Hello , I'm Ari and this is my first guide .

http://www.lolskill.net/summoner/EUW/Entei%20Ari

I'll be happy to answer your questions .
My main is currently the Top lane , and since I couldn't find a proper Ryze guide here , I decided to write my own guide , hope it helps.

In order to play Ryze you must have quick-cast (Smart cast) enabled.

The Runes described above are an overall option , you can switch your MR or Armor to AP or Mana if you are against a pure AP or AD champ .

However , I'd consider going for these runes anyways as you really lack MR or Armor til 20 minutes or so.

For people wondering if Mana runes are better than AP runes , the mana runes give you more pool but less damage , so you can't burst squishy champions at level 3-4 if you go for mana runes , but you will have more time to farm.

REWORKED

The chosen masteries focus on giving you enough sustain/mana pool/mana regen to safely farm your way up while having the potential to respond to pokes. However, you may also switch sustain towards damage output if you feel confident against your opponent.

Merciless and Assassin may be good choices. Also, some players feel like they need the mobility from Stormraider's Surge more, so by all means, go for it if you feel the same. It is all dependent on your play style in the end.

My personal experience has brought me to this conclusion that the new Ryze can feel very weak against certain match-ups, specially against skilled veterans. This route is what I recommend to you if you are not extremely skilled at playing Ryze.

Honestly , items for Ryze are all situational except the 2 first items . They all depend on what you're trying to do and who you're up against. If you are playing against high burst-squishy champs go for the Rabadon's Deathcap and if you're against tanky poky teams go for Frozen Heart and Spirit Visage . Anyways , your goal is to stack your tear, get your rod and archangel and start rolling in after 20 minutes.

Uncle , Why more CDR when you already got 35% ?

The goal here is to gain MR and armor with the end of increasing your sustain / mana . Spirit Visage turns the spellvamp from Desperate Power into a life saver and Frozen Heart gives you mana/armor as well as advantages against Irelia/ Olaf/ Tryndamere/all of the ADCs and any other AA champ.

Rabadon's Deathcap on top of all that turns you into the ultimate tank - burst machine.

You may consider buying Abyssal Mask when matched against AP-Melee champs , like Maokai Diana Akali Rumble .

If you are playing against a full-ad comp , consider buying Warmog's Armor or Rylai's Crystal Scepter instead of Spirit Visage.

You can run for Rylai's Crystal Scepter instead of Rabadon's Deathcap , this gives you more chase and sustain power , while dramatically reducing your damage output .

REWORKED

First things first, the new Ryze should feel a bit more clear to the player and the opponent in term of spells visuals. However, if the player messes up his/her combo and throws the wrong shot at the wrong time, chances are that he/she will end up pretty much dead.

Here and in the following chapter I will try to discuss the tactics and the combos for a beginner to feel confident in every situation that occurs.

The skill sequence for the new Ryze is pretty solid. with Spell Flux having a very small cooldown and being the core of the new Ryze, it must be skilled at level 1. Followed by that, Overload and Rune Prison must be skilled respectively to allow access to the full kit. Overload is the main damaging ability of Ryze and therefore it must be maxed first.

Let's talk spells. Ryze's spell kit can be the most destructive kit in the game if played right .



This passive works wonders for Ryze. Try to keep your stacks at 1 so you will be ready for every possible situation. Should you need a quick movement speed boost to chase or retreat, pop W/E and follow it by Overload. However, if you feel like you can take out an overextending opponent, pop Overload and do a combo. Also, this passive benefits Ryze for buying tanky items with mana such as Frozen Heart.

---

Overload is your main skill and it offers you good trade-poke in case you need it, and it is your main damaging ability since it resets every time you cast a spell. Also, you can spam Overload to clear waves fast in dangerous situations or in sieges.

---

Rune Prison can offer you a 1 or 2 second long lockdown and a bit of extra damage if you need it , this was the reason (or still is) that Ryze is deemed to be "Unkillable" or "OverPowered" by some players. Pop the right Rune Prison at the right time and you will get yourself huge rewards.

---

Spell Flux after the rework, is basically a buff to Ryze's other abilities. Please read it's tooltip in case you felt lazy before, because we are going to discuss it here.

The core of Ryze's flexibility and core happens to be Spell Flux after the rework. It can increase Overload's damage or increase the root duration of Rune Prison, however, should you wish to pop another Spell Flux on it, it can turn out to a great AoE combined with Overload. We will discuss these possibilities more in the following combos section.




Realm Warp can be useful in almost every kind of situation . It can be your chase/escape tool and it can be your engage tool for your team. However, it may also backstab you by choosing to use it at the wrong place or at the wrong time.

Should you want to use Realm Warp in front of a target to chase it, be wary that it may instantly switch paths. What I recommend you to do is that you pop it in one possible way that the target is already heading towards, leave the warp's zone and head to the next possible direction on foot using your passive. However, you can use it with a Zhonya's Hourglass to instantly warp away for a retreat or you can just use it as a countermeasure to possible engages.

The full potentials of this ultimate are truly unknown. These are the experiences I have had myself. I'm fully open to your ideas.

---

Now lets talk about the most crucial thing about Ryze:

Combos

Combo: First things first , your combo depends on what phase you are in and what you are trying to do. Normally you want to keep your stack at 1 , so you can activate Arcane Mastery anytime you like.

During laning phase [Pre-6]: You should keep your focus on farming , unless you really feel like you can burst an opponent or that your jungler will come to help you . Keep in mind that you need at least 250 mana to execute your first phase combo.

The combo goes on like this : Assuming all your spells are off cooldown , Start like this :

Open with any situational spell . Preferably Rune Prison and cast the following spells in sequence :

Overload> Spell Flux> Overload> Rune Prison> Overload


If you open up with Spell Flux , just switch the Rune Prison and Spell Flux's sequence in the combo , If you open up with Overload you just continue it with the Rune Prison from the above combo.

However, after executing your combo 2 possibilities may occur:

Either your opponent tries to retreat or wants to come back and trade with you.

Depending on your sense of the game, you can pop Spell Flux into Overload and repeat until you are able to do another combo with Rune Prison. However, you may want to try stacking 2 Spell Fluxs just to get away and reset. This all depends on your own decision making.

Wave clearing combo:

To clear a wave fast, you must spread your Spell Flux to the whole wave. to do this you can do either of these two:

You can cast a Spell Flux on top of another one to spread it to the whole wave, then clear with Overload. However, you can nuke a minion marked by Spell Flux with Overload. That will also spread Spell Flux to nearby minions. This works in late stages of the game and needs accurate calculation of the damages.

AoE combo in fights:

This is basically the same combo as wave clearing. You have got to cast 2 spell fluxes on one enemy without casting any other spell on him. This will mark the whole fight and give you potential buffs throughout the team fight.

Note that you can do all these combos with a starting spell at the beginning just to charge your rune. For example, the basic combo E Q W Q can be cast as E E Q W Q with a noticable delay between the first two casts. However, I recommend you to keep your Rune Prison for the combos and not cast it to charge a rune unless you are in immediate danger.

Quick combo to get out of ganks:

Spell Flux-> Rune Prison-> Overload

this is basically just a charged rune but due to it's increased lock down time, I felt like I should write it here. Just cast it on the nearest enemy and gtfo.

All in a nutshell , depending on who you're up against you have countless choices of how to play , generally your goal is to keep farming up and get your core.Always watchout for an early gank from enemy junglers , Ryze is squishy at early game and is very squishy.

You should practice your combos and cast sequences before heading out against a formidable opponent. Also, always try to keep your stack at 1, just to have your shield ready.

Generally , Ryze can be a turning card if you manage to pick it into a nice comp . He works very well with a tanky jungler / support and has a good time laning against most champs . However , he suffers if his team is squishy and has no means of engaging the enemy , and commonly he is countered by a splitpusher .

Works well with : Orianna Leona Thresh Nautilus Maokai Gragas Ekko Diana Vi Hecarim Rek'Sai Sivir Olaf

Suffers against : Rek'Sai Fizz Irelia Elise Rengar Cho'Gath Hecarim Vi Lee Sin Renekton Fiora Evelynn

Pros:

-Fastest wave clear in the game
-Great teamfight/damage output.
-Tanky enough to last in fights
-Several build paths
-Situational combos

Cons :
-No escape means after ult (One-way ticket #Krepo)
-Suffers early in game
-Needs a good engage comp to start his combo
-Takes his time to get rolling

REWORKED

Pre-6 you really want to save your mana if a situation occurs . Hence you should practice last hitting with your low auto attack damage.

Try to stack your minions near your turret and avoid pushing into the lane. Use Thunderlord's Decree to poke effectively and freeze the minion wave. Farm up and wait for your tear to stack.


After stacking your tear a bit , and being past the laning phase , you can just clear waves instantly by starting a combo on minions . Also, charge a rune and use it to catch up to your opponent or retreat after a full clear, the movement speed buff cannot be predicted if you cast it fast enough.

As requested by "utopus", I'll mention some dueling facts and power spikes here.

First of all, this really, totally depends on who you are trying to duel (check the difficulty bar). With the juggernauts and new top-lane meta, I would recommend that you avoid any dueling and gap closing pre-6.

After stacking your Tear of the Goddess a bit and completing your Rod of Ages, you can easily out-trade almost anyone in the lane. Some additional tips:

1.Always keep Arcane Mastery at 1 stack before starting a duel.
2.The best position for you to start dueling is in MEDIUM range .
*For those of you wondering, Caitlyn has a LONG range and Darius has a SHORT range. MEDIUM range would be the range of Graves's auto-attack or about 3-4 Teemos
3.The best time to start dueling is when your opponent is surrounded by his minions or teammates (Thanks to Spell Flux). Check out the combos section for more info on it.
4.Never forget to use Overload between your spells, or the combo breaks down.
5.Open up with an appropriate combo depending on what you're trying to do (chase him or nuke him?)
6.Keep a close eye on your MANA bar. Never start dueling while below 300-500 MANA, depending on your opponent.
7.Time your Archangel's Staff shield to lure your opponent.
8.[Season 6] Try to get your Thunderlord's Decree proc in duels and use it to poke your opponent in lane.

Ryze can generally scale very well into late-game. The power spike is about 20-30 minutes when he reaches his potential to nuke almost everyone (once the core build is done).

Rune Prison can open many windows into teamfights , always consider the case of flashing in and Rune Prisoning a distant champ for a catch . You can almost surprise the enemy team by you flash-combo damage. Remember to activate Seraph's Embrace before taking damage in fights or spending mana to gain a badass shield.

You can use your Realm Warp to position yourself or any part of your team better. However, this needs great communications and concentration. I recommend you to keep your ultimate for yourself and use it only for your own good unless you are playing with a premade group.

Hope you enjoyed the guide and found it useful , I'm always watching for your comments or questions .

Entei Ari in EUW , all yours.

9/15/2015: Alright sorry for the delay, so, juggernauts are wreaking havoc in the top lane. As you would already know, they are slow but very destructive, so as Ryze all you need to do is lock them down with Rune Prison and keep the pressure up. Avoid fighting them up close or for long periods. They are vulnerable to pokes and ranged attacks.

#Added Garen to the difficulty bar.
#Added Fiora to the difficulty bar.
#vs.Darius difficulty changed.

10/6/2015: With the worlds and new plays comin out, I needed to update this guide a bit.

#vs.Ekko Difficulty and description changed.
#vs.Gangplank Difficulty and description changed.
#Added Mordekaiser to the difficulty bar.

10/27/2015: Added a dueling chapter to the guide! Thanks for the support.

11/9/2015: Whoops, a few grammar corrections.


11/11/2015: This guide will be fully updated during the following days. Keep posted.


11/13/2015: Finally up and ready for season 6! thank you everyone for your support and comments. I am thinking if some other stuff I'd add to the guide later on, but this should propel you through the preseason for now!

#Farming chapter reworked and renamed to Laning! (Why didn't I think of it sooner?)
#Masteries chapter reworked for season 6!
#A few champions have updated tooltips and difficulties on the bar. Check them out!
#Items pick order reworked to fit season 6.

Keep me posted should you think of anything new!

11/19/2015: Credit to "Jipinguino" for suggesting Will of the Ancients!

#Situational items updated
#Credit to "utopus" for requesting the dueling chapter added.
# Lulu added to the difficulty bar. As a matter of fact, she is quite a pain.

11/21/2015: Credit to "manoliu1001" for suggesting Zhonya's Hourglass and a few fixes in the combos section!

Thanks for all the support, you guys are the best.

11/26/2015: Homeguards dead. RIP.


11/29/2015:

#Added Shyvana to the difficulty bar. (Credit to "Simplar Duosara" on EUW.)

Wow, 500k views. I hope this guide is helping you guys out, thanks for all the support and love.

#1/3/2016: Renamed, Happy new year!

1/27/2016: Okay, I've been getting a lot of feedback both through the in-game client and the comments section. I've changed the skill sequence and masteries to help you through the early game.

1.3M views? I never thought you would be so much interested. Thanks for the support

#5/5/2016: Masteries and items updated.

8/9/2015: Finally updated and ready to go! Thanks for the support and sorry for the delay!