| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Strong map impact after level 6 thanks to his ultimate enabling quick roams and team movement. | Very weak early game and extremely fragile until Rod of Ages stacks. |
| Point-and-click root on W gives easy, reliable crowd control. | Short range makes him vulnerable to poke, ganks, and zoning. |
| Big AOE damage in mid-game fights due to spell spread and resets. | Struggles into many meta mid-lane champions, making him a risky blind pick. |
| Becomes tanky and difficult to kill after core items (Rod of Ages, Archangel’s Staff). | Severe mana issues before Tear and other mana items. |
| Simple, understandable kit that’s easy to learn and play. | Often loses early lane control before he can scale. |
General Overview
Ryze Mid sits at a 48.8% win rate with around a 3.8% pick rate in Emerald+ and sits in B Tier. After studying more than ten thousand matches on patch 15.24, the best core build is Rod of Ages, Mercury’s Treads, Archangel’s Staff, Rabadon’s Deathcap, and Zhonya’s Hourglass. The most reliable rune page uses Phase Rush, Manaflow Band, Transcendence, and Gathering Storm, with Bone Plating and Overgrowth as the secondary choices. Together, these help him stay safe early while giving him big scaling power.
Main Combos
Ryze really revolves around three simple but important combos:
- High damage combo: Q → W → Q → E → Q
This gives you strong single-target damage with a slow. - Root setup combo: Q → E → W → Q
This does less damage but gives you a clean, point-and-click root. - Utility combo: Q → W → E → Q
Applies a slow, and procs your overload runes for a large movement speed bonus.
Abilities and How to Use Them
Passive — Arcane Mastery
Ryze’s passive makes mana incredibly valuable for him. His abilities scale with his maximum mana, turning part of it into bonus AP. On top of that, his spells deal extra damage based on the enemy’s max mana, which makes tanky champs and mana users take heavier hits. Because of this, stacking mana items early and often is one of the strongest ways to boost your overall damage.
Q — Overload
Range: 1000
Cooldown: 6 / 5.5 / 5 / 4.5 / 4
Cost: 40
Ryze fires a rune bolt in a straight line, dealing magic damage. Casting E or W before using Q empowers it, resetting the cooldown and turning it into an AOE blast around the target.
How to Use
- Q → E → Q is your main poke and short trade pattern.
- Empowered Q gives you huge AOE waveclear—use it to control the mid wave.
- In fights, always look to chain resets on Q for max DPS.
- In tough matchups, use Q to farm from a safe distance.
W — Rune Prison
Range: 615
Cooldown: 13 / 12 / 11 / 10 / 9
Cost: 40
Ryze roots a single target with a point-and-click lock, dealing magic damage and setting up your combos.
How to Use
- Use W to guarantee an empowered Q hit.
- This is your best tool for peeling yourself from assassins.
- When your jungler ganks, E → W → Q is your clean kill setup.
- Save W in dangerous matchups—do not waste it for small trades.
E — Spell Flux
Range: 615
Cooldown: 3.5
Cost: 40
Ryze marks a target, reducing their magic resist and spreading damage. Hitting a marked target with Q causes the spell to jump and deal AOE damage.
How to Use
- E → Q instantly clears waves once you reach mid-game.
- Use E before all-ins to shred MR and boost your damage.
- Helps your jungler burst objectives faster because of the MR shred.
- Great for stacking Manaflow Band safely by casting E on minions.
R — Realm Warp
Range: 3000 / 4000 / 5000
Cooldown: 210 / 180 / 150
After channeling, Ryze teleports himself and all allies in the circle to a target location. It’s a powerful tool for map plays and fast rotations.
How to Use
- Use R to create numbers advantage in fights and skirmishes.
- Perfect for collapsing on sidelanes or setting up dives bot.
- Can be used defensively to escape ganks or reset a bad fight.
- In niche cases, you can use R to break a freeze by porting your wave behind you.
Items, Runes, and Max Order
Ryze relies on items that give him mana, health, and scaling, since these all boost the power of his Q, W, and E. Your first big buy should almost always be Rod of Ages, because it gives you everything you need to survive the early game while setting up your mid-game spike. After that, Archangel’s Staff becomes a major power jump once it upgrades, giving you a shield that keeps you alive when you step in to cast W or spread E through a wave or fight. For boots, Mercury’s Treads are the safest choice since Ryze struggles against crowd control. Later, Rabadon’s Deathcap boosts your overall damage, and Zhonya’s Hourglass helps you stay safe when teams try to collapse on you.
For runes, Phase Rush is the best keystone because the burst of speed lets you escape melee champs and early ganks after landing your spells. Manaflow Band helps with Ryze’s early mana issues, while Transcendence and Gathering Storm give strong scaling. In the secondary tree, Bone Plating helps you survive early trades, and Overgrowth gives you extra health as the game goes on.
Your max order is very straightforward. Max Q first because it’s your main poke tool and the spell that gives your combo most of its damage. Max E second since lowering its cooldown makes your AOE and waveclear much stronger. Max W last because the root duration doesn’t scale enough to beat the value you get from Q and E. And of course, level R whenever possible.
Laning Phase
Your lane plan changes depending on the matchup. Against all-in champions like Irelia, Akshan, Fizz, Yasuo, or other melee divers, play very safe early. Only last-hit with Q, avoid pushing the wave, and keep the minions just outside your turret. This forces them to walk up too far and makes their engages much harder.
Against easier ranged lanes, you can shove slowly with autos, stack Manaflow, and set up early vision around raptors or river.
Do not spam E → Q early because Ryze’s mana is too tight before Tear and Manaflow stacks. He is very weak before his HP items, so use Q to farm from a distance and avoid dying early. It’s more important to stay alive and get clean recalls than to win trades. Once you buy Tear and start building Rod of Ages, you can spend your mana more freely to push waves.
After unlocking R, you can play much more proactively. Use lane prio to roam with your jungler or look for bot/top dives. Ryze shines on the map, not in pure 1v1 lane pressure. Remember that E can bounce off minions to stack Manaflow safely even if it doesn’t hit the enemy champ. Always track the enemy jungler—Ryze is easy to gank early because of his short range and weak escapes before Phase Rush and boots.
Advanced Tips
You can use E bounces to gain Manaflow stacks safely without drawing aggro, especially in tough lanes. One special trick: if you cast E → Q → W → Q, the second Q will still apply a root even if you cast W while the first Q is mid-air, because the hit becomes empowered at the moment W lands. Finally, if you begin channeling R and realize it’s unsafe, you can instantly cancel it by starting a recall while standing inside the circle.
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