What is the proper way to play Ryze? Please help me figure this out, as I couldn't find a champion spotlight for him

Masteries: is it 21-0-9 or 9-0-21?

Runes?
Seals = ?
glyphs = ?
marks = ?
quin = ?

combat?

Vs Gank: drop desperate power, spell flux, rune prison, then overload?
To Gank: ?

anything else?

9/0/21 (standard caster masteries)
or
0/9/21 (standard utility tree + strength of spirit)

Marks = flat magic pen
Seals = MP5 or Armor
Glyphs = Mana (flat or scaling) or scaling MR. Using a few CDR runes are a possible alternative, but going full CDR on glyphs is overkill
Quints = flat mana, magic pen, or health

Playing him is pretty darn simple. Q is your shortest cooldown, longest range, biggest damage. W is a snare. E is a utility spell for lowering MR.

If you're getting ganked, why would you stay to drop all those spells while they're killing you? Snare one and run the heck away.
And if you're ganking, using your spell that prevents them from running away seems like a no-brainer.

You don't need a champion spotlight to be able to figure out how to build or play a champion. Using your brain a little often gives you most, if not all, the answers you need.

http://www.solomid.net/guides.php?g=6661
This is solid guide, read it first then if you have questions come back. That said that that is not the only way to set up rune/masteries. I personally like flat mana + stength of spirit because it gives me stronger early game where i weakest. I feel that if i don't fail early game i do well regardless of lack of 15% magic pen. But it is really matter of preference somoene might prefer riskier and more passive play with no flat mana and stregth of spirit to have a stronger mid/late game.

This is a very good piece of advice. Some extra notes:

Masteries: I use 9/7/14. The suggested materies are good though

Runes: Don't use Mana/lvl... Flat mana are awesome. The other suggested runes are also useful.

There's a champion spotlight on him just look for RYZE SPOTLIGHT.

The recommended items is all you need to get...

About spells: You ALWAYS want to cast Q first... except in some very rare occassions were you need the snare (W) first.

Harassing from MAXIMUM range = E+Q, though if you can`t get both you should cast Q first
Harassing from MEDIUM range = Q+W+E+Q, This is good rotation for maximum burst and securing the snare (remember it has lower range than Q and E)
Commiting to a fight = Q+W+Q+E+Q... so own

During Harassment stage it is EXTREMELY important to do an AUTOATTACK everytime you cast a SPELL... Q+attack or QE+attack. OR attack+Q+attack. This is the only way harassment is effective.

Desperate Prayer has 3 uses
- Reset Q timer
- Cast AoE damage
- Get Spell vamp.

Just use it if you need any of the 3 things it does. It is best you can do 2 or even the 3 things a tthe same time (like in teamfights), but in general you only use it for 1 or (at most) 2 things. Don't be shy using it. The cooldown is low enough

Low hp? need spell vamp = use it
Need to lower the cooldown of W for a snare or a Q? use it
Need to clear minions? use it
Are you fighting a team fight? use it

Ryze is interesting in that his main spell, Q, has a very short cooldown and does damage based on his MAX MANA. It benefits very little from AP. His other spells DO benefit from AP, but they are really more utility and not NEARLY used as much as Q.

Ryze gets 10% CDR for free, so you want to get it to 40% or close to it ASAP. This allows you to use your combos, where you do a Q (2.2 sec cooldown, reduced to 1.2 by passive), then W (reduces Q to .2), then another Q, then E, then Q, then R, then Q. Then W and E should hopefully be back up again soon.

So how do we do this?

Well, your main CDR item will be Glacial Shroud. It provides mana, 15% CDR, and armor all in 1. Upgrades to frozen heart for 20% CDR, UBER armor, and an AD-hozing aura.
Its perfect for Ryze.

So you only need 10% CDR from runes and masteries to pull it off. 15% ensures you get max CDR with the cheap Shroud instead of having to wait for antoehr 1200g or so to upgrade to a Frozen heart which you may or may not need at that point.


21 Utility is really good for Ryze. He benefits from the early mana regen, the 5% more mana, the extra movespeed, the 6% CDR, and faster summoner cooldown.

You can then pick either 9 Offense for 15% penetration and 3% CDR or 9 defense for 1 HP/5 regen per 100 mana, and +6 armor and MR. I go with the defense approach.

For runes there are lots of options. You probably want flat CDR blues to ensure you hit the 40% mark. Its kinda nice to have more than 35% at the shroud level too vs waiting for heart.


TL;DR: 0-9-21 (str of spirit, 3 armor, 3 MR, and the 5% Max mana instead of XP)
red runes - magic penetration. works well with sorc shoes and your E debuff.
yellow - mana regen or armor or max mana.
blue - CDR or possibly some MR/lvl mixed in or max mana.
quints - I take 2 health, 1 magic pen but this can widely vary.
(I dont have a special Ryze runepage, so I use my standard caster one)

Start with sapphire crystal and 2 health pots.
Upgrade to TEAR ASAP!!!!
get boots
get Glacial Shroud.
upgrade to sorc shoes.
get negatron cloak
upgrade to banshees
upgrade to frozen heart
Take a Void Staff if they have heavy magic resistance. Otherwise take Rod of Ages or Will of the Ancients.

In a fight always drop Q first, unless you need a snare on someone very badly.

Alternate Q with every spell, Q W Q E Q R Q W Q E Q. It will maximize your dps, but you have to wait a second between each Q. If you can wait, you can get a mega-chain of spells.

Skill rotation is QWQEQRQWQEQ, this allows for the best damage over the course of a fight, and don't worry about lack of nuking power because ryze is a dps mage.
Edit:ninja'd dammit

why is it that everyone seems to cast R in the middle...... R should be the first thing to be cased right after the inital Q if your gonna use it. no point in casting it when everything else is on cooldown

but the idea is correct, you want to weave your cooldowns with Q since you can reduce Q's cooldown such that casting another spell will bring it off it's cooldown allowing you to recast.

again use R right after your first Q to enhance your damage and then use your snare then your E for added damage.

the whole key of ryze is to know to weave Q into your casting to maximize your damage through cooldown reductions.

as for items, its fairly stright forward, get as much mana as you can.

Masteries should be 9/7/14. Strength of Spirit is a big deal on Ryze considering that his mana pool should reach close to or exceeding 5k mana. Mana/lvl is nice but unnecessary. Mana regen/magic pen runes are better. Get Tear of Goddess(into AA), Sorc Boots, ROA, Banshee's, Frozen Heart, then Abysmal, Void Staff, You should have 33% CDR, 4800 mana, and near tank stats.

Why in the middle?
- You always want to cast Q everyother spell to maximize damage
- Your suggested Q->R->E is lower in damage than Q->E->Q->R or Q->R->Q->E

The thing is that it is difficult to have perfect positioning in the first second of the fight... people usually take 2-3 seconds before the Stuns and snares are used and they clump together. If you start with R chances are you will get silenced or stunned and lose 1/2 the damage, there's also a chance that people are too spread apart to be hit by the AoE. So waiting before using your ultimate is usually the best bet.

Basically following my rules for using R is the most effective way to play
- Use it when targets are clumped for AoE
- Use it when you need spell vamp
- Use it to reset cooldowns

If you need any of the three, using R is a good option

One last thing is that when you follow this sequence everything will come OFF cooldown as you use it Q W Q E Q R Q W Q E Q

for example after you can W you also cast: QEQRQ... that's -5 seconds of the cooldown. With 14 seconds cooldown and 40% cdr, the cooldown becomes 8.4 sec aprox. Take out 5 seconds and the spell is down to 3.4 sec total cooldown. That´s the time it takes to cast 5 spells in suggestion.So by the time you cast your 4th Q your first W will be off cooldown, by the time you cast your 5th Q, E will come off cooldown.