So I just started my ranked matches and finished my first 10 ever. I was placed into silver ranking, pretty sweet deal considering I've never done it before. I have been playing mainly Ryze on top lane. While it seems a little unorthodox to do it, it's been working very well in my favor and the only problems I have had with it was a match against a Jayce, whom I beat in the lane but was quickly destroyed by a roaming Eve/Jax combo.

So my question to GD is, Ryze top, just lucky that it works in my favor or does it carry some weight behind it? Are my opponents bad or am I better?

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I wish they could stop you from making new forum accounts.

As for the topic, I quite like the idea.. I've never tried it, but considering spell damage doesn't draw minion aggro; you could bully most bruisers pretty hard top with Ryze without taking any damage in return. He can disengage easily with his W for jungle ganks, farm safely with his ranged autos, and if he needs to, he has great wave clearing power / sustain post-6 with his ult.

I could see it being a really good choice, but then, I suck; especially in top lane :>

Ryze top is kinda viable because of how much he punishes melee. He has a very powerful and short CD root, an MS buff combined with spellvamp, and his no skillshot nature means that if you go up for a last hit and he's near the creep wave, you're taking some harass. You were probably having problems with Jayce because he was staying back poking away at you.

Once I saw a Ryze beat Darius in the top lane... Sadly the Darius was in our team..

Athene best Ryze in da league. Hes better mid though.

Top lane is very gankable, Ryze is very gankable. In mid lane Ryze can just push and do whatever he wants.

This is what I have always thought. It works out incredibly well. I always thought my trouble would be mostly against Irelia or Darius, but I have done well against Darius so far and haven't had to play against Irelia. When I call it in the draft line-up my partners always question it, and of course I understand why, but I don't let them down. I may not always kill my opponent in lane multiple times, but I either keep up with farm and eventually shut him down, or I actually do kill them several times and snowball the game.

Ryze top is actually very strong right now. You want to start out flask because you need sustain on top lane instead of damage from mana crystal. Your job is to only last hit so that the lane will inevitably be pushed to your side.

Ryze is actually OK vs ganks. First of all, he barely pushes the lane by nature, so with good mechanics, you can keep the wave just out of your tower. Second, if you're ever ganked, you can immediately get the more threatening opponent out of the equation with a quick snare, and you're in good position because you're not only ranged, but also have a HP advantage over enemy top because you hard counter a ton of ranged AND melee tops. Ryze craps on Vlad, Kennen, Teemo. And he basically craps on almost any melee top because he kites with snare.

Your weakest point is actually early game. Once you have ult it's easier to escape ganks by abusing bush. Once you have tear and maybe a catalyst you can really start spamming your spells hard. Kind of like Vlad, just dominates harder w/ better late game but less safe. Either way, Ryze top is perfectly viable unless you pick straight into a counterpick like Irelia. However, I prefer Ryze mid because Ryze's ganking potential is ridiculous.