Ryze/Strategy

Skill usage

 * Don't be afraid to use 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 . For starters, begin with  and use it every 2nd spell afterwards. Advanced combos rely on making use of  to cooldown priority spells.
 * Some example spell combos involve:
 * -> (while is enroute) ->  ->  ->  ->  ->  (maximum damage over-time, 40% CDR team-fight damage combo)
 * -> ->  ->  (short, lane harassment burst combo)
 * -> ->  ->  ->  (while  is enroute) ->  ->  (chasing combo, to make  refresh as soon as possible, also used on people out of position)
 * Casting before your other spells will allow a second cast soon, due to its relatively short cooldown and.
 * If pursued, try to cast your spells on the run to use your as many times as possible on your pursuers. Prioritize melee champions with gap closers.
 * Using on melee enemies will effectively remove them from the fight temporarily.
 * does NOT interrupt channeling abilities, so be aware of using it against enemies like or.
 * will not stop a ranged champion from attacking your allies within range; always take this into consideration when using it on champions such as or.
 * Try to use 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 to bounce off you.
 * combined with other abilities make farming gold easy, in mid/late game.
 * has a relatively short cooldown and its spell vamp can help to regain health.
 * At 40% cooldown reduction, because of, 's combo is only limited by the player's casting speed. This makes smartcasting all of 's skills a good technique for veteran players.

Build usage

 * Because doesn't synergize well with, he has the option of choosing other starting items to go to lane, such as  or  and health or mana potions.
 * 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 will eventually build items that offer mana and cooldown reduction, other teammates can get  as he is not dependent on it late game.
 * An example of a good, versatile early game item build could be, , , /, , and.
 * Because the magic damage from and  scale very well with mana,  relies heavily on mana for damage and usage of abilities. This makes mana items essential to his build.
 * is especially key, allowing to more freely use his spells while passively increasing his mana pool, and indirectly, his magic damage.  is a viable upgrade, but should not be built out of  immediately. When  has a VERY deep mana pool later in the game, he can make full use of 's passive +3% max mana to ability power.
 * However, provides 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 magic 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.
 * should invest in an early for health and mana. It can be built into  later.
 * Buying a defensive mana item like or  offers surprisingly potent offensive boosts at the same time, solidifying  in his innate tanky caster role.
 * synergizes very well with cooldown reduction items. provides a passive 10% cooldown reduction at max rank, so  only needs 30% more cooldown reduction from other sources to reach the 40% cap, and his  reduces the cooldowns on his abilities even further.
 * is a core item for giving him mana and armor allowing  to be a tanky mage with a decent amount of damage. Later, it can also be built into a . With two cooldown reduction masteries, 9/0/21 or 9/21/0,  and  can be all that  needs for maximum cooldown reduction.
 * Because most cooldown reduction items don't synergize well with, the can be used with a  and 's passive to reach the maximum 40% cooldown reduction cap. Depending on what items  intends to build for magic penetration,  may be more useful than.
 * Consider the impact on his damage before immediately upgrading 's mana items into their ability power and mana upgrades like and . Because his AP ratios are so low, it might be better to just get another mana item or get a little tankier.
 * Because has low ability power scalings, magic penetration or magic resistance reduction is important. Although  reduces enemy magic resistance, items like  will improve his late game damage output if enemies have built some magic resistance.
 * ,, and are useful to counter early magic resistance and one or two may be enough with . Because of the way that magic penetration is calculated, they will lose effectiveness as enemies build magic resistance and  will eventually be the most effective magic penetration item.
 * works well in conjunction with the spell vamp of and makes you surprisingly durable even at low health.

Countering

 * 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 . It gives his spells AoE damage, causing him to deal a lot of damage when facing him in a minion wave.
 * takes a while to rack up mana via - denying him farm and killing him early on will hamper him in the later stage of the game.
 * Although 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.