I have been playing Ryze on dominion a lot on my dominion only smurf, and have been really successful with him (at least the last 8+ games won with him), and I usually plan on building Will of the Ancients at some point in my build. My question is when. This is what I kind of do (obviously it changes based on enemy team)

tear +boots
Catalyst x2
Odyn's (if AP is very problematic) or Glacial shroud
Frozen heart if I need the AS slow passive
WOTA
Upgrade remaining items.

I was wondering what any really experienced/skilled Ryze players think about when to build a WotA. I definitely feel a lot stronger when I get it, but I'm not sure where the breakeven point is (because obviously Ryze doesn't scale too well with the AP portion of WotA, just the spellvamp).

Don't build two Catalysts.

I usually first build boots, tear, catalyst, shroud, revolver in whatever order I feel is prudent, and then work on upgrading those items; Archangel last, almost never gets finished. I usually save my sixth slot for a wild card utility item like a Sweeper/Void Staff should it become necessary.

i usually rush the wota
i get a tear drop then tier 1 boots and then i buy every part of wota I can whenever i have to go back to base. In my personal opinion as long as you dont get endlessly cc'd wota early gives more survivability than catalysts.

once i have wota i usually rush glacial shroud next for the cooldowns ryzes second most important stat

if you want my credicials i guess you can look at my recent matches, they arn't all wins but I did pretty well. i lost one due to my wireless mouses batteries dying

when to get WoTa is situational, hextech revolver is also a good enough start though. if you really need the spell vamp, get the revolver after you finish your boots.

I wouldn't get it before at least finishing glacial shroud. Unless the enemy is totally lacking one damage type I'd usually go up to: Tear, boots, glacial shroud, catalyst. Then decide whether to finish one of the defensive items or get spellvamp.

after tear. seriously, it's cheap.

I generally go:

Catalyst -> Boots 1 -> Tear -> Glacial Shroud -> Revolver.

Things generally get situational from there. Sometimes even before that, but more times than not, that's my opening.

Do you start Tear? If so, have you ever tried Catalyst starts? I used to start Tear + Boots 1 all the time when I was starting out, but after trying Catalyst I was a quick convert. It gives you great sustain and a much stronger early game. Hands down worth giving up the early bonus mana you'd get from the Tear start, in my opinion.