward. If you can wait for 900+, a second cloth armor will all but guarantee you will survive his ultimate combo. A trick I like to do which is a bit risky is to wait for him to ultimate, then flash out of range. This will cause him to miss his double aoe slash/slow, which is critical for his combo. He will most likely miss his Q as well. He will probably flash as well, and without ignite, you probably won't be able to pick up the kill, but it's a neat trick to avoid 90% of his damage.

Zyra; This is pretty close to hell. Her godlike range, CC, and waveclear are too much for you to handle. There is no safe approach towards a well played zyra. If you get aggressive, you'll get rooted. If you play passive, you'll get poked down with Q. This is a lose-lose matchup. Try your hardest to farm. If you have a very aggressive ganking jungler, this lane can be salvaged if you kill her early once or twice.

Jarvan IV and Wukong; Pretty uncommon mid picks, but pretty difficult to assess. They're both gapclosing bursty AD champions with knockups. Alone, they can't outtrade you, but with a jungler, you're dead to rights. Anticipate lots of jungle pressure and lots of deaths. It's pretty hard to imagine these happening due to their rarity, but I'm just making you aware that people pick these and they will suck.

Cho'Gath; This is an 'easier' hard matchup. His knockup can put you in a bad spot really quickly and it's easy to combo with most junglers. Remember it's better to flash from certain death with full health than to flash away after you're getting raped and die anyways. If cho puts a Q at your feet as j4 throw his flag on top of your head or directly in your path in the middle of the lane, just flash. Cho will fall to jungle pressure and consistent harass, though. Either play 100% passive early, or don't let up with 100% aggression, as anything inbetween will allow him to sustain your damage.

Hell:

(for hell matchups, it's advised to not fight them at all unless they are making mistakes. Call for your jungler and wait for them. Consider teleport and conservative builds)

LeBlanc; Her burst is far too high for you to handle. You can only throw a Q during her harass combo and you can't chase her return distortion down for any follow up damage. She outdamages and outtrades you heavily, plus silence hurts Ryze in a bad way. Avoid this matchup.

Lissandra; This is on the 'easier' side of hell, but it's hell nonetheless. Her range, waveclear, and lockdown literally lends no counterplay from Ryze. Post 6, you are outclassed. Pre-6, you can completely snowball her face if she misses skill shots. If you run at her, hit her with a Q and dodge HER Q, you'll slowly start to dumpster her. Jungle ganks will be invaluable especially if they can lock her down during her E. Her ultimate has no counterplay so be wary.

Anivia; Her range puts you to shame. Her level 6 puts yours to shame. Even her level 2 and 3 are way better than yours. Stay far away from this bird. Nothing worse than an unanswered Q+E at level 3. Maybe merc treads.

Cassiopeia; Bend over and kiss your *** goodbye, this is the worst of the worst. She will F*ck. You. Up. A well played cass means you can basically alt+f4 out of the game. If you can survive the laning phase, you can do stuff late game, so concentrate on farming and dodging her Q's. Jungler, where are you? HALP!

Lux; Her cheap zoning tools and CC will keep you completely subdued while she clears wave after wave with her ridiculous range. Not much you can do here, so farm and TP around.


Pantheon; He's going to try to kill you at level 2, and he just might succeed. His punk-*** stun will keep you constantly on your toes for jungle ganks while his cheap AD poke will have you sobbing into your pillow. You can win this with a few levels and some cloth armors, so just survive the lane phase. A good counter-gank from your jungler can win this lane for you.

I'm sure I'm missing a few, so request matchups you don't see in the comments section. If I have any knowledge of it, I'll update the section.

This section is for sharing some of the games I played on Ryze in different matchups. Replays will be added constantly here!

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Replays
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Link 1 ( Ryze + Hecarim jungle vs Kha'Zix + Nocturne jungle)
Link 2 ...... (will be added soon)
Link 3 ......

8/5
-Changed 'sub par choice' to 'situational choice' when referring to barrier
-Changed all instances of banshee's veil with spirit visage with explanation
-Added explanations to starting items
-4 categories in matchups instead of 5
-Went in depth with matchup description
-Altered liss matchup