Ryze is a very powerful champion capable of large burst whilst being tanky. These attributes can lead to him becoming near unstoppable late game. He can have a large combo available especially with max cool down reduction. There are a few things vatal to know about Ryze to play him well:

> Smart cast is a must for Ryze, allowing a faster combo which increases your damage per second.

> Farm is vital for Ryze as it is with all middle lane champions. Ryze's ultimate is on a very short cool down so that could be used for farming as it is a fast wave clear but you do need to bare in mind that you need that up for a team fight.

> He is quite vulnerable to level one ganks.

I believe that boots three health pots is the best opening for Ryze even over sapphire crystal two health pots for many reasons; firstly the you do not want to be engaging at level one with Ryze as he is all about combos. The benefit of the crystal is an extra 11 damage on your Q at the start (level 1). I do not think that sacrificing an extra pot and the vital boots at the early game will pan out in your favor. Boots can allow most mid skill shots to be a lot easier to avoid. For these reasons I believe that boots three pots is far Superior to Sapphire crystal two health pots.

Next I grab a tear of goddess, this is a very obvious choice early on as Ryze as it gives large amounts of mana. You should have enough for the tear on your first backing. And you should have your tear before the second blue is up so you will be able to spam your short cool-down ability's to quickly charge up your tear.

The next logical choice is tear two boots for the magic penetration and increase movement speed which is good throughout the game.

Next I get a pretty early Rod of Ages as it takes a little while get fully charged and it is a very solid item for Ryze as it helps him begin to get tanky, whilst not sacrificing too much damage.

Now it is time to get some serious amounts of mana and cool-down reduction with a nice amount of armor. This should be about when the game naturally transitions into out of laneing phase. Once the frozen heart is complete you will be able to be very able in team fights being able to put a large amount of spells whilst not being afraid to get in and help sponge up the damage for your team.

Next there is a choice of getting preferably a will of the ancients. But if they have a AP who is dealing high damage then get the Banshees first. With a will of the ancients you should have a lot of sustain and it is possible