One of League of Legends most versatile champions, Ryze, is often played in both the top and mid lanes. The sorcerer offers a slow start but is very rewarding mid to late game as his power spikes after acquiring his core items.
As with all League champions, Ryze’s build is going to change to compliment the situation he may find himself in during a game. But there are core items that are always necessary when playing Ryze to utilize the champion’s kit to its full potential.
Runes
Sorcery
Phase Rush: Later in the game, once Ryze has built adequate mana and health, he will often be chaining abilities together to secure kills. Phase Rush makes this easier due to its movement increase buff after three or more attacks in four seconds. The item will also reduce the duration of slowing effects on Ryze by 75 percent.
Manaflow Band: Ryze becomes more powerful the more mana he has. With this being the case, Manaflow Band will grant Ryze 25 bonus mana up to 250 total bonus mana whenever he successfully hits an enemy with one of his abilities. Having this option to restore mana is going to allow the champion to remain in lane for a greater time that he would be able to otherwise.
Transcendence: Once Ryze gets further into the match, he is going to want to chain together abilities more often, and one factor that is going to dictate his ability to do so is his cooldown times. With this rune, Ryze will get 10 percent cooldown reduction once he reaches level 10, allowing him to use abilities at a slightly faster pace.
Gathering Storm: This rune slowly increases Ryze’s damage by granting the champion additional ability power every 10 minutes of game time.
Domination
Taste of Blood: Ryze is going to spend a lot of time in lane farming minions since he has a weak early game and needs to acquire items before he becomes powerful. While he is in lane, any option to heal off damage is a good one. Domination will grant Ryze healing when he deals damage to enemy champions. This is going to not only make him more powerful when dueling later in the game but will assist him early in the game while he is dealing poke damage.
Ravenous Hunter: Another rune to facilitate healing, Ravenous Hunter grants Ryze healing for 1.5 percent of the damage he deals through abilities. This might not seem like a lot, but with a champion such as Ryze who chains together abilities so well, it can be substantial.
Bonuses: adaptive force +9, adaptive force +9, magic resist +8
Starting items
Sapphire Crystal
Ryze needs mana to deal damage. This being the case, starting with a Sapphire Crystal will allow Ryze to build into the Tear of the Goddess that will eventually become Archangel’s Staff as quickly as possible. Once Ryze has the Tear he can begin building stacks towards leveling up the Staff, so getting this quickly is going to be the priority for Ryze. Additionally, having extra mana out of the gate is going to allow Ryze to be more consistent with using abilities in the lane since he can worry less about mana supply due to the item’s 250 bonus mana.
Refillable Potion
Farming early in the game is going to be very important. To make this safer for Ryze, a Refillable Potion will grant Ryze 125 bonus health over 12 seconds. This item is better for Ryze than a traditional Health Potion since it will allow him two charges, and once he does inevitably return to base, it will refill the charges for the champion to use again.
Core items
Rod of Ages
The perfect item to compliment Ryze’s kit, Rod of Ages offers a variety of different effects that are going to make Ryze extremely powerful. The item boasts stat increases of 60 ability power, 300 health, and 300 mana. Further, Rod of Ages has a passive ability that will grant Ryze bonus health, ability power, and mana every minute of the game. This item causes Ryze to spike incredibly since some of the damage Ryze takes will be dealt to his mana instead of health and some of the mana he spends will heal him.
Archangel’s Staff
Another item that is built to suit Ryze, Archangel’s Staff is going to grant Ryze 50 ability power, 10-percent cooldown reduction, and 650 mana. The item’s multiple passive effects are going to reduce his cooldown’s further as well as granting him bonus ability power relevant to his overall mana. This means that if you have prioritized building mana items, Ryze is going to get another enormous spike in power. After adequate stacks have been built up, the item will transform into Seraph’s Embrace, which in turn will see its effects get more powerful, notably going from 650 bonus mana to 1,400 bonus mana.
Sorcerer’s Shoes
Since Ryze is heavily ability-based, choosing Sorcerer’s Shoes as his boots of choice are going to be extremely important. These particular boots offer the standard movement speed increase that others due but also include 18 magic penetration, allowing Ryze to deal more damage to enemies who have built magic resistance.
Late-game items
Morellonomicon
If you have followed the build up to this point, then you are going to be quite powerful in-game. Building Morellonomicon is a smart move since it will allow Ryze to deal substantially more damage to enemies who are strategically building to counter his attacks. On top of this, the item also grants Ryze 70 bonus ability power and 300 health.
Rabadon’s Deathcap
The most powerful item in the game to boost ability power, Rabadon’s Deathcap boasts 120 additional ability power as well as a passive effect that will see Ryze gain more ability power equal to 40 percent of his current amount. Once you have got to this point in the game and built this item Ryze’s damage is going to be extremely powerful.
Void Staff
A perfect item to finish off Ryze’s build, Void Staff is going to grant the champion the extra stats he needs to take on any enemy in the game. Outside its stat increase of 70 ability power, the item will make Ryze’s attacks ignore 40 percent of the enemy’s magic resistance, which is going to make a major difference in dueling situations.
