Skill usageEdit

• Don't be afraid to use  Overload to last hit minions as the spell has a low mana cost and cooldown.
• Chaining abilities in the right order is key to make optimal use of  Arcane Mastery . For starters, begin with  Overload and use it every 2nd spell afterwards. Advanced combos rely on making use of  Arcane Mastery to cooldown priority spells.
• Some example spell combos involve:
  1.  Overload ->  Desperate Power(while  Overload is enroute) ->  Overload ->  Spell Flux ->  Overload ->  Rune Prison ->  Overload (maximum damage over-time, 40% CDR team-fight damage combo)
  2.  Rune Prison ->  Overload ->  Spell Flux ->  Overload (short, lane harassment burst combo)
  3.  Rune Prison ->  Overload ->  Spell Flux ->  Overload ->  Desperate Power (while  Overload is enroute) ->  Overload ->  Rune Prison (chasing combo, to make  Rune Prison refresh as soon as possible, also used on people out of position)
• Casting  Overload before your other spells will allow a second cast soon, due to its relatively short cooldown and  Arcane Mastery.
• If pursued, try to cast your spells on the run to use your  Rune Prison as many times as possible on your pursuers. Prioritize melee champions with gap closers.
• Using  Rune Prison on melee enemies will effectively remove them from the fight temporarily.
•  Rune Prison does NOT interrupt channeling abilities, so be aware of using it against enemies like Katarina or Fiddlesticks.
•  Rune Prison will not stop a ranged champion from attacking your allies within range; always take this into consideration when using it on champions such as Twitch or Kog'Maw.
• Try to use  Spell Flux on groups of minions or a minion near a champion to hit them near turrets.
• When encountering a single opponent, make sure you're sufficiently close for the  Spell Flux to bounce off you.
•  Desperate Power combined with Ryze's other abilities make farming gold easy, in mid/late game.
•  Desperate Power has a relatively short cooldown and its spell vamp can help Ryze to regain health.
• At 40% cooldown reduction, because of  Arcane Mastery, Ryze's combo is only limited by the player's casting speed. This makes smartcasting all of Ryze's skills a good technique for veteran players.
• When low on health, don't be afraid to use  Desperate Power +  Spell Flux on a minion wave to regain some health as his ultimate has a low cooldown. Since  Overload has a low cooldown aswell, use this as much as possible while you ultimate is on cooldown to reduce it using  Arcane Mastery.
• There is a bug that allows Ryze to lower his cooldowns while farming : While ryze is about to kill a unit with his  Overload for example and throws another spell very shortly before the minion dies, for example, he can use another spell like his  Spell Flux before the impact of the  Overload so that all of his cooldowns get lowered even though the last spell he threw isn't on cooldown. This bug allows you to get your  Desperate Power very quickly in order to shove the lane or do the wraiths, or be able to gank after he pushed the lane. Also, all the other spell cooldowns are lowered by a second, so  Overload is way more spammable.

Build usage Edit

• Ryze relies on mainly cooldown reduction, mana, and magic penetration to increase his damage. Any items that grant one of these stats, or a reasonable combination, is probably worth buying.
  • Because most mana items offer some health and armor, Ryze can be effectively be built tanky and deal a lot of damage at the same time with his spells.
• Because Doran's Ring doesn't synergize well with Ryze, he has the option of choosing other starting items to go to lane, such as Sapphire Crystal or Boots of Speed and health or mana potions.
• An example of a good, versatile early game item build could be Sorcerer's Shoes, Tear of the Goddess, Catalyst the Protector, Hextech Revolver/ Will of the Ancients, Glacial Shroud, and Negatron Cloak.
• Because the magic damage from  Overload and  Rune Prison scale very well with mana, Ryze relies heavily on mana for damage and usage of abilities. This makes mana items essential to his build.
  • Tear of the Goddess is especially key, allowing Ryze to more freely use his spells while passively increasing his mana pool, and indirectly, his magic damage. Archangel's Staff is a viable upgrade, but should not be built out of Tear of the Goddess immediately. When Ryze has a very deep mana pool later in the game, he can make full use of Archangel's Staff's passive +3% max mana to ability power.
  • Muramana can provide more damage (as it procs on autoattacks and single target spells), because of Ryze's mana pool: (250 base + (55 per level*18 = 990 at level 18) = 1240 + 1000 mana due to Tear = 2240 mana * .06 = 134 bonus physical damage per autoattack and single target spell. Archangel's staff only provides (50+(2200*.03))*.4 = +46 damage on Ryze's Overload, his main source of ability damage.
    • Although Ryze's spells deal splash damage during his ultimate, Muramana's toggle will still proc on the actual target of the spell; the Muramana damage is not splashed.
  • However, the bonus damage from Muramana is physical and will not benefit from Ryze's MR reduction and penetration.
  • Consider building Iceborn Gauntlet in combination with Muramana as it will allow to follow up with a powerful autoattack with an AOE slow after casting a spell.
• Ryze should invest in an early Catalyst the Protector for health and mana. It can be built into Rod of Ages later.
•  Arcane Mastery synergizes very well with cooldown reduction items.  Overload provides a passive 10% cooldown reduction at max rank, so Ryze only needs 30% more cooldown reduction from other sources to reach the 40% cap, and his  Arcane Mastery reduces the cooldowns on his abilities even further.
  • Glacial Shroud is a core item for Ryze giving him mana and armor allowing Ryze to be a tanky mage with a decent amount of damage. Later, it can also be built into a Frozen Heart. With two cooldown reduction masteries, 9/0/21 or 9/21/0, Frozen Heart and  Overload can be all that Ryze needs for maximum cooldown reduction. Alternatively, consider the combination of  Iceborn Gauntlet and   Spirit of the Spectral Wraith for the same result.
• Consider the impact on his damage before immediately upgrading Ryze's mana items into their ability power and mana upgrades like Rod of Ages and Archangel's Staff. Because his AP ratios are so low, it might be better to just get another mana item or get a little tankier.
• Buying a defensive mana item like Glacial Shroud or Banshee's Veil offers surprisingly potent offensive boosts at the same time, solidifying Ryze in his innate tanky caster role.
• Because Ryze has low ability power scalings, magic penetration or magic resistance reduction is important. Although  Spell Flux reduces enemy magic resistance, items like Void Staff will improve his late game damage output if enemies have built some magic resistance.
  • Sorcerer's Shoes, Haunting Guise, and Abyssal Scepter are useful to counter early magic resistance and one or two may be enough with  Spell Flux. Because of the way that magic penetration is calculated, they will lose effectiveness as enemies build magic resistance and Void Staff will eventually be the most effective magic penetration item.
• Will of the Ancients works well in conjunction with the spell vamp of  Desperate Power and makes you surprisingly durable even at low health. Alternatively,  Spirit of the Spectral Wraith , with its cooldown reduction, mana regeneration, and lower cost, may be an even better choice.

Recommended builds Edit

Summoner's Rift recommended items
Starting		2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Howling Abyss recommended items
Starting			3	3
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Crystal Scar recommended items
Starting		2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Twisted Treeline recommended items
Starting		2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

Countering Edit

• Ryze damage output is mainly magic damage. Investing in a magic resistance item can help reduce his damage.
• Stay back when you notices he activates his  Desperate Power. It gives his spells AoE damage, causing him to deal a lot of damage when facing him in a minion wave.
• Ryze takes a while to rack up mana via Tear of the Goddess - denying him farm and killing him early on will hamper him in the later stage of the game.
• Although Ryze is very strong at late game, he has a weak early game. Putting pressure on his lane or denying his chance to farm or kill will reduce his effectiveness in the later stages of the game.