Ryze’s passive is the “Arcane Mastery”, which ensures that his spells deal additional damage based on his bonus mana and also increases his maximum mana depending on his ability power. Thanks to these passives, Ryze synergizes extremely well with items that give him both mana and ability power.

At level 1, you start with Ryze’s W, the “rune cage”. Ryze traps the target unit in a rune cage, deals magic damage and slows it by 35% for 1.5 seconds. If the target was previously hit by Ryze’s E, it will be held instead. You level this ability to level 1, as you can use the W slow to keep your opponent at a distance. As the game progresses, it is your only CC, which you use to set up ganks or catch opponents in fights. As W has the highest cooldown of Ryze’s basic abilities, it is maximized last.

At level 2, you take Ryze’s E, the “Spell Cascade”, which is the basis for his combos. Ryze unleashes a ball of magical energy that damages an enemy and marks them and all nearby enemies. Ryze’s Q and W abilities have additional effects against marked targets. You maximize this ability second, as although it is not your main source of damage, it contributes significantly to your damage output.

The last basic ability you skill at level 3 is Ryze’s Q, the “Overcharge”. This ability has a passive component that resets its cooldown when you use Ryzes W or E. In addition, a rune is then charged for 4 seconds, whereby Ryze can have a maximum of 2 runes charged at the same time. If Ryze uses his Q while 2 runes are charged, he gains 2 seconds of additional movement speed, which can be very useful for kiting or fleeing. When Ryze’s Q is activated, he discharges pure energy in a straight line and deals magic damage to the first enemy hit. If the target was previously marked by Ryze’s E, it takes an additional 10% damage and the Q jumps to all nearby enemies that are also marked. In this way, Ryze can deal considerable damage to several enemies standing close together. Since the Q is your main source of damage and you can use it very often thanks to the cooldown reset, it is maximized first.

Ryze’s ultimate ability, World Gate, is leveled at levels 6, 11 and 16. This ability also has a passive effect, with each ability point in your ultimate increasing the bonus damage of your Q against marked targets. When you activate the ult, Ryze creates a portal to a nearby location. After 2 seconds, all allies within the portal will be teleported to the target location. You can use this to rotate across the map faster and surprise your opponents. The ult can be used effectively for unexpected catches as well as for killing neutral objectives or escaping afterwards, making it a unique ability that can be used creatively.

Combos

E->E->Q: the waveclear combo, where you first mark some minions with the E, make sure all minions are marked with the second E and then clear them with the Q.

Q->E->Q->W->Q: the combo for short burst trades. You inflict decent damage on your opponent with 3 Qs and can run away from them at the end of the trade thanks to the W slowdown.

Q->E->Q->AA->W->Q->E->Q->AA: your combo for an all-in, in which, unlike the short trade, you deal additional damage from a Q, an E and two autoattacks.

Basically, you deal the most damage with Ryze’s combos if you always alternate between a Q and one of his other abilities. You only want to deviate from this in cases where you either need the bonus movement speed to escape or want to hold your opponent with the boosted W so that your team can burst him. The latter is also a good follow-up if a team member has already hit a CC.