I was just told by a bunch of people that Ryze doesn't need to build tear on dominion. Am I crazy or something for thinking he does?

Nope, they're crazy.

It isn't always the best starting item for him, but it should always be in your core.

Even if the tear only gets 1/3rd charged, it still is giving 350+333 = 683 mana for 1000 gold, plus the mana regen which is kind of helpful early game.
This is still pretty efficient and since mana is just as good as AP offensively (for the gold cost), this puts Tear as a quite efficient item. If it gets fully charged it is giving 1350mana for 1000 gold which is hugely efficient (2700g of mana for 1k).

The difference between tear and say deathcap is that the tear is far better in letting you spam early and midgame due to all that mana. The large amounts of mana also help when you convert to an archangels staff.

You don't HAVE to start with a tear though. In fact, you might go with a Catalyst instead especially bottom lane. That makes you much tougher and you get health as well as mana regen. Get the tear (and boots) on your first Back, then move on to your other usual items.


You could also get away without the tear, as long as you have something to give you early and midgame mana regen. You could start Catalyst, then instead of tear, you grab your glacial shroud or upgrade to an early Odins, or even take Rod of Ages.
A Deathcap nicely multiplies itself as well as your Rod and Abyssal Scepter AP.

So TL;DR - You dont HAVE to take tear, but its a strong item and worth taking.

Tear will always be a core item on Ryze. It provides so much damage and sustain, and builds into one of the best late-game items should the game go long enough.

You don't always want to rush it first (Catalyst first is usually a better choice for bot). But not building Tear at all? No.

I think its simple

You either build rod of ages OR you build the tear, in other words ignore the guys above comment and DONT get catalyst if your getting tear.

This is because both take time to return your 'investment' and there simply isnt enough time on dom to get both.

My preference is the tear, late game you will tear up with it.

The trick is with the tear is to HAMMER the minions at every opportunity since your spells require targets.

I get both catalyst and tear, but don't build rod of ages - odyn's for MR.

Since Ryze's AP ratio buffs, getting RoA has become MUCH more beneficial vs non AP champs and even some lesser AP champs than Odyn's. RoA gives you tons of mana and a good chunk of AP, allowing for a whole lot more output while being quite tanky.

And yes, you still want to get a tear ASAP.