Hi everyone, I'm Shblov, and here is my Ryze AP Guide. It took me a lot of time to make this guide, and I made it the best I could, so I hope you'll like it, and I'll appreciate any form of feedback. Ryze is usually played stacking mana, but I'll show you that playing Ryze with AP will provide you way more damage and a way better Early game than a Mana Ryze. Special Thanks: Credits to jhoijhoi for the template, which you can find here.

Her guide to making a guide helped greatly in the making of this guide. Without further ado, I present to you my AP Ryze Guide !

Pros + Deals more damage than mana ryze (check "The Math" chapter). + Awesome Early and Mid game. + All spells are mono-target. + Spell Flux does damage with AP Ryze. + Awesome lock on with Rune Prison. + Great AP Burst. + AoE damage with Desperate Power

Cons - Mana Issues Early Game. - Not as tanky as Mana Ryze. - No skillshots, meaning you can't attack people in bushes. - No escapes. - Bad pusher without ultimate. - Bad range compared to other common mids

Gives you cooldown reduction, which is always neat for a spell-spamming champion such as Ryze !


Those 3 will simply give you more AP, especially Archmage . Mental Force can be replaced with Brute Force if you have trouble last-hitting minions.


Those two increases your overall damage output.


This one mastery is vital ! Magic penetration will really increase the magic damage you deal ! It's absolutely necessary.


As Ryze, you tend to have a lot of mana, even without building some. This mastery will give you nice sustain.


Reduces mana issues and allows you to stay in lane longer.


As a champ like Ryze which uses Blue buff extremely well, this mastery will be very useful.

Those talk for themselves. You're going for maximal damage, as Ap Ryze you're kind off an Ap Assassin and you can burst down any squishy with a full combo as opposed to Mana Ryze who profits more from long teamfights. Still take a bit of MR to avoid getting one shot early on.

With your usual Ryze build, you will max out Overload first. This is also what you're gonna do when playing AP Ryze, as it is a low CD ability with an amazing passive that gives you nice CDR. When using AP instead of Mana, Rune Prison does a lot of damage and is a good poking tool, so you have to take a point in it at level 2. Take a point in Spell Flux at level 3 to make better use of Ryze's passive, Arcane Mastery. Max Rune Prison second because while it deals more damage than Overload, it has higher CD and manacost. Spell Flux will be maxed last. While Spell Flux is mainly used to activate Arcane Mastery on Mana Ryze, it can provide real damage on AP Ryze (see chapter "The Math").

Flash is, without any doubts, the best Summoner Spell for Ryze. It can be used to escape, which is awesome because Ryze hasn't got any real escapes. It also has offensive uses such as helping to chase an enemy or gank.


Ignite is really usefull for finishing an enemy off without taking too much risks and for messing with Dr. Mundo or champions receiving a lot of healing from the enemy support.


You can take Clarity over Ignite if you feel like you're having too much mana issues, but it's a bad offensive choice.

So here, I will explain why (and how) AP Ryze deals more damage than Mana Ryze. So let's start with the builds, runes and masteries of AP Ryze :

AP Ryze :

Rod of Ages (+650 Mana, +80 AP), Rabadon's Deathcap (+120 AP, +30% AP), Zhonya's Hourglass (+120 AP), Will of the Ancients (+80 AP), Deathfire Grasp (+120 AP), Greater Seal of Scaling Ability PowerX9 (+16,2 AP), Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability PowerX9 (+27,54 AP), Greater Quintessence of Ability PowerX3 (+14,85), Blast (+18 AP), Mental Force (+6 AP) Archmage (+5% AP), Expanded Mind (+180 Mana).
This gives us a total of 602,59 AP to which we add 35% from Rabadon's Deathcap and Archmage , bringing us to 813,4965 AP, which we round to 813 AP Total. But let's not forget mana. Ryze has got 1240 Mana at level 18 to which we add 830 mana from items and masteries, bringing us to a total of 2070 Mana.


Now let's go with Mana Ryze. I will take the build, runes, and masteries, from the most common Mana Ryze build :

Mana Ryze :

Muramana (+1000 Mana, +6% damage on mono-target spells), Rod of Ages (+650 Mana, +80 AP), Frozen Heart (+400 Mana), Iceborn Gauntlet (+30 AP, +500 Mana) Will of the Ancients (+80 AP), Blast (+18 AP), Expanded Mind (+180 Mana).
This gives us a total of 208 AP. Ryze has 1240 Mana at level 18 to which we add 2730 Mana from masteries and items, bringing us to a total of 3970 Mana.


Now let's get to the fun part, skill damage calculation !
Let's start with AP Ryze's combo :
Deathfire Grasp's Active : 15% of your opponent's hp + Overload 160(+325AP)(+135Mana) = 620+20%(from DFG) = 744 + Rune Prison 200(+488AP)(+93Mana) = 781+20%(from DFG) = 937 + Spell Flux(All 3 hits) 130(+285AP)(+21Mana) = 436+20%(from DFG) = 523X3 = 1569 = 3250 + 15% of your opponent's health ( Deathfire Grasp's active) Damage total for AP Ryze.

Now Mana Ryze's combo :
Overload 160(+83AP)(+258Mana) = 501+6%(from Muramana) = 531 + Rune Prison 200(+124AP)(+179Mana) = 503+6%(from Muramana) = 533 + Spell Flux(All 3 hits) 130(+62AP)(+40Mana) = 232X3 = 696 = 1760 Damage total for Mana Ryze.


As you can see, AP Ryze's instant burst is far superior to Mana Ryze's instant burst. Of course, Mana Ryze will be much stronger in long teamfights as he can spam like crazy, but you act as an assassin when playing AP Ryze.